Jed grimaced. “I’m sure we’ll come up with something—”
“Oh, like that helps. You don’t even believe your own words.” She grabbed a duffel bag from the stack next to the cabinet, then yanked open the bag and dropped it on the floor. “At least try to sound convincing. I’m in need of some positive reinforcement here, Jed.” She scooped up a handful of gold. “I’m taking enough to pay you for a month, so you can stuff your doom and gloom. I’m staying alive for the month. And no, I don’t have a plan to get Junior to extend his deadline. But I’ll come up with something!”
Jed raked his hand through his hair in frustration as she threw the coins into the bag so hard they all bounced right back out. “Listen, Paige. I know we’ll be able to handle this. Bandit’s going to be our ace and I’m sure Jerome will return the message you left for him since you explained the situation with Bandit and the vortex . . . as long as he doesn’t delete it first once he realizes it came from Satan’s office number. . . .” She rolled her eyes at him, but he kept going. “And if he does, we’ll call again. You can’t give up on this. I need your optimism, and I think your wraith might be affecting your ability to shake all this off, dragging you into a negative mind-set.”
“The wraith is putting me in this bad mood? All the more reason to hate it! I hate being in a bad mood!” She hurled the handful of coins into the bag so hard they bounced out again and rolled around the floor. “Dammit. I can’t believe my money is going into Junior’s bank account. That’s just crap too. We should rub it in poison ivy before we give it to—”
“Your money?”
Jed started in surprise and spun to the right.
Satan was leaning against the wall, his arms folded over his chest. Crud. How had he gotten in? Jed hadn’t been face-to-face with Satan in at least five years, despite his numerous forays into hell to cause trouble at Junior’s behest.
Paige didn’t even bother to look up as she continued to scoop up gold. “It’s the Rivka petty cash. I’m a Rivka. So it’s mine.”
“Former Rivka, are you not?”
Her eyes glittered with annoyance. “I didn’t read any rules that said former ones lose the right to the petty cash.”
Satan stared at her, then broke out into a wide grin. “Oh, you are most delightful. You have learned from my former favorite Rivka. I like spunk. I will change the rules.”
Paige zipped up the bag, then hoisted it over her shoulder, staggering under the weight. “That’s crap. You’re the reason I have no job skills and have to continue living off the Rivka petty cash fund. You should be forced to support me in my old age.”
His smile widened. “My former apprentice is in a fine mood today. I quite enjoy this. Are you feeling dark, today? A bad mood taking over your sunshiny personality, perhaps? Is a certain wraith beginning to take over your ebullient nature, turning you into bitter and cranky old maid?”
Paige blinked, and Jed saw awareness come over her face, followed by dismay and then frustration, as Satan confirmed what Jed had already suggested. The blackness in her soul was beginning to corrupt her personality.
Dammit. He liked her personality, and he didn’t want it trumped by some hostile dark side. Jed threw his arm over her shoulder and yanked her against his side. “We will solve this,” he growled.
Paige looked at him, then broke into a smile. “Now, see? That was convincing.” She stood on her toes and gave him a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you.”
Satan lifted his brows at him. “You look familiar. Who are you?”
“Bodyguard.”
“Bodyguard?” Satan looked at Paige, his upper lip curled in disgust. “You are so weak you need a bodyguard? You are not worthy of the title of former Rivka apprentice and you do not deserve Rivka petty cash.” He went to grab the bag off her shoulder and Paige stepped back, flared up a fireball, and smacked it in his face.
Satan stumbled back, holding his hands to his face, while Jed shoved Paige behind him and braced himself for Satan’s reprisal. Paige tried to move in front of him, and Jed grabbed her arm and pushed her back. “You’re in no position to deal with a fight. Stay back and let me do my job. Got it?”
Her eyes widened, then a sensual heat flared in her eyes, sucker punching him in the gut. “It is so hot you want to protect me from Satan. I mean, yeah, I’m paying you for it, but most bodyguards would say taking on Satan went over the line.”
“You fireballed me?” Satan was probing a sizzling black crater where his right cheek used to be. “With a fireball hot enough to hurt me? I did not think a Rivka could generate a fireball of that power. I am much impressed.”
“Of course I fireballed you! This is your fault I’m in this mess, and I’m pissed.” She flared up another one and hurled it Satan, who managed to duck this time, but the fireball screeched to a halt, whirled around, and slammed into the back of his head.
Satan howled and stumbled forward, his hands bracing against the fall as his knees hit the marble floor. He jerked his head up as smoke rose from the back of his head. “What was that?”
“Heat sensor. I’ve been experimenting.” She thrust the bag into Jed’s stomach, then dropped to her knees in front of Satan, her face up in his grill. “How do I stop this shit from taking over me?”
He shook his head. “There is no way.”
She immediately hurled a fireball at his groin. Satan crowed with delight as it screeched to a stop just before making contact. “Look how dangerous you are! I admire you muchly and I would stop if I could! I chose you as the experiment because you were too soft and I did not like your personality. But now that you fireball me, I much adore you and I would keep you if I could and put a different useless Rivka in your place as evil wraith. Why did you wait until now to develop spunk? Why?” He scowled. “This is your fault! Always yours!”
Another fireball flared up in her hand, and her vision began to blur. “There has to be a way. Tell me what it is!” Her voice was raspy and harsh. Not good. “Or I’ll finish you now.”
Jed grabbed her wrist and pried the fireball out of her hand. “Paige! You’re losing it, sweetheart.” He squatted next to her and grabbed her shoulders. “You need to get back in control.”
She jerked her gaze to him, and he was shocked by how black her eyes were. She started to shake. “I can’t stop,” she whispered. “I’m so mad at him.”
Shit. “Okay, it’s time to get you out of here.” He threw his arm around her shoulder and pulled her to her feet. Her muscles were tight, and her fists were clenched with the effort of maintaining control.
“Wait,” she gritted out. “How do we break an otherworld contract?”
The contract. Jed stared at her, shocked that she was thinking about his contract when she was about to go wraith. Something warm cruised through him and he tightened his arms around her. “I’ll keep you safe,” he whispered. “I’ll find a way.”
“What contract?” Satan asked.
Jed trailed his lips over the side of Paige’s neck to distract the wraith. She made a small noise and leaned into him, gripping his wrist so tightly that he was pretty sure she was drawing blood. He began to rub her back. “Stay with me, Paige.”
“Satan Junior.” Paige wrapped her arm around Jed, anchoring him to her, her body vibrating with tension as she fought off the wraith. “Jed needs to break a contract with him.”
“Oh.” Satan beamed. “That is excellent. As a proud father, I am most pleased that my progeny has trapped you by a bad contract and I do not assist your freedom. But as the leader of hell, I must take every opportunity to take down my opponent, and I must help you. I am torn about how to proceed.” He frowned and was silent.
Paige closed her eyes and let her head drop back against Jed’s shoulder, and he felt her darkness pulse into him. He realized she was getting darker than he could withstand. It was like at the restaurant, only worse. His soul began to ache, but he didn’t release her. Not yet. “My contract with Junior will result in Paige being his servant o
nce she turns wraith,” he told Satan.
Satan stiffened. “He steals my wraith? Impossible. He cannot own her.”
“Love trumps wraith-hood.”
“Oh.” Satan rubbed his chin. “It might. It might indeed.” He marched over to Paige and leaned over her. “You will love me now.”
Paige kicked Satan in the shin, and Jed yanked her back against him, wincing as his body began to go numb from her assault on him. His phone rang as he hooked his arm around Paige’s upper body to hold her still, and Jed answered it by speaker phone without even looking to see who it was. “What?”
Junior’s voice rang out in the room. “Is she in love yet? Have you turned her wraith? I’m so excited about stealing her from my dad. I can’t stand the wait.”
“You shall never steal her,” Satan bellowed. “I will laugh at your failure and no longer be as impressed with you as I currently am. I do admire the plan, even though it will fail miserably.”
Junior shouted a few paternal-related obscenities and hung up.
“So, how do I break the contract?” Jed ground out.
“I will not assist you.” Satan stood up. “I do not believe the fruit of my loins can best me by stealing the wraith’s loyalty. I welcome the battle.” Then he spun around and twirled out of sight in an explosion of gold bubbles.
Jed cursed as his legs began to shake, and he knew they were out of time. “Get us out of here.”
Paige groaned as she sat up in the burned-out field that used to be the green outfield at Yankee Stadium. She’d landed in left field and rolled all the way to right, killing every blade of grass along the way. It wasn’t until she’d made it almost to the foul line that she’d finally felt relief and slowed down. Relief because her wraith had fed on the death of thousands of blades of grass and was digesting them.
So it could grow even stronger.
She hugged herself, realizing that she was losing control of the battle with the wraith. It would soon be stronger than she was and then even Jed wouldn’t be able to stop her from killing—
“Jed?” She spun around and saw him lying on the field exactly where they’d landed. And he wasn’t moving. “Jed!”
She jumped up and nearly went down as her rubbery legs gave out on her, then half-crawled her way back across the field to him. She dropped down next to him, afraid to touch him. His eyes were closed and he was still, but his chest was rising and falling gently. “Jed?”
“You would be one high-maintenance girlfriend,” he mumbled. “Where’s the sunshiny personality I fell in love with when we first met?”
Her eyes instantly filled up with tears. “You’re okay?” Oh, God. He was okay . . . and he’d said he’d fallen in love with her? She blinked to clear her vision. “Jed—”
He opened one eye. “You have got to make more of an effort not to let people piss you off. Don’t let the wraith rule you.”
She bit her lower lip. “I didn’t mean to hurt you—”
“Oh, hell. Come here.” He grabbed her wrist and yanked her on top of him before she could resist. “I hate it when you’re afraid to touch me.”
She sighed and let herself relax on his chest, trying not to breathe in the smell of charred grass. Instead, she concentrated on the feel of his chest moving, his hands resting on her waist, trying to use him as her focal point to clear her mind from all the negativity.
“So, down in Satan’s chambers . . . was that the Paige you want to be, or was that the inner wraith coming to take over your personality?”
She nestled tighter under his chin. “I hate being mean. Or being mad. Or being petty. I like to harvest souls that belong in hell and I enjoy a good fight with a worthy opponent.” She sighed, watching his shirt ruffle under her breath. “But down there . . . that was different. I didn’t like who I was. I felt . . . muddy. I felt hopeless. And angry. So unbelievably angry.” She shuddered at the memory, at her loss of control with Satan.
“I’m relieved to know that it was the wraith and not you.” His hands began to rub her lower back, and she felt his lips brush against her forehead. “Have you considered that maybe you don’t actually want to be a heartless Rivka who tortures and destroys all comers? Maybe you just want to take out bad souls and make the world a better place. That seems like a better fit with who you are, believing you can save the world and all that.”
She contemplated his words, and was surprised to realize they didn’t feel wrong. “I’m not that altruistic. I’m not about saving the world. I’m just about saving myself and doing what makes me feel good.”
“Are you?” There was a hint of amusement to his voice, and his hands continued to caress her back, sliding under her shirt to her bare skin. “Which is why you asked about my contract with Junior when you were on the verge of snapping?”
She frowned. “Did I? It’s all kind of a blur.”
“You’re better than you want to be,” he whispered into her mouth as his hand snuck around to the back of her neck, anchoring her right where she was. “I really want to kiss you right now.”
“Really?” She looked thrilled. “Do it.”
He thumbed her lip. “I can’t be good for you.”
“In the big picture, I totally agree.” She fisted the front of his shirt and tugged him down to her. “But for now, I think you’re exactly what I need.” She lifted her head and kissed him, his mouth warm under hers. She sighed as he responded instantly, slipping past her tongue, tasting her teeth.
He lifted his head. “You’re like . . .” Then he kissed her again, and didn’t finish.
She pulled back, her heart racing. “I’m like what? Tell me.”
His eyes were dark. “You’re like sunshine. My own personal angel.”
Her stomach fluttered at the growl in his chest; then he caught his leg around hers, flipped her under him, and let his hips drop on top of hers, while he propped his upper body up on his hands. “You’re like a drug.”
She swallowed at the intensity on his face, at the delicious feel of him pressed between her legs. “The kind that will save you or kill you?”
“Kill me, definitely.” His face darkened. “And I don’t care.”
And then he kissed her like he really didn’t.
Eighteen
Jed’s phone rang as Paige’s lips parted to welcome him, and he cursed and tossed it aside without answering it. He felt her body arch up under him and he groaned under a sudden blast of need. For her. Her spirit was hot, alive, and brimming with enthusiasm, and she was reaching for him. He, who was damned. So black that she couldn’t hurt him with her touch, and she didn’t care.
Her fingers gripped his hair so tightly he could feel the pain reverberating down his back, and he basked in it. Basked in the fact that she could want him so much that she’d hold on that desperately. He kissed her deeper, and she kissed him back just as hard, her breasts pressing up against his chest.
Her breasts . . . He slid his hand along her waist, along the silken softness of her skin, traced her ribs—
“Do it,” she whispered. “Please, just do it.”
Heat flared in him and he covered her breast with his hand, and she let out a small moan that went straight between his legs. “God, Jed, this feels so amazing.” Her hands were suddenly at his back, sliding beneath his jeans, her fingers tentative and careful.
“You can’t hurt me,” he mumbled as he slid his lips down the side of her neck, tasting her skin, sweet and salty and perfect. She tasted like . . . he grazed her collarbone with his teeth . . . sunshine. He didn’t know how he knew what sunshine tasted like, but Paige was it.
She sighed and tilted her head back as her fingers dug into his butt. Her hips twisted under him as he trailed his lips lower, tugged down the collar of her shirt as something stirred deep inside him, something that was waking up that he’d kept hidden for years.
Something soft.
Something . . . “Paige,” he whispered. “Oh, my sweet, sweet Paige . . .” He tugged her shirt up an
d then paused. Her skin was perfect. Exquisite. Her breasts . . . He bent down and gently brushed his lips over the tip as his phone rang again.
Paige sucked in her breath. “Oh, wow. Theresa wasn’t exaggerating. This . . .”
Jed swallowed her words with a kiss, cupping her face with his hands, desperate to get closer, to drink in more of her, to feel her kissing him back with such reckless need.
She knew what he was, and she wanted him anyway.
And not because she wanted the thrill of getting it on with a bad guy, or because he was wrong for her, and was a danger to her . . . she wanted him because she couldn’t help herself. . . .
Suddenly he couldn’t get enough. He crushed his mouth over her breasts, yanked at her jeans, desperate to be inside her, to be closer, for one minute to just feel her complete and total acceptance of him, and to let the brightness of her soul consume him.
Her hands met his and she unbuttoned her jeans and unzipped them, because his fingers had suddenly started trembling too hard to manage her pants. Her hands dropped from his and went to his hair again as he slipped his hand beneath the silken material, to the softness of her core.
Paige’s hips jerked under his touch. “Holy hell,” she whispered. “Jed—”
She was ready for him, hot and pulsing, and heat roared into his brain, slamming him so hard he could barely see. “You want me.” He couldn’t believe it. “But I’m damned.”
“Jed!” She yanked his hair so he had to look at her. Her cheeks were flushed and her mouth was parted, and she looked like she’d been thoroughly loved, and was still eager for more. “When are you going to get that I don’t care about that? You aren’t some flawed beast! You’re the most amazing man I’ve ever met and I want you to make love to me until my body is nothing but a weak puddle of mush on the burned-out patch of grass we’re lying on—”
He groaned, yanked his hand out of her pants, and rolled off her.
She propped herself up on her elbows, not even bothering to pull her shirt and bra back down over her breasts. “What? What did I say? What happened?”
Sex & The Immortal Bad Boy Page 13
