by K. M. Waller
She grabbed for his hand and pulled him to sit on the bed. “And you want to tell me something too?”
“Being more focused on your safety allowed me to keep you at a distance. I want to be around you all the time but my instincts are telling me to take it slow.”
She chuckled and put a hand against his cheek. “I’m okay with taking it slow. All of this is new to me too and I’m not in a hurry to make a mess of things. I want to be your partner romantically and in the agency, and we have to work on making it fit right.”
“I’m not going to stop wanting to protect you. That’s part of the package deal of being with me.”
He could see the thoughts churning and her expression showed each one. Finally, she settled on a smile. “If you can embrace being in a relationship with a witch, I guess I can overlook your overprotectiveness.”
He held up the bag from the antique store, a sense of relief and happiness flooding through him. “An offering.”
She pulled it from his hands and set it on the bed. A soft gasp escaped her lips as she pulled out the teapot she’d admired a couple of days ago in the antique store. “It’s so lovely. How did you know?”
“I pay attention. And I think you have a birthday coming up.”
“It’s a lovely gift.” She stood and snaked her arms around his neck. “Do we have a few minutes to spend on smoochy time?”
He kissed the edge of her jaw. “Yes.”
Her words smashed any reservations he’d had about giving his heart over to a witch. Even though things might have ended badly for Gramps, Lex wouldn’t allow things to end badly between him and Amira. The two relationships didn’t compare to each other.
He pressed his lips against hers.
She broke the kiss and leaned back but didn’t let him go. “I guess we’ll need to fill out those Consensual Romance in the Workplace forms now.”
“If only to keep Sparsh off our backs.”
“What do we do while we wait for the next assignment?”
“We live our lives.” A horn blasted repeatedly. “But first I have to make Jordie return that Rolls Royce.”
Epilogue
Tizzy, Hope, and Grace sat around a table at the far end of the Tea Haven, three candles lit. They held hands and as the eldest, Tizzy led them through their weekly ritual of watching over their great-nieces.
They had to be quick. Although Amira and Ris were in Georgia for another evening, they couldn’t risk Ally stopping by to check in on them. They’d enjoyed the reintroduction into the girls’ lives and couldn’t afford to screw up by getting caught breaking their word. Really, anyone who knew them would know they’d never keep a deal that allowed a chance for their witch heritage to wither into nothing. Some lies were worth telling.
Hope began to snore.
Tizzy shook her hand. “Wake up!”
Grace snorted. Fantastic, so both the twins had fallen asleep during the spell. Again.
Hope blew out a heavy sigh and a candle went out as a result. “Do you ever feel like we’re the three witches from Clash of the Titans?”
Hope pulled her lighter from her giant purse and set the candle aflame. Then they interlocked hands again. “The original or the remake? I for one prefer Harry Hamlin over Sam Worthington.”
“A sexy beast that Harry,” Grace added.
Mother of all creation. “Sisters. Please concentrate.” Once she was sure she had their attention, Tizzy felt through the cosmos and locked on to Amira’s essence. “Amira’s definitely in love.”
“But will they marry and have children?” Grace asked.
“Amira is the marrying kind, and I have no doubt she’ll continue the line. It’s Ally we must focus on next,” Tizzy explained.
Hope grunted. “Ugh. That one is as stubborn as a goat who’s stolen a leather shoe.”
Grace squeezed Tizzy’s hand tighter. “Is it possible, dear sisters, that if we leave them all alone, fate will intervene on our behalf?”
“Don’t be daft, Grace. Those girls need us. And now more than ever since Amira has aligned herself with the fuzz.”
“Perhaps if we tell her it was the Council and not some made up coven from years past that limited our powers and put this awful curse on our line, she’ll quit,” Grace said.
“Are you going to tell our nieces about your torrid affair with the Council leader’s vampire husband?” she asked Hope.
“It was the sixties, when monogamy was a fluid thing.”
“Not to his witch wife it wasn’t.”
“Do we still have to hold hands? Grace’s palm is sweating.”
“We haven’t solved our Ally problem,” replied Grace, a huff in her tone at being called out as the sweaty one.
Tizzy shook their hands. “Focus on her deepest desire like we did with Amira.”
“And that turned out so well. The Dimas boy walked into her life.”
“It doesn’t matter how we feel about the love match. Now focus.” Bursts of colors swam before her eyes. Finally, her sisters were taking the spell seriously. It took the magic from all three to sneak attack their powerful nieces. While Amira Walker’s deepest desire had been to add excitement and challenge to her life, Ally’s would be something completely different. Tizzy searched through the emotions revealed before her.
Ah ha. What Ally desired was already there in town with her. A man she admired from afar. Well, that simply wouldn’t do. Time to help them out a little.
“I’ve found him, sisters. In unison this time.” Tizzy’s voice couldn’t mask her enthusiasm.
The sisters began their desire spell. “Desire, desire, capture hearts with a spark. Give Ally Walker a path to her true love’s mark.”
“That’s the worst rhyme we’ve come up with to date.”
“Shhh… Make sure it settles first.” Calm engulfed the room and Tizzy released a happy sigh. “We’re good.”
The sisters broke the circle, each one’s grin a little brighter than before.
“How long before we know?” Hope asked. “It took months to get Amira her love match.”
Tizzy rubbed her hands together. “We can’t rush things, but I felt a Christmassy vibe during the spell.”
“My favorite time of the year and a perfect season to fall in love.”
“Cake time?”
“Definitely cake time.”
The three witches celebrated their spell with a decadent chocolate cake, certain their niece would soon meet her match.
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 Three Witches of Burberry
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 mystery 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