Page 16 of Witch Bound and Down

Chapter 5

Hazel

The blue dress fit like it had been made for her, which was probably because it had. Sage's magical wardrobe had a way of adapting to whoever wore it, and as Hazel smoothed the fabric over her hips, she had to admit Sage had excellent taste. The dress was simple but flattering, with a neckline that was respectable but still showed enough cleavage to be interesting.

The glamour necklace settled against her throat like cool water, immediately dampening her magical aura to barely a flicker. It was an odd sensation, like having cotton stuffed in her ears, but she could still feel her power humming beneath the surface.

"Much better," she murmured to her reflection, then jumped when Hopper spoke from the counter beside the sink.

"You clean up nice. Very 'innocent hedge witch having a normal evening.' Though I still say this is a terrible plan."

"What's terrible about it? We put on disguises, act normal, and wait for them to leave."

"The part where you have to act like a couple with the minotaur who's been making your magic do the cha-cha all night." Hopper's expression was skeptical. "You remember what happened the last time you had to act lovey-dovey with someone?"

"That was different. Steven was actually my boyfriend at the time."

"Right. And you were so nervous about meeting his parents that you accidentally turned his mother's prize roses into carnivorous plants."

"Those roses were asking for it," Hazel muttered, adjusting the necklace. "They kept trying to bite the mailman."

A knock on the bathroom door interrupted her argument with her familiar. "Hazel? You ready?" Bullseye's voice carried through the wood, deeper and rougher than usual.

She opened the door and immediately forgot how to breathe.

The black button-down shirt fit him like a second skin, emphasizing the broad expanse of his chest and the way his shoulders seemed to go on forever. The leather vest added an edge that made her want to run her hands over the enchanted hide just to see if it felt as soft as it looked. He'd done something to his hair that made it look casually tousled instead of windblown, and when he smiled at her, she felt her carefully dampened magic try to spark to life.

"You look..." he started, then seemed to lose his words. His dark eyes traveled from her face down to her toes and back up again, leaving a trail of heat in their wake. "Beautiful. You look beautiful."

"You clean up pretty well yourself," she managed, proud that her voice came out mostly steady. "Very authentic boyfriend material."

Something flashed in his eyes at the word 'boyfriend,' there and gone so quickly she might have imagined it. "Right. Boyfriends. We should probably work out some details before we go out there."

"Details?"

"How long we've been together, how we met, that sort of thing. In case they ask questions."

"Good thinking." Hazel tried to focus on practical matters instead of the way his shirt pulled slightly across his chest when he moved. "How about six months? Long enough to be comfortable with each other, not so long that we'd be talking about moving in together."

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