登入DEVThe bell over Gideon’s door gives one sharp jingle when I step inside, and every head behind the counter seems to turn. My manager definitely does. He points toward the narrow gap beside the register.“Office. Now.”Great. I make it six steps into normal life before getting hauled aside. The office is barely an office, just a desk squeezed behind a half wall with invoices stacked beside the computer. He shuts the door enough to cut down the café noise and folds his arms.“You missed every shift this week.”“I know.”“You ignored calls.”“I was sick.”“So sick you couldn’t text?”I look at the floor. There is no version of the truth that improves this conversation. Sorry I vanished because I accidentally cursed three men into obsession and then spent the week hiding from two of them sounds worse than flu.“I handled it badly,” I say. “I’m sorry.”His mouth tightens. “You did.”That lands harder than yelling would. He tells me they were already short-staffed and other people had to
DEVNico’s hand closes around me, and the first stroke almost wrecks my answer before I get it out.“Dev?” Mom calls from the bedroom. “Did you hear me?”“Yeah.” My voice comes out thinner than I want. I clear my throat and stare at the closet wall over Nico’s shoulder. “I heard you.”He is still crouched between my legs, one knee sunk into the carpet, his other foot planted for balance. My jeans are open just enough for him to get his hand inside, and his fingers move slowly over my cock, thumb dragging beneath the head before his palm slides back down. I suck in a breath through my nose and lock my knees.“I asked if you ate,” Mom says.“Earlier.”Nico slows immediately. His eyes stay on my face while his hand almost stops around me, and the corner of his mouth lifts. He waits until I force my breathing even again, then strokes me once from base to tip.Mom moves somewhere near the foot of my bed. “Earlier when? You barely touched breakfast.”“I ate after that.”Nico moves faster th
DEVMy throat works once before I can make myself answer. Nico is close enough that if I stretch my leg out from the edge of the bed, my knee will hit him. The pillow is still clamped across my lap, and his eyes drop to it before returning to my face.“Maya came because she was worried.”“That why the door was locked?”“She didn’t want the whole house hearing our conversation.”“What conversation?”“None of your business.”Nico’s mouth tightens. He takes another step, and now the front of his thigh is almost against my knee. “You expect me to believe she sat in here for an hour talking about nothing?”“I don’t care what you believe.”His gaze falls to the pillow again. “You cared enough to hide that.”My fingers tighten around the fabric. “Get out.”“Who were you thinking about?” The question lands so cleanly that I hate him for it.“What?”“When I walked in.” He tips his chin toward my lap. “You had your hand down there and your jeans open. So who was it?”Victor’s voice flashes thro
DEVMaya keeps staring at me after I finish the sentence. One hand is braced on my desk chair, the other still holding her bag strap, like she has not decided whether to sit or leave.“Okay,” she says. “Start from the insane part.”“That is all of it.”Her eyebrows lift. “Dev.”I sit on the edge of the bed and rub my palms down my jeans. Mom never needed the curse explained because she already knew the rules. Saying it to Maya makes every part of my life sound deranged.“When I was twelve, Mom took me to a fortune teller in India. She told us I had a blood-moon curse.”Maya loosens her grip on the chair. “A what?”“A curse. During a blood moon, if I kiss someone, they’re supposed to become obsessed with me.”She stares. “Obsessed how?”“I don’t know. That was always the word.”“And your mother has been hiding you during blood moons because of this?”“Yes.”Maya drops into the chair. “How many?”“Four before this one.”“And nothing happened?”“Because I stayed home.”Her mouth opens, t
DEVVictor is completely naked on the bed, one hand moving between his legs. I know exactly what I am seeing, and the first useful thought my brain gives me is that I need to go. My weight shifts backward, ready to carry me down the hall, but Victor’s head tips against the pillow and a low sound slips out of him. I stop.I have never seen him like this. Downstairs, Victor is always put together, even when he is half-dressed. His shoulders stay squared. His face barely gives anything away. Now one arm is thrown above his head and his body is stretched across the sheets with none of that careful control left. His chest rises harder with every breath, the muscles across his stomach pulling tight before loosening again. One knee is bent, opening the line of his hips, while his other leg lies extended across the bed. His thighs look heavier without the green pants covering them, thick with muscle where they press into the sheets.I should be walking away.Instead, my eyes follow the moveme
DEVI tighten my grip on the food before anything else can slide out of my arms. Victor looks at the bottle wedged against my stomach, then at the packet of bread hanging half out of my elbow, and crouches when a wrapped granola bar finally gives up and hits the floor.“You planning to live upstairs now?”“I was hungry.”“That much I gathered.”He picks up the granola bar and reaches for the bottle that rolled near his foot. My eyes drop to the green lounge pants riding low on his hips before I can stop them. He is still shirtless, and from this angle there is way too much bare skin in front of me for two in the morning. The waistband sits low enough that I drag my attention back to his face before my brain starts doing something stupid with the rest of the view.Victor rises and hands me the bottle. Our fingers brush. His gaze stays on my face for a second longer than I expect.“I never noticed how brown your eyes are.”I stare at him. “What?”“Your eyes.” He gives me the bottle and







