Free Demons Undone: The Sons of Gulielmus Series by Holley Trent

somewhat. She was so damned easy to be around. Did he have the same affect on her?
    He nudged his boots out of the way and stood.
Doesn’t matter. Do your job and let her go.
    “What’s a junk pizza?” he asked, pulling out the chair across from her and slinking into it.
    “Oh!” She turned the topmost box around and lifted the lid. “I like having different textures on my pizza. Whenever I get to order online, I choose a bunch of toppings. I guess it’s almost like a salad on a crust. Anyhow, this one has mushrooms, bacon, green peppers, red onion, tomato chunks, and … ” She cringed. “A bit of barbecue chicken. I couldn’t resist.”
    He took a slice. “I think junk is the right word for it. You sure do have interesting food preferences.”
    “You’re right, I do. I guess it’s because I was kind of a bad eater as a kid, and when I moved off to college and was freakin’ starving all the time, I got less picky. Now, I like big flavors.”
    “And cheap coffee.”
    “Especially cheap coffee. Don’t you have any weird food cravings?”
    He took a bite of the pizza, and honestly there was so much on it, he could hardly pick out the individual flavors of the ingredients. It wasn’t bad, though. “To have a craving for something, you’ve had to have tried it once. That limits me.”
    “Fair enough. Isn’t there one thing, though? A favorite that’d be on plate if it were your last meal?”
    He set down his pizza slice and leaned back in his chair. His last meal wouldn’t come for a very long time. He’d probably develop a lot of cravings between now and then, but for the moment, the only craving he had was
her
.
    She raised a brow.
    He cleared his throat. “I guess if I had to pick one thing, it’d be peach pie. I’ve only had it once, and it was kind of runny because it was my mother’s first time, but it was good. She used canned peaches, though. I’m sure it’s better with fresh fruit.”
    Ariel nodded sagely. “My grandmother is fabulous with pastries. She doesn’t even measure anything, just tosses some flour in a bowl with some fat and liquid and makes the tenderest, sweetest crust I’ve ever had. Nothing compares to it.”
    He grinned. “Think she would make me a pie?”
    “Are you kidding? She makes everyone pies. She loves having a reason to make pie, and if you bring her a bag of pecans or sweet potatoes or whatever to put it in, it’s like you’re paying her. That’s how much she loves cooking. You can always tell when you’re on the outs with her because she won’t offer you food.”
    “Sounds like you miss her.” He picked up his pizza slice and resumed his grazing.
    Ariel nodded. “Terribly. I worry about her when I’m far away. I guess that’s funny. She’s a grown woman and she can take care of herself, you know?”
    “Just like you.”
    “She’d probably debate that. I think she feels like even at twenty-six I need a keeper.”
    He thought Ariel did need a keeper. Otherwise she wouldn’t be sharing her dinner table with demon spawn. Her grandmother should have warned her about talking to strangers. Should have told her to never stop and to keep her car doors locked. That’s what smart girls did. He plucked up a slice of pepperoni pizza next. Time for a subject change.
    “So, do you have a place picked out already back east, or are you like me? Making it up as you go along?”
    “I don’t know where I’m going to live. I — ”
    A beeping sound punctuated whatever she was going to say next. She stood and carried her pizza crust to the little sideboard. Inside, she plucked out a dark blue ceramic coffee mug and set it next to the coffee machine — the obvious source of the beeping. She let the crust dangle from her teeth while she poured hot black liquid into her cup. Three sugar packets and two little creamer tubs later, she returned to the table.
    “Sorry. I’m moving back in with my grandmother for a while, and I’ll commute about an hour both ways