Not nice, like her work was fine and passable.
Nice, like she was just a girl, and he was just a boy.
Neither one of them was just anything. She was an honest-to-Lucifer sex demon who took souls for her boss, and Ethan was an alpha. By the looks of it, he was also an alpha who took his job as head of the pack very seriously.
Ruby appreciated that. “Hey, do you know much about packs?”
Portia giggled. “You meanwolfpacks?”
“Duh. How does it all work?”
“You’d have to ask Ethan for more clarifications. I won’t answer, I leave that to him.”
“Because you wanna pretend you know?”
She threw her head back. “Oh, no, sweetie. I’ve had my fair share of dealings with shifters over the years, but if I spill all of the secrets I know, what will you two talk about?”
“I thought you wanted me to do more than talk,” Ruby mumbled as she adjusted the corset of her dress. The white dress should’ve washed her out because she was so pale, but with that long red hair of hers, she managed to look like a goddess instead.
Not that it really mattered since she was wearing it for herself.
* * *
Ruby wantedto go down toLou’s Placeto meet Ethan alone, but there was no losing her aunt. Portia followed her all the way down. It was only when Lou, the bartender, waved her forward that Portia said her excuses. She blew Ruby a kiss and left her alone.
Ruby scanned the bar, but Ethan was nowhere to be seen. To be fair to the man, Ruby had gone down earlier in hopes of shaking Portia before meeting him.
Ruby could deal with a lot of ribbing, but having her aunt make all kinds of suggestive comments was where she drew the line. She decided to stand by the entrance, hoping to spot Ethan before he made his way into the bar. She might be able to intercept him without Portia noticing.
When he finally showed up … a minute in advance, good for him … he looked absolutely delicious. In fact, Ruby wanted to jump into his arms and kiss him silly. His tan pants were matched with a blue shirt that had tones of pale blue underneath. It made his eyes pop indecently.
Or maybe that was her insane succubus sex drive that was playing tricks on her.
As soon as he noticed her, his jaw dropped down. “Holy shit, you look …” He continued to blink like a cartoon.
“It better be a compliment on the tip of that tongue, Ethan,” she replied coyly.
He cleared his throat. “Yeah, it’s a compliment, but not one that I feel comfortable saying out loud.”
She giggled and waved him off. “Well, now I gotta know!”
He shook his head. “You want this to be platonic, right? If I’m honest, I am not thinking platonic things.”
“Ethan, where was this candid spirit yesterday?”
“I’ve got no clue what’s gotten into me right now, but all I wanna do is this.” Without a further indication of his intentions, Ethan closed the distance between them and stuffed his hands in her hair. He pulled her mouth to his, and he kissed her hard and deep. He moaned into the embrace before letting her go.
It took a few seconds … or minutes … for Ruby to recover.
Her head was swimming with desire, and her lips were perfectly swollen. The man could kiss. That meant he could dootherthings really well too.
“Your aunt was watching us. I figured if we wanted to sell the idea that we are really into each other, I had to make it look good. Sorry if I overstepped.” He licked his lips, and Ruby suppressed a moan.
Did everything he does have to be so damn sexy?
“Right. Good thinking. Take her right off our trail. Good. Very good.”Shut up, Ruby. You’re just going off right now, and that is not attractive.
She was a sex demon! She shouldn’t be all weak in the knees for a man. A mortal man at that.