bedeviled & beyond 06.5 - bedeviled & bah humbug Read Online Free PDF Page A

wide, black face split in a toothy grin. Frunkin’ ice!
    I let the swear word go. I figured if she was old enough to hang with the greens in Hell she was old enough to swear. Giving an internal sigh, I realized my tadpole was growing up. It made me sad. Let’s go then, before Gerch finds me.
    I leapt onto her back and settled in, watching the room for signs of Gerch’s or Slayer’s arrival. Glynus took three big hops and was airborne. The air around me snapped and shimmered as she settled her energy over me like a protective blanket.
    Without Glynus’ powerful protection I would have been ash like those Christmas trees within seconds.
    As we cleared the field of magic over the building-wide exit and emerged into the environs of Hell, I heard someone calling my name and turned, finding both Gerch and Slayer standing at the exit.
    I smiled and waved. Gerch let loose a string of foul words. Fly fast, Tadpole. I think we’re gonna have company soon.
    My pleasure, Mother halfling.
    The air shimmered behind me and something long, hard and yummy settled at my back. Looking down, I found my hands resting on a pair of muscular thighs. My long, auburn hair was swept to the side and a soft, moist touch at my neck made me shiver with delight.
    “You’re a naughty girl, Astra.” Slayer’s lips trailed down the back of my neck, sending spirals of heat and anticipation through my entire body.
    I stopped breathing as his scent made my nipples harden and places further south clench and warm hopefully. “Get out of here, Slayer. If I wanted you along I’d have invited you.”
    He chuckled, sending a wisp of testosterone-rich breath against my neck. “You called me and here I am. With only a small detour into less than satisfactory sword play in between.”
    I grimaced. “Sorry about that. It was the only thing I could think of to distract him.
    Those soft , yummy lips created another mind-boggling trail down my neck, starting just under my hairline, where the nerve endings were so weak and susceptible to intimate touch.
    “What about your boyfriend?”
    I shivered, closing my eyes against the sensual assault. “He‘s busy.”
    Slayer’s hands slid up my thighs, heading toward the promised land.
    I grabbed the errant digits, stilling them, but was unable to purge their treacherous heat from my legs. Like spirals of smoke in a drafty room, that heat spread inexorably toward my happy place, making it suddenly hard to breathe in my little Glynus cocoon.
    “It’s a shame he doesn’t trust you.” Slayer’s tongue swept along my hairline and my panties dampened in response.
    “Good LORD! STOP!”
    Slayer halted in mid-lick. His hands stopped trying to slide northward. “Is there something wrong, Astra?”
    I started to laugh. I couldn’t help it. I was a minnow swimming with a school of sharks. And I was slathered in butter.
    Be strong, Mother halfling. He’s a temptation you don’t need right now.
    Like any good conscience...even one that was as big as your average house and weighed as much too, Glynus’ stating of the obvious was just the cooling draught I needed. I turned to my unwelcome co-rider. “Look, Slayer, I don’t think it’s any secret that I find you very...erm...tempting. But I’m stuck in Hell on Christmas. I’ve been handed a giant lump of coal this year. and I’ve come to understand that I can either make fire with it...in a land of too much fire...or work the coal into a diamond. You translate into fire. I don’t want to make fire. I want to make a diamond. Do you understand?”
    Slayer looked at me with his soul-deep eyes and pursed his eminently biteable lips and then sighed. He kissed me on the tip of my nose and nodded. “I do. You just need more time before you’ll be ready to succumb to my considerable charms. I can respect that. Later, Astra. Stay safe.”
    And he blipped away. Leaving me feeling very unsatisfied and a little bit cranky.
    Glynus , I said, doing the right thing really