Chapter 16
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.
The days fell into a pattern that was really, really great.
I was waiting for my dad to find out my great-uncle’s address so I could crash him with the devil, but he couldn’t find it.
Or he didn’t want me to know about it. Honestly, I didn’t push that hard, not when every day was full of happiness like I hadn’t expected to feel after my mother died.
It was a beautiful dream that I didn’t want to wake up from.
One morning, the devil was standing in the open doorway, knocking me awake while he smiled from across the room.
“Did I sleep in? I did!” I threw the blankets back, determined to get up and get started in the bakery, but then he snapped his fingers and confetti popped all around me, sparkles and paper fluttering down onto my shoulders.
“Happy birthday!” he said, wide smile much sweeter than it was mischievous as he walked toward me.
Was it my birthday? Had it been almost two months since my mom died?
How had time gone by without her? For a second, my chest constricted while I remembered her coming in with a cake and candles to blow out for our breakfast celebration before going about the day until evening, when I’d open presents.
Last year, she’d given me a really great rolling pin she’d hidden behind her pillow at the Bell.
I sniffed then smiled brightly. “Thanks!”
His smile faded as he came closer, and me in my pink polka-dot pajamas. “What’s wrong? I thought you’d like sleeping in for your birthday. You’ve been up early so much lately, and with the way business is going, you’ll have it paid off in one year instead of five.”
I shook my head and tried not to feel the sadness. “I just miss my mom.”
He hesitated then sat on the edge of my bed, staring into my eyes while he rubbed my rabbit’s head. His soul. “Do you want to go to the cemetery and see her first?”
I wrinkled my nose. “First?”
He grinned and raised a brow rakishly. “Before or after I take you on a shopping spree!”
I laughed and snuggled my rabbit while his warmth spread to me. “A shopping spree for my birthday? Wow! Are you paying? And in Wonderland’s gift shop?”
His smile became more calculated. “Of course I’m paying. Also, in House Beur.”
My smile faded and my stomach lurched. “The department store? Why there?”
“Because they’ll have all the clothing options the dead mistress’s closet doesn’t. No?”
Did he not know that I used to work there and got fired? I rallied my smile. “That’s really sweet, but it’s absolutely unnecessary.”
He captured my hand and leaned closer, eyes meltingly sweet. “Please let me pamper you for your birthday, Miss Kesty. Otherwise, I’d be the most ungrateful creature in any world. You’ve revived my soul from death, from misery, from loneliness. Let me give you a happy birthday.”
His voice, his eyes, his hand in mine, all of it made an irresistible combination.
I sighed heavily then beamed back at him.
“Let’s go on a shopping spree then to my mother’s gravestone afterward.
It’ll be so fun!” I mean, it would be good to pick up a few things, and House Beur was the best department store in the city, and I should stop avoiding it just because some of the employees might’ve gossiped about the shocking fairy-goblin who’d been fired.
He grabbed my hands, pressed a firm kiss to both while he looked into my eyes with that luminous gaze that made me all soft and squishy, then he scooped up the rabbit and strode out of the room, leaving me in my pajamas with an unsettled stomach.
It would be good to go back there and clear out all these negative emotions. It was just a store, and I’d loved going there when I was a little girl with my mother. It was time to move on.
I got dressed in my mother’s old dress, gossamer layers secured with a blooming flower belt.
It was tight in the shoulders, and the matching slippers were a squeeze, but they had small blooming rosettes growing out of the silk.
I topped my hair with her floral wreath then opened the door to smile at the devil.
He stared at me, not smiling. “And how are you supposed to find anything lovelier on our shopping spree than what you already have on?”
I smiled at him and looped my arm through his. “If only it fit perfectly. The squeeze is like a tight hug so I can feel her close to me. This was my mother’s favorite.”
“I can see why. Now I feel like I should take you on a magic carpet ride.”
“Do you have a magic carpet?”
“Of course. It doesn’t fly, but it does roll up when it hears loud noises.”
I laughed and squeezed his strong arm tighter as I looked up at him. “Wow. That does sound magical.”
“Absolutely. We’ll have breakfast in their tea parlor.”
House Beur had a very beautiful tea parlor that fairies loved to go to. I tilted my head as I studied him. “A fairy joint, hm? I might bite anyone who insults me. I don’t need to mind my manners if they aren’t customers.”
“You don’t have to mind your manners anyway. You have my blessing to bite anyone you like.”
I had a sudden memory of the time we’d made out in the butterfly garden. His teeth on my neck. And the night in the club. I gave him a closed-mouth smile while my heart beat faster and my toes curled.
“Where are you going?” my dad asked when I came down, but he didn’t look concerned. He’d come to trust the devil—or maybe not him but his deal. Or maybe he liked him, like I liked him.
Even though he’d put my dad in a cage.
“We’re going shopping then to the cemetery. Do you want to come?”
He frowned at the devil then shook his head. “I’ll watch the shop while you’re out.”
We walked through the bakery to the front, and there outside was a car waiting for us, the one made out of snail shells. My dad let us out and locked it behind us.
“When is your shop opening?” a woman asked, blocking us, her eyes intense.
“Not today,” the devil said gently as he helped me into the back of the car.
“But I need—”
He closed the door on her then walked around to climb in beside me.
“What did she need?”
“The prestige that getting your baked goods at her friend’s congratulation’s party would give her. It’s not always easy to get what you make.”
I blinked at him. “You plucked that out of her head or are you making things up?”
He raised a brow and took my hand, pressing a soft kiss to its back. “I’ve made a lot of deals. I can smell desperation like I can smell covetousness. Also, she approached me earlier and told me her troubles.”
I snickered and leaned against him, inhaling his scent: caramels and gentleness. “I should learn how to control what I put into things. I feel like I’m stealing your energy just to use it in my baking, and that’s hardly fair.”
“The rabbit steals your energy, or you’d have it for baking. You don’t like taking my energy from me?”
“I…I love it,” I admitted, not looking up at him. Instead, I smoothed the panels of iridescent silk on his shirt. “But it’s not in the deal we made.”
“It’s not in the deal that you snuggle my soul every night.”
My stomach tangled. What would it be like to snuggle him, and not just his soul? “But I like that too,” I said, looking up at him.
He smiled back then took my hand, tangling our fingers together. “I also like it. All of it. A devil without a heart and only half of someone else’s soul shouldn’t be content, much less happy, but here I am.”
“You’re content or happy?”
He flashed a bright smile. “Yes. Are you?”
I hesitated then squeezed his hand and leaned my head on his shoulder. “I have the bakery of my dreams. Of course I’m happy.”
“And content?”
“Well…I wish my mother weren’t dead, but other than that, yes, I really am. Do you think…” I almost asked him if we could date for real, but I chickened out.
“Yes?” he asked, gazing at me like I was the first, most beautiful star to come out at night.
“We can get some of those fancy teacups to use in my bakery?”
He grinned. “A shopping spree is supposed to be without limits. Whatever you want, it’s yours.”
“Are you going to add it to my bill?”
He glowered at me, so sultry and brooding. “Absolutely not. It’s your birthday. The deal is the deal. This is an opportunity to show my appreciation for how well you’ve cared for my soul. I insist that you think only on what you want, and nothing on what it costs.”
That wasn’t going to happen. I’d definitely think about the cost, but I’d try not to mention it. The devil had money, and I really had made his soul healthy.