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Demonkind are natural bargainers and will con you out of the clothes on your back, but when we make a deal, we stick to it.
“My Maggie will love having a coffee shop in this old building. What’re you naming the place?” “Perkatory.”
Is there anything better than two weeks off with nothing to do except read books? The answer is, most definitely, no.
All demons have fire magic but it varies just like our morphology. Horns, tails, fangs, wings, and more present in some demons and not others.
Snowflakes stick to her shoulders and eyelashes like sprinkles on a cupcake.
But unlike the kids who used to tease me for my face or having a stutter, she never laughed at me. We laughed together.
They say sparks fly when you meet someone special, and man is that right.
She really doesn’t remember me. This girl was my best friend until I moved away. My first crush. We shared every secret, but now she has no idea who I am.
I have zero game with women. Less than zero, actually, more like forty below and my nuts are freezing off.
He unsettled me. He was so striking with his big shoulders, long fall of black hair, and delicate eyeglasses. Swoon. And the way his intense stare felt like a caress. Double swoon.
It’s not every day this town gets a burly, bespectacled demon wearing perfectly tailored clothes. I mean, he’s practically dressed to seduce a librarian. Who can blame me for ogling a bit?
the sun shines around her, making her red hair look like flames. Myths say that demon goddesses had hair of fire. Maybe that’s why I always find myself staring at her.
BeastlyandBookish: Enjoying some downtime with this beefy anthology and a cup of herbal tea. QOTD: What’s your drink of choice?
BeastlyandBookish followers continue to grow. It’s fun for me to share my love of reading and book collecting, but the biggest benefit is finding new online friends I can geek out with.
Sure, this girl was my first crush, but she was also my best friend. It’s wild to imagine reconnecting with her now. The day my parents pulled me out of school early was heartbreaking. Without warning, we moved away and never came back. I didn't get the chance to say goodbye.
Ever since Aunt Flo started visiting me monthly, the doctor told my mom I won’t get much taller. Again, unfair. Such is a girl’s lot in life, I guess.
“Jaromar Elond Perchaz,” I poke his chest to the beat of each name and push closer. “You are the gentle giant! The smart kid with glasses! The magic spark character that makes a book worth reading!”
“I won’t have you talk about yourself like that!” “Or what?” he asks, voice darker. Intimate. “Or I’ll . . . I'll . . . I’ll show you!” And I kiss him. I grab two fistfuls of his white shirt and yank him down to my mouth. Oh.
N <3 <3 <3 R.
“These are the snowy tops of the mountains, like Mount Winter Bliss and the BZB.” She turns her head this way and that. “It does kind of look like hearts though. My art teacher would call that a beautiful oops.”
I brush my thumb over the “N” end of the braided item, still feeling kind of dumb. She holds the other side and slides her thumb over the “R.” A friendship bracelet. Or something.
She gesticulates and points to the library, looking like a living marshmallow in her puffer jacket, all sweetness and curves.
I like spending time with him. A lot. The winter break will be so boring without him. I’ll miss his smile and the sound of his voice; how warm it feels to sit next to him in the window because he’s always running a little hotter than me. It just . . . feels nice.
I have a crush on my best friend. It’s been driving me kind of crazy.
“Is there anything better than the smell of old books?” I tease. A lot of them are leather bound too, which is even better. He shakes his head. “I could kiss you.” I bite my lips together to hide my smile.
“Sometimes it feels like everything I love is slipping away.” My throat closes, and the tears fall in hot, silent rivers down my cheek.
If loving someone with memory issues has taught me anything, it’s to accept now for what it is, a gift. I want to soak up my time with Rom while I can and treasure every moment like it could be our last. Because soon enough, it will be.
Demons love the sun — the first fire in the darkness.
but information is the best asset in business,
This is what a library can do — celebrate everything all at once. It’s a place where treasures are kept on display, never hoarded and always shared. Anyone can pick a book up off the shelf and expand their mind or find a cozy place to reread an old favorite.
Noelle has always understood what makes stories so important. Adventure. Connection. Self-growth.
I like being alone, always have. In that way, this library was my sanctuary, a place I wasn’t just the demon boy with thick glasses and an ugly face. I could get lost and be someone new for a few hours.
Whether she’d ever be interested in me romantically or not, friends look out for each other.
That was a dark winter break, the first time I’d ever felt truly alone. My best friend was just . . . gone. It was my first heartbreak, really — one that led me to guard my heart with thicker walls than most.
Sometimes I embrace mental distraction over mental disaster. Sue me.
He opens the door, dressed smartly in an argyle sweater, gray slacks, and his signature eyeglasses. Gosh, he’s a librarian’s wet dream, I swear.
My thumb finds a small crack in the lip, not a sharp or recent accident.
“Oh, it’s broken? I can get you another one.” I wrap both hands around it. “No. He’s mine, and I love him. The chip adds character.”
The years between when I made the bookmark and now seem obvious in the frayed ends and faded color, but the design is just like I remember. Mountains and snow and Rom and Noelle.
Between softer kisses, I marvel at his face. Each dash of my lips makes him softer somehow. He’s no one else’s picture of ideal male beauty, but he’s mine. Every misaligned bone and scar. Those kiss-bitten lips and glittering eyes. Mine.
“I’m sorry,” she peeps. “Don’t be sorry.” I shake my head, feeling more in control of whatever took hold of me when I knew we were in danger, when she melted in my arms, and when she said I was hers. She needs me here, in the present, just as much as I need her. “Whatever you feel, please don’t be sorry. I’m not.”
Her head snaps back to the blocked road below. The reality of the situation hits me. Noelle is stuck with me. Maybe for days. Sweet Mother Darkness, this is a holiday miracle. I can feel my grin stretch wide.
Life works out so well when you learn to trust and rely on others. I want to be that for her. At least, for now.
His thumb notches on my chin and lifts my face to the setting sun. I smile and so does he, as though our emotions connect through a tether. Does he feel it too? We were best friends so long ago, but to me, that soul-deep connection hasn’t changed at all.
We. Rom and Noelle. We never spent time together other than in the library as kids, but now we feel like a team.
Coats come off first, and we hang them side by side on these adorable wooden mushroom shaped wall hooks.
Love mushroom-themed items
Down, boy. I practically growl at the half chub I’ve been sporting since seeing her strip down to some tiny shorts and that thin, belly-baring top. It’s impossible not to be affected, not to want to run my hands all over her. The woman is built like a roller coaster, and I want a ride.
Every breath makes her flesh swell against the rough terrycloth. What I wouldn’t give to stick a finger right in the center and tug it down, to press my lips to her skin there and trail my tongue lower. Mother Below, imagining those abundant curves on full display makes me wish I could offer to sponge bathe her myself, head to toe. Who needs a water heater when you have a demon with fire at his fingertips?
Noelle stands in the pool with her back to me, fully nude. The two dimples in her lower back wink just above the waterline.
She’s otherworldly, all voluptuous curves and gleaming skin and wild red hair that catches the limited light and always, ever since the first time I saw her, reminds me of one thing. Fire. Demonkind believe our goddesses have hair of flames and lava. They say redheads are our weakness, but for me, that’s not true.
