More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
“The end of this block and take the first right. I was actually almost home before you decided to hit me with your car.” I dabbed at the scratches on my palms, wiping off the small amount of blood and removing any dirt. “Believe it or not, I didn’t plan to hit a witch with my car today.” He shifted the gear stick into first and accelerated down the street. “It was on the agenda for tomorrow.”
“I’m so happy I was able to get you ahead of schedule. Nothing better than ticking off your to-do list early.”
“Not at all, darling. I’m a lover of all women.” His gaze caressed my face, shimmering with silver in the dark interior of his car. “I don’t discriminate.” Darling? Lover? What was he talking about? Wait. Was he flirting with me? What nerve!
I don’t care if he’d won Sexiest Man of the Year, two Oscars, a Golden Globe, and Coolest Asshole in a Lamborghini Award. The fact that he had my sisters all swoony and girlish made me want to hurl.
“Fucking hell, that vampire is hot.” “You think everybody is hot,” I snapped.
“Isadora. You can’t pretend he isn’t. Even you with your no-man-is-worthy attitude can’t pretend he isn’t panty-melting.”
“Whether he is or isn’t means nothing. He’s an arrogant ass who hit me with his car.” I pulled down the faux chinchilla throw on the back of the sofa and draped it over my legs. “Besides, a man with that kind of conceited personality and driving a car like that must be suffering from small man syndrome.”
“If anyone is swinging around BDE like a fucking pro, it’s that vampire, Devraj Kumar.”
“He said he carried you inside?” I shrugged. “So? I couldn’t walk.” “Oh, my goodness, Isadora!” She clasped her hands at her breast, a dreamy glint in her sky-blue eyes. “It’s just like Willoughby and Marianne in Sense and Sensibility when he rescued her with her sprained ankle on the down.” “Willoughby didn’t hit Marianne with his car,” I protested.
That vampire had unsettled me enough to throw off my magic. Men didn’t throw me off-kilter. Honestly, they barely registered on any kind of barometer of mine at all. Whether for needs, desires, or just plain semi-interests. I didn’t dislike men. I just had no need of them. I could handle all of my needs by myself. Which is why Devraj Kumar shouldn’t have gotten under my skin at all. But he so had. No worries. At least now he was gone for good.
Ruben said he’d let me get settled before we met. So what had I spent the day doing? In between unpacking, I’d stalked the laundry room like a crazed serial killer. I must’ve marched past it a hundred times, trying to avoid the temptation in my laundry basket. “Fuck it.” I finally, finally, lifted the stained part to my nose and inhaled deep. Utterly. Divine. Abort. Bad decision. Very bad decision.
Surely, my skills in the kitchen would win her over. There were other skills I could employ. No! No. Not even remotely going there.
She wore a green T-shirt with Baby Yoda eating a frog. The caption read: Feed me and tell me I’m pretty. I was fairly sure Mateo did both on a regular basis.
There was this scene where Mr. Darcy told Lizzy, “I do not have the talent of conversing easily with people I have never met before.” That was me.
Ignoring his question, I gave him the first smile since our brief acquaintance. “Apology accepted. And now our business is at an end. I doubt we’ll have any reason to see each other, so I wish you well.” And I honestly did. Even cocky bastards like him needed well-wishing from time to time.
“Ah.” He bit his lower lip, drawing my eyes to the movement and the smile he held back. “I see.” “What?” I asked, wondering why I felt so disoriented and confused in this vampire’s presence. “You just don’t want to have lunch with me.” Bingo. But I’d never tell him so.
“Is it my acting career that bothers you?” Not that I’d seen his movies, but the idea of him being a celebrity actually made me cringe. To have your life under a microscope where everyone watched you, wanted something from you. The thought of hanging with someone where all eyes could be on us also made me want to run and hide.
“Honestly, I’m a little disappointed you’d try to lure me with glamour,” I admitted on a huffy breath, watching a woman walk past with her Golden Labradoodle leading her. So cute! I was ready to be done with this conversation and be on my way, but I couldn’t help asking, “Isn’t that kind of beneath your stature as a celebrity and elite vampire?”
“I was attempting to lure you to lunch, not to my dark lair for nefarious reasons.” “So you say,” I mumbled before quickly darting around him, my skirt swishing. “Have a good day, Mr. Kumar.”
“I agree with you. Why bother with men at all?” He tilted his head to the right, one floppy ear tipping up, the other down.
Unfortunately, men weren’t as easy to read or as easy to please as Archie. And why was I thinking of men anyway? I’d decided I was perfectly happy without them. Nothing they could do for me I couldn’t do myself.
Was it ungentlemanly to semi-steal a note that wasn’t mine? Yes. But I’d glimpsed my name in a feminine scrawl which suddenly negated all rules of a gentleman.
I wondered where she was headed this morning. All chipper and smiling. That is, until she’d seen me and I’d called her name. Why was she so offended by my presence? I was a likeable guy, dammit.
I pulled it out of my back pocket and then started the engine, wanting to take a look at her pros and cons list of “Devraj Egomaniac Kumar.” I was not an egomaniac. Just because I was better at just about everything than the average person or supernatural didn’t mean I was an egomaniac.
I was going to skin her alive, then bury her in the backyard in an ant bed, then resuscitate her with my magic so I could do it all over again.
“You have it?” I demanded, clearing the breathiness out of my voice. He nodded, his Adam’s apple bobbing when he swallowed. “Have dinner with me.” I blew out a sigh. “No. Give me back my package.” “You seem kind of desperate for it.” The wickedness was back in his eyes. Ten-fold. “You can’t keep it hostage.” “Can’t I?” Hands on both my hips, I argued, “I paid for it. Are you seriously going to steal my vibrator? I’d say you’re the desperate one if that’s the case.”
“Me knocking on your door and standing on your porch is not a date.” He backed away, holding my gaze. “I look forward to seeing you soon.” “You’re ridiculous.” “I think you mean marvelous.” “Oh. I have plenty of other names for you.” “I look forward to hearing all of them this afternoon.” He winked, flashing his charming smile.
The third one wearing the halter top picked up a very expensive crystal ball. “Brittany, you could totally tell my future.” “No need,” replied the blonde. “You’ll be slutting it up with Jared again this weekend,” she said, lifting a geode of purple crystals. “There’s your fortune.” “Bitch,” mumbled Halter Top girl.
I was the only tea drinker in the house except when someone needed my healing brews, so to have a cup I didn’t make myself was a rare occasion indeed.
“So tell me, how did you become a hermit?” I coughed on the sip of chai I was swallowing and set the cup in my lap. “What on earth are you talking about?” “I asked around about the reclusive witch, Isadora Savoie,” he said with no shame at all. “Why would you do that?” “I was curious.” “And what? Someone told you I’m a hermit?” He shrugged one shoulder, resting his arm closest to me along the back of the bench, his fingers brushing awfully close to my shoulder. “Some didn’t even know who I was talking about. They knew all the sisters, but you. Until I mentioned you were the one who rode a
...more
But it made me wonder when nature put such mighty power into a small, seemingly delicate, package.
Then my heart lurched. Standing in front of the building was Isadora. She glanced at me then quickly away, trying to pretend she didn’t notice me. Well, that wasn’t going to work for me.
But I’d always found men never lived up to my expectations. I’d rather avoid the hassle and just use my toys. I liked keeping things simple.
“Daaaaaamn,” crooned Violet as the camera panned to his glorious back, muscles rippling under dark bronze skin a thing of fantasies. Some women’s fantasies, anyway. Not mine. Totally not mine.
I could’ve stared at the woman all night. Isadora remained silent and focused inward. Her magic whispered in the small space of the interior of Ruben’s car. It felt like a sweet lullaby, a song of old, like footsteps on wooded paths taken only by her, lilting with waves of potent energy that cocooned the witch at my side. If I could reach out and touch that magic that was hers, I would. I wanted to drink it down and absorb her beauty. My God, she was so beautiful, and I honestly wasn’t sure if she was truly aware. It was her frank honesty that took my breath away. In everything she did.
After her last rejection of my company at my quaint front-porch tea, I figured she truly was immune to my charms. As unbelievable as that was, I was thinking of giving up my pursuit. But not fucking now. After seeing her reaction to watching my movie, there was no possible way I was letting this go.
“What did you find out?” she demanded quickly. “Nothing yet,” I answered. “Getting Emma to safety was the priority when I discovered where she was.” “And,” Ruben added, “Devraj knocked our captive out cold with one punch. So there was that.” He caught my gaze in the rearview mirror. I twisted my mouth in a wry smile, “Not a single regret. We’ll deal with him later tonight.”
Her eyes opened, then she looked at me and did something rather uncharacteristic in my short acquaintance with her. She smiled at me. And my heart nearly plummeted into my stomach. Christ. One smile, and I was devastated. Lost. Swimming in an ocean of what-the-fuck.
Ruben and I exchanged a questioning look. How would a Conduit like Isadora sense the girl had moved rooms? Could just be her psychic ability. Most witches had some level of clairvoyance, but then Jules hadn’t detected it. It just proved how powerful Isadora’s magic truly was. It was sexy as fuck.

