3 Straight by the Rules Read online

  I leaned in to kiss him again, but he suddenly frowned. “Maybe we shouldn’t do this now.”

  “But you’ve been begging for this since we met!”

  “Yes, I know, but…”

  “No buts. Ravish me!”

  He smiled. “Ravish you? I do like the sound of that.” He nuzzled my neck. Then he stopped himself. “No. I want to do this right, and if we start now, we’ll have to finish very quickly since I have an appointment in ten minutes.”

  I groaned in frustration. “Are you kidding me?”

  He brushed the hair out of my eyes. “No rest for the wicked. And being an incubus is as wicked as it gets.”

  The moment he said that, my eyes flew open and met his startled expression. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean it that way…”

  I let go of his tie and climbed off of him. A job meant temptation, and temptation sometimes meant he ended up in another woman’s bed. I refastened my bra and tugged down my shirt, blinking back tears. “Are you going to sleep with your client?”

  “Not this time.”

  “But?”

  He wouldn’t meet my eyes. “But someday it will become necessary,” he admitted.

  Although I hadn’t done it yet, I feared sleeping with strangers more than any other assignment. “How many women have you slept with?”

  “Don’t do this to yourself.”

  “How many!”

  He studied his hands. “Thousands,” he finally admitted.

  Thousands? The number took my breath away.

  “Not all of them were required,” he said. “In fact, very few of them were. I bedded most of those women because I was lonely or bored or any number of stupid reasons.” He took my hand. “I would never do such a thing now. Believe me!”

  I pulled my hand away. “Did you tell any of those women that you loved them?”

  “Lil…”

  “Tell me! And don’t you dare lie.”

  He hung his head. “If the job required it, yes.”

  I rolled my eyes upwards to keep my tears from falling.

  “This is why I didn’t want to be honest,” he said miserably. “The truth hurts.” He took my hand once more. “But I’m glad you know. I don’t want any secrets between us now that our relationship is growing more – personal. From now on, I swear you’re the only woman I want to get close to.”

  He said those things with complete sincerity, but I had to wonder. Over the years, how often had he protested his innocence in order to calm down a distraught woman?

  “You don’t believe me, do you?” he asked.

  “I want to,” I said, “but I don’t know if I can.”

  Frustrated, he ran his fingers through his hair. “How can I prove it? What do you want me to say?”

  “It isn’t what you say,” I told him. “It’s what you do that matters.”

  “And you’ve always been honest with me?”

  “Of course!”

  He pointed to the computer. “If I hadn’t walked in on you just now, would you have told me about that?”

  Good point. I flushed all over again. “I was embarrassed.”

  “And that makes it all right?” Spots of color appeared on his cheeks.

  “No, of course not. I should have told you. But I’ve been honest about everything else.” The moment I said that, I thought of Tommy’s tattoo. Shit.

  William must have sensed something in my expression because suspicion crept into his eyes. “What else aren’t you telling me?”

  I squirmed. He’d been right: the honesty thing was a bitch. Still, if I didn’t want him to have secrets, then I shouldn’t keep them, either. “You know Tommy Lefevre? Well, he has a tattoo of my name over his heart.”

  “He what?”

  William had hated Tommy even before I’d slept with him. Tommy’s piety, his temperate lifestyle, his devotion to spirituality – these were qualities that William found repellent. “He got it a few days after I seduced him, but I didn’t know until last night. I didn’t want to tell you because I knew you’d be upset.”

  William stood. His shoulders were rigid, and he took very slow, deliberate breaths. I’d never seen him get angry enough to go into full demon mode, but my succubus told me he was close. “Any other secrets you care to confess?” he asked tightly.

  I couldn’t stop now. I had to tell him everything. I cleared my throat. “Helen ordered me to get pregnant.”

  “Helen ordered you to get pregnant?”

  I took his hand and hung on tightly. “On that day you and I climbed the mountain? Helen brought me into her office and said that because I’d saved Grace, I was obligated to have another daughter in order to keep the curse alive.”

  He blinked. “You’ve known this for nearly a week and never told me?”

  “I tried to!”

  His eyes widened. “Wait…is that why you attacked me just now? So I would get you pregnant?!”

  “What? No!”

  “Why else would you try to seduce me after months of saying no?” he demanded. He glanced at the computer on my bed. “The dating service! You were searching for potential fathers there too, weren’t you?”

  “William! Be reasonable.”

  But he was beyond reason. “When Helen ordered your mother to get pregnant, Carrie couldn’t move fast enough. Why would you be any different?” A look of horror crossed his face. “And that boy! Tommy’s the one you really want to father your child!” At this, William’s demon finally broke free. His skin turned red and leathery, and a bony ridge poked out above his eyes. His teeth lengthened, becoming fangs. “You’re just like your mother! Once Carrie sank her claws into your father, she never let go, and now you won’t either.” He put his hands to his head. “I’m such a fool!”

  I stood up to face him. “Are you kidding me?! You know me better than that.”

  “I thought I did.” His eyes were nearly as hot as Helen’s. “But I’d forgotten how ruthless you succubi are when you’re going after something you want.” He glared at me before disappearing through the doorway.

  I lay back down on my bed. I didn’t sob, but tears rolled from the corners of my eyes until the bedspread was damp.

  Chapter Thirteen

  My chiming cell phone finally roused me. I checked the clock. To my horror, it was nearly three in the afternoon.

  My heart still ached from my bitter fight with William Part of me wanted to find him and explain myself while the rest of me wanted to smack him upside the head. If I could forgive him for telling his clients ‘I love you’, then surely he could forgive me for not telling him about Helen’s orders.

  My phone chimed again. Reluctantly, I sat up and read my message. Did u check ur email?

  I opened my laptop. Delilah’s e-mail had been buried under several dozen new messages from X-treme Matching. As I set about deleting all of them, Delilah appeared in my bedroom. She put her hands on her broad hips. “You do have e-mail, right?”

  I sighed. “Yes. I’ve just been having a really bad day.”

  Her expression softened. “I know. But that’s why I wanted you to read your e-mail! I’ve got a new system figured out.” She lifted her head proudly. “It should make things run smoother for you.”

  “Really?” I hardly dared to hope.

  She nodded. “After thinking about this job, I realized all the guests at the party must have something in common. I mean, why else would they be together, right? So I did some digging.” Her smile increased “Did you know you can Google from Hell?”

  Somehow, that didn’t surprise me.

  “Anyway, I did some digging, and I found that the man who hosted the party owns a manufacturing plant. A lot of those fellows work together.”

  I remembered the college students complaining about how the drummer’s father was ruining the party by turning the event into a business opportunity. My spirits lifted. “You can group these people together? Delilah, that’s ingenious!” Suddenly, my task felt a lot more manageable.


  She grinned. “How many people can you seduce at one time?”

  Good question. I’d taken on two at once before, but never more. “I guess it would depend on what I needed to make them do.”

  “Well, I’ve got something lined up in about an hour: four people at once.”

  “That’s awesome!”

  Delilah handed me a slip of paper. Written on it were the names of my clients along with the time and location of the temptation. But there were no further instructions. “What are they supposed to do?” I asked.

  Her smile faded. “I’m a little fuzzy on the details. You need to get them to take revenge on someone, but I don’t know who.” She pressed her lips into a hard line. “I’m sure Mr. Clerk would have figured it all out, but I can’t.”

  “You’re doing fine,” I assured her. “Besides, Patrick had his flaws, too.”

  Her mouth relaxed. “That’s a relief. From the way you and William talk, I’d always figured Mr. Clerk walked on water.”

  I shook my head. “That’s a trick from the other side of the divide. Not ours.”

  She looked at the floor. “Someday, I’m hoping to get over there and see it done.”

  Since the doors to Hell only seemed to swing in one direction, I doubted Delilah would get her wish. But I couldn’t tell her that. Hope was a fragile thing in Hell, and it never lasted long. I didn’t want to be the one who destroyed hers.

  Since I was meeting five businessmen in a sports bar, I opted for an ‘executive slut’ look. My twill suit was a nice, dull gray, but the skirt’s hemline was way too high for a professional woman. The silk camisole under the jacket was hardly a whisper of fabric above my breasts. The heels of my shoes were spiky, and the peep-toes showed off my pedicure. I admired the effect in the mirror. I thought I’d done a good job of appealing to an office drone’s fantasy, but I wished Patrick had been there to give me his expert opinion.

  As I put on my makeup, I made a plan. Once I finished the assignment, I’d hunt down a holy icon to bribe Helen. But where to get one? After considering churches and museums, I had an even better idea. The Vatican! Surely that place had an amazing collection of icons. Then another hope raised its head. Any icon special enough to be stored in the Vatican had to be worth not just one soul, but two. If I found something good – something really, really good – I could not only set myself free, but William as well. For the first time all day, my heart felt lighter.

  Fifteen minutes before I had to leave, someone with an otherworldly signature knocked at the door. When I answered, Harmony came in without waiting for an invitation. She eyed my slutty secretary getup. “Looks like someone has a job this afternoon.”

  “Yes,” I said stiffly. “Not that it’s your business.”

  “There’s no need to be touchy.” She took a seat on the couch, stretched her arms above her head, and yawned. “I just got off of work myself, and now I’m exhausted.” She didn’t look exhausted, though. Her eyes were even brighter than normal, and her skin was flushed, as if she were riding an endorphin high. “But I don’t mind because my job today was amazing!”

  “Really? You should tell me about it some time.” I tapped my wristwatch.

  She didn’t take the hint. “I was assigned to guard this little boy. I followed him for hours, right? Every time the kid went near a pair of scissors or an electrical outlet, I was ready to spring into action.”

  “And?” I was interested in spite of myself.

  Her unearthly, blue eyes twinkled. “Finally, at the grocery store, the boy gets into one of those special carts they make for kids. The ones that look like fire engines?”

  I nodded. Grace used to love those.

  “The minute he sat down, I smelled something nasty.” She wrinkled her pert nose. “I realized the steering wheel of that thing was covered in e-coli. So I approached the mother and pointed out the antibacterial wipes near the front of the store. ‘Safety first,’ is what I told her. She got the hint right away, of course, and wiped down the cart, killed the bacteria, and – BAM! – the kid is saved.” Harmony closed her eyes and smiled, ecstatic. “I love completing an assignment. I mean, what a rush!”

  I frowned, annoyed. “You act like you just took a bullet for the President. Or saved a busload of nuns from going over a cliff.” Okay, so I was jealous. I admit it. After all, a successful assignment for me generally meant death, destruction, and a trip to the hospital. Still, she didn’t have to rub it in.

  Her light dimmed. “Well, it’s better than what you do.”

  It was nice to know that even angels could become petty given the right circumstances. It made them more human. “I’m sorry. It’s been a long day.”

  She accepted my white flag with an understanding smile. “Guess what? I put in my intercession for Patrick.”

  I waited a heartbeat. “And?”

  She tilted her head. “And that’s it. They’re working on it now.”

  “Harmony, it’s been four days! And you’re telling me that they’re only starting to work on it?” I wanted to stab a fork in my eye. I had expected that Patrick would be rescued by the end of the week. I couldn’t bear the thought of him enduring Helen’s abuse any longer.

  Harmony smiled radiantly. “Be patient. Have a little faith.”

  “Faith isn’t going to get Patrick out of that iron maiden!”

  “We don’t know for sure he’s in there,” she reminded me.

  I hoped she was right. “So how long will this intercession thing take?”

  She shrugged. “Heaven works on its own time, but it’s always the right time.”

  I grit my teeth. “Maybe if you angels weren’t so busy drinking hot cocoa and weaving rugs from Moses’ robe, you’d have time to…” Holy icons! Suddenly, I realized an earthly icon might not be good enough to get William and me out of our contracts. No, I needed an icon from the one place Helen could never reach: Heaven.

  “Harmony, I need a favor.”

  She lifted an eyebrow. “Another one?”

  I sat next to her on the couch. “I think I have a way to get out of my contract, but I need your help.” I explained about Helen’s fascination with the piece of the cross, and how another, even better, holy icon straight from Heaven might be just the ticket to buy my freedom.

  As I talked, Harmony looked more and more worried. “I don’t know,” she said when I’d finished. “I mean, I’ll be happy to put in a request for you, but I’m not sure if it will be honored. Heaven’s policy is to ignore selfish prayers.”

  I drew back, affronted. “First off, I wasn’t praying!”

  She shrugged. “You were asking for help from a representative of Heaven, weren’t you?”

  Though it burned me, I let the comment pass. “Secondly, this isn’t selfish,” I said. “I mean, it does me good, sure, but it also helps my family and everyone whom I would have been tempting.” And William, I added mentally.

  “Like I said, I’ll put in a request, but there are no promises.”

  “How long will it take?” I asked. “I’m kind of in a hurry.”

  She sighed and pressed her fingertips to the sides of her head. “Heaven’s not on the same time schedule as everyone else.”

  “Oh, don’t start with that again!” Annoyed, I stood and began pacing. “Can’t you see I’m desperate here? All I’m asking for is one lousy icon.”

  “Prayers aren’t magic, Lilith.” She was getting testy as well. “And heaven’s not a shopping mall.”

  Would that it were, I thought angrily. “If you don’t want to help me, then don’t. But spare me the justification.”

  Her expression softened. “Prayers aren’t usually answered the way people expect them to be, but you never know. Maybe you’ll be the exception to the rule.”

  I should have known asking her for help would be useless. After all, praying hadn’t done a damn thing for Tommy, and he wasn’t even a demon. I wanted to continue arguing, but then I glanced at my watch. “I’ve got to get to work
.”

  To my surprise, Harmony hugged me before she left. “I’ll do what I can, but no promises.”

  That angel exasperated me to no end, but at the same time, I kind of liked her. After spending nearly a lifetime with Jasmine, I understood how it was possible to want to shake someone with one hand and still hug them with the other.

  The sports bar was packed with the after-work crowd. Most of the patrons dressed in business casual and kept one eye on their smart phones and the other on the Tigers’ game which was broadcasting on the enormous TV’s.

  My clients sat at a round table near a karaoke machine that was quiet this early in the evening. They seemed like ordinary guys blowing off steam at the end of a long workday, but pretty quickly their dark sides emerged. When the waitress brought them water, they asked the size of her bra cup. They acted as if they were the only ones in the restaurant, shouting so loudly at the Tigers that the other patrons glared at them. They boasted about their cars, their houses, and their bonuses.

  Sensing my anger, my succubus perked up, ready to roll up her sleeves and get to work. It’s payback time, she told me. When one of the men pinched the waitress’s butt, I couldn’t agree more.

  All of my clients were obnoxious, but one among them stood out as a Neanderthal among the cro-magnums. He was a heavy man with a jowly face and short bangs coated with so much gel that his hair stood at attention. A pinkie ring adorned his right hand, and a Bluetooth headset nestled in his ear.

  He wasn’t only the loudest man at the table, he was also the most aggressive. He turned everything into a competition by starting nearly all of his sentences with, “Well, if you think that’s something…” When one man said he was taking his wife to Cancun, Mr. Pinkie Ring immediately said, “Well, if you think that’s something, Andrea and I were in Tuscany last summer.” And when another man mentioned he was going to a Lions’ game, Mr. Pinkie Ring immediately interrupted him by bragging, “Well, if you think that’s something, I was a guest of Henry Clay Ford’s and we sat in his skybox.”