Bewitching Fire

by Sheritta Bitikofer

Krystal smiled. “I’m sure Aaron can show you around. Besides, I may be one of the owners, but that means more than just my signature on a lease. I have a responsibility to my business.”

  All of the sudden, the words of her friends came back to her. Maybe she was taking everything too seriously. Here she was, with a handsome cop who was obviously interested in her, and she was turning him down just because she had to work hours that were fairly flexible, especially in the evening. There was no way she was going to make Valerie cover her shift, not after the way she had dragged her tired ass in that morning. She needed her rest, and though Krystal totally trusted Alexa to do a good job of cleaning up the store, the little nagging voice in the back of her mind told her that she needed to do it herself rather than leave all the work to her friend.

  Yet, her heart and that tender spot between her legs were screaming different orders at her. Devin was handsome, and absolutely interesting. She wanted to know all about his life in Boston, and especially what would bring him nearly fifty miles north to Goldcrest Cove – of all places. There was something more behind those pretty blue eyes and she needed to know what it was.

  Just when Devin looked to be losing hope, Krystal shifted a bit in her seat. “But, what the hell. I’ll have dinner with you.”

  Devin flashed her another smile. “Excellent. How does six sound?”

  Krystal nodded. “Sounds just fine.”

  “Where should I meet you?”

  It didn’t take her long to figure out where she wanted to have her first date with Devin. “There’s a little Italian place down the street from the coffee shop called, Mama Pazzini’s. I know the couple who owns it. Have Aaron show you where it is and I’ll meet you there.”

  Devin straightened. “I love Italian food, so that works perfect. Don’t forget to bring your license.”

  With that, he tapped his hand on the hood of the car to dismiss her, and turned to walk back to his squad car. Krystal watched him in the side mirror and licked her lips. Damn, he was fine.

  She let Aaron and Devin drive away first, and then Krystal pulled out onto the street again to drive slowly – and carefully – toward Taylor’s nursery. All the way, she asked herself why she was so willing to throw away her unspoken code of business ethics just for a guy. Devin might have been worth it, but how could she tell until she got to know him better? For the past five years, she had practically slaved to make sure Perfect Books and Brews was the go-to place for coffee.

  So far, she had done all of that. One night on the town wasn’t going to undo years of planning and hard work. Right?

  First thing’s first. She needed to take care of that brake light. At the next stop sign, Krystal stuck her head out the open window and flicked her finger toward the tailgate. “Work,” she commanded, and she faintly saw the driver’s side brake light blink to life, and then beam a strong red.

  Chapter Three

  On principle, Krystal generally refused to wear dark clothes. There was too much hype around witches, but when Sierra walked into her bedroom with that stunning, midnight black dress from her own closet, Krystal could hardly turn her down. She had been going out of her mind trying to find the perfect outfit ever since she came home early from work.

  Her own closet was filled with long skirts, loose blouses, and warm sweaters of earth tone shades. Far too casual for a date like this. It was just Mama Pazzini’s, a place she had been going to with her family since she was little, but she wasn’t looking to impress Mr. and Mrs. Pazzini. It was Devin she needed to amaze. Though, she had probably done that already.

  She stood in front of the full-length mirror and twirled a bit before fingering the lacey, scalloped neckline that came off the shoulders. The long silky sleeves would ensure she wouldn’t get too cold, but she worried about her legs that were exposed from the knees down. She never wore anything with a hem that high.

  “Don’t even worry about your knobby knees,” Sierra slated from her open doorway. “It looks great on you.”

  After a few magical alterations to the bust and waistline, yes, it did look great. Krystal would have to let it out again when she took it off at the end of the evening. There would be no other way to get off the form-fitted gown.

  “It’s not too suggestive, is it?” Krystal winced, pinching at the hemline.

  “Honey, even if it is, would that be such a bad thing?”

  Krystal let out a nervous laugh. “I don’t even know.”

  Sierra flipped her wavy, chestnut brown hair over her shoulder and leaned against the doorframe. “You said this guy was hot, so what’s the problem?”

  “Sierra,” Krystal said, walking barefoot across the hardwood floor. “I know plenty about magic and making coffee, but I don’t know the first thing about guys. I haven’t gone on a date in like, four years and mom set me up for that one.”

  Her older sister grimaced. “Yeah, but that warlock wasn’t exactly your Twin Flame. It sounds like you and Devin have some real chemistry.”

  Twin Flames. Krystal had considered that, but didn’t want to admit it to anyone. It was a one in a six billion chance that Devin would be the missing part of her soul. Their connection gave the illusion that he could very well be her Twin Flame, but she wouldn’t give it any credibility. This was just a date, and he was just a hot guy, the only one who had shown any real romantic interest in her for years. It wouldn’t go further than that. She couldn’t think of it. Couldn’t believe in a fairy tale idea that magic folk put on too high of a pedestal. It just wasn’t rational.

  Krystal retreated to her closet to find a suitable pair of shoes. There was no way she was going to walk all the way to Mama Pazzini’s in high heels like Sierra had suggested. “Well, maybe,” she said as she knelt down to pull out several shoeboxes. “But, I don’t know a whole lot about him. What if he got fired from his job in Boston, because he did something really bad, like killed a guy that didn’t need to be killed or something?”

  Sierra entered the bedroom and sat down heavily on the four-poster bed, making the old plush mattress bob under her weight. “If he did something like that, Chief Nickels would have never hired him.”

  She cracked open the lid of a big shoebox to check the contents, then shoved it aside. “What if he’s got some weird fetishes or dark secret that’s a total turnoff?”

  “Like being magic folk?”

  Krystal shot her sister an annoyed look and continued searching. “Well, I know he’s not a warlock, that’s for sure.”

  “Werewolf?”

  She snorted. “No.”

  “What about a golem?” Sierra questioned.

  “Nope.” Krystal peeked into the last box and found the black felt boots she had been looking for.

  “Then, seriously, what kind of dark secret could he possibly have? We’ve ruled out the worst scenarios.”

  Krystal shrugged, and she could feel the lacey fabric scratch her skin. “I don’t know. Maybe he’s just got hobbies or interests that just don’t appeal to me? What if we have nothing in common?”

  Sierra let out a dramatic sigh and rolled her dark eyes. “You’re doing it again.”

  “Doing what?” she asked as she rolled up her socks and slipped on the boots.

  “You’re looking for an excuse to get out of this date, so you can stay miserable and alone.”

  “But, I’m not miserable and alone,” Krystal argued as she stood and checked out the combination in the mirror. “Do you think these fabrics clash?”

  Sierra didn’t even bother looking. “Yes, they do. And you are miserable and alone. All you ever do is work and get up at an ungodly hour in the morning, so you can work even more.”

  Krystal frowned at the shoes she had on, then to the other shoes that didn’t fit for the occasion. “Owning your own business takes work, you know that.”

  Sierra wrapped her hand around one of the tall posts on the footboard. “I’m not doing a whole lot of work and I’m still making a profit.”

  “That’s because y
ou have other stylists renting out space in your salon. If I can’t find any shoes, I’m not going.”

  Sierra pointed accusingly at her. “See! You’re doing it again. Here.” She redirected her finger down to Krystal’s boots and muttered a few words in the ancient Celtic tongue. Slowly, the felt material turned hard, rigid, and shiny. “Leather goes with everything.”

  She took another look in the mirror and nodded. “Much better. What time is it?”

  Sierra fished out her phone from her back pocket. “A quarter until six.”

  “Shit!” Krystal exclaimed before darting out of the bedroom. “I’m already late. It’s going to take me at least twenty minutes to get there.”

  The flat soles of her boots made her slide across the upstairs hall as she scampered to the steps.

  “So what if you’re five minutes late!” Sierra called out as she hurried to catch up. She had already dressed down into her pajamas for the evening and wore a pair of wool socks that were equally slippery across the floor. “Live recklessly!”

  “I don’t want to make him think I’m careless!” Krystal complained as she bounded down the steps, nearly tripping over Artemis who looked utterly confused by the ruckus.

  Sierra laughed. “No one could ever mistake you as careless.”

  Krystal snorted as she grabbed her purse, which completely clashed with her outfit. Made out of patches of dark, patterned fabric scraps, it fit well with her earthy sense of style. With this dress, it stuck out like a sore thumb, but there was no time to switch contents from this purse to another.

  “If you saw me today, you would second guess that.”

  Her sister caught up with her in the foyer and held her hand to her chest, feigning shock. “You? Careless? I don’t believe it.”

  Krystal nodded and told her about how Devin pulled her over and she didn’t even have her driver’s license. She was never so forgetful. On that note, she made triple sure that her wallet and license were tucked away in her purse, just in case he actually asked for it.

  “Not only that, but I kept messing up today when I was giving people their change. I even got an order wrong.”

  “Gaia forbid!” Sierra exclaimed, her eyes wide.

  She had been living with her sister long enough that she knew Sierra was just making a show. “I swear, Devin is messing me up. Badly.”

  Sierra opened one of the front doors for her. “Well, maybe this is your chance to demystify him. Maybe he’ll turn out exactly as you predict, and he’s got some skeletons in his closet.”

  Deep down, Krystal hoped that he didn’t. She desperately wanted him to be the real deal, someone she could really like and maybe this date would just be the first of many. Devin had been so amazing and sexy up until now and she didn’t want anything to taint that perfect image.

  But, she had to know if he was too good to be true. Maybe that was why she agreed to the date in the first place. She had to know about those skeletons in his closet and if they were worth overlooking for the sake of having her first real boyfriend since high school.

  “Whatever you do,” Sierra continued, “don’t tell him you’re a witch.”

  Krystal gave her a look. “You seriously think you have to tell me that?”

  She shrugged, the collar of her oversized shirt sliding off her shoulder. “Hey, if you say this guy is messing you up that bad, maybe you’d talk a little more than you should.”

  At this point, that sounded like a complete possibility. “Do you think we need to do a secrecy charm?”

  Sierra thought about it for a moment. “Do you?”

  The two sisters stared at one another for a long moment. Secrecy charms weren’t hard, but it also meant that it would limit Krystal’s openness during dinner. It wouldn’t just block her from talking about witches, but everything else about her that Devin didn’t already know, which was practically everything. She wouldn’t be able to talk about her family, her interests, not even Artemis.

  “No,” Krystal answered with a confirming nod as she took down her long coat from the hall butler hook. “Everything will be fine… Right?”

  Sierra returned the nod. “Right… One more thing.” Her sister reached behind Krystal’s head and slowly pulled out the hair tie. Her black hair tumbled down around her bare shoulders, the tips nearly disappearing against the black lace and fabric. “There. Much better.”

  Though she didn’t have time, Krystal hurried toward the hall mirror and primped her hair a little before rushing out the door. “Don’t wait up for me.”

  Devin checked his phone one more time. He shouldn’t have been so jumpy. It was only a couple of minutes past six. The moment he and Aaron drove away from Krystal’s car, he knew he had made a grave mistake. Not in asking her out on a date, but in the way he did it. Going over the conversation in his head later, it nearly sounded like blackmail or bribery.

  He didn’t tell Aaron about that part, though. He only said he made the date and let her go with a warning. Devin had taken a stab at power flirting a little too eagerly and with Krystal being late, he wondered if he might have scared her off.

  Heaven knows he deserved it.

  He wondered how many people inside the tiny restaurant could see him standing on the sidewalk, a single rose in his hand, watching the darkened streets for any sign of his date. He didn’t know if she drove a car, or if she’d come walking in from one of the residential streets that came to Johnson Avenue. The thought occurred to him that he should have offered to pick her up.

  Why was he so damn nervous? This wasn’t his first date. Krystal wasn’t the first girl he had ever asked out. He’d had plenty of dates before, and a girlfriend here and there when he lived in Boston.

  None of them were serious relationships, though. And none of them were like Krystal.

  He didn’t even know that much about her, but she had already made such an impression on him that it was borderline enchantment. Krystal was insightful, real, beautiful, and any woman who had the guts to start a business and keep it so successful had to be determined and strong-minded. She was nothing like the flitty airheads in Boston that just wanted to date a cop. Most couldn’t handle being tethered to his kind of work anyway, but maybe Krystal could.

  He spotted her coming from Kellie Drive, her long coat wrapped around her thin frame and purse slapping against her hip as she hustled down the sidewalk. Devin caught himself smiling at the way she looked both ways down the practically lifeless avenue and then hurried toward him. Her long black hair bounced and swayed around her shoulders, the light of the streetlamps gleamed against it to reflect that healthy shine.

  “I’m so sorry I’m late,” she said breathlessly as she came bounding down the sidewalk. “I was having the hardest time finding shoes that would match and – “

  Her gaze trailed down to the rose in his hand and he realized he had been staring. Again. Devin offered it to her.

  “This is for you,” he said, feeling slightly awkward about it all of the sudden. Not even on the second date did he give a girl flowers. He usually reserved those for gift giving holidays like birthdays or Valentine’s Day. It was an easy go-to gift, but Devin knew he couldn’t be basic with Krystal. Nothing about her was generic. Even a bouquet of roses might have been more appropriate, but she seemed like a minimalist, so he decided to get one rose instead.

  Why the hell would he try to be so thoughtful? Why was he trying so damn hard?

  Krystal didn’t smile, nor did she accept it right away. Her hand reached out and pinched the stem. “Can I be completely honest with you?”

  Devin’s heart sank into his shoes. What did he do wrong? “Please,” he replied with a ghost of a laugh.

  “I’m not really one for flowers,” she said. “I mean, I like them and all, but I hate cutting them. I’d much prefer them to stay alive and cutting them just expedites death, you know?” Regardless, she took the rose and smelled the petals. “It is lovely, though. Thank you.”

  Devin let out a slow breath. �
�If we can both be candid, what should I get you next time?”

  A soft smile graced her lips. “If there is a next time, you can just get me chocolates, or maybe seeds.”

  “Like sunflower seeds?”

  She shook her head. “No, sunflowers are so hard to grow.”

  It then occurred to him that she meant seeds that she could plant, not eat. “So, you like to garden?”

  A tiny sparkle of enthusiasm came to her warm brown eyes and Devin’s heart might have skipped a beat. “Absolutely. My sister and I have a big garden in our backyard. We grow all sorts of vegetables and flowers.”

  “But, you never cut them. The flowers, I mean.”

  Krystal glanced down to the rose in her hand. “Right. We eat the vegetables, obviously, but we prefer to just admire the flowers.”

  They weren’t even seated at the dinner table yet and he was learning so much about her already. Yeah, he had screwed up and thought she would be like any conventional woman. She didn’t appreciate the flower as he had hoped, but at least she was honest and chose not to resent him for it.

  What girl would have such patience?

  “Oh, before I forget,” Krystal said as she opened up her rather large and eclectic looking purse. She retrieved her wallet and Devin immediately waved her off.

  “No, no. I was just giving you a hard time about the license. It’s all right.”

  Krystal shot him a fiendish look and stuffed it back into the open compartment of her purse. “You really freaked me out about that,” she scolded playfully. “I’ve never gotten a ticket in my life.”

  “Well, I’m sorry I freaked you out. I was just messing around. At least I can make up for it with dinner, right?”

  Krystal looked to Mama Pazzini’s and blinked as if she had completely forgotten that they did have a dinner engagement. “Right, yeah. You ready to go in?”

  In all truth, Devin was content to stand with her in the cold all night, talking about gardening and whatever other secret, eccentric hobbies she might have. But, he was hungry, and the garlic bread smelled way too good to ignore.