Page 40 of Signed in Incubus

It took the better part of an hour to make it to the museum, with us walking through some pretty busy parts of the city. It was late Sunday afternoon, so the streets weren’t filled with people, but no one bothered us. In fact, the cashier had almost overlooked me when I was trying to pay for the sandwiches.

That must be the spell, right?

The sun was already starting to set when we reached the museum, which closed early on Sundays. Prax loaded my carry-on bag into the back seat of his vehicle, and I got in the passenger side.

“When this is over, I’m going to have to figure out a way to keep my phone and wallet on me,” Prax said, reaching over to the glove box for his things.

“I’ll look into it for you.”

The drive to the inn at the edge of town wasn’t very eventful. It wasn’t the type of place I was used to staying at, but I didn’t want to find out that my first try at a concealment spell had failed while at the Hilton. Also, I wanted to stay under my family’s radar. They’d never think to look for me here.

We checked in, and I opened my laptop to continue searching for possible apartments just in case the ones I planned to look at tomorrow all sucked. Prax made a sound of disapproval at the places I was looking at.

“What?”

“This”—he gestured to the screen—“is not good enough for you.”

I laughed. “Where exactly do you think I should live? I’m on kind of a tight budget here, at least until I can find a new day job.”

“You can live with me.”

I blinked. Was I hearing this right? “Is that really what you want, or is it the spell talking? You just met me, and we haven’t even been on a real date yet.”

He shrugged. “I’m living on Desmon’s estate until my contract ends in two weeks. He said I could stick around longer, but I don’t see why I should. We could pool our resources and move in together.”

“You just met me, and we haven’t even been on a real date yet.” I changed the subject. “I guess that means we’re both going to be between jobs for a while. Unless you have another job lined up.”

But it turned out that Prax was good for money for a while since he’d collected quite a few artifacts over the years. After getting some of them appraised recently, he’d sold a collection of historical weapons, most of which he’d obtained when they’d been used unsuccessfully against him.

“Should I be worried that you had a whole collection of weapons once used for your attempted murder?” I asked. “Do I even want to know what happens to any wielders of these weapons now?”

He shot me an innocent look, a false halo temporarily appearing above his head. “I have no idea why anyone would want to harm me.” He smiled. “Anyway, the Curio Collectors’ Dinner & Auction is next weekend, and I’m auctioning off a few more pieces. They’re not doing me any good sitting in a cave.”

“You hid your collection in a cave?”

“Two caves, actually.”

“How original.”

“Hey, it worked. No one ever found my things. Anyway, I’ve got a plus one for the dinner invite. Come with me?”

“Are you asking me out on a date?”

“Sure am.”

“Isthisthe spell, or you?”

“Definitely all me.”

My heart did that flip-floppy thing again. “Then yes. I’ll go with you.”

“Great. We’re going on a date. Now, how about getting that apartment together?”

I laughed. Boy, he was persistent. But was it such a bad idea to move in together for now? Until we nullified the spell, he was bound to me anyway.

“Okay, fine, you win. We’ll move in together.Temporarily. And if you change your mind after we get rid of the spell, I won’t force you to stay. You’ll be free to go.”

That might not be very long since the goal was to get this spell gone ASAP, but I would enjoy having my very own incubus for as long as it lasted.

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