AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My partner in crime and I watched him go.
As soon as Diego disappeared around the corner, I stepped out of the man’s arms, and he released his hold on my hip, which I hadn’t realized he’d even been gripping until that moment.
Huh. Strange, that.
Then he watched me blow out a steadying breath and smooth my hair out of my face.
When I finally focused on him, he shook his head slowly. “So, I suppose you’re taking an intermission from thievery today to break hearts and crush souls instead.” Lips quirking with approval, he added, “You lead quite an interesting life, Gabriella.”
Damn, I liked how he said my name. That husky, low-pitched tone was like gravel laced with honey.
“Uh.” I blinked at him, not sure what to say except maybe, how the fuck do you make my lady parts quiver like molten lava in a volcano during its time of the month? It seemed fitting that I set him straight about the fact that I was not a thief or a soul-crusher. I mean, not really. Not intentionally, anyway. But for some reason, all I said was, “I guess.”
His smile stretched. Jesus, even his smile was dangerously addictive. And what was more intoxicating: he seemed to like me just the way I was: a little bit nasty, a little bit sweet, a whole lot of snarky.
Flushing hard as my insides warmed to a hazardous degree, I glanced away and slid my hands into the pockets of my apron, before realizing—hey! I was in my apron. At work.
I zipped my attention back to him. He wasn’t in a tux today, but a three-piece business suit. “How do you know where I work?”
He leaned in. “I’m the devil, remember? I know all.”
“Devil’s spawn,” I countered automatically.
He shrugged. “Whatever the relation, I’d say it’s suitably wicked enough to help a girl get rid of an unwanted admirer.” Amusement crinkled the corners of his eyes before he glanced curiously down the alley in the direction that Diego had gone.
“Oh, Diego wasn’t—” I cut myself off from denying Diego’s true interest in me, but what the hell else was there to call him but an unwanted admirer? So I blushed again, deeper this time, as he watched me closely.
Tucking a stray piece of hair behind one ear, I wrinkled my nose. “Yeah. About him. Um, thanks for helping me out and everything. And I’m, you know, sorry I used you. That guy. He just—he wouldn’t take no for an answer. I was getting desperate.”
He nodded. “I could tell.”
“Really?” I snorted. “Wow, that’s funny. You could discern all that from one fucking glance, while I’ve been trying to make it abundantly clear to close-minded, Neanderthal Diego for four weeks now that I’ll never go out with him. What’s up with that?”
He opened his mouth to answer, but I held up a hand. “Wait. I remember. The devil knows all, right?”
“Not always,” he murmured glancing toward the fallen, scattered daffodils lying on the ground. “I never would’ve guessed you weren’t a fan of flowers.”
“Oh, the flowers, I loved,” I countered before shrugging. “Just not when he picks pockets to buy them for me and lies about it, or he thinks I don’t know what I really want, or he treats me like a trophy to be won and not an actual, breathing person. Or he tells me he has one job when actually he has another. Or he has no respect for a woman’s rejection while readily backing off when he thinks she’s another man’s piece of meat.”
He blew out a low whistle. “That’s quite a list.”
I huffed. “Yeah, well, he’s quite a douche.”
When he slid his hands into his pockets, rocked back onto his heels, and chuckled, I squinted at him, trying to figure him out. The way he just casually stood there listening to me vent as if he had no other reason to be in this alleyway but to witness my Diego-ranting made me remember he probably shouldn’t be here in the first place.
I tipped my face to the side, confused. “So, why are you here again?”
One of his eyebrows perked up in amusement. He looked so very suave and debonair in his professional suit. It made me
wonder what he did for a living.
Then he answered, “As I told your friend, you and I have plans tonight.”
I frowned and shook my head. “No, we don’t.”
Instead of answering, he let his attention fall to my uniform. “Is this what you always wear to work?”
I glanced down at the plunging neckline of my tight bodice and the short, puffy skirt before casting him a scowl. “What’s wrong with it?”
