Keeping Her (5 page)

“Most
women take one glimpse of you and run for the door.  She didn’t run. 
Not then and not now.”  Mac’s voice was matter of fact.  “She’s not
the running kind.  And quite frankly if you threatened to take her up the
ass with that monster of yours and she’s downstairs having an omelet you can
pretty much bet she isn’t going to.”

“And
when she finds out what I am, what we all are?

“Only
time will tell.  It may never even become an issue.”  He patted Demon
on the back and stood.  “Now, what’s say we have some breakfast, and if it
makes you feel better, neither myself nor Ben would have any problem watching
you fuck Clytie on the kitchen floor.”  That shocked a laugh out of Demon,
and Mac keyed in the code to get them out of the booth.  “Seriously, for
you, anything.”

“Smart
ass.”

"So?"

"That
is by far the best looking omelet I have ever seen."  Clytie
answered, watching Ben work the kitchen.  "Where did you learn to
cook?"

He
leaned across the Island across from her.  Spatula in hand, he waved it
warningly.  "I’d tell you but then I'd have to kill you."

Clytie
nodded, "Right.  Top-secret cooking school.  I gotcha."

"I
taught him everything he knows.”  Macs voice came from behind them and Clytie
turned to see Mac followed by Demon enter the kitchen.

"Everything?" 
She asked twirling around on the stool.  She very purposefully didn't look
at Demon, having no idea what to do or say.  She knew she blushed but was
as helpless to stop that reaction as to stop the liquid that pooled in her sex
when he entered the room. 

"Everything." 
Mac said heading for the coffee pot to pore himself a cup.

Ben
snorted, smiling his toothpaste smile when Clytie glanced his way. 
"He lies."  He shrugged his impressive shoulders and waved the
spatula is small circles at his temple.  "Delusional."

"You...” 
Whatever Clytie thought to say cut off when her stool flipped back around and Demon
yanked her into his arms.  His mouth smashed down on hers before she could
do more than squeak.  The kiss long and thorough felt more like a
statement than a kiss. 
Mine. 
When he pulled back, she clung
to him, arms around his neck, legs cinching his waist.  They both breathed
hard.

"Good
morning baby.”  He drawled out.  Placing another kiss on her forehead, he
placed her back on her stool, and Clytie had to concentrate to get her hands
and legs to release.  He swung her stool back around and she grabbed the
edge of the island with two hands.  A plate of omelet appeared before her
eyes and she picked up her fork with shaking hands.  When she looked up
Mac had his head ducked into the refrigerator and Ben got busy mixing
eggs.  Only Demon watched her from above the rim of his mug leaning by the
coffee pot.  He seemed entirely too satisfied, the Jerk.  He knew
exactly what he was doing. 

Clytie
narrowed her eyes in challenge and jumped off the barstool.  He placed his
coffee cup down on the counter and watched her approach.  She was glad to
note he appeared a little less self-assured then he had a minute ago.  She
stopped right before him, standing between his balanced legs, she placed her
hands on either side of his hips where they leaned against the counter and
crooked her finger at him.  He bent down to within kissing distance, his
eyes going to her lips when she spoke.

“Demon?” 
Clytie rubbed her hand down his cheek, feeling the stubble he had yet to shave
this morning. 

"Yeah
baby?"  His voice a rough growl of words they danced heat along her
nerves.  She leaned up on tiptoe and licked him from his collarbone to
bottom lip with a tiny pink tongue.  Demons whole body locked down.

"I
have a name.  Don't call me baby."  She turned and went back to
her omelet.  Hopping back up onto her barstool with a shiny smile, she dug
into her food while Demon stood frozen by his coffee, an uncomfortable tent in
his jeans and a hot look in his eyes.

She
groaned as the first bite hit her tongue.  Demon picked back up his coffee
while she smiled at Ben. 

“You
have a gift.”  She stated with verve.

Ben
smiled back, sweeping an exaggerated bow before him and making her laugh. 
Demon plunked the cup back down on the counter with enough force the cup
shattered.  Coffee splashed out hitting the counter, the floor, and Demons
hand.  Clytie jumped up with a gasp, pushing Ben out of the way to get Demons
arm and pull him over to the sink.

“Shoot.” 
She said, turning on the tap, testing the water temperature and holding his
hand under the gushing water.  “Hold on, the cold water will stop the
burn.”  She glanced up, the worry clear in her eyes.  “Better?”

He
held still under her ministrations.  His scar garish in the morning light,
his tattoo stood out against the neckline of his black t-shirt.  Her eyes
trailed down his muscled seven-foot frame.  She looked back to where she
held his large hands under the cold water for a coffee splash.  Her cheeks
heated with embarrassment.  She let go stepping back and looking around at
the three large men staring at her as if they had discovered a new species and
didn’t know if it was dangerous. 

She
cleared her throat, “Sorry.  I guess I overreacted.”  She tried to
make a joke of her worry.  “Imagine what I’d do for a paper cut.” 
She walked back around to her stool and tried to concentrate on eating her
cooling omelet. 

“Can
I get my purse back now?”

“You’re
not leaving.”  Demons voice loud in the silence of the kitchen and Clytie
gave him a warning glare.  Ben got busy with his own breakfast, doing his
best to be invisible.  The absurdity had Clytie rolling her eyes. 
Mac smiled at her, as inscrutable as ever.  “I’ll get it.”  He said
leaving the kitchen.

Demon
leaned over the kitchen island beside Ben and put both hands on either side of
her place setting.  “You.”  He said, poking a big finger toward her
nose.  “Are not leaving.”

She
tried to bite his poking finger but he jerked back.  “Of course
not.”  She said, exasperated with him in particular and men in
general.  “I’m going to eat my breakfast, check my messages, and find out
what plans you have today.”  She got back to her breakfast.  “I thought if
you don’t have anything planned maybe I can take you to lunch.”  Her
cheeks had barely faded from the last blush and were rosy red again. 
“I’ll understand if you can’t.  I thought...”  She trailed off and he
placed a warm palm under her chin and raised her eyes to his which were a
heated chocolate brown.  She would have never expected such tenderness
from a man so strong.

“What
did you think?”  His voice had become smooth velvet and the tone made
Clytie shudder with longing and close her eyes.

“I
thought we could spend some time together.”  Good grief, how did people do
this?  She felt stripped bare before his eyes.  Waiting for his
answer a nauseous fist of anxiety hit her stomach.

He
kissed her softly across the island and she opened her eyes.  “I’d like
that ba...  Clytie.”  Her smile was blinding, so pretty he had to
kiss her again.

"Jesus
that's sweet.  Don't you think that's sweet Mac?"  Ben's voice
rolled over them and Clytie pulled back blushing yet again. 

"Like
Cotton Candy and balloons."  Mac answered placing Clyties purse
beside her on the counter.

"And
puppies."  Ben finished, grinning down at them.

Demon
flipped them off without lifting his head and Clytie laughed.  She kept
the smile on her face all through breakfast and clean up where she wasn't allowed
to do anything but watch.  It was no hardship watching such beautiful men
razzing each other around the kitchen.  Unfortunately, her messages were enough
to kill the after glow.

“I
need to go by my sister’s shop.  She is having some issues with the payroll
program I installed.”  She looked up at Demon.  “Maybe we could meet
for lunch?”

“I’ll
take you.”  He said instead.

Clytie
hesitated and then shrugged.  “I can show you the shop.”  She made a
study of the white kitchen with the stainless steel appliances and complete
lack of color.  “You could maybe use the inspiration.”

Chapter
5

When
they reached the cookie cutter street of shops where the Amber Dragonfly was
located Clytie began to get a little nervous.  When she saw how many cars
were parked in the employee section of the parking lot she groaned.  Oh no.  "What
day is it?" 
Please say it’s not Wednesday.  Please say it's
not Wednesday.

“Wednesday
,
why?"

"I
am in so much trouble."  She sank down in her seat and wondered what
had happened to her brain in the last 24 hours.  Oh yeah, mind blowing sex. 
"Uhm Demon, it might be best if you waited in the truck, or maybe went to
get a cup of coffee at the cafe, and I'll walk over when I'm finished."

Demon
pulled the truck into the parking lot, parked, turned off the engine, set the
brake with a little more force than necessary and turned to study her.  He
was aware of a pressure in his chest he had never suffered before.  He
didn't like it.  "I thought you wanted to show me your shop?"

"I
do, but its meeting day!  And from the cars in the lot, everyone showed up
for once." 

"Afraid
the employees won't approve of your new boyfriend?"  His voice, so
cold the chill snapped Clyties head around, buried the hurt he tried to
conceal.

"What? 
No.  You don't understand."  She unbuckled and pulled her legs
up until she sat facing him on her knees.  "They aren't employees,
well they are but they are also family, as in my sister, brother in law, my
niece, my nephew, and with my luck they will have my crazy Aunts on the speaker
phone.”  O.K. probably an exaggeration but the remote possibility struck fear
in her heart. 

If
possible, he got colder.  "So it’s your family I'm not good enough to
meet.  Fine for a fuck but you wouldn't want to be seen with
me."  He grabbed her by the arms and hauled her into his lap. 
His grip hard but careful enough not to bruise.  It was the pain in his
eyes that really hurt.  "Fuck that Clytie!  You hear
me?"  He shook her so hard she had to hold his thighs for
balance.  "You're mine and everyone’s going to know about it, so you
better get used to it."

She
almost blasted him for his poor opinion of her, if he thought she was capable
of...  On the other hand they had only known each other a day and in his
position she might have made the same assumption, asinine though it was.  She'd
hurt his feelings.  It hadn’t occurred to her that she could and that made
her want to kick her own ass.  She tried to think of something to say that
would make it better.  She shook off his hands and he let her, seeming to
brace himself.  She placed one hand on his scar and one hand on his neck
over his tattoo. 

"I
am not ashamed of you.  I've never been in this situation before and I'm
not sure how everyone is going to react.  Plus, I was supposed to call after
my date last night to let my sister know I got home safe and now,” she said her
voice becoming more adamant with each point she ticked off. "Now I missed
the Wednesday morning meeting and everyone is here, no doubt to begin organized
searches for my mutilated remains!"  By the time she finished she
held his face in a vise grip.  "You think I want the first guy who
ever made me feel like you do to walk into that the first day? 
Absofreakinlutely not!"  She placed a hard kiss on his mouth and
rubbed her hand along his scarred cheek in apology.  "Now go get some
coffee."

He
studied her face for a long minute and gradually the ice left his eyes and he
buried his face in her neck and breathed deep as she stroked his head.  He
nuzzled her neck and lifted his head.  "No."  He kissed her
lips, placed her back on her seat, undid his own seat belt, and stepped out of
the truck. 

"Please?" 
She said frantic.  He met her eyes across the seat right before he closed
the door.  "Pretty please?!"  She yelled.

Instead
of answering, he rounded the truck and pulled her door open, reaching in to
lift her from the truck.

"Seriously
Demon, Coffee good.  Meeting overprotective insane family bad." 
He just placed her on her feet and pulled her behind him as he headed for the
shop.  "Oh lord."  Her voice became a little frantic.  “We
should just go home and have sex, come back later.”  Demon stopped, as if he
seriously considered it, then shrugged.  “Too soon.”  She opened her
mouth, then shut it again allowing him to pull her along.

The
Amber Dragonfly was what he had expected.  Classy and girly, it was the
type of place geared entirely toward women and gay men. 

The
building itself was one shop among many on a quaint little old-fashioned
cobbled street.  Situated between a pastel candy shop and a toy
store.  The deep burgundy paint job and shiny amber dragonfly drew the
eye.  Two big picture windows opened to a virtual treasure trove of home
decor, and dark wood furniture.  The selling floor opened wide and flowed
from living room to dining room, to bedroom without any obvious effort. 
Affluent looking browsers wandered both the streets outside and the
store.  Two associates in burgundy aprons with amber dragonflies above the
pocket helped customers and rang up sales. 

Everyone
to a man stopped what they were doing when Demon and Clytie walked in the
room.  Of course, he did look a bit like a seven-foot bull in a china
shop.  Clytie smiled brightly.  A little too brightly actually. 

"Hey
Ruth, I take it you came back for that chandelier."

The
customer, a blonde in her forties in a silk suit and heals glanced from Clytie
and Demon to their clasped hands.  "Yes.  I decided Sarah’s
right.  Definitely the final touch we need."  She stared at Demon,
then Clytie.  Before Clytie could form an introduction, another woman, a
red head resembling Clytie around the eyes came out from the back room and
gaped at them. 

"Where
have you been?!"

Clytie
flinched but continued to smile at the customer.  "Excuse me
Ruth."  She dragged Demon through the store to face the sister, who
had her hands on her hips and blood in her eye.

"I
know you’re angry but can we at least get off the sales floor before you start
yelling?"  Clytie whispered from where she stopped right before her
sister.  Her sister was too busy examining Demon and didn't seem to hear
her.  In the full shop, he looked even bigger.  He towered over
Clytie and the rest of the room, doing his best to look inconspicuous. 
Yeah
right.

"Sarah
Mary!" 

"What?"

"Let
us through."

She
stepped back and had to keep going when Demon ducked under the doorjamb to
follow.  A small storeroom meticulously organized stood beside a door open
to a breakroom and employee bathroom.  Down the hall through another door,
they entered a fenced in garden. 

Five
people in all, besides the sister, began talking at once when they saw
Clytie.  They shut up when Demon ducked under the door behind her.

"Everyone. 
This is Demon."  She said sweeping her arm out to encompass the whole
yard.  "Demon this is everyone."

"Cool
name."  The teenager in the back jumped up from a twisted metal
bench.  "Check out the scar."  A young woman reached over
and slapped him upside the head.

"We
were trying to decide whether we should call the cops when you finally decided
to show up."  Sarah Mary tapped her toes, eyeing Demon as if she
weighed his possible value, and found him lacking.

"Sorry. 
I forgot to call last night after my date ended."

"Did
it?"

"Did
it what?"

"End?"

"My
date lasted a record ten minutes."

"Seven." 
Demon interjected, it was the first time he spoke.

Clytie
shook her head at him in warning. 

Sarah
looked doubtfully at Demon.  "So how do you know Meg?" 

"He
doesn't."  Clytie answered for him.  “I met Demon after the
blind date ended.  Maybe I should take care of the paycheck situation
before we get acquainted."

"I
figured it out.  The paychecks are being printed as we speak.  Where
did you two meet?"

"At
a bar."

"Go
Clytie!"  The teenager pumped his fist making Clytie laugh but nobody
else seemed to find it amusing.

Sarah
was not distracted, though she did throw her teenage son a warning glare before
continuing the interrogation.

"You
went home alone with a strange man?"

"Actually
no."

"You
didn't go home with him?"  Sarah relaxed slightly.

"Not
that this is any of your business,
Mom
, but we didn't go home
alone."

"What
does that mean?"

"It
means we were never alone.  Demon lives with two guys."

"Excuse
me?!" 

Before
Clytie could answer, Demon placed a hand over her soft mouth.  She turned
and peeked up at him with a twinkle in her eyes.  She was doing it on
purpose.

"I
share a compound with two other members of my old military unit.  We built
the house together but we each have separate wings."  The little
vixen licked his palm, the hard on that seemed to be a regular occurrence
around her sprang to life.  He whipped his hand away glaring at her to
behave.

"Isn't
that what I said?"

He
pulled her in front of him by her shoulders so as not to flash his erection at
everyone.  "No."  He said his voice a rough growl. 
Everyone but Clytie stepped back.  "It was not."  Clytie
laughed, forcing him to smile, which caused everyone to take another step
back.  Clytie reached up and patted his scarred cheek.  She lost her smile
when she turned and noticed her family was nervous around him.

"You
think he's scary, you should meet his roommates."

He
clenched his jaw.  "They are not my roommates."

"But
they are scary?"

He
was not about to continue this conversation.  Instead, he growled and
brushed his hand down Clyties neck in soft warning.  The small shuddered
reaction from Clytie was lost on no one.  The sister narrowed her eyes
even further.

“Clytie,
can I talk to you for a minute?  Alone?”

Clytie
sighed.

“Of
course.”  She held up her purse, eyeing Demon.  “You want to hold my
bag?”  He didn’t but either he held her purse or everyone was going to see
how happy his dick was.  That was all he needed with the family eyeing him
so suspiciously.  He took her purse and ignored the fact she was trying
not to laugh.  He was so going to spank her sweet ass when he got her
home.

As
soon as Clytie and Sarah were back in the building, the lanky teenager came
closer.  He stood next to Demon reaching no higher than his armpit. 
“So you and Clytie huh?”

Another
man approached, about five foot nine with brown hair and eyes, he had the
unmistakable air of career military.  “So what exactly do you do for a
living?”

“Security.”

“Bouncer?”

“Computers. 
Security systems mostly.”

“What
branch of service did you serve?”

“Navy.”

“Air
force.  What did you do in the service?”

“Special
Ops.”

“Seal
teams?”

“Yes
sir.”

He
mulled that over.  “Clytie is special.”

Demon
met the warning in those eyes directly.  “Yes, sir.  She is.”

He
studied Demon for a solid minute.  “Good.”

“Enough.” 
The young woman had no make-up on and her hair back in a messy ponytail; she
came across about sixteen.  In his opinion, she needed more curves but she
was undeniably beautiful, and from her bone structure would be even more so as
she matured.  Demon catalogued her features and her penchant for leather
clothes liking the kindness and lack of guile in her smile.  “Let the poor
man breathe.

I’m
Jordan by the way.  This is David, married to the lady giving you all the dirty
looks for daring to date her sister, and this brat,”  she said, thumping
the teenager on his shoulder “is Boone, baby brother extraordinaire.”  She
pointed behind her.  “Joseph, and Maggie, friends and employees.”

Aware
he had passed some type of test, if only grudgingly, Demon nodded his
thanks.             

“Are
you out of your mind?  That man is a thug.”

“Excuse
me?”  Clytie stopped suddenly and turned in the short hall to look at her
sister.  That was not what she had expected.  “You met him five
seconds ago.”

“And
you met him when?  Yesterday?”

“I
like him.”

“Did
you sleep with him?”

“So
not your business.”

“You
did!  Oh my God!”  Appalled Sarah’s tone had Clytie gnashing her
teeth.  “Please tell me you made him wear a condom.  The man probably
has every venereal disease known to man.”

“He
does not.”  She was not going to tell her sister she had been so mindless
with pleasure that first time she had not even considered making Demon wear a
condom, and after that, well she was on the pill, and any other possible damage
had been done.  See, absolutely logical, except it was only blind luck
that she was on birth control to stay regular, not any great thinking on her
part.  No, she would definitely not be mentioning that to her
sister.  Clytie held up a warning hand, “I am so not having this
conversation with you.”