Devil May Care Read Free

matter how evil your family is.”
    “I know he does. But the thing is, I loved Dan, you know? He was it. Prince Charming come to life. We had everything all worked out. We were building a life together. Plans for a house, adopting a couple of kids. The whole nine yards.”
    “Adopting kids?”
    “I told him I couldn’t have any.” I looked down at my hands, guilt flooding through me at the lie I’d told him so long ago. “You think I wanted to risk bringing another demon child into the world? I’d have never kept my real identity a secret.”
    “I thought you said he was the guy for you? If you have to lie about who you are…”
    “We all have to lie about who, and what, we are. I notice your mom isn’t knitting you sweaters that have holes in the back for your wings and no one has once mentioned how we’ll manage your veil around the horns.”
    “That’s different.”
    “Is it? Either way, I loved him, and when he fell apart like he did I wanted to just curl up and die. It was like there was nothing left in my life that mattered. If I could have found a way to end it…”
    “So start over with someone who won’t lose his mind when your wings and tail come out. Matt is that guy.”
    I ran my fingers through my hair. Why the hell was I having this fight with her, too? Any idiot—including me—could see I was hurting Matt by being closed off about these sorts of things. And hurting him made me feel like crap but didn’t change my stance on matrimony in the slightest. “He’s also the guy who understands how I feel.”
    “Are you sure about that?”
    “Can we just drop it please?” I was sick of trying to get people to see my side of things. I knew Matt wanted some sort of commitment from me—and I wanted to give it to him—but the whole idea made me lightheaded.
    We were very careful to not use the L word with each other. Not because he wasn’t cool with saying things like “Love” and “Feelings,” but I’d had a full-fledged anxiety attack when he mentioned either word during the romantic, candlelit dinner we’d had together last week. Love was too close to Commitment. Which was way too close to Marriage. And that brought up kids and all sorts of other things I wasn’t ready to deal with. Ever. Not that Lisa would get that.
    “We might get to that point one day but for the near future I’m leaving the white dresses to you and Mom. They always make my complexion go sort of sallow looking anyway. Now, let’s go get you some bubble bath and see if we can’t save your feathers. I can’t have my best friend molting on her wedding night.”

Chapter Two
    I walked into my apartment carrying a bag full of groceries and found myself staring at a nephilim lying on my couch. He was perusing the sports section, with classical music playing and a full table setting for two spread out on my coffee table. That was weird. Not the nephilim—he was pretty common around here since we started seeing each other naked, but usually he didn’t bring Beethoven and flatware.
    “Well, hello.” I moved into the kitchen and put my groceries on the counter. “What’s up?”
    “My client’s court date was pushed back at the last minute, so I decided to leave at lunch.” Matt turned the page and whistled like he was surprised by the scores from last night’s game.
    I shoved the bag of perishable stuff into the fridge without bothering to unpack it. I know, I know, not the best way to stay neat and tidy but, given that I had a gorgeous nephilim in my living room who obviously had something romantic hidden underneath his halo, I was pretty sure putting away the grapes properly could wait. “So you came here?”
    “I wanted to surprise you and have a nice picnic lunch together on your floor, but, alas, I found my lady love missing.” He flipped the paper down. He was wearing his glasses, but I noticed that his usually neat “work” hair was already sticking up in inky black spikes.
    He wasn’t a big,