His Unexpected: A Demon Romance (COMPLETE)

Chapter Three - In Business

Ash

I sensed a sort of determination from Blaise when she arrived in the kitchen. Her hair was down now, the dark chocolate waves reaching her lower back, and her eyes were no longer framed with day-old makeup. She was tense as she walked past the breakfast table, scooping the wine up along the way, and sat down at the bar, but her expression was set.

"Dinner will be finished soon," I said, watching her take a drink of wine from across the stove. She seemed to want to say something, but was having trouble getting it out. I would have offered to squeeze the tension out of her shoulders, but I was fairly certain she was in no way fine with me touching her. "Is there something on your mind?"

"I mean..." She trailed off and looked out the windows. "I'm pretty freaked the fuck out about this, not gonna lie."

"Reasonable, I suppose," I nodded, and stirred the sauce I was working on for lemon bacon alfredo. "You're afraid I have nefarious reasons for why I accepted the trade?"

"Basically, yeah," she sighed into her wine. "I've seen and heard about enough shit in the criminal world to know that when a daughter gets traded off, it's rarely a good outlook for her. And I guess I'd rather know if I've been sold as some kind of personal fucktoy up front, than to start to trust you and be taken off guard later."

The things women have to worry about... Even the demon part of me was disgusted with the human men that conditioned her to think this way. I admired the bravery it took just to ask that question.

"Blaise, I'm Ash Augustine," I said, and her eyebrow went up. "I have no need for a personal fucktoy when half the population of the continent would kill to sleep with me."

"Humble brag," she drawled, and took another drink of wine. "Though in all fairness, that does make me feel a little better."

"Just a little?"

"Don't push it, Hellboy."

"Wow. Rude."

"I'm sorry, I'm just really nervous right now."

I laughed, and she scowled, but seemed to relax a little.

"I'm dishing this up," I told her, and motioned to the food. "Will you sit with me?"

She looked undecided.

"Can we blow the candle out?" she asked, glancing toward the table. "I feel like you're trying to trick me into thinking..."

"Thinking what?"

"I don't know," she said.

"Too romantic?" I asked, and her cheeks turned the color of the sunset. I'd never seen such a blush. It crept from her chest and ended at the tips of her ears, and made me want to fluster her again.

"Maybe," she admitted. "Or too formal. Like one of the events I used to get dragged to. They'd set all this extra shit on the table. Crazy folded napkins, gold-plated candelabras, custom chocolate towers... Just to distract people and trick them into thinking they were important. Let them be seduced by the hospitality before you killed them out back."

"You noticed quite a bit more than you were supposed to," I noted, and scooped food onto our plates. The more I learned about Blaise, the more I realized that if I could get her to trust me, she could be extremely valuable.

"That was the point," she told me, as if it were obvious. "I was no one without my secrets. They pushed me to the outside and forgot about me, so I used the fact that they didn't see me anymore to my advantage. Anyway, the candle gives me not-so-comfy vibes."

"Then out it goes," I decided, and blew it out as I placed our food at the table. "Dinner?"

Blaise still seemed wary, but stood anyway, and moved to sit across from me. She was right about the candle. Even with it out, there was still an air about the sunset lit dinner overlooking the city that seemed intimate. I wasn't put off by it— intimacy was nothing to shy away from— but I knew with the circumstances, it was well outside Blaise's comfort zone.