Not Your Ex's Hexes (Supernatural Singles, #2)(65)

“You’re doing it for the animals?” Rose asked warily.

“Of course,” Damian lied. “I’d already been thinking about taking Julius up on his offer when he went ahead and made you one of his own,” he lied again. “But there are rules to this little apprenticeship, which I know you Maxwell women seem allergic to unless you made them yourselves. Still, it’s a deal-breaker.”

“What rules?”

“We take only jobs I agree to. I know you don’t think so, but not all assignments are created equal.” She opened her mouth to argue, but he kept on going. “In the field, you do exactly as I say. If I say run, you run. First lesson: your life isn’t worth any payout, regardless of how much it is. Can’t enjoy the money if you’re dead.”

Nibbling her bottom lip, Rose nodded. “That makes sense.”

He shot her a disbelieving look.

“What? It does! Contrary to what you believe, I don’t have a death wish. I just want to feel useful … alive. I would actually do this for free, you know. It’s not about the money. It’s about keeping people safe.”

And that he believed because it was her, and she was fucking amazing.

His gaze dropped to her lips and back. “There are plenty of ways to feel alive and I’m more than willing to show them to you firsthand.”

She ignored his sexual innuendo. “You say jump, I jump. Run, I run. Anything else?”

“You want more rules? I could think up a few more, but they’re not for Hunting.” Desire doused his body from head to toe as he slid his hand over her backside and brought her closer. “They involve the two of us naked on a bed, or on any other surface conducive to our fuck-buddy arrangement.”

Rose rubbed her body against his, a small smirk firmly in place. “I fully support those types of rules, but I think after this party, we should go back to my place so you can go over them again, but in explicit detail. I want to make certain they’re ingrained into my memory vault.”

“Seems like the responsible thing to do.” Damian chuckled. Slower than he ever thought himself capable of, he dropped his mouth onto hers and savored every second of her body wrapped around his.

Rose melted in his arms, and damn if he didn’t go a little jelly-kneed, nothing but their desire to be locked together keeping them upright. It was a delicate balance, and it wouldn’t take much more than a hearty breeze to steal that fragility away.





16





JBFan4Eva


Inspecting her reflection in the mirror, Rose executed a slow turn.

The black leather pants—albeit snugger than they’d been three years ago when she’d bought them for a Buffy Halloween costume—cupped her butt impressively. Topped with a lacy black-and-blue corset and knee-high boots, the entire ensemble screamed badass witch. All Supernatural nasties would immediately give themselves up the second they laid eyes on her.

At least she hoped they did because she wasn’t so sure she could run in this getup, and there wasn’t enough time to pry herself out of it and pick something different because Damian struck her as a very punctual individual, which meant she only had a few minutes until he showed.

She grabbed her cell phone and made a panicked video call to her most recently called number.

Olive answered on the fifth ring, mid-yawn. “Hey, witch. What’s up?”

Rose immediately forgot her own issues. “If you don’t accept Bax’s proposition, I’ll accept it for you. This is ridiculous.”

“I had another talk with her, and she swears she’ll stick to her promises this time.”

On cue, a loud chorus of laughter echoed from Olive’s side of the line followed by the dropping of something that sounded suspiciously like a bowling ball.

“Or not…” Olive sighed, removing her glasses to rub her eyes. The second she replaced them, she blinked, suddenly wide awake. “Holy hexes, Rose! Did Harper finally wear you down about going with her to one of those clubs?”

Rose glanced at her outfit and cringed. “No. This is my bounty hunting outfit.”

“And what are you hunting again?”

“Real funny.” She glanced into the mirror for the hundredth time. “I had a momentary lapse of judgment and now I’m stuck with this. Literally. Please tell me it’s not that bad.”

“Depends…”

“On what?” Rose asked carefully, not sure she wanted to know.

“If your plan is to ride the monster-hunting adrenaline high right into Damian’s bed. Hey, look on the bright side. If he’s as determined as I think he is, he may be the only one to get you out of that getup.”

Rose groaned. “I called you because I thought you’d be more supportive than Vi.”

Olly shrugged. “Not my fault that you thought wrong, sis.”

“Get more sleep. Pronto. Because this snarky, sleep-deprived Olive isn’t my favorite person,” Rose joked.

Olive chuckled, calling her out on her bullshit response. “Love you, too.”

A heavy knock thumped on her front door.

“Tell Damian I said helloooo…” Olive waggled her eyebrows suggestively and shut down the call.

The knock landed again.

She couldn’t put it off any longer. Even though the rush of Magic to all her hot spots told her who was on the other side of the door, Rose glanced through the peephole out of habit.