Black Wings, Gray Skies (Black Hat Bureau 4)

“He’s too conspicuous,” Asa agreed. “He knows that, but his impulses are harder to control.”

“We’ll do better,” I promised him. “We’ll start accommodating his need to surface.”

That is, if we wanted Asa to keep his pants on.

Which, honestly, I wasn’t sure qualified as a problem exactly.

Forehead pressed against the stucco-covered brick wall, I let the chill soothe my flushed skin.

I was a bad, bad person.

Terrible, really.

But I already knew that.

It was strange to want another person. The wanting was making me behave like a teenager with her first crush. Asa was in no hurry to rush our physical relationship, and I suspected—just as he knew I preferred violence to emotion—he worried I would use sex in place of emotion if he let me.

So, maybe it would be a good thing if he kept himself covered until we figured out that part.

“Do you have gloves?”

“Depends.” I wet my lips. “Do you have pants?”

“Yes.” I heard the smile in his voice. “I’m even wearing them.”

Stifling a laugh, I jerked when something hit my shoulder. I caught it as it fell and almost dropped…

…his underwear.

“Thanks?” I balled them in my hand. “Is this like when guys tuck girls’ thongs in their pockets?”

Amusement lit his eyes, and he raked his teeth over his bottom lip. “Look at the waistband.”

I shook out the material and examined the ultra-elastic until I hit a rather large rip down one side.

“He tore your underwear.” I traced the slice from his claw. “He wanted you to put on a peepshow.”

The daemon must have been tickling Asa’s subconscious with mischievous intent for him to take the unusual preventative measure of stripping down to his undies rather than only removing his shirt and jacket.

“He’s eager for us to mate.” Asa wiped a hand over his mouth. “He wants our bond cemented.”

Avoiding that not-exactly-a-question, I asked one of my own. “Do you mind if I keep these?”

Eyes on the fabric, he cocked an eyebrow that implied all manner of things.

“Not for me.” I fought down the heat building in my cheeks. “I want evidence to show him that explains why he isn’t getting his caramel apple. Certainly not one with nuts.”

As endearing as I found the daemon’s shenanigans, I couldn’t let him push Asa, or me. He had to learn there were boundaries, and that the three of us had to function as a unit. We had to cooperate with each other in order to get what each of us wanted from this relationship.

“Ah.” Asa’s eyes laughed at me. “You can keep them.”

“I’m not a pervert for asking,” I said, defending myself. “I’ll throw them away after we’re done.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

Maybe not, but I heard him loud and clear.