Fire & Brimstone (Neighbor from Hell #8) - R.L. Mathewson Page 0,42

that we could talk about this later?”

His scowl said it all.

“Right,” she sighed, moving to turn the shower on when Melanie, who apparently had nothing better to do than to hang on their every word, announced, “There’s no more cold water!”

Well, that would explain why Melanie hadn’t been in her usual spot on the couch with her laptop powered up and a pile of Hostess wrappers decorating the couch and floor. Whenever Melanie got stumped on a design or code, she took a bath to think it through and that usually meant a really long bath with the help of fresh hot water added every fifteen minutes or so.

“Great,” Rebecca said, giving up the idea of a hot shower, which she desperately needed if she had any hopes of making it through this shift.

“We need to talk,” Lucifer said, taking her hand in his and leading her to the door.

“We can do that later,” she mumbled pathetically as she allowed him to drag her through her apartment only because she was too damn exhausted to argue.

“Wait! You’re leaving?” Melanie yelled from the other room, sounding disappointed that she was going to miss everything.

Ignoring Melanie, Lucifer led her across the hallway and into his apartment. Before his door had a chance to close behind them he was dragging her towards the back hallway.

“You seriously need to stop dragging me everywhere,” she said even though she actually liked the way that he held her hand. His grip was firm, but far from punishing, especially since every few seconds or so he would absently caress the back of her hand with his thumb.

“And you seriously need to stop pissing me off,” he said as he dragged her down the hall, through a surprisingly neat room and into-

“What the hell…,” she breathed as she walked into the large bathroom.

It was definitely a lot larger than her bathroom and a hell of a lot nicer. Not that she lived in a rat’s nest or anything, but where her bathroom was basic, his was something that she would expect to see in a five star hotel.

Her entire bathroom could fit in the custom-made shower with room to spare. There were his and hers sinks, the toilet had its own little room and there was actually a closet! As she gazed around the bathroom that should have rightfully been hers, she couldn’t help but wonder how she’d got stuck with the lame bathroom.

While she was looking around, she started to pull her clothes off, not really caring if he’d dragged her in here with the intentions of letting her use his shower or not, because she was damn well using it. After what he did to her in the truck she needed one, she thought, trying really hard not to think about what he did to her in that truck. Unfortunately for her, it was going to be hard enough getting through the next eight hours without wanting to rip his clothes off.

With that in mind, she shimmied out of her panties and stepped inside the shower, amazed at how many showerheads there were. They were built into the sides, in front of her, and on the ceiling. It was really a thing of beauty. While Melanie loved baths, she was more into showers. Besides the fact that sitting in her own filth really didn’t appeal to her unless her stomach hurt and she really had no choice, she enjoyed standing under a spray of hot water as she washed the day away.

When Lucifer wrapped an arm around her waist and reached around her to play with the complicated dials, she simply closed her eyes and leaned back against him so that she could relax and enjoy herself. As soon as the spray of hot water hit her from every angle, she sighed and felt herself relax completely in his arms.

He kissed her shoulder as he wrapped his arm around her. “Talk.”

“Too tired to talk,” she mumbled as she tilted her head to the side so that he could kiss her.

Sighing heavily, and that was probably because she was putting off this argument and not because she demanded a kiss, at least it better not be, he leaned down and tenderly brushed his lips against hers.

“You’re a stubborn pain in the ass,” he whispered sweetly against her lips, making her smile as she leaned her head back against him and allowed herself to enjoy what would probably be the last moment of peace that she would have