Free Demon Bound by Meljean Brook Page B

pretty much the only female who doesn’t make me think about sex when I’m near you. So I’ll point out that you’ll be good practice for when I’m around real women.”
    Real women? Stunned, Alice could only stare at him. Her mouth was agape, she realized dumbly—and shut it at the same moment Jake’s mortified gaze snapped to hers.
    â€œOh, shit—”
    Alice pushed past him, threw open her front doors. If he ignored the blatant message, she would toss him out.
    But she would not look at him yet; her control was too tenuous. She stared out into the empty courtyard and measured each icy word. “You may come to me, novice, if it teaches you how to behave around real women. But I suggest you return to Ethan’s training, where you might learn to behave like a real man.”
    His footsteps approached. She heard his deep breath as he halted next to her.
    â€œI’m sorry, Alice.”
    She closed her eyes. The sound of his heart beat against her ears. His remorse lay heavy over his psychic scent.
    And with three words, Jake had proved himself more of a man than some she’d known.
    â€œThank you,” she said. “But please leave.”
    He did. Not by teleporting or flying, as she’d expected—but walking across her courtyard with a slow, even gait.

CHAPTER 4
    A fifteen-minute hike took Jake to the city’s rounded edge. From high above, Caelum looked like a giant white plate in a waveless blue sea; the surrounding water sat level with the marble pavers, forming a smooth, unbroken plane.
    As a human, Jake hadn’t seen the ocean until he’d been on a foreign shore, preparing to go into combat—and wearing the brave face and swagger that they’d all learned to put on. Everyone had been afraid then, but the fear hadn’t taken form yet.
    And piss-scared hadn’t come until later.
    But despite the memories the sight of the ocean could wash up, he preferred it to this eerie, endless stillness. There wasn’t anything out there. Not long after the Ascension, he and a few other novices had flown out over the sea, just to see if it ended. They’d given up after two weeks—at the same speed, they’d have circled the Earth eight times.
    It was just as empty below the surface. Jake didn’t know how far he’d followed the gigantic, submerged column that was Caelum’s base, but he hadn’t hit bottom. And though he must have swum dozens of miles underwater, Caelum’s sun had penetrated even to those depths, lighting his way.
    There were stories about Guardians who were still diving, still flying—spending their immortality looking for the end.
    If the stories were true, they must be flippin’ nutcases by now.
    Jake grimaced and looked over his shoulder at the city. He couldn’t see Alice’s home behind the taller buildings nearer the water, but he almost expected to find spiders creeping up, preparing to make him pay for the insult to their mommy.
    Yeah, he’d fucked that up but good.
    But damn if he knew why. Halfway across her courtyard, Jake had realized it hadn’t just been a stupid thing to say aloud—it’d been wrong to boot.
    He’d always assumed his hormones were partially to blame for the crap that came out of his mouth. But in the forty-five minutes he’d spent with her, his only sexual thought had been a passing curiosity about spider reproduction—and yet he’d still managed to set a new record in dickery.
    Unfortunately for them both, he couldn’t stop thinking about that temple, and everything in that badass museum she called her quarters. They’d just have to get used to each other.
    Something tickled the nape of his neck. Jake spun around, slapping at his shoulders, his hair. His fingers brushed a strand of . . . web? A spider leg?
    With a shudder, he yanked it away from his skin—and ripped a hole in the neck of his shirt.
    A cotton thread