“Shouldn’t it be reading and then reviewing?”

“Whatever,” I muttered.

Daemon coasted the SUV out onto the road. “Why can’t you still do that?”

“If Blake wants to talk tonight, then that’s going to soak up all my time.” I really wanted to pout. Maybe even kick my feet.

With one hand on the wheel and the other arm thrown over the back of my seat, he cast me a half smile. “You don’t need to be there, Kitten. We can talk to him without you.”

“Yeah right.” I laughed. “There’s a good chance someone will kill Blake without me there.”

“And would you really be torn up about that?”

I made a face. “Well…”

Daemon laughed.

“And the fact that upon his untimely death, there’s a letter delivered to Nancy Husher. So, we kind of need him alive.”

“True,” he said, catching a strand of my hair between his fingers. “But we can keep it short. You’ll have a normal Monday evening full of normal suck and not extraterrestrial suckage.”

Shame burned my cheeks as I bit down on my lip. As crazy as everything had turned out, I could admit that things could be worse. “That’s really selfish of me.”

“What?” He tugged on my hair gently. “It’s not selfish, Kitten. Your whole life can’t revolve around this crap. It won’t.”

Straightening my fingers, I smiled. “You sound so determined.”

“And you know what happens when I get determined.”

“You get your way.” He raised his brows at me, and I laughed. “But what about you—your life can’t revolve around this crap.”

He pulled his hand back, resting it on his thigh. “I was born into this. I’m used to it, and besides, it’s all about time management. Say, like time management last night. We did our mission thing—”

“And failed.”

“There’s that, but the rest of last night?” One side of his lips curled up and I felt my cheeks heat for a totally different reason. “We had the bad—the not-normal. And then we had the good—the normal. Granted, the good was interrupted by the bad, but there was time management there.”

“You make it sound so easy.” I stretched out my legs, relaxing.

“It is that easy, Kat. You just need to know when to draw the line, when you’ve had enough.” There was a pause as he slowed and turned onto the lonely road leading up to our houses. “And if you’ve had enough for today, you have. Nothing to feel guilty about or to worry about.”

Daemon coasted to a stop in his driveway and killed the engine. “And no one will kill Bill.”

I laughed softly as I unbuckled the seat belt. “Blake. His name is Blake.”

Daemon pulled the keys out and leaned back, his eyes glimmering with amusement. “He’s whatever I decide to call him.”

“You’re terrible.” Crossing the distance between us, I kissed him. As I pulled away, he reached for me and I giggled, opening the door. “And by the way, I haven’t had enough today. I just needed a kick in the pants. But I do need to be home by seven.”

I shut the door and turned. Daemon stood before me. He stepped forward and there was nowhere for me to go if I wanted to. And I didn’t.

“You haven’t had enough?” he asked.

Recognizing the tone of his voice, my bones melted in response. “No, not nearly enough.”

“Good.” His hands were on my hips, tugging me forward. “That’s what I like to hear.”

Placing my hands on his chest, I tilted my head back. This was totally an exercise in time management. Our lips brushed and warmth cascaded through me. It was a really fun exercise. I rose onto the tips of my toes and slid my hands up the hard plane of his chest, marveled at the way it rose unsteadily.

Daemon whispered something and then the soft kiss, which wasn’t much more than a butterfly touch, strengthened me and unraveled him. His arms swept around me, and I could feel his heart pounding in tandem with mine.

“Hey!” Dawson yelled from the front door. “I think Dee caught the microwave on fire. Again. And I tried popping some popcorn with my hands and it kind of went wrong. Like really, really wrong.”

Daemon pressed his forehead against mine and growled. “Dammit.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Time management, right?”

“Time management,” he muttered.

Surprisingly, pretty much everyone was on board with the onyx thing. I was convinced we had an invasion of the body snatchers or something, because even Matthew was nodding like exposing yourself to the hellishly painful onyx was a good thing.

I had a feeling that would change the first time he came in contact with it.

“This is so insane,” Dee said, and I had to agree. “This is tantamount to self-mutilation.”

Ah, she kind of had a point.

Dawson’s head dropped back, and he sighed. “That’s a little extreme.”

“I remember what you looked like when they brought you back down the mountain.” She twisted her hair around her hand. “And Katy lost her voice for a while from screaming. Who signs up for that?”

“Crazy people.” Daemon sighed. “Dee, I don’t want you doing this.”

Her expression was clearly a no duh one. “No offense, Dawson, I love you and want you to see Beth and to hold her, because I wish…” Her voice cracked, but her spine straightened. “But I don’t want to do this.”




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