Dusk Avenger (Flirting with Monsters #3) - Eva Chase Page 0,82
in thank you. We all dug in, the devourer’s eyes gleaming neon with pleasure, more slices vanishing as Ruse and Gloam rejoined us. The night elf didn’t even complain about the slice he slowly nibbled at.
Ruse tucked his arm around me in a casually affectionate gesture, letting his fingers trail across my shoulder to enticing effect. “Thorn decided he needed to patrol, naturally,” he told me. “Omen must have gone with him, probably to make sure he doesn’t take the whole day at it. I suppose we should save a slice or two for them.”
“That seems wise,” I agreed, and reached to pet Pickle, who’d hopped up on the sofa beside me.
The little dragon flinched at the motion of my hand. As he took me in, his wings came down, but his body stayed tensed as I scratched his shoulder. Despite the deliciousness filling my stomach, a pinch of sadness ran through my gut. Was he ever going to be completely comfortable with me again?
“You feel a bit tense, Miss Blaze,” the incubus said. “Let’s see if we can’t work that out of you.”
He shifted his pose to set his thumbs against the admittedly tight muscles along my spine. A massage while eating pizza—could there be anything more heavenly? I wasn’t sure what in blue blazes I’d done to deserve this doting, but I wasn’t going to say no.
Snap watched this development with a glimmer of consternation. He stroked my knee under the table and motioned to the tower of pop cans. “Would you like something to drink? If nothing here is quite right, there was a large selection in the store.”
“I’m good, thank you.” I nudged his knee with mine and leaned back into Ruse’s hands. “What’s with the spoiling me all of a sudden?”
“You’ve been working hard,” Ruse said in his sly voice. “Don’t you deserve to be spoiled? We could make a competition out of it. See if the devourer can keep up with an incubus.”
At the determined light that flared in Snap’s eyes, I gave Ruse a light kick. “I’m not sure I’d survive that competition, even if it’d be a spectacular way to die. You’ve been doing such a good job of sharing—it’d be a shame to ruin that.”
“Hmm. I suppose it would.” He leaned in to press a brief but tender kiss above my ear. Apparently satisfied that his devotion wasn’t being questioned, Snap returned to his meal, leaving an only slightly possessive hand on my thigh.
A matching tenderness tightened my throat. Omen might have seen more in me than anyone else, but my original shadowkind trio had been there for me in their diverse ways from the very beginning. How quickly one’s romantic fortunes could change. A few months ago, I hadn’t been sure I could manage to handle even a friends-with-benefits arrangement without it going sideways—and not in the way you’d hope to end up sideways as a benefit.
Now I had two gorgeously monstrous men vying for the chance to pamper me the most—and a third out there patrolling with an unshakeable determination to ensure my safety. I must have done something very, very right in a past life I couldn’t remember. I tipped my head to offer Ruse a kiss over my shoulder, which he accepted with delight, and hooked my ankle around Snap’s in an effort to show how much affection I held for them both in return.
As Ruse worked over my back, I offered Pickle a bit of bacon off one of the pizzas, but he wasn’t inclined to fully forgive me yet. The dragon nipped it from my fingers with a squeaky snort—and promptly scuttled to the other side of the table.
Before I could ply him with more meaty delicacies, my ringtone pealed out. I swiped sauce off my fingers and groped for my phone. Ruse released me but left his hand resting on the back of my neck.
The call was from Klaus. “Sorsha, I’m glad I could reach you,” he said, his normally deep but jovial voice more hesitant than usual. He didn’t sound particularly glad.
The pinch in my gut turned into a knot. “What’s up? Are you still planning on flying into San Francisco this afternoon?”
“Oh, yes, everything’s covered there. I’m good to go. The trouble is… the rest of my colleagues are backing out.”
The knots were now multiplying like bunnies. “What? I thought they were on board—most of them, anyway. They just had a change of heart?”