Page 26 of Her Demon Mate

I wander over to a table and chair in the corner of the store and sit down. I am still staring at her.

I could never regret apologizing to her. Not if she smiles at me like that every day for the rest of my life.

The morning, red-tinged sunlight glimmers in through the bakery’s windows then, and Elia is caught in the middle of the sunlight.

Her dark hair, which is in braids, falls down her back to her waist. Her skin glows in the sunlight, and she is not as pale as she was last night.

Instead, today there is a rosy glow to her face and her arms, which are bare.

I inhale with some difficulty, because suddenly I feel like I am choking. My chest is tight, and there is a lump in my throat.

What am I feeling right now?I think to myself as I watch Elia flit around the store.

I have no answer to the question. I have never really been in a position where I have found a female this beautiful and captivating.

And it’s a human woman, to boot.

The two customers, a demon woman and her child, that Elia was helping leave the store then, leaving us alone.

I am not sure where Elia’s boss is, but I have a feeling he left the bakery the minute he saw me.

At least he has some sense of self-preservation,I think to myself with dark satisfaction.

Elia is busy behind the counter, so I stand and walk over to her.

All I want is to be close to her.

There is still a lump in my throat, and my face feels quite warm suddenly, and my palms feel sweaty.

I lean on the counter, and when Elia looks up, she places a paper bag on the counter in front of me.

Again, she smiles at me, and my chest grows tight again and the lump in my throat seems to swell.

“What is this?” I open the small paper bag, and I do not miss the way my fingers tremble as I do so.

Inside are two of my favorite pastries.

“How? How did you know?” I ask her, and my voice is filled with wondering incredulity. “I didn’t even ask for anything. And how did you know these are my favorites?”

My face is warmer than ever, and I step back from the counter and force myself to inhale.

Elia smirks, one corner of her mouth higher than the other. Her eyes sparkle, but I am not sure if it is the blood red sunlight burning through the windows or if it is just her eyes.

The lump in my throat has actually become quite uncomfortable.

She shrugs then as I raise an eyebrow at her.“Just a lucky guess, I suppose.” But she looks and sounds very pleased with herself.

I think very hard as I stare down at the pastries. “I didn’t think you’d be such a good liar,” I say finally, when I have figured it out. She remembered Vylco’s order from yesterday. “You almost fooled me,” I say, laughing slightly as I break off a piece of the sweet pastry.

Instead of laughing along with me, Elia’s face twists into darkness. The strange expression is only on her face for a second before her face becomes devoid of emotion.

She shrugs and walks out from behind the counter to the front door of the bakery. She checks that the door is properly closed before she locks it.

Then Elia turns to me, and her arms are crossed over her chest.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” she says, her voice casual. But I see it again, though it passes so quickly that I could have imagined it.

Her face twists in and out of darkness again, and the darkness clouds her eyes for a second before it clears from her face.