Because figuring him out was the best way to beat him at this game where my soul was the prize, of course. There was absolutely no other reason I would want to understand him. Not at all.

But … he did kiss like a filthy demon. One that, if two were, in fact, to become one, it would promise to be a night I would never forget.

My fingers slipped up my inner thigh of their own accord, and my clit pulsed in anticipation.

I wrenched my hand away with a frustrated growl.

“Stop it, you horny monster-lover!” I grouched, staggering out of bed and opening the curtains. “Check yourself before you wreck yourself in the eternal fires of Hell!”

I wrenched open the swollen old wood-framed window, sucking in fresh air in an attempt to calm myself down. Spring was certainly springing. Dawn was breaking earlier, and there was a hint of warmth in the air, which I inhaled greedily.

I grabbed my phone off the charger and padded down the hallway, heading for the laundry and Luci’s morning cage clean and breakfast. Glancing down, I noticed some messages from Ezra, from one in the morning. He was on night shift, so I hadn’t seen him properly for a couple of days.

Ezra: I’m working overtime tonight, so I won’t be home in the morning to remind you that it’s the third Friday of the month

Ezra: Which means brunch with the beastly brother

“Ugh!” I groaned, dropping my phone on the laundry counter and wrenching open the door to Luci’s cage. “Go roam the house while I clean,” I grouched. “I don’t have time for a play today. I’ve got to go be lectured by Joe while eating something wanky.”

Joe somehow managed to outdo himself each month—it was like a talent, finding these horrific hipster places to subject me to. They were always the type of café where breakfast consisted of poached egg (my most hated of the egg varieties) on a bed of charred kale with some miscellaneous fruit crusted in what looked and tasted, like spicy birdseed.

I just wanted gluten-free pancakes, drowning in maple syrup—imitation was okay, I wasn’t fussy—and topped with a scoop of ice cream as big as my head, with a smattering of strawberries to make it ‘healthy’. But did any of the places he took me ever serve anything even resembling a pancake, gluten-free or otherwise?

One had keto pancakes once … which were gluten-free … and tasted like semi-moist cardboard. Almost turned me off pancakes for life.

“This litter box of yours is probably more appetising than whatever Joe has planned for me today!” I called out to Luci, who was probably raiding the kitchen rubbish bin while I scooped her litter.

My phone vibrated again on the bench while I was refreshing Luci’s water and filling her food bowl. I washed my hands and picked it up.