Once Upon Stilettos (Enchanted Inc #2)

by Shanna Swendson

  “Dinner it is,” Isabel said, then turned to the driver and gave him an address.

  “You must really be closing in on that spy if they’re attacking you like that,” Trix said, patting my shoulder maternally.

  I gave a shaky laugh. “How little they know. I have no clue whatsoever.”

  “Really?” Ari asked. “I thought you’d be closer than that.”

  “Nope. I have some ideas, but that’s it.”

  “And you’ve come up with some pretty good countermeasures,” Ari added reassuringly. “Or maybe whether you realize it or not, you’ve gotten too close for comfort.”

  We stopped on a narrow street somewhere in Greenwich Village and went into a nearby restaurant. As soon as we were seated, Isabel ordered a cup of tea for me. “We’ll get you a drink later, but you need strong, sweet tea after a shock like that,” she said.

  I didn’t like feeling so helpless, as though everyone else had to look out for me, but I knew I pretty much was helpless, so I gave in and let them look after me.

  Once they had drinks and Isabel had made me drink tea sweet enough even to please my sweet-toothed Southern grandmother, Ari made an obvious effort to change the subject to lighter things. “So now that Katie and Trix are both single once more, it’s time to come up with a strategy,” she said.

  “Leave me out of it,” Trix muttered. “I’m not ready to give up yet.”

  “And I don’t think I’m ready to bounce into another relationship,” I added. Especially not while I was still so disconcerted from having lost my magical immunity. What if the guy I hooked up with turned out to be like Rod, hiding behind spells?

  “What are you talking about?” Ari teased. “You’ve already got one phone number, and it’s not like you two were together long enough for it to count as a real breakup. You need to show him by getting out there again and snagging a man right away. Make him know what he’s missing.”

  “It took me a year in New York to find him. I doubt I’ll have anyone else within the next couple of weeks,” I said with a sigh. I had to blink back tears at the thought. The champagne earlier, then the shock of that attack, and now all the sympathy were combining to make me especially emotional.

  “What about Owen?” Isabel asked. “He seems to really like you.”

  “Yeah, you do spend a lot of time together,” Ari said. “What’s the deal with you two?”

  “We’re just friends.”

  “But he talks to you,” Ari said. “I’ve been trying for years, and I haven’t managed to get him to say two words to me that weren’t about work.”

  “Most of what we talk about is work,” I insisted. “We only commute together because he has bodyguard duty. We’ve had maybe a couple of conversations that were even remotely personal.”

  “That’s two more than anyone else in the company has had,” Ari muttered, rolling her eyes. “I swear, that boy’s hopeless. Cute, rich, and powerful, but utterly hopeless.”

  “I don’t think it’s that big a deal,” I said with a shrug. “I’ve been told I’m easy to talk to, so I probably make him comfortable. Trust me, that’s not generally a good thing with a guy. It usually leads to the ‘you’re such a good friend, like a sister’ speech.”

  Isabel took the garnish off the rim of her glass and chewed on it, then said, “Well, if you don’t think Owen’s interested, I know someone else who might very well be.”

  The others giggled, and I felt like they could use my face to direct ships in the harbor. We needed to move the topic of conversation over to someone else’s love life, pronto.

  “Who might that be?” Ari mused.

  “I think Rod has a teeny little crush on you himself,” Isabel told me.

  “You have got to be kidding.” I wasn’t the sort of woman men had crushes on. The only way I ever met guys was by being set up on blind dates. It was inconceivable that I would have two men showing enough interest in me to stir up office gossip. Though, come to think of it, Rod had been eyeing me in his office earlier, and he had warned me off Owen, which was a possible sign of jealousy.

  “He wears an illusion, doesn’t he?” Ari asked. “You see something totally different than we do when you look at him.”

  “Ooh, what does he really look like?” Isabel asked, leaning forward across the table. Trix leaned closer, too.

  Now that I knew the full impact of the difference between Rod’s reality and his illusion, I better understood their curiosity. Even though the illusion was undeniably attractive, I preferred the reality, simply because it was real. He didn’t look like Rod to me when I could see the illusion. “He’s not that bad, really,” I said, feeling mean for talking about him behind his back. “He’s not particularly handsome, but he has the kind of face that’s really affected by his personality, so he can be pretty cute when he smiles. He’d be better off if he quit hiding behind that illusion and made some effort to work with what he’s got.” I shrugged. “I don’t like artifice that much.” Alarmed at the looks on their faces, I hurried to add, “And don’t you dare tell him I said so.”

  “But maybe you should tell him,” Trix said. “For his own good.”

  “Maybe when I get to know him better.”

  Isabel shook her head. “He’ll never drop that illusion. From what I hear, he’s been doing that ever since his teens. I guess he was competing with Owen, but it’s not as though Owen was any competition. Rod always gets the girls.”

  “That’s because you have to ask them in the first place to get them,” Ari said. “Owen doesn’t even manage to catch the ones that throw themselves at him.”

  “Someone sounds bitter,” Isabel said, raising an eyebrow.

  Ari appeared flustered, for perhaps the first time since I’d met her. She recovered quickly. “Hey, can you blame me for trying? I mean, look at him. At least I can say I tried, unlike everyone else in the company.” She cast a sly, sidelong glance at me. “Well, except maybe for Katie. We’ll have to see how that sweet, innocent, ‘let’s-just-be-friends’ strategy works.”

  “It’s not a strategy,” I insisted. To change the subject, I grabbed the dessert menu from the middle of the table. “So does anyone else need chocolate?”

  I was ready to go home after dessert, but Ari insisted we had to go to this new club. She led us to what looked to me like a warehouse in the middle of nowhere. There wasn’t even a sign, which she said meant it was truly hot. You had to be in the know to even be aware that it was a club. It looked like a lot of people were in the know, for a line snaked around the building. As we passed the head of the line, I noticed that for every person the imposing man at the door let in, he turned at least three away. Ari and Trix might get in on the force of cuteness. Isabel could work some mojo on him. I, however, didn’t stand a chance. I didn’t look forward to waiting in line, only to be humiliated.

  The line moved quickly—probably because the doorman was able to dismiss most of them with a glance—so we didn’t have to wait long in the cold before it was our turn. I hid in the back of the group, behind Isabel, hoping I wouldn’t hurt my friends’ chances of getting in. Hip New York nightclubs weren’t known for their fondness for the ordinary.

  I was almost relieved when the doorman shook his head at Trix and Ari. That meant I hadn’t been singled out for my lack of cool, and maybe we could find somewhere else to go. I stepped out from behind Isabel to join the others. The doorman looked at me, did a double take, and then offered me what might pass for a warm smile in big, burly bouncer world. He asked, “Are these people with you?”

  I looked behind me to make sure he wasn’t talking to somebody else, then turned back to him and said, “We’re all together. Why?”

  With a gallant flourish he unclipped the velvet rope and waved us forward, giving me a wink as I passed by. Once we were safely inside the club, Trix whooped and clapped me on the back. “Way to go, Katie!”

  “What did I do?”

  “I don’t know how you did it, honey,” Isabel said, “
but he let us in because we were with you.”

  “Maybe having a plain Jane in here will make everyone else look cooler by comparison,” I mused as we found seats on a big sofa overlooking the dance floor. It was still pretty early in the evening for New York club life, but the place was already packed with people who looked a lot like those who’d been in the bar in SoHo.

  I’d barely seated myself and carefully crossed my legs—the sofa was low enough to make sitting in a short skirt a dangerous prospect—when a good-looking guy dressed in black slacks and a white shirt perched on the arm of the sofa near my left elbow. “Hi there,” he said.

  Again I looked around to make sure he was talking to me, then I gave him a cautious smile. “Hi,” I said, in what I was sure would go down in history as a brilliant conversational opener. The guy reminded me of Rod’s illusion, except Rod would have had better taste than to unbutton his shirt that far down. Even in the crowded club, I could smell his cologne from where I sat.

  “Come here often?” he asked, going for his own gold medal in competitive conversation.

  “It’s my first time,” I said.

  He nodded. “Can I buy you a drink?”

  “No thanks. I’m not that thirsty.”

  He nodded again, got up, and moved on to presumably greener pastures. Ari elbowed me in the ribs. “What was that about?”

  “What?”

  “‘I’m not thirsty’? Please! A guy offers to buy you a drink a minute after you walk in the door, and you turn him away?”

  “I was choking on his cologne.”

  Trix leaned forward to talk to me around Ari. “Don’t listen to her, Katie. If you had one within minutes, someone better is likely to come along.”

  And, oddly enough, she was right. An even more gorgeous man who looked like he’d stepped out of a Gap ad—the edgy side of the boy next door—soon took the perch on the sofa arm. “I know I haven’t seen you here before, or I’d already be married,” he said.

  I glanced over at my friends. “Okay, be honest,” I said. “You set this up, didn’t you? I appreciate it, but my ego doesn’t need this kind of help.” They all looked blank, so I turned back to Mr. Gap Ad and smiled. “It’s my first time here.” I had a burst of boldness and added, “You wouldn’t happen to know what the best drink in the house is, would you?”

  You’d have thought I’d tied my scarf around his lance so he could go into combat in my honor. “I’ll bring you one, right away.”

  When he’d gone, I turned back to my friends. “Really, you can tell me if this is a joke. I’ll laugh.”

  “Don’t sell yourself short,” Trix said. “Have you ever considered that they might actually find you irresistible?”

  I snorted. “Yeah, right. Seemingly overnight, I’ve gone from invisible to hottest thing in town. Maybe it’s one of those contests to see who can snag the most boring or ordinary girl.”

  “Or maybe he has an unhealthy girl-next-door fetish and is already dreaming about defiling you,” Ari suggested.

  Instead of taking her bait, I smiled and said, “That could be a lot of fun.”

  My suitor then returned with a bright pink drink in an unusually shaped glass that made me dizzy if I looked at it too long. “Oh, thank you,” I said with my sweetest smile. I couldn’t help but enjoy the expression of delight that spread over his face at my approval.

  He seated himself once more on the arm of the sofa. “By the way, I’m Rick.”

  “And I’m Katie. Nice to meet you, Rick.”

  “Has anyone ever told you that you make him want to settle down and have babies?”

  “Um, no, not that I can think of.” I couldn’t decide if he was being nice or creepy. While normally I’d like the idea of a guy thinking of me as someone to settle down with, it was more than a little weird for him to use that as an opening line. “Actually, I’d rather wait a few years to have children,” I added, just in case.

  “You look like you belong behind a picket fence.”

  And you sound like you belong in a padded cell, I thought, but I merely smiled at him before casting a Help! look at my friends.

  Help arrived, but from an unexpected quarter. Another guy appeared in front of me. This one looked more like a guy in a cologne ad, with perfect bone structure and mysterious eyes. “Is he bothering you?” he asked, indicating Rick.

  “We were just discussing family planning,” I said, not sure whether to be worried or relieved. I wasn’t yet sure if Mr. Cologne was going to be an improvement. The bar wasn’t set all that high. As long as he didn’t immediately get into how he wanted to see me barefoot and pregnant, he’d be a better conversational partner.

  Rick slunk off, and Mr. Cologne extended a hand to me. “Dance,” was all he said.

  Normally I wasn’t big on dancing, but if I was on the dance floor with a man it would be hard for anyone else to hit on me. Besides, it looked like it could be fun. I wordlessly handed my pink drink to Ari and took Mr. Cologne’s hand.

  He didn’t speak as he led me to the floor, then folded me into his arms. I decided that was definitely an improvement as we swayed together to the trance-like music. It felt good to be held like that, to be wanted. That feeling almost made the last of my worry about the attack earlier in the evening go away.

  As that song faded into another song, another man came up, tapped Mr. Cologne on the shoulder, and held a hand to me. I took it. This was already the most dancing I’d done in one night in as long as I could remember, and definitely the most men I’d danced with in one night.

  It went on like that for what felt like hours, with man after man asking me to dance. I was the belle of the ball, and with each new dance partner I felt a surge of power and confidence. That confidence only appeared to increase my appeal, so it was the best-looking men in the place who were waiting in line to dance with me, while a row of miffed blond beauties stood at the edge of the dance floor, glaring at me.

  The latest suitor was possibly the most handsome of the evening. He looked like a taller, older version of Owen, with dark hair, blue eyes, and an amazing body. I could tell from the way he held me so tightly against him that he found me rather attractive, too. Normally, I’d have been a little freaked out by learning that kind of intimate detail about a total stranger, but I found it pleasantly arousing. I wasn’t a one-night-stand kind of girl, but maybe just this once…

  I let myself melt against him. He tightened his hold on me, then leaned down to whisper in my ear, “My, my, does your boyfriend know what you’re up to tonight, Katie?”

  I tried to pull away from him, but he tightened his hold on me. I looked up to see an all-too-familiar smile on the otherwise unfamiliar face, and once I knew it had to be there, I felt magic in use. The throbbing music and my alcohol consumption must have kept me from noticing that telltale tingle sooner. Not that I would have expected Phelan Idris to be disguising himself on the dance floor to attempt to seduce me.

  “This is getting old,” I said, trying to sound totally cool even as fear chilled my guts. Where were my magical friends who could help protect me from him? “What do you want from me, anyway?”

  He pulled me even closer against him. “I think that should be pretty obvious,” he said.

  Ewwww. “Fat chance,” I replied. “And if that’s what you really want, you’re going about it the wrong way. Try reading a romance novel. They’re full of seduction techniques that are a lot more effective than this. So, come on, what are you trying to accomplish other than annoying me to death?”

  “There’s a quick and easy way to get me totally out of your life.”

  “Please, tell me more.”

  “Quit your job. You’ll never see me again.”

  Although I was still scared because a powerful wizard had me in his grasp and I was susceptible to his power—and he obviously knew that—I couldn’t help but laugh. “You’ve got to be kidding. You’re worried about a secretary? Get rid of me, and there are a number of other immunes who’d fight
each other over the job.”

  It was his turn to laugh. “And you’re supposed to be so smart. Maybe it’s not about you.”

  Now I was nervous. There was something in his tone that went beyond his usual teasing banter. I’d never taken him all too seriously as a threat because he was so very ridiculous, but I sensed real menace. Whatever it was he was up to, me being at MSI was getting in his way. Or maybe me being away from MSI would make it easier. Either way, this went beyond taunting me or just stirring up trouble.

  As if I were dealing with an angry dog, I tried to stifle my fear. If he sensed it, he’d jump at the weakness. “I can’t afford to quit my job without having something else lined up,” I said. “Do you have any leads?”

  That took him aback. He clearly hadn’t thought this through. Come on, this was Manhattan, home of some of the highest rents in the nation. How could he expect me to just up and quit my job?

  “Maybe you won’t have to quit,” he said when he’d recovered. “Maybe you’ll get fired when they find out about you.”

  “Find out what?” I asked, projecting all the innocence I could muster. His mouth hung open. I had him, and he knew it. Anyone who reported my lack of immunity would be revealing that they knew about it, and at this point anyone who knew about it was probably responsible.

  While he processed that, I took advantage of his distraction to slip out of his arms. He grabbed my arm before I could get away, and I stepped back toward him, letting my stiletto heel sink into his foot, right above his toes—and Mom said those shoes weren’t practical. As he hopped up and down on one foot, I broke away and ran for my friends.

  Isabel was sitting alone on the sofa. “I guess Ari and Trix are dancing,” I said. I couldn’t spot them on the dance floor, then I remembered that I wouldn’t see their wings, which was how I usually found them in a crowd.

  “I’m not sure Ari’s dancing, if you know what I mean. Trix went to get another drink.”

  “If you’re ready to head out, I’d go with you,” I said. “I don’t think I can take much more of this.” The truth was, I was totally wigged out and felt like I needed a shower to wash Idris’s touch off me. I supposed I was lucky that he’d been too arrogant not to make sure I knew what he was doing. The thought of what might have happened if he hadn’t said anything was too horrific to even consider. I fought off a shudder. I started to tell Isabel what happened, then realized I’d have to admit that I’d fallen for Idris’s scheme. In my normal state, I wouldn’t have let him get within ten feet of me on the dance floor, let alone get close enough to me to freak me out that much.