Page 7 of Exes, Hexes, and Strategy
“No, wait!” Mel yelled, spreading her arms wide and tipping her head back. “Blow on me! Please!”
There were several snickers and some outright laughter, but their instructor did not look impressed. Travis St. John was tough to figure out. He appeared human, read human to Nina’s senses but he was definitely something more, his life force too powerful, too dominant to be anything but supernatural. No one, so far, seemed to be able to pinpoint exactly what he was though speculation had been running rampant among the witches. The man was a mystery.
“I don’t expect you to run faster than a vampire,” he told them. “That would be impossible, but you do need to build up your endurance.” He clapped his hands together. “We’ll work on it. For now, walk it off, cool it down, then hit the showers.”
“Oh, thank God!” Mel gasped, vocalizing what everyone else was thinking.
They were all heading back into the building when they fell in line beside one of the shifters and had to look up. Way up. Nina vaguely remembered seeing the guy at the orientation yesterday. He’d been standing by himself in the back, his expression, and body language standoffish. He was handsome in a gruff, lumberjack sort of way. He wasn’t Nina’s type, but apparently, he was Mel’s since she was currently making a purring sound with her tongue. “Ooh, you’re a big one, aren’t you?” Batting her eyelashes, she informed him, “I like them big.”
The poor guy’s eyes went as round as saucers as he took Mel in from head to toe.
“The strong, silent type, too.” Clawing her fingers to rake the air in front of her, Mel added a “Rawr.”
“Don’t mind her,” Nina quickly cut in, trying to contain her laughter as she grabbed Mel’s arm to drag her away. “It’s her first time around people.”
Mel went with her easily enough but turned to look back at the shifter, her hand up by her face, thumb at her ear, and pinky at her mouth as she mouthed the words, “Call me.”
Nina couldn’t resist her own look back and she had to cover her grin with her hand. The poor guy. He was still standing where they’d left him, a dumbfounded look on his face. He obviously didn’t know what to think of someone like Mel. Walking backward while still tugging Mel away, Nina called back to him, “She’s an acquired taste,” before she broke into a round of laughter and ran smack dab into a hard chest.
Still grinning, she looked up, words of apology ready on her lips. Those words died, as did her humor when she looked into the eyes of Rafe DeMarco.
No. Not now. Not like this. Not when her face was probably red and blotchy, her sweaty hair sticking to her equally sweaty face, and any cosmetics she’d bothered to apply this morning having long since melted off. She was supposed to meet him on her terms, in a position of strength, not when she had obvious sweat marks under her arms, staining her lime green tank top, and while she probably smelled like a gym locker. He, of course, looked amazingandsmelled amazing. God, how she’d missed him. She just wanted to wrap her arms around him and sink into his embrace, tell him everything…
Jerking backward in an attempt to put some distance between her and Rafe before she indulged that potentially catastrophic urge, Nina’s foot came down hard on Mel’s. Her friend let out a loud, “Ouch! What the – oh.”
Mel said something else but, whatever it was, Nina didn’t hear it and Rafe obviously wasn’t paying any attention either since his gaze never wavered from Nina. They stood there, just staring at each other.
There’d been another time they’d done that as well. A sunny, Saturday morning. Nina had been driving, her car loaded with boxes, the last of her things from her parent’s house, heading to her new apartment she’d soon be sharing with Mel. Her windows had been open, music blasting as Nina belted out the familiar lyrics when a squirrel had run out in front of her car. It was a residential neighborhood, so she hadn’t been going that fast, but she’d slammed on the brakes coming to a screeching halt.
A tap on her back bumper had immediately followed. Nina hadn’t even realized there had been a car behind her. Glancing in her side-view mirror since the view from the rearview only showed her a mountain of boxes, Nina groaned as she spied the sleek, shiny black car. Her insurance premiums were definitely going to go up.Please don’t let there be any damage,she’d silently prayed as she got out to confront a potentially irate driver.
And then she’d seen him. A beautiful, beautiful man standing beside his car, inspecting the front of the vehicle for damage. He’d straightened up, looked at her, and they’d both just stood there and stared at each other for several minutes.
They’d finally come to their senses, both of them speaking at the same time. “I’m so sorry,” Nina had blurted. “A squirrel ran out in front of me,” while he was saying, “My fault, I should have been paying closer attention.”
She’d grinned at him. His smile had been smaller, more conservative, but his eyes had been filled with warmth.
“Raphael DeMarco,” he offered, stepping forward and extending his hand.
Taking it, the warm skin of his palm had slid against hers and his incredible scent had hit her nose. Nina had felt a shiver of awareness and she’d had to clear her throat before she could say, “Nina Errani.”
“Well, Nina,” he’d said, stepping back and sliding one hand into his trouser pockets while the other motioned toward her car, “There doesn’t seem to be any damage, but maybe you should take a look to be sure.”
Glancing at her old car that still sported salt streaks leftover from winter but not even a scuff from the bump, she teased, “I think you may have knocked some dirt off.”
He’d bowed slightly in response and quipped, “I’d be happy to replace it.”
Nina had let out a little giggle before she’d sobered and turned concerned eyes to his car. She didn’t know vehicles, wasn’t even sure what make the trident logo on the front of this one indicated, but it looked really expensive. “Your car?” she’d asked. “It’s okay?”
“Undamaged,” he assured her. “But perhaps, we should exchange numbers just in case. You may discover something later.”
They’d done so and he’d called her later that evening. Not to tell her he’d found a scratch, but to invite her out for coffee. Nina had been positively giddy.
Someone jostled her shoulder and Nina snapped back to the present. Others were trying to get by, and they were blocking the hallway. “I need to take a shower,” Nina blurted, and before Rafe could say anything to forestall her, Mel stepped between them, enabling Nina’s escape.
Rafe watched her go, his eyes following her retreat. His first instinct was to race after her, get her to speak with him, but Logan’s words of caution against cornering her held him in place. He hadn’t known she’d be here, had come to meet Logan, see if his new roommate wanted to grab some lunch so he could use the other man as a sounding board for some of those manufactured scenarios they had spoken about the night before. Instead, he’d run into Nina – or rather, she’d run into him – and he hadn’t been prepared for the jolt to his system she caused. For Christ’s sake, he hadn’t even been able to speak. His discombobulation, a result of the surprise, only proved that Logan’s strategy was definitely the way to go.
Fingers with long nails painted red and tipped in gold glitter snapped rather rudely in front of his face and Rafe dragged his eyes away from where he’d seen Nina disappear.
