Page 19 of Sugar, Spice, and Magical Midlife

Exactly,I wanted to answer. “ I’m a baker, remember? I’m not afraid of a little butter.”

I gave him a curious look. I sure as heck hoped he wasn’t like Colin, always trying to tell me what to order. First, my date wanted me to eat kale, and now he’s balking at butter. This night wasn’t looking promising, because I wasn’t about to put up with another controlling man, and I forgot to charge my vibrator.

“No, butIam.” He gave me a hopeless look, then swiped his hand across his mouth. Was that drool hanging off his lip?

“Ma’am, can I take your order?”

I spun around, glaring at the pimply-faced husk behind the counter who called me ‘ma’am.’ I didn’t put on two kinds of concealer to be called ‘ma’am.’

“A large popcorn,” I said, deciding to hell with decorum and calories. This was what my date deserved after refusing to take me to a restaurant. I thought I heard him groan behind me. “And extra butter,” I added out of spite while ignoring his second and clearly audible groan. I eyed the self-serve fountain drink machine. “And a large soda, please.” Might as well splurge on all the calories when it was becoming more and more obvious it would be my only pleasure for the night.

I opened my little clutch purse, pretending not to be surprised when the total sounded more like the downpayment on a car, but my date suddenly developed a case of chivalry and slapped a very large bill on the counter.

The tension between us as we walked toward our theater was thicker than the butter pooling on the bottom of the barrel I clutched in my arms. He acted like I had the cooties while motioning toward the stairs, leading me to the very last seat in the back row. I sat down, awkwardly balancing my soda while shoving the popcorn bucket between my legs. The previews had already begun, advertising some zombie movie that completely mischaracterized the living dead. Even though necromancy was forbidden in the magical world, every striga knew zombies preferred roadkill to brains.

Husks also got demons wrong, too. They thought they all had horns, tails, and carried pitchforks, but in reality demons were the succubi, or parasites that sucked souls out of witches and took their bodies for themselves. Humans did have stories of female succubi and male incubi, but we witches usually referred to them all as succubi, inhabiting any magical creature with a heartbeat, though they craved witches with immense power, stealing their magic to create chaos. And if witches refused to letsuccubi possess them, they’d kill them. I fought back tears while pushing all thoughts of demons from my mind. Not that this date was going particularly well, but sobbing into my popcorn would take it to a new level of low.

Another preview came on, this one a hot and heavy romance that wasted no time letting the moviegoers know they had a good chance of getting laid after the movie. The preview went straight to a chocolate foreplay scene that made me hungry and horny all at once. Great Goddess! I could feel my date tensing beside me while the guy on screen drizzled chocolate across a bare abdomen. Ric’s fingers dug into the armrests while he sat up with a stiff back.

I shifted uncomfortably, choosing to break the tension by offering him some food.

I held up the popcorn. “ Want some?”

He arched away from the bucket as if the odor offended him. “I’d better not.”

I wondered for a moment if he was lactose intolerant, but he ate my buttery cinnamon rolls almost daily. “Are you sure? I don’t think I can eat this all by myself.” I flashed a cheeky grin while waving the bucket under his nose.

I barely had time to react when he let out a menacing growl. His eyes narrowed to feline slits, before his head and jowls rapidly sprouted golden fur, expanding as he swallowed the entire thing, bucket and all, in one gulp.

I gaped at my empty hands, relieved my fingers were still attached. I looked around us, grateful for the dim lights and that we were sitting in the last row. I sure didn’t want to use a memory spell on a theater full of husks.

I looked back at him. His jaw had retracted, and his cheeks were redder than a dragon’s pecker.

“Wh-what just happened?”

“I’m sorry.” He swiped butter and crumbs from his mouth. “It’s my appetite. I can’t control it.”

Well, that explained a lot. I supposed that also meant oral sex was out of the question.

He dragged a hand down his face with a groan. “This was a bad idea.”

“Do you want to leave?” I asked.

When he nodded, I quickly stood, protectively hugging my soda to my chest, just in case whatever beast inside him was thirsty.

Chapter Four

Ididn’t know how I was supposed to react when Ric sat beside me in the truck and stared straight out the window, a haunted look in his eyes. I set my drink down in the cupholder between us, hoping he didn’t guzzle it in one swallow.

Slumping in his seat, he let out a groan before turning to me with wide, golden eyes. “Luci, I’m sorry.”

I rubbed warmth into my arms. “What exactly are you?” I couldn’t get the image of his big, golden, shaggy head out of my mind. I’d thought he was a cat shifter of some sort, but I didn’t think a lion had a head that big, almost the size of an elephant.

Bitter-sounding laughter escaped his throat. “You can’t tell?”

I shrugged. “I’m guessing a shape-shifter of some sort.”

Tension lines framed his mouth. “Yeah, of some sort.”

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