LITMIR.BIZ

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bar stool. “William certainly has a sense of humor.”

      “What do you think? Would seducing an angel be a good strategy?”

      “How would I know?” he asked, sounding insulted. “That’s for Helen to decide.”

      “Fine. But I’ll need someone to watch the girls while I’m gone.” I lifted my eyebrows suggestively.

      He hopped off the bar stool and held up his hands. “Oh, no. I simply refuse!”

      “Are you sure?” I asked. “William stopped by earlier. Maybe he’ll turn up again.”

      That got his attention. “You saw William today?” The question was asked very casually, but I knew better. Mr. Clerk had a major crush on William and was jealous of any time the two of us spent together. “Do you really think he’ll come by?” Already, Mr. Clerk had resettled himself on the bar stool and was pinching the knife-edged creases in his slacks.

      “Maybe.”

      “Fine. But be back in ten minutes.”

      If I hurried, I could be back in five.

      With its oriental carpet, potted palms and fringed lamps, Miss Spry’s study was elegant and cozy. I wasn’t fooled, though. These props were only put there to prevent anyone from seeing the real Hell that lay underneath.

      Miss Spry sat behind her desk, writing in a leather-bound ledger, but the moment I walked in, she put down her fountain pen. “Lilith! Such a pleasant surprise.” She used to growl every time I came through her office door, but now that I stopped defying her and obeyed her every whim, she acted like my best friend. It was less stressful to stand before a smiling woman rather than a hot-eyed demon, but the thought of making Miss Spry happy always made me unhappy.

      I’d thrown a pair of capris and a T-shirt over my bikini, but was still woefully under dressed compared to my demon overlord who wore a smart coral twinset and pencil skirt. Her heavy, red lipstick and dark eyebrow pencil reminded me of old-fashioned actresses. So did her permed hair which she wore swept away from her forehead, Joan Crawford style.

      “I know that I made a mistake today. I swear I tried to make that man mail that package.” I tugged nervously on my watch. “I wanted to tempt him. I really did.”

      “I know you did, dear.” Her voice was syrup laced with strychnine, and though she smiled, her eyes were flinty. “However, you did fail the assignment.”

      “But there was this guardian angel, see, and…”

      Her hands clenched into fists. “Did you say guardian angel?” When I nodded, she turned her face upward and shouted, “Cheater!” She hurried from behind her desk and took me by the arm. “Listen, Lilith. This client is very, very important. So important, in fact, that I can’t let him go untempted. Therefore, I will suspend all of your assignments until you’ve seduced him. Don’t let me down!”

      “I won’t,” I promised. “And I won’t let that holy pain in the ass ruin another assignment.”

      She beamed. “That’s music to my ears! The old Lilith would have never said such a thing.”

      That’s because the old Lilith hadn’t realized how powerful or cruel demons were, or what lengths they’d go to get what they wanted. The perks of being an obedient little succubus far outweighed the punishment for rebellion. If only the inner voice of my conscience would understand and let me off the hook.

      “If you have Mr. Clerk set up another appointment, I’ll get to work,” I told her.

      Her smile deepened. “I love your new enthusiasm. Keep this up, and you’ll be as good a seductress as any of your ancestors.”

      The inner voice turned into an inner squirm as my conscience objected. Shut up, I told it, and thought about my beautiful new house.

      “We can set up another appointment, but tempting the victim won’t be easy. Not only because of the guardian angel, but because once a human resists temptation, it becomes easier to do so a second time. Still, I’ll make Patrick set up another appointment.” She rang a little silver bell on her desk, and Mr. Clerk appeared.

      “You left the girls alone?!” I cried.

      “They’re fine,” he answered with a sniff. “They’re watching a movie and eating cookies.”

      “Patrick, set up another appointment with Lilith’s client,” Miss Spry said.

      He looked annoyed. “Do you really think finding those opportunities is easy?”

      Helen didn’t reply, and I shrugged. All I knew was that Mr. Clerk showed up with instructions, and I carried them out. I had no idea how the system worked. Nor did I care.

      “It’s an intricate process, Helen, involving complex algorithms. Each time I set up a meeting, I must spend hours researching the target, making calculations, and setting trajectories. It’s not easy.”

      Helen backed him off with a hot-eyed glare, giving me an opportunity to play good cop. Even demons have their vulnerable spots, and for Mr. Clerk, it was flattery. “Your job sounds terribly complicated. You’re amazing!”

      Miss Spry’s eyes glittered in amusement, but Mr. Clerk flushed with pleasure. “It’s a gift. I can’t take credit for it.” Despite his protests, he reveled in my praise the same way my cat, Drinking Tea, reveled in a good chin scratch.

      “So you can get Lilith a second chance?”

      Mr. Clerk sighed, nodded, and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Yes, I’ll set up another assignment.”

      “Good.” I wouldn’t fail again. I didn’t care if I had to personally drag my client to Hell, that man would do what Miss Spry demanded.

      That evening, Dr. Ted Dempsey, my cheating ex-husband, stopped by to pick up Grace for the weekend. When he walked in through the back door, he completely ignored his niece who was sitting at the kitchen table. Technically, Ari was his blood relation, not mine, but you’d never know it from the way he treated her.

      Ted went over to Grace who squealed and hugged him. Then he gave me a top-to-bottom once over. “Hello, Lilith. You’re looking well.”

      His bland compliment was meant to hurt me, and it did. Because I didn’t just look ‘well’, I looked fantastic. I was wearing little white shorts that showed off my tan and a tight T-shirt that displayed plenty of cleavage. On the days Ted came over, I always took special pains to remind him of what he’d lost when he decided to cheat on me.

      “Why don’t you run and get your bag, Grace,” I said. “I need to talk to your father.” I raised my eyebrows at Ariel, and she dragged herself out of her chair, huffing in exasperation. I knew that she wanted to see me yell at Ted, but I’d made it a policy to stop fighting in front of the kids after I realized how much it upset Grace.

      With the girls out of the room, I readied myself to launch a verbal attack, but Ted beat me to the punch. “Your pool smells like it’s overly chlorinated.” My ex-husband thought he was an expert on everything from swimming pools to vegan cuisine, and wasn’t shy about sharing his opinions. “I don’t want my daughter swimming in it.”

      It was a cunning first strike because it forced me to defend myself. I crossed my arms over my chest. “The pool is fine, Ted. I have a service that checks it twice a week.”

      He smiled triumphantly. “And where are you getting the money to pay for a pool service?”

      Damn! I’d fallen right into his trap. After the fire had destroyed my house, I’d begged Ted to increase his child support payments. Although money was no longer an issue for me, my ex-husband had no idea why. Obviously, he didn’t know that I was a succubus.

      No, he thought I was a harpy.

      “I refinanced the house,” I said. When Ted mulled this over, I launched my counterattack. “How come I’m getting overdue notices

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