“You’re smaller, so you’ll be more comfortable.”
Calladia guffawed. She pushed to her feet and went toe-to-toe with Astaroth. He didn’t retreat, despite her standing uncomfortably close, but did he ever? “I’m not that much smaller than you,” she said.
His eyes dipped to her mouth. “Small enough.” The rough edge to his voice sent a shiver down her spine.
Calladia licked her lips, feeling the electric thrill of a challenge. “What about chivalry?”
“Fuck chivalry,” Astaroth rebutted instantly. “I have amnesia.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Calladia said with exaggerated concern. “I didn’t realize you’d forgotten how to sleep on a couch.”
“Well, I have.” Astaroth sighed heavily. “It’s a tragedy, but alas, there’s nothing to be done for it. I shall make do with the bed.”
Calladia tried not to laugh. “A gentleman would offer the bed to the lady.”
“Do you see a gentleman here? Or a lady, for that matter?”
Calladia gasped. “Rude!”
Astaroth slid his hands into his pockets and shrugged one shoulder, eyes gleaming with mischief. “If you want me to treat you like a lady, I will, but I’ve got to warn you, proper ladies don’t get in fistfights.”
Good point. “Then I’ll fistfight you for the bed,” she said, switching tactics.
“You’d try to take advantage of a wounded man?” he asked, clapping a hand to his chest.
She was torn between laughing and rolling her eyes at the dramatics. “I don’t know why you chose to be a bargainer when you clearly had a bright future on the stage.”
“What makes you think I don’t have time for both? I could have just finished a starring run on the West End for all we know.” His grin was sharp and wicked. He was enjoying this banter.
Calladia was, too. Her breath came fast, and excitement buzzed under her skin. Sparring with the demon held the same out-of-control thrill as dancing at the edge of a cliff or standing outside in a thunderstorm, and Calladia was enough of an adrenaline junkie to crave more. She’d always been drawn to danger.
Tension thrummed between them like a plucked string. What would happen if she seized that thread and made something out of it, the way she wove magic from twine?
The cliff edge—and madness—beckoned.
Calladia dropped her gaze to the demon’s lips and leaned in.
A shrill, jaunty melody started blaring from Calladia’s backpack. She jumped, heart jolting into overdrive. “Guess I left my ringer on,” she said with an awkward laugh, not sure whether she should curse or thank the phone for interrupting her ill-considered impulse.
Astaroth also looked startled. “What is that?” He listened for a moment, then started humming along. “Taylor Swift?”
Calladia hurried to her backpack and dug through it until she found her cell phone. The screen showed an incoming call from Cynthia Cunnington.
Calladia’s stomach soured, and the playful energy drained out of her. She hesitated with her thumb over the screen, then rejected the call.
Silence fell over the room.
Calladia didn’t look up right away, nervous about what she might see on Astaroth’s face. Now that the phone had jolted her back to reality, she couldn’t fathom what she’d been thinking.
Had she really almost kissed the demon? Again?
A mixture of arousal and guilt heated her skin and made her stomach clench. An almost-kiss was close to an almost-headbutt, right? She’d just gotten her wires crossed.
Sure, an inner voice mocked. Tell yourself that if it makes you feel better.
“Who was that?” Astaroth asked.
The phone buzzed with a text message.
Cynthia Cunnington: Rude not to answer the phone. Diantha says there’s a rumor you left town to join the circus. I told her you’re on a mindfulness retreat. Circus not good for optics. Be back for dinner tomorrow. Cocktail attire. Donors for reelection will be there.
A second text came swiftly after.
Cynthia Cunnington: Don’t disappoint me again.
Calladia silenced the phone and shoved it in her bag. “Just my mother,” she said. Her mother, the mayor of Glimmer Falls, scion of the community, whose expectations for Calladia were so high not even King Kong could climb them. How was she already thinking about reelection?
The excitement had been sucked out of Calladia so quickly, she felt dizzy and exhausted. She stood and stretched. “I need a bath.”
She grabbed her backpack and brushed past Astaroth, hoping he wouldn’t follow. She needed a good, long soak to wash off the dust of the road and regain her composure.