Don't Hex and Drive (Stay a Spell, #2)

by Juliette Cross

TO MY SANITY— For sticking with me while I wrote, revised, edited, and proofed this book during COVID quarantine. I appreciate you hanging in there despite the one million times you nearly left me teetering on that proverbial cliff. *High fives self & drinks more wine*

That was me. I was Mr. Darcy. Introverted, shy, and nervous in large crowds and around strangers. Except the difference between me and Mr. Darcy was that I had no desire to grow outside my small social circle. Content with everyone on this side of my comfort zone, I definitely had no interest in expanding it to include this vampire.

This witch loathed me on principle, but she definitely had a lot of misconceptions about me. And the gauntlet she inadvertently threw down with this damn list had my mind turning.

“Did you enjoy the performance?” he teased. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. I was speechless with humiliation.

I am not quite enjoying the dynamic here. he's stalking her. if she's a wallflower and he is zeroing in on her for it, that's a red flag to avoid. plus, he's glorifying in his comodification which is fine for his mentality, but that type of attention would devestate her even peripherally.

Christ. One smile, and I was devastated. Lost. Swimming in an ocean of what-the-fuck.

He falls first but she's not interested .

If I was a risk-taker like Violet, free with my affections and wild at heart, I’d take Devraj up on his offer. To get to know each other better. But the truth kept nagging at me. He’s the kind of man I could easily lose my heart to. After this job, he’d be moving on to somewhere else or jet-setting back to Europe or somewhere exotic and beautiful. And I’d be mending my heart in my greenhouse.

This was no fly-by fascination. This was hardcore witchery. Oddly, she wasn’t flirting or being overtly friendly or doing anything other women have done to lure me in. She was simply being her lovely self.