Rylie Cruz 3 - How to Date a Demon

How to Date a
Demon

by Rose Pressey

How to Date a Demon

Copyright © 2012 by Rose
Pressey

Smashwords Edition

Praise for Me and My Ghoulfriends by
Rose Pressey

“
Rose Pressey spins a
delightful tale with misfits and romance that makes me cheer
loudly.”

Coffee Time
Romance

“
Her characters are alive
and full of quick witted charm and will make you laugh. The plot
twists keep you turning the pages non-stop.”

ParaNormalRomance

“
I absolutely loved this
book! It had me chuckling from the beginning.”

Fallen Angel
Reviews

More books by Rose Pressey:

Me and My Ghoulfriends (Larue Donavan Series, Book
1)

Ghouls Night Out (Larue Donavan Series, Book
2)

The Ghoul Next Door (Larue Donavan Series, Book
3)

How to Date a Werewolf (Rylie Cruz
Series, Book 1)

How to Date a Vampire (Rylie Cruz
Series, Book 2)

How to Date a Demon (Rylie Cruz Series,
Book 3)

No Shoes, No Shirt, No Spells (Mystic
Café Series, Book 1)

Pies and Potions (Mystic Café Series,
Book 2)

Untitled (Mystic Café Series, Book
3)—Coming soon

Rock ‘n’ Roll is Undead (Veronica Mason
Series, Book 1)

Spells, Demons, and Rock ‘n’ Roll
(Veronica Mason Series, Book 2)

Flip That Haunted House (Haunted
Renovation Mystery Series, Book 1)

The Haunted Fixer-Upper (Haunted
Renovation Mystery Series, Book 2)

Murder at Honeysuckle Hotel (A
Trash-to-Treasure Crafting Mystery, Book 1)

All rights reserved, including the
right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form,
(electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise)
without the prior written permission of the copyright
owner.

This book is a work of fiction. The
names, characters, incidents, places, and brands are the product of
the author’s imagination and not to be construed as real. The
author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of
various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have
been used without permission. The publication/use of these
trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the
trademark owners.

To my grandmother, Annie,
who didn’t get to read nearly as many books as she should have.
Thank you for passing down your love of books to me.

To my son, who brings me joy every
single day. To my mother, who introduced me to the love of books.
To my husband, who encourages me and always has faith in me. A huge
thank you to my editor, Eleanor Boyd. And to the readers who make
writing fun.

How to Date a Demon, Rule
#1

Never tell them to go to
hell.

“
You’re lousy in bed,”
Jennifer screamed out the living room window.

She spun around so quickly that she
almost lost her balance and tumbled to the floor. Her eyes were
wide and glazed over as she searched for an object to toss at
Stephen. Jennifer’s face was almost the same shade of deep red as
her dress. I jumped from my seat on the sofa and rushed over just
as she scooped up my new mystery paperback from the shelf next to
her.

“
No, don’t do it!” I reached
for the book, but not fast enough.

Jennifer lifted her arm and flung the
book out the window. Damn. And I was only a few chapters away from
knowing who murdered Mr. Holiday. Now I’d have to retrieve the
book, or buy another copy. I’d probably rather buy a new one than
have to embarrass myself by picking that one up from the street.
Did she really think she’d hit Stephen from the second floor of our
building? My best friend Jennifer Matthews had never been the
athletic type, anyway. People still talked about her striking out
at that slow pitch softball game in high school.

“
I’m not sure it’s a good
idea to throw things at policemen.” I grabbed her arm and lowered
it to her side.

She let out a screech that made my
ears ring. “It’s over.” She slammed the window shut.

“
I gathered as much when you
told the entire French Quarter that he was terrible in the sack.” I
took her by the shoulder and steered her to the sofa. “Sit down.
I’ll get a couple glasses of wine and you can tell me what
happened.”

“
I’ll tell you what
happened. Stephen’s a pig. He’s married.” She plopped down, grabbed
the pillow and hugged it to her chest.

I stopped in my tracks, then spun
around. “He’s what? Did you just say married?”

Her face was still the color of blood
as she nodded. “Yes, married. As in ‘do you take this woman’? As in
‘will you love her, comfort and keep her, and forsaking all others,
remain true to her as long as you both shall live’? He lied to me
all this time.”

Wow, she really had those wedding vows
memorized. I walked over and plopped down on the sofa next to her.
“Honey, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what to say. How’d you find
out?” I brushed back a blonde curl from her shoulder.

“
His wife showed up at the
restaurant tonight, just as I had stuffed a piece of ravioli in my
mouth. I thought she was going to whack me over the head with the
garlic loaf. Stephen claims they’re getting a divorce. But I don’t
care even if he is. He lied to me.” She wiped away a tear with the
back of her hand. “The night had been so perfect up until that
point. Good wine. Great conversation... and then this happened.”
She buried her face in her hands.

“
Bastard.” I wrapped my arm
around her and squeezed her shoulders. “I’d love to get my hands on
him. I’d love to shove that wine bottle up—”

Jennifer let out a loud
sob.

Guilt settled in my stomach like a
huge block of concrete. I was the reason she’d met him in the first
place. He’d been an investigator on the case when I was harassed by
ex-clients of my matchmaking service, Get a Mate—who knew dating
could be so dangerous. He’d also helped when my boyfriend Jack
Chandler was kidnapped and turned into a living vampire, resulting
in Stephen being turned into a full-fledged vampire. Yeah, welcome
to mi vida loca.

She sniffled.

“
What did his wife do?” I
asked delicately.

“
She started yelling at me
in the middle of the restaurant. Everyone was staring. I was so
embarrassed.”

“
What did he
say?”

“
Nothing. I thought the
coward was going to run out of there and leave me to deal with his
wife.”

“
The bastard,” I said under
my breath.

“
She said I was the reason
he’d been acting so strange lately. I felt like such a homewrecker.
I’ll never be able to set foot in that restaurant
again.”

“
I doubt you have anything
to do with his behavior.” I handed her a tissue.

Technically, I was the one responsible
for his weird behavior. Stephen Peters was now a full-fledged
vampire thanks to me. He’d been turned while fighting off the
vampires who’d attacked my boyfriend. But that was no excuse for
his actions against Jennifer. Stephen wasn’t such a nice guy after
all. I hoped his wife didn’t track me down though. The last thing I
needed was another nutcase stalking me around town.

Jennifer rubbed her nose with the
tissue. “Well, I guess I did have something to do with it. He was
dating me while married, for heaven’s sake. That’s a bit of a
personality changer.”

“
I’m sorry, Jennifer. All of
this is my fault.” I couldn’t stand the elephant in the room.
Jennifer knew it was my fault. She was just too nice to admit
it.

She dabbed away another tear. “How is
it your fault that he’s married?”

“
If it weren’t for my crazy
clients coming after me, he wouldn’t have come here asking
questions. You would have never met him.”

“
Rylie, don’t be silly. You
didn’t tell me to start dating the guy. I was just confused over
Todd, anyway. I should have never gone from one boyfriend to
another. I needed time to myself, but Stephen dazzled me with his
sexy eyes and amazing… well, never mind that part.”

I was thankful she didn’t sure that
information.

“
You’re not exactly
the
by yourself
type, honey. You like being in relationships.”

She sniffed again. “I
do
like being in a
relationship.” She nodded. “But I don’t think I’ll ever meet Mr.
Right.”

I chuckled and she glared at me. Then
I laughed harder, holding my stomach. “I’m sorry.” I snorted. “But
I can’t believe you yelled out the window like that.” I
giggled.

She smiled, then laughed. “It was
funny, huh?”

“
Oh, yeah, it was funny. The
look on his face when you threw that book.”

“
Do you think he’ll arrest
me?” She wiped the tears from her cheeks.

“
He’d better not even think
of it,” I said.

She sighed and stood. “I’m going to
bed.”

“
Things will be better in
the morning. I promise. They always are.”

She nodded, but continued
walking.

I watched as Jennifer kicked off her
shoes, then, with shoulders slumped, trudged down the hall toward
her bedroom. What kind of guy kissed a woman when he was visiting
her home on official business anyway? Stephen Peters had showed up
to question me regarding the investigation; I had left for two
minutes and returned to find him all over my best friend. From that
point on, they had been an item.

Granted, Jennifer had kissed him back,
but she had been vulnerable at the time. Okay, she still was, but
that was neither here nor there. She’d been trapped in a bad
relationship. Her luck with guys was almost as bad as mine,
although she didn’t have a curse from an old witch hanging over her
head.

No. Really. Literally, I had a curse
placed on me. Years ago, a gypsy decided to curse my family. The
first daughter born to each man in the Cruz family would be
destined never to find true love. I’d struggled to get rid of the
hex ever since puberty. Finally, I thought the curse was gone for
good.

The room fell silent. The quiet was
nice though. After what I’d been through in the past few months,
any moments with vampires, werewolves or other creatures not
busting my door down was a welcome reprieve. I never knew how long
silence would last. With my crazy life, I expected just about
anything.

How to Date a Demon, Rule
#2

Never comment on the mood
swings.

I moved over to the window to see if
Stephen had retracted the fangs and run—with his new vampire
status, I didn’t put any strange behavior past him—or if he’d
called in for backup. Poor Stephen hadn’t had an easy time with the
vampire transformation. He’d run around for a week trying to suck
on everyone’s neck. Trust me, strangers did not like this. I didn’t
think Stephen’s boss appreciated the extra attention he’d received
either. Things had really turned disastrous when Stephen had tried
to break into that blood bank. Now that I knew what a jerk he was,
I didn’t feel as sorry for him.

The streetlight blanketed the area in
a soft yellow glow, giving me a clear view of the area. No sign of
Stephen, but on the sidewalk stood Lily Friedman, flipping through
the pages of my discarded book. Her ginger-colored hair looked even
brighter under the light. She was a former client who had become
unhappy with my matchmaking skills when her date hadn’t been
interested in happily-ever-after with her. The werewolf I’d fixed
her up with had been interested in me instead. So much so that he’d
tried to kill me.

Her gold signature necklace glinted
around her neck. She never left home without that chain around her
neck with her current love interest’s name emblazoned across it.
The gold letters with the name “Phil” glistened under the light.
Lily was one of the ex-clients who’d given me such a hard time. She
blamed me for a failed relationship. Just because I ran a
matchmaker service didn’t mean every match would be a perfect
one.