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Kindle Notes & Highlights
After the soup, there would be a short but dramatic séance, where they’d try to provoke dead ancestors with insults. It was absolutely the best part of the evening.
LMAO real
“Falling in love doesn’t make you a victim, Max.”
Hmm
Amy’s cheeks turned a little splotchy, but she waved off Delia’s mushiness. “Please. Like you haven’t slapped the salami with me at least a thousand times.” Delia laughed. “I really wish you’d stop saying that.” Amy owned a charcuterie catering business called Across the Board. Delia often helped her lay out the food, which yes, usually included slapping down some salami.
LMAO
“Southern Charm,” he read aloud. “Inferior Decorating and Design.” Did he have a lisp? Or—her mouth went dry—was there a freaking typo? She grabbed the card out of his hand. Sure enough. It said inferior instead of interior.
Oh no LMAO
“What just happened?” Max asked. “Cordelia Merriweather came in and stole a martini set while you fumbled about with a tent in your pants.” Max sighed and shut his eyes. He did not have a tent in his pants. He wasn’t that easy. But other than that minor detail, it was a fairly accurate account.
Mmhmmm
Delia didn’t remember her dad, but— “Your father died under very natural circumstances.” A tree falling on you in the woods was about as natural as it got. Not exactly common though.
“He became flustered and stupid around her,” Nikki said. “More than usual, I mean.” Luc raised an eyebrow, and then the corner of his mouth curled up. He clinked his beer bottle against Nikki’s and… Holy hell. They’re bonding.
LMAO
He didn’t like the idea of people—strays or witches—traipsing through the place. There were… things. And some of them were dangerous. Delia’s face fell. “Oh.” “I mean, I’m not saying I won’t have one…” Why? Why am I not saying I won’t have one? “Oh?” Delia’s face brightened. That’s why.
But instead of commenting on how great the entryway would look with marble flooring, she said, “That color looks great on you.” Max looked at his torso, as if maybe he’d forgotten it existed, and then he looked back at her and blushed, which was freaking adorable.
CUTE
And as he reached for the teapot, his body momentarily pressed against hers, making her skin tingle and her head swim. “Let me,” he said. At the moment, Delia thought she might let him do absolutely anything.
LMAO real
And he really didn’t care about staging this place, except it gave him a good excuse to spend some time with Delia. Because of the hex. Not because he wanted to spend time with her.
Mmhmm sure
His fingers itched for the string in his pocket. Two or three knots was all it would take to tidy the place up, but obviously, that was out of the question. He could at least sharpen the knives though. When nobody was looking, he quickly pulled out the string, and then, while concentrating on the knives in the drawer behind him, he tied a knot and muttered, “Infini acuti.” There. Those knives would never be dull again.
PRETTY SURE THEY WILL NOTICE THAT
“Lead the way, Miss Merriweather.” “Actually, you’re supposed to lead, but we’ll get to that in a minute.” That was too bad. Because right now he’d follow her anywhere.
STOP. TOO CUTE
Max’s face turned all sorts of interesting shades of pink. “Delia was teaching me how to two-step.” “That wasn’t the two-step,” Amy said. “That was a one-step, as in, one step away from some lips connecting.”
LMAO real
“And, Luc, you should have seen your brother two-step. Nothing nervous about it.” “I saw part of it,” Luc said, dipping a Texas-shaped tortilla chip into a thick, yellow, cheesy sauce before cramming the entire thing into his mouth. “It made me uncomfortable.” “It made us all uncomfortable,” Amy added.
LMAO
As Amy walked away, Nikki slinked out of the shadows. He sat next to the tub and dipped a paw in. Then he shook it, sending droplets right into Max’s eyes. “Shoo,” Max said. Nikki didn’t shoo. Instead, he slowly turned—tail in the air—until Max was staring at a puckered, pink asshole. It felt intentional, so Max splashed Nikki, who then turned on him and hissed.
LMO
But then she burst into giggles. “Can you believe it? I mean, all this insanity over a birthmark on my ass.” “What does it look like?” Was he flirting? He couldn’t tell.
YEAH YOU'RE FLIRTING
Max rested his arm on the edge of the tub. “I can touch my nose with my tongue.” Delia laughed as he demonstrated. “That’s a useless skill, and yet I’m mightily impressed.” Max smiled slyly, thinking that it wasn’t entirely useless, and then he noticed Delia’s cheeks had turned pink, possibly from the steam and heat. And possibly not.
OH?
“You know, if we were to combine our skill sets, we’d be unstoppable.” Delia laughed. “But unstoppable at what?” Max shrugged, grinning.
OH MY GOD. Not the hot dog eating and tongue to nose licking
“Oh, Delia,” he whispered. “You are so incredibly special. You have no idea.”
Delia’s eyes dipped down to his lips, and damn it, he was going to kiss her. He knew it as surely as he knew the sun rose in the east and set in the west. It was an undeniable fact.
And if Delia looked even half as disheveled as Max, his mom knew exactly what they’d been doing. Well, maybe not exactly, since it involved sit-ups. But she’d get the gist. “This is my interior decorator,” Max blurted. God. Why were men so hellishly awful with introductions?
LMAO
Grandma Maddie waved her hand over the herbs, and they changed colors. “Am I high?” Delia asked. “How would we know that, dear?” Aunt Aurora said.
LMAO
“Luc is going to take good care of you while I’m out. Try to relax.” “How am I supposed to do that?” He leaned over and kissed her forehead. “Oh,” she said, the tension in her face melting away. “That actually helped.” Holy Hecate. What was he going to do?
AWWW
“Are you really going to let someone else move in here?” Luc asked. Was he? Because he could somehow see himself in this kitchen, doing all kinds of kitcheny things. The butcher-block island made him want to grab a knife and dice a tomato while blaring music and sipping wine and dancing with Delia and—
WITH DELIA
And then Max did something that he could never have imagined doing when he’d first walked through the front door of Halifax Manor. He gave Nikki a hug. And it was a long one.
AWWWW
Max followed, and by the time they got to the top of the stairs, they heard ghastly moaning coming from one of the bedrooms. “Oh no,” Max said. “They’re hurt!”
OR ARE THEY...YOU KNOW
“What in fresh hell is this?” Max said, trying desperately to wrap his mind around the sight of his parents—naked—in bed together, before desperately trying to unwrap it.
LMAO
And they’d bumped into a big, brawny guy wearing a T-shirt that said COME AND TAKE IT (Max had assured the man he didn’t want it).
LMAO
He felt the little charm, heavy in his pocket. And he knew right then that he’d never use it. He didn’t need to. He was under a spell, for sure. But his feelings were absolutely real. And he did trust Delia.
“You sound bewitched, Max. You really do!” “I sound like I’m quite possibly falling in love, which has nothing to do with a spell and everything to do with how you make me feel.” “If I told you I’d bewitched you on purpose, what would you say?” “I’d tell you I didn’t fucking care. That I want to be with you, no matter what it takes. That I’d give up anything and everything in order to do so, and you’re probably going to say that makes me sound bewitched.” That was exactly what she was going to say.
Literally
Amy was about to get worked up, so Delia turned the conversation back to her. “Listen. It’s weird that Max is suddenly so into me. I mean, look at me.” “I am,” Amy said. “You’re super hot.” “He’s traveled the world. I’ve only been out of Texas once. I live with my grandmother. His mother hates me. And, Amy, he freaking told me point-blank, to my face, that he does not believe in love or romance, and now, all of a sudden, he’s head over heels.” “That’s adorable.”
Real
“Everything makes you uneasy, dear,” Thea said. “It’s why you’re sometimes so difficult to get along with.” Amy nodded as if that made perfect sense.
LMAO
