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Mama set down a plate in front of me, and he smiled, probably because he didn’t have to answer.

“Thank you, Mama, you didn’t have to cook such a big meal for just us.”

“If I don’t do it, who’s gonna?” she asked and pinched my cheek. “Besides, I like it. It keeps me busy, and I’m better at it than you.”

“I can’t argue there,” I said with my mouth full of chicken. “Where’s Zo?”

“Hazel invited her out on a girl’s night.”

I couldn’t find it in my heart to be upset about that despite Julian’s reservations about Hazel. I liked her. The man next to me on the other hand… “What’s Binx doing here?”

“He came by to deliver those,” Mama said, jerking her head toward a bouquet of red roses in a vase on the coffee table.

“For whom?” I asked.

“For you. As a welcome gift,” Binx said, and I choked on the bite in my mouth. “Let me help you.”

He rose and started massaging my back over my spine as I continued to cough, all too aware of my hardened nipples rubbing against the material of my bra. The more he stroked, the harder it became not to knock him down on the ground and climb on top of him.

Mama is sitting right next to you! I scolded myself. Get it together.

I stood, nearly knocking over the chair. “Could you get me some water, Mama?” I asked.

She scurried over to the cupboards to find a glass.

“Get out,” I said through clenched teeth. “Or stop whatever it is you are doing right now.”

“Here you are,” Mama said, handing me a glass, which I guzzled while keeping my sights on Binx.

“Thanks,” I said, after draining it and setting it down hard on the table. “Binx was just saying he has to go.”

“Well, that’s a shame,” Mama said, pouting, while she smoothed back her short hair. She winked. “Hopefully we’ll be seeing more of you. Don’t be a stranger.”

Binx smiled at her, and I grabbed the back of the kitchen chair to steady myself as visions of savaging him floated through my mind. They weren’t his, they were all me, and that made the situation worse. I rushed toward the door and opened it for him.

He slowly sauntered across the house in his tight jeans and muscle shirt. I tried not to look but failed miserably.

Pausing at the doorway, he said, “Thank you, Darlene. You are an excellent host.”

I shoved him the rest of the way out and closed the door behind me so she couldn’t hear us.

“What do you think you’re doing, coming to my house at all?”

“I was just trying to help and welcome you to the island, Char. Darlene says you prefer that to Charlotte, am I right?”

Flabbergasted, I threw my arms in the air. “Whatever you were doing to me in there—”

Binx furrowed his brow, and I bit my bottom lip to stop myself from jumping him. “Are you referring to my nature?”

I raised an eyebrow and crossed my arms.

He shuffled a toe on the porch like he was embarrassed. “I’m an incubus. I would have thought someone would have mentioned it.”

Oh. OH. Those were the things that fed off sex, weren’t they? That explained a lot.

“How dare you try to—”

“I don’t do it on purpose.” He held up his hands, palms out. “If I had, we’d be in the bedroom now.”