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Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Becoming Partners (Summoned From the Lower Realms, #3)

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Leo awoke the next morning to the delightful smell of grapefruit wafting into his bedroom from down the hall. Blinking, he tried to figure out why. Then he heard the shower and guessed that Rien had bought a soap more to his liking. The idea of Rien showering with the door open made Leo feel a strange sense of joy. This was a stark departure from laying claim to the bath just a few days ago. He felt like maybe Rien was warming up to him faster than either of them had anticipated.

This hope was dashed a little by Rien’s appearance in the doorway. Instead of looking freshly showered he was wearing lavender rubber gloves and a bandana like he was doing some serious cleaning. What Leo had mistaken for the shower must have been Rien filling the mop bucket with grapefruit scented soap and water. It looked like Rien hadn’t noticed that Leo was awake yet and he was still going about his chores, collecting the hamper from beside the dresser.

“You’re up early.” Leo said, trying to be casual. It failed, Rien jolted in surprise and looked at the bed, quickly regaining his composure seeing Leo’s well rested smile.

“‘I’ve been up, demons don’t need to sleep, remember?” Rien’s melodic voice didn’t let on in the slightest about his recent scare. “I stayed with you for a while after you fell asleep though. You seemed too comfortable for me to move.”

The thought of Rien in his arms made him blush slightly. Quickly searching for something to distract his mind Leo looked around and changed the subject.

“You don’t have to do my laundry.” He said, suddenly a little ashamed about their arrangement. “Most people don’t consider that part of household chores, more of an individual’s task, like showering.”

“It’s definitely a chore for you, otherwise you wouldn’t let it pile up.” Rien was likely referring to the loads of extra bed clothes that Leo let stack up next to the washer. “Besides, I can’t really take a shower for you, now can I?” He knew how to lighten the mood perfectly.

Thinking about it further, Leo determined that Rien had always done the right things to put him at ease. Recalling their awkward breakfast, Rien had let the silence hang long enough for Leo to collect his thoughts, never pushing him to speak before he was ready. Even when Leo was being too dense to understand verbal innuendos, Rien had still been just subtle enough to make Leo understand without coming off as overt.

“Did you want anything in specific for breakfast?” Rien asked, interrupting Leo’s thoughts.

“Not really, I’ll probably just have some coffee.” Leo replied, but his words were immediately followed by a growl from his stomach. “Well, maybe something then.”

“I’ll cook something, let me move my cleaning solution so you can jump in the shower.”

This reminded Leo that despite taking two separate showers yesterday, he was pretty dirty from last night’s activities. He gathered up his clothes for the day while Rien left for the bathroom. Leo wanted to slip on some sweatpants so as not to be nude in front of Rien. He knew that they had already had sex, but there was still something embarrassing to him about being naked around Rien in broad daylight. As if he sensed Leo’s apprehension Rien once again said the exact right thing to calm Leo’s uneasiness.

“I’m going to be in your altar room, I promise not to peek.” Rien called from down the hall.

If anyone else had said that Leo wouldn’t have believed them, but there was a sincerity about this demon that he trusted. Perhaps too much, he thought as he turned the water back on. He turned the tiny lock on the bathroom door, knowing that it wasn’t going to stop much, but at least no one could walk in on accident. Leo’s shower thoughts all drifted around what Rien really wanted and what that meant for Leo. On the one hand he was being taken care of, but on the other he was having sex with a demon because he needed Leo like food. Does he only want me for that? Leo’s mind kept coming back to that question.

Leo had found having sex with Rien even more enjoyable than his shower daydreams about it. The demon’s body had felt like it was made for his dick, supplely conforming around it. Leo had gotten completely lost in the feeling of Rien’s body on top of his, how good it had felt to hold him tight and thrust into his ass. Even remembering it was arousing to him, but his worry held him back. Leo had no way of knowing if it was good for Rien. Leo wasn’t very experienced, what if it had just been a sloppy and unsatisfying time for Rien?

He tried to put aside his concerns as he dried himself off, hoping that they would dissipate with the steam. Leo had a closing shift that afternoon, but that wasn’t going to be enough to distract him. He was starting to worry that this cloud of uncertainty would follow him around all day, maybe even be visible to customers. He scoured the mirror for anything to latch onto while he brushed his teeth. There was nothing, he just had to hope he didn’t look too upset to Rien.

Upon walking into the kitchen Leo got his wish for distractions. The entire room looked like it had been systematically torn apart. All of his dishes were neatly stacked on the kitchen and coffee tables, the cupboards they came from had their doors removed, exposing the empty shelves inside. Leo merely stopped walking and stared, unable to even find words. Rien noticed him and stopped cooking to explain.

“I know it looks bad, but it’s the only way for everything to be completely clean.” Leo’s face must not have looked convinced because Rien kept going. “The hinges were rusty so I’m replacing them so they stop leaking rust on the wood. And there are places in the corners that have the sawdust from the last ten years.”

‘It’s okay I believe you.” Leo said, laughing a little. He still found it to be a little excessive, but he figured that if Rien thought it was necessary for him to keep the kitchen clean then it was probably fine.

Rien went back to the stove and flipped the pancake that had been cooking. Leo enjoyed pancakes, but he usually found making them to be too tedious so he would only make them once in a while and freeze leftovers for convenience. To have them freshly made and warm was a treat to him. Another pang of guilt almost made Leo wince, he was still feeling like their arrangement was somehow skewed in his favor. He decided to ask a question to test the waters.

“So, what do you have planned for yourself today?” Leo asked as Rien set his plate on the small patch of free space the table had left. He was hoping to gauge what Rien liked to do, but he instantly realized that today was probably dedicated to putting the kitchen back together.

“Oh, well I have to go get new hinges before I can fix the mess I made.” He gestured to the neat stacks of Leo’s belongings and continued. “So I was going to go ahead and go grocery shopping. I can guess a lot of what you might like based on what you keep on hand, but is there anything in particular that you want?”

His answer surprised Leo, he had completely forgotten that Rien had gone to the store the day before. It brought a lot more questions to Leo’s mind, but no meal suggestions. He simply shook his head while chewing the perfectly buttery pancake. Then another, urgent question came to him.

“How much do you need for groceries and how much do I owe you for yesterday’s dinner?” Leo asked, his reasoning was Rien didn’t need to eat so it didn’t make sense for him to pay for groceries he wasn’t going to enjoy.

“Don’t worry about last night. That was something fancy I wanted to do, I could tell you don’t eat that sort of thing often and I wanted it to be special.” Rien’s voice never even hinted at the sexual reason why he wanted that meal to be special. Leo could feel himself blush all the same. “As for today’s groceries, I shouldn’t need more than 70 from you, I want to get everything for the week.”

The buzzer in the laundry room went off, interrupting their conversation before Leo could work up the nerve to ask if Rien was doing the things that he wanted to do in this world. He chose to let it go for now, he wanted to write out his work schedule on the wall calendar so Rien could see it. Leo made sure to write legibly, but left enough space in case Rien wanted to write in anything he wanted to do. He was hoping that this would be obvious, but recognized that it wasn’t exactly open communication. Leo wasn’t sure why he struggled with talking to people so much, but he decided that he was going to use his day at work to collect his thoughts and have a real conversation that night.

While at work Leo had plenty of time to consider his words to Rien, though he had to keep reminding himself to stock shelves rather than stare at them, lost in thought. The monotonous nature of working for a corporation normally made him bored and destroyed his ability to think, but Leo was grateful for it today. He didn’t want to be taken off guard by Rien or let himself be steered along because he was afraid of blurting out the wrong thing without thinking enough. He psyched himself up on the way home, knowing what his first question was going to be, no matter what amazing dinner awaited him or how hot Rien’s naked body was.

That was a preview of Becoming Partners. To read the rest purchase the book.

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