Page 39 of To Crave Madly
I held my other hand out to Jasper. “You too, Mr. Grumpy Pants. I need someone to keep my sassy mouth in line.”
Amusement lit up Jasper’s face and it turned him from broodingly handsome into a glorious feast for the eyes. He gripped my hand tightly and brought my fingers to his lips, kissing them gently.
“Well, isn’t this cosy?”
My eyes snapped to the door and I found Rae who was grinning like I’d been caught with my hand deep in the cookie jar.
“Rae!” I tried to jump out of bed but both Jasper and Lucifer pushed me straight back down. To be honest, I was grateful. My head was already swimming just from that little burst of energy. I think I would have blacked out again if I’d actually managed to leave the bed. “How are you? How’s your friend?”
“Sukie is a little shaken up, but she’s okay.” Her gaze shifted to Jasper’s. “I’ve got her settled at the house; I hope you don’t mind. Saskia is keeping her company until you can sit down with her.”
Jasper nodded. “That’s fine. Thank you for your help.”
My eyebrows rose in shock. No reprimand? No short, sharp response? “Who are you and what have you done with Jasper?”
He looked down at me with the most serious expression. “Watch your tone. I’m still in charge here, and I do not like impudence.” His eyes flared as he leant closer and dropped his voice lower. “I will quite happily punish you for it.”
Lucifer’s fingers trailed up the inside of my wrist where my heart was now rapidly making blood pulse under my skin.
“I think she likes that idea, Jasper. So do I.” Lucifer dragged his bottom lip between his teeth. I couldn’t help but drop my gaze to his wicked mouth. “I’d like to watch.”
Oh, god. Oh, fuck. My ability to breathe completely left me at the sudden flashes of dirty images now filling my mind. I squirmed in the bed as desire had the apex of my thighs suddenly begging for attention. I licked my lips and bit back the moan that threatened to crawl out of my throat. If those two men continued to stare at me like that, I was going to let my desire get the better of my normal, rational common sense.
“Right! That’s enough. You two, out.” Rae marched further into the room, determination written across her face as she headed towards Lucifer. She grabbed his arm and hurled him to his feet before walking him backwards to the door. I laughed. I couldn’t help it. Shock exploded over his features at her manhandling of his personage.
“Do you know who I am?” Lucifer pulled his majestic voice out to try and make her back down. Little did he know, that was probably more likely to spur her on.
“Yes,” Rae replied sternly. “And it doesn’t change the fact that Lori needs rest and you two are far too distracting.” She gave him a final thrust through the doorway. “So, clear off, Your Majesty.”
He gave me a small wave and a lopsided grin as his head disappeared around the doorway. Jasper was clearly smarter. He made his own way to the door with his hands held up in a display of cooperation, but he still received the same narrowed-eyed glare that my best friend had given the Devil.
“I will go and speak to Sukie and find out what I can.” He turned to me and a small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “I will keep an eye on Lucifer. I find Cassian quite useful and I have no doubt that if I leave Lucifer to his own devices, I’ll soon be dealing with a corpse.”
“Poor Cassian,” I muttered through a giggle before Jasper also disappeared through the doorway.
After they had gone, Rae hopped up and sat next to me in the bed. She wrapped her arm around my shoulder and squeezed me close. I’d missed this. Missed having her with me so she could tell me all about the huge mistakes I was walking myself into. Like whatever this was between these two men. I hoped she would tell me this was going to be a disaster and that I would be stupid to walk myself into a situation that I clearly had no idea how to handle.
“So, tell me, babe, what the Hell is happening here?”
I laughed to myself. Where the fuck was I supposed to even begin to answer that question. “How long have you got?”
She laughed back at me. Rae had a really dirty laugh like she was always up to no good, and it was infectious. It wasn’t long before I was laughing right alongside her.
“Rae, what am I doing with my life? How did I end up in this mess?”
“Well, this hot vampire rescued you, brought you here, where you met a hot fallen angel and now you’re in a hot mess.”
“You’re not wrong there.” I was in one Hell of a mess. One that now involved Celestials and witches and my suddenly cooperative magic. “Did you see me catch that magic ball?”
Her eyes went wide. “I know! Shit, I thought you were a goner!”
“You and me both.” I looked down at my hands. “How the fuck did I catch that?”
Rae’s brow furrowed as she puzzled over the question. “I think a lot of mage magic is instinctual and tied to emotions. Witches are a bit different. We use spells and enchantments to create magic, but mages have the magic in their blood so create magic naturally. What have you been doing with Fenris?”
“Lots of meditation and visualisation.”
She chuckled. “Poor Fenris. I bet that’s been awful. You are not one to sit still.”
