At that moment, I realized the house was empty, we were sitting on my bed, and I knew exactly where Jas kept her condom stash. What’s more, William had been on his best behavior for weeks.
I was tired of waiting.
I entwined my fingers into his thick hair and pulled him closer. Then, I kissed him hard, parting his lips with my tongue.
When we broke apart, he said, “Why, Ms. Straight! I had no idea you were such a take-charge person.”
“You haven’t seen anything yet.” I climbed into his lap and began unbuttoning his shirt.
“I love this side of you, Lil.” He slid his hands under my t-shirt. Kissing the base of my neck, he unfastened my bra and caressed my breasts.
I closed my eyes. A delicious warmth spread upward from my thighs and into my belly. My breath hitched as his fingers found my nipples, and I moaned without meaning to. I grabbed his necktie just below the knot. Drawing him towards me, I gently bit his lower lip. He wrapped his arms around my waist and lay back, pulling me with him.
I leaned in to kiss him again, but he suddenly frowned. “Maybe we shouldn’t do this now.”
“But you’ve been begging for this since we met!”
“Yes, I know, but…”
“No buts. Ravish me!”
He smiled. “
Ravish
you? I do like the sound of that.” He nuzzled my neck. Then he stopped himself. “No. I want to do this right, and if we start now, we’ll have to finish very quickly since I have an appointment in ten minutes.”
I groaned in frustration. “Are you kidding me?”
He brushed the hair out of my eyes. “No rest for the wicked. And being an incubus is as wicked as it gets.”
The moment he said that, my eyes flew open and met his startled expression. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean it that way…”
I let go of his tie and climbed off of him. A job meant temptation, and temptation sometimes meant he ended up in another woman’s bed. I refastened my bra and tugged down my shirt, blinking back tears. “Are you going to sleep with your client?”
“Not this time.”
“But?”
He wouldn’t meet my eyes. “But someday it will become necessary,” he admitted.
Although I hadn’t done it yet, I feared sleeping with strangers more than any other assignment. “How many women have you slept with?”
“Don’t do this to yourself.”
“How many!”
He studied his hands. “Thousands,” he finally admitted.
Thousands
? The number took my breath away.
“Not all of them were required,” he said. “In fact, very few of them were. I bedded most of those women because I was lonely or bored or any number of stupid reasons.” He took my hand. “I would never do such a thing now. Believe me!”
I pulled my hand away. “Did you tell any of those women that you loved them?”
“Lil…”
“Tell me! And don’t you dare lie.”
He hung his head. “If the job required it, yes.”
I rolled my eyes upwards to keep my tears from falling.
“This is why I didn’t want to be honest,” he said miserably. “The truth hurts.” He took my hand once more. “But I’m glad you know. I don’t want any secrets between us now that our relationship is growing more – personal. From now on, I swear you’re the only woman I want to get close to.”
He said those things with complete sincerity, but I had to wonder. Over the years, how often had he protested his innocence in order to calm down a distraught woman?
“You don’t believe me, do you?” he asked.
“I want to,” I said, “but I don’t know if I can.”
Frustrated, he ran his fingers through his hair. “How can I prove it? What do you want me to say?”
“It isn’t what you
say,
” I told him. “It’s what you do that matters.”
“And you’ve always been honest with me?”
“Of course!”
He pointed to the computer. “If I hadn’t walked in on you just now, would you have told me about
that
?”
Good point. I flushed all over again. “I was embarrassed.”
“And that makes it all right?” Spots of color appeared on his cheeks.
“No, of course not. I should have told you. But I’ve been honest about everything else.” The moment I said that, I thought of Tommy’s tattoo. Shit.
William must have sensed something in my expression because suspicion crept into his eyes. “What else aren’t you telling me?”
I squirmed. He’d been right: the honesty thing was a bitch. Still, if I didn’t want him to have secrets, then I shouldn’t keep them, either. “You know Tommy Lefevre? Well, he has a tattoo of my name over his heart.”
“He
what?
”
William had hated Tommy even before I’d slept with him. Tommy’s piety, his temperate lifestyle, his devotion to spirituality – these were qualities that William found repellent. “He got it a few days after I seduced him, but I didn’t know until last night. I didn’t want to tell you because I knew you’d be upset.”
William stood. His shoulders were rigid, and he took very slow, deliberate breaths. I’d never seen him get angry enough to go into full demon mode, but my succubus told me he was close. “Any other secrets you care to confess?” he asked tightly.
I couldn’t stop now. I had to tell him everything. I cleared my throat. “Helen ordered me to get pregnant.”
“Helen
ordered
you to get pregnant?”
I took his hand and hung on tightly. “On that day you and I climbed the mountain? Helen brought me into her office and said that because I’d saved Grace, I was obligated to have another daughter in order to keep the curse alive.”
He blinked. “You’ve known this for nearly a
week
and never told me?”
“I tried to!”
His eyes widened. “Wait…is that why you attacked me just now? So I would get you pregnant?!”
“What? No!”
“Why else would you try to seduce me after months of saying no?” he demanded. He glanced at the computer on my bed. “The dating service! You were searching for potential fathers there too, weren’t you?”
“William! Be reasonable.”
But he was beyond reason. “When Helen ordered your mother to get pregnant, Carrie couldn’t move fast enough. Why would you be any different?” A look of horror crossed his face. “And that boy! Tommy’s the one you really want to father your child!” At this, William’s demon finally broke free. His skin turned red and leathery, and a bony ridge poked out above his eyes. His teeth lengthened, becoming fangs. “You’re just like your mother! Once Carrie sank her claws into your father, she never let go, and now you won’t either.” He put his hands to his head. “I’m such a fool!”
I stood up to face him. “Are you
kidding
me?! You know me better than that.”
“I thought I did.” His eyes were nearly as hot as Helen’s. “But I’d forgotten how ruthless you succubi are when you’re going after something you want.” He glared at me before disappearing through the doorway.
I lay back down on my bed. I didn’t sob, but tears rolled from the corners of my eyes until the bedspread was damp.
My chiming cell phone finally roused me. I checked the clock. To my horror, it was nearly three in the afternoon.
My heart still ached from my bitter fight with William Part of me wanted to find him and explain myself while the rest of me wanted to smack him upside the head. If I could forgive him for telling his clients ‘I love you’, then surely he could forgive me for not telling him about Helen’s orders.
My phone chimed again. Reluctantly, I sat up and read my message.
Did u check ur email?
I opened my laptop. Delilah’s e-mail had been buried under several dozen new messages from X-treme Matching. As I set about deleting all of them, Delilah appeared in my bedroom. She put her hands on her broad hips. “You
do
have e-mail, right?”
I sighed. “Yes. I’ve just been having a really bad day.”
Her expression softened. “I know. But that’s why I wanted you to read your e-mail! I’ve got a new system figured out.” She lifted her head proudly. “It should make things run smoother for you.”
“Really?” I hardly dared to hope.
She nodded. “After thinking about this job, I realized all the guests at the party must have something in common. I mean, why else would they be together, right? So I did some digging.” Her smile increased “Did you know you can Google from Hell?”
Somehow, that didn’t surprise me.
“Anyway, I did some digging, and I found that the man who hosted the party owns a manufacturing plant. A lot of those fellows work together.”
I remembered the college students complaining about how the drummer’s father was ruining the party by turning the event into a business opportunity. My spirits lifted. “You can group these people together? Delilah, that’s ingenious!” Suddenly, my task felt a lot more manageable.
She grinned. “How many people can you seduce at one time?”
Good question. I’d taken on two at once before, but never more. “I guess it would depend on what I needed to make them do.”
“Well, I’ve got something lined up in about an hour: four people at once.”
“That’s awesome!”
Delilah handed me a slip of paper. Written on it were the names of my clients along with the time and location of the temptation. But there were no further instructions. “What are they supposed to do?” I asked.
Her smile faded. “I’m a little fuzzy on the details. You need to get them to take revenge on someone, but I don’t know who.” She pressed her lips into a hard line. “I’m sure Mr. Clerk would have figured it all out, but I can’t.”
“You’re doing fine,” I assured her. “Besides, Patrick had his flaws, too.”
Her mouth relaxed. “That’s a relief. From the way you and William talk, I’d always figured Mr. Clerk walked on water.”
I shook my head. “That’s a trick from the other side of the divide. Not ours.”
She looked at the floor. “Someday, I’m hoping to get over there and see it done.”
Since the doors to Hell only seemed to swing in one direction, I doubted Delilah would get her wish. But I couldn’t tell her that. Hope was a fragile thing in Hell, and it never lasted long. I didn’t want to be the one who destroyed hers.
Since I was meeting five businessmen in a sports bar, I opted for an ‘executive slut’ look. My twill suit was a nice, dull gray, but the skirt’s hemline was way too high for a professional woman. The silk camisole under the jacket was hardly a whisper of fabric above my breasts. The heels of my shoes were spiky, and the peep-toes showed off my pedicure. I admired the effect in the mirror. I thought I’d done a good job of appealing to an office drone’s fantasy, but I wished Patrick had been there to give me his expert opinion.
As I put on my makeup, I made a plan. Once I finished the assignment, I’d hunt down a holy icon to bribe Helen. But where to get one? After considering churches and museums, I had an even better idea. The Vatican! Surely that place had an amazing collection of icons. Then another hope raised its head. Any icon special enough to be stored in the Vatican had to be worth not just one soul, but two. If I found something good – something really,
really
good – I could not only set myself free, but William as well. For the first time all day, my heart felt lighter.