“Whywouldn’tyou? You’re a single woman who has clearly been asked to participate against her will. You don’t want to talk to a bunch of strangers for thirty minutes at a time.”
“Fair point. The name is still Ruby, though.” She twirled some of her long red hair around her finger. “All of the women in my family have red hair, and because my mother is the most creative and clever of all beings, we get names in line with the whole red theme.”
“Got it,” Ethan chuckled at her sarcasm. “Ruby. It suits you. The red hair, I mean.”
Ruby inhaled sharply.
And there it is.
The succubus power that made men everywhere fall in love with her, even if they didn’t want to.
* * *
Ruby eyedthe hourglass on the table where Portia sat before studying each couple intently. There was still a good twenty-seven minutes left, and she already wanted to run for the hills.
Not because Ethan was terrible.
On the contrary, he was quite easy on the eyes.Tooeasy.
He was tall. The kind of tall that would give her a neck cramp … somewhere between six-four and six-six. His shoulders were wide with rippling muscles that somehow made their presence known through his army-green tee. He had black hair so dark that it looked a little shiny. His eyes were an intense, dark blue, but the color wasn’t the only intense thing about the irises.
There was a whole lot of emotion there. They were swimming right under the surface of Ethan’s composure.
If she were another succubus, another woman, maybe even at a different point in her life, Ruby would have done her very best to seduce this fine piece of man. He had a nice pair of plump lips that could probably kiss better than most men. His hands were agile, and his entire demeanor and body screamed power.
But this was a holiday, and Ruby was having a bit of a day.
She wanted to run away from who …what… she was, but she couldn’t. Now here was this man, looking tasty as can be, and she didn’t want to fuck him on principle.
She was more than a succubus. She justhadto be.
He had a good soul too. This Ethan was a decent person with a soul that would probably give her quite the haul in Hell, but Ruby didn’t want to collect it. She didn’t even want to feel compelled into doing it by her instincts.
Leave Hot Blue alone,she warned herself.
Portia watched them carefully, her head slightly turned toward them as if to listen in on their conversation. Ruby pitched her voice low, knowing her aunt would totally be spying on them. “If we pretend that we’re into each other and spend time together tonight and maybe even during the whole week, then she will leave us alone.”
“She?” Ethan frowned.
“Portia. The woman who organized this particularly terrible torture. If she thinks we’re vibing, she won’t bother us. It’s basically against her moral code to come between a couple and their feelings. She will leave us alone.”
Ethan’s frown deepened, and for one hot second, Ruby thought he would question a succubus’s moral code, but instead, he said, “It’s a resort. Sheshouldleave us alone.”
Ruby’s eyes rolled so fast that they nearly fell out of her head. “Right.” She snorted, not caring what this guy thought of her, no matter how delicious his forearms were. “Well,sheis my aunt.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. My aunt, who just happens to be a succubus.”
“Shit,” Ethan hissed, looking back over his shoulder, no doubt meeting Portia’s keen eyes.
“Yeah. So. You see, my plan is genius.”
“Genius?” he shrugged. “It’s notdumb,” he amended.
Ruby pursed her lips at him. “Gee, thanks. You’re quite the charmer.”
“Not here to charm you or anyone else. I just want to make that clear.”