My former lovers were a pale comparison to him. I honestly had no idea sex could be so jarring. So earth-shaking. So intimate. And that’s where the problem was.

I’d liked my other boyfriends. They were nice guys. But sex with them was none of the things I experienced last night. It was just another release. It didn’t make me feel vulnerable. It didn’t make me feel feelings. But Devraj—sigh—he so did. I went next door yesterday expecting to be wowed by his bedroom skills, not that we actually ever made it to his bedroom. What I wasn’t expecting was the soul-deep stirring he sparked with his hands, his mouth, his body. His tenderness.

Actually, if I were totally honest with myself—because it was about damn time that I was—Devraj was so much more than a skilled lover. Hearing the touch of loneliness when he spoke of his mother, of the home they once shared. It broke down the wall I’d tried to erect between him and my emotions.

Devraj was a shiny, dazzling man used to a shiny, dazzling world. He was a Stygorn vampire who traveled the globe to hunt down dangerous supernatural criminals. Once he caught the culprit taking these girls here in New Orleans, he’d be gone. Wouldn’t he?

And even if he’d wanted to continue something casual where we were lovers when he came back to town, I didn’t want to be something casual to him.

On a giant huff, I tossed the last of the smudge sticks into the basket that was piled to the brim. I’d need to put these on huge discount to move so many at Maybelle’s.

After cleaning up my mess, I looped my arm through the basket handle and left the greenhouse. I made sure to shut the door tightly since Z liked to wander in and knock my twine all over the floor.

“I thought I might find you here.”

I jerked around to find Devraj standing there, smug as you please.

“Hi,” I managed to say without sounding too breathy or jumpy.

“Hi there,” he returned, his smile brightening further.

Maybe I wasn’t so successful.

“What are you doing here?”

His smile dimmed, and I wanted to kick myself. Before I could apologize for being so abrupt and sounding kind of rude, his expression turned business-like.

“I came to tell you that Darren Webber contacted me, and I’m meeting him over at The Green Light in an hour. I thought you might like to come along.”

“Oh.” I shifted the basket to my other arm. “Yes, I would. That was kind of you to include me.” If I felt a little disappointed this was a business call, I didn’t let it show.

“I might have a bit of an ulterior motive actually, but I’d like to discuss it with you there. Are you busy right now?” His gaze dropped to my overflowing basket, his mouth ticking up on one side.

“No. Just let me go get a quick shower and change.” I glanced down at my dirt-smudged garden dress. “Um. Can you give me thirty minutes?”

“Sure. Would you rather walk or drive?”

“Walk,” I snapped quickly.

“That’s what I thought.” He grinned. “I’ll be back in thirty then.”

He strode off through the gate leading to the driveway, and I took off inside like a mad hornet.

“Where’s the fire?” called Violet as I threw the basket on the kitchen table and took off up the stairs.

“No time!”

Ripping off my clothes as I went up the stairs, I was completely naked by the time I entered my bathroom and turned on the shower. I tossed my ponytail holder on the counter and hopped in. I scrubbed, shampooed, conditioned, rinsed, then jumped out of the shower and towel-dried before wrapping the damp towel around my body.

When I stepped into my bedroom, Violet was rummaging through my clothes hanging in the closet.

“What are you doing?” I asked, grabbing my brush and dragging it through my wet hair.

“Finding something for you to wear on your date with Devraj.”

I snorted as I scooted in next to her, yanking through some of the dresses. “I’m not going on a date with him.”

“Well, after I saw him talk to you outside then head back to his house, you tore in here like your ass was on fire, so I kind of thought you were going out tonight or something. Besides”—she faced me and tapped her temple with a mischievous grin— “Divine Seer. Something is going on between you two.”

I pulled out a blue dress that had a flowy ruffle at the hem, dressier than most of mine.

“No,” she said. “Wear these jeans that never see the light of day.”

“Why?” I asked, taking the dark blue skinny jeans from her that I’d bought on a whim and rarely wore.

“Because they show off your cute little ass.”

“Fine,” I grumbled, then grabbed a white peasant blouse with a lacey V-neck.

As I hurriedly got dressed and blew my hair dry, Violet spread out on my bed, her head propped on an elbow while she watched me.

“So where you headed on this non-date?”

“It’s witch business. Has to do with that case. The missing girls.”

“Really?” She sat up.

I filled her in on the details, so she wouldn’t think there was anything going on between me and Devraj. Even though there definitely was. Well, there was last night.

“Blake Bellingrath?” She snorted in disgust. “Met the whole family of assholes at last year’s Coven Guild Summit. That cocktail party they always throw.”

The Coven Guild Summit was held annually and rotated to a new district each year for hosting. Last year, it was in New Orleans while I was visiting our parents with Livvy.

“What were they like?”

“Well, Daddy Bellingrath is a pompous prick. He stood in a corner the whole night, mingling only with the super-rich or famous witches at the party. I swear, he had his ass so far up Clarissa’s butt, she probably got hemorrhoids.”

“Poor Clarissa.” I laughed while pulling on my jeans. Clarissa was the president of the Coven Guild, the governing organization for witches across the United States. She also happened to be an old friend of our mother’s and a mentor to Jules on occasion. “And the rest of them?”

“Mommy Bellingrath is apparently in love with her eldest son, Adam. He’s obviously the golden boy. A pre-med student at Tulane, honor society super-scholar, yada, yada. Whatever. She kept petting him and trying to introduce him to all the available rich witch daughters. He wore a permanent sneer on his face, like he smelled something funny.”

“Charming.”

“Exactly.”

“And what about Blake?”

“Ha! He’s the worst of them all. A total entitled douchenozzle. He got sloshing drunk within ten minutes, then ditched before Clarissa had even introduced her special guest, which happened to be her father, head of the London Coven. It was so fucking rude.” Violet scooted to the edge of my bed and bounced up. “It was awesome to see his dad practically burst a blood vessel, though. I swear, his face turned purple with embarrassment when Blake shouted ‘peace out, witch bitches’ before swaggering out the door of the Roosevelt ballroom.”

“Just…wow,” I muttered, finger-combing some product through my hair so it wouldn’t get frizzy in the humidity. “I’m almost sad Livvy and I missed that one.”

“Tell me about it.”

I tripped while trying to shove on my flats too fast, catching myself on the vanity.

“You sure are in a super hurry.”

“Yeah. Well, we’re meeting the guy within the hour, so I didn’t want to hold Devraj up. Just trying to hurry up.”

“Right. Don’t want to keep him waiting.”

“Exactly!” I practically screeched as I powdered my face then swept some mascara on my eyelashes.

She stood and headed for the door while I dug around in my vanity drawer.

“All business, huh? That’s why you’re wearing eye makeup and so desperately trying to find your favorite Passion Pink lip gloss, I’m sure.”

“Go away, Violet.” I found the lip gloss she was talking about then glared at her while she smiled like the demonic imp she was.

She tapped on her temple. “I can sense it.”

“Out!”

She left, laughing. I swept the lip gloss on, grabbed my big bag, then dashed down the stairs and out the front door. Devraj was waiting outside my front gate, looking perfect and totally unruffled. Exhaling a deep breath, I pretended I wasn’t either.

But then it became exponentially hard to do so when his heated gaze turned molten as he swept down my body and back up with a predatory glint. Ready or not, I was headed out on a non-date with the hottest vampire alive.

Chapter 17

~DEVRAJ~

Clearing my throat, I asked casually, “Ready?”

She nodded then stepped along the sidewalk.

I fell in beside her. “I love it when you wear your hair like that.”

She combed her fingers through the end of the still-damp strands, which streamed down to her breast. “What do you mean?”

I reached a hand up and tugged on a strand framing her face. “All wild and chaotic.”

She laughed, the sound lassoing around my midsection and squeezing with delight. “That is so not like me.”

“No, it’s not,” I agreed. “Except in bed,” I couldn’t help murmuring close to her ear.

“So,” she said lightly, her gaze jumping around nervously, “you said you had an ulterior motive for bringing me to meet this guy. What’s that all about?”

I let her switch topics, sobering a bit. “We have a plan to get the evidence we need to convict Blake Bellingrath. We’ll need to catch him in the act in order to get a conviction on someone so well-connected in the supernatural community.”

She glanced up at me, surely finding my expression tight as I clenched my jaw. “You don’t like this plan? What is it?”

“No, I don’t,” I growled. “But it’s the only way.” I braced my arm around her lower back and sheltered her close to my side as a rowdy group of young men jostled by.