by Amy Boyles
Titus whinnied in my direction. “Dylan Apel, it is good to see you. Last we met you were investigating the murder of one of my kin.”
I nodded. “I recall. And you gave me a fake opal that you said would focus my powers.”
I swear the horse smiled. “I hope you used it wisely.”
“I think Grandma and Milly ate it.”
He chuckled as much as I expected a horse could.
Grandma fluffed the ends of her hair. “I was just telling Titus all about the Valentine’s holiday. About the magic of love and how we celebrate it.”
“That all sounds so romantic,” Reid said.
Grandma tapped her cheek. “I said the magic of love, dear. Not actual magic. Try not to get your hopes up. You don’t have any magic today, and I doubt you’ll have any tomorrow.”
Reid threw back her head and sighed. “Why does everyone always have to remind me of that? I know I don’t have any. I’m not a moron.”
“You’re just so forgetful,” Grandma said.
As if Reid was the only forgetful one in that conversation.
I butted in. “That’s great that you were telling Titus about the holiday and that we’re having the dance. But what is he doing here? Titus, I’m not trying to be a Debbie Downer or anything, but I’m pretty sure it’s against some rule somewhere for you to be mingling with people.”
“I’ve never seen this rule,” he said.
I glanced at Grandma. “Seriously. Is this a rule?”
Grandma wiggled her fingers. “Not that I know of.”
“What about the horn?” I asked. “People will notice.”
Grandma shrugged. “We’ll say it’s Hollywood special effects.”
I glanced at Reid. “Get Milly on the phone, will you? Have her come down.”
Reid walked away.
I turned back to Titus. “What are you going to do here all night?”
Grandma poked the air. “Oh, we have a great idea. Best idea I’ve had since I decided to go undercover into the swamp monster’s lair dressed as another swamp monster.”
I sighed. “Did your disguise work?”
“Of course. I was the best undercover agent the witch police ever had.”
“I believe you,” I lied.
“But anyway, Titus has offered his services for Valentine’s pictures.”
I glanced at Titus. “Say what?”
“He’s going to allow couples to pose with him,” Grandma explained. “They can sit on him or stand beside him for a magical Valentine’s experience.”
“It’ll be a magical something,” I muttered.
“Ah! Put it out!”
My neck snapped in Reid’s direction. She fanned at her heinie. I squinted, trying to see why.
It was on fire.
I shot across the floor.
I smacked her bottoms until the flames were out. I grabbed her arm. “Are you okay?”
She shivered. “Yeah.”
“What happened?”
Reid twisted a strand of hair around her finger. “I don’t know. I was standing here about to call Milly. I had my phone in my pocket and when I reached down to grab it, I saw my jeans were on fire.”
“Okay,” I said slowly. “As long as you’re okay, I guess everything’s fine. But don’t keep your phone in your pocket anymore.”
“No problem. I won’t. Let me call Milly.”
“Does your phone still work?”
Reid punched the number and put the phone to her ear. “Seems to.”
Ten minutes later Milly arrived. She took one look at Titus and burst into laughter.
“It’s really not funny,” I said. “We could get into serious trouble for this.”
She dismissed me with a wave. “Bah. Nonsense. If the unicorn wants to display himself, he’ll be the one in trouble. Not you.”
I raised my eyebrows at that. “You think so?”
“I know so. You have nothing to do with this. The council won’t bother you. Lighten up, toots. Get in the mood for a little romance.”
I sighed. “Fine. I’ve only got about an hour before folks start to arrive.”
I went and found Reid. “Milly seems to think we won’t be held accountable for Titus’s presence. Not sure how that’s going to actually play out, but I’m game.” I yawned. “I’m going home to get ready.”
Reid nodded. “I’ll go with you. We’ve got to help Sera bring back a whole bunch of desserts, remember?”
I groaned. I loved carpooling food. Not really. “I forgot. Come one.”
I waved to Titus and Grandma, who looked deep in conversation. I glanced at the band. None of them seemed to notice. Boy, I hoped the unicorn stopped talking when the guests arrived or we’d have a real problem on our hands.
After I got home and showered, I changed into my royal-blue gown. I’d created it especially for the dance, and the silk slid over my body like melted butter. It felt a little silly dressing up for what was basically a high school dance, but hey, a girl needed a reason to have a little sparkle in her life, right?
As soon as all my clasps were fastened in place, I helped my sisters load boxes of cream puffs into my car and we headed back to the gym.
“That was really weird about my phone catching fire,” Reid said. “Do y’all think I have a magnetic behind or something?”
“Pretty sure your rear end isn’t magnetic,” Sera said.
“You don’t know that,” Reid said tartly. “It might be my special power.”
“To have a magnetic field around your butt?” I cackled. “I hope not. I don’t think you’ll enjoy that as much as you think.”
“I think you’re wrong,” she said.
“Did you Google it? See if that phone has a problem catching fire?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Sera added. “It might be a battery issue or something.”
Reid tugged at her hair. “I looked it up, but I didn’t see anything about that.”
“Well, it was probably nothing,” I said.
When we got back to the gym people were starting to arrive. I crossed my fingers and hoped none of them had experienced a conversation with a talking unicorn.
I spotted Titus as we carried in our load of desserts. A woman in a ball gown sat atop him as her date leaned his hand against the unicorn king’s shoulder. The professional photographer my grandmother had hired was shooting the scene.
This was going to be an interesting night. As long as the unicorn didn’t talk, we should be good.
An hour later the party was in full swing. While I busied myself keeping the refreshment table full, the band played and people danced.
Seriously it was like prom for adults.
“Care to take a five-minute break?”
I looked up and saw Roman. My tongue flip-flopped at the sight of him. He was dressed in a white shirt, black suit and, of course, the tie. His sun-streaked hair was pulled back, and his biceps tugged on the seams of his jacket. The man was a walking cloud of testosterone.
My breath caught. “You look gorgeous,” I whispered.
“Not as gorgeous as you,” he said, sliding between me and the table. Roman grazed a hand around my waist and nuzzled my neck. Lightning shot down my spine. “So are you going to take me up on my offer?”
“I promised you a dance,” I murmured.
“We’ll come back to that,” he said. “Think you could slip away for a few minutes?”
I glanced at the table. It was stocked solid. “Sure.”
“Grab your coat.”
He helped me into my wrap, and we exited out a side door. The wind had died down, leaving a tolerably cool night.
“How’s that tie treating you?” I asked.
“Great,” Roman said. “I wish you’d made me something to wear before now.”
I glanced at him, unsure if he was serious or not. “Really?”
“Yeah. This thing’s great. I haven’t taken it off all week.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Yes, you have. You we
ren’t wearing it earlier.”
His brows shot up. “Not around my neck, I wasn’t,” he said suggestively.
I elbowed his waist. “Quit. You’re kidding.”
Roman chuckled and wrapped a hand around my middle. “Yes. But if I could wear it all the time, I would.”
I smiled and leaned into him, reveling in his body heat.
“I wanted to give you something,” Roman said, reaching into his coat pocket.
I gazed up at him. “You didn’t have to get me anything.”
He rolled his eyes. “Right. The last girl who said that came after me with a switchblade when I took her at her word.”
“Whoa. You sure that’s all you did to deserve it?”
He shrugged. “I might have broken up with her the same day.”
“That sounds more reasonable.”
He cocked his head back. “Remind me not to ask your opinion of what’s reasonable. Pretty sure that behavior was far from it.”
“You broke her heart, Roman. She went psycho for you. It’s almost cute.”
He stopped walking and faced me. “Let me give you this before I change my mind about where our relationship is heading.”
I gnawed my bottom lip. “Great. Now I can take this present and run.”
He chuckled. “I had a hard time coming up with something that would beat your necklace, but I think I did it.”
I beamed. “Awesome! I’ve been needing a million dollars.”
“Oh, you guessed it.”
Roman handed me a small, flat box. “Crap, I was wrong.”
“You won’t know until you open it,” he baited.
I flashed him an innocent smile and yanked off the ribbon. Underneath lay a velvet box. I opened the lid and saw a pair of gold heart earrings. They matched the one around my neck.
“Oh my gosh, they’re beautiful,” I said.
“Do you like them?”
I clutched the box to my chest. “I love them!” I threw my arms around his neck. Roman lifted me off the ground and spun me around. He planted a long kiss on my lips. I melted into him, smiling as we parted.
“Here. Hold them a minute.” I shoved the box in his hand and unhooked the hoops in my ears. I quickly changed them out for the new earrings. “How do they look?”
Roman gave me a smile full of tenderness. “They’re pretty, but not as beautiful as you.”
“Thank you.”
“No,” he murmured, nuzzling my ear. “Thank you. For everything.”
We went back inside and danced to some song that I didn’t know the name of. It didn’t matter. The important thing was that Roman held me. I looked into his eyes and felt a swell of emotion. This was love. It was definitely love, and I needed to tell him. I had to tell him. I wanted to tell him.
So just tell him.
“Roman, I want to tell you something,” I said, hoisting up my courage and screwing it to some sort of tacky place in my body.
“Hmm?” he murmured. “Is this what you were going to tell me earlier?”
“Um. Yes,” I said.
He brought my knuckles to his face and traced them over his lips. I shuddered. “I’m all yours, darlin’.”
“I wanted to tell you that—”
“Dylan, the dessert table needs help.” Sera stuck her head between us. “Sorry, but I’ve got my hands full grabbing chairs for the folks from the nursing home.” She shot me an embarrassed grin. “Do you mind?”
I shook my head. “No. I’ll do it.” I gave Roman a feeble smile. “I’ll be right back.”
I found the extra desserts and started putting them out.
“I’m totally so excited y’all are having this party. Mmm hmm.”
My gaze lifted. I didn’t want to look, really I didn’t, because I knew who owned that voice. But I had to be polite.
Standing on the other side of the table was Dewy Dewberry. She wore a black wrap dress that accentuated her bust and waist. She tugged at a crimson scarf draped around her neck.
“How’re you?” I asked, not caring.
She smiled wickedly. Those eyes of hers were big and bright. “Great. The shop should totally open in a few days. Mmm hmm. I already have women peeking in, seeing what I have that’s different from the same old they’re used to.”
That stung. Pretty sure that barb was meant for me and my clothes.
Dewy leaned over. She smacked her lips. “So. I see you’ve got the unicorn.”
I laughed nervously. “Yeah. He wants to be here.”
She gave me a tight smile. “Totally hope the council doesn’t find out.”
A sick feeling filled my belly. “Yeah. Well. We figured since he wants to show himself, he’ll be the one in trouble.”
“Yeah, I’d hate for the Apels to get in trouble for something. Mmm hmm.”
I narrowed my gaze. “We haven’t done anything wrong. Who are you, the witch police?”
Dewy glanced away. She cocked her head toward Roman. “I totally felt so bad for you after Jenny mentioned what happened with that one boyfriend of yours. Men can be so awful. What was his name?” She snapped her fingers. “Colten! That was it.”
Anger burned in my stomach. This woman knew nothing about me. Nothing. She had no right to drudge up a past that wasn’t even hers.
“When I heard that story, I was reminded of a boy who’d done something similar to me.”
“Were you boobs involved?” I asked.
“What?”
“Never mind.”
“Anyway, what was I totally saying? Oh right, there was this one guy. Viciously handsome. Dangerously cool. I mean he was super hot. He was so hot you could stick a match next to him and it would automatically flame. I mean smoking.”
“I get it,” I said.
She opened her eyes wide in that deer-in-headlights look. “All the girls drooled over him. I wasn’t any different. Would’ve killed to get a date with him. Then I did.” She laughed. “Not kill, but got a date. Had lots of dates with him. Guy told me he loved me. Thought I loved him, too. So I gave him my heart and everything that went with it.” She lifted a cream puff to her lips and licked some whip off the top. “Know what he did? Totally dumped me right on my tush.”
Her eyes narrowed to wedges. Dewy’s face darkened. Power crackled around her.
I took a teensy step back. I glanced around to see if anyone else had noticed, but no one was looking in our direction.
Dewy clenched her fists. “After he dumped me, I totally made a decision not to ever, and I mean ever, be used by a man again. Mmm hmm. That’s when I put all my magic into my clothes, giving me the control—not them.”
“That’s good to know,” I said. “Good luck with that.”
She shook her head as if snapping out of a trance. The power simmering around her faded. “I let one man have power over me. One man. And one was enough to teach me the lesson that none of them deserve it.”
“Okay, great. Well, thanks for the info. It’s been enlightening,” I said. “But I’ve got to keep up with the desserts here, or else I’ll have a horde of angry Valentine’s guests.”
Dewy grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled toward her. I batted at her hand. “What?”
“Don’t let one man win. They never deserve it.”
“Before, you were saying if you had Roman, you’d be telling him you loved him.”
“Oh. Ha-ha. Life’s full of contradictions, Dylan. That’s totally how things are.” Dewy released me. She tightened the red scarf around her neck and walked away.
Good riddance.
Sera sidled up beside me. “What was that about?”
“It was about some psycho dolling out love advice.”
Sera scooped some of the desserts out of a box and displayed them on the table. “Love advice from the seductress? That’s classic.”
“Yeah, I know.” I put a cream puff on the table and immediately started chewing my nails.
Sera eyed me. “She really got to you, huh?”
I shrugged. “No. Of course not.” I paused. “Maybe.” I threw up my hands. “I don’t know. Sheesh. It was weird. The whole thing. She’s weird. Gives me the heebie-jeebies. I wish she’d never moved into town.”
“Maybe we can curse her or something and she’ll leave.”
I perked up at that. “Do you think Milly would teach us a good one?”
“I doubt it.”
“Oh.”
Sera took me by the shoulders. “Listen, you don’t have anything to worry about. That lady’s nuts and not worth your time. Anyway, I interrupted your dance with Roman. Don’t you have a date to finish?”
Oh my gosh! I was about to utter those three little words in his ear. “Yes! I need to go.”
I dropped a cream puff to the table and swung around. My gaze sliced through the crowd as I looked for Roman. Finally I saw him with his back to me. As I waded through the gym floor, my heels clicking on the glossy surface, he slowly turned around.
I was halfway to him when I stopped. The taste of metal filled my mouth, and I gasped for air.
Dewy Dewberry was talking to Roman. But she wasn’t just talking. She had her red scarf wrapped around his neck. A sick grin warped her face. Roman’s face held no expression. He looked like a blank canvas waiting to be painted.
Holy crap.
Dewy Dewberry was seducing Roman.
SEVEN
If Dewy had worked magic on Roman, I needed to get in there and do something about it—break that darned spell. I took a step forward, but someone grabbed my dress, stopping me.
“Let go.” I glanced back and came face-to-face with Titus.
I stared at the unicorn. His black eyes watched me patiently. I spoke through one side of my mouth, doing my best to appear inconspicuous. You know, like I wasn’t standing in the middle of a Valentine’s Day dance talking to a unicorn.
“I didn’t notice you come over here,” I said.
He bobbed his head up and down before releasing my dress. “Hers is a twisted heart. One that is bent and hard as stone.”
“What?”
“Come outside,” he said in a low whisper.
“But Roman,” I said.
Titus moved his head from side to side as if watching to make sure no one was looking. “As I said, hers is a twisted heart.”