Page 28 of Handcuffs and Hexes

Seth brows raised. “Oho! No wonder I couldn’t pinpoint what it was. Interesting.”

“Chief seems to think I have it too. Mike, er, Officer Hayes, thinks so too.” I wasn’t sure they’d know Mike by his first name. “That’s why we get thrown at every magical call.”

Seth nodded. “And why we end up at the same places. We should test Chief Henderson’s theory after you’re all healed up.”

Seth hailed down a waiter, paid for our meal, and we got up out of our protected little corner. I was suddenly very aware of many pairs of eyes on us. Some of them were downright disgusted, and others were full of hate.

“My father and his friends,” Seth murmured, hooking his elbows through mine.

Oh shit. As far as bad terms go, they were on the very worst ones possible.

Unlike Seth, with his platinum-blond hair, his father had dark hair with a bit of salt and pepper at the top. In his arms was a woman young enough to be Seth’s sister. She was beautiful but didn’t look particularly happy. There were two other couples with them, and they all screamed old wizard money.

“Stand proud, Babygirl,” Liam muttered into my ear. “You look like a million bucks, and we belong here just as much as Samuel and his friends do.”

I caught my reflection in a mirrored pillar, and by God, Liam was right. I did look like a million bucks. Seth’s magic meant I was dripping with elegance. I straightened my posture and waltzed right by them. If I could stand up to criminals and gangsters, then I could stand up to Seth’s estranged WEC father. They did look like less cool versions of mob bosses.

“Boating was one of those things I just couldn’t give up to avoid him,” Seth explained as we piled back into his Porsche Panamera. The day he’d stolen my cruiser, his Porsche 911 had been the target of a car bombing. How many of these did he have? Or did he get this one to replace the other one?

“You say that like you had to give up so much.” Liam snorted.

“I gave up golf.”

“You hated golf! Too many hours in the sun, remember? And too much pretending to socialize with idiots. On the yacht, you can sit under the shade and keep that pallor of yours.”

“It’s part of my style.” Seth turned to me. “Sweetcheeks here appreciates it, don’t you?”

He’d gone full-on Victorian-gentleman-meets-pitbull with his studded boots and belt, a spiked collar, and all of his piercings in. I was all for it. Talk about fucking hot. “I love it.” I looked over at Liam, who was squishing into the back seat with me. On the contrary, the centuries-old demon looked posh and preppy, like the kind of man I’d bring home to meet my mother if I had the type of mother who actually cared. “I’m partial to this too,” I said, fixing his collar.

“Ain’t he cute?” Seth said from the driver’s seat.

“Yup!”

“He can be your basic bitch too.”

“Hey!” But Liam didn’t look or sound one bit offended. Instead, his clothes changed and he was wearing leggings and Uggs. “Don’t knock it unless you’ve tried it. This shit’s comfortable!”

“Amen!” I had my share of leggings in my off-duty wardrobe. “But you enjoy the finer things in life too.”

“I sure do. I can be bougie too!” Liam was suddenly in a leopard coat. But he wasn’t wearing the fur like a person would; he’d turned into a leopard.

There was a leopard draped over my lap. I reached out to pet him. Ooooh, it was so soft. Liam was enjoying my hands as much as I was enjoying his fur, because soon the whole vehicle with rattling with how loud he was purring.

“You know leopards don’t purr, right?” Seth said from the front.

Liam’s response was to purr even louder.

Back in the parking garage of their building, Liam shaped himself into a coat and draped himself over my shoulder as Seth offered me a hand.

“We don’t have our own private parking like the Redrocks do,” Seth said, almost apologetically. “This building doesn’t have the option.”

I glanced around at the fancy cars in the lot and how well finished the garage was. It didn’t even have that musty underground parking lot smell. Still, I let him take me by the hand and help me to the elevator.

“This looks good on you,” Seth said, eyeing the fur. “But I think you’ll look better naked.”

I thought of Seth undressing me and my face heated. As if guessing my thoughts, Liam tightened around my body, cupping my breasts and shoving them up and together on display. Theninstead of on me, he was behind me, cupping my breasts with strong, rough hands.

Seth closed the gap between us, making me step back until I was pressed right up against Liam’s brawny body. Something hard and insistent pressed against my lower back. I was surrounded by so much muscle it was dizzying.

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