Chapter Five

Merihem

I knew it!

His eyes narrowed on the gorgeous creature who’d just walked into the kitchen, totally unaware he was being spied on.

Merihem had been really careful to act as Dakata would. He’d slept better than he’d expected in Dakata’s bed, knowing the goat was down in the basement.

His demon half was actually okay with the plan he’d come up with that morning as he’d showered. So he’d allowed Merihem to vacate the house just in case the little one was watching him and Merihem hadn’t figured out how. The little guy had managed not to be spotted by Dakata, so that said a lot about how evasive he could be.

Going to the office, yep, that was a necessary step, too, because he didn’t want one of Dakata’s brothers or his sister Christa landing on his doorstep and eliminating the possibility of a meeting. Merihem managed to focus long enough to deal with a few things at the office and had got Dakata’s secretary, Scott, to keep him updated on anything important.

Then he’d got the taxicab to drop him a block from the house, and he’d started stalking his prey.

How many times do I have to say it? He’s our blissful one!

Does it make a difference? Merihem argued back for form alone when, after peeking through the kitchen window around the back of the house, his heart tripped in his chest. Except Merihem wasn’t stupid enough to go into the house. He’d decided to eliminate the possibility of his demon doing a repeat of the day before and chose to spy on the wee goat from outside the house.

He used his power to cloak himself, going with a spell rather than a flick of his fingers. A spell wouldn’t alert his boss to what he was doing in the human realm. Merihem was a great climber, and he’d already assessed how to scale the outside of the house.

He’d caught sight of the bubble-butt disappearing out the kitchen door, and followed. He could see into Dakata’s bedroom and waited.

When the little guy’s head swiveled about better than any owl shifter, Merihem actually ducked before he realized he couldn’t be seen.

A big problem was that other parts of him were vying for attention. Merihem’s lower body reacted rather violently when the bubble butt faced him as their blissful one bent over the bed, his ass swaying as he tugged off sheets minutes later.

Merihem groaned under his breath. He hated to say it, but his demon half was right. Because the situation in his boxers comprised of his cock sword fighting with his underwear, trying to rip them apart to get what it wanted had never happened before.

The goat disappeared again, and Merihem took his time following him around, which would have been fun, if not for the situation in his pants that made contact with the brick walls. Cock versus brick wasn’t fun!

By the time they were back in the kitchen, and everything looked to be clean and tidy, Merihem was ready to call mercy. He debated outside what his next move should be when he realized the guy had never reappeared from his cubbyhole.

A noise behind him had Merihem freezing in place when a window opened and out crawled the gorgeous guy. His delicious smell enticed Merihem to do something silly, or wicked, or both. The man went to take a step, only to come to a halt, looking back, directly at him.

The solid punch to the throat, chest, and cock, all together, was enough to render Merihem immobile, giving the little goat time to dart off.

His demon side got him moving, as Merihem hissed, don’t you even think about alerting him to our presence in the street!

As if I’d be that stupid.

Right, like you weren’t the one shouting ‘mine’ at the top of your lungs yesterday?

I was declaring our feelings, that’s all.

Yeah, to the whole damn city. You’re as bad as Dakata’s demon.

The scowl he could feel when his demon did a stompy thing in his head, threatened to give him a headache again. Listen, I can always go back to the house. Merihem had no such intention. He wanted to figure out what his little goat was up to. It was the only way to size up the situation properly. Merihem wasn’t a demon who rushed blindly into any situation, despite his demon’s intentions.

Their little goat went into the bank, then came out two minutes later with a small bulge in his front jeans pocket.

So, he got paid at the bank, but by who? Merihem made a note of the bank. He could get Scott to see if they transferred the staff's wages into that particular branch.

Fascinated, Merihem watched the goat buy food, not a lot, but enough to fill a small brown sack. He treated himself to a small green-looking smoothie before he trotted off to the library. This was the only place where he took his time, going straight for the romance section. Merihem smirked when he picked up a book that was clearly about demons.

Grinning, he couldn’t ever remember a time when he’d enjoyed spying on someone so much before.

His belly growled when the little goat finally stopped at a pizza place and grabbed four large slices of pie that had nothing on it but… vegetables.

Yuck. Where was the meat?

The scent of the melted cheese, which Merihem was partial to, did not compete with his blissful one’s fragrance. So, by the time they got back to the house and the little bubble butt disappeared back through the window, Merihem was in a bit of a pickle.

He had to have strong words with himself as that delectable ass wiggled at him before disappearing.

Don’t do anything rash!

Don’t do anything rash.

If he kept saying it, surely it would sink in?

Move away from the window. You are far too big to try and squeeze through there.

Did the talking to he’d given himself help?

Did it fuck.

Merihem’s hands balled, and he willed himself—not his demon, he hastened to add—to behave. He didn’t breathe easy until he rounded the house, out of sight of the window, and plonked himself down on the steps like he’d done the day before.

He clicked his fingers to remove the spell and thumped at his cock for good measure, willing the thing to deflate.

He played over several awful situations he’d dealt with in the past that were gory enough to turn a demon's stomach and breathed in some fresh air.

How long he sat like that he’d no clue, but when his cock finally got with the program, Merihem stood up and unlocked the front door. One step inside, and he groaned anew, his body ramping the fuck back up at the intoxicating smell. All that thumping and deep breathing was for nothing.

His demon actually laughed at his predicament. Go on, try to resist our blissful one.

Sheer willpower had Merihem walk through the house and up the stairs to Dakata’s bedroom. He didn’t take one breath until he turned on the shower and twisted the dial until it couldn’t get any colder before stripping and diving right in.

“Motherfucker,” he cried out at the icy water blasting his cock and balls. Shards of glass, it felt like were trying to stab him.

He jumped right back out, water flicking over the clean surfaces, scowling. He hated cold showers. Demons were hot-blooded creatures by nature. He’d clearly lost all reason.

He’s right downstairs, just go, knock on his door and ask him on a date.

“Are you for fucking real?” he exclaimed loudly, forgetting himself. “A date! I’ve never taken anyone on a date in my life.”

Exactly. This is special. We have a blissful one, and we need to court him.

You’ve changed your tune.

Didn’t you see how pretty he is, and how careful he was in taking care of the house for us? How he got romance books about us? He wants to be courted, not fucked.

This whole situation was getting out of hand, because now his demon side was actually making sense. To the demon gods, how?

Merihem twisted the tap around to hot and climbed back into the shower in a complete grump. His gurgling stomach reminded him he’d not eaten. He ignored his boner and washed and dried himself as quickly as possible.

He found some lounge pants that fit, if he ignored the obvious tenting, and went down to the kitchen to hunt up food.

He stopped at the counter, and a fucking huge smile spread over his face at the pizza box with a sticky note on it.

I bought some pizza and thought I’d share it.

No signature. No name. But that didn’t matter as Merihem took the note and folded it like it was the most precious thing in the world. He eyed the three pieces of vegetarian pizza, his smile not dimming at all as he reached in, felt it was still warm, and ate a slice standing at the counter. Had that cute little bubble-butt re-heated his slices so it would be hot for him coming home from work?

His chest warmed at the very thought. Merihem’s gaze roamed to the door, and he decided to stop fooling himself. One afternoon following his blissful one and he was… smitten .

To the demon lords, never utter that word again.

It’s true, though you are.

Fuck all the way off back to hell, okay!

Don’t be silly. So where are we taking him on our first-ever date? Movies? A restaurant? A museum? Oh, I know, what about a petting zoo?

Merihem rolled his eyes at the ceiling, inhaling the second piece of pizza. I’ve no damn clue.

But the first hurdle was asking the little goat to go out with him. How the hell did he do that?