Page 35 of Minions and Magic
He shot me a puzzled look. “Okay. That one’s easy. I don’t mess with your food. Next?”
“I’m serious.” It took a concerted effort not to punch him. “I’ve worked hard to build up a reputation, and I’m very proud of my creations. I know pride is a sin and all that, but sabotaging my food, whether it’s for a client or not, isn’t something I’m going to forgive.”
“I would never do that.” He scowled. “If I messed something up while helping you in the kitchen, I can assure you it wasn’t intentional.”
I hesitated, a horrible feeling coming over me. What if it had been an honest mistake? I’d had him doing the slug prep, as well as the sauce. What if he’d accidently grabbed the wrong spice container? Just because he could make a heck of a tasty sandwich didn’t mean he could tell coriander from cardamom.
“I know demons lie, but I need you to tell me the absolute truth here. Did you intentionally add something to the slugs or the sauce that would make the gnomes sick?”
Now he looked rather pissed. “No! I’ve never cooked slugs before. I did what you told me to do. I would certainly never intentionally do something that would jeopardize your career. In case you didn’t notice, Glenda, I like you. I more than like you. I want to spend time with you in the kitchen, in bed, in all sorts of other places. Why in the hell do you think I’d do something that would be guaranteed to make you never want to see me again?”
He was right. I felt like such an idiot. I’d been so afraid of letting myself be vulnerable, about caring and risking my heart, that I’d jumped at the first chance to slam the door on the demon who might be the love of my life. I got scared—scared of my own feelings, scared of my past repeating itself. And I’d made assumptions about him as a demon, and in particular about him as a crossroads demon. My sisters had found love with demons. I would never doubt Lucien’s, Hadur’s, Nash’s, or Eshu’s love and dedication to my sisters. Why did I immediately assume the worst of Xavier?
“I’m…I’m sorry.” I took a deep breath and prepared to be vulnerable once more, to take a chance on love, on this demon. “I should have talked to you and not just lost my temper and thrown you out. I was embarrassed and humiliated, and I made some horrible assumptions about you.”
His eyes searched mine. “So this isn’t about what I do as a crossroads demon? You weren’t mad at me because you thought I was out all day trading favors for people’s souls? That I was taking advantage of every loophole in each of my contracts?”
I shook my head.
“Instead you were mad because something had gone wrong at your catering job, and you assumed I deliberately tampered with your food to sabotage the event.”
It was a statement instead of a question. I winced, but kept eye contact and nodded, trying to be brave and take my lumps.
“I sought you out and flirted with you. I talked about food and life, and spent two days working in a kitchen with you. I had sex with you, spent the night and had breakfast with you in the morning. I told you I’d see you later, that I’d be back and that I wanted more than just one night with you—that I wanted so much more. But in spite of that, you still believed I would deliberately mess with your food to screw up your catering job.”
I felt myself go hot. “I’m sorry. I’m not good at this. All my other relationships fell apart because the guy liked my food more than he liked me, or he just wanted a weekend fling. You’re this hot, sexy, demon, and I…”
“You couldn’t accept the fact that I thought you were a hot, sexy, witch who I love spending time with? Your food is amazing, but it’s you I care about, Glenda. You.”
Me. He cared about me. And I’d almost screwed this up beyond repair. I mighthavescrewed this up beyond repair.
“Can you forgive me?”
He stared at me for a moment. “Yes, but I need you trust me, or at least talk to me if you’re angry. You can’t shut me out like that. I’d thought you were mad about something completely different. I even went to Lucien for help.”
My eyes widened. “You went to Lucien and Cassie?” She’d never said one word of this to me, darn her.
“Just Lucien. We spoke in private. Honestly he wasn’t all that much help.”
The last was said with a wry grin. I thought what I might do if Lucien had come to me to beg Xavier’s case for him.
“I wouldn’t have backed down for Lucien,” I told him. “Cassie, yes. Lucien, no.”
“I didn’t want him to intervene, just to give me some pointers on how to pacify an angry witch.”
I felt myself blush. “I’m not sure I want to know what he said.”
Xavier chuckled. “It was basically ‘do whatever she says’.”
I grinned because that was pretty much the summary of the demon’s relationship with my eldest sister.
“So…are we friends?” My face was even hotter. Friends? Lovers? WhatwasI supposed to call this thing between us?
He took my hand and shook it, a solemn expression on his face. “Friends. But don’t think I’m letting you out of this bet we have going. I didn’t slave over this brisket recipe for nothing, you know.”
I sucked in an alarmed breath. “No! There’s no need to do that. Let’s call the bet off.”
His eyes narrowed. “Afraid you might lose?”
