by K. M. Waller
Her fingers played with the edge of the amulet’s thong around his neck. She lifted it off his neck and set it on the nearest table.
He placed his hands on her hips, and this time he didn’t ask permission. Lowering his head, he touched his lips to hers, and for the first time he felt a zing of his own that had nothing to do with paranormal magic.
She turned her head and their mouths danced.
He pulled back and watched for any indication she wanted him to stop. “Missing the zing?”
“Not at all,” she said.
Out of the corner of his eye, a large black shape moved in front of the tea shop. Three black SUVs pulled to a stop in the parking lot like a train of doom.
Sparsh stepped out of the passenger seat of the first vehicle. He buttoned his suit jacket and waited.
Lex released Amira and grabbed the amulet. “Stay here. I’ll handle them.”
“Those are some scary-looking SUVs,” she said.
Lex pulled her hand up to his lips and kissed her knuckles. “I’ll be right back. Think of where you want to go.”
He walked the short distance across the parking lot. “You can call off the cavalry. We just finished the assignment. Nice and tidy.”
Sparsh smiled at Lex, but his eyes held a level of edginess. “You haven’t returned my calls or texts all day.”
“Not true. I sent you a text about five minutes ago.”
Sparsh motioned with his fingers and the other two SUVs pulled around them and out of the parking lot. His smile faded. “Your witches have caught the attention of your grandfather and the board.”
“They aren’t my witches.” A gnawing in his gut meant something wasn’t right. It was time he paid more attention to that gut feeling when it came to the LSP and his grandfather. “What does he want with them?”
Amira cracked open the front door of the tea shop, and Sparsh snapped his fingers to shut it. Amira would not be happy about being left out of the conversation. Especially if it had to do with her sisters.
Sparsh held out his hand for the amulet. “Notice anything different about this assignment?”
Lex handed it over. “The amulet led me on a wild goose chase.”
“No. The three witches of Burberry were the assignment and you located them.”
“So you lied to me about the case?” That would be a first.
“No, the assignment was given to you as received from Council but your grandfather has a theory that the Council wanted the sisters pulled out into the open.”
Gramps and his witch obsession. Lex swallowed hard. “What would the Council want with them?”
“They’re powerful witches. They are of value.”
Someone at Council wanted to the tip the balance in their favor. But who? And how would they use the Walker sisters? Lex didn’t know enough about the workings of the Council to form a theory. “But they don’t practice witchcraft. Not really. One’s a tea shop owner, one’s an elementary school teacher, and the third is… I’m not really sure what she does.”
Sparsh fiddled with the lapel pin attached to his emoji face tie. “I’m here as a courtesy because of my affection for you. Amira and her sisters will be recruited for our agency, and I want to give you first shot at working with her before your grandfather sends another agent.”
“You’re saying they either work for us or end up in the Council’s service?”
“Agendas within the Council change. However, if we were to bring them into the fold of the agency…”
He glanced at the Tea Haven. “If I recruit her, then can she be assigned to me?”
“You’d have to take on more assignments. Are you sure you know what you’re asking for?”
He gave Sparsh a hard stare. At least he’d be able to watch over her until he found out the true intentions of the Council. “Will she be assigned to work with me?”
“I can make that happen.”
“And we can’t bring her sisters in. Not yet. And never against their will.”
Sparsh swatted at a mosquito that buzzed between them. “I’ll do my best.”
Lex believed him. “I want to bring Jordie in full-time. He wants to learn.”
“Jordie would be a welcomed addition to our roster when you say he’s ready.”
His requests were being granted too easily. “Why do I feel manipulated?”
Sparsh climbed into the SUV. “I’ll be in touch.”
Lex walked back into the Tea Haven’s kitchen and found Amira on her cell phone. She disconnected when she saw him. She slumped onto a stool. “Jordie’s fine. They’ll discharge him from the ER soon. And Ally is using her southern charms on the producer. What did your ‘Bosley’ guy want to talk to you about?”
He warmed to her Charlie’s Angels reference. “His name is Sparsh. He’s a good person. Someone we can trust.”
He’d promised her no more secret agenda, so he settled onto a stool beside her and relayed the entire conversation almost word for word. She listened without interrupting, but tension built in her features.
“How do I protect my sisters?”
He didn’t want to give her false promises. “We take it one assignment at a time until we find out what the Council wants with you. Do you think you could handle working for the LSP?”
“Would you be my boss?” The kettle on the stove behind her whistled. She removed it and grabbed for two tea cups. “I decided tea would be better this late at night. I hope that’s okay.”
“It is, and I’d be your partner, not your boss.” His gaze trailed over her while she moved around the kitchen with ease. “But I have seniority, of course.”
“Would this be a full-time position, because I don’t think anyone’s buying the Tea Haven any time soon?” She placed a couple of tea bags into the cups and added the water. She set one cup in front of him. She stirred sugar and cream into her cup and settled opposite him again.
He added as much sugar and cream as he could without overflowing the cup. “We’d live our day-to-day normal lives until an assignment comes through.”
She sipped her tea, her expression thoughtful. “What makes you think I’d be any good at investigating my paranormal brethren?”
He pulled her hands into his and held them still. He had to convince her. Either the Council would get her or she’d be assigned to someone else at LSP. There was no more tea shop security in Amira’s future. Unless… “Would your aunts be able to cloak your location? You can say no to me, but someone else will come.”
“I want to ask as little of my aunts as possible. And while I didn’t enjoy the threats against my sister, I didn’t mind the rest so much. This morning I would’ve said the LSP were a bunch of bullies, but after tonight I can see the need. And they sound more reasonable than working for this Council directly. If you don’t trust them, I don’t trust them.”
The glow in her eyes held him captive. “So, is that a yes?”
She squeezed his hands and pulled out of his grasp. “Yes.” She scooted off her stool and placed a hand on his face. Her thumb rubbed a path on the stubble beginning to form. “Now, where were we?”
He welcomed her kiss, which now tasted of sugar, cream, and a mix of spices. The small town, sweeter-than-peach-pie tea shop owner definitely had him under her spell.
Epilogue
A week later, Amira slipped into a booth opposite her three great-aunts. Aunt Hope and Aunt Grace, the twins, both wore wide-brimmed hats and dark sunglasses. Aunt Tizzy wore a black hoodie. The aunts had agreed to meet her in a little diner three towns over from Burberry. The smells of bacon grease and burnt toast filled the air.
“Were you followed?” Aunt Tizzy’s voice crackled. Her other two aunts glanced around, their heads darting back and forth.
“No, I wasn’t followed.” Amira set her purse on the seat beside her. “And why couldn’t we have breakfast at the Tea Haven? What’s with the clandestine meeting?”
Aunty Tizzy pulled back her hood, revealing her head of silver
y hair. “The fuzz.”
Amira wanted a truce with her aunts, but if they didn’t start behaving like rational individuals, she couldn’t see how that wish could turn into reality. “The Council isn’t after you three. And as long as you stop creating the hotbed of love magic in Burberry, they won’t be.”
Aunt Grace leaned forward. “You can’t trust them, Amira.”
“I don’t trust them. That’s why I’ve joined the Lost Souls ParaAgency.”
The three women gasped, almost in unison.
Amira took a sip of the iced water in front of her.
Aunt Hope placed her hand on the table. “You are not properly prepared to be a part of this world, my dear.”
“I know that.” Amira had spoken at length with Lex, and even though she didn’t want to use magic as an agent, she needed to be able to rely on her powers as back up. She’d been lucky with Shelby and she didn’t want to rely on luck in future situations. “I want you three to teach me magic.”
Aunty Tizzy bumped the table with her fist. “Finally, you’ve come to your senses.”
“I have conditions.”
Aunt Hope and Aunt Grace groaned.
“Hear me out.” Amira smiled at them and rested her hands on the table. “One, you take Ris’s training slowly, and I mean at a snail’s pace. Two, you don’t pressure Ally into anything magical. She doesn’t want anything to do with this life. And three, next time we need you, you show up. Fuzz or no fuzz.”
Aunt Tizzy reached across the table and grasped Amira’s hand. “Your mom and dad would be so proud of you.”
Amira withdrew her hand. Their dad might have withered away from a broken heart even without a love spell put on him. Now that she met Lex she could understand that love could be just as powerful as magic. She wouldn’t keep blaming magic and her aunts for her parents’ deaths, but she still found the ache too much sometimes. She waited for her throat to unclench. “Do we have a deal?”
Aunt Grace turned to Aunt Hope and they nodded an agreement. Aunt Hope then turned to Aunt Tizzy with a shrug.
A slow smile spread across Aunt Tizzy’s face. “Deal.”
With her family by her side, and Lex as a partner in more ways than one, Amira didn’t doubt she could handle whatever came next.
SPECIAL FEATURES
The Special Features – I have a thoroughly healthy addiction to special features. The more the better! My husband accuses me of spending more time watching them than the actual movie or television series. Do you have this same love? If so, join me in the Lost Souls ParaAgency Facebook group where I will release deleted scenes, quiz readers on hidden references and inside jokes in the books, and coming soon for Facebook groupies and newsletter subscribers only – The Jordie Files. Jordie will get his own series of short stories as he learns the ways of the agency.
Follow the link to join: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1768437189833082/
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
K.M. Waller lives in Florida with her husband, two kids, and geriatric cat (seriously, he’s 19!). When she’s not reading, writing, or chasing her kids around the house, she loves to binge television dramas and mysteries.
More from the Lost Souls ParaAgeny Series:
Lost Souls ParaAgency and the Ghostly Reunion
Lost Souls ParaAgency and the Illusion of a Vampire (Preorder available now!)
Lost Souls ParaAgency and the Mysterious Bag of Bones (Coming Fall 2019)
Other cozy mysteries:
Mourning Express: A Funeral Fakers Mystery (A shared world msytery series from Sweet Promise Press)
Writing as Kizzie Waller (spicy romances):
The Alaskan Den Men Series:
Bearly Living: Foxhollow Den #1
Bearly Loving: Foxhollow Den #2
Bearly Gone: Foxhollow Den #3
Bearly My Valentine: Foxhollow Den #4
A contemporary romance from Evernight Publishing:
Cowboy in Her Bed