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him,” Darrak stated. “But you’re shy, aren’t you?”
    She didn’t reply. She wasn’t shy. She was just… reserved. Yeah, that was a good word. Reserved.
    “I have an idea,” the demon said. “A good one. If you promise to help me find the witch who cursed me, I’ll help you with the cop.”
    She really wanted to ask him how he intended to do that. In fact, she was curious enough to venture a “How?”
    Ben frowned. “What?”
    “Nothing.” Just talking to herself, as usual. Nothing strange or remotely bizarre about that, was there?
    “How will I help you?” Darrak replied. “I can tell you what to say and what to do to make yourself completely irresistible to this or any other man. It’s obvious he likes you already, so that will definitely help. You just need to get over your fear. A little inner prodding will do the trick. I think it’s a fair trade for what I want from you in return. What do you say?”
    Darrak was offering to act as her Cyrano de Bergerac?
    That was completely and utterly ludicrous.
    She didn’t need his help. She didn’t want anything to do with the demon at all. He’d turned her life into a complete nightmare in only a few hours.
    However, nightmare or not, after what had nearly happened with the exorcists she’d hired, she was feeling very guilty. A few more minutes and she knew that Darrak would have been completely destroyed.
    And he was right about one thing. She seriously needed some help in the romance department.
    Was she actually considering his offer? She’d do whatever she could to find the witch and he’d help her not be a shrinking violet in front of Ben?
    It was so crazy it just might work. A give-and-take partnership. With a demon.
    “Okay, fine,” she finally said.
    Ben grabbed his sunglasses and put them in his pocket. “So I guess that’s it. Do you need a ride home?”
    She shook her head “My car’s here.”
    It was a rusty old Toyota with over two hundred thousand miles on the odometer, but she still liked to use the word car to describe it, anyhow. She’d taken a cab into the heart of the city earlier for the police case so she could avoid driving on the busy highway.
    He nodded. “And what about the door?”
    She eyed the broken glass. “There’s actually a guy around the corner I can call to patch it up right away.”
    “I can wait with you.”
    “No, really, it’s not necessary.”
    He frowned. “You’re sure?”
    “I am.”
    Ben hesitated as if ready to argue with her, but then had second thoughts. He nodded firmly instead. “I’ll send you a check to cover the damages.”
    “Not necessary. We could use a new door anyhow. Maybe a sturdier one this time. Obviously the old one was a bit flimsy. Not that I’m complaining or anything since its flimsiness came in real handy tonight.”
    Real sexy, come-hither talk if ever she’d heard any.
    “Ask him to dinner tomorrow night,” Darrak suggested.
    She swallowed.
    “ Ask him ,” Darrak said again.
    “Good-bye, Eden.” Ben smiled. “ Again . And if those people come anywhere close to you again, give me… or the precinct… a call right away, okay?”
    He reluctantly pushed the doorframe open.
    “Do it,” Darrak urged.
    “Ben,” she called just before he left.
    He turned. “Yeah?”
    She cleared her throat. “I know I kind of said no before, but listen, I want to change my mind.”
    “About what?”
    “Um… I was… uh, kind of wondering if you had any dinner plans tomorrow night?”
    A glint of surprise entered his dark blue eyes. “Dinner?”
    “Yeah.”
    “With you?”
    She faltered and felt her cheeks heat up. He was going to turn her down. This was Detective Ben Handsome, after all. She had no idea why he was single when any woman in the world would kill for the chance to date him. “Unless you don’t want to. I totally understand.”
    Another smile touched his lips. “You’d understand, would you? Why, because I called you a troublemaker before? Or because