Before I changed my mind, I stepped closer, watching as she tensed.
“Caught you,” I said, leaning casually against one of the shelves.
Shock morphed across her face as she recognized me, and she fumbled with the statue, accidentally letting it slip between her fingers. It hit the floor with a crash, separating the bowler’s head from its body.
“Leo…it's, um, not what you think,” she stammered, her cheeks going pink with embarrassment. I bit back a smile.
First, I’d found her covered in flour, and now she was adorably flustered and the perpetrator of a trophy slaying. Chaos followed her wherever she went, and it only made me want to stay close to see what would happen next.
Playing the villain had its perks, and now all I had to do was stick to the plan.
Chapter 6
Sage
I glared at Leoover the brim of my peppermint mocha. After he caught me red-handed in the antique shop, we walked across the street to get coffee so I could stall and figure out a way to explain myself. Thanks to the shop’s ‘You break it, you buy it’ policy, my newly acquired headless bowling trophy sat next to a plate of decorated sugar cookies.
“How much did you see?” I asked.
Leo leaned back in his plush armchair and propped his ankle on his knee. Next to us, an electric heater blasted warmth over our corner of the coffee shop. It should have been cozy, romantic even, reminding me of the evenings we’d spent huddled in the lodge drinking hot chocolate long after the lifts had closed for the day. Except now, I was literally sitting in the hot seat, waiting to see if Leo knew my secret.
One of them, at least. My snow curse was still up for grabs.
“Well, let’s see. You were magically altering the engraving on that trophy.” He pointed to the bowler’s head sitting on my napkin. “And you were mumbling about how you wouldn’tfool anyone into thinking it was an agency award. So I guess I saw all of it. Are you planning to tell your parents, and by extension, the whole town, about not winning Agent of the Year?”
I inhaled a deep breath of peppermint, grimacing at the scribbled note on the cardboard that read: Congratulations, Sage! We’re so proud.
My so-called achievement had made the rounds at the coffee shop. Was there no safe place? Why couldn’t I have grown up off-the-grid in a bunker? My secrets would have been between me and a wall of canned peaches.
I closed my eyes to block out the glowing message and allow the festive scent to calm my irritation. Which was a lot to ask from a high-calorie attempt at aromatherapy.
“I wouldn’t have to tell anyone if the shop had a wider selection of trophy options. It’s difficult to alter a physical shape for more than a few seconds,” I grumbled as if it were magic’s fault and not my own lies. “The lettering is easier. It’s more of a surface illusion. It’ll last longer.”
“I see. Who knew illusions were so specific?” Leo reached for his cup of coffee and took a sip. His features immediately scrunched together as if he were in pain. He set the cup back onto the table, taking a furtive glance at the older woman working behind the counter.
“Is something wrong with your coffee?” I asked, braving a sip of my own. Sweet chocolate mixed with peppermint flooded my taste buds. A dollop of whipped cream stuck to the topof my lip, and I licked it off, trying to ignore the way Leo’s eyes fixated on my mouth.
Now wasn’t the time to delve intothatlook. I'd been watching way too many holiday romantic comedies, and his interest was most likely all in my overactive imagination.
“The coffee is too hot.” Leo hunched in his chair, and I wasn’t sure I believed him. But I had bigger issues than whether he was satisfied with his beverage purchase.
“So, what do we do now? Are you going to tell my parents?” I struggled to keep the catch out of my voice. I felt like a teenager again, caught breaking the rules. This was so humiliating.
“I have a better idea.” Leo plucked a cookie off my plate. “I won’t tell anyone your secret if you help me out with a little project.”
I scoffed. “Are you blackmailing me, Grayson? That’s a dangerous game to play against a witch.”
He sank his teeth into the cookie and brushed the crumbs onto the napkin. If my veiled threat bothered him, it didn’t show.
“Blackmail is a harsh word, Bennett. Think of it more like a partnership. Like the one the lodge has with the tea shop.”
He smiled wolfishly, hinting at his own veiled threat. Okay, so we were both brilliant at tossing up our defenses. We always had been. Him overly confident to hide any insecurity, and me, trying desperately to prove I belonged. Until, one day, those labels had fallen away, and for a blink-and-you-might-miss-it moment, I thought we were something more.
I pulled the plate of cookies out of his reach, returning his smile with one sweet enough to cause a toothache. If only it were that easy to cause someone dental pain.
I’d taken one too many strolls down memory lane today. Time to take what was left of my cookies and head home.
“What do you want from me?”
