Demons Prefer Blondes (Demons Unleashed #1)(83)

No, this didn’t sound good at all. “How long will you be gone?”

“An hour at the most. Just long enough to receive an update.”

“What about your sister.”

Rafe’s gaze grew cloudy. “I wish I could say it’s good.”

“How do you know it isn’t?”

He rolled his teeth over his lip. “Meetings like this never are.”

Taking long, confident strides toward Rafe, she grabbed him by the shoulders and narrowed her gaze. “Don’t give up on her Rafe. She’s your sister.”

“I don’t plan to.” His expression softened. With a gentle finger, he swiped a few stray strands of hair from her face and placed a kiss on her cheek. “I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

“All right. You’re sure I’ll be safe?”

“I’ve placed a ward around your house and you have some training.” He raked a hand through his hair. “Granted, it’s not as much training as a normal Paladin has, but it should suffice. It’s not completely dark out yet, anyway.”

With a quick nod, she placed a kiss on his cheek. “I’ll be fine. I’ll stay right here.” She plopped onto the rock-hard futon and stifled a grimace. Picking up the remote control, she turned on the TV. “I’ve got five hundred channels to keep me occupied.”

“Sounds good.” With a bittersweet smile, he closed his eyes. Ice shards and snow flurries swirling around him, Rafe vanished in a puff of frost and fog. Only another pile of ice remained.

She hated this traveling shit.





Chapter 23


Not a thing on any of those overpriced cable stations, she grumbled, ready to fling the remote at the TV. Not even the Spanish soap operas seemed interesting. Then she landed on the medical channel. If that wasn’t bad enough, it was a documentary showing a rhinoplasty, blood and broken cartilage included.

Shivers of horror raced down her spine. “Thanks, but no thanks,” she muttered, mashing the power button.

Reaching for one of her many hairstyling magazines, she sighed. What was the deal? Rafe had only been gone for a half an hour and she already suffered from an extreme case of cabin fever.

“Bloody hell!”

Had she just said that? No way. Now she was talking like that sexy-as-sin demon. Just the thought of his hands brushing against her skin and his lips on hers sent her pulse into overdrive. Lucy was the one who was enraptured, not him.

With a swipe of her hand through her hair, she leaned back on the futon. Flipping through the pages, she perused the plethora of hairstyles, ranging from dull and boring to moderately tame to weird and wild. A little something for everyone, she supposed. Her interest in the latest in celebrity updos waned as thoughts of Rafe rushed forward.

“Bloody—”

Not again. Fisting tufts of hair in both hands, she threw her head back. No matter how hard she tried, her thoughts always strayed to Rafe. His dark shiny waves of hair and the muscles that bulged against every shirt he wore. Even when he wasn’t with her she was horny. What was a girl to do?

Her question went unanswered. As if reading her mind, the cell phone announced its presence like a bad canker sore. She now officially hated Justin Timberlake.

Then again, he wasn’t Rafe.

Bah! This wasn’t healthy at all.

With an irritated growl, she pulled herself from the futon and stumbled across the room toward the phone. Lifting the receiver, she let out a deep whoosh of air. “Hello?”

“Lucia?” Serah’s voice came through low and cautious.

She rolled her eyes. “No, it’s the pope dressed in drag.”

“Not funny,” she said, her voice irritated. “Are you alone?”

A loud sigh burst from her lips. “For now, why?”

“We’re coming over, that’s why.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Why not?”

She crossed her arms, even though Serah couldn’t see her. “Why? Because Rafe said so, that’s why.”

“You’re whipped.”

“Am not,” she replied with a loud huff meant to reverberate in her friend’s ear.

Serah retaliated with her own, “Are too!”

She ambled toward the kitchen, needing a fresh pot of coffee. Coffee, sex, Captain and Coke, and Rafe. Her latest vices.

“I just want you and your La Costra Nostra–loving friend safe. Is that so wrong?”

“No. Not at all.” There was a long pause. “But I’m afraid I have some bad news.”

Oh man! What now? More demons? She clenched the phone tight to her ear, her heart thudding. “Bloody hell,” she mumbled. “What now?”

“Bloody hell?” Serah’s voice raised an octave or two, a questioning tone in her voice.

“Don’t even ask.”

“Very well. I won’t.”

Very well? That didn’t sound like Serah at all. Then again Rafe told Lucy to give her the benefit of the doubt. Serah had been through just as much as she had. “So spill the news.”

“Oh, yes, that. Unfortunately, we’re already on our way over.” Serah’s singsong sweet tone rankled her nerves. Just like her to do her own thing. But she meant well.