Page 139 of Blue Moon Mistress

It’s neither.

Aphrodite gets out of her car—a bright green beetle—and looks around the property as if she’s never seen anything like it.

When her gaze settles on me, her eyes get even wider. “This place is amazing! No wonder you wanted to get away from that stuffy old coven.”

“Aphrodite.” I say, leaning on the door jamb. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this unexpected visit?”

She smiles, but it’s tight. She knows there’s nothing pleasant about this visit.

“I know you haven’t forgotten what tomorrow night is. I wanted to invite you to a little get together. Just some of us local witches gathering to celebrate one of the last full moons of the year.”

“Thank you, but no.” And I know that Gena isn’t joining her, so that leaves Anthony and possibly Mrs. Miller’s granddaughters. “I already have other plans.”

“Right.” She actually looks disappointed. “I should have known, it is such short notice.”

Her eyes travel past me and I glance over my shoulder and see nothing but Joshua’s bare chest.

“Oh!” She says, eyes bright. “I see.”

“Well, if I had someone fun to play with, I’d definitely dabble in sex magic tomorrow too!”

She laughs, but there’s something uneasy in it, and she heads for her car, waving goodbye. “We’ll have to talk about Yule festivities!”

Her tires crunch in the gravel and I watch her disappear into the foliage before I turn back to Thomas.

“Her mother would have told her about us, right?”

“Undoubtedly.”

“So… sex magic?” Johnny asks, as we come back, and I see the others have perked up at that too. “That definitely has to be on the menu for tomorrow night, right?”

“I had something in mind, yes.”

Chase turns sharply to Joshua. “Show her the thing.”

“It’s not ready yet.”

Chase rolls his eyes. “Show it to her, anyway.”

He pulls me into his lap and opens that tablet again, but it’s not a potential renovation, it’s a sketch for something much smaller and still pretty huge.

“A bed?”

“Yours is not sturdy enough for any of us. Do you want us to focus on you? Or on not breaking the damn thing?”

“Good point.” I look at the frame and note the dimensions are larger than a normal king mattress… “What about it isn’t finished?”

“Just some of the small details.”

“Well, it looks great. Though I don’t think it’s going to fit in the room…” I consider going to get a measuring tape, but when Joshua tells me it will, he’s so sure, I know he already checked.

“Will you let me make you a bed, Scarlette?”

“Of course.”

His smile is wicked. “Good. I already put a hold on the wood at The Yard.”

Laughing, I pull back from him. “I feel like I should be offended that I’m so easy to predict.”