Free Deal with a Demon (Kindle Serial) by Celeste Easton

Chapter One
    She’d left her fucking gun in the kitchen.
    Nic Wright opened her eyes and kept her breaths calm and even as if she were still sleeping. Her back was toward the bedroom door, but she knew without question someone stood there, watching her.
    Your weapon can’t help you unless it’s next to you, genius.
    And she’d left herself vulnerable — unarmed, asleep. An unwelcome thought of her parents ghosted through her mind.
    No time for those thoughts. Some sneaky bastard had crept up on her, and the only weapon at her disposal? The stupid demon handbook she’d been reading that had lulled her to sleep. It would have to do. She wrapped her fingers around the worn edges and waited for the creeper to get closer.
    If Drew had shown the smallest inkling of responsibility and returned her calls, she wouldn’t be in this situation. But no. Her brother, the meth head and constant pain in her ass, had disappeared without a trace, and his apartment looked like a satanic cult had moved in.
    She couldn’t hear the footsteps on the carpet as the person moved across the room, but she could feel a shift in the air, a sense of the room getting more crowded. The mattress sank as the person knelt down. Male for sure — too big to be one of her brother’s junkie girlfriends. Not her brother either. Drew would have hopped in and smacked her in the back of the head.
    She firmed her grip on the book and waited, the taste of adrenaline salty on her tongue.
    When the stranger leaned in, the scent of rosemary and smoke drifted down to her, like he’d come from a gourmet bonfire. The alluring aroma wouldn’t deter her, though.
    Closer, buddy. A little closer.
    The bed creaked as he loomed over her, and she flashed into action, flipping over and swinging the book up in a sweeping arc. The bound edge connected beneath his chin, knocking his teeth together with a snap. She popped up into a crouch and drew back with both hands for another blow. The hardback was nothing compared to her Ruger nine millimeter, but she used it with the same intent. She dealt the next hit to the side of his head. He careened back onto the floor where he lay, motionless, his arms and legs stretched out spread-eagle.
    Knocked out. She smiled for a second, then her heart stuttered and she wanted to kick herself.
    She had just coldcocked the most gorgeous man she’d ever laid eyes on.
    What the hell was a guy who looked like that doing in her brother’s shit-ass apartment? And what if she hadn’t heard him at all? She could’ve been dead by now.
    And who knew how long he would be out.
    She ran for the kitchen and grabbed her gun from her duty belt on the counter—
    Wait. How’d he get in? She glanced at the door. The deadbolt was still locked. Drew lived on the third floor. Did the beautiful man climb up a ladder and through a window? He’d come in from the hallway, so not through the bedroom window, but maybe one of the others? The fire escape reached the kitchen windows…no. Impossible. There was no way a man his size could have climbed up the fire escape without the ancient, rusty thing crumbling into a pile of dust.
    There’d be time for answers later. Right now she had bigger issues, one of which could wake up at any minute. She stopped to listen and the apartment was all quiet. He’d come alone.
    She dashed back down the hall, her nine ready in her hand. Her victim didn’t stir, but she could see his chest moving with each breath he took.
    Well, at least I didn’t kill him.
    Out of arm’s reach, she knelt down for a closer look. His temple was split and knotted where her last hit had landed, but the rest of his face was fine. Better than fine, in fact. A smooth brow and sculpted jaw completed by a perfect mouth. For some ridiculous reason she wanted him to lift his dark lashes to see what color his eyes were.
    He wore silver rings on a couple of fingers, and his black dress shirt had the sheen of expensive fabric. His jeans were snug, leaving