by Tina Donahue
“Sharing.” Stefin leaned closer. “I told you my past and that made you sorry for how you behaved earlier. Now we can start at the beginning again. I run the show with these two fools while you—”
“I’m sorry you had a shitty childhood,” Zoe growled. “And that you didn’t learn anything from it or from being damned to Hell. By the way, how’d you escape your keepers down there to come here?”
Guilt flashed across his face. He shrugged it off. “Everything and everyone has a price. I met it.”
Zoe had to wonder how much shit he’d caused down there. Must have been bad given those blacked-out portions in his file. Satan had claimed that stuff was classified. Could be he hadn’t wanted to alarm her and probably didn’t want Stefin’s return any more than he did hers.
Somehow, Zoe felt even closer to Stefin despite his caveman ways. They were both outcasts, always unwanted and unloved. “Do you want to talk about it?”
He laughed. “Of course. I love to boast about my escapades.”
Another minute of this and she’d be banging her head against the wall or banging his into it. “I meant talk, share what happened, confess how wrong you were about whatever you did.”
He stepped back. “I have no regrets.”
“Wrong answer,” Taro said.
Zoe turned to him. “About you…”
Well, fuck. Taro should have kept his big mouth shut, but, no, he had to lay on the sarcasm. All that had accomplished was to shift Zoe’s indignation from Stefin to him.
Given Stefin’s smug expression, he wasn’t regretting it.
“What about me?” Taro asked.
“Your file had more portions blacked out than his.” She jabbed her thumb in Stefin’s direction. “What exactly did you do down there?”
Made the best of a bad situation, what else? It was either that or be subjected to the Bieb’s shitty singing for hours on end. Any man, no matter how tough, would weep like a little girl when faced with that. However, Taro was also wise enough to know that he shouldn’t boast about his bad behavior, at least not to Zoe. “Nothing that I’m proud of or that a lady should hear.”
She stared as if she couldn’t believe he’d said that. Suddenly, her expression softened and the smoke rising from her hair thinned to a few wisps and disappeared.
Well, what do you know, score one for him. Maybe now Anatol and Stefin would believe what he’d said, that sugarcoating things and using pretty words was the best way to reach a woman.
Oddly enough, Taro didn’t feel proud of himself. Zoe looked enthralled, as though he could stop time or create another universe. Like he was truly important, or he mattered to her.
Something inside Taro shifted, reminding him of the ladies he’d bedded during his brief life. Their adoring gazes followed by tears when he wouldn’t settle down. When he’d done nothing but take.
He sensed Zoe had experienced the same from the pricks she’d known.
Becca had said Zoe deserved more than BS, especially respect. Well, hell, who didn’t want that? Who didn’t want to be able to trust the person they were dealing with rather than keeping one hand on their six-shooter even in their sleep, to be prepared to zap another demon out of existence to save their own ass.
Rather than doing things the easy way, Zoe had opted for an impossibly hard journey. Part of Taro thought she was nuts for doing it. Another part of him admired her.
“That wasn’t true,” he blurted, the words out of his mouth before he could stop them.
“Idiot,” Anatol said.
Misgiving flickered across Zoe’s face, making her seem younger and vulnerable. Even with her goofy piercings, she was a fine-looking woman. Her hair was so black it had blue highlights, her skin silky as satin, white as snow. She was sharp too, and brave to have stood up to them. She deserved respect.
“I’m not ashamed of what I’ve done,” Taro confessed, unable to stop. “I just said that because it’s what I thought you wanted to hear. I wanted to please you.”
She got that dreamy look again, as if his honesty was the best turn on of all.
Who would’ve known?
Stefin leaned toward Anatol. “Is telling her that also part of his act?”
Oh shit. Taro glared at Stefin, but it was already too late. A wisp of smoke rose from Zoe’s right shoulder, another from the ends of her hair.
“It’s not an act,” Taro insisted.
She ignored him. “This is the way it works. I’m in charge of all of you, not the other way around. You do what I say. If you don’t like it, you can go to Hell, literally. Or, if you want, I can have Constance lay her hands on your heads and remove all memories of your time here. We’ll dump you someplace where you’ll belong, let’s say Wall Street or DC where all the crooks are. Your choice. If you want that, tell me now.”
Stefin opened his mouth. Anatol elbowed him hard before he could bluster and make things worse. No way was Taro going to speak. He’d already said too much by telling the truth. Something he hadn’t done in nearly two centuries.
Look where it had gotten him.
Zoe jabbed her thumb at her office. “Inside.”
Chapter Four
None of them moved. Stefin finally sighed. “Are you going to lock us up again?”
“There’s a thought.”
“Chéri.” Anatol gave her a sweet smile. “Becca won’t like it if you mess up another of her doors.”
No shit. Zoe waited for Taro’s two cents, most likely pure BS. His last lie had hurt to her core because she’d actually started to trust him.
Rather than comment, he studied her as if they were the only two demons left in the world with him not minding at all. How sweet was that? How nuts too? Zoe wanted him all over again even though he was a bastard.
Unsettled and hating herself for it, she turned away. “Behave and no one gets locked up.”
Anatol nodded. Stefin muttered something beneath his breath until Zoe cleared her throat loudly. Offering a forced smile, he followed Anatol inside with Taro taking up the rear, still quiet and watchful.
After gathering three pens and notepads, Zoe slapped a set in each of their hands. “Write down everything I say and commit it to memory.”
Stefin clicked his pen and spoke softly to himself as he wrote. “Write down everything I say then—”
“Not that.” Zoe struggled not to laugh. “Only what’s important.”
He eyed her, his expression embarrassed and then slightly pissed.
Uh-oh.
Anatol snickered until Zoe glared at him, which got him to sober up fast.
It took a lot of courage for her to face Stefin again, but Zoe forced herself to do so. “I’m sorry.” She was genuinely ashamed for having made him feel bad. He wasn’t stupid, just clueless when it came to social interaction, especially with a woman. “I wasn’t making fun. I’ll tell you when to start writing.”
With a curt nod, he lowered his pen and paper.
Zoe cleared her throat to hide how awful she still felt. He was a proud demon, no doubt used to women throwing themselves at his feet. Poor guy was going to die working under her. Better prepare him for the worst. “Look at the walls in here.”
Stefin and Anatol regarded them, even twisting their bodies to see what was behind their heads.
Taro continued to regard her, his baby blues unearthly, so piercing they would have penetrated Zoe’s soul if she’d had one.
Heat rose to her face with a whole lot more settling in her pussy. “What?”
“I wasn’t lying or putting on an act before.”
Stefin made a derisive noise.
Zoe held up her hand for him to stop, surprised at Taro’s admission, moved by his obvious sincerity. At least, she hoped that’s what it was. Again, he’d stirred so much longing within her, she felt deliciously weak.
“Shouldn’t he be looking at your walls as we are,” Stefin suddenly said.
Right. Business. They had to get back to it.
With her attention on Taro, Zoe gestured to her walls. He continued to study her for what seemed an eternity, making her even wetter, before he finally glanced around.
Hauling in a deep breath, Zoe drank in his exquisite form, large and manly, at last settling on the awesome bulge behind his fly. It was a moment before she could trust her voice. “What do you see?”
Stefin stepped in Zoe’s way, blocking her view of Taro assets.
She frowned. Stefin didn’t move. “It’s not what we do see but what we don’t. There aren’t any claw marks on your walls like there are in the treatment rooms.”
“That’s right,” Anatol said, as if he’d just noticed.
Clearly pleased with himself, Stefin rocked on his heels and smiled down at her as a Master might, with a shitload of confidence and lust.
Zoe dropped her hand before she touched his gorgeous lips, surprised she’d been about to do so. Especially after what he’d said. Her shoulders slumped. “That’s all you see in here, walls that don’t have claw marks on them?”
He frowned and scanned the room once more. Taro and Anatol did the same, none of them getting her point.
She sighed. “There are awards hanging on the walls.” My awards. Ordinarily, Zoe wasn’t one to brag. However, these guys needed to know she wasn’t a lightweight.
Understanding finally flashed across Anatol’s face. After reading the first one, he grinned over his shoulder at her. “You’re a force to be reckoned with, huh?”
Zoe blushed. His praise and dreadlocks turned her inside out, making her unexpectedly flirtatious. “I thought you already knew that.”
Stefin pushed Anatol aside to read that award then the others. “Impressive.” He faced her, his expression serious with a new look of respect. “You would have done well in Russia with my comrades.”
Zoe beamed. “I held my own in Hell, same as you. We surely gave Satan a run for his money, didn’t we?”
He laughed.
Taro moved from award to award, scribbling furiously on his notepad.
Zoe went around Stefin to him. “What are you doing?”
Taro continued writing. “Taking down what’s important, just like you said.”
He considered her awards special enough to write down, committing each word on them to memory? Zoe ached to hug him for his sweet regard, having experienced so little of it in the past from any man or demon. Wisely though, she restrained herself.
Zoe didn’t want him or the others to think that a few kind words would allow them to put anything over on her. Although they were behaving now, that didn’t mean she could trust them fully.
Time to prove why she was their boss.
The moment Taro had finished she headed for the door. “Follow me.”
Zoe’s skirt swayed provocatively as she wiggled her way down the hall. Hmm. There was definitely a new spring in her step that Stefin wasn’t certain he liked.
He caught Taro’s arm before the demon could pass and kept his voice low. “Quit telling her what she wants to hear. You heard Becca. Be honest.”
Taro pulled his arm away. “Who said I wasn’t?”
“Me. Are you deaf?”
“He was being argumentative,” Anatol said, passing both of them.
Stefin caught up, taking the lead as was his right. Having been the top badass in Hell, that wasn’t about to change here.
Zoe breezed into a treatment room. Squirming on the table was a tall, thin man with sunken eyes and an ashen complexion that reminded Stefin of a corpse. So many leather restraints confined him that he looked as if he were trying to emerge from a cocoon.
As Zoe approached, the man hissed loudly, his incisors elongating into fangs.
“This is my client,” she announced, sweeping her hand in the vamp’s direction.
He snapped his teeth, trying to bite her finger.
Stefin tensed, wanting—no, needing—to protect Zoe. Like a man should and like she needed whether she was willing to admit it or not. At any other time, he would have sent the bastard to the far reaches of Hell for trying to harm her. Not wanting to set her off by making the wrong move, Stefin kept his peace and waited.
“Write this down,” she said.
He put pen to paper, scribbling as he said, “Write this down.”
Zoe pressed her fingers to her mouth but couldn’t hide all of her smile. How sweet. She was pleased he was following her orders to the letter. Felt weird, but, hey, Stefin was willing to try anything to get her to submit to him professionally and carnally. She was the boss for now, though that wouldn’t last. He winked.
Zoe’s lips parted, her expression yielding as a woman’s should when facing her Master. A man who’d dominate without cruelty and would possess without threat. Stefin’s balls and cock liked that notion, pressing against his fly to get to her.
The vamp snapped his teeth.
Startled, she looked over and frowned. “Bite me again, mister, and your days of sucking blood are over.”
“That’s why I’m here,” he shot back. “To keep from doing that.”
“Then use a little self-control, why don’t you.”
“Wait.” Stefin crossed the room to her. “Are you saying this thing actually bit you earlier?”
“Thing?” the vamp growled.
“Quiet.” Stefin turned back to Zoe. “Did he?”
She rested her hand against her neck. “I can take care of myself.”
How brave she was. Foolish too. “Not if he bit you, you can’t.”
Zoe stepped back and spoke through her teeth. “Don’t worry about me. He took one suck, gagged and then bitched about me tasting bad.”
Did he now? Stefin turned to the vamp. “Is that true? You don’t think she tastes as good as everyone else?”
The creature looked wary suddenly, glancing from him to Taro and Anatol, then back. “She’s a demon. I figured that out when she tasted like sh—ah, hell. It’s where she comes from. Not my fault.”
Stefin smiled. “I agree.” He sobered, putting his notepad and pen on the counter. “However, biting her falls completely on you.”
The vamp shrank away as much as he could, which wasn’t a lot.
If he hadn’t already mortgaged his soul, Stefin would have exchanged it for the chance to use his powers. Sighing deeply, he clamped his hands on the vamp’s mouth, pried the creature’s lips apart and used his superior strength to yank out his right fang.
The vampire howled.
Zoe hollered over the noise. “What are you doing?”
What else? “Making certain he can’t bite you again.” Stefin held out the bloody fang to her. “Hold this while I get the other.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” she cried. “That’s not the way we do things here.”
Anatol and Taro wrote furiously on their notepads, both of them shaking their heads.
Their reactions clued Stefin in to the brutal truth. He’d fucked up again when he was merely trying to show Zoe the respect she needed and deserved. Great. “Quiet,” he ordered the wailing vamp. “Or I’ll remove a part of you that really hurts.”
The creature tried to draw his legs together but the restraints stopped him.
Stefin regarded the tooth, his gift to Zoe that she didn’t want. “Tell me how to put this back and I will.”
She went to the door and yelled, “Heather!”
“Coming!” Heather shouted back.
She ran into the room, her pale hair and outfit swirling around her like a cloud. She skidded to a stop at Zoe’s side and gaped at the fang between Stefin’s fingers. “Oh. How did that happen?”
“Never mind,” Zoe said. “Heal him, please.”
“You g
ot it.” Swallowing repeatedly as if she might hurl, Heather took the tooth from Stefin. “Easy, I won’t hurt you,” she said to the vamp.
“I’m gonna sue all of you,” he growled.
“Want me to call Constance?” Heather asked Zoe. “Get rid of his memories?”
“Later. Fix the tooth first.”
The fairy nodded and worked her magic, healing the vamp until both his fangs were just as deadly as they had been. He tongued them and then snapped at her. Heather skittered back.
Stefin frowned. “How come she gets to use her power, but I can’t use mine?”
“Because she’s good,” Zoe said, standing on tiptoes to push her face into his. “You’re not.”
He pushed his face right back into hers until their lips nearly touched and he could smell her intoxicating breath. The promise of seduction and sin, nights spent in a haze of hedonistic pleasure. “You like that I’m bad. Don’t tell me you don’t.”
Zoe’s hair stopped smoking, her frustration draining away. Desire replaced it. Stefin saw it in her gaze, the flames inside burning hot with passion and unfulfilled need.
About time. “Let me give you what you really want and have to have.” Him running the show with her submitting effortlessly.
Zoe’s expression changed. She brushed past him and spoke to Heather. “Get Constance.”
The vamp wailed, “I am so going to sue you maniacs.”
“Fat chance,” Zoe told him. She grabbed Stefin’s notepad and pen, slapping both against his chest. “Write down what you see in the next few minutes. You too,” she ordered Anatol and Taro.
They gave Stefin a withering glance that said he was a cretin.
Fuming, he still managed to control himself. He was determined to play this game as Zoe wanted until she understood that not only was his way best but what she truly desired—
A strong man to show her the way to exquisite decadence and beyond.
A few more hours of this and Zoe figured she’d need a straitjacket to relax. Stefin, Anatol and Taro were supposed to help her. Ha. What a huge laugh that was.
When Constance strolled in, they eyed her as they would a fresh soul dripping with innocence. She wasn’t any better, openly ogling them.
