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He chuckled and shook his head. "Long night."
His normally pristine appearance had fled during the night, leaving him rumpled and wrinkled. His tie hung loosely around his neck, and he held his suit jacket over his arm.
"Coffee?" I blew on my drink before taking a sip. His arrival had chased the remaining dream memories from my mind, like a cleansing breeze.
"Smells good," he said. He dropped the jacket over the back of a chair and removed the looped tie from around his neck.
"Let me make you some." I turned back to the maker and popped a new pod in, then reached for a mug before hitting brew. "Cream? Sugar?"
"Two and one." He sounded closer, and when I faced him, he was leaning against the island behind me, watching my movements. "Did you sleep okay?"
"I slept," I replied and leaned against the counter as we waited for his coffee to be done. "In the chair."
"You could have slept in the bed."
"Yeah, that was the plan, but the sandman had different ideas."
He glanced around, concern on his brow. "The sandman?"
"Yeah, you know sleep. It pulls you under." His face smoothed out, and it made me curious to know if there actually was a sandman. He'd be handy to have around when I couldn't sleep.
The sputtering of his drink finishing pulled my attention back to the task at hand. After adding the creamer and sugar he requested, I handed it to him. He took a sip and moaned. I was positive it was not that good. I wasn't Starbucks.
"Things are always better when someone you care about takes the time and makes them for you," he said, answering my unasked thought.
"I suppose that is true." I passed him and settled into the fluffy couch, tucking my legs beneath me as he followed and folded into the chair I had slept in. He was being so open with his feelings now that he had told me about them. "I'm still adjusting to what you told me. I can't make any promises."
He smiled, but it was tinged with sadness as he focused on his coffee. "Yeah, of course."
Cerberus climbed onto the couch with me, and I raised my hand to pet him. One head pressed against my chest, looking for extra attention while the second placed its head in my lap and the third curled against their body. It was so strange, but I couldn't help giving the animal all the affection it wanted.
"Cer, you know the rules," Alastor said. His pet ignored him, licking the side of my face in a sloppy kiss. "I know you like her. I like her too. But you can't smother her like that."
"The puppy is fine," I said. "Aren't you?" I scratched behind his ear and baby talked. His tail slapped against the cushions in response.
After a while of sipping our caffeine in comfortable silence, he cleared his throat. "I could order breakfast."
"Oh, that's okay. I have to go soon. I have class in an hour."
"Do you have plans for lunch?"
"You love to feed me," I laughed.
"It is the way to a woman's heart."
"I'm pretty sure you have that backward." I grinned, enjoying his company.
He scratched his chin as if he was thinking about it. "You might be right. Some human customs are lost on me."
CHAPTER 40
Lex
Bursts of bourbonand chocolate filled the air between us. The chocolate came from Bellamy. It was part of his pheromones and reminded me of hot cocoa on a wintry day. It didn't pull me to him in the way it would pull a mortal, but I closed the distance between us, anyway. My words hung in the air between us. Did he know what I meant by them?
Samantha meant the world to me, and I knew it down to my very being that if I wanted her, I was stuck with Alastor and Raiden. What was one more? Bellamy had caught her attention. I could sense it. She had allowed him to touch her in ways I was sure she would have stopped if she had wanted. Especially if he hadn't fed on her, he couldn't lie being a full demon, they didn't have that ability.
So I would build this harem for her, make sure she was safe and loved. He held himself as still as a statue. His blood-red eyes darted between mine and my mouth. I knew I had given him ideas, a future that maybe didn't include dying. I'd been where he was now, hopeless, with no drive for life and feeling like ending it might be the only choice. Then I had the idea of Fantasia. Everyone that entered belonged between its four walls.It didn't matter what life they had blown in from; it was a place they could be safe, even if only for a couple of hours.
