14
1100 Words
Ruby wanted to go down to Lou’s Place to meet Ethan alone, but there was no losing her aunt. Portia followed her all the way down. It was only when Lou, the bartender, waved her forward that Portia said her excuses. She blew Ruby a kiss and left her alone.
Ruby scanned the bar, but Ethan was nowhere to be seen. To be fair to the man, Ruby had gone down earlier in hopes of shaking Portia before meeting him.
Ruby could deal with a lot of ribbing, but having her aunt make all kinds of suggestive comments was where she drew the line. She decided to stand by the entrance, hoping to spot Ethan before he made his way into the bar. She might be able to intercept him without Portia noticing.
When he finally showed up … a minute in advance, good for him … he looked absolutely delicious. In fact, Ruby wanted to jump into his arms and kiss him silly. His tan pants were matched with a blue shirt that had tones of pale blue underneath. It made his eyes pop indecently.
Or maybe that was her insane succubus s*x drive that was playing tricks on her.
As soon as he noticed her, his jaw dropped down. “Holy s**t, you look …” He continued to blink like a cartoon.
“It better be a compliment on the tip of that tongue, Ethan,” she replied coyly.
He cleared his throat. “Yeah, it’s a compliment, but not one that I feel comfortable saying out loud.”
She giggled and waved him off. “Well, now I gotta know!”
He shook his head. “You want this to be platonic, right? If I’m honest, I am not thinking platonic things.”
“Ethan, where was this candid spirit yesterday?”
“I’ve got no clue what’s gotten into me right now, but all I wanna do is this.” Without a further indication of his intentions, Ethan closed the distance between them and stuffed his hands in her hair. He pulled her mouth to his, and he kissed her hard and deep. He moaned into the embrace before letting her go.
It took a few seconds … or minutes … for Ruby to recover.
Her head was swimming with desire, and her lips were perfectly swollen. The man could kiss. That meant he could do other things really well too.
“Your aunt was watching us. I figured if we wanted to sell the idea that we are really into each other, I had to make it look good. Sorry if I overstepped.” He licked his lips, and Ruby suppressed a moan.
Did everything he does have to be so damn sexy?
“Right. Good thinking. Take her right off our trail. Good. Very good.” Shut up, Ruby. You’re just going off right now, and that is not attractive.
She was a s*x demon! She shouldn’t be all weak in the knees for a man. A mortal man at that.
At least, if she had fallen for another demon, they could have asked Lucifer to keep their kids out of the succubus line of work
Wait.
If she had fallen for another demon?
Ruby shook her head and took another step away from Ethan. She had known him for twenty-four hours. She had not fallen in love with him. Not only was that impossible, but it was also way too human for her, thanks very much.
It didn’t matter that a voice in the back of her mind reminded her that humans had choices, and that was the thing she envied the most about them. Her choice could not be a shifter who would have zero sway with Lucifer.
“There you two are,” Portia called out, waving. She made her way to them, smiling bright and wide. “You almost missed us.”
“What?” Ruby asked.
“The couples’ excursions, sweetie. It’s going to leave in a minute. You’re gonna be just in time.”
“Oh, we don’t need that.”
Portia arched a brow. “Are you not a couple?”
“Of course, we are,” Ruby said just as Ethan stepped closer to her. He wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed the top of her head. He was really trying, but in the process, he was making Ruby’s knees weak.
Get your s**t together! This isn’t real. It’s all pretend.
“We wanna do our own thing,” Ethan explained.
“Ah, that’s nice, but no. You’re coming along.” Portia sashayed on her heels and didn’t even bother to turn around to see if they were following. She knew they would. What else were they going to do? Argue with her?
“You know,” Ruby said loudly as they trailed behind her. “I didn’t know that a resort manager would be spending so much time worrying about her guests’ marital status. Shouldn’t you be in the office taking care of … well, business?”
“That’s why I have Una!” Portia laughed softly. “I would trust that pixie with my life. With her at the desk, I’m free to fulfill my other duties.”
Ruby narrowed her eyes. “Duties? What other duties?”
“Never you mind. That’s between the boss and me.” Portia’s smirk was so mischievous that even Ethan couldn’t stop from commenting.
“Why don’t I like the sound of that in the least?”
“Because you’re a shifter, and you have a naturally suspicious nature. See you out there, sweeties. Don’t forget! If you don’t join, I’ll be forced to call in the big guns.” She waved her fingers at them and vanished.
“Lovely family member you’ve got there,” Ethan teased.
“Ha! You don’t know the half of it. Believe it or not, Aunt Portia is actually the nicest one. My mother is a piece of work. And I mean, it would take so much therapy to wade through all of the s**t that she has done.”
“Sorry.”
“Oh, no. Don’t be sorry. Succubi aren’t exactly maternal figures. Some do just fine because they have an actual caring nature. Portia is an example.”
He balked. “You call that caring?”
“Well, yeah. I get that it might all be a little manipulative for someone who has more of a human life, but honestly, you should see other demon mothers.”
“I’m guessing you don’t want kids, then.”
- Writer
