Demons Like It Hot (Demons Unleashed #2)(44)

“Do you need to keep rubbing it in?”

Serah cringed. “Sorry. I was just trying to be funny. No need to get your boxers in a bunch.”

“Boxers?” Matthias shifted in his new clothing, a pair of khaki cargoes and the linen shirt he’d tried on last night. Thankfully, they concealed those sexy silk boxers. What was so embarrassing about silk boxers? A lot of men wore them. Then again he wasn’t any ordinary man.

“Underwear.”

“I know what boxers are. We saw some at the store last night.”

“Fine. You better get poofing… uhh… traveling. Edie’s expecting you.”

“Are you going to be okay?”

“Yeah. Kalli will have this cleaned up in no time.”

“I meant behind the wheel.”

Serah grumbled under her breath. Was she really that bad a driver? Did she really need to answer that? With a slight downward curve of her lips, she shrugged. So driving wasn’t one of her strong suits. She never really felt that comfortable behind the wheel. But put her behind a stove and she could cook for hours.

“I’m sorry. I was trying to joke too.” Matthias reached out to grasp her shoulder. More tingles of electricity zipped through her body, right to her toes.

She jerked from his grasp. What was it about his touch? It was even worse on naked skin. All she wanted to do was drop that towel and let him touch every other part of her body. She bit her lip and tensed all her muscles, wriggling in the confines of the towel. Nothing helped.

She clenched her fists. “I need to get dressed.”

Matthias nodded and backed away. “Don’t let me keep you. The door is fixed. I’ll be on my way.”

Without further word, he turned and marched out the door, the hinges still whining in response.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she brought her hand to her still-hot shoulder. She traced her fingertips along the searing flesh. A burn was supposed to hurt, but the heat that radiated from him did anything but. It scared her. It drove her mad. She wanted more.

Exactly what kind of demon was Matthias Ambrose? She would find out—one way or the other.





Chapter 19


It was confirmed. She remembered. Why else would she react that way to his touch? Like just the soft brush of fingertips would unleash a plague upon her skin. His first mission as a Paladin was destined to failure before it even started.

And that stupid towel. It clung and molded to her body in the most devious of ways. It took every fiber of willpower to keep from pulling that towel from her gorgeous body. Too bad that dress he handed to her would do pretty much the same thing.

Heck, battling his old mentor he could handle. However, throwing Serah SanGermano in the mix only complicated matters. It was quite literally a recipe for disaster.

It was, for lack of better words, a mission impossible.

But this wasn’t TV, or the movies for that matter. This was real. Demons truly existed. There were no special effects. Serah could die. She needed his help. He had to protect her.

She needed to accept what she was. Only then would she truly be safe. And he wouldn’t give up until then—whatever it took.

“What is it about her?” The moment he first set eyes on her he had to have her—had to possess her. He had to take her in every way humanly—and demonically—possible. Everything about her set his blood boiling. He hadn’t felt like that about any woman before—ever. Even when he was human. He clenched his teeth. No. I can’t go back to those days. It was too long ago. He wasn’t the same man. He was a demon now, had been for almost eight hundred years. Those days were long gone, a faded memory. He needed to forget.

The soft murmur carried from her room. His body tensed and his heart thudded. Lust raged inside him. He gritted his teeth. Curse celibacy.

“I’ve got to get out of here before I do something I regret.”

Tasteful Elegance was as good a name as any for Serah’s company. It fit her perfectly. Serah radiated elegance, and he’d tasted enough to know her lips were sweeter than sin.

He’d dawdled too long. He had to go or he’d burst into Serah’s room and do something he would regret—again. He closed his eyes and threw his arms up into the air.

“Portals of limbo and hell. Carry me away to the front door of Tasteful Elegance.”

With that, the winds whipped around him and sucked him up into the freezing vortex. Ice and snow circled him, carrying him through the tunnel. Ice crystals formed on his lips and eyes. A temporary discomfort—in a minute his feet touched solid earth.

The ice melted from his eyelids, and he slowly opened his eyes. Wiping snow and ice from his head and shoulders, he scanned the area.

“Vhat zee hell?”

A tall redhead, clad in tall black boots and a red sweater dress, with a purple scarf draped over her shoulders, stood not more than three feet from Matthias. Her fingers clenched tight around her keys. Her brown eyes widened with shock, and her mouth gaped open just as wide.

“Edie, I presume?”

“Sacre bleu!” With that, the woman crumpled to the ground.

Sacre bleu, indeed.

He didn’t think that expression was still used in France. Maybe he was wrong. Putting that thought in the back of his mind, Matthias rushed forward and caught her before her head hit the concrete. He took the keys that Edie still gripped and found one labeled TE cuisine.