Page 46 of Moody as a Minotaur

Wow, now that was a great kiss.

What had we been doing again?

Shit. We were standing right in front of the café. Half of Willow Lake was pressed against the café windowwith their phones out, recording us. Jesus. I glanced at Nana. She was standing by the door, and Davina was standing beside her. They both wore amused looks on their faces.

Levi gritted his teeth. “Ms. Edith, is there something you wanted?”

“I thought I should step in before you gave the town a free show. My grandson has never struck me as an exhibitionist, but I suppose I could be wrong. But even if he was, you would be better off doing it somewhere other than a public street. Downtown Willow Lake is no Folsom Street.”

Davina snickered. I was sure I’d never heard the woman make a sound like that before. She was always very controlled and matter of fact. A bit like my grandmother, really.

I groaned and covered my burning face with my hands. My grandmother shouldn’t know about Folsom Street or exhibitionists. And she should never, ever contemplate my sex life in so much detail. That was just wrong. I peeked at Levi between my fingers. He nodded, looking rather regal, actually.

“You make a good point,” Levi said. “Thank you. We got a little…”

“Carried away? Pumped up? Horny?”

“Oh, good one, Edie,” Davina said, nudging Nana with her elbow. “What about ready to take the bull by the horns?”

Now it was Nana’s turn to snicker. Snicker! Nana didn’t snicker. What kind of fucked up episode of “The Twilight Zone” was I living in right now? Wait… Did Nana know about magic? It almost sounded like she knew Levi was a minotaur, but that couldn’t be right.

Thankfully, another gust of icy-cold wind shot down the street before either of them said anything more. I shivered as it chased away the heat I’d felt in Levi’s embrace.

“We should go inside,” Levi said. “Get you out of this wind.”

He said that as if he didn’t feel the cold. Was that a minotaur thing? It could be. This wasn’t the first time I’d noticed he wasn’t as troubled by the cold as I was. Wouldn’t that be nice? Actually, the whole magical thing would be nice.

I didn’t know what kind of magic I’d like to have. It wasn’t a question I’d spent much time contemplating because until today I’d have said the odds of something like that happening would be zero. It looked like I was wrong. Could non-magical people become magical?

Maybe Levi would consider dating me for real if that happened.

Was it something I could learn? I could take an online class or join a coven or something. I thought there were some Wiccans in Aspen Bay. I didn’t know much about their beliefs or practices, but it was connected to magic, right? They always had a booth at the annual summer market where they sold soaps and charm bracelets and such. Soap-making couldn’t be that much different from cooking. It was just a different kind of recipe. I could do that.

“Parker?” Levi asked, jostling me out of my thoughts. “You okay?”

Levi, Nana, and Davina were looking at me like I was a curiosity. I glanced toward the windows of the café. At least most of the people had returned to their tables and were no longer watching us like we were their very own peep show.

“Uh, yeah, just thinking about soap.”

“Soap?”

I shook my head, not wanting to explain, because what would I say that wouldn’t make the situation more awkward? And really, did I want to change for a man? No. No, I didn’t. I wasn’t a Disney princess. “Let’s go inside. I could use a cup of tea.”

“Tea?” Levi squished his nose. It was adorable.

“Coffee in the morning, tea in the afternoon,” I explained. “Besides, tea is soothing, and I think…” I glanced at Nana as she returned to the café with Davina at her side. “I think I’ll need that for whatever is about to happen next.”

Levi rolled his eyes, but he slipped his hand in mine and guided me to the door. And for a moment, I could almost pretend we were dating. For real.

16

UNEXPECTED ALLIES

LEVI

A tremor, starting in my fingers and skating all the way up to my shoulder, was hopefully the only thing betraying how uncomfortable and anxious I was. And, with any luck, no one would see how much I was shaking because I had my hand lightly resting on Parker’s lower back. Hidden back there. Even though, as a supe, I should be protecting him, not the other way around.

“Come sit with us,” Edith commanded. Sure, the words sounded like they were an invitation, but we all knew they weren’t.