Pretty When She Destroys (Pretty When She Dies #3)(24)

Amaliya swept her hair back from her face. “So, basically, what you’re saying is that sex isn’t love.”

“No. Sex with you is intense and exciting, but I don’t regard it as the core of our relationship. Do you?”

She wagged her head no. “Nah. It’s great, but...I agree. Honestly, I was hoping we wouldn’t have to stick with the monogamy thing for like...eternity.”

Cian laughed. “As long as you and are committed to being together, united, and in love, I am not worried.”

“And we could share,” Amaliya said, a teasing smile on her face.

“Exactly.” Cian was rather relieved that she was of the same mindset, though he had been certain she would. It was quite liberating to be with someone who wasn’t going to try to tie him up in mortal normality. Except for when Eduardo was lurking about. Cian had to admit that he’d been dreading her possibly wanting to invite him into their bed.

Amaliya gave him a sly look. “But, admit it. It would bother you if it was Eduardo I messed around with.”

Cian had to wonder if maybe she was now able to read his thoughts. “Okay, maybe it would. But you’d still be the love of my life and I’d still be yours.” Cian grinned. “Besides, I have a much bigger dick.”

“How do you know?”

“I have my sources,” Cian said, shrugging.

“In other words, you slept with the same girl and she told you.”

“Actually, she told Roberto. He thought that piece of information was amusing.” Cian remembered his former minion’s delight at the discovery. Roberto had not liked Eduardo.

“No wonder you’re so confident.”

“It has nothing to do with the size of my cock and everything to do with the fact that I have you in my life.”

“Ugh! That’s so romantic! Stop!” Amaliya pretended to fan herself.

Cian chuckled.

Amaliya sauntered over to climb onto his lap. Wrapping his arms around her, Cian kissed her lips. They tasted like fresh blood, but smelled like cherry lip balm. Caressing her cheek, Cian stared into her blue-gray eyes and saw the deep love they shared reflected in them.

“You hunted already?” he asked.

“I took a sip from a girl at Ross. I stopped to grab some jeans and we were the only two in the dressing room. I took advantage of the situation.” Amaliya snuggled against him. “I want to go hunting with you. Somewhere sexy.”

“Then I’ll have to change out of my Homer Simpson shirt,” Cian complained.

“Oh, boo hoo. What a horrible loss that would be.”

Cian pressed a kiss to her full lips, then said, “I love you.”

“Sucks to be you,” she teased.

Threading his fingers through her hair, he relished the feel of her soft, cool body against his. “Aimee is going to try to see what she can do about your bond to The Summoner.”

Amaliya sighed. “Like that’s going to happen.”

“Maybe she’ll find a way, Liya.” Cian hated it when Amaliya gave into her fatalistic tendencies. He knew more about what was going on in her head than she realized. Though Amaliya didn’t regard herself as a martyr, she often felt she was on a course with certain destruction. Cian would do everything in his power not to allow that to happen.

“Well, I guess it doesn’t hurt to try,” Amaliya said finally. Sliding off his lap, she grabbed his hand. “Let’s go hunt. I’m hungry.”

Recognizing her need to change the subject, Cian rose to his feet. “So you want to hunt somewhere sexy, huh? Does that mean you’ll dress sexy?”

“If you’re lucky,” she said in such a way Cian had a feeling that it may be an hour or two before they actually made it out the front door.





Chapter 6


The vegan carrot cake was heavenly, but her cappuccino tasted burned. Yet, Samantha wasn’t about to say anything after her boyfriend had worked so hard to impress her with his culinary skills. Seated side by side in the back room of his bookstore, they had just finished eating a homemade meal. She was full and she was happy, so that was all that really mattered. It had been a lovely evening. There hadn’t been any discussion of any of the supernatural things they were dealing with, or the big bad necromancer laying low somewhere out there in the world plotting his next move. Samantha had loved every second of it. She’d almost felt like the world was normal.

“Don’t drink that. I burned it,” Jeff said, claiming her cup after taking a sip of his own. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine! It was all good.” Smiling at him, she ruffled his floppy brown hair with her fingers. “No one has ever made me dinner before. It’s so sweet.”

With a pleased smile, Jeff pushed his paper plate away and leaned over the armrest of his chair to rest his hand on her leg. “I wanted to do something special for you.”

“Are you going for the sweetest boyfriend in the world award? Because right now, you’re totally the frontrunner.” Samantha settled her hand on his and pressed it gently.

“Absolutely.” Jeff kissed her cheek. “And you get awesome girlfriend points for coming here tonight and roughing it with me.”

Originally they’d planned to meet at his place for a romantic candlelight dinner, but then a New Zealand group that was part of The Assembly had contacted Jeff about a conference call. All of his reference books were at the store, where he spent most of his time, so it had made sense to take the call from his work office. Jeff had quickly packed up their meal and brought it to the bookstore so they could relax and not worry about rushing through traffic to make the call in time. They had warmed dinner in the microwave and eaten off of disposable dinnerware.