3 Straight by the Rules Read Free Page B

falling for him.  Hard.  Not that I dared let it show.  If Helen knew the two of us were seeing each other, we’d both be in trouble since ‘keeping company’ together violated our contracts.
    William’s eyes twinkled as he led me up the trail.  “You’re going to love this, but you’ll have to work hard to earn your reward.”
    “Bring it on,” I told him.
    His smile widened.
    The narrow path made it impossible to walk side-by-side, so he went on ahead while I followed as best I could.  It wasn’t easy.  The rutted trail climbed steeply.  Even with the added benefit of my demon’s strength, I was winded.  When we reached the third switchback, I had to stop and rest.  Sweat soaked my t-shirt, and my leg muscles burned.  “I don’t think I can make it,” I confessed.
    “What’s wrong, Lil?” William teased.  “Do we have to work on your endurance?”
    I glared at him.  I hated when his arrogant demon came to the forefront.  I started up the trail again, determined to go the distance.
    I almost lost my resolve when we scrambled up several, immense boulders.  The sheer drop made me worry about plunging over the edge.  Seeing my uncertainty, William grabbed my hand and helped me up.  “Don’t worry.  We’re almost there.”
    Sure enough, we soon climbed above the tree line and crested the mountain.   The level spot was as naked and alien as the face of the moon, but the view was magnificent.  The swells of distant mountains stretched away for miles.  A gray ribbon of highway lay far below.  “It’s beautiful,” I breathed.
    He put his arm around me.  “I had hoped you would like it.”
    “I feel like we’re on top of the world!”  He was right; it had been worth the climb.
    We sat on one of the rocks, and William handed me a bottle of water and a granola bar from the backpack.  Clouds rolled in, and a clammy mist settled over us.  Seeing me shiver, he took off his fleece jacket and put it over my shoulders.  I buried my nose in the fabric, drinking in his smell.
    I hadn’t been this besotted with a man since meeting my ex-husband.  But because Ted had turned out to be a cheating bastard, I worried about getting my heart broken all over again.  Still, it was growing harder and harder to resist my attraction to William.  He had woken a part of me that had been asleep for a very long time.  Now, that part bubbled up like a spring, filling me with so much joy that it scared me.  Placing my heart in the hands of a demon was worrisome.  Especially since demons were not allowed to love.
    We sat in silence until he touched my cheek.  “You seem pensive.”
    “I miss Grace.”  My ex-husband had taken my daughter to France for ten days, and there were seven more until she returned.  At times, my heart felt like a stone in my chest.  If I hadn’t been able to use the otherworld doorways to peek in on her, I don’t know what I would have done.
    “She was fine this morning,” William said.  “I think they’re going to the Louvre today.”
    “You checked on her?” I asked, shocked.
    He shrugged, embarrassed.  “After you told me about your cad of an ex-husband, I wanted to make sure your daughter was all right.”
    The William I’d first met couldn’t be bothered to remember that I had a daughter, much less check on her wellbeing.  But ever since he’d rescued Grace from a berserker demon, he’d been paying more attention to my family.
    Since he was showing me his softer side, I decided it was time to have the talk I’d been rehearsing in the mirror every morning for the past week.
    I took a deep breath.  “William, I have a request…”
    “Slip out of those clothes, and I’ll do anything you want.”
    Okay, so maybe he hadn’t changed as much as I’d hoped.  “Be serious,” I said sourly.
    “I am serious.”  He smiled seductively and caressed the back of my neck, sending pleasant shivers down my spine.  “We have the mountain to