Page 15 of Snowed In with an Incubus

“I’d recognize his work anywhere,” Tammy said, waving at all the colorful swirls. “It suits you.”

Jaz touched the plastic self-consciously, Brandon’s desperate face flashing through her mind: You’re like the sun! It’s too intense! Nobody can stand the sun all the time. Why are you yelling at me?

Jaz pulled up a smile. “Thanks, Tammy. I think so, too.”

And she did. She just had to fight back a stab of embarrassment when she looked down at it. But that would fade, she assuredherself as she turned toward the door. She just had to give it time.

She eyed Sam’s bare arms enviously as she shivered on the sidewalk outside of Inky Talons. Being an incubus came with downsides,but keeping warm during the winter wasn’t one of them.

“Soooo,” she said. “Want to go get breakfast?”

He paused. It wasn’t a long pause, but Jaz already knew what he was going to say. There had been many times last night whenhe’d obviously been thinking about shutting down a question she asked him. Emotional wall, he’d said.

“I should get home,” he told her. “My dog—”

Jaz gasped. “Oh, god, I forgot about Xena! Go, go.”

She didn’t ask if he wanted her to follow him. The way he’d said he had to go home made it clear he didn’t want her to joinhim. Which was fine. He hadn’t chosen to be stuck with her. He didn’t owe her anything, even if he’d slept with her and eatenher desire, among other things. He still looked embarrassed about that as he shifted from foot to foot, his shoulders tight.It didn’t fit with everything she knew about incubi. But then again, she was quickly learning that she didn’t know very muchabout monsters.

“Right,” he said, still rocking from foot to foot. “Well. It was … nice to meet you.”

He stuck out his hand. She took it, ignoring the tiny thrill that shot through her. His skin was like a furnace. She wantedto drag him close and rub her cold cheeks all over him until she was warm again, just like she had been in his arms last night.

He let go of her hand. She waited for him to walk off, but instead, he just stood there, rocking from side to side.

“You should get my phone number,” he said. “Just in case.”

She had to bite her cheek to stop her grin from going supernova.

“Sure,” she chirped, getting her phone out of her pocket.

Shut up, she told the butterflies in her stomach as he typed in his number. You’re never going to see him again. Unless you crash on the way out of town, I guess.

He handed her phone back. She tried not to look too eager as she looked at the contact. He’d just written “Sam Tattoo.”

“In case you forget,” he said. “There’s a lot of Sams out there.”

She grinned. “I don’t think I’ll be forgetting you anytime soon.”

He laughed. It was small and distracted, a little bashful. He was staring at her neck.

She raised her hand, flushing when she felt the bruises he’d left there.

Sam blinked hard. “See you. I mean, bye.”

He turned and sped off down the sidewalk.

She watched him vanish around the corner, unable to shake that last look he’d shot her. Guilty, but undercut with lust. I like it, she wanted to assure him. She pressed harder against the bruise, enjoying the sting it sent through her.

Her stomach grumbled. She dropped her hand, looking around to see if anyone had noticed her fondling her hickeys like a teenagerreveling after her first make-out session. A few humans, plus a mermaid who was being wheeled down the street by a dragon,but no one was looking at her.

Jaz sighed. Then she set off in search of breakfast.

Less than a block later, Jaz sat down at a café. A window seat, so she could watch the streets get plowed outside. There wasalready a snowplow at work, but it had paused in the middle of the street. The driver was yelling at a dragon in an apronwho had been spewing fire at the snowy sidewalk outside his bakery.

A minotaur waitress appeared beside Jaz. “Hi! Were you after some more coffee while you wait?”

“Yes,” Jaz said, relieved, holding her newly empty coffee cup and reading the minotaur’s nametag. “Aaaaall the way to thetop. Thank you, Daisy.”