Page 43 of Midnight with the Devil

After they entered the kitchen, he set the bags of groceries down and then watched Diana and her mother prepare everything. They worked well together, moving in tandem to prepare a fruit salad, a plate of meat patties on a tray, and some veggie dip bowls. It was clear Diana and her mother had done this together many times before. They were talking and laughing, sharing open joy as they worked. Something about that familial intimacy made him go very still inside. The rush of voices and images of the goings-on in hell, the mental reports he received every minute, it all faded to the back of his mind like an old radio turned on in a distant room. For the first time in his existence he was lost, lost in Diana and her world, and he liked it far too much. Andras wouldn’t be pleased, but he could stuff it.

I’m the damned devil. If I want to enjoy some vacation time, I can.

“Why don’t you and Lucien go outside and set up the tables with the appetizers,” Janet said, smiling.

“Okay.” Diana hugged her mom and hastily grabbed a veggie tray and shoved it at him. “Take this.”

Lucien gripped the tray and followed her out into the backyard. Several men, including Hal, were grouped around the grill cooking hot dogs. Nearby two picnic tables had been set up with red-and-white checkered tablecloths. Several women were drinking tea out of glass Mason jars and laughing as they gossiped. Lucien smirked.

“What are you smiling about?” Diana asked as she leaned in close to him. The soft natural scent of her skin made his body burn with hunger.

“The secrets,” he said.

“Secrets?” Her brows drew together, and he knew he would have to explain.

“I can hear people’s secrets. It’s part of the gig as the king of hell. When people try to hide things, the easier it is for me to see it. It’s almost like I can hear them screaming their secrets loud and clear.”

“What kind of secrets?” she asked, her focus on the guests again.

“You really want to know?” He chuckled. She was human, after all, and curiosity was one of those quirky human habits.

“Well, take that man standing next to your father. The one in the loud red Hawaiian shirt.” He nodded his head toward a slightly overweight man.

“Jerry Gunter.” She nodded. “What about him?”

Lucien’s lips twitched. “He likes to put on his wife’s shoes and dresses when she’s at her girls’ martini nights. Calls himself Mrs. Butterfield.”

“What?” Diana giggled, and her eyes flashed with laughter.

“But he’s a good guy, generally speaking,” Lucien added. “Not anyone I’d pay a call to.”

“What else?” Diana leaned against him, the little blouse she wore billowing in the breeze, and he was able to catch a glimpse of her gorgeous breasts held in a sensible nude-colored bra. Normally he liked women who wore lacy scraps of lingerie, but there was something about the way Diana wore what pleased her, and not men, that fascinated him.

“Lucien?” She nudged him with an elbow.

“Hmm?” He was still half lost in fantasies of tugging those bra cups down and flicking his tongue against her nipples.

“What else can you see?” She waved a pair of salad tongs toward the people in the backyard.

“All right.” He scanned the guests again and then discreetly nodded at a woman in her midforties in a polka-dot black-and-white sundress.

“Mrs. Rafferty,” Diana confirmed. “What about her?”

“She’s cheating on hubby dearest with his best friend.”

“Oh my God,” Diana muttered.

“I wouldn’t worry. Her husband has a nice little stripper with a heart of gold that he keeps living well in Vegas. He’s planning to leave her for the stripper in a few months.”

“No way.” Diana covered her mouth with one hand, shocked.

“Oh yes, it’s going to be quite the fireworks when Mrs. Rafferty finds out about Bethany in Vegas. The cheaters always hate being cheated on.”

“But he’s cheating too—Mr. Rafferty, I mean.”

“He is, but only because wife dearest made him move to the guestroom. He’s a lonely man, and Bethany is really a sweet girl.”

“Wow.” Diana stared at her parents’ neighbors with open astonishment.

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