Demon Bound by Meljean Brook Page A

land.”
    â€œPerhaps you shouldn’t be so quick to leap,” Alice said in the prim tone that made the back of his neck tighten, “if you are not prepared to face the consequences of it.”
    For some reason, Drifter and Selah both grinned. Jake did, too, but his showed more teeth. “Golly gee, Alice, I’ve never thought of it that way before. That’ll change everything for me.”
    â€œHow fortunate that I am here, then.”
    â€œOh, yes. With words of wisdom like that, you’d have made one hell of a—” He bit it off. Not mentor. He wouldn’t go there.
    She raised her eyebrows.
    â€œParatroop instructor,” he finished. Fucking stupid.
    â€œOh, dear. Leaping from an airplane? How unseemly. My skirt might blow up over my knees.” With that, she dismissed him, turning to Marsden and Selah.
    Jake watched her, tried not to picture her spindly legs sticking out from billowing black fabric. Maybe they weren’t bony, though—when she’d been fighting, a ballerina couldn’t have matched her grace. Instead of thin and knobby, her legs might be slim, strong. And her skin would be the same smooth, dusky gold as her hands, her cheeks.
    Jesus. He must be crazy, imagining the Black Widow naked. She probably bit off the head of anyone brave enough to get into her bed. A guy would need balls of steel . . . or no balls to lose. Like a woman—
    His gaze moved from Alice to Irena, then back to Alice. And that was enough for his dick to take over, making him desperate to see, to know. He’d have crawled under the table if he thought it’d get him a look at her legs.
    Hell, he’d have settled for a glimpse of her flippin’ wrist.
    â€œJake? You here?” Charlie waved her hand in front of his eyes.
    He vaguely realized they were looking expectantly at him, that Selah and Marsden were gone. And that he’d been staring at Alice for at least a few minutes.
    Someone must have asked him something, but he didn’t care enough to find out what.
    He met Alice’s eyes. “I’m wondering how you fight in that skirt.”
    â€œYou plan to spend any time in one, Jake? Maybe you ought to consider taking her on as a specialist,” Drifter said over his whiskey.
    â€œI might.” Jake held her gaze. “Do you have to cut it open to kick? Or do you change clothes when a demon shows up? The time wasted could be dangerous.”
    Irena added her curious stare to Jake’s. “That is true, Alice. And you used to wear that redingote and trousers, so that it freed your legs. You no longer do.”
    â€œBecause it is no longer necessary. This has plenty of give, and I can move freely.” She tugged on her sleeve. The silk stretched, then snapped taut against her arm when she let it go.
    â€œIt’s spandex?”
    Jake would’ve laughed at the horrified note in Charlie’s voice if he hadn’t been so gobsmacked.
    â€œIt’s the spider silk.” Freaky as hell, but badass. If the strength of the woven material was anything like what he’d seen up in Caelum, her dress would be like armor. “Hot damn.”
    Drifter frowned. “The what?”
    â€œFrom the spiders. In her quarters.”
    Drifter’s brows shot up, and he turned to Alice. “You got some living up in Caelum?”
    Alice nodded.
    â€œWell, hell. I figured all the talk of spiders and vampire blood was just the novices saying the same fool things about you that they always do.”
    â€œNo,” she said. “That one is true. I asked Selah to bring the first few widows not long after the Ascension.”
    Drifter seemed to consider that. “All right, then,” he finally said.
    He was going to leave it there, but Jake wouldn’t. No matter how much it cost him.
    â€œSo everything you’re wearing is made of the same stuff?” And in the temple, it had been smooth and warm under his hands.