Damon appeared completely unfazed as he focused his attention on the screen of his damn smartphone.
The moans stopped as suddenly as they’d started.
She looked at Damon. “I thought vampires had better hearing than humans.”
“We do.”
“Then you heard that?”
“Of course I did,” he said.
“How did you make it stop?” she said.
“I thought you did something. You put your hands over your ears like you were doing some sort of witchy spell thing.”
“I do not put my hands over my ears when I conjure a spell,” she said. “I thought you knew all about witches.”
He joined her on the couch. “I know enough.”
“Clearly you don’t if you think that’s how we create spells. Is that how Eve did it?”
He glared at her. “Don’t push it, little witch.”
“Or what? You’ve already gone through all my belongings, my work stuff, and my computer. You’re already spying on me twenty-four hours a day. What more can you do?”
“This.” Reaching out, he cupped her face with his hands and kissed her.
It wasn’t gentle and it wasn’t polite. It was hot and intense and wicked. He parted her lips and enticed her with his tongue.
This time the moans came from Zoe, and they were signals of her pleasure and not her anger. So this was how vampires kissed. Awesome.
Damon didn’t try to overpower her with physical force. He didn’t have to. Her eager surrender came as a result of his skill as he took possession of her mouth with the erotic promise of delights to come.
She slid her arms around his neck and melted against him. Her tongue tangled with his. Dark passion flowed throughout her body.
She wanted more. He gave it to her by sliding his hands through her hair and then lowering them to lift her top and seductively sneak his right hand around her side to her breast. The silkiness of her bra provided no protection and instead intensified her pleasure at his caresses. She moaned softly against his mouth and felt as if she might go up in flames.
The sound of evil cackles coming through the floor vents finally brought her back to reality.
She pulled away from him. “The demons can see us! They know what we were doing and they’re laughing at us.”
“They can’t see us,” Damon said.
“How do you know?”
“Because I know demons.”
The cackles stopped. If the demons couldn’t see them, they sure had an incredible sense of timing. Zoe supposed she should be thankful they’d brought her back to her senses. Who knew where she would be right now or what she’d be doing with Damon on this couch otherwise—even with her grandmother in the other room and her familiar hiding under the couch.
“If you’re so smart then you should also know that you can’t kiss me,” Zoe said.
His lips lifted into a mocking smile. “I just did.”
“You hate witches.”
“So?”
“So?” she repeated incredulously. “So you can’t kiss someone you hate.”
“I never said I hated you.”
“You’ve accused me of unleashing demons from hell.”
“Your point being?”
“Why did you kiss me? What were you trying to accomplish? Were you trying to intimidate me? I don’t scare that easily.” She looked down at the floor where his smartphone had landed when he’d dropped it to kiss her. “Wait a second. We’re being invaded by demons and you’re playing Words with Friends? What kind of Demon Hunter are you?”
“The kind who gets things done,” he said curtly.
She picked up his phone. “By ‘things’ you mean thinking
He grabbed it from her. “It was in my day.”
“How can you play games when all hell is breaking loose? You don’t see me fooling around. Other than kissing you, I mean. I’m devoting all my time and attention to this demon situation. I’m not even doing anything regarding my business.”
“It’s not like you have a real job,” Damon made the mistake of saying.
Bella cautiously came out from under the couch to jump on the coffee table and shake her feline head at him. “Bad move, vampire.”
“Damn right that was a bad move,” Zoe said. “I am an entrepreneur. I may be self-employed but that doesn’t mean that I don’t have a job. I work hard creating the products for Bella Luna. And I don’t use magic to do it. In fact, my workroom is still a mess from your actions yesterday. I need to go fix that instead of wasting my time with you.”
“Sure,” Damon said with a sweep of his hand. “You go right ahead. What is saving the world compared with making smelly soap?”
“It’s scented botanical soap that is vegetable- and fruit-oil-based,” she corrected him.
“My mistake. Of course that makes a huge difference. I didn’t realize it was vegetable- and fruit-oil-based. Demons can wait. No problem.”
“My work is important to me,” she said.
“So is mine.”
“Then maybe you should focus on doing your work and let me focus on doing mine.”
“I’d love to do that,” he drawled. “But since you and your grandmother are the ones who released these demons, I need you to be involved.”
“You mean you need my help?”
“I didn’t say help.”
“Would it kill you to say it?” she countered.
“Since I’m an immortal, clearly it would not kill me.”
“So are you going to say it? I dare you to. Go ahead,” she taunted. “Admit you need my help.”
Anger flared in his dark blue eyes. “This is not a game.”
“No? Not a Words with Friends game?”
“You’re in no position to judge me.”
“Right back at you, buddy,” she said.
“What did you do back in Boston that got you thrown out?” he demanded out of the blue.
“Where did that come from?”
“I’ve asked you before.”
“And I answered,” she said.
“Not really. You were deliberately vague and now we’ve got angry humans descending on Vamptown.”
“You make them sound like an angry mob pounding on the castle doors or something.”
“That’s not an image that vampires take lightly.”
“Witches, either, believe me. But that’s the problem isn’t it? You don’t believe a word I say.”
“That’s not true. I believe
“So do you,” she said.
“So do I,” a strange voice said. Startled, Zoe turned to find the hazy hologram-like image of … a demon? The astral projection stood there, dressed in strange clothes from another time. His skin was the color of sulfur, and his weird eyes gave her the creeps. Then he smiled at her and said, “Hello, dearie.”
