* * *
Felicia was standing in the kitchen, preparing a spicy Indian marinade for roasted chicken breasts, when voices close by caught her attention. Wasn’t that Cindy, her roommate, talking to a man? Would she invite one of her ever-changing boyfriends into the house? Curiosity peaked, she walked to the window and lifted a corner of the white curtain to glance out. What she saw made her drop the curtain edge and nearly squeak in surprise.
Cindy was speaking to none other than her mysterious savior and latest library customer. What the…?! Had he not only spied out her work place but also her home address? Whatever made him think he had the right to do so? Fuming with fury, she lifted her hand to open to window and interfere when it dawned on her that she had no idea what to say, and her chances of winning a shouting match with him weren’t exactly high. She let her hand drop down and grip the window sill, pushing the hateful, accusing words back down and noticing her heat level had risen.
From where she stood, she couldn’t hear what they were saying. Her roomie was her usual flirty, extrovert self, and she wondered what she was chatting on about so readily, the man opposite her standing still as a statue and listening with a mask of politeness which might have hidden disinterest. He held out his hand and presented her with a book, before bestowing her with a high-wattage grin full of deadly charm and turning on his heel to leave.
She blew out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. The minutes it took Cindy to recover from swooning and gazing longingly after him before walking into the house. When she confronted her in the corridor, the young woman still had a ridiculous grin plastered on her face.
“My, Feli, you haven’t told me about your gorgeous new acquaintance,” she chirped, waving the book in the air like a trophy.
“Maybe that’s because there’s nothing to tell.”
Felicia ground her teeth together. More often than not, Cindy got on her nerves. Forestalling more nonsense, she asked, “What’s this?”
“Your…acquaintance...has left a present for you. Said he and you were appreciating the same kind of books and he was sure this one would be perfect for you.”
She was clueless what this was about. Snatching the book out of her roommate’s hands, she stormed past and into her room, not bothering that she wasn’t friendly in her behavior. She never was, and today wasn’t going to be an exception.
In her room, she stared at the unwanted present, muttering darkly to herself about his cheek and about how she would have thrown the book at his head if he had been anywhere in sight. Why the hell did he come over with a present for her? If at all—she cringed at the thought—it would have been logical for her to gift a thank-you to the man who had saved her from a raging fire.
What a nuisance!
She shook her head at the gaudy cover and the title. The Magic in You – How to control your healing powers. Nonsense!
The best thing was to forget she’d ever met this man and get on with her life, however unhappy she was with it.
Chapter 3
Playing with Fire (Book 1 of the FIRE Trilogy) Page 3
