Fire & Brimstone
Page 78Then again…
If he hadn’t banned her poor, sweet baby from their bedroom this morning over a little misunderstanding involving a puddle of drool on his pillow, she wouldn’t have been forced to do this. That and she enjoyed the fact that when it was her nights to run the Fire & Brimstone she was able to triple the profits, something that she was able to do thanks to all his relatives. Not only did they order an insane amount of food, but they were also incredibly hot, which drew a surprisingly large amount of women, which in turn drew a lot of single men, filling the restaurant to capacity for the night.
“Don’t you have a paper due tomorrow?” Melanie asked, sipping her glass of apple juice since she’d given up soda while pregnant.
“Already done,” she said, still shocked at how well she was doing in school.
It had only been a month since she’d started and it was only part time, but she loved it. She was taking a course on management and introduction to business and so far she was doing really well. Of course, that probably had something to do with her self-appointed tutor.
Her husband hadn’t been excited when she’d announced that she wanted to go back to school, but that all changed after she’d enrolled in college and had to pick her classes. After he found her course catalog lying on the bed and decided to have a look, he’d decided to offer his services.
Since then he’d outlined all the course that she needed to take over the next four years, had decided that she was going to attend the summer term to catch up with the rest of the freshmen class and then starting next year he wanted her to switch to full-time. At first she’d argued with him, because she hadn’t been sure that she could handle it, but once she realized that Lucifer’s questionable OCD demanded that he organize her notes, make her flashcards and proofread all her papers she’d agreed to at least try to do things his way.
“What do you think he’s going to do when he sees this?” Melanie asked gesturing to the crowded restaurant.
“Thank me?” she said with a hopeful smile.
“You mean with more yelling?” the betraying bitch said, reminding her about her first week co-managing the Fire & Brimstone with Lucifer.
“Really? Then what would you call it?” Melanie asked, stealing a bite out of Rebecca’s gluten free cheeseburger, one of the many new gluten-free menu items that Lucifer had created for her.
“Expressing his undying love for me in a tone that would ensure that I didn’t miss the extent of his feelings for me?”
“Or,” the incredibly sexy voice that she loved to hear whispering her name drawled, alerting her to the fact that she’d lost the element of surprise, “he probably yells because you drive him out of his fucking mind.”
“There is that,” she admitted with a smile when she felt him turn her barstool around so that she was facing him.
“What have you done now?” he asked, cupping her face in his hands as he leaned down and brushed his lips against hers.
“Probably violating several fire codes,” Melanie said around another bite of her burger.
“Probably,” Lucifer murmured in agreement as he gazed down at her.
“Are you mad?” she asked, hooking her fingers in his belt loops so that she could pull him closer.
“Furious,” he said with a smile as he picked her up and set her down on her feet.
“I am,” he promised her, taking her hand into his and gave it a gentle tug that had her following him as he led her to the dance floor.
“Where are you taking me, sir?” she asked, loving that sexy grin of his as he continued to walk backwards, taking her with him.
“Are you scared?” he asked in a teasing tone as he pulled her into his arms.
“Petrified,” she returned with a laugh as she moved in close to her husband so that she could wrap her arms around his shoulders and lose herself in his arms.
“You do seem to scare easily,” he noted as he wrapped his arms around her and began moving them around in their own little space on the crowded dance floor.
“What can I say,” she said with a forlorn sigh as she moved in closer to him, “you are a frightening man.”
“I know,” he said, chuckling as he leaned down and kissed her.
“So,” she said against his lips, “where have you been all day?”
“Did you miss me?” he asked, pulling back far enough so that he could look at her while they talked.
“Only a little?” he asked, maneuvering them around a few of his cousins who were dancing with their wives.
“Mmmhmm,” she murmured, leaning up to kiss him again. “So, where were you?”
“Talking to a realtor with my Uncle Jared about buying the back lot so that we can expand the bar and dinning area,” he said, taking her by surprise.
“We’re expanding?” she asked, more than a little surprised.
“Mmmhmm, we’re going to need a bigger kitchen and then of course since you keep filling the place to capacity with a long line waiting around the block we figured that it would probably be for the best if we expanded,” he said, looking pleased as he rewarded her with another kiss.
“Is this what you want?” she asked, worried that she might have rushed him into something that he wasn’t ready for.
He nodded, leaning in to kiss her just as the first few chords of her favorite song began to play. But, instead of kissing her he leaned in close so that his lips were next to her ear as he began singing along with Sam Hunt. His voice was deeper, but God, could he sing.
She closed her eyes and held onto him as he continued to sing along with “Take Your Time,” loving this man more than she ever thought possible. He continued to sing for her ears only as he moved them around to the music as she lost herself in his arms, deciding that after this song they were going to have to go have a “Meeting,” about this renovation and maybe if he was lucky, she’d pull out her clipboard.
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