Page 27 of Witch Upon a Star
“Don’t change the subject. I want to know what’s going on between Starbucks and Calliope.”
My eyes narrowed, even though Keys was nowhere near me. We were waiting on his all-clear before we worked our way across the rooftops. Apparently someone was working in the lab that wasn’t supposed to be here this late, but Keys was able to confirm they were working on a different case than Steel’s.
“Has the worker gone home yet?” I growled instead of responding to his statement.
“I’d have told you if they did,” Keys shot back at me. “Now quit dodging the subject and tell me what happened.”
An idea struck me. “Sure, I’ll tell you, but then you have to tellusabout your mystery bidder.”
Keys must have been taking a drink of something because suddenly he was spluttering through our earpieces. “What? Nothing. It’s nobody. She’s not— I mean, they’re not anyone important. And even if they were, why would it mean something? She— I mean, they were just helping me out. We’re friends. Only friends. And,” he gasped before deflating, “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Ranger and I both had to fight to keep our laughter at bay. Shit, the kid waseasily flustered.
“Fine, then I don’t want to talk about mine either,” I shot back at him.
“She’s watching your latest video.”
My eyebrows perked up at that. “She is? Wait, how do you know?”
“Please,” Keys scoffed. “Like I can’t break into your TikTok channel and look at your stats? What do I look like, an amateur?”
“You’ll be a dead amateur soon,” I warned, my voice an octave above a growl. I could feel Ranger’s shoulder shaking in silent laughter next to me.
“Do you want me to see how many videos she’s watched?”
“No!” I said, a little too loudly for a clandestine operation. I lowered my voice. “Keys, stay out of it.”
“Aw, she’s a beekeeper. I didn’t realize that we had someone local. I’ve always been fascinated by the videos I’ve seen of the professionals who actually scoop up bees with their bare hands. Like, how do they not get stung? It’s freaky, but also fascinating.”
Calliope scooped up bees in her hands? I knew she was a beekeeper, but I hadn’t known about that. I’m not sure I liked that. What happened if the bees turned aggressive? She should be wearing protection.
Keys continued, oblivious to my internal thoughts. “I’m following her now. She’s only got a couple dozen followers. Oh, shoot. I’m still logged in as you. Oh, well. She’s gottwonew followers now.”
I groaned. I hadn’t known Calliope had her own TikTok channel, but now she probably thought I was stalking her or something.
It had been awkward leaving this afternoon. Neither of us wanted me to leave, and I was sure our pets loathed the separation more than we did. But it was for the best. All six shelves were built and mounted. Somehow four of them had taken us one hour to make while the last two took almost three hours. I hadn’t been lying when I said she was too distracting. I felt like I could talk to her for the rest of my life and never get bored.
And that was a scary fucking thought.
I wasn’t the relationship type. I wasn’t even sure I’d ever beenina relationship. Not the dinner-and-dining, meet-the-parents, building-a-future type anyway. One-night stands and friends with benefits was my history. I still wasn’t a hundred percent certain whatherhistory was.
I also wasn’t sure I wanted to know. The thought of another man touching her made me murderous.
“Calliope, huh?” Ranger said from beside me. “Isn’t she Dosia’s niece?”
“Other way around,” I grumbled. Neither of them were going to let this go. I really needed that fucking worker inside tomove his fucking ass!
A breathless, “Jesus,” came over the line.
“What?” Ranger and I demanded in unison.
“Nothing,” Keys said quickly. “It’s just… I kind of broke into her computer just to see what it was she liked to search. And here I thoughtIwatched a lot of porn.”
My dick had never reacted to another man’s words before this moment. What. The. Fuck! The image of a naked Calliope on her bed—her room generic, since I’d never been in it—with her hand between her legs, pumping a dildo in and out of her sweet honeytrap. My sweet, sweet Winnie…
“Jesus Christ, Keys!” Ranger berated. “Time and place. I am not breaking into a federal building with a guy sporting a hard-on.”
Shit. I forgot where we were. I had to get my body under control, but my blood had turned to fire at the fantasy I couldn’t get out of my head.
