Page 49 of Boss Witch

“Me too.” The words came out before he could stop them.

“Want to talk about it?”

I want to get lost in you.

He substituted another truth. “I miss you. It’s becoming a problem, what should I do?”

“Endure until tomorrow,” she said, delicately heartless. “Do your best, English. I’ll make the wait worth your while.”

“Promise?”

“Cross my heart and hope to—­”

“No,” Gavin cut in sharply, suddenly alarmed and he didn’t even know why. “Not that. Don’t ever say that.”

Chapter 15

Sometimes Clem wished she could strangle Danica.

She’d dropped a breezy, “let’s have a party!” type message in the coven group chat and left everyone else to sort out the details. Since her cousin wanted to host, all the prep fell on Clem’s shoulders.Sure, I said I’d handle it, but I didn’t meaneverydamn thing.Thankfully, Kerry, Priya, and Margie pitched in with the cleansing, and Ethel lent a hand with removing the wards. When the day of the party dawned, it should be impossible to detect any abnormalities.

Yeah, just a totally normal house party.

Full of witches. And a witch hunter.

She glared across the room at her cousin. Seriously, how could Danica not evenaskwhat Clem had to do to make this happen? Clem tried not to be high-­maintenance, but there was a line between stepping up for people you cared about and being taken for granted. Despite this being Danica’s idea, Clem had done all the wrangling to make sure people brought food and drinks, set up the sound system, and plugged in the silly little disco ball.

“Is a word of thanks too much to ask?” she muttered.

Priya put her hands on Clem’s shoulders. “Breathe. When she realizes how self-­centered she’s been lately, she’ll feel really bad.”

“And then she’ll cry, and I’ll become the bad one for upsetting her.” Clem spoke beneath the thrum of the music.

The whole coven was already assembled, and some of them were tense—­Margie, Vanessa, and Priya among them—­while Leanne giggled with Danica. Neither of those two seemed to realize or care how much was riding on their preparations holding up. Clem didn’t have a read on Ethel, but the other witch was relatively laid-­back, capable of adapting to problems on the fly.Glad she’s on my side.

Clem peeped out the front window in time to see Gavin roll up on his bike. Parking wasn’t an issue for him, and she noticed he was wearing a surprisingly decent outfit: jeans with no holes, a button-­up done properly, and his usual boots. No jacket because it was hot.And oh, hell, so is he.

“Showtime,” she said, loud enough for the other witches nearby to hear.

Then Clem threw open the front door and greeted him with an enthusiastic kiss. It had been a few days since she’d seen him, and he smelled amazing. Felt amazing. For a few seconds, she genuinely got lost in the magic of his mouth and forgot they had an audience until someone cleared her throat. A quick glance back showed Vanessa standing there, her head cocked.

“Really? You’re just gonna have at him without introducing him to the rest of us.”

Clem laughed. “I’d say it’s not like that, but you witnessed it. Sorry, that’s my fault. Everyone, this is Gavin Rhys. He’s a history professor on sabbatical.”

“Seems like you’re trying to make some history with our girl Clem,” Vanessa joked.

Gavin laughed. So far, he didn’t seem to find anything strange about the house.Thank the goddess.But the night was young, and all kinds of shit could still hit the fan. Quickly, she introduced everyone by name, sharing a few facts so he could get to know them.

“And how do you know everyone?” he asked.

“Book club,” she blurted before anyone else could. “We made a group online looking for local members and here we are.”

“What’s the last thing you read?”

Luckily, they were prepared for this, and Margie launched into a discussion of their latest romance pick. If he said a damn derogatory word about romance novels, she’d pinch him. Hard. But he only listened with evident interest, and before long, Titus arrived, diverting Danica right off. Clem watched in amusement as Leanne locked onto the blond, surfer-­looking guy beside him immediately and threaded through the room like a hunting hawk. Clem wasn’t sure, but she thought the blond guy’s name was Trevor.

She opened with, “I’m Leanne. Want to be my third husband?”

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