Read The_Demons_Wife_ARC for Free Online

street as though expecting to see something
unusual.
    “You usually
don’t hear thunder in March, is all.”
    As soon as she
said that, a faint blue glow flickered in the dark sky above the city. Seconds
later, another low roll of thunder sounded above the steady downpour of the
rain.
    “Global
climate change,” Samael said, smiling at her.
    Once again,
she was struck by the faint bluish glow of his teeth, like they were reflecting
the flickering lightning.
    Claire was
tossing back and forth in her mind, wondering if she should invite him up to
her place—to dry off, at least. She knew—and she knew that he knew—exactly what
that would mean, and making a move like this was so uncharacteristic of her. It
was something Sally did all the time. Claire couldn’t count how many times she
had suggested to Sally that being so easy might be exactly why she was having
so much trouble establishing a long-term, committed relationship with anyone…if
that’s what she was looking for.
    But then…look
where it had gotten her…
    “So…you—umm,
wanna come up for some coffee or something?”
    The words were
barely out of her mouth before she could consider them. She was instantly
irritated at herself for resorting to so obvious a cliché.
    “’Coffee,’ huh?”
Samael’s voice had a husky echo in the dark confines of the alcove. The
sidewalk behind him danced with falling rain.
    Claire
couldn’t dispel the feeling that the two of them had somehow entered a magical
bubble where the rest of the world passing by them wasn’t at all real and
didn’t matter in the least. She was staring at him—the planes of his face, the
glow in his eyes—and she was thinking with every passing second that, yes, she
damned well wanted him to come up to her place for coffee or anything else he
might have in mind.
    “Or a
nightcap, if you’d like,” Claire added, thinking immediately how foolish that
sounded, so early in the morning.
    What time is
it, anyway? She wondered. If she stepped out onto the sidewalk, she knew she’d be able to
look up and see the time and temperature display on One Canal Plaza, but she
didn’t want to know the time. It might burst the illusion she was constructing
here.
    “Another time,
maybe,” Samael said even though he didn’t turn to leave. He simply stood there,
staring at her like he was waiting for her to say or do the right thing.
    What the fuck?
Claire thought, immediately stung by his refusal. For a moment or two, she
wanted to believe she hadn’t heard him correctly.
    Is he ditching
me again?
    She studied
Samael with surprise and relief warring inside her. It wasn’t at all like her
to be so forward with a man, any man,…even one who seemed to have it all.
    Except he
doesn’t seem all that interested in me , Claire thought. And why should
he? I’m so far out of his class, and we both know it.
    “Well,
then…umm…thanks again for the ride.”
    “My pleasure,”
Samael said.
    This is your
chance, Claire thought. The least you could do is give me a little hug and
maybe…just maybe a kiss on the cheek. 
    But…no.
    Samael bowed
his head and then turned. The umbrella magically sprouted again, looking like
spreading bat wings that shielded him from the rain as he walked around his car
to the driver’s side, opened the door, and got inside. Claire couldn’t see him
through the tinted glass, but she could feel—or, at least, she wanted to
hope—that he was watching her and maybe…just a little…regretting that he hadn’t
accepted her invitation to come upstairs for that cup of coffee.
    “You’ll never
know what you missed,” she whispered as Samael’s car started up and pulled out
onto the street. It didn’t take long for his car to be lost in the rain-slick
darkness, and once it was gone, Claire had the unique sensation that it had
never been there in the first place—that she had imagined the ride home and
everything else.
    And all she
was left with was a lonely, aching feeling