“Because you find me so devastatingly handsome?”
She refrained from rolling her eyes. “Were you always so vain, or is this a recent revelation for you?”
“No, I’ve always been this way. Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful. Well, perhaps not as beautiful to you as your cop.”
She jerked the wheel to the left and cut someone off, receiving a horn blast in return. “Leave Ben out of this.”
“How is that possible? He’s obviously your lifeline right now. You can deal with me as long as you have him as the big, dangling carrot urging you onward.” He frowned. “Perhaps we shouldn’t talk about the cop’s big carrot. At least not until we see how the date goes.”
Her knuckles whitened as a thought occurred to her. “And let’s just say the date goes really, really well and I invite him back to my apartment. What then?”
“Is that something you’d do?” he asked. “On a first date?”
“Hypothetically speaking.”
“Okay, continue. I’m all for hypothetical situations.”
“What happens then? If you’re inside my head, seeing what I see, hearing what I hear—”
“It means that I’d prefer if you wait to dent the sheets with him until after I’m gone.”
Her face burned. Well, she’d asked. And he’d answered.
“Is that your natural hair color?” Darrak asked randomly.
“What?”
“This reddish shade.”
She realized that he’d reached over and was stroking a lock of her hair, twisting it around his finger. The car swerved again before she managed to right it. More horns blared.
The demon was going to make her get into an accident. “It’s — it’s dyed. I go to the salon regularly. Not that it’s any of your business.”
“I bet it’s brighter in its natural state, right?”
She forced herself to focus on the road rather than the demon sliding his warm fingers through her hair. “I don’t like my natural color.”
“So you change it, make it duller. Less vibrant,” he mused. “It’s strange. If I concentrate, I can see past the façade to the real color. Normally a human female would have freckles with such red hair but your skin is like porcelain, isn’t it?”
When he softly touched her face she almost ran the car right off the road.
She pushed his hand away from her cheek and put it back on his side of the car, but not before he entwined his fingers with hers.
“Let go of me.” Her voice sounded breathless.
But he wasn’t really holding her down or trapping her hand in any way. All she had to do was pull it away. Strangely, she seemed unable to do that. His skin was so hot, he had to be more than regular body temperature. She felt the warmth slide up her arm and flow into the rest of her body. It felt really good.
Eden finally forced herself to disentangle her hand from the demon’s.
“Don’t touch me,” she told him as firmly as she could, looking at him out of the corner of her eye.
“I’m sorry. Couldn’t help myself. I guess I’m a sucker for redheads.” His lips curled.
She was sick of talking about herself. All of these personal issues out on the table for him to pick over. It was time to turn the tables.
“Fine,” she said. “You want to talk? I have questions.”
“Such as?”
“How old are you?”
“That’s very personal. How old do I look?”
“You look like you’re thirty. Or younger, even. But I know you’re at least three hundred years old based on when you say the witch cursed you.” The thought that he was that old made her shiver.
He noticed. “I know I’m very old. Probably a thousand in human years. Maybe more. But time doesn’t really have the same value in the Netherworld.”
That made another shiver run down her arms. “A thousand years old and you’ve never had a donut before?”
“I had no idea what I’ve been missing.”
“Empty calories. You’ll get fat.”
“I don’t have to worry about that. My body will remain the same no matter what I eat.” He placed his palm over his flat stomach.
“Lucky.” She wasn’t going to consider the demon’s body. Which she’d seen in all its glory first thing that morning, if only for a short time.
Bottom line, Darrak had every right to be vain about how he looked. He was just as gorgeous as Ben, but in an entirely different and much more darkly dangerous way. But she knew what he was and she knew what he could do. She wanted a normal man in her life. Ben was normal.
She had no interest in the demon in that way. After all, he was a demon. It didn’t take a brainiac or a horror movie aficionado to see that was a bad idea.
However, sitting in her car, he didn’t seem like a demon. He just seemed like a hot guy who knew how to easily push her buttons. All of them, apparently.
She cleared her throat. “We should probably get you some new clothes. There’s a mall just up ahead.”
“Clothes? You’re thinking fashion at a time like this?”
“You said you couldn’t… conjure… anything other than what you’re wearing.”
“I thought this was adequate. Isn’t it?” He looked down at himself.
“It’s getting really cold. It’s supposed to warm up a bit but after that the temperature will be nose-diving to penguin climate. You need a coat.”
“Temperature doesn’t affect me.”
“Yeah, but people will wonder why you’re walking around in short sleeves.”