Page 34 of Enchanted to Meet You

“Hi, Jess.” Billy wiped his feet awkwardly on Jessica’s black cat welcome mat. If they lived through this encounter, Derrick was going to have to have a word with her, and not just about what she’d confessed just before opening the door. If you invited in every guy who called himself Billy (even though he was past thirty and didn’t live in the South), and wore navy blue sweaters with tiny red lobsters embroidered all over them, you were bound to let in something diabolical.

“I stopped by Enchantments first,” Billy explained, “but Becca said you weren’t there, so I took a chance that you’d be—”

Then Billy’s gaze fell on Derrick, who’d taken up a defensive position near the fireplace, where there was an antique stand holding a set of wrought-iron pokers that Derrick thought might come in handy should things take a turn.

“Oh,” Billy said, backing up so quickly, he almost hit his headon the doorframe. He was tall—taller than Derrick, and that was saying a lot. From his height and the way he carried himself, Derrick guessed he’d probably played football once upon a time. “I didn’t know you had company. I didn’t mean to interrupt. Maybe I should—”

“No, no.” Jessica’s smile was as fake as Billy’s skin tone. “You weren’t interrupting. Billy, this is—”

“Winters.” Derrick decided to use a different line of defense than the fireplace pokers. He crossed Jessica’s living room with his right hand outstretched. “Derrick Winters. I’m Jessica’s boyfriend.”

Billy looked a little stunned at the wordboyfriend, but otherwise handled the news like a champ.

“Eric, is it?” Billy said, with his bright All-American Boy smile. Literally bright: his teeth were capped and almost blindingly white. He shook Derrick’s hand calmly, not trying to crush his fingers with his own even though he could have, since he had a ball player’s enormous paw. “I don’t think I’ve seen you around town before.”

“It’s Derrick, and no, you wouldn’t have.” Derrick returned to his position against the mantel. “I’m Jessica’s dirty little secret.”

Jessica let out a bark of nervous laughter and hurried to Derrick’s side. He had to hand it to her: she was managing the curveball he’d thrown with admirable aplomb. There was only the faintest pink in her cheeks.

“There’s no secret!” she cried. To his surprise, she snaked an arm around his waist. “Our relationship is just... new. And you haven’t seen Derrick around before because he doesn’t live here.”

“Oh, really?” Billy’s eyes were as shiny as his teeth. “Where are you from?”

“Montana,” Derrick said at the same time that Jessica said, “The city.”

Billy looked from one to the other in confusion. “I don’t understand.”

“Derrick’s from Montana,” Jessica said quickly, “but he lives in the city now. That’s where we met, actually, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where we’d both gone to—”

“See the new Colombian art exhibit,” Derrick said, at the same time that Jessica said, “Check out the fashion collection.”

Jessica elbowed Derrick, but he only slipped his own arm around her. He liked the feel of her body against his. They seemed to fit together perfectly, like matching salt and pepper shakers. Now that he was certain from Billy’s demeanor that he wasn’t demonically possessed, only deeply stupid, he felt more at ease. He said, “To be honest, I think we were both just trying to get out of the heat. But instead, we found a different kind of heat.” He looked down at Jessica, whose cheeks were turning an even more interesting shade of pink, and grinned. “Didn’t we, honey?”

That’s when he leaned over and kissed her.

Jessica

To rid a home of demons, sweep it counterclockwise with a new broom.

Goody Fletcher,Book of Useful Household Tips

I wasn’t expecting the kiss.

But I felt it. Oh, how I felt it.

If I’d thought the touch of his fingers on my shoulder or knee was amazing, that was nothing compared to the touch of his lips on mine. Suddenly every cell in my body sprang awake, like I’d been struck by lightning—but in a good way. Was there such a thing as gentle lightning?

Because that’s what his kiss felt like. Lightning filled with golden autumn leaves and softly falling rain. He smelled of it, of the rain and the leaves—as absurd as I knew that sounded. He smelled of the mist that had hung over the grass when I’d left my house that morning, as clean and as fresh as newly picked apples.

And his lips on mine, rather than demanding anything, were a promise: a promise of more kisses to come. That promise was echoed in the hard outline of his body, pressed against mine. Fora moment, I forgot everything else except those lips and that body—like that there was a supernatural cataclysm threatening my town, that my ex-boyfriend was standing a few feet away, and that Derrick had just accused that same ex-boyfriend of possibly being a demon, then told him we were dating.

Then he lifted his face from mine, and I saw that he looked as shocked as I did—though I didn’t know what he had to be so surprised about, since the whole thing had been his idea to begin with. It wasn’t until I heard a deep voice say, “Well, uh,” that I was able to drag my gaze from his gleaming eyes and see Billy still standing by my front door, shuffling his feet.

“I’m happy for you, Jess,” Billy said, and he actually did look happy. “It’s great—really great—that you’ve found someone. Rosie and I were just asking each other, when is Jessica ever gonna settle down?”

Great. Forget demons.Thiswas my apocalyptic nightmare.

I dropped my arm from around Derrick’s waist and took a step away from him, since I could still feel energy radiating from his body to mine. I couldn’t tell from his expressionless profile if he could feel it, too, but I didn’t need it scrambling my senses anymore. “Oh?”