Page 80 of Baking and Angels

In that position, he kicked off the pants that were trapping his ankles while she crawled around to lie on her side of her bed, burrowing under her covers still naked. Feeling like it was required, he did the same, crawling under her quilt with her. As soon as he was in place, she slid up closer, already most of the way back to sleep, and settled into the nook of hisshoulder.

“Thank you,” shemuttered.

“For what?” he asked, whispering the words intothe dark.

“For giving meso much…”

He could sense her slipping away, slipping into sleep. “I want something,” he said, jerking his shoulder to keep her from leaving him for her dreams.

“Yes?”she asked.

Licking his lips, his eyes searched the ceiling above for answers in its shadows. “I want a contract with Scarlet. Scarlet Promotions, I mean. If I’m going to be your champion in this competition, I want it in writing. Everything spelled out.”

“Oh, yeah. Okay,” she agreed so easily it felt like a cheat.

“And money, too. A guarantee.”

“Mm-hmm.”

He nodded then. It was only right. He was giving her so much of himself; it was the way of things, and he needed to get something back in return. It just felt more comfortable to have an agreement. This was how these things worked with demons.

“I have every right to demand this,” he said out loud, but Helena didn’t answer. Her breathing had already slipped into an even rhythm. “I have every right,” he repeated, hugging her closer.

Yet, even in a better position, he still stared up at the ceiling, unsure what to do or say, wondering if sleep planned on coming at all.

In the morning, Rafferty woke in the bed alone. His head ached, and it only got worse when he opened his eyes. The edges of Helena’s blackout curtain glowed brightly, indicating a bright, sunny day outside, and he hated it already.

He thought about rolling over and trying to find some more sleep to sweep away his headache, but a weight settled on the bed beside him, settling in the space left by the crook ofhis body.

“Good morning, sweetie,” Helena’s voice sang out softly as she brushed her fingers over his forehead, clearing his hair fromhis eyes.

The involuntary groan did not deter her as he turned his head away from her touch, the headache spiking again.

“Is everything okay?” she asked again.

“I feel hungover,” hemuttered.

“Ohhhh,” she cooed, leaning in to kiss him on his temple. Immediately, the headache eased away. “I’m sorry. That’s my fault, I think.” Then she bounced back up to her feet. “Get dressed. Charlie’s started breakfast. We’ve got abig day.”

“What?” he tried to ask, but she was already gone.

Dragging himself out of bed, he wondered at his own reluctance. A night of passion should have invigorated him, and the news of someone else cooking should have alarmed him, but instead, his heart felt heavy, like it had been replaced with a stone.

“Is that my phone ringing?” Charlie asked, leaning against the counter in the kitchen, a piece of toast hanging fromhis mouth.

“It’s there on the counter,” Cindy said, gesturing at it with her head while she poured herself a hot cupof coffee.

Rafferty checked the underside of the eggs he had just flipped over easily, having taken over the cooking duties so Charlie could finish getting dressed for the day. He then picked up the whole pan and brought it to the four plates waiting for him beside the stove. With quick work of his spatula, he had the whole pan of eight eggs distributed to the plates.

“Hello?” Charlie said into his phone as he placed it between his shoulder and his ear while he attempted to adjust his tie. Somehow, he had tied it so the thinner end was longer than the thicker.His fingers tried to fix it, but he was making such a mess of it, though, that Cindy set down her coffee andtook over.

“Yes, I’ll be there in a half an hour. No, I haven’t left yet, it’ll take me less time… because I’m not staying at home at the moment, so I’m closer to the office… I’m sorry, but who works for who here? That’s none of your business, just focus on my business, and I’ll be there in a half an hour!” he said sternly. Then in the same stern yet sincere voice, he continued. “Thank you. I really appreciate you. Your work is valuable to me. Bye.” He hung up with a press of his screen and lowered the phone. “I have no intention of being there for very long. I’m just going to go in and set things up so I can take the next week off because, seriously, I just can’t with everything going on and stuff. I swear I’m just losing my mind, but if I don’t set things up the whole thing may burn down before I can get back and are you done yet with that tie, oh my God!”

Cindy bopped him on the nose. “Yes, if you would just hold still and take a breath every other sentence, I would be finished—” Another yank and she had the tie straight, the ends measuredperfectly.

Charlie turned away abruptly, seizing control of his tie back. “Oh it’s fine, I…” Then he stopped and forced a breath in. “Thank you. I appreciate you. I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I am not being my best right now.”

“It’s not required,” Helena said, coming in as well. She then laid her hand on his shoulder. The tension in the other man immediatelydeflated.

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