Demons Like It Hot (19 page)

She ripped open her makeup bag and yanked out some concealer and foundation. Truth be told, she didn’t really like wearing makeup, especially while standing over hot stoves and ovens all day. By the end of the day, it felt like her face was melting off.

But it was different now. She might be on television. She didn’t want to look like a zombie, especially in HD. Her pores were large enough as it was.

She dabbed a little of the creamy liquid on her hand and patted and massaged it into her skin. A little foundation, eyeliner, and mascara never killed anyone. It wasn’t like she was going to the Academy Awards or anything, but she still needed to look somewhat presentable.

“Are you almost done in there?” Matthias bellowed.

“I’m human, not a demon. I can’t just
poof
my face together.”

“I understand. I just don’t want you to be late.”

How sweet of him, even when he really didn’t want anything to do with the show. “I still need to get dressed. How about just zapping yourself there?”

“What about your employee?”

Damn.
In all the excitement, she’d forgotten about Edie. And she still needed to call Kalli as well. She smelled like a barbecue gone horribly wrong and needed some clean-up done on herself too.

“I’ll call Edie and tell her to expect you.” She snagged the phone from the counter. “I’ll tell her you’ve been hired to oversee security.”

“Fine.” His loud footfalls echoed down the hall.

She located Edie’s number in her contacts and clicked the
send
button.

“’Allo?”

Serah stifled the chuckle. She always enjoyed Edie’s strange accent.

“Hi, Edie. It’s Serah. I’ve hired a security company in case I get the show. They’re sending someone over.” She cringed. She’d never been the best of liars. Maybe it was this purity they seemed to rattle on about.

“Iz everyzing okay? The fondue, no?”

“Everything is fine. The fondue was delicious.” Thank goodness it was only a practice run for a wedding next week. “The vichyssoise too. No mess to worry about. The Andersons are going to love it.”

“
Très bon.
”

Whatever that meant. “The man they are sending… His name is Matthias Ambrose. Rafe recommended him.”

“Okeydokey pokey.”

Serah arched an eyebrow.

“See you in about a half an hour, okay?”

“Okay. Buh-bye!
À tout à l’heure
.”

“Uhh, okay. Bye.” She hit the red button to end the call. Serah didn’t have the heart to tell her sous-chef of her less-than-apt language skills. She loved listening to Edie speak her native tongue anyhow. She turned to the door. “You can do your traveling now, buddy.”

“Fine. What about your friend, Kalli?”

“I’m waiting here for her. I smell horrible and was hoping she could use a fresh can of Demon-B-Gone on me.” She brought a corner of the towel to her nose.

Ugh!

She took a quick glance in the mirror. At least she looked decent enough. Scraping fingers through her curls, she shrugged. With a sigh, she turned and snuck through the door adjoining her bedroom.

Ripping open her closet, she tore through her clothes. Nothing seemed right. She pulled out a pair of jeans. Too casual. She grabbed a black lace skirt. Too fancy. She grabbed a fuchsia low-cut halter. Too slutty.

“You should wear this.” The spicy scent of ginger followed his voice. He reached out and plucked a bright blue wrap dress from a hanger. “It… looks professional.”

“Umm… thanks.” She took the garment from him. She actually bought the dress for the wedding that never happened. The Carlson-Harding fiasco. Thank God, the bride had been sent packing. “Why are you in here?”

Matthias turned toward the door. “I thought I would make myself more useful.” He opened and closed the door and it whined in protest. Running his large fingers along the split doorjamb, he shrugged. “It still needs a little more work, but at least it closes.”

Serah managed a smile. “Thanks, Matthias.” She reached out her hand to his. “I can have Kalli finish up for you. After all, it was demon-induced.”

“Oh.” There was no mistaking the disappointment in his voice.

“But if you’d really like to practice your
human
skills, that’s fine.”

“I broke it. There are tools to fix it. I owe you that much.”

Serah nodded. “Well, at least you can fix one of your disasters.”

“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.

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
.

With the sous-chef in his arms and the key gripped tight, he took determined steps to the door. He twisted the key into the lock and kicked it open.

“Ohhh,” Edie murmured as she twisted in his arms.

He needed to act fast.

This was not how he wanted to start his mission. He’d promised Serah no enrapturement, but she’d seen the
Peragrans
—demon travel. Even that little glimpse could be too much. He’d learned a lot in his centuries as a mercenary. The less humans knew, the better.

And what he needed to do wasn’t enrapturement. All demons could enrapture. What he could do was something far more powerful, something that had kept him hidden in the shadows for many years. It could be dangerous, but he had no choice, for Edie’s sake. If humans knew the truth of what was out there, the consequences were too great. He had to do this. There was no other choice.

Serah would understand—he hoped.

He carried Edie to the side office and placed her on the couch. Smoothing back her hair, he took a deep breath. He made a vow to himself to never use his skill, after what he’d done to Serah. He hated breaking vows, even if it was necessary.

“Humans cannot know about the evil that surrounds them.”

He clenched his fists. He hated doing this. He reached out and took hold of Edie’s shoulders and closed his eyes. The words rolled from his lips a little too easily for his taste. “You will forget the events that transpired this morning between when you pulled into the parking lot and now. You were up all night working on a recipe and fell asleep.”

Edie rubbed her eyes and sighed. “Vhere am I?” she mumbled. Slowly, her lids fluttered open. “Vooo are you?”

“I’m Matthias Ambrose, the security guard.”

Edie stretched her arms. “
Mon
Dieu!
I came in early and must have fallen asleep. I vas up all night verking on a new recipe for my boss. I am very sorry!”

He still had his touch, unfortunately.

***

“What the hell happened here?” Kalli swept a purple dreadlock from her face. She sniffed the air. Smoke still rolled from the kitchen door. “This is worse than I thought.”

Serah groaned. “Let’s just say I learned a lesson.”

“Which is?”

“Don’t let a demon cook breakfast.”

“Some demons are good cooks, you know.”

Serah stifled her chuckle. “Let me guess. You were a master chef in one of your previous lives?”

It wouldn’t surprise her one bit if she was.

“Hell no. I can’t cook a meal to save my life.”

“Lucky for you, you’re immortal.”

“And the fact that I don’t need regular food for nourishment.”

All demons had to keep up their strength some way or another. Lucy’s kind fed on sex. Some needed the sun. Others needed a full moon. She never pressed the subject with Kalli. It wasn’t any of her business anyway.