Free The Devil Eats Here (Multi-Author Short Story Collection) by Alice Gaines, Tara Maya, Rayne Hall, Jonathan Broughton, Siewleng Torossian, John Hoddy, John Blackport, Douglas Kolacki, April Grey Page B

bedding appear. She needed to convince him that he hadn’t paid for her soul, had to send her back.
    She sat up and rubbed her hands over her face. The fire had gone out, but cracks of light slipped in between the drapes. One of them fluttered in a warm breeze. Last night, they’d stuck to the walls so firmly she couldn’t budge them.
    She got up, walked to the drapes and grabbed them. They parted easily to allow bright sunlight in.
    She glanced outside: not what she'd expected hell to look like. On the other side of an open pair of French doors, a flagstone terrace ran along the length of the room. Past that, a rose garden with a dozen plants in full bloom. Beyond the roses, perfect lawns sloped outward and downward toward a stand of trees in the distance. The breeze hit her smack in the face, bringing the perfume from all those flowers. Birdsong in the distance made the whole scene something straight out of heaven, definitely not Hades.
    Then, another scent wafted into the room, a blend of coffee and bacon. Her stomach rumbled.
    The delicious smells came from a newly opened door. The couch had returned to normal size, and the bed clothing had disappeared. A black lace robe lay over the end of the couch – the rest of the peignoir set. It wouldn’t cover her much better than the gown, but the two of them together might give her a bit of modesty. She walked to it, slipped it on, and then stepped out the door to go looking for breakfast.
    She found a long corridor with thick carpeting on the floor. Wooden occasional tables stood here and there, and each held a huge vase filled with roses, calla lilies and snap dragons, brightening the room. She followed the luscious smells through a corridor to a greenhouse.
    She crossed the threshold and found her devil sitting at a wrought iron table in the middle of a room full of exotic plants. He wore a silk robe with the collar of pajamas peeking out.
    “There you are, finally.” He smiled. “Did you sleep well?”
    “Yes.” She’d slept better than she had for years. Ever since she’d gotten her job working for Stewart. He’d wrecked her sleep, and she hadn’t even noticed.
    “Hungry?”
    “Who are you?”
    He wiped his mouth with a napkin. A plate of half-eaten breakfast sat in front of him - bacon, eggs, and a muffin - and next to that a bowl of grapefruit sections. Beelzebub ate breakfast like normal folks?
    “Why is it important for you to know who I am?” he asked.
    “It would be nice to have something to call you besides ‘you.’”
    “I’m the only one here.”
    She crossed her arms and did her best to scowl. Unfortunately, the movement pushed her breasts up and out, and the man’s gaze focused on them as his smile grew wicked.
    “You said you wanted to make love to me, didn’t you?” she asked. Actually, he’d offered to spice up her sex life. The two things weren’t the same at all.
    “I think you agreed to let me,” he said.
    “I like to know the names of men I sleep with. I’m funny that way.”
    “Do you sleep with a lot of men?”
    “You know well I don’t,” she said. “I told you that yesterday.”
    He rested his elbow on the arm of his chair and stroked his chin. “Ah, yes. You did.”
    “Look, you know everything about me. The least you could do is tell me your name.”
    “Sam,” he answered.
    “Sam?” she repeated. “That’s it? Just Sam?”
    His lips curved. “Do you need any more?”
    Sam sounded like a next door neighbor, a dorky one with a run-down pickup truck and a beer belly. This guy didn’t look like any Sam she’d ever met.
    “Now that we’ve been introduced, wouldn’t you like some breakfast?” he asked. He gestured toward a sideboard, laden with bacon rashers, hashbrowns, slices of toast, waffles, syrup, sausages, baked beans in tomato sauce, grilled mushrooms and glistening fried eggs.
    “Thank you.” She picked up a plate. Poached eggs sat over a steamer along with Canadian bacon and English muffin