“Miss me enough to come back out here and kiss me again?”
Luna cleared her throat. “Ward, I’m at work.”
“I noticed. So what? Is the boss lurking around somewhere? Old Grimm won’t make trouble over one little kiss, right?”
“I don’t know that you are capable ofonekiss, Officer Ward. As forlittle . . .well!”
Ward chuckled again. “I’ve never been a man to do things by halves.”
“So I’ve noticed!”
“Is that a no on the kiss then?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“In that case, you get a lunch break, don’t you?”
“Yes, but—”
“Perfect. I’ll take you out. My treat.”
Nigel felt as though his stomach had opened up and all his innards simply poured out, right there, on the step. He leaned his head against the wall of the stairwell. Maybe he could use a little of his own carefully-horded distilled Dire Matter to step outside of time and slip back to about twenty minutes earlier, when he’d held Luna in his arms and whirled her around? That moment had been so brief, but with the right spellwork, he could probably make it last a whole lot longer. He’d like to go back and simply exist there for a little while.
Then he heard Luna answer, “I’m sorry, Ward, but I already have plans.”
Suddenly, Nigel’s soul was rising up from the pit, soaring once more. Did he hear that right? Did she just turn down Ward the Wardsman? No. No, he must be mistaken. Surely it was just his own delusion trying to convince him.
But he distinctly heard Ward’s heavy sigh. “Luna Talbot,” the wardsman said, “you are the most impossible woman.”
She was silent for few heartbeats before answering. “I can’t just drop everything the moment you turn back up again.”
“Yeah, sure. I get it.” Ward blew out another heavy breath. “I’m going to win you over, you know,” he said, his voicerumbling. “I’ve been thinking on it these last four weeks, and I’ve got plans. Plans that involve you falling head-over-heels in love with me in the end.”
Luna was silent at first. Nigel could all-too easily picture the way her cheeks must have flushed the most adorably delicate pink. “I, um. I’m looking forward to seeing what you’ve got in mind,” she answered at last.
And Nigel’s soaring soul crashed right back down into the mire of his roiling innards.
“Brace yourself,” said Ward. “It’s going to be big.”
“Consider me braced, Officer Ward.”
With that, Nigel listened to the sound of those big, clompy officer’s boots retreating across the floor. The shop door opened; the bells tinkled. Then Ward’s voice sounded one last time: “Remember—stay away from the warehouse district tonight. Got it?”
“You have nothing to worry about,” Luna replied. “Now go on! Do your duty. Be the hero this city needs.”
“I’ll be seeing you, Luna Talbot.”
“Goodbye, Officer Ward.”
And with a last peal of tiny bells, the door shut. Silence fell upon The Arcane Bouquet.
Nigel remained where he sat. He knew he ought to rise, make some kind of stomping show of descending the staircase, and emerge. Pretend he hadn’t just overheard everything. But for the moment he couldn’t seem to find his feet.
It had been too easy simply to forget about Officer Ward. He hadn’t been around, and Luna never brought him up. Granted, Nigel and Luna hadn’t been speaking to one another hardly at all save about work-related topics for the last four weeks. Still, he’d been able to let himself idly pretend that things had cooled between his employee and her handsome beau.
But nothing changed the reality that the last time he’d seen them together, Luna was wrapped in Officer Ward’s brawny arms, receiving an absolutelystunningkiss. An activity that was immediately picked up again the moment of his return. Which implied their relationship was a lot more established than Nigel wanted to believe.
He had to respect it. If he cared about Luna at all, he had to respect her relationships, her choices, and . . . and . . .
