Repossessed

by Shawntelle Madison

  Tessa sipped her soup, savoring the delicious blend of herbs, trying to distract herself from Rob’s hard stare. “Yes, during my lunch hour yesterday. Do you know this guy personally?”

  “All I need to know is that he can’t pay his bills on time. I returned property that didn’t belong to him.”

  Matilda hushed her nephew.

  Tessa scratched her cheek and took another generous bite of soup. In the middle of her third bite, she coughed as a strange urge to scratch her face deepened.

  “I’ll have to tell Clive to be on the lookout. Dagger isn’t a man to cross—” Rob leaned closer to peer at her from across the table. His mouth dropped as his forehead scrunched in horror. “Tessa, you ok?”

  Matilda glanced at her and gasped. “Oh no.”

  The itching turned into a burning which spread from her face to her fingers. Tessa glanced down to see angry hives erupting on her hands and arms.

  Oh fuckity-fuck!

  Everyone’s eyes drifted to her bowl of soup.

  “Do you have any allergies?” Rob asked, coming around the table.

  “No, not really.” Her tongue thickened in her mouth. “Only some rare herb called lovage. But how many people use that?”

  Arthur frowned. “For some reason, my wife does. Matilda, go get my Benadryl.” The elderly man took charge of the situation as Rob examined her. “Is her breathing labored?”

  “I itch like hell,” Tessa managed, “but I can breathe fine.” The need to claw at her neck was unsettling. She rubbed the hives on her arms instead.

  “Stop scratching yourself.” Rob grabbed her water. “Drink this for a bit.”

  Matilda arrived with medication and offered a dose.

  It was rather unnerving to sit there with three people staring at her wondering if at any minute she’d fall to the floor twitching and jerking in agony. Thankfully, her last allergic reaction had been over a decade ago. The reaction had been much worse with a trip to the hospital and a permanent ban from the leafy herb. Thank goodness she could still eat pineapples and tomatoes.

  “Could you guys back off a bit?” The slur from her enlarged tongue was gone.

  Matilda picked up plates from the table. “She’ll be fine.”

  The men didn’t back off. Matilda groaned and pushed them out of the way. “Tessa, come help me with the dishes.”

  “She’s a guest. I think you and I can handle it,” Rob suggested.

  “Nope. We got some talkin’ to do. You two go club yourselves over the head in the living room while watching TV.”

  With gentle fingers, Rob pushed her hair behind her ear.

  “Shoo, Minho.” Matilda waved her hands at him. Rob frowned but left her side as Arthur shuffled out of the room.

  Tessa picked up the soiled plates and entered the kitchen to help Rob’s aunt.

  After ten minutes, she was still covered in lumpy hives, but she settled into an easy rhythm drying plates. Matilda’s light conversation offered a diversion as the older woman passed her another dish. “We’d be destitute if Minho hadn’t come home to help pay our mortgage and bills.” She frowned. “Some hotshot investor type bought out our local bank. The rates went up and we didn’t have a dime to spare.”

  Tessa nodded while rubbing a lumpy spot on her elbow.

  “Arthur needs heart medication and, well, I have a laundry list of drugs that don’t come cheap.”

  “You don’t have any family in town?”

  “Minho’s dad used live here, but he passed away a few years ago. His birth-mother, my younger sister’s best friend, passed away not long after he was born. A few years later his dad took my sister as his wife—but she too was called to the heavens. He doesn’t have any parents so I try so hard to take good care of him.”

  The familiar ache of loss cut into Tessa. The pain of her grandmother’s death still ran deep. Visits from her ghost wasn’t the same as the feeling Tessa had as a kid. The Kilburn matriarch might’ve been stiff at times, but she gave the best hugs when the people who irked her weren’t around.

  Tessa might’ve lost her grandma, but she’d never felt the loss of a parent before. Even though her dad wasn’t the greatest guy, at least she still had him.

  Another question came to mind. “If he’s enlisted, how did he manage to come home? If you don’t mind?” Tessa quickly added, “I don’t mean to pry.”

  Matilda smiled. “Minho’s been in the military since graduating from high school. Before coming back, we hadn’t seen him for ten years. He showed up not too long ago saying he’d left the Navy.” Her fingers played with the washcloth and she stifled a sob. “We never thought anyone would help us.”

  Tessa placed her hand on Matilda’s back, sympathizing with the woman’s money problems. Tessa was afloat now, but how long would that last?

  Matilda sighed, offering a brave smile for Tessa’s benefit. “Enough about me. Tell me more about yourself. I don’t often have another water witch in my kitchen.”

  Tessa began by briefly describing her move to NYC to open her matchmaking business. She then continued, chatting fondly of the women of her family—her aunts, mother and the antics of her matchmaker grandmother. Finally, she vented about owning a new business. How she rode the rough waves of financial problems. From slow-paying werewolves to picky, cranky warlocks, Tessa hated to admit that money problems revolved around anyone. “The hardest thing is the possibility of losing it all. Not only would I fail my grandmother, my primary investor, but I’d likely have to turn tail and return home to a dead-end job.” After the words left her lips, she rubbed the last dish again for the umpteenth time. Matilda grabbed Tessa’s hands and took the dish away.

  “Perhaps fair winds may blow in your direction as well. The storm must end eventually.”

  Matilda’s statement offered her temporary comfort, but Tessa couldn’t help the apprehension that swiftly smothered it.

  After they finished cleaning up, Rob walked with her outside and offered to take her home. “I wouldn’t want you captured by the circus for the new elephant man exhibit.” He poked at one of her bumps with a smile.

  Oh damn, did she look that crazy? Time to retreat to the protected confines of a cab. “No need, the Privileged Princess Patrol can find her own way home.”

  She dialed for a cab and tried not to scratch the itchy blobs on her face. During the whole time, she avoided looking at his face. Why have him see her at her worst? She didn’t need a mirror to know she resembled a pepperoni pizza.

  When the cab arrived, Rob held the door open a second longer. Then he blocked her path—even when she tried to pass him. Less than a foot separated them.

  Sooner or later a conversation would have to take place—she hoped. Where was this going? What was he doing to her?

  “Are you sure you don’t need help home?” he asked. “Dagger isn’t a man to cross.”

  She nodded, reluctantly tearing her gaze away from his arresting brown eyes. “I’ll be careful.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  Dating Tip #15: Taking a fairy out on a date requires planning, persistence, and a lucrative payday. Never take her on a cheap outing. If she’s someone’s fairy godmother then she’s granting big time wishes everyday and your cheap dinner at the local greasy spoon won’t cut it.

  Rob told himself he shouldn’t have watched her cab pull away, but he did. Even as the car went around the corner, that same voice didn’t stop him from walking back into the house, grabbing his satchel, and marching right back out.

  Don’t get attached. Don’t start something you gotta let go.

  Listening to something like that seemed logical, but the feeling remained and now that hold pulled him toward the nearest jump point. He glanced at his watch. With afternoon traffic it should take her a while to get home. He’d beat her to her house again no problem.

  This back and forth game they played had become quite an amusing distraction.

  She was so sexy when she was flustered or angry. He couldn’t help but grin.
Then he laughed, remembering what had just gone down over lunch. Tessa’s face had swelled before his family’s very eyes, but she’d stayed calm when everyone else had panicked.

  He’d panicked, too. Why have her over to eat and then kill her with the chow?

  He’d never had a woman over to this house before. Not that he hadn’t dated or had a woman hang out at his old apartment back in Queens, but his aunt and uncle’s place in Brooklyn was off limits to brief flings. They pretty much expected him to bring home a good Korean girl like his dad had always wanted.

  For a moment he was caught off guard when a thought came to mind: was she just a distraction from what he needed to do with the time he had left? The money she offered was nice and all, but was he wasting his time playing watch dog with her when he could be out making some good money? Enough to help his aunt and uncle?

  A chortle rumbled from the satchel on his hip. His behavior wasn’t missed by Harabeuji either. “Where are we going in such a hurry, Doryeonim?”

  Rob stopped, his shoes scuffing against the sidewalk. It’d be so easy to brush her off. He was certain he could forget about her, but she’d warned him about that piece of shit warlock Dagger. The least he could do was keep her safe since she didn’t deserve to be a target. With a decision made he moved again.

  He’d keep her safe then focus on what was most important: wrapping things up with his relatives and getting back to where he belonged.

  Tessa was supposed to have gotten a reprieve that afternoon. Or at least an opportunity to hide until all the bumps had faded.

  Rob had different plans, though. He waited at her doorstep with a cheesy grin on his face. “I’m scared to think of what other means you’d use to get into Limbo, so I showed up.”

  Gee, thanks?

  They spent the afternoon at her place until the daylight faded into the night. As they left her place, she’d asked him a few times what they needed to do, but he was as helpful as a tome with vanishing ink. She’d have better luck figuring things out on her own. Once they reached their destination, she really thought she’d seen it all.

  Tessa stared at the factory across the street and scratched her forehead. “You’re kidding me, right? We’re breaking into a factory?”

  Rob frowned and pulled an usual hat from his satchel. She didn’t have much time to check out the black, pointy hat. By the time he placed it on his head, it slowly transformed into a Mets baseball cap. “I hate when you say that.”

  “What did you put on?”

  “A Korean troll’s hat called a gamtu. C’mon.”

  She’d never heard of such a thing. Hopefully it kept them out of trouble.

  After tonight, she could say to her friends she’d illegally entered homes, a meat-packing plant, and now a cheese-packaging facility. If Rob told her they needed to repo a magic staff from a peg-legged witch in a strip club, she would’ve believed him at this point.

  The factory hummed from the machines constantly moving packages down conveyor belts. Large machinery chirped as cheese products flipped into plastic and fell into boxes. A light skeleton crew moved about as they slinked around in the shadows. She followed Rob’s lead, darting between spaces and hiding behind boxes as they entered the main manufacturing floor.

  “Our buddy, Dagger, has been a busy boy,” he whispered in her ear. “He’s trying to push around property instead of holding onto it. So we need to repossess an amulet from Jasper. He keeps our target in the office space safe. There is a jump point directly to the president’s office from his home, but it’s well-guarded.”

  “I think you’re telling me I should be grateful we’re not using the jump point to leap directly into the action.”

  He cocked a small grin. “About time you caught on.”

  Rob crept along the main manufacturing floor toward the stairwell to the second floor office space.

  She grabbed his arm. “Are there any security cameras around here?”

  “Thanks to my hat we should be good. If you stay close enough to me, you’ll be cloaked. I’d advise you not to head to the work line to test out the quality of the cheese.”

  She pursed her lips and followed him up the staircase. After the staircase door shut behind them, the loud noises of the main floor quieted. As they ascended the stairs to the second level, she heard a door creak open above. Rob froze, his index finger moving to his mouth. Footsteps plodded down the steps. She held her breath, hoping a pissed off warlock hadn’t detected their presence. As the echoes of the footsteps approached, she couldn’t sense any magic. Nonetheless, he inched closer to her, covering her body with his. She tilted her head to glance past his shoulder to see a security guard walk past. He fumbled with his iPod as he descended the stairs and left.

  Rob poked her side. “Keep moving.”

  They walked down the marginally lit hallway to the main office floor. The faint glow of computer monitors from a small cluster of cubicles provided light as they weaved through the maze.

  On the way to the office they walked through a narrow space used for storage--someone skinny had stacked boxes of paper next to an ancient copy machine. As Tessa edged past the copy machine, a loud bleep startled her. She covered her mouth and turned to frantically search for a button to power down the device. Her heart beat increased ten-fold as she scanned the rows of options. Power button? Power button? Why the hell couldn’t copy machine designers put a bright “Turn This Bastard Off” button right where people expect it to be?

  Rob cursed as the overhead lights flicked on. “What are you doing?” He grabbed her by the elbow and ducked low. After they scrambled through the two or three rows, managing to find a storage closet along the wall. The lock opened with a soft click. Rob shoved her inside and closed the door behind him. Space in the closet was at a premium. The stacks of boxes extended into this room as well. Tessa stood on a single box against the wall so Rob could come inside.

  “How long do we stay in here?” she whispered.

  “Until the coast is clear.”

  “Why not use an invisibility spell? Or fight the guy?”

  Rob rolled his eyes. “The hat has a time limit for spellcasters. Also, I can’t cast too many spells here without drawing Jasper to his factory.”

  Faintly, the sounds of footsteps walking into the room crept under the gap in the door. The persistent bleeping of the copy machine died not long after.

  Tessa froze in the stuffy space of the closet. She glanced down at the faint line of light from underneath the door. They watched as a shadow crossed the door twice. Her perch on the box tittered. Before she fell forward, Rob’s hand locked on her hip to steady her. His other hand rested on the doorknob.

  Time ticked on. Far too slowly.

  Eventually the light lingered and the faint sounds of the guards arguing over sports filtered into the closet.

  “I can’t hold myself up for much longer. The box is collapsing.” Tessa’s legs buckled as her perch crumpled inward. One faint crunch echoed in the closet.

  “I won’t let you fall.”

  In the tight confines of the closet, Rob squatted against the opposite wall and reached for her to sit in his lap.

  “Isn’t this uncomfortable for you?” she asked.

  He grunted. Apparently, his repo man skill set included hours squatting in closets hiding from the enemy.

  “Am I too heavy?”

  “Your weight isn’t the issue right now.”

  She gazed at the door, ignoring the heat spreading from her body toward his. Her breath quickened as she snuggled deeper into his lap, shifting to find a comfortable position against his chest. How the hell did they always end up in a closet? She sensed a pattern forming as his lips brushed her ear. She leaned forward, apologizing softly.

  A heavy silence followed. All she could hear was her heavy breathing. Rob’s head drifted closer again. No matter how much she tried to remain still, her body trembled.

  Rock-hard thighs remained steady, offering a solid perch. How did this ma
n hold them up for so long?

  His mouth lingered near her earlobe. “I wouldn’t take you for a tease, Tee. You’ve been sending me all sorts of signals.” His words sent white-hot shocks down the nape of her neck. No one had called her Tee before.

  “No, I haven’t.” She licked her lips, intending to beg for him to leave her alone before her body betrayed her. He smelled so damn good. Her head turned away from the faint light under the door toward his.

  She should’ve faced forward and waited like a good girl. Instead, she angled herself to give him direct access.

  No hesitation. No words. Just lips brushing briefly together. She quickly shifted her gaze to the light shining under the door. That small move was foolish on her part. She tried to tell herself it wasn’t a kiss, even as he closed in on her neck. A delicious shiver, like fingertips tracing a path, flowed up her back as he nuzzled her neck. A few nuzzles turned into delightful kisses, then a suck here and there. Weren’t they here for something? She pushed against his chest and tried to stand. She was flush against the door, but at least she escaped Rob’s magic mouth.

  “I think the guard is gone.” Why did she have to sound so turned on?

  As Rob stood behind her, his hands slid up the outside of her thighs to her waist. She closed her eyes and bit the inside of her cheek. Tessa knew if she hadn’t stood they’d be making out like two bunny rabbits in heat.

  Rob leaned into her back and chuckled. “This isn’t over. I’m not done with you yet.”

  She needed a diversion to cool her nerves. “Could you teach me, once and for all, how to properly do an unlock spell?” Her voice was less unnerved, more confident.

  Rob didn’t speak. Did he plan to touch her again? Was she strong enough to say no? His hands fell. “We can’t cast too many spells right now, but I can show you want I can.”

  With proper instruction, and patience, Tessa learned how to cast an unlock spell like the best of them.

  Naturally, Rob had words of encouragement. “If I was unconscious and you were our only hope, I’d probably tell you to give up.”