A knock at the door startled her, and she sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. “Come in.”
“Hey, sweetie, how are you?” Seeing Jake did her heart good. She really was grateful their ordeal was over for good and he had found the relationship that suited him perfectly.
“Doing a lot better now. I’m ready to head home, put this whole thing behind me and get on with my life.” She got up and stuffed the last remaining items into her duffel and slipped on her shoes.
“Do you love him, Jessie?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It always matters.”
She laughed. “Love really has altered your perceptions, hasn’t it?”
“He loves you, too, you know.”
She shook her head. “C’mon he will never love a demon. We both know that. He has devoted his life to hunting and destroying them so the last think he’s going to do is let his guard down again for the likes of me.
Jake started to say something and she waved him off. “It’s okay, I knew this would happen eventually. Now I just need to get out of here and away from him.”
“Yeah, about that…”
Jessie’s chest seized with a sharp pain. Jake didn’t need to tell her anything more she knew. “He’s gone already.”
“Gone before anyone woke up. No note, just gone.”
Chapter Eight
Noah stood in the shadows across the street and watched her tidy up the place. When she bent over to pick up something from the floor, the denim of her jeans tightened across her ass, making him ache for her naked underneath him once again.
He’d fled his cabin in the middle of the night just a little over four months ago and had done everything he could to get over her. He hunted demons, rescued people from heinous magickal crimes, and even tried to go out with a few women in the hopes of forgetting. Problem was, no place could take him far enough away to forget how she made him feel. Happy. Excited. Loved.
His obsessive need to be with her had forced him to face his hatred of her kind and consider that she wasn’t a true demon, that her witch blood made her different. His brother had called him every week with an update on her and how she was doing. He’d heard she finally decided to stay in New Orleans and had just celebrated opening a new wine bar, Verve. He’d arrived back in the city the night before and had spent the time watching her, thinking about how to approach her. Would she forgive him for leaving the way he did without giving her the benefit of the doubt at all? Or the fact he’d been gone all this time without so much as a word?
He didn’t think he could apologize for that. She’d hidden who she was, and for that he ached to drag her across his knees and spank some sense into her. He chuckled at the thought. He could only imagine how she’d take that.
When the last customer of the night left, he crossed over and walked through the door.
“I’m sorry, we’re closed for the night,” she called out without even turning to see who she talked to. She seemed preoccupied with her cleaning.
“I’m not really much of a wine guy.”
Her head shot up over the bar and he eyes widened when she saw him. “Noah?”
“What, after just a few months you already can’t tell me and Denn apart?” He smiled, trying to keep the mood light between them. She gave him a tiny smirk, grabbed a towel and began wiping down the bar.
“Nice place you’ve got here.”
She stopped and looked around, pride shining on her face. “I’m in love with the place, actually. It’s been a lot of work fixing it up, but I’m damn proud of it.”
“As you should be.”
“So, how long are you home for? Are you going back out to the cabin? Denn fixed it back up, you know. He seems as fond of that place as you are.”
“I’m sure I’ll make it out there at some point, kind of depends.”
“On what?”
“On you, Jessie. I don’t think I could ever spend time out there without remembering our short time together there. You and me on the deck, on the floor, all pictures I can’t get out of my head.”
“I’m sure you’ll get over it, lover boy.” Sarcasm dripped from her words.
“I tried. It didn’t work.” He held back—waiting.
She wrinkled her forehead in confusion. “I don’t understand. What about—”
“It doesn’t matter. I know how I feel and I know who you are. Who your parents are shouldn’t matter.”
A heavy sigh escaped her lips. “It’s not that easy, Noah. I have the demon magick back and it’s as volatile as ever. I do my best to suppress it, but even I make mistakes sometimes.”
“Then maybe I am just what you need. Maybe it’s not just you who balances me, but also me who balances you.”
When she didn’t respond right away, he chose to remain silent. To give her as much time as she needed to think about it. He had a lot to make up for and he was willing to take his time. She was worth it.
Finally she set the towel down and turned her gaze to his. Heat and magick swelled around them. “How about a drink, Noah?”
“I told you, I’m really not much of a wine drinker.”
A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. She bent down behind the bar and rummaged around back there. Moments later she popped back up with a bottle of Patrone in her hand and two shot glasses in the other.
“You remembered.”
“Of course I did.”
“Were you expecting me?’
“I was hoping for you.”
The End
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