Chapter 12

As Skyler returned to her desk, her heart raced. She certainly hadn’t expected the pen to make such a difference so quickly. Apparently, her spell had been more potent than she’d realized. The minute he’d touched the damn thing, Chad’s entire body shivered, and within seconds of having placed it in his shirt pocket, he was asking her to lunch. It made her nervous. She was an excellent, powerful witch, but maybe she’d taken this little project too far. She didn’t want Chad to be a droid that just followed the feelings instilled in him by the talisman. She simply wanted it to guide him in a particular direction so he could act of his own free will from there.

But then, it was magic, and sometimes it was a little screwy, to the point that you got a semblance of what you asked for but not exactly in the way you asked for it. Taking a deep breath and trying to shake off her boss’s unexpectedly chipper reaction, she pulled up her story, with all the edits he’d requested still incomplete. She frowned at the comments, many of them quite scathing, and decided to test her theory—and her little potion—to see if he was completely under her spell.

Closing that window, she pulled up the original and printed two copies, one for each of them to reference over lunch, and stacked them on her desk in a manila folder. The morning dragged on forever, and Skyler considered calling Jayden, giving her a little nugget of what Ava was planning for David, the Jerk, to get her interested enough to come over tonight. However, she couldn’t concentrate on that aspect of her life right now. She was too busy casting furtive glances toward Chad’s office to see what he was up to. And it seemed like every time she looked up, he was staring at her.

When the instant message popped up on her screen, she almost missed it. Skyler was almost neurotically terrified of what might happen today, and her whole body shook. But as she finally read the message, Ready to go? from Chad, she breathed a sigh of relief. Of course, she was still nervous, but at least the moment of truth had arrived. Responding and telling him she’d be right there, she grabbed her purse and the folder and stood.

Chad was already standing, donning his jacket, and he wore a smile more like the one he’d had the day he’d first waltzed into her life. Had that really only been a couple of days ago? Chad Pearson had already wreaked enough havoc in her life to make it feel like ten lifetimes. The thought made her wonder if she would live that long, and if she’d be able to keep up her looks for that many decades. She ignored the unreasonable thought; it wasn’t something any witch had the ability to foresee. Instead, she stood outside Chad’s office door with the type of smile she hoped would make any man weep with desire.

He joined her momentarily, and, silently, they left together. He was so quiet it put Skyler on edge, and as they neared the café, she asked him, “Do you come here often?”

He shrugged. “I live on the other side of town, so I didn’t really pay any attention to it until I started working here. But according to half the staff, the food is excellent, and I know you’ve been here. I assume you enjoy it.”

“I do.” This was turning into a very odd conversation, but as she eyed the pen in his pocket, she could only think that she’d done a bang-up job last night. It was just too bad that selling her services to those who were desperate for love was morally offensive, though she wouldn’t put it past her mother to do such a thing. “But we could go anywhere. If there’s some place you prefer, I’m more than willing to try it.”

But Chad just shook his head. “No, I’ve been a bit of an ass to you, and I want to do something to show I mean it when I say I want to call a truce. So, we’re going to a place you love.” Skyler wanted to stare at him and ask him if he was feeling okay, but she was well aware of what was going on. Her heart fluttered unprovoked at the idea that this gorgeous man was already falling in love with her. She reminded herself that her feelings weren’t real, only brought on by her own incantation and subject to Chad’s response. Apparently, his feelings were building quickly and becoming incredibly strong.

With a hesitant smile, she told him, “I appreciate that. I would love to start over, see if we can’t work together amicably.”

He opened the door for her and followed her in. She didn’t realize how close behind her he was until she felt his breath on her neck when he spoke. “I’m sure we can come to some sort of arrangement.” A chill ran down her spine, and instantly, the image of him breathing intimate words against her neck as they lay together in bed, him on top of her, inside her as she writhed beneath him, popped into her head.

How was she going to sit through this lunch, looking across the table at him when all she could think about when she saw his face was crazy, passionate sex? Swallowing hard, she tried to ignore the words and just go with the flow. But she was definitely hot and bothered. As they took a seat, Skyler was too nervous for idle chit-chat. She glanced at the menu and fidgeted, using breathing exercises to calm herself enough to discuss business and see what happened.

Once they’d ordered, Chad found a way to break the ice. “I have to ask, do you always eat this light, or are you just embarrassed to fill your stomach in front of me?” His eyes danced with mirth as he eyed her and the salad she’d ordered.

Skyler rolled her eyes as she pushed the lettuce around in the bowl. “You know, I don’t usually have a huge appetite at lunch. Now, breakfast can be a large affair, and at dinner, I usually eat enough for two. But I try not to let anyone know about my eating habit because then I get funny looks, like everyone is just waiting for me to explode into some fat cow. It’s never going to happen, though, I can guarantee that.” She knew she was rambling, but she could tell she had Chad’s rapt attention.

“That’s an interesting fact I wasn’t prepared for. I guess we’re all human after all.” He chuckled, but Skyler tensed. Human, perhaps, but not mortal. He’d hit too close to home, and it took a moment for her to recover. What if he found out what she was? There was a code, a secrecy that forever surrounded their practice. He continued, “Even so, I don’t expect you to balloon out. You look fabulous, and with your ego, I doubt that will ever change. You’ll be the hottest ninety-year-old woman in history.”

Well, there was confirmation of attraction, at least. She let herself blush as she told him, “That’s the goal. I see you as one of those men who ages so gracefully that you only get sexier as you get older. Eventually, you’ll walk down the street and have women bowing at your feet for the chance to wash them.”

He laughed. “I’m no messiah. But thank you for the compliment.”

Finally, she felt confident enough to open the folder, pushing the top copy of her article toward him. “So, this is why we’re here, right?” She took a deep breath and lied, “Listen, I have a final copy with the changes you requested, but I wanted to talk about the original. I got your notes on what to change, but I wasn’t sure why some of those notes were there.” She gave him a pleading look as he took hold of the pages, lifting it to read the print as if it were new material.

She was silent, eating her food, while she waited for him to reread the entire document. Chad’s scowl faded slightly as he came to the end, and when he put the paper down on the table, he looked across the table at her with serious eyes. “I’d say it was perfect the way it is, but I’d be lying. At the same time, I think I made a mistake trying to change it so much. After all, you have loyal readers, and that’s because you have a distinct voice. People with recognizable writing like yours make bank for a publication, and I think that I was looking for dollar signs based on the wrong belief of quality. After all, in this case, the quality isn’t in diction and perfect prose. It’s in that voice that attracts people to you. You are quite talented, and I apologize if I said anything to make you feel otherwise.”

Skyler just stared, dumbfounded, trying to find the wherewithal to respond and having extreme difficulty. She stuttered, “I . . . so, what are you saying?”

He shrugged. “I want you on staff, Skyler. I don’t want to lose perhaps our most valuable writer. So, I’m going to let you write your articles your way and stop asking so much in terms of changes. Granted, I might make a small suggestion here and there, but I respect you enough to give you a lot more leash than I’m allowing anyone else on staff.”

“I’m flattered,” she told him, doing a happy dance on the inside. This was heaven, priceless. Skyler couldn’t believe her luck, even if she’d been the one to make it. She wanted to shout about it, brag to the world what she’d accomplished, but she knew she couldn’t. Instead, she was simply going to do herself proud and milk it for what it was worth. “So, we’re publishing the article as-is?”

He nodded. “I can’t see why not. It reads similarly to the other ones you’ve written recently, and the publication’s audience loves your work. Let’s just do that, and I’ll stop being such a jerk. I guess I was a little intimidated by you and the way the world seemed to revolve around you when I first showed up. Now, I understand why it seems that way.” Chad’s expression was adoring, and this time, when Skyler blushed, it was honest.