21. April 13, 2023
Demon
He wasn’t ready for “even more gorgeous.” A white, sleeveless button-down blouse topped a pair of navy-blue shorts.
On her feet were a pair of simple navy-blue tennis shoes, like the kind girls wore in the fifties, and her hair was down but pushed off her face with a matching blue hairband.
Why was this sexier than the red evening gown from the night before?
She looked… edible. It was the only word he could come up with because all he wanted to do was put his mouth on her.
All of her.
She stopped cold when she noticed he was staring at her.
“What?” She surveyed what she was wearing, even trying to look over her shoulder to see if something was out of place or dirty.
It was the same thing she’d done when he’d stared at her in her dress last night.
When she couldn’t see whatever was wrong, she went over to the three-pane standing mirror in the room's corner and tried to find what he was staring at. Looking up at his reflection in the mirror, finally, she asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Buttons.” It was all he could choke out.
“Buttons?”
“Where are they?”
“Huh?” She looked genuinely confused at the cryptic words coming out of his mouth.
“Your shirt. It’s missing buttons.”
Frowning, she looked down at it, then back in the mirror. “No, they’re all buttoned.”
He stalked over to the mirror and stood behind her.
The sleeveless blouse mimicked a suit jacket or trench coat; its cut plunged between her breasts, buttoning tightly around her midsection to accentuate her slim torso before flaring loosely over her shorts.
He reached over her shoulders to the two lapels of the blouse and pulled them together at mid-chest. “You’re missing at least two.
Right here.” His voice was tight and strangled.
He’d never heard himself speak like that.
“I’m not missing any buttons.” She gently pried his fingers off the lapels of the blouse and then smoothed the wrinkles he’d made by bunching the fabric together.
“You’re showing too much skin,” he grumbled.
“I was showing way more skin last night,” she chastised. “You didn’t seem to mind then.”
“That’s because when I looked at you, my brain short-circuited when all the blood in my body rushed to my dick. This outfit somehow seems sexier.”
“You’re right. Bare arms, knees, and shins are terribly sexy,” she whispered.
“I’m not talking about your arms, knees, and shins, and you fecking know it,” he groused.
“Go put another shirt on.” He thought better of it.
“And one with sleeves. And some pants. Other women’s arms, knees, and shins are not sexy.
But yours are sexier than I care to think about, and I don’t want to be burying bodies of men trying to look at you. ”
Rolling her eyes, Cherry went to the vanity table and began touching up her lipstick. His eyes automatically and unapologetically went to her ass as she bent over. Feck, he was going straight to hell. He’d assumed that was his lot in life, but now he knew it was.
“Stop staring at my ass.” His head snapped up to find her watching him in the vanity mirror.
He didn’t bother to deny it. No point. She’d caught him doing it. He shrugged. “It’s a nice one.”
“That doesn’t give you the right to stare at it.”
“Nope, it doesn’t. But I’m a guy, and it’s always on our radar, so… oh well.”
“You really can be a dick sometimes.”
“Nothing you didn’t already know.” He glanced around the room. “Ready?”
She recapped her lipstick and ran her little finger along the underside of her bottom lip to remove some excess color. “Did you hear anything from Steel?”
“No, but I didn’t really expect to. Not yet, anyway.
Maybe something soon when the meeting is finished.
No news is good news, as the saying goes.
” He stopped her movement to the door with his hand.
“Cherry, be careful today. Last night? What you saw surprised you. It was easy to pass off your shock as travel exhaustion, but it won’t be as easy today.
Stay as close as you can, okay? If you see another S button, just note who it is. Don’t engage them.”
“And what if they’re leaving tomorrow? We might just lose our best opportunity to question them. I can handle myself. Been doing it for a while now. Besides, I hired you, so I think I know what we’re up against.”
“I know you are capable and can take care of yourself. This isn’t vetting a client or even a future deadman.
I just…” He ran a hand through his hair.
“This just became even more personal for you, and no matter wh o we are, when it becomes personal, mistakes get made. We don’t mean for it to happen, but we’re not thinking as clearly as we normally do when our emotions are engaged, even when we think we can separate. ”
As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he knew he’d said too much. Watching her head tilt and the consideration in her eyes, he knew that she’d picked up some note of truth in his voice. They stood in silence—she thinking, he working to affect a blank expression.
“We’ll be talking about that,” she promised.
“Nothing to talk about,” he lied.
“Demon, you can blank your face, but you just went so tight I could bounce a quarter off you into a shot glass. Don’t forget.
I know you.” She walked up to him, her well-manicured fingers threading through his hanging at his side.
“I promise. I will play the attentive bride today and stay as close to my adoring husband as the situation allows. But we’re here to do a job, and that may mean me asking some questions.
Have a little faith in me. I’ve been doing this a lot longer than you. ”
With his free arm, he pulled her tight to his chest and pressed his lips to her temple.
Even he could feel the tinge of desperation in his act.
“I have all the faith in the world in you. Just need you to be careful, fireball,” he whispered.
“If something happened to you, I couldn’t—” He cleared his throat.
“If something happened to you, there’d be a long line of people waiting to kick my arse before God put through the final edict.
” He pressed another kiss to her temple.
“Although I’d probably take care of it myself if something happened to you when you were in my care. ”
He felt her inhale on a gasp, and when her eyes turned up to his, he felt her pain and anger like they were a palpable thing. “Never say that! A million things could happen to me you could never prevent. And no one is worth another person’s life.”
Loosening his hold on her, his smile pained. “Okay, fireball. Whatever you say. ”
She made a move to the door, but he stopped her with a gentle tug to her wrist. Her gaze met his.
“You look beautiful, a chuisle .” He reeled her in for a kiss before they traveled downstairs.
Several of the house staff had used vans to take the overnight guests who weren’t part of today’s meeting over to the business end of the plantation in groups.
Rayon had informed them, however, that Matthew was waiting for them in Zion’s private car, which would be a far more comfortable ride, whenever they wanted to leave.
On the surface, it seemed like Zion was ensuring nothing but the best for his niece and her new husband, but Demon wasn’t feeling an awful lot of warm, fuzzy feelings about the choice.
To him, it felt more like controlling their movements, particularly when the clunk of the automatic door locks sounded.
They played the newlywed couple in the back seat of the car Matthew drove.
They held hands to start, chatting about things they wanted to see and do over the next week.
He snuggled her close to his side under the protection of his arm, and they looked out the driver’s side passenger window at the landscape.
Periodically, he would sneak a kiss to her cheek or hair, murmuring into her ear, and she giggled at whatever he said.
The plantation rose and fell along the hilly, winding roadways up to the foot of Petit Piton.
Seven stone buildings formed the property’s center, each structure devoted to a different stage of the banana-farming process.
The main building was three stories tall and stood at the center of all the other structures.
Stepping out of the vehicle, a young woman greeted them, and in her hands, she had a tray of warm towels to wipe down their faces and skin.
Already, the humidity of the afternoon was picking up.
As Matthew closed the car door behind him, Demon felt the vibration of five pips from his phone, which was alerting him that Midas needed to speak to him.
Pulling the phone from his pocket, he glanced at the screen for show.
He sighed and looked at her. “I’m so sorry, a chuisle .
Apparently, there’s a problem back at the office, and I need to call them. You go on inside. I’ll be quick.”
Cherry nodded. Zion appeared as he gave his explanation to her.
The man’s eyes scrutinized him, but when Demon caught him, the stare quickly changed to the typical brittle smile.
“Don’t be too long, young man. Women don’t like to be kept waiting,” he warned.
Zion put Cherry’s hand through the crook of his arm.
“Come, my dear. I see a cocktail in your immediate future.”
Together, the two went inside the main building. Demon spared a glance at Matthew, who stood, one hand clasping the wrist of the other in front of him, no expression on his face. Mirrored sunglasses hid the security man’s eyes from view, but he was pretty sure the man was watching him closely.
He pointed at a large tree in the courtyard. “Is it okay if I step over there?” he asked innocently. “I don’t want to move anywhere I shouldn’t.”
“ Wi, se konsa. Just watch your feet. The ground can be treacherous if you do not look where you are stepping, sir.”