Page 15 of Extra Witchy

“Sure you do,” Leanne muttered. “That’s why you’ve been married six times.”

Holy shit.Getting married that often showed peerless optimism if nothing else.

“Hey.” The older woman sounded hurt. “You know my abilities don’t work when I try to use them for my own benefit.”

“Junie,” Leanne said in a warning tone.

Trev had the feeling he was missing some important context here. “Are you a psychic, then?” he asked, trying to be polite.

Junie smiled. “Something like that.”

Leanne pushed the chair beside her with one foot while setting down plates and cutlery. Trev helped her set the table and received a grateful smile in return.Yeah, I could get used to this, even if she’s using me.

In honor of their ruse, she’d ordered Chinese food from one of Trev’s favorite restaurants: noodles, kung pao chicken, broccoli beef, fried rice, steamed dumplings, spring rolls, and egg drop soup. Basically, it was all his favorites, and if he didn’t know better, he’d swear she’d done some research, maybe even asked Titus what he liked.

“You remembered my order,” he teased. “Thanks, babe.”

Leanne cast him a narrow look, but then she smiled. “How could I forget? Eat up, everything tastes better when it’s hot.”

He took a big bite of kung pao as Junie said, “Tell me about yourself, Trevor.”

“Let him eat,” Leanne answered at once.

Her mom sighed. “Fair enough, I can be patient.”

That earned him some breathing room, and while everything might go sideways after dinner, he enjoyed every bite. He didn’t often get to eat with people unaware of his reputation, and there was a certain freedom in not beingthatTrevor, at least for a little while. Right now, he was helping Leanne out, and it had been a long time since he felt…useful,let alone valuable.

As Trev finished his soup, Junie asked, “When are you moving in together?”

Chapter 6

That was abrupt, even for Junie.

Maybe she suspects something?In all fairness, Leanne couldn’t expect Trev to play along with this. He might not have even seen the text yet; she hadn’t gotten the chance to confirm. They’d known each other for like a day, and he had zero reason to go this far backing her up. But for some wild reason, his smile didn’t falter. He ate a little egg drop soup and kept his focus on Leanne.

“It’s not up to me, really. Leanne’s in the driver’s seat, and I’m good with whatever makes her happy.”

Wow.That was smooth as hell, and it made Junie go goofy-eyed. There was nothing she loved more than a man who seemed eager to please. Unfortunately, she wasn’t very good at discerning when it was real and when it was a pretense held up just long to get what they wanted from her, whatever that happened to be.

“You’re so sweet,” Junie gushed. “I see how you swept Leanne off her feet.”

Trev smirked and raised a brow; Leanne tilted her head and jerked her chin. It was a more complete conversation in a look than she’d had with people after dating for months. Whether she liked it or not, she owed him. The debt would be compounded if Junie gave up on the idea of moving in and decided to travel onward, like she usually did.

“I’m just being myself,” he said.

After dinner, she tried to give him an excuse to leave, but Junie wouldn’t hear of it. She grabbed Trev’s arm and guided him to the sofa. “We still haven’t had the chat I was promised before. I have so many questions!”

“He’s self-employed and never been married,” Leanne cut in sharply. “Thirty-three, and he’s got all his hair and teeth. No pets, no dependents. Do you need to ask anything else?”

Junie blinked. “That’s…thorough.”

Trev grinned, nodding along, so she guessed she’d gotten the details right. She’d been pretty sure of Titus’s age, based on Danica’s gushing, and she thought she recalled Danica saying Trev and Titus had gone to high school together. Which should make them around the same age. Normally, she didn’t go out with younger people. Stepdad number three had been closer to her age than Junie’s, and that didn’t work out great for anyone involved.

“Give him a break. I sprang meeting you on him out of the blue.”

Junie sighed. “That’s true. I didn’t give you any notice about this visit. It…never occurred to me that I might be interrupting a serious relationship. I’m so surprised. In a good way,” she hastened to add.

Frustration pecked away inside Leanne like a murder of crows. If she could get away with it, she’d cast an aversion spell on her mother, but since they were both witches, Junie would notice as soon as she skedaddled for no reason, and then there would be hurt feelings in the mix.Why did you resort to underhanded tactics? You could simply tell me how you feel.But it wasn’t that easy.

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