He took a sip of his coffee and stared at its black surface. “I just lost interest.”
She didn’t buy the simplicity for a second—
“There’s no story there, Cait. It was years ago, and I was a different person. You ready to leave?”
He clearly was. He took out his wallet and pulled two twenties free.
“Ah, yes, of course.” She pushed her untouched mug out of range, got her bag and her coat, and stood up. “Thanks for dinner.”
“You need help with your coat?”
“No, thanks.”
He led the way out, holding the two doors open for her, one after the other. The night was still clear and coolish, and she could smell dirt, the sure sign that winter was over.
Small stones under their soles crackled as they made their way across the parking lot to her car.
Keys. She should take out her—no, wait, she had a smart key now, thanks to Lexus.
At her driver’s-side door, she gripped the handle, and automatically the lock popped open.
Oh, God, she didn’t want things to end this way. The awkward silence now, the stilted conversation back in the diner.
Abruptly, she thought of G.B.—things had been so easy with him—
“I’m bad at this,” Duke said roughly. “Really bad.”
As she looked up, a car pulling out highlighted his face in the darkness. Behind his shadowed eyes, she could sense pain, the deep, abiding kind.
“You can trust me,” she whispered, reaching up and touching his face. “You really can.”
He turned in and kissed her palm. “Thank you.” Except then he cursed. “The problem is, I don’t know what this is between you and me. And I have a feeling I’m no more comfortable with dating than you are with a string of one-night stands.”
“Do we have to make choices tonight?”
“You’ll see me again?”
Something about the way he asked touched her. Maybe it was because he seemed so unsure of the answer. “Yes. I will.”
His mouth came down on hers, brushing lightly once. Twice. And again. “Good. Tomorrow night. Can I pick you up?”
“Yes.” She wrapped her arms around him and eased against his body. “I live at two fifteen Greenly Drive. Do you need to write that down?”
“No more than I did your number.” As one of his hands threaded into her hair, his lids lowered. “Give me a little more before I go.”
They were still kissing ten minutes later. And it took her another five to actually get into the car.
“I’m going to think about you all night,” he said just before he shut her door.
Oh, God, and what would he do to pass all those empty hours, she wondered with a flare of heat.
“Don’t keep your hands to yourself,” she heard herself say.
“Don’t worry, I won’t.” He shut her door. “Drive safe.”
Stepping back, he gave her a wave and then walked off to one of the motorcycles that was parked by the side of the diner. Thanks to the neon glow from the signage, she got to watch him throw a leg over, jump the engine, and skid out, tearing off into the night with a roar.
She didn’t remember the ride home.
Because in spite of the uncertainty of things, she was floating.
Chapter Thirty-five
As Adrian looked at Sissy across the kitchen table, he wasn’t thinking about the question she’d just asked about innocents in Hell. But his brain was, in fact, far, far south, down below, back with Devina.
Talk about a truly bizarre way of wasting a day. He’d done a lot of things on the sliding scale of sex, but watching a demon desperately try to give him a hard-on? New territory. And considering how flustered Devina had become? Shit, he should have volunteered for impotence decades ago.
Denial was that demon’s self-destruct button.
And then she’d followed him around Target, and gone to a f**king restaurant that had had screaming kids in it.
He was practically glowing from the satisfaction.
“So is it possible?” Sissy prompted.
“I’m sorry?”
“Well, assuming there are more like me down there, can we get them out?”
“Oh, shit, I don’t know.” He pushed a hand through his hair. “To be honest, I’ve never given it any thought. Maybe Eddie would know.”
“Who’s Eddie?”
Okay, yup, that still hurt like a bitch. “A friend. He knows everything about the game.”
“Would he talk to you about it? Or maybe me?”
“Probably not.” Eddie wasn’t talking to anybody anytime soon. “Listen, if I were in your shoes, I’d just hang here. Everything’s going to be over one way or the other very soon.”
The hard expression that came over the girl’s face made him realize that “woman” covered her description much better. “That’s kind of pointless, though, isn’t it. What if the only way to save them is to get them out now?”
“But why? So they can watch the destruction of the world? Besides, if we do win, I imagine they’ll be free anyway.”
“Do you know that for certain?”
“No. But there are other issues. Devina doesn’t let go of things easily.” For f**k’s sake, he would still be down there if she had her way. “You have to pry her possessions away from her.”
“That’s not my problem. It’s hers.”
Adrian felt his brows go up. “Let me get this straight. You’ve been in her wall, you know what it’s like—and you’d risk ending up there forever for a bunch of people you don’t know.” He leaned in. “Because don’t kid yourself. Devina released you, but you’re the only one I’ve ever seen who’s gotten out. If she gets a chance, she’ll chain you again in a heartbeat—and it’s hard to imagine a better way of guaranteeing that than to f**k around with her shit.”
As he resettled into his chair, he couldn’t believe what had just come out of his mouth. If he wanted Jim’s head back in the game? Maybe having Sissy self-destruct would be the perfect way to do it—that angel would blame the demon, not this woman with the noble ideas, and would undoubtedly go on a rampage.
He should have kept his piehole closed.
“It’s not like I’ve got anything here,” she said. “And I’d rather go out doing something than sitting around like a piece of furniture, waiting for my fate to be delivered on my head.”
“I thought you and Jim were together.”