Blaze (Dark in You 2)

“So, today we need to —” Devon cut herself off, eyes widening, and grabbed Harper’s hand. “A black diamond? Knox gave you a black diamond?”

Harper smiled, admiring the rings once more. Her demon loved how shiny and twinkly they were. Most of all, her demon loved what they represented. “Yeah.”

Devon flopped back into her seat, a smile curling her mouth. “Oh. My. God. I’m floored. Not that I didn’t think he was utterly devoted to you.”

Raini leaned forward to get a good look at the rings. “They’re so beautiful. Is he wearing one too?”

Harper cradled the warm, porcelain mug with her hands. “Yep. He let it be my decision, though. He said he didn’t have to wear one just because I was wearing these.”

“The guy has good taste,” said Khloë, swirling her smoothie. “I’ll bet his demon is smug as fuck. Does Grams know yet?”

“Yes, I told her this morning.” Harper sipped at her latte and hummed in appreciation. “She said that if I’m happy, she’s happy.” She also hadn’t been at all surprised by the news.

“How did Knox give the rings to you?” asked Raini.

“He woke me up, handed me a box, and then told me he wanted me to wear them so I’d have a constant reminder that I was important to someone.”

Devon put a hand on her heart. “It’s hard not to like the scary son of a bitch.”

Tanner snorted a laugh before grabbing a newspaper from a neighboring table.

“I’m so happy for you, Harper,” said Raini with an excited smile.

“Me, too.” Khloë slurped some of her smoothie. “And I predict it’s going to be really fun to watch people’s expressions when they notice the rings.”

“So far, it kind of has been.” Some had looked shocked, others had appeared pleasantly surprised, and— in the case of several females – some had seemed severely disappointed. Harper’s demon enjoyed the latter.

“As immature as this sounds, I am so looking forward to seeing Belinda’s expression when she sees them,” said Raini, stirring her tea.

“You should get your wish soon enough.” Harper took another sip of her latte. “She wanted to see me, so I asked her to meet me here.”

Raini did a little clap. “I do love a good show. Where have you and Knox been for the last few days anyway?”

“On his yacht,” replied Harper.

“Well, of course he has a yacht,” Devon said dryly.

A chiming sound was followed by the quick arrival of Larkin and Keenan. Harper smiled at them. “Hey, what brings you two here?”

“I heard about the rings from Levi and I really wanted to see them.” Larkin looked at them as Harper held out her hand. “I’m not a girly girl but I’m actually squealing in my head.”

“Some people are going to shit a brick, especially Alethea,” said Keenan.

“We should celebrate,” Devon announced.

Khloë nodded, excited. “We could go to the Xpress Bar tonight.”

“You really want to get smashed again?” Keenan asked the imp.

Confused, Khloë said, “Why wouldn’t I?”

Keenan folded his arms. “I’m not taking you home this time.”

At his snippy tone, Khloë cocked her head. “Is this about me telling you that you have a monster cock?”

Raini nearly spat her tea all over the table. Larkin, shaking with silent laughter, patted the succubus’ back. People turned at the word “cock,” as if it had snapped them out of their own conversations. And why wouldn’t it?

“No,” Keenan ground out. “It’s about the photograph you took that night.”

Khloë sighed, rolling her eyes. “I don’t know why you got so upset about it. It was a lousy picture anyway, since I couldn’t fit your whole cock on it.” That comment had plenty of brows raising. “On a serious note, did you have it surgically enlarged or are you just gifted in that department?” It was a genuine question.

With a groan, Devon buried her face in her hands.

Keenan looked at Harper, cheeks flushing with self-consciousness. “Make her stop.”

Khloë snorted. “You’re just mad because your incubus mojo has no effect on me.”

Larkin blinked at him. “It doesn’t? Really?”

“It’s rare that people are immune to incubi allure, but it happens,” said Keenan.

Hearing another chime, Harper swerved to see her favorite cambion enter the coffeehouse. Anticipation thrummed through her inner demon, who wanted to punch the bitch hard enough to leave an imprint of the rings so the cambion could never forget who Knox belonged to. “Well hello, Belinda.”

Belinda’s hand tightened around the strap of her purse. “I have been trying to get hold of you for three days. Why have you been ignoring my calls?”

“I wasn’t ignoring them… per se.” All right, she totally was. “Knox whisked me away for the weekend, so I was sort of busy.”

Lips flat, Belinda said, “You couldn’t take two minutes to answer at least one of my calls?”

“Now, let me see.” Harper held out one hand, palm up. “Spend quality time with Knox.” She held up her other hand, palm up. “Talk to you.” Harper moved each hand up and down. “Knox was always going to win that one.” Honestly, the cambion looked close to whacking Harper with her clipboard. Awesome. “So, what is it you want?”