Magicless witch Vesper's life is completely turned on its side when she asks out the hottie who's been frequenting her work for two weeks.
He's a bodyguard, she's in danger, and her newly incarcerated father is not the simple man Vesper thought him...
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I'd been attacked by a shade, Mamà was taken, possibly hurt, and Dad was effectively incarcerated. But I cried because Fox yelled at me for cooking him chicken.
Burro.
His heavy footfalls came up the stairs, and I scrubbed my face with my blanket. I waited for him to knock or barge in, but after a long wait, I huffed and opened the door to him holding a plate of day-old vegetarian paella and tofu out to me, his lips tense. He didn't even know how to smile.
Grudgingly I took it, returning to my bed. His eyes caught on my face, probably red and puffy from crying. Slowly, he took two deliberate steps into my room, sock feet softly thumping on the dark hardwood floor I'd only half cleared, hands jammed awkwardly into jean pockets.
"I didn't mean to make you feel bad. I'm no good at..." he searched for a word, his shoulders reaching for his ears.
"Sugarcoating things?"
"Yeah, I guess." A breath whooshed out of him, in relief that I understood. "Look, you're vegetarian, so cook vegetarian, and I'll be fine. If I want meat, I can go out there and feed on the next thing that walks by."
Gross!
Frowning as I set my plate down, he sat on the windowsill my desk used to be in front of, a halo of late evening light washing over him. "Right. You're not used to... Anyway, I shouldn't have said all that earlier."
"No." I swallowed down a lump of tofu and picked at my blue-purple comforter, poking my finger into a hole to feel the fluff inside. "You were right. I always do that. It's stupid, but it's like I need to make others happy. I love the water, but I've never been to a beach of any kind because it was easier than worrying my parents over my safety. And my hair... it's long because Chloe said she'd never talk to me again if I cut it. I love purple and I wanted to dye it, but Dad was against it, so I let it go. I'm always doing that."
When I looked up, his greyish-blue eyes were intense but sympathetic. "So stop. Do what you want."
"Okay." I could dream, couldn't I? "I want to go to the beach."
"No." The rigid bodyguard returned, and my joke fell flat. "You should probably wait until after we've dealt with the people trying to kill you."
"I still don't understand why I can't just tell everyone I don't have the stone or whatever." It was unlikely Dad took it, but I'd be his last choice for hiding it.
"Because, the point is to keep you alive."
Oh. I buried my face into my stuffed magenta monkey; it had been torn open by the intruders, I would need to fix it.
"Do you think my mom is okay?"
"They would need her aliv—"
The bell rang, sending me airborne, my heart thundering at a familiar worry-laden voice calling my name. More relieved than I should have been, I practically tumbled downstairs.
