“I elbow him. “You’re such a pig.”He grins. “I’m not a pig, I’m a guy—which, now that I think about it, is pretty much the same thing. Point taken.”

“I'm a demon, not a pig, so I keep the place relatively neat.”

“And I start to say that I’m not lying now, but I am, so that would be a lie.”

“She gets to the bottom of the stairs, and I lift her off the ground and kiss her. As I lower her back to her feet she says, ‘Mmm, nice. That’s gonna score you some points with the parents.’ I look into the stands and see her parents standing there, slack-jawed, Dad with a camera perched, forgotten, in his hand. And Grandpa is laughing. ‘So what’s the plan?’ ‘I’m working on it. But I’m pretty sure it doesn’t include molesting me in front of them.”

“What is it?”“Well, how it works is you take the box out of my hand and open it,” I say with a grin.”

“Whoa! I knew you were hot, but Jesus!’ she says, and I wonder why she things He has anything to do with it.”

“I know exactly what to do with him. I've been practicing in my dreams.”