Like this one. And through some shared instinct, we both fell silent, savoring this brief interlude, this dream we’d gotten ourselves ensnared in. For now, it was enough to just sit together like this. His hand moved idly on my leg, offering comfort and love . . . at least for a little while. Before long, the sweet affection turned into something with a bit more desire. I met his eyes, and while it wasn’t the same animal intensity that had thrown me against the wall last night, there was still a longing in his eyes that told me how much he wanted me, to be closer to me. My body responded to it, and then we both glanced over at Kayla, who had fallen asleep again. We laughed, realizing the absurdity of our current situation.

“I should get her back,” said Seth.

“Yeah,” I said, sad at the thought of parting but certainly not aroused enough to make out while his niece was around.

He drove me back to my car in Bellevue. Our parting kiss was gentle and light, almost hesitant. It seemed typical of this entire affair, like it was hardly real and would blow away at any moment.

“Anything you need, Thetis,” he breathed into my ear. “Anything you need, I’ll do it. You know I will.”

A flower of agony and euphoria burst open in my chest. He hadn’t called me Thetis, his old pet name for me, since the day we broke up. “I know,” I murmured into his shirt. “I know.”

I returned to Queen Anne not long after that, getting a nice spot right in front of my building. My head was swimming with Seth and Kayla and Jerome and a hundred other things. I was so distracted that when I stepped into my apartment, I nearly walked right past Grace sitting on my couch. Of course, considering she was the first demon all week who hadn’t attacked me the instant I cleared the door, my reaction to her subtlety was understandable.

“Grace?” I asked curiously, as though maybe it wasn’t her.

She was leafing through a copy of Seattle Metropolitan magazine, their issue on Seattle’s best brunches. When she glanced up at me, there was a tiredness in her eyes that even demonic perfection couldn’t hide. Seeing her alone was almost as strange as her being here at all. I’d grown so used to her and Mei being a unit that their forced separation lately seemed almost as tragic as Jerome’s summoning.

“There you are,” she said. “I almost left.”

“Sorry,” I said. I meant it. I seemed to be on her and Mei’s good side lately and wanted to keep it that way. Demons didn’t like waiting, and without that innate connection of an arch-demon, she couldn’t instantly find me across time and space.