Chapter Six

Zelda hadn’t spoken to Nicholas since he’d left her home in the wee hours of the morning that day, but the Houdini water chest was in her shop, and she’d promised him a chance to look at it. And though she felt more awkward than a turtle that had been flipped on its back, she was a woman of her word.

If only she could see him and not think of last night…

No!

She wasn’t going to dwell on it. She’d done her best to shove it to the back of her mind and move forward, but it was harder than she wanted to admit. She’d thought that maybe being with Nicholas would be a way for her to make peace with her own past, but so far, he’d done nothing but stir up emotions—long-buried old ones as well as new ones.

She reached for her phone and clicked on his name. The text message had been written for about four hours. As soon as the shipment had arrived, she’d known she’d have to contact him. Instead, she had spent long hours being more meticulous than usual in processing and logging each item in the lot.

She stood in front of the water chest, her hand lightly touching it. So many tricks had spun from this one Houdini dazzler. Her own family had famously used it as the basis for their spectacular show-ending, and ultimately career-ending, stunt.

She swallowed hard and then hit send on the text message. She had made peace with her past—or as much peace as she could. It had to be Nicholas dredging these memories up. The sooner he came and checked out the chest, the better.

If it wasn’t his and he didn’t want to buy it, she was going to offload it on the first customer who was interested in it. She should never have brought this into her life. At the time, she’d thought that it might help her move on. That enough time had passed for her to be able to do more than dabble in magic.

She had thought…

What? That she was stronger now? That, finally, she was ready to face everything? The nightmare the other night had shot that theory to hell.

She jumped when the doorbell rang and then turned to see Molly walking toward her. Her friend had a large tote bag on her shoulder and was trying to manage two to-go coffee cups and a bag from Lou’s Bakery.

Zelda ran over to grab one of the cups from Molly.

“Nicholas Pine turned out not to be the d-bag we thought he was,” Molly said by way of greeting.

She could feel herself blushing, which was ridiculous because she knew she had nothing to be embarrassed about. Their night together had been just about perfect…although she’d never drink tequila again without remembering Nicholas naked.

“You’re blushing… Okay, what happened? I want deets.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know where to start.”

“Just get to the hot, juicy part,” Molly said. “But the beginning would probably be a better place. You can’t just be like ‘then I licked his left pec’ to start a story.”

She choked on the sip of coffee she’d been taking. “I didn’t lick him, but I wish I had.”

Molly lifted her coffee cup in a toast. “This is definitely a story I want to hear.”

Molly put the bakery bag down on the counter, and they both leaned against it, Zelda facing the door so she’d see if anyone came into her shop. Molly knew all about her life now. But no one knew about her past. And she didn’t want to discuss that today. So she decided to skip the details of the nightmare.

“I was having trouble sleeping and had gone to the kitchen to get something to drink just as he stopped by to drop something off for Stetson.”

“What was it?”

“A magic set. It’s expensive… I looked it up on Amazon this morning.”

She wasn’t surprised. Nicholas wasn’t one to make small gestures. He was too much of a showman for that.

“That’s nice.”

“It is. So he saw your light on and what…?”

“He rang the doorbell. I wasn’t going to answer, but when I saw it was him…”

“And then you licked him?”

“Moll, I told you there was no— Well I didn’t lick him,” Zelda said.

“I could tell there was licking. You are turning seven shades of pink,” she said.

“That’s because I’m a redhead. Anyway, we talked and drank some tequila, and then one thing led to another, and before you know it, he had his shirt off. And…then stuff happened.”

“Stuff happened? It’s the best part of the story and that’s how you sum it up?!” Molly said with a wink. “So when are you seeing him again?”

“I don’t know,” Zelda admitted. “He was gone when I woke up, and he hasn’t called me, so I’m trying to play it cool. But of course the Houdini water chest came in today, so I texted him. But I don’t know if we’ll see each other again after that.”

Molly nodded. “Why are you trying to play it cool? You’re not usually one to play games.”

“Nothing about Nicholas is normal. I mean, I don’t want to—” She really liked Nicholas, but she hated that he was a magician and that he used the water chest for his illusions. And as much as she thought she’d figured out a way to live with her past, he made her realize she hadn’t. It was sobering. And scary.

What if she never was able to live with the past?

“I’m confused,” Molly said. “Is there more to Nicholas than a superhot rich guy who’s nice to my son? Is he a d-bag?”

“No, it’s not that. He’s a magician. He’s used to fooling everyone, to putting on a big show, and then, using smoke and mirrors, he disappears. I don’t want to fool myself that our night together is anything more than that.”

Molly broke a bear claw in half and took a bite, chewing thoughtfully. “He doesn’t strike me as that kind of person.”

Molly hadn’t been around big illusionists; she didn’t know that they lived and breathed for the show. She did. And unless she wanted to start talking about her past and the tragedy that had driven her to Vegas, she needed to change the subject.

“Is Stetson going to come by after school?” she asked.

“Yes. And I see what you did there, but because I love you, I’m going to allow you to change the subject. Just know I’m here when you are ready to talk.”

Zelda came around the counter and hugged Molly. “I love you, too.”

They both had their secrets. And they respected each other enough to leave those secrets alone.

…

“If you don’t start showing up for rehearsals, I’m out of here,” Leo said when Nicholas walked in late the next morning. He’d had too many shots last night, and his thirty-something body was taking longer to recover than his twenty-eight-year-old self had.

“Sorry, Leo. I’m determined to make today a full rehearsal day,” he said. “No excuses. Losing the chest and finding Zelda is throwing me off my game.”

“I can tell,” he said. “You do better when you keep it more casual.”

“I know, brother, but sometimes fate has other ideas,” Nicholas said as he shed his jacket and undid his cuffs.

“Fate or your dick?” Leo asked. “I’m not criticizing. Just pointing out that we have a big opening at the end of the month, and you’ve been away from the arena more than you’ve been in.”

“I hear you,” Nicholas said as his phone vibrated in his pocket. He’d driven around Vegas after he left Zelda with no destination in mind, just trying to outrun the memory of Jade and the feelings that being with Zelda had stirred in him.

Leo looked like he was seconds away from walking out if Nicholas looked at his phone, so he ignored the text and finished changing behind the screen. He heard the sharp click of high heels entering the backstage area.

“Is he still not here?” Keely asked. “I had no idea losing a prop was going to screw him up so badly.”

“He’s here,” Leo said. “We all have talismans, Kee, even you with that pearl ring you take on and off. So cut him some slack.”

Leo’s voice was a low rumble, and Nicholas smiled despite himself. He wasn’t surprised the older man had his back, even after giving him grief for coming in late. Leo was loyal and had been a bit of a father figure for him as he’d started out, Nicholas valued his friendship. But as Leo said, when a man lost everything, it was easy to see who his friends were.

“Sorry, Keely. I had a late night and had a hard time getting down here this morning. I’m ready to rehearse—I want to make sure we get this right. My name might be on the marquee, but we all know it’s everyone’s reputation on the line here. Our team is the best; it’s time we showed the world.”

“Agreed,” Trixie said, coming in.

“Trix, can you deal with this call?” he asked, tossing her his phone. “If I wait another second, Keely is going to make my chains too tight to get out of.”

“I might,” Keely said with a wink as they both moved toward the center of the stage.

He heard his team moving around behind him and stood there looking out at the eighteen-hundred-seat arena. It always seemed weird with no one in it. The sounds echoed without the audience to absorb them. And the place felt lifeless, as if it was waiting for something.

He heard Keely curse and glanced over to see Dare walking into their rehearsal space.

“Is it me?” he asked, shooting her a mock salute.

Keely just threw her hands up and walked over to Leo.

“What’s up, Dare?” Nicholas asked. The way this day was going, he should just tell the team to take the day and start fresh tomorrow. He glanced over to give the order, then noticed Leo already had his leather jacket on. Keely was beside him as they walked toward the door. Trixie tossed him his phone and followed the other two out of the room.

“We have a situation with the Golden Palms,” Dare said.

“What kind of a situation?”

“They hired Jade Simmons to do a show, and we’re just now hearing that they are going to launch their act the same week as Phantasm,” Dare said. “Is there anything we need to worry about from her?”

“I don’t think so. She isn’t anywhere near the illusionist I am, and any show she does won’t come close to ours,” Nicholas said. “And that’s not ego talking. Jade just goes for a quick thrill instead of investing in developing tricks. Why?”

“There was something about the way Marcos at the Golden Palm talked about it that makes me wonder if they have something up their sleeve,” Dare said.

“What?”

“I don’t know, do I? I’m not the right person for this. But Casey is getting ready for the poker tournament, and this is sort of your area of expertise. Should we send someone over to scope out the show?” Dare asked.

“It’s not a bad idea. I’m going to need the team. Let me text them,” he said. He looked at his phone and realized the text he’d missed had been from Zelda. The water chest was at her shop. He skimmed the message, afraid it contained something that he wouldn’t want Trixie to have read, but it was all business.

As if he didn’t know what her face looked like when he was buried deep inside her, wrapped in her arms. What did that mean? Whatever it was, it was clear to him last night that she wasn’t looking for forever. Hell, neither was he. But he would have expected—

“Dude, why are you staring at your phone? Text your team already,” Dare said.

He glanced over at his friend, and, for a moment, he almost spilled his guts. But if there was one thing he knew, it was that Dare wasn’t the best one to talk to about women.

“Yeah, sorry,” he said. Trixie had already texted Zelda back, saying that he’d be by her shop in an hour.

“You got this? I can’t say I bargained for something like this when we became partners,” Dare said.

“Don’t sweat it,” Nicholas said. “We won’t let Jade fool us again.”

He texted his team and arranged for Trixie and Leo to reach out to their contacts and see if they could find out what Jade was doing at the Golden Palms. Then he left the Jokers Wild and drove slowly toward Touch of Magic.

He told himself his reluctance was because he didn’t want to appear overeager, but he knew that once he viewed the chest, he’d have no reason to see Zelda. Except that he wanted to.

…

The Houdini water chest was in the back of her shop, and Stetson had been playing around it since he’d gotten out of school. “I don’t understand the trick.”

“Don’t think of it as a trick,” she said. “You have to believe that what you are doing is real. That’s how you sell it to the audience.”

The eight-year-old turned his wise eyes on her. “How can I believe it when I don’t get it?”

“Do you remember when your mom and I were teaching you to ride your bike?”

“Yeah,” he said, sounding skeptical and walking around to the back of the chest, looking for a secret panel.

She hid a smile, knowing he wouldn’t find anything.

“Well, you could ride, but you wouldn’t trust yourself. Remember how one of us had to run alongside the bike or you’d fall off?”

He scrunched up his face. “That’s different. I didn’t want to get hurt.”

“It’s not different, kiddo,” she said. “Some of the illusions that are performed are very dangerous, and it’s only through trust that they work.”

“And rehearsal. Rehearsal helps, too,” Nicholas said from the doorway between the shop and the back area. “Ava told me to come on back.”

Ava was the teenager who helped her in the shop after school and on weekends. Most days, Zelda didn’t need the extra hands, but with a new shipment of items to catalogue, she had called in her assistant.

“Hey, Nicholas. Thank you for the new kit,” Stetson said.

“You’re welcome. I didn’t want you to think I’d blown off dinner,” Nicholas said.

“That’s okay. Adults have very busy lives,” Stetson said.

“Not all of them,” Zelda said, ruffling his hair. “Let’s see if you notice anything when the fabulous Nicholas Pine examines the chest. He has had one since he was a kid.”

“You have?” Stetson asked.

Zelda stepped back to allow Nicholas and Stetson to examine the chest, and the low rumble of Nicholas’s voice as he explained things to Stetson made her pulse beat a little faster, and the blood in her veins seemed heavier and hotter. She fought to keep her expression serene and her thoughts on magic and not the night before.

The last thing she wanted was to come off as a blushing teenager who’d never had kitchen sex before…even if it had been the first time for her on a countertop.

“Is that right, Z?” Stetson asked.

“What? Sorry, I was thinking about my next shipment,” she said.

“I told him that Houdini didn’t have all the knowledge we have today, and a lot of times, he was truly risking his life,” Nicholas said.

“That is true. In fact, he warned others not to try his tricks.”

“Which ones were the most dangerous?” Stetson asked. “Were they the most popular?”

“The ones that he performed chained in water,” Zelda said. She struggled to keep the thoughts of water closing around her out of her mind, but she felt it. The cold water surrounding her as she smiled and waved, then the blackness as the curtain dropped around the chest.

She glanced up to find Nicholas watching her. He arched one eyebrow at her, as if wondering if she was okay. She nodded. “Is this one yours?”

“It’s not,” he said. “I guess it was a long shot.”

“How can you tell?” Stetson asked.

“Well, my granddad and I bought it at an auction. When we repaired it, he carved our initials into the base,” Nicholas said, walking to the left side and then stooping down. Stetson put his hand on Nicholas’s shoulder and leaned in as well. “Right here.”

Nicholas tapped the wooden base.

“Is that how you got started in magic?”

“Yes. And I always use antiques and weave in the history of magic in my shows and illusions.”

“I know. That’s what I love about it,” Stetson said.

“I’m sorry it’s not yours,” Zelda said. And truly, she was. But she was also relieved that her source hadn’t been involved in the theft.

“Me, too.”

“I guess that’s it, then,” she said. “No more visits to my shop.”

Nicholas stood up and kept his hand on the chest, but his gaze was laser sharp on her. “I wanted to talk to you about something. I need someone to decorate the lobby leading to the arena where the show is held. I’d love for you to consider curating a magic objects collection that will entertain the audience while they wait to be seated at the show.”

Work for him? She’d get to see him every day…well, for a short while. She wanted to say yes and didn’t question it. “I’d love to. Tell me what you need, and I’ll start putting some ideas together.”

“You’re impulsive,” he observed.

“I thought you’d already have guessed that after last night.”

“What happened last night?” Stetson asked.

“None of your business, kid,” Molly said as she came in. Stetson ran over to hug his mom.

Nicholas just stayed where he was, watching her with that intensity that told her he wasn’t sure where they went next, either.