Erin looked at him with undisguised surprise. “You’ve never been there? But you’re a demon.”
“I’m almost as tethered to Earth as you are. I don’t remember anything else, no matter how far back I go.”
Would it be rude to ask his age? Instead, she settled for a less pointed question. “If you’re stuck here, what do you do with your time?”
“Wander around. Learn things. I took a massage class last year.” He perked up. “Do you know what trigger points are?”
“Yes. No. Not really. Don’t change the subject.”
“Come on, I’ll show you. Unbuckle yourself.” He turned in his seat to face her.
“How did you get the money to take a class?”
“I’m the Finder of Lost Things, remember? Money turns up all the time.” He reached under the car seat and pulled out a quarter. “See?”
“Convenient.” Erin’s hand drifted to her seat belt buckle. What was she thinking? You can’t accept a massage from a demon you’ve just met.
Right?
“Look, Andy, I’m sure you meant well. But I don’t need your help to get back at Mark.” She stole at glance at Andy.
A small smile played around his lips.
She hadn’t noticed that his lips were so finely shaped.
“Of course you don’t. But wouldn’t it be fun to have help?” He leaned toward her ever so slightly.
In the close space of the car, he smelled like cinnamon and smoke.
She unbuckled her seatbelt and turned awkwardly toward the driver’s side door. “Maybe,” she said, sweeping her hair off her back and pulling it over one shoulder.
He placed his hands lightly on her shoulders. His thumbs kneaded her shoulder blades as his fingertips pressed away the tension in the thick muscles of her shoulders.
Erin felt her shoulders come down from where she had been unconsciously holding them up. His touch really was quite fantastic, and the added heat of his hands melted the tightness away. She pushed away the strangeness of receiving a shoulder massage from a demon, and leaned back into his touch.
“See? I’m helping you already. A little TLC, and you’ll be right as rain and fighting fit, ready to give your ex-husband the humiliation he deserves.”
Erin bit her lip to stop a deep sigh from escaping. Slowly, she relaxed until her head tilted sideways onto the driver’s seat headrest. Her eyes drifted closed.
Andy continued massaging her shoulders thoroughly with exquisitely intuitive hands.
A knock at the window startled Erin so badly she jumped and banged her knee against the steering wheel.
A uniformed police officer stood next to the car, peering into the window at Erin and making a sign to roll down the window.
In a flash, Erin realized what she must have looked like: sick, drunk, or despondent, lolling sideways against the seat of the car with no one else in sight, considering the demon’s currently awkward state of invisibility. She rolled down the window.
“You all right, miss?” asked the officer. He leaned down and looked around the inside of the car, probably in hopes of spotting drug paraphernalia or an open container of alcohol.
“Oh, yes, officer. I was on my way home and I felt a little tired, so I stopped to rest for a minute. I’m fine. Really.” Erin opened her eyes wide and hoped that she looked alert, sober, and nonthreatening. She didn’t dare look behind her to see what Andy was up to.
Probably making bunny ears behind her head.
“You sure you don’t need a doctor or something?” The police officer looked genuinely concerned.
“Oh, no. Really. I’m fine.” She was repeating herself out of sheer nervousness.
“Okay, then. Take care, now. You have a good day.”
“You too, officer. Thank you.” She rolled up the window and faced forward.
Andy snickered.
“Shut up, demon,” Erin said as she turned the key in the ignition.
He patted her shoulder. “We’re getting into trouble already. Can’t you see? This is going to be great!”
Erin’s cheeks flamed as she turned back onto the main road.
“I am sorry I didn’t get to finish, though,” added Andy in a more thoughtful tone. “How about when we get home?”
“When ‘we’ get home? Who said you were staying at my house?”
“I won’t be a bother,” said the demon.
Erin gripped the steering wheel even tighter.
Andy relented. “I’m only teasing. I’ll stay out of your way. I’ll make the coffee. I’ll even do the washing up. Whatever you like. All the shoulder massages you can possibly handle. And we’ll make the best revenge plan ever, I promise.”
At the stoplight before her neighborhood, Erin turned to look at Andy.
He looked back at her with undisguised mischief in his eyes.
She returned her gaze to the red stoplight.
When the light turned green, she drove her demon the rest of the way home.
5
Erin turned off the car and reached for her purse in the back seat. “How will you get out of the car without opening the door? Won’t the neighbors notice the door opening by itself?”
Andy tugged at the wrinkles that had developed in his suit jacket. “What kind of demon would I be if I couldn’t indulge in a little sleight of hand?”
When Erin turned around, Andy was standing in front of the car with his arms folded and a smug expression on his face.
The car door on the passenger side had never opened.
She got out of the car and tried not to look at him as she walked past him and up to the front door.
Once inside, she put down her purse and let Nancy Drew out into the backyard.
Andy stuck his head in the fridge. “Shall I rustle up something for lunch?”
Before Erin could answer, there was a knock at the door.
Andy straightened up and whispered, “Who in the Nine Hells knocks in the pattern of the ‘Ride of the Valkyries’?”
“My mother!” whispered Erin. “Make yourself scarce!”
Andy closed the refrigerator door and retreated to a corner of the kitchen, where he leaned against the wall with the look of someone who expects to be thoroughly entertained.
“Mom,” said Erin as she opened the door. “What are you doing here?”
“That’s a nice way to greet your mother,” said Joyce as she crossed the threshold. “You took off like a bat out of hell. Of course I would come check on you after that!”