Page 25 of Charmed, I'm Sure
Quirking a brow, I replied, “I doliterallyevery day.”
“No, you gohomelike that every day. Not out and about town.”
I sagged into the chair, resting my head against the back support. I shouldnotbe this stressed over a non-date. After all, I was just helping him look at houses so he could move out of his parents’ place. It wasn’t a big deal. It wasn’t a date. Sure, he flirted with me whenever he wasaround and had asked me outonce. And yes, I’d danced with him atTheFirefly. But this surely wasn’t a date… was it? The memory of him pressing me against a wall, his hands digging into my hips, and the desire swirling in his eyes as his fingers coasted along my…oh fuck, this might be a date. A weird date, but it could still be construed as one, and I looked like I’d run headfirst into a cake. Groaning, I ran my hands down my face.
“Did you bring anything to change into? Do you have clothes stashed here?”
“Oh, yeah. Let me just whip out my walk-in closet that I have stashed at the back of the freezer,” I grumbled into my palms.
“Trash panda? More like apissypanda if you ask me.”
When I parted my fingers, Jae was giving me a sardonic stare, hands on her hips.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, my face morphing into something resembling that weird little emoji with the toothy grin.
“Uh-huh. When’s tall, dark, and persistent getting here?”
Just then, the bell over the door chimed as if on cue, and I groaned into my palms again. “I can’t do this.Whydid I agree to this?”
“I’d say it was because he had his hand on your kitty meow-meow, and you wanted to take him for a test drive—”
“Mother, save me,” I grumbled.
“But,” she continued, ignoring my pleading stare, “you didn’t find that out untilafteryou’d agreed, so I’ve got nothing. Sorry, babe.”
“Hello?” Taylor’s smooth timbre filtered through the shop and into the office, making my eyes grow comically wide.
“What do I do?” I whispered, jumping out of the chair as my lungs forgot how to function. Why in the hell had I agreed to this? Why did Iconfirmthe plans after finding out it was him in that dark hallway?
A sharp slap on my ass jolted me from my panic spiral, and I squeaked in response.
“Girl, get your shit together. Tell him you need to change first, and then y’all can get started. And for the love of all things holy,breathe. He’s just a guy, and you’re a badass bitch who don’t need no man.”
“Mags?” Taylor called out, his voice growing closer.
“We’re in here,” Jae yelled over her shoulder before focusing back on me. “Buck up, buttercup, and remember: no glove, no love.”
“Sweet baby cheeses,” I breathed, pinching the bridge of my nose.
Not a moment too soon, Taylor poked his head into my office, his megawatt smile cranked up to ten. “Hey. You ready?”
“I—uh.”
“She needs to head home to change first; work was a little nuts this morning. You mind?” Jae asked on my behalf when my tongue apparently decided to glue itself to the roof of my mouth.
When Taylor stepped fully into the doorway, my mouth felt like a desert. My heart lodged itself somewhere between my stomach and my throat, just not where it belonged. Dark navy slacks hugged his legs in tailored perfection, and his button-down shirt was whiter than my namesake. Crisp, clean, and entirely put together—unlike the bridge troll standing across from him, gawking like an idiot.
“Not at all,” he replied with a slight shrug. “I’ll be out front whenever you’re ready.”
“Thank you!” Jae hollered as he turned back down the hall, and my cotton-dry mouth felt heavy.
“Ouch!” I hissed when she slapped my shoulder. “What the hell was that for?”
“Have you lost your damn mind? Or just the ability to speak?”
“Ya’ know, it’s quite possiblethat it’s both.”
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Magnolia Lynn, if you do not get your sexy ass out there, I’m going to kick it.”
