Page 28 of A Witch-ish Guide to Protectors and Pendulums

“You should get used to disappointment.”

He ran his hand through his hair and growled. Connor and his growling.

“Go to work, Connor.”

“Are you dismissing me?”

“How astute of you.”

“I’d prefer you come to work for me at the store.” Rather than try to strongarm me, he leaned against the counter, putting weight on his arm to lean in close to me. Man, Connor this close did stuff to me. All the stuff. All the good stuff and that was bad because it made it hard to do what needed to be done. Then, with his voice dripping with sensuality, he said, “That way, I can keep an eye on you.”

So caught up in his hotness bubble, it took a second for me to realize what he’d said. I blinked a couple of times before the bubble popped and it hit me. I straightened right up. “I’dprefer you never say that to me again. Guess which one of us is getting what she wants?”

He actually thought weaponizing his hotness would work? I kicked him out, though not before giving him a proper sendoff. What? No one was in the shop and we locked the door. And let me just say, up against the wall, storeroom sex made for a fantastic start to my workday.

Fan-freaking-tastic.

The problem with giving him his proper sendoff was that he’d worn me right out, and once he left, I had a parade of customers, mostly witches, in and out all day long.

By the time I locked the door at the end of the day, I was ready for—I’d decided earlier that day on Mexican takeout, my comfies, and a movie.

Before leaving, I called ahead and since I couldn’t decide on what I wanted, I bought several dishes. A Mexican smorgasbord.

In my softest, gray jersey shorts and a pink razorback tank, I had the bounty of food spread out over the coffee table with my plate in hand, a tall glass of iced tea sitting on the lamp table next to my elbow,Practical Magiccued up when the door opened. I turned to watch Connor stride in.

“Connor. My door was locked. How did you get in?”

“I took your extra key this morning before I left. Which, seriously, baby, you should’ve left it set out for me. I had to take extra time hunting it down in those wasteland of junk drawers you have.”

Shoot.I never even thought about leaving him a key.

What did that say about me?

“Smells like Mexican.”

“Yeah.” Thank all the tarot cards in the world that I’d been particularly indecisive today and bought extra. Man, I was rusty at this girlfriend gig. I needed to get with the program here. Solo Simone had a partner in crime again. “Get a plate. I didn’t know when you’d be um… home.”

He smiled.Phew! And the Oscar goes to…

“Let me change out of my work clothes first.”

I stared at him. “Do you have clothes to change into?”

He shrugged. “You didn’t want to sleep at my place last night. So I stopped off there before going to your store this morning.”

“Oh… okay.” This… this…situationwith Connor suddenly started to feel a bit toodomesticfor my liking. Aside from the wholehim being my matething, our relationship was moving at lightspeed. The last time I’d gotten loved up, well, it ended up sucking big time. Did I have it in me to go through that again? Knowing what could happen?

Because the feelings starting to develop for Connor weren’t all negative. In fact, I’d venture to say the opposite.

Before I had the chance to get out of my own head, Connor walked out of my room in a pair of low-hanging shorts and nothing else. We were so getting naked again.No. Bad Simone. You are eating dinner and watching a movie.

My mouth salivated at his nearness, and my heart skittered a wonky rhythm when he reached up into the cupboard to grab a plate. His muscles bunched under his skin. I cleared my throat. “The, um, forks are?—”

“I know where the forks are, baby.”

He knew where to find my forks?

I watched him pour himself a tall glass of iced tea and continued to hold his gaze as he dropped down onto the sofa next to me.

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