Page 39 of Snowed In with an Incubus

Jaz blinked. “Do I want to what?”

“Fly. For the fireworks.” He pointed up at the monsters floating in midair high above their heads.

She stared at him. She was blushing again, the blush running down and into her jacket.

Sam pushed away any thoughts of her writhing in a bed. They’d get to that later—if they had a later. She still hadn’t answered,staring at him like she was waiting for him to take it back.

“Okay,” she said finally, a wild grin blooming over her face. “Yeah, let’s go!”

Sam scooped her up.

Jaz gasped, arms hooking around his neck. Their noses brushed.

Sam’s throat clicked. “Ready?”

Jaz nodded eagerly.

Sam flapped his wings. They scraped the ground painfully, and he grunted.

Jaz winced. “Are you okay?”

“Fine,” he said. “Just gotta …”

He flapped harder. They rose off the ground, Jaz letting out an excited giggle into his neck. She fit into his arms like shebelonged there. She didn’t look scared like he would’ve been if he’d found himself in someone’s arms as they tried to flyfor the first time. She looked delighted, craning her head to watch the ground get farther away.

Sam strained. Flying was harder than it looked.

Jaz asked, “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Uh-huh,” Sam lied. He flapped harder, ignoring the growing ache in his wings. “I’m sorry for what I said on the dance floor.I’ve never shifted in public. I freaked out. I’m still kind of freaking out, honestly. I can’t believe I took too much andI didn’t even notice. I’m so sorry, Jaz.”

“It’s fine,” Jaz said. “Seriously, stop worrying about it. Even if you’d kept going, I know you would have stopped if I saidsomething felt wrong. I trust you, Sam.”

Sam’s throat tightened, the words making something deep inside him click into place. He hadn’t realized how much this wasweighing on him until it started to shrink.

Jaz sighed. “And I’m sorry for pushing you so hard back there. I was all—”

“You weren’t,” Sam said. “You’re not. I mean, you are, but I like it.”

I need it, he thought as he struggled higher. Reg was right. He’d needed someone like Jaz for a long time: someone who could finallydrag him out of the dark. Make him emerge, blinking, into the sunlight.

“Oh,” Jaz said quietly. Her arms tightened around his neck.

Sam stared up at the monsters waiting above. How were they still so far away? How had he been flapping so hard and he’d barelycleared Reg’s house?

He landed heavily on Reg’s roof, panting. “Okay. I don’t think I can make it up there.”

“That’s okay!” Jaz laughed as he lowered her down onto the tiles. “Roof fireworks are great, too.”

She grabbed his hand. It was so warm he forgot about the throb in his wings. Much like running, flying hurt like hell whenyou didn’t do it much.

The countdown started. Most of it was from the house below, muffled by the roof between them. But some of it drifted downfrom the monsters hovering in the air above them. Sam found he was relieved he couldn’t fly all the way up there. He was okaywith Jaz seeing his wings, but he wasn’t falling over himself to let everyone in town see them.

Twenty, they yelled. Nineteen! Eighteen!

Jaz squealed. “It’s happening! God, this is so fun. Thank you for this.”

Sam nodded. Now or never, he thought. “Do you want to go out sometime?”