He rockets to his feet and grabs my arms. “What is it? Did something happen? Are you hurt?”
I shove the phone toward him, everything inside me buzzing from the news. And the caffeine. And the crazy. Complete package right here, folks. “It’s from the committee. Well, Brandt, but on committee business. Read it. Read it!”
I can’t even wait for him to read it. At the first glimpse of his morning smile, I shove the phone in my pocket and pounce on him, uncontainable excitement propelling me into his arms. Devlin doesn’t hesitate—just wraps me in a hug and spins me around, holding me tight enough to set the world back to rights.
“Tell me what we’re celebrating,” he says with a laugh, its rich timbre vibrating through my chest. “Not that you need a reason to throw yourself at me, but itisa bit unexpected. I thought you wanted… space.”
“I thought so too, but I…”
He finally sets me down and looks into my eyes, his gaze searching, hesitant but hopeful, still holding the echo of his confession.
The thing of it is, mushroom… I’ve gone and fallen in love with you anyway…
I suck in a sharp breath as the realization dawns.
Of all the people I could’ve called with this news, of all the open arms that would’ve welcomed me with a congratulatory hug—the aunts, my sisters, Mayor Singh, even Grumpy and Sunshine—I chosethisperson.Thesearms. This man whose every touch makes me feel cherished and safe and wholly accepted, even when I thought I was a complete failure who didn’t deserve to be happy. To find love.
In that moment, looking into his soulful eyes, feeling the hope and warmth of his energy, it hits me. Like a jolt of high-octane yerba mate straight to the heart.
I, Violet Pepperdine, empathic tea witch, romance bookworm, spreadsheet queen, grilled-cheese connoisseur, and rule-follower to the end…
Have fallen ass-over-teakettle in love with the Devil.
My heart sputters into an erratic dance, a wild beat I’m certain Devlin can hear, but all I can do is smile. Tears spill down my cheeks.
“It’s all right, love.” He cradles my face, swiping my tears with his thumbs. “You don’t need to tell me if you don’t want to. I don’t need a reason to hold you. I’m just grateful for the opportunity.”
I stretch up on my toes and kiss him, full on. It’s so perfect, so sweet, so electric I almost forgot why I ran out here in the first place.
The news hits me all over again, and I break away and hand over my phone once more, forcing myself to hold still. “It’s from the committee. I got the grant, Devlin. There was a mixup or a glitch… whatever… it doesn’t matter because I got it! I can pay off my rent and most of the debts and hire some help and… Devlin, I don’t have to close! Do you know what this means?”
He brushes the curls from my forehead and grins. “That you’re an amazing, incredibly smart, hyper-capable, downrightformidablewitch who’s going to take this town by storm again and again and again as she accomplishes everything she’s set out—”
I don’t let him finish.Can’tlet him finish. Because I’ve never been so honest-to-goodness happy before. So complete, so hopeful about the future, so full of promise and joy and sunshine and… goddess, all I want to do is celebrate it.
Really,reallycelebrate it.
With the man I love.
“Devlin?” I loop my arms around his neck and flash my most sinful grin—a grin that wasn’t even in my arsenal until the Devil crossed my path and taught me all the best tricks. “Less talking, more kissing.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
DEVLIN
The Devil is evil incarnate. That’s what they say, isn’t it? A fallen angel cast out of Heaven and sent to the fiery pits, forced to rule over the reprobates and degenerates, the worst of men and monsters alike. Sentenced to an immortal eternity of torture, depravity, the kind of unimaginable loneliness that hollows you out inside. No escape, no rest for the wicked.
Tainted.
I’m not supposed to remember what Heaven feels like. I’m not supposed to want that paradise for myself because I don’t deserve it and even if I did, I could never earn my way back anyway.
And yet…
Somehow, despite all my missteps and misdeeds, I’ve found my paradise. In Violet’s arms, I’m home. The only home that’s ever really mattered.
Her kiss is my Heaven. Her embrace is my eternity. And when I carry her upstairs, lay her on the bed, and sink deep inside her as I have on so many nights before, I find the salvation I’ve been chasing for centuries. Understanding, not rejection. Love, not cruelty. It cracks me wide open, shatters me, and puts me back together again with nothing more than her gentle touch. A look. A cry of unbridled ecstasy sealed with a kiss that offers me a gift as rare as love itself.
Hope.
