Page 52 of The Most Wanted Witch

“Don’t worry about my situation. You need to do whatever you feel you should.” That was as good as it was going to get, in spite of what I thought she might want, and that was a guarantee nothing was going to happen. Even if there wasn’t, it was my business.

Hawk walked in the back door, startling us both.

His glare made the gust of wind at the door opening feel downright warm. Great. He was probably mad about last night, like I’d swindled him into kissing me again.

I turned, going back to my conversation with Gillian, or the new one I was going to pretend we were having.

“So you’re back to work full-time again?” I asked.

She was smiling in his direction. “Yes. I hate to leave the shop for too long. With everything so slow, I’ve been tinkering with recipes. I made this amazing white chocolate caramel swirl this morning that is going to drive everyone crazy. I’ll bring some home tonight.” And the sweetness was back.

It was a good thing I wasn’t drinking, or I would’ve choked. Home? She was calling this place home? That was wrong on so many levels.

Hawk walked past us and into the office, and her attention went with him.

“I’m sorry, but do you mind? There were a couple of things I needed to talk to Hawk about. He’s been such a help to me.”

Before I could answer, she was gone, shrugging off her coat on the way.

Maybe Bibbi was righter than I wanted to give her credit for. I looked at my cocoa and then tossed it in the fireplace just in case it was laced.

I let out a long sigh, reminding myself that I couldn’t keep telling Gillian it was okay to go after him and then be annoyed by it. That would make me crazy, and in a different way than I normally was. Hawk and I could barely tolerate each other. What did I care if she chased him like a puppy dog?

“What’s with the long sigh?” Oscar asked, walking in the back door.

“Nothing. Just tired today.”

“How’d the date go? Late-night partying with demons can make you really tired.”

“It wasn’t a date,” I said, walking back toward the office. I stopped right at the doorway, teetering between wanting to watch or just run out of the building, as was my fallback position. It made me wonder why I’d given up on running. It was such an easy way to be. There were none of these issues if you stayed on the surface with everyone and everything and took off when things got too deep.

Oscar walked over and leaned near the door beside me. He paused, his eyes narrowing on the same scene I was watching. The sight seemed to have frozen him.

“What’s going on over there with them? Is this actually becoming a thing?” Oscar whispered, staring at Gilli and the way she leaned just so, making it appear like her breasts might tumble out of her shirt at any moment. Hawk laughed at something she said.

“I think it’s fairly clear what’s going on. He doesn’t look as if he’s swatting her away either, so it must be mutual.” I never should’ve had a sip of her cocoa. My chest was burning like it had been laced. Was I going to drop dead? Maybe shewasgoing to try to poison me.

“No.”

Oscar’s tone drove my attention away from dying. His eyes were hard, the lines of his face stark enough that I wondered if he was afraid of some bad cocoa too.

Oscar pointed toward Hawk and Gillian. “That is not happening. I’m going to have to step in again, because you’re blowing things up. The work I’m putting into this, and you keep on wrecking it.”

“What are you talking about?”

Oscar’s attention was fixed on the duo with an alarming intensity. “Hawk’s as close to a brother as I’ve ever had. He’s saved my ass many a time, and he’s going to be in my life until I drop dead, which means I better damned well like whoever he ends up with.” He pointed in Gillian’s direction. “That one annoys me.”

I shrugged. “She annoys everyone, but that doesn’t make her the worst person ever.”

Even the way she was flipping her hair right now was annoying. What was wrong with her? She looked like she had a crick in her neck. I wanted to walk over and give her a not-so-gentle adjustment.

Oscar shook his head. “She’s too nice, but she’s not nice at all. She never says anything explicitly bad, but nothing very nice either. She never gives anyone dirty looks. She’s like a plain scoop of vanilla with something rotten on the inside. I would rather have Belinda back.” He broke his gaze from them to give me a sly nod in their direction. “You killed the last one. Any chance?”

“I didn’t mean to kill Belinda. It just happened.” I glanced at Gillian. “She makes the best chocolate in town.”

“I’m telling you, a week with her and you’ll be looking to drown yourself in her cocoa. No. This won’t do at all.” Oscar shook his head and groaned. “He can’t be interested. That woman couldn’t get a sail up in a tornado.”

“Are you saying she can’t get a man hard?” I asked.

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