“Maybe she couldn’t follow through.”
Reed tossed the loofah back at her, then caught her hips and spun her out of the shower spray.
“Hey!” she protested, as he stepped under the water. “The point is that she knew she wasn’t going to help me. She just led me to believe otherwise.” Shaking out his wet hair, he ceded the shower back to her and reached for her shampoo.
“I thought archangels didn’t lie.”
He paused a second, as if considering that, then began scrubbing his hair. “Why are we talking about this?”
“I want to learn more about you.” Shrugging, she began scrubbing at her skin, turning it a lovely shade of soft pink.
“Then why are you asking questions about someone else?”
“Fine. I’ll ask a question about you: what did you want her to do for you?”
His hands moved from his chest to hers. The look she gave him said she wouldn’t be distracted.
“It’s not important now,” he said.
Suddenly, she smacked him on the shoulder. “I was right,” she crowed. “You do want to be an archangel.”
Reed growled and tugged her soapy body against his. “I stayed out of your brain. You have no business digging around in mine.”
“You thought of it. It just popped into my head.” It hit him that their newfound intimacy might open pathways he’d prefer stay closed.
As if she caught his reluctance, Eve frowned. “What’s the big deal anyway?”
He felt her begin to pull back, both physically and emotionally. His fingers flexed into her buttocks.
“It’s a lofty ambition,” he explained tightly, knowing that he was going to have to open up at least a little if he hoped to keep her. “Not one you want to advertise.”
“I can understand that. But you trusted Sara with it. When I asked you about it before, you blew me off.”
Bending at the knees, Reed fit his frame more perfectly to hers. “You share thoughts with my brother, babe.”
“Why would he care if you want to be promoted?”
His jaw clenched. Talking about himself was one of his least favorite things to do. “In the past,” he said carefully, “if Cain knew I wanted something, he would usually get it first.”
“Oh.” Her arms came around him and the loofah in her hand scratched his back deliciously.
“Scrub my back?” he asked, kissing her forehead.
“Keep talking?” she dickered.
“There are more enjoyable ways to pay you in kind.”
“Deal or no deal?”
Grumbling at his inability to tell her no, he altered their positions so that she could stay warm beneath the water while he stood outside of it. As she ran the loofah over his skin, she asked, “Do you think Alec will interfere with your advancement now? He’s already been promoted.”
“Yes, I think he’d get in the way. He’s better at killing things, but that’s the only thing he’s better at. He knows I’d surpass him.”
Eve’s movements slowed, then stopped altogether. He waited, then looked over his shoulder.
Her gaze met his. “You said you think he secured the endorsement he needed with a bargain.”
“I do. Hasn’t he proven that’s the way he works? He bargained with God to mentor you. He bargained with Grimshaw to get to you at the masonry. He bargained to resurrect you after Asmodeus’s dragon killed you. Cain will break any rule, and he’s in demand. Others barter with him to accomplish tasks they’re afraid to do themselves.”
“The way you bargained with Sara to get her guards to help me in Upland?”
Reed froze. How much did she know about that transaction? “Is that what you were digging around for earlier?”
Her gaze lowered. “Did I get it wrong? Did you do it for her?”
He swallowed hard, relieved by her apparent ignorance of his prostitution and terrified by the sudden expectation between them. It felt like a turning point and he wasn’t ready for it yet. Didn’t know how to get ready for it. “Not for her,” he managed, finally.
The grateful kiss she pressed to the wet skin of his biceps made him look away before she saw whatever his face might reveal. She could bring him to his knees with a look. It would be best if she didn’t know that.
She cleared her throat. “It would have to be a seraph who helped your brother, right? They’re the only ones who have the ear of God.”
“Not the only ones, no. The cherubim and thrones are also near Him. But the thrones are humble angels. They lack the ambition to strike a devil’s bargain with Cain.”
Eve held up both hands in a gesture of surrender. “I’m not in the right frame of mind to have a lesson on the hierarchy of angels.”
“Good’ He gestured at his back and gave her his best smile. “Please?”
As Eve resumed scrubbing, Reed faced forward. “I’m really worried about Gadara,” she murmured. “It’s driving me crazy that everyone seems to have written him off. I want people running around, pushing for answers, hitting the pavement. . . something.”
He nodded.
“I have an idea.”
Reed tensed at Eve’s tone, which held a note of reluctance, as if she knew in advance that what she was going to say would cause an unpleasant reaction. “What?”
“We want Gadara. Satan wants me. Why don’t we offer a trade?”
He froze. His chest lifted and fell in normal rhythm, but his heart raced. It shouldn’t. He wasn’t aroused; he was horrified. “Are you insane?”
“Maybe. Probably.”
Facing her, he caught her by the hips. “No fucking way.”
“Come on.” Her gaze was forthright and earnest. “If we put our heads together we can figure out a way to pull it off without one of us getting killed.”
“Helllloooo? Earth to Eve. This is Sammael we’re talking about. Aside from Jehovah, nothing exists that can defeat him.”
Her jaw took on a stubborn cant. “I’m not talking about defeating him. I’m talking about tricking him.”
He shook her. “And what do you think he’s going to do when all is said and done? He’s already set a bounty on your head!”
“If he really wanted me dead, I’d be dead.”
Convoluted logic or not, she had a point. Still, the risk she was willing to take made Reed’s gut churn. “He likes to play with his kills,” he bit out. “That’s all.”
“Just think about it.”
“No”
“It’s the only option we’ve got!”
“Bullshit.” He had a much better trade in mind, but she wasn’t going to like the terms. “It’s not an option at all.”
Eve opened her mouth to argue, but he sealed his lips over hers and shut her up.
“I’ll cook dinner tonight,” Reed offered. “And no, it won’t be Kung Pao chicken.”
Eve finished pulling a T-shirt over her head, then glanced at him. His head was down, his eyes on his belt buckle as he fastened it. Perfectly polished, as usual. She took a good long look at him, appreciating his elegance even more for its artlessness. He hadn’t primped when he exited the shower; didn’t even glance at the mirror. A quick run of his hands through his hair was all that was needed due to the precision of his cut.
This was what she’d once thought her married life would be like. Great sex. Showering together before work. A man she couldn’t get enough of looking at. She was turned on by the dichotomy of Reed’s present composure contrasted against his fervency in bed and the heat with which he’d rejected her suggestion of a trade for Gadara.
Even knowing that he wanted to advance to archangel and lose whatever feelings he had for her, she still wanted him.
Eve sighed. It had been clear from the beginning that she’d never be able to keep either brother. Their purpose was infinite, hers was finite. She didn’t want to hold either of them back and she wasn’t willing to give up her own dreams of normalcy, which meant it was up to her to keep her heart out of it.
Reed was reaching for his watch on the nightstand when he caught her staring. He paused, his previously absorbed expression changing to one of bemusement. He really had no idea what to make of her, and that told her that whatever she was to him, it was unique.
She licked her lower lip and watched his breathing quicken.
“Got a minute?” she asked breathlessly.
His slow smile made her toes curl. “I’ve got all the time you need.”
* * *
“What the hell am I looking at?” Alec asked, straightening from the microscope.
Hank smiled. “The reason for your tengu friend’s doci1e behavior.”
“Explain.”
“The mask suppresses aspects of Infernal genetic makeup, hence the reason for the change in their scent and skin. I just adjusted the spell they used to alter emotions instead. Think of it as Valium for demons.”
“But it requires the same materials?”
“Yes.”
Alec made an aggravated noise. The masking agent had been made with Mark blood and bone. They had a limited stockpile that they’d confiscated from the masomy in Upland, but once it was gone, there was no way to get more aside from killing Marks. “Does it wear off?”
“Don’t know yet, but I would be surprised if it didn’t.” Hank gestured to the right and a sudden light illuminated a kennel that contained the tengu. “I chipped a piece off his heel and ran some tests. The masking agent was mixed with the cement. That might have been the inspiration for the creation of the hell- hounds.”
“But even though the mask was built into the tengu, you could still change its purpose?”
“The materials in the tengu are immutable, but the magic isn’t. The damned creature was a nuisance, so I cast a spell on it and—” Hank pointed at the tengu, “—that’s what happened. So I began playing with the formula to see what variations I could come up with.”