Dante rolled his eyes and set the bag down. Crossings his arms, he leaned against the wall. "Well, maybe I'm in stasis too. Forget about this for a sec and tell me if you've gotten yourself on any demon's shit list today." There it was again, the sweet concern in spite of his best efforts.

"Not that I know of, but hey, the day's not over yet."

I glossed over the specifics of who I'd gone searching with, mainly emphasizing that my time at the beach hadn't turned up anything. I also mentioned Cedric's visit and his claims that he hadn't told Nanette about my suspicions. Dante seemed skeptical of that. Finally, I wrapped up with Grace's appearance, and at that point I faltered. I wanted to tell Dante about my amazing discovery, about how Grace had the seal. Yet Roman had urged me to keep it all to myself. Why? Was he really that mistrustful of everyone? Did he have his own ulterior motives? Against my better judgment, I bit my lip on telling Dante about my discovery. It killed me to do it, particularly since I had a feeling Dante could have some insight. Roman's warning was too strong, however, as was my fear that he might actually still be around invisibly. And of course, I could hardly tell Dante about Roman.

Fortunately, Dante didn't pick up on any omission of information. "You had kind of a full day, succubus. Did the corporate demon ever come talk to you?"

"Not yet. I haven't had a chance to talk with the gang to see if he's been making the rounds." I eyed the Macy's bag, dying to know what was in it.

Dante kicked it behind him. "What are you going to tell him?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I'll tell him what I know about Seattle, and as far as recommendations…well, I don't know." I could no longer trust Grace, and Mei's role was still a mystery. Dante noted my change of feelings but not the reasons.

"From what you'd said before, I thought you were a fan of Grace and that other demoness."

"Mei," I supplied. "I don't know. It's all just wearying." Eager to shift away from the subject, I pointed at the bag. "Are you going to tell me what's in that?"

He gave me one of his mocking grins. "Why do you think it has anything to do with you?"

"Because there's no way you'd shop at Macy's for yourself. You dress only marginally better than Carter."

Dante shook his head, wearing a long-suffering look. "Fine, fine. I'll keep it for myself." He picked up the bag and headed off down the hall. After a few moments, I followed and tackled him in the doorway to my bedroom.

"Come on! Give it up." I snatched the bag away, but my victory was small since he didn't put up a fight. I opened it up and gasped at what I found. Folds and folds of shimmering purple fabric, silk the color of new spring crocuses. Hesitantly, I lifted it out of the bag, revealing a long, ankle-length robe. I looked up at him in astonishment. "What's this?"

"You're the one with years and years of higher learning," he pointed out, looking extremely pleased with himself. "You tell me."

I held it up, gauging its height. It looked just about perfect. "It's gorgeous. What's the occasion?"

"I was tired of hearing you bitch about that ratty one you've got. And tired of seeing it, to be honest." He ignored my glare. "Besides, you've had a, uh, difficult time lately. Even for you."

I thought back to other things, like the flowers and breakfast. All the attempts at dinners. "Dante-"

He pressed a finger to my lips. "Look, be quiet a second. I'm not blind. I can tell how much all of this is stressing you out. And fuck, if I could get my hands on that bitch demon…" Anger glinted in his eyes, and he took a moment to shake it off. "Anyway, you can keep making your jokes or whatever and keep doggedly doing your best to sleuth away and find Jerome, but you're running yourself into the ground. You're depressed. You're distracted. When we talk, it's like your mind's somewhere else. Same with our sex life."

I opened my mouth to argue, but I wasn't sure what to say. He was right. I had been distracted, but a good part of that-particularly during intimate activities-hadn't had anything to do with Jerome. It had been Seth on my mind. Dante kept speaking before I could get a word out.

"See, now, you're going to apologize. Because that's what you do-but there's no need, succubus. If anyone gets some selfish time right now, it's you. In another week or so, things'll be back to normal, and I'll be the selfish one."

Something in my heart twisted. Everyone said he was scum, but in the end, it turned out I was the untrustworthy one. I averted my eyes.

"So where's the robe fit in?"

"Something to cheer you up. Since your wardrobe's been trimmed."

"Dante, you've been getting me a lot of stuff lately. You don't have to throw money at me-money you don't have-to make me feel better."

"If I didn't have it, I wouldn't 'throw' it," he remarked dryly. "And anyway…I'm not really the kind of guy who does, like…the candles or the moonlit beaches or recites poetry."

I grimaced. "I don't mind staying away from beaches for a while."

"But," he continued, "I know you well enough to know that mochas and silk make you smile, and that, at least, is something I can do."

My heart twisted further, and I reached out to catch hold of his hand. I understood what he was saying. It wasn't in his nature to do over-the-top romantic gestures, but material purchases were something he could handle, and it was the only way to show me he cared. My guilt redoubled because no matter what he said, I knew he was tight on cash. Yet, my actions and fixation with Seth were worrying Dante enough that he felt he had to do something. I was driving him to it.

"You're sweet," I said. "But don't worry. It'll be our secret."

He brushed his fingers through my hair. "Not that sweet. Look in the bag."

I did. Underneath the robe, unnoticed by me, was a bottle of bubble bath. I held it up questioningly.

"I thought we could take a bath together."

I laughed. "That's almost romantic. You might be closer to moonlit beaches than you think. Although, my bathtub's kind of small."

"I know," he said. "That's what I meant about it not being very sweet. Mostly I want to see what kind of interesting positions we can cram ourselves into while naked and in a small space."

"Well, thank God that in a world gone mad, some people never change."

It turned into a wet, soapy mess, but it was more fun than I expected. No matter what he claimed, the whole feat was semi-romantic. Conversation was easy and light, and we laughed and joked a lot. I almost forgot about Seth-almost. But when things started to get a little hot and heavy, I pulled back. No matter how sexy it was to be wet and naked with someone, it just didn't feel right if that person wasn't Seth.

What made me feel worse was that Dante was accommodating about my mood. He figured my lack of desire was part of my stress, and so we eventually left the tub as chastely as we'd entered. We toweled each other off and then curled up on the couch and watched TV together while I tried not to feel too guilty about the purple robe wrapped around me.

I decided the next day to finally add myself back to the bookstore's work schedule. I only put me down for part-time shifts until the demon business was settled, but at this point, it seemed unlikely I'd be recalled to Canada again. My limbo status couldn't last forever if I wanted to keep my job; Warren's leniency would only last so long.

Roman and I had our plans to go to Edmonds at noon, so for my first official day back, I only worked a morning shift. Part of that shift involved coming in before the store was even open, and I welcomed the solitude. The store always soothed me, and if ever there was a time I needed soothing, it was right now. It was short-lived, however, since my other coworkers began trickling in not long after my arrival. Maddie was among them.