Page 53 of Devils Don’t Deal

A bell rang somewhere, and then Rawley was pushing the devil’s coat and shirt at him.

“It’s closing time, sir. Fairy-goblin. Don’t you have an early morning at the bakery? Too late. It’s already early morning.”

“Oh! The bakery!” I looked up at the devil, hating that we had to stop, but of course we did. I blinked and took a step away from him, but his forked tail wrapped around my ankle, pulling me back into his arms.

“I will take you home,” he murmured low in my ear while my heart beat so fast in my chest. I pressed my hand against his chest to feel his heart, but there was nothing. I blinked at him. “You really don’t have a heart?”

He studied me, and some of the luminosity in his eyes faded. “Not with me.”

“Right.” Because he’d given it away to some idiot who’d sold him to cultists. It was unlikely a devil would ever love, but after that kind of betrayal? It was as impossible as I was. “We should go,” I murmured.

He pulled me close then spun around in a cloud of smoke and sparkles. When he stopped spinning and the smoke cleared, we were in the dead mistress’s room. The rabbit rubbed my ankles while I stood there, the devil’s hands on my shoulders, securing me to him.

“Teleportation. Fancy. You must’ve traded something really cool for that.”

His lips twitched. “I came by that naturally.”

“Weird. You kept that but not your heart?”

He frowned. “Well, we don’t always make the wisest choices.” He pulled bills out of his jacket and handed them to me. Several hundreds. “Don’t open the shop today. Bake to stock up then open tomorrow. You need to sleep.”

I nodded while his warmth seeped into me. He kept his hands on me while the rabbit rubbed my ankles. “That’s very wise. Pity we don’t always make the wisest choices.” I smiled slowly while his eyes narrowed.

“If I release you, you’ll likely crumple to the floor. That nap was a long time ago.”

“All right. Open the door to my room then if you want me to go to bed.”

“Now I don’t trust you to sleep instead of bake.”

“But it’s none of your business as long as I take care of your rabbit.”

“If you don’t take care of yourself, how can you possibly take care of my rabbit?”

I cocked my head as I studied him. “What do you propose? Will you tuck me into the dead mistress’s bed and watch over me to make sure I don’t do anything terribly shocking like start a batch of macarons?”

He picked me up and walked with me the few steps to the large bed then tucked me under the blankets, shoes and all.

I giggled. “You’ve clearly never tucked anyone into bed before. Thank you for being backup and pickpocketing the pretty prince. And the dancing.”

“I have never tucked anyone in bed before. Did I do it all wrong?”

“My shoes. And my pajamas. And I should probably shower before I go to bed so I don’t bake in the stench of sweaty bodies.”

He studied me for a long moment before leaning over and kissing my forehead. With a slight sensation of falling, I blinked, and I was in my own room, in my own pajamas, in my bed, without my shoes on, and smelling of vanilla and a hint of rose. The devil was gone, but the rabbit was there, glowing all luminous and ephemeral.

“Well,” I said to him as he snuggled up to me and a wave of happiness flowed over me. “I guess the devil’s a quick learner.” I kissed his forehead like the devil had kissed me then drifted off into the sweetest, caramel-coated dreams.

Chapter

Sixteen

Iwoke up late and spent the day baking, looking forward to dinner. The devil came in carrying groceries and set to work cooking without asking me what I wanted, and even more shocking, without kissing me. He seemed more relaxed, somehow. How I felt, actually.

We ate dinner with my dad, talking about nonsense, and my dad actually seemed to hate the devil less than usual. It was nice, and then afterward, the devil did the dishes while I sat on the counter next to him and fed him bites of chocolate cake.

It was fun and almost normal. Then, when the dishes were all done, he walked up the stairs with me, pressed a kiss to my forehead, then stepped through the door, closing it on me, so I had my own room while he was back in Wonderland without me. The kiss left me slightly dizzy and buzzing, but not unpleasantly. I got ready for bed, snuggled into the cozy blankets with my rabbit, kissed his head, and drifted off.

The next day was long, with early-morning baking, and then selling baked goods afterward, but it was busy, with an actual line down the block at one point. We sold out by two then I headed back to bake some goods for the next day. That night, the devil came in his giant spider-mech and took me to an extremely fancy restaurant where everyone stared at us like we were celebrities or monsters, and then again, afterward, he left me at my bedroom door with a kiss on my forehead.