Page 25 of Bombshell

“I’ll say!” Fiero, who had a nasty habit of eavesdropping on every conversation that was had in the shop, chimed in from somewhere in the back.

Effie grimaced before snapping her fingers, and at first, nothing happened. Then we heard a yelp from the other room beforethe sound of hooves on the hardwood floor echoed down the hall and the bell over the front door tinkled as it was opened.

I shot a confused look at Effie who looked just as surprised as I was. I didn’t know what she’d done to him but Effie’s magic had never been sophisticated enough to work when the target wasn’t in her line of sight—and even then the spells tended to fizzle out quickly. I hadn’t even heard her mumble whatever spell she’d cast on the satyr.

Byrne, oblivious to our shock, just shrugged. “My mother has more money than she knows what to do with and has now turned to managing me—her only child. I’m not okay with that so I’ve decided to strike out on my own.”

That was a surprisingly naive answer from the man and I couldn’t help but wonder just how old he was.

Effie on the other hand, seemed to be falling for his family sob story hook, line, and sinker because I could feel the sympathy practically rolling off of her in waves.

“You aren’t going to bring your shit into my shop are you?”

Byrne shook his head. “No, she doesn’t even know that I’m in the country. She thinks I’m still in London.”

I turned to look at Effie who was glancing between the two of us before she finally settled on me, her green freckle covered nose scrunching as she weighed the pros and cons in her mind.

What I did next was probably a bad idea. Reaching out with the cool threads of my magic I connected with hers the same way it always did when we made love and spoke in her mind.

‘It’s up to you if you want to hire him,’I told her silently, watching as she jumped and her eyes widened.

‘Are you talking in my mind right now?’she paused and frowned.‘Wait, amItalking back?’

Then before I could answer her she continued,‘Oh my god, I wasn’t going crazy and you have been saying things in my head when we’re having sex. Dallan! Why didn’t you tell me we could talk mind-to-mind?’

I could feel her spiraling down our mental connection so I gave her magic a little yank.‘Remember, we’re still with company, Effie, do you want to hire him or not?’

Effie’s green eyes narrowed at me before she turned to look at Byrne who seemed to realize that there was some kind of conversation going on without him.

“If it makes you all feel better, you don’t even really have to pay me a ton…”

“You’re hired,” Effie jumped up from her seat and held out her hand to the man who took it and gave it a firm squeeze that lasted just a hair longer than I was comfortable with.

“There are ground rules,” I growled, reaching out to shake their hands apart. “You don’t flirt with any of the women in this shop, you show up to work on time, and you’re on a probationary period. Step a claw out of line and you’re out of here.”

Byrne nodded though his flat nose scrunched slightly at my tone.

“Fiero,” I barked, knowing the satyr was just outside, still eavesdropping despite whatever punishment Effiehad just given, and within seconds the door opened and a dripping wet Fiero stepped inside.

“Yeah, boss?” he asked, shooting a baleful glare at Effie.

“Take Byrne to the old storage room at the end of the hall and help him clear it out, he’s going to be our new body piercer.”

Truth be told, there was one suite already cleaned up and ready to go… but I was a petty man and I wanted him to work to be comfortable in my shop, not the other way around.

Once the door shut, I turned to Effie who’d been silent since hiring Byrne. “What did you do to Fiero?”

“How long have you been able to read my mind?” Effie countered just as quick, her green eyes flashing with a temper that I knew better than to stoke any hotter than it already was.

“I can’t read your mind per say, Lass,” I began, holding my hands up defensively. “But Icansometimes talk to you with my mind.”

“Like when we’re having sex?”

I nodded. “That’s because my control sometimes slips.”

Effie crossed her arms over her chest. “Why can you do that? Can you do that with others?”

“No,” I said, trying to figure out how to explain our connection without making the woman panic. I was fairly sure that blurting out that we could hold full conversations with our minds because she was my mate was exactly what she asked me to wait to say last night. “You have to be close to the other person for a Cthulhu’s magic to work like that.”

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