Page 39 of Enchanted to Meet You

He raised his eyebrows in surprise. “You two never slept together?”

“Of course we did. Not that it’s any of your business.” I bent to transfer my wallet, cell phone, and lipstick case from my tote bag into the slouchy crossover bag I intended to take with me to the shop. Derrick was close enough that I could feel the heat radiating off his body—and smell the fresh clean scent of the bodywash from the gym. Dammit. Why did he have to smell good, too? “But it sounds weird to call someone you went out with in high school your lover. Would you call your high school girlfriend yourlover?”

He looked taken aback. “No. Because I didn’t have a high school girlfriend.”

“You didn’t?” I paused, surprised, in the middle of my bag swap. “Why not?” Then I gasped. Suddenly, everything made sense. “Oh my God. That other entity you work for—it’s the Catholic Church, isn’t it? You’re a vampire hunter. That’s why youdidn’t have a girlfriend in high school. You were too busy slaying those demons you know so much about.”

He glared at me. “No, actually. I was homeschooled.”

“Homeschooled?” This answered Dina’s question of why she couldn’t find him on Classmates.com. “Oh. So I’m right. Your dad took you on demon hunting missions?”

“Again, no. I grew up on a farm.” He shrugged as if this was the most matter-of-fact, normal thing in the world. “My dad did need my help—but with the animals, not demons.”

“Oh.” He hadn’t said this with his normal cockiness, however. I got the sense that “helping with the animals” had been no walk in the park—nor had living with his father. He didn’t seem to have appreciated my vampire hunter crack, either. Had it hit a little too close to home? “Okay. Well, I didn’t mention Rosalie being married to my ex-boyfriend because it didn’t seem important... the same way it didn’t seem important to you to mention to me that you were going to pose in front of my ex as my fake boyfriend, then kiss me, even though I told you, barely an hour ago, that you can’t go around grabbing women like that without their permission.”

He frowned, seeming to give the matter serious thought. “Right. You did. And once again, I apologize. But I only did it to protect you. At the time, I really did think Billy might be possessed by a demon.”

“That is the single most ridiculous thing I ever heard.”

“Did you notice histeeth? And hisskin? That can’t possibly be natural. Is it a glamour?” He glanced back to the living room. “It looks so real.”

I stared at him. “That’s called a fake tan and veneers, Derrick. Rosalie is into that kind of stuff. And Billy’s into Rosalie, which is why he goes along with it. But even Billy has his limits. Like, Billy would never consent to having a glamour spell cast overhim. I doubt he even knows what a glamour is, or that Rosalie is a witch.”

Now Derrick stared at me. “She’s a council member of the WCW. How could he not know?”

“Because Rosalie doesn’t want him to know. Andhedoesn’t want to know. How doyounot know about veneers and fake tans and asking women’s permission before touching them?” I shook my head. “Are you sure you’re not a vampire hunter? Or is it that you just didn’t have cable or Internet on the farm?”

“Yes,” he said, offended again. “Of course we did. What we didn’t have were any women.”

I stared at him, certain he was joking.

But when he only stared back at me, I realized no punch line was on its way.

“Wait. Nowomen? Where was your mother?”

“She left.”

He said it simply, without any emotion. Still, I didn’t need extrasensory perception to tell that this was a sensitive subject. I could see that muscle leaping around in his jaw again.Stay away, it seemed to scream.Stay away from this topic.

Yikes. Message received.

“Okay,” I said, shaking my head some more while shouldering my bag. “Well, I can see that we’re going to need to watch a lot of reality television to get you up-to-date on your pop culture references. Are you really driving me to my shop? Because I don’t need an escort or bodyguard or whatever it is you think you are.”

“If anything, I would think that what’s gone on this afternoon between him”—he jerked his thumb in Billy’s direction—“and his wife has more than amply proven that you do.”

“Right.” I took a deep breath. “I’ll let you win this one. Tell me something, though. Have you always been able to do that thing with your fingers?”

“What thing with my fingers?”

“You know, that thing you did a little while ago to my knee. And then when we kissed—”

His gaze was as bright as a new moon over the Sound on a cloudless winter night. And it was focused on my lips, which was more than a little distracting—especially since I couldn’t seem to look away from his lips, either. “When we kissed, what?”

“When we kissed....” It was impossible to remember what I was going to say when those lips, so full and expressive, were in view, and so tantalizingly close to mine.

“Jess?” Billy startled me by calling from the living room. “Sorry, but I have to head out now. Rosie just called. She needs me to pick up some almond milk on my way home.”

I tore my gaze from Derrick Winters’s mouth. “Be right there, Billy!”