“I’m a demon; it’s what I do.” He pressed softly into the joint between her cheekbone and her ear.
“Ah,” said Erin, tipping her head back slightly.
“Was that a yes?”
She opened her eyes, looked at his face, and knew that he knew—he’d already won the argument.
6
Andy insisted on driving halfway across town to the fancy grocery store instead of going to the perfectly good discount warehouse store around the corner.
“I fail to see how organic strawberries fit into the whole revenge thing,” Erin said quietly as she piloted the cart through the produce section. She had agreed to add the items he pointed out, while he remained invisible to the other shoppers.
“Living well is the best revenge,” said Andy as he pointed to a particularly juicy cluster of seedless red grapes.
She picked it up and placed it in the cart.
They reached the seafood counter. Gleaming cases packed with clear ice stretched in both directions. Inside, piles of shrimp, crab, and mussels glistened. At the far end of the counter, live lobsters with rubber bands around their claws floated in a special tank.
“Lobster,” he mused. “Lots of lobster.” Andy leaned down and peered into the tank. “He’s a lively one,” he said, indicating a large lobster currently waving its claws in a particularly vigorous manner. He looked to Erin for approval.
Erin felt a little sick.
Andy peered at her. “Does this bother you? The live lobster thing?”
“It’s fine,” she said, barely moving her lips.
He stepped uncomfortably close, so close she could see the tiny garnet-colored flecks in his brown eyes, and looked into her eyes. “No, it isn’t. How long has this bothered you?”
She shrugged and looked away.
“A while, then. While you were married to Mark?”
Erin nodded.
“You didn’t like eating meat, but you kept eating it? Why?” He tapped his bearded chin. “You kept eating it because Mark did. Because you didn’t want something else to come between you.”
“It doesn’t matter now.”
“Like Hell it does. Come on.” He strode through the produce department before blazing a trail through the rest of the store, pointing out fresh collard greens, grass-fed butter, black-eyed peas, vegetable broth, new crop long-grain rice, aged cheddar, and hard apple cider, along with a handful of pantry staples.
She pushed the cart in his wake, a little self-conscious but full of curiosity, loading each item into the cart.
“All vegetarian, all delicious,” he said. “I’m beginning to dislike this ‘Mark’ character. In fact, I’m beginning to think he got off easy this morning.” A faraway look came into his eyes.
If getting your trousers removed in church was getting off easy, what would be the alternative?
Erin shuddered with a mixture of fear and secret glee.
When they arrived home, he allowed her to carry in the groceries out of necessity, but after that, he sent her off straight away, insisting that he didn’t need help in the kitchen and suggesting that she take a nice, long bubble bath.
Who was she to argue with a Great Earl of Hell?
Erin sank a little deeper into the bubble bath and listened to the cheery sound of pots and pans rattling in the kitchen.
Come to think of it, she’d had far more to argue about with Mark—even before the affair—than with a demon.
That didn’t say much for her marriage.
