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“Oh no.”

Gabriel leans closer. Which puts his broad chest closer to my back. I can feel the heat radiating off of his bare skin.

“What?” he asks.

“Animal sacrifice,” I say.

“No.”

“Agreed.”

I scroll faster. “Uh, blood magic.”

“Absolutely not,” he says.

“Yep. Hard pass.” I glance back at him. “Just so we’re clear, I’m not sacrificing anything or anybody to break your curse.”

“An admirable position.”

“And I’m not cutting myself.”

“I would never permit that.”

I turn around. “Excuse me?”

His expression is perfectly serious. “You are not going to injure yourself on my behalf.”

Something warm moves through my chest. Which is inconvenient. Because he’s being bossy. And I shouldn’t find bossy attractive. Even if he is being bossy to protect me.

“Okay,” I say, turning back to the laptop. “No blood. No sacrifices. No hurting myself. Oh, and no summoning demons.”

His hand gives my hip a squeeze, and I realize he’s still holding me that way.

“A sensible list,” he says.

“Unless the demon is really hot.”

He makes a growly sort of noise.

“Only kidding.” Mostly.

I keep scrolling.

“This one says curses can be broken by destroying the object they’re attached to.”

Gabriel goes very still. “What object?”

“Well, in your case, maybe the house?”

“No.”

“Or the gargoyle statue?”

“As in, allow me to return to stone and then you attempt to smash me? Absolutely not.”

“Okay, okay. I’m just reading.”

He looks around the room. “This house is not being destroyed.”