Page 24 of Hellfire & Tinsel
Kassel didn’t know how to lie.
“Shehaslived a long life. And the holidays are tough, those demons can pile up on you,” Beau called back. “Maybe we should drop some of the cookies off to her to cheer her up after we’re done?”
Kassel frowned in confusion, but Oren let out a sigh of relief, finally freeing himself from the tree.
“I’ll go check on them. You, bond,” Oren ordered, pointing a finger at him. “Beau won’t know we were even here.”
Kassel looked at the state of the living room already and doubted that, but he was happy when Oren slipped out the front door just as Beau’s footsteps came padding down the hallway.
He wasn’t expecting him to round the corner dressed like his Christmas tree.
The pants and long-sleeved top were black at their base, but the designs of various ornaments and patterns had overwhelmed every inch of the fabric. On his feet were oversized animals with red noses and horns that inflated and deflated with every step.
It was… a lot, even for someone with extra pairs of eyes to spread the chaos across.
Beau noticed him looking and played with the cuffs of his top, which were slipping past his knuckles. “We’re not going out again today, so I decided to get comfortable,” he explained.
Kassel recalled the Hallmark movie, Oren’s words, and his own resolve all at once. “Whatever makes you most happy.”
Surprise rippled over Beau’s face, parting his lips just like when he’d told him he was there for anything he wanted. Kassel was starting to worry he had totally missed the mark and misspoken again when a shy smile turned up the corners of Beau’s mouth, pure pleasure lighting up his eyes and turning them into sparkling pools. A dusting of pink settled along his nose and cheeks like snow.
Kassel felt something like satisfaction creep along the edges of his usually dead insides.
Beau reached up to toy with the damp, curling ends of his hair, the other hand hiding in his cuff and blocking his mouth as he mumbled something into the fabric.
“What was that?” Kassel asked.
Pink turned to red, sliding up toward his ears and down his neck. “I said…” He took a deep breath, meeting Kassel’s purple eyes. “You make me happy.”
Kassel paused. Examining why it felt like he’d just been smote by the holy man himself. They were just words. A confirmation that he was performing his summoning well. But they felt more like a gift, delicate and fragile, placed in his massive hands to keep safe.
Kassel wanted to cradle Beau’s happiness. To protect it fiercely.
“I’m… happy. That I made you happy,” he found himself saying, testing the words out to see if they were true and hearing them ring with sincerity.
Beauglowed, brighter than all the lights inside and outside combined. He bridged the gap between them, taking hold of Kassel’s jacket in questing fingers for no other reason than it seemed like he needed some form of touch.
Kassel had noticed that Beau responded more than anything else to physical contact. He could be rendered speechless with just the brush of fingers, tiny, budding curls of lust wisping up into the air.
He looked down at Beau’s upturned face, scanning every inch in this new light.
Two of his eyes flicked down to Beau’s lips. The indent right in the center of the bottom one looked soft, its color a bruised red like crushed roses.
An earthshakingBOOM! rocked the house’s very foundations, and Kassel had to take a second to realize it was happening outside of his own body. Beau gasped in surprise and Kassel’s arms went around his waist to steady him, pulling him into his side securely.
Clearly, things were goinggreatoutside.
“Was that an earthquake?” Beau asked, looking spooked.
“Not sure,” Kassel said truthfully. “You don’t have to worry, whatever it ends up being.”
Beau gave him a shy, pleased glance, snuggling closer like he didn’t think Kassel would notice it. Another small hint of that desire curled up between them like perfume. “I’m not worried.”
“Good,” Kassel said, the beast in him settling. “Let’s bake cookies for Mrs. Knolly’s demons. Maybe that will calm them down.”
Beau giggled, nodding and pulling him along to the kitchen on eager feet. “I have some great cookie cutters. They’re to die for.”
Kassel was finally intrigued, squeezing into the small kitchen after him. His horn scraped the range hood. “Is it a quick death or can they be used for torture also?”
