Lena shrugged as she grinned into his incredible emerald green eyes. “How could I be embarrassed, Deputy Dawg? I asked you out, didn’t I? A woman has got to try.” She chuckled and leaned back. “Three steaks? Are you really going to eat all that? That’s one big appetite you have there.”
Calix felt his dragon roar loudly inside him. His beast had been quiet all afternoon and not made a sound until he’d walked into the restaurant and saw Dr. Verglas sitting at a table. The laughing woman was causing his dragon to have fits.
He stared hard to see if he could make her squirm. He didn’t know what to think when her smile widened at his stare. “I normally eat two steaks. Tonight I could probably eat six, but I didn’t want to scare you… or bankrupt you. I can pick up my own tab if my appetite’s too much for your wallet.”
“My wallet and I will survive,” Lena said with a chuckle. With a 1.2 million grant on the line, it would be worth what she paid for his three steaks if she won him over. “Have you lived in Magic all your life?”
Calix shook his head. “No, I…. I used to spend my summers here. The sheriff is my cousin.”
“Where did you go after you grew up?” Lena asked.
Now how could he describe dragon fight training to a mere human? “I went to college then into a special branch of the military, but it’s one I’m not allowed to talk about. Please don’t be offended.”
“Why would I be offended?” Lena asked.
“Because I’m refusing to tell you something?” Calix answered with a snort. “It’s happened to me before.”
Lena chuckled at his grumbling. “Not happening tonight. This is dinner—not an inquisition. We can talk about anything you want or nothing at all. Since I love to talk, I can fill in all the uncomfortable silence with my chatter, but I’d much rather hear your story.”
Calix shook back his shaggy hair and found he couldn’t look away from her intent gaze on him. His story? Up to now, only Theo had asked him anything about his life before he came to Magic.
“After a few years of military service, Theo contacted me. He said the sheriff job had gotten to be more than he could handle alone and that he needed help. He omitted telling me that I’d be mainly looking for runaway kids and solving crazy arguments over cow ownership instead of doing any real peacekeeping.”
Lena grinned. “I imagine to a quiet little town like Magic what you’re doing is real peacekeeping. I walked here from the inn and intend to walk back. I’m not even worried about it. You and the sheriff must be good at your jobs because I feel safe here. After living in the big city of Albuquerque, that’s not a small thing to me.”
Calix smiled at her praise but felt compelled to warn her about the truth. “People need to be just as careful here in Magic as they would in someplace like Albuquerque, Dr. Verglas.”
“Call me Lena… please. We both had to deal with naked men today. We’re beyond formality.”
“Okay. Lena,” Calix conceded with a shrug, listening to his dragon roar happily. “My name is Calix.”
“Calix. I like that. It’s very interesting and it explains your shaggy hair.”
“My name explains my hair?” Calix repeated, grinning at her strange logic.
“Yes. Aren’t your parents Greek?” Lena asked, peering at him over her glasses.
Calix snorted. Were dragons ever anything? They had settled in that land so it was close enough to the truth. “Yes. They are Greek.”
Lena lifted a shoulder and let it drop. “Then yes—your Greek heritage explains your hair. But don’t worry, Deputy Dawg, your shaggy locks make you look very sexy.”
When the food came, they ate in companionable silence. Calix lifted his head when he was half-way through the second steak. “Sorry that I’m not more talkative. I really meant it about not eating all day.”
Lena swallowed what she’d been chewing and waved her knife and fork. “If you want, order a fourth steak. It should be out by the time you finish the third one.”
Calix’s mouth dropped open at the offer. He leaned an elbow on the table. “That’s probably the nicest thing a woman has ever said to me in my entire life. Are you flirting with me, Dr. Verglas?”
Lena laughed at his teasing and rolled her eyes. “Aw shucks, Deputy Dawg, you have me all flustered now.”
Calix frowned at her unusual reaction. “I wasn’t being sarcastic… or teasing. It was a serious query. I’d like to know.”
Lena laughed again but also saw he meant his statement. “Okay. Here’s my serious answer then. If I was flirting with you, you’d damn well know it.”
“I would? How would I know?” Calix demanded.
Lena smiled, scooping up the last bit of her baked potato. She slid it into her mouth and then licked the fork clean while he watched. She chewed while he stared into her twinkling eyes the whole time. Lord, he was a beautiful male—most handsome she’d ever seen up close. Calix shoved all those naked aliens right out of her mind.
When she could talk again, Lena laughed with real pleasure over his flirting. “You’d know I was flirting because I’d be in your big old Deputy Dawg lap doing all kinds of wicked things to get you to lighten up a bit. I’m not any more subtle than your little crush, but I have a way better sense of timing. And food comes before sex… or at least, that’s my rule. You were starving. You’re going to be much nicer after you get full.”
Calix’s dragon roared loudly at her words. He marveled at the insistent demand for him to pay real attention to Lena. But why her? His dragon roared again in answer, but Calix still didn’t get it. However, a surprisingly comfortable grin found its way to his mouth.
“Maybe we can have sex for dessert,” he boldly suggested, meeting her twinkling gaze. Lena had pretty eyes, even behind the glasses.
Lena smiled and lifted her chin. “Now look who’s being charming.”
A commotion across the restaurant had Lena turning just in time to see an actual red and white fox snarling as it took a running leap at her head. She squealed in alarm and was further stunned when Calix smoothly reached out and nabbed the fox in mid-air. He’d somehow managed to keep it from landing on her. Thank God. Lena blinked in shock over what had almost happened.
Her knife and fork slipped from her fingers to clatter against her plate. “Holy shit. Is that what I think it is?”
“Damn it,” Calix said in irritation, turning the fox to face him. “What in the hell do you think you’re doing?” He stood up with the fox still gripped in his hand and slammed his deputy hat back on his head. He looked at Lena regretfully. “Excuse me while I take care of this. Guess my day isn’t getting any better after all.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” Lena said, picking up her wine with fingers that were still shaking from her close call. She pointed at the protesting animal gripped in his fingers. “Is that a real fox? Cause it looks like a real fox. My panic is telling me that’s a real fox too. I just… Everyone is staring at us now.”
“I know. I’m sorry this happened tonight. And I’m getting tired of having to apologize because of other people.” Calix breathed in and out as he looked for calm.
He was going to have to call Topper to erase Lena’s memories if this shit kept happening. He lifted the squealing fox and shook it gently to make his point. Karen squealed in protest, but he didn’t care.
“This fox comes in here all the time. She’s like a stray pet in Magic. I may have to talk to the restaurant’s owner tonight though. Animals who don’t know how to behave shouldn’t be allowed in establishments where humans are coming in to eat a peaceful dinner.”
Lena winced for the trouble the restaurant owner was going to have over the fox and motioned for him to go. “It’s okay, Calix. Go do what you have to do. I’ll be right here when you get back. No worries.”
Calix tipped his hat. “Thanks, Lena. I’m counting on it. Don’t let them take my dinner away. I’m not done yet.”
By the time Calix returned from locking Karen up for the night, an hour ha
d passed, and Lena had nearly finished her bottle of wine. She was also listening to a Troll named Ferguson telling her stories about the crazy stuff his rabbits did. Trolls and their rabbits were not that entertaining to him, but Lena kept grinning.
Calix knew Lena had no idea what Ferguson really was. She probably just thought he was an ugly, wrinkled old man. He glared at Ferguson and then at the table when he saw his food was gone.
Lena put a hand on Ferguson’s arm. “Hit the pause on your story for a minute.” She turned to Calix. “Don’t be getting all Deputy Dawg mad again. They’re making you a fresh steak. They’ve been watching for you to return, and they’re even staying open late for us. The owner said he was really sorry for the trouble earlier and that our dinner was on the house.”
Calix grunted as he slid into his seat across from her again. “I’d prefer my dinner to be on my plate.”
Lena giggled at his poor joke. The bottle of wine had made everything funnier and nearly numbed what remained from her earlier shock. “I’m definitely making a mental note about how testy you get when you’re hungry.” She turned back to her storyteller. “Go on, Ferguson. Our good deputy can wait for my full attention a bit longer.”
Lena winked at Calix while Ferguson picked up his story and finished it. After the older man excused himself, Lena turned back to her unusual, but still incredibly sexy date. What happened earlier—or almost happened—now seemed like a bad dream. Even with all the wine she’d drunk this evening, she’d never been more sober than she was at that moment.
Sitting across from Calix felt both incredibly surreal and as natural as if they’d known each other forever. “You didn’t hurt that poor little fox, did you?” she asked.
Calix snorted at Lena’s instant sympathy. The human female seemed to have buckets of it. No, he hadn’t hurt Karen, but he’d burned her ears good with his lecture over shifting in front of a human and then going on the attack.
“I locked her up in a cage for the evening. Sheriff Theo can decide what to do with her tomorrow. That’s one good thing about just being a deputy. My job ends after I bring them in.”
Lena sipped her wine as a more subdued server brought out Calix’s food and left quietly. “We got a new waitperson while you were gone. I think your little girlfriend left. Maybe it was our flirting. Guess she didn’t want to compete with me.”
“Karen is a nice kid, but she is definitely not my girlfriend,” Calix said firmly, cutting a bite off his fresh steak. He studied his food and sighed before lifting his gaze. “And a sexy woman like you is always going to rise above any and all competition. I’m sure you already know that.”
“Listen to you,” Lena said softly. “Don’t look now, Deputy Dawg, but you’re being charming again. Since I’m in a reciprocal mood, I hope that’s intentional.”
“I’m an intentional kind of guy, and I can’t believe you’re still sitting here when I was gone for over an hour,” Calix said honestly.
“I told you I was going to stay. Plus, it was the least I could do for a man who probably saved me from having to get rabies shots. Foxes carry that, you know. It’s not just something you find in dogs, skunks, and squirrels. I’m a professor, so I know a lot of random information like that. Plus, I looked it up on my phone while I was looking for the bottom of my bottle of wine and getting over my shock that a fox nearly landed on my head.”
Laughing at her joking, Calix sighed in pleasure as he started back in on his steak. “We have lots of animals in Magic, but not one of them has rabies. I can say this with complete certainty because Topper’s husband, Stark, tracks them down and makes them get vaccinated.”
“Topper?”
Calix frowned. Shit. He’d just dug himself a big-mouthed hole and buried himself in it. He wasn’t doing much better than Karen.
“Magic’s too small for normal political offices. You could say Topper is the unofficial mayor of Magic. She keeps tabs on everything and everyone here. The woman pops up all over town and you wonder where she came from.”
“Really? She sounds fascinating. Is she the person I need to see about my snow dome?” Lena stopped grinning when Calix stopped devouring his food to stare at her. “What? What’s wrong now?”
“I can’t believe I actually forgot why you were here. Every time I looked at you this evening all I was thinking about was…”
“Having dessert later?” she suggested. Lena giggled when he got even quieter. “It’s okay, Calix. Everyone loves dessert.”
She kept forgetting her goals too, but a bottle of good wine distracted a person, no matter how dedicated they were to their scientific goals.
Calix grinned and slowly nodded. “Dessert? Yeah, I guess that’s about right. I love dessert.”
“Me too,” Lena said, pointing to his plate. “But don’t talk to me about having dessert until you clean your plate. You’re a grumpy man when you’re hungry. You are not leaving this restaurant tonight until you’ve eaten your fill.”
It gave her the most wonderful sense of anticipation when Calix smiled wickedly and laughed.
Chapter Four
It was midnight when Calix finally finished eating, and one in the morning when he insisted on walking her back to the inn. They laughed as they walked. She told him stories about her stuffy co-workers. He told her stories about spending summers getting into trouble with Theo and Theo’s older brother.
“We were all wild back then. Not bad wild, but we kept our parents hopping. Theo was the instigator.”
Lena laughed. “Were you surprised when your troublemaking cousin grew up and became a Sheriff?”
Calix shook his head. “No. After Theo’s brother left Magic and disappeared, nothing was ever the same. I think we all grew up after that. Theo decided the law was his life. I decided I wanted to see the world. I used the military to do it.”
“Did you get to do it? See the world, I mean?” Lena asked.
Calix lifted one shoulder. “I traveled a lot. Guess I never really found what I was looking for. Theo called me a few months ago and offered me a job here as his deputy. I didn’t think twice. I resigned that day and came to Magic. I even bought a house.”
Lena smiled. “I’m curious, Calix. What were you looking for all that time you were traveling the world? I’m not just making small talk. I really want to know.”
“Purpose. Meaning. Happiness,” Calix answered. “Isn’t that what everyone wants?”
“Sure,” Lena said, boldly slipping her arm through his. The man was tall. So was she. It felt great to walk with him. “Those things are what we all want, but I think some of us aren’t ready to find them. I’m definitely not ready to settle down and have some man’s babies. I’ve got things to do first. I figure I got time.”
Calix frowned. Lena would have a normal human lifetime—but that was all. Why did that thought make him so sad? They stopped in front of where she was staying, and Lena slipped her arm from his. He missed her touch immediately. Too bad she was one more problem Magic didn’t need.
Lena tilted her head back to study the sky. “Is the moon full tonight? It looks like I could reach up and touch it.”
Calix’s face raised to the sky too. “It looks like that a lot here in Magic, but actually, the moon won’t be full until Thursday. If you’re still here, you probably want to stay in that evening. Magic gets wild around the full moon. The witches in town come out to dance naked in the town square.”
Lena laughed and grabbed her belly. This place was unreal. “Are you seriously telling me you have naked aliens and naked witches here in Magic?”
Calix chuckled because he knew Lena didn’t believe him—not one bit. He could tell her the truth all night long, but being human, she didn’t have the capacity to understand. “We even have witches who are married to aliens. Magic is one hell of a town.”
Lena laughed. “You are a funny man, Deputy Dawg. I’d really like it if you kissed me now.”
“Guess I wouldn’t mind doing that,” Calix teased, smi
ling when she laughed again. He cupped her face in one his large hands. “Thanks for dinner. Thanks for waiting for me. Thanks for being so beautiful and nice.”
“Thanks for saving me from the fox attack. I was very impressed with your firm grasp of the situation.” Lena giggled. “Did you get that? I was making a pun.”
“I got it. You just had to remind me of the worst part of the evening though, didn’t you?” Calix said, bending down until he could press his lips gently against Lena’s.
Kissing her was heavenly. He wanted more.
Dragon fire rose inside him as his mouth slid deliciously across hers. When Lena moaned, Calix stepped into her and scooped her body close. His tongue slid across hers, making them both blissful. The woman’s trembling response delighted him.
He played with her tongue, nibbled her lips, and ran his hands everywhere. He wanted to do it for hours. He wanted to do a lot more than just kiss her.
Desire for her was now a fire burning in his blood.
Lena was breathing hard when Calix stopped kissing her long enough to let her breathe. Lord, the man was good at kissing. Had any man ever made her feel like there was a fire burning her up? She couldn’t remember this level of desire happening before. She didn’t want to miss finding out what else he could make her feel.
“I’m the only customer at the inn tonight. I have the whole place to myself. You want to come up to my room and kiss me some more?”
“I want it in the worst way,” Calix whispered back. “But I don’t know what…”
Lena’s firm finger over his lips stopped his disclaimer. He chuckled beneath it, his lips curving when she tapped them.
“We each got our opinions about whether or not I should be here. I figure this chemistry is the personal magic I found here in Magic. What’s between us seems worth setting our differences of opinion aside for a night or two. Don’t you agree?”
“Do you really mean that?” Calix asked softly.
“Yes. Just tell me you’ll still think I’m charming and beautiful in the morning. I know it won’t change anything else and I won’t ask for it to.”
Topper's Magical Christmas: My Crazy Alien Romance, Book 4 (Magic, New Mexico 40) Page 4
