If somehow we are all stuck with each other forever because I’m meant to be a Guardian, gettin’ all twitterpated probably ain’t wise. I’m not usually one to fawn all over someone or girl crush to the extreme, but this whole demon thing is uncharted waters, and I’m not sure what to expect.
Alder does his demon voodoo magic to unlock the door, and my eyes lift up to steal a peek at Flint, but he’s already starin’ right at me with a grin. “You alright over there, Peaches?”
“Yes,” I answer quickly. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”
He shrugs. “You looked a little...flustered.”
If he was next to me, I’d stomp on his toes again just for makin’ me blush. “I’m fine,” I tell him with a scowl. He winks, which just adds to the tumultuous attraction that I’m already battlin’.
Fortunately, I’m saved from any more of Flint’s teasin’, because Alder swings the door open for me and flips on the light. I walk inside, spottin’ a tidy walk-in closet filled with cleanin’ supplies. “This will do just fine,” I say with a satisfactory nod as I appraise the space, doin’ a mental inventory of everythin’ here.
“Right,” I say, lookin’ down at my skanky skirt and bustier that nearly has my girls spillin’ out over the top. I’m not dressed for this, but it’ll have to do. This place needs a good rub down from top to bottom and every space in between.
I walk forward and grab the broom and dustpan first before tossin’ a couple of rags at the guys. “Don’t just stand there and look pretty. I may have had a tribulation and gone a bit destructive in your bar, but Alder is right, you helped me get there,” I tell them. “So get to it. There’s plenty of work to do before mornin’.”
Flint chokes on a laugh. “Yes, ma’am.”
I nod and start to walk out of the closet, only to stumble to a stop as Alder starts to roll up the sleeves of his long white button-up. Why he’s wearin’ a long button up in the heat of Georgia in the first place, I don’t know, but damn, when he rolls those sleeves up, showin’ off more of his watercolor tattoos over toned, strong forearms, my mouth waters. Honest to God, it does.
Flint catches me droolin’ and rolls his eyes. “I can do better than that, Peaches,” he flirts. Then the boy just up and whips his shirt clean off, and I gape at the sight before me.
Like a moth to a flame, I find myself walkin’ toward him before I even know what I’m doin’. Every thought in my head just flutters away, and I’m guided by a need to trace my finger along the stone-like markings of his chest. Gray veins of marble over white skin, with a toned stomach and defined chest. The demon is even more gorgeous without a shirt.
“Why do you look like a Joanna Gaines kitchen fantasy come to life?” I ask as my finger slowly moves over him, the skin jumpin’ beneath my touch.
He chuckles. “You mean why do I look like my skin’s made of marble?”
“Yeah.”
He lifts a shoulder in a half shrug. “Just part of my demonic heritage. I can go indestructible when the need arises.”
My eyes flick up to his for a second. “You mean like The Thing from Fantastic Four?”
Flint cocks a dark brow. “Am I supposed to know what that is?”
“Never mind,” I say. That rock monster has got nothin’ on Flint anyway.
My finger slips down the crevice of his abdominal muscles as I follow the speckled gray river, only for Flint’s hand to suddenly come down, grabbin’ hold of my finger by pinchin’ it between two of his. I look up, startled out of my reverie, and see his amused face. “You go any lower, and you’re gonna make something else rise a lot higher,” he jokes.
Immediately, I realize with more than a little mortification that I’ve been intimately strokin’ this demon without even thinkin’ twice about how he’d feel about it, or what I’m even doin’ in the first place.
I snatch my hand back like it just caught fire, even though I’ve been holdin’ it in temptation’s flames for longer than I want to think about. “I’m sorry,” I tell him, lookin’ anywhere but at his face because I already know that I’m gonna find a teasin’ grin there, and I’m embarrassed and confused enough by my own actions already.
I quickly slip past him to get out of this tiny closet with those two hot as sin demons whom I clearly can’t be trusted to be around.
“Come back, Peaches!” Flint chuckles at my back. “Things were just getting interesting.”
Well, I suppose that answers my interest question, at least for Flint anyway. That demon is gonna be trouble for me. Trouble with a capital T, and probably a capital O too, if you catch my meanin’.
“Get your butts out here. This bar ain’t gonna clean itself!” I shout over my shoulder as I strut my way across the room. Keep busy. That’s what I gotta do. Maybe I can scrub the unwelcome lust right out of my body while I’m scrubbin’ these floors.
Somehow though, I sincerely doubt it.
14
It’s just after six a.m., and damn if four hours didn’t make a huge difference to the place. I did good.
Sure, I had the help of two strong, strappin’ demons, but to be honest, I had to light a fire under their firm asses more than once, and I’m confident that this place wouldn’t be lookin’ so good if it weren’t for me.
The bar looks
