Jenny stared at the open cookbook on her counter. She’d read the recipe a half dozen times, spacing out over and over before she could gather all the ingredients. A month had gone by since Joshua had left Assjacket. After their magical day on the beach, something had shifted in the way she felt about him, and she missed him. His calls and texts came regularly, and he was constantly zapping flowers and small presents to her home. Yet they were states away, officially long-distance. Easier for them to deal with in their immortal world than it would be for poor mortals, who couldn’t just transport to see each other. It didn’t make it much easier when they each had work to contend with.
Before he’d left for Vermont, they’d had dinner alone at her home. They’d cooked together, laughing and sharing a bottle of delicious wine he’d brought. Afterward, she’d surprised him with a cup of his favorite pain-in-the-ass coffee to sip while they sat on the front porch and watched the sun set over the various colors of fall trees. The last thing he left her with was their first and only kiss.
It wasn’t a friendly peck. He’d packed it full of desire and heat, making her want things she never knew she was missing. It was as if the man had purposely left her hanging on the edge, wishing he’d come back. Since that night, there had been no amount of baking, working at the diner, or cleaning her already spotless home to combat the edginess he’d created. Every time she saw his name light up her phone, the neediness grew. The man created such an edginess within her, she was afraid she’d combust if she didn’t get something a hell of a lot more from him, and soon.
Jenny walked to her kitchen table and sat down, laying her head on top of her folded arms, and tried to breathe her way off the ledge.
“Stupid man,” she whispered. But he was the opposite of stupid. He was sizzling hot and made her dreams at night more vivid than she could handle, and his voice made her want to transport north up the coast and show up on his doorstep unannounced. Something her grandmother Von Zuzle would never approve of. Traditions, dating, and appropriate behavior were things the Von Zuzles were supposed to understand, supposed to abide by. Jenny transporting for a booty call was not even close to the list. Goddess only knew what her grandmother would do. For all Jenny knew, she could have Jenny sent to the magic pokey.
She knocked her forehead against her arm a few times. “Why, why, why? How did I let him get to me like this? Blahhhhh!”
Jenny wanted to continue her private hissy fit, but a knock at the front door interrupted her.
“Hmmm. Seems you have a visitor.” Gonzo purred and rolled his eyes on his way to his food bowl. “Lucky for you, I was about to start recording your ridiculousness for all the familiars to laugh at.”
“You can’t record a damn thing. You’re a cat.”
“I have my ways. Don’t underestimate me, princess.”
“Fuck a duck. I’m arguing with a spoiled bratty animal. What the hell is next?” Jenny asked as she swung the front door open.
The swoon-worthy, cover-model-gorgeous man from Vermont stood before her, wearing one of his several-thousand-dollar custom-tailored suits and a smile, and holding a bouquet of colorful Gerbera daisies.
Joshua held out the bouquet. “Surprise! I hope I’m not interrupting.”
“You’re interrupting her, all right. Let me tell you alllllll about it.” Gonzo purposely dragged out the word, embarrassing her to Goddess’s high heavens as he walked by.
“Shut the mmm-mmm-mmm up, you little asshat.” Jenny gritted her teeth as she shooed her familiar away, ungrateful despite the roof over his fat ass and the unlimited food supply she provided him. “I’ll send you back to wherever smoked-gouda-lacking, gorgonzola-deprived place it was you came from.”
His gray ears lay back flat against his head, and his eyes narrowed. “You wouldn’t.” Gonzo hissed.
“Does a fat cat love cheese?” Jenny taunted back, her hand on her hip. It was his Achilles heel, and she knew it.
He whipped his head away from her and sauntered toward her bedroom. She’d at least gotten in the last word, which didn’t happen often with the little bastard she’d been stuck with. She and her familiar tolerated each other, but it was definitely not the love-and-adoration type of connection Lessy and Muffin had.
A chill went over her skin. The front door was open, the fall air coming in. Reality came rushing back to her, and Jenny wanted to pound her head against the antique front door. “Oh my Goddess. Fuck a duck, you…” Slowly, she opened one eye. Yep. She nodded, answering her own question. “You heard all that and saw everything, didn’t you?”
To his credit, Joshua did a pretty good job trying to conceal his laughter at her expense. “I brought you flowers. Does that make it any better? Although, I believe you sort of stole my long-time saying.”
“I did?” Jenny moved back from the door and let him walk in.
“Fuck a duck? I believe that’s my line.” He winked.
“Nope, sorry, bucko. Been saying that since I could get away with curse words with my dad for a good chunk of time now.”
“Bucko? Hmm. I’m older, so I’ll play the age card against you there, my dear,” Joshua teased back.
“You are barely a hot minute older. You act like you’re two hundred or something.” Jenny walked toward the kitchen to get an empty vase from the last bouquet of flowers he’d sent. Running water into it, she placed the rainbow of colored blooms in it, arranging them, and then buried her nose in the sweet scent. “These are my favorite. Thank you, Joshua, for them and for each of the special treats you keep sending. But I hope you know it’s not necessary. I appreciate each token, but I don’t want you thinking I expect gifts from you.”
She was gently tugged by the arm away from the counter, then pulled toward his chest. “That’s exactly why I love spoiling you.”
Jenny dragged in a ragged breath as he drew her against him. Somewhere in time, her eyes had drifted closed as his lips covered hers, and she let go. The next thing she knew, a rush of air swirled around them, pressing them together unlike anything she’d ever witnessed, been a part of, or even heard about. It was like the best-kept secret, the answer to knowing if one had found the perfect mate. The kiss went on for what felt like eternity. Joshua’s hands roamed up and down her back as she locked her arms around his neck, anchoring herself to him.
The mysterious breeze died, her hair drifted down against her back instead of whipping around her, and the rushing sound stopped as quickly as it’d kicked up. Joshua’s lips became soft and sweet instead of demanding as the foggy feeling clouding her brain lifted. Jenny blinked several times, trying to focus on the green eyes she’d come to love staring back at her.
“I love you.”
Three little words Jenny would never have predicted a simple girl like her would hear from a man who was in a completely different class from her own. “Me?”
A line formed between his brows, his smile faded, and she felt like he was studying her intently. His fingers brushed her cheek before his knuckle tipped her chin up toward him, keeping their gazes on each other. “Yes…you, Jenny.”
“But you could have—”
“My mother warned me. Do not finish that sentence. I don’t want anyone else. I want you. I know we’ve only known each other for a short time, but that kiss, that was Fate’s way of showing you and me both that we’re meant to be together, so don’t try to deny it. We’d never have been able to manufacture that on our own. That was a destiny kiss if ever there was one. It’s never happened to me before, and I only knew it would happen with the right person because my mother told me it would with you. She said she just knew you were the one.”
“You told your mom about me? How would she know I was the one? She hasn’t even met me. And we’re from two totally different worlds. I’m a just-getting-by baker from a small immortal town. You’re a wealthy businessman who travels the globe among mortals for a living.”
“I’m going to stop you right there, Jenny Von Zuzle.” Joshua tugged her hand, easing them both toward the couch to sit and face each other, but he took her hands in his and didn’t let go. “I know you’re new to transporting and still nervous about that. We have eternity to get you comfortable traveling, and I would never rush you. Someday, you’ll be popping in and out of town like it was something you’d done your entire life.
“As far as money…don’t ever compare, and don’t use that as a wedge to keep us apart. I’d give up every dime to be with you. And I don’t have to travel as much as I always have. I can cut back on clients, I can cut back on scouting out listings ahead of time, and I can work from anywhere, even here, if you’ll have me.”
“Here?”
He nodded. “If you were all right with me being in your town? I could find an apartment or something.”
“How does your mom know about me? What all did you tell her about me?” Joshua only winked. Jenny pulled one hand loose to hide as much of her face with it as she could. “She’s a mind-walker like Bill’s mother, isn’t she?”
“And she has visions,” he whispered.
“Say what the magoogoogaleezacuck? What? What…kind…of, um, visions? Like, she-can-see-me-in-my-kitchen kind of shit?”
“Oh no, sweetheart. Just visions of the future. Like, she knew I’d find you in Assjacket before I ever came here to see Bill last month. She knew I needed to settle down and had to get here to find you. She knew I’d fall in love at first sight. She explained what kind of soul I needed to be happy with, and she knew your name before I told her I’d met you. She told me when I came today to kiss you and what would happen. And some other things. But no, she can’t just shake a crystal ball and watch us make out.” He waggled his brows at her.
Jenny swiped at him. “Don’t make fun. That’s not cool. Can you imagine if your mother could watch—you know—that?”
His smile returned, extra wide. “I don’t know. What is that you’re hinting at?”
Jenny did her best to pretend to be miffed, even growled at him. It only made Joshua laugh out loud. “No, she can’t see that. I promise.” He leaned in close. “I actually asked, because she was freaking me the hell out, and I had to know for myself.” Then he kissed her cheek.
“I will never in a bazillion centuries ever be able to look your mother in the face.”
“Well, that might be sort of a little issue. I came here to see if I could convince you to come to dinner with me tonight at my parents’ house. They’re dying to meet you, Jenny.”
Jenny’s jaw dropped open. “Holymagoly schiklepeterpeckers on a stick. Are you seriously serious right now, like serious? No way, Jose, Peter Piper, Ronald McDonald’s big fat red nose, absolutely not.”