He muttered something, and she tilted her head, unable to make it out.

"Louder please?"

"I said I’m like candy."

"Like ... candy?" Gwenny was getting more confused by the moment, and she pulled away from him. "Why are you like candy?"

He tucked an arm under his head and smiled slightly. "Well, like heroin maybe. I mean I’m addictive. Not just me," he qualified. "All of us. Once you’ve been with me, I’m afraid you won’t be satisfied by a mortal man. And I don’t want to do that to you."

"Oh, right," she said. "So if I ... if we ... go to bed together tonight, then you leave, and my sex life will never make me happy, again. Have I got that right?"

"Yes, that’s about it."

"I see. Hmmm." She tapped her finger on her knee and looked at the demon again. He was damn cute. And she hadn’t had sex for quite some time anyway, since she didn’t make a practice of sleeping around. But something about this man, this demon, touched her in a way she hadn’t felt in a long time. Maybe never.

He was incredibly handsome and totally built. But there were a lot of guys out there who looked good. He was strong; she could feel his muscles flexing when he held her. And he smelled so good, spicy in a way that she found incredibly appealing. But the real truth was, he had an air of vulnerability about him that she would never have expected to find in a demon - even if she had known they existed. It made her want to protect him, to use her power to save him from the punishment he was facing just to spend a little time with her - a human he met only a couple of hours before.

She told him she didn’t sleep with company guests or musicians, and she knew for sure he was at least one of those things. Was she teasing him?

The glint in her aquamarine eyes made him think so. But why? He shook his head and tried not to think about it, once again shifting because she had made him uncomfortable in his jeans. His erection strained against the button fly, and it didn’t appear as though things were getting better anytime soon. Of course, he did have that bet going, if he had the nerve to use it.

Gingerbread seemed to be very serious business to Clara. She stood next to him, her soft breast pressed against his arm as she showed him how to prop up the two pieces of cake while the icing hardened enough to hold it in place. His suggestions involving toothpicks and duct tape had been greeted with outrage, so he did as she asked and just enjoyed the closeness. A couple of times, the structure wobbled, and he got excited, but it held in the end. The bet still stood.

Once the basic shape was formed, she laid out a pile of candies: red hots, M&M’s, licorice of various colors and sizes, Necco Wafers - so many that he couldn’t even count them. She began to affix them to the gingerbread with dollops of icing, and when he hesitated, she urged him to do the same.

"You can do it too, you know. Come on, it’s fun."

"I don’t know about fun, but okay." He reached past her for a bag of M&M’s. She kissed his neck, her lips just grazing the skin below his ear. He froze as she moved away.

"What’s the holdup?" she asked.

"Nothing at all." He grabbed the candies and started a row along the roofline of the gingerbread cabin. "Why do you ask?" He dropped one hand to her leg and squeezed lightly.

"Oh, just wondering. Could you pass me that bowl of brown icing over there?" As he did, she did it again. Only this time, she feathered kisses up his throat, teasing the sensitive spot behind his ear.

He moaned and dropped the candy to pull her against him on the narrow bench. Her lips were hot and moist, and he pressed them apart and thrust his tongue into her mouth. She didn’t fight him, and in a moment they were both panting. This woman was bewitching him. She was beautiful and interesting and didn’t like him because he was famous. He stood with her in his arms, holding her tightly against him.

"What was that you said about Santa Claus?" he asked before devouring her mouth again.

"I said," she replied when he freed her lips to speak, "that he won’t come until we’re in bed."

Cari’s fingertips tingled with adrenalin. Images from her nightmares flashed in front of her panic-stricken gaze. She would see him dead before he took her baby away. She felt the world start to spin and everything went black.

As her knees buckled, Cari felt herself caught and held against a muscular chest, strong arms supporting her and keeping her from falling. "Is something wrong here?" A deep voice cut through the haze in her head. "Are you quite all right, darling? Is this man bothering you?"

Through the receding darkness, Cari saw the lightly dusted, golden-haired forearms locked around her upper body. She suddenly knew who her savior was - again. "No, I-I just felt dizzy for a moment, Gabriel. I’m fine, but if you would help me to my office so I can sit down?"

"Of course." Ignoring Hayward, Gabriel put a solicitous arm over her shoulder, and they walked past a grinning Glenda into the office building. He accompanied her up in the elevator and down the hallway, while curious coworkers stared. Although she held her breath, Hay must have thought better of following them. He was probably gnashing his teeth out on the sidewalk.

By the time they reached her assistant’s desk, Cari was feeling much better. "Lisa, would you please hold my calls for a few moments?"

"Yes, Miss Walsh. Can I get you anything?" Lisa stood up and seemed unsure of whether to come out from behind her desk or stay where she was.

"No, Lisa, it’s okay." Cari, now standing on her own two feet, opened her office door and beckoned Gabriel in. "Have a seat. I think we need to talk. "If he was going to rescue her at every turn, she needed to tell him what he was saving her from - at least.