At those words, his gaze met mine, the expression intent.
Captivating.
It took an effort to look away. “Nice seeing you. I should go now.”
“Say you’ll come to dinner.”
My heart skipped. Back in the day, I was the one asking him to have a meal with me. Making him supper, toiling over it all day in that hot kitchen only to have him show up late because he’d gotten caught up in a book. Or, at the end of our friendship, not showing up at all as he sought a way to save the library.
“I’m busy.” This wasn’t entirely a pleasure cruise. I’d come along to watch over my granddaughter. The love spell I’d cast on her locket was behaving oddly.
“You’re lying.”
“It’s called being polite instead of telling you I have no interest in spending time with you.” My anger at him was slightly irrational. The only wrong he’d done to me was not returning my affection. And now, after centuries had passed, he wanted to flirt?
I hated that it worked. Seeing Shax again reminded me of all the things he used to make me feel. The tingles. The breathlessness.
I wasn’t a young girl of inexperience anymore. I should have better control of myself.
“Not interested? No.” He shook his head. “You’re lying again?” The words held a hint of uncertainty.
“Why are you pushing me?” I felt trapped even as he didn’t do anything overt.
“Because I want to see you. Hear what’s happened to you. Spend time with you.”
I blinked at his obstinance. “Well, too bad.”
“I will keep asking until you say yes.”
“And I will keep saying no! Jerk!”
A woman stopped beside me. “Grandma, please don’t tell me you’re harassing this gentleman.”
I could have cringed as Jane called me Grandma. Grandmas were old. I didn’t feel old.
“I am not harassing Shax,” I huffed. “Merely indicating that I’m unavailable for meals since we are traveling together.”
Jane arched a brow. “Since when are you hooking up with me for food? You told me, and I repeat, ‘I love you Janey Waney, but you need to make some friends and loosen up. Because I will be, and I can’t have you cramping my style.’”
“That’s something a whore would say.” I lifted my nose and sniffed in disdain. I was quite sure I’d put it more politely when I talked to Jane. But perhaps not. After all, she needed to hang with someone closer to her age who wasn’t related to her.
Jane eyed Shax. “Your name…” She tapped her lip. “Sounds familiar.”
“Nope. Not one bit. Let’s go check out shuffle head.” I linked my arm with Jane’s and dragged her away before Shax could say anything.
Not that he could say much. We’d never actually dated. The only time I’d kissed him, it’d started a fire.
Walking away didn’t stop Jane from bugging me. “He’s cute. You going to have dinner with him?”
“Most certainly not.”
“Just going to skip right to the drinks and his bed. Efficient. I like it.”
I coughed. A bit too hard. She pounded me on the back. When I could gasp for air, I said, “I can’t believe you just said that to me.”
“Me either.” She scrunched her nose. “There’s something in the air, I swear. It’s making me a little crazy.”
“You’ll be fine. Why not go find a drink. Get some food.”
“Nope. I’m not getting drunk. I’m going to hang out in the room. Catch up on some reading.”
“Great plan.” I shoved at her, not arguing with her choice. The love spell locket was aboard the ship, the magic already at work. My granddaughter wouldn’t have a choice. She’d leave her room because her true mate was somewhere on this ship.
With her out of the way, and Shax nowhere in sight, I could finally answer a summons.
I found the tiki bar on a lower level. Tucked away, it only had a few people inside. One of them being the devil.
He wore a wide-brimmed straw hat, big sunglasses, a shirt peppered in neon sloths, and flip-flops that showed his six-toed feet. “Took you long enough,” he grumbled, gesturing to the many platters of food, most half-eaten.
I slid into the seat across from Lucifer. “I can’t drop everything just because you call. Stop whining like a little girl and tell me you ordered something with lots of alcohol for me.” Never show weakness with the devil.
“I drank it.” He lifted his hand and waggled four fingers. “We’ll get more.”
“What are you doing here? Does Gaia know you’ve left?” My understanding was that the devil had agreed to co-parent the newest dark prince. And by co-parent, that meant fifty-fifty with a pair of gods used to doing whatever they liked.
“The spawn of my loins is being watched by someone trustworthy.”
“Don’t say Nefertiti.”
“How did you guess?” He beamed.
“I can’t believe you. You know she’s a bad influence.” I shook my head.
“Exactly. Can you think of anyone better to corrupt my son? Other than me, of course.” He grinned, layers of sharp teeth showing, and yet he still managed to look disturbingly human. Handsome, too.
Still, despite his good looks and evil nature, he didn’t give me tingles like a certain other old demon.
“I’m supposed to be on vacation. Why are you here?” I asked.
“Can’t a dark lord visit his favorite witch?”
I arched a brow. “Since when am I the favorite? Last I heard, isn’t that Ysabel’s title?” Everyone knew the devil had a thing for his secretary. Problem being she only had a thing for her husband, Remy.
“She is no fun since the child. Brings it to work and everything. Can you believe she instituted workplace rules about watching while she feeds it on the tit? Never wears a skirt anymore. I’ve been forbidden—me, the devil—forbidden from ass-slapping the staff. Male or female. My jokes aren’t being laughed at anymore. The HR department is involved in numerous lawsuits about sexual harassment. It’s unfair! I’m the devil. It’s an insult if I don’t say something about your breasts or cop an inappropriate feel.”
“You haven’t done either with me. And I’m not insulted.”
“You should be. It’s because I don’t find you appealing. Why do you persist in adopting such a shell?” He waved his hand.
“The same reason you looked twenty years older for such a long time. It suits the purpose.”
“You should try shedding this body for a new one. It can revive even the most jaded.” He winked. “And you can go for hours. Days.”
I didn’t reply because the devil would just keep going, each thing he said getting dirtier and dirtier. Two could play at that game. “Rumor has it you love your wife so much you won’t cheat on her.”
Lucifer eyed me, and smoke began to curl from his ears. “Are you accusing me of chivalry?”
“Actually, I was accusing you of monogamy.”
“Even worse!” he roared. The tiki bar trembled. The mural of a monkey god suddenly possessed glowing eyes, and its mouth moved.