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I shook my head. "Nothing doing. Now they've just pissed me off."
He grinned. "I was hoping you'd say that. Don't worry, we'll continue to protect you.
These days, we all need to look out for one another. "
A realization struck me. "Is that why Owen's been coming to work with me every morning?"
"Yeah, he's part of your security detail, with the added benefit that you can spot anyone in disguise who might be after him."
"Oh." I couldn't help but feel a sting of disappointment to have it verified that his attention wasn't personal.
"More tea?" he asked.
I studied my empty cup and assessed my condition. I still wasn't ready to go home.
I wasn't sure which would be worse, explaining why the perfect man Gemma had set me up with never wanted to see me again, or telling them that I'd been mugged.
"Sure," I said, handing him the cup.
When he returned to the living room with a fresh cup of tea, I said, "Maybe you can help me with something."
"Anything you need. Just ask." His tone reminded me of Owen, that first day of work on the bus.
"Do you know anything about magical pranks?"
"A little. Why?"
I told him about the Naked Frog Guy, ending with his unwelcome appearance at my date that night. When he finished laughing and wiping the tears of mirth out of his eyes, he said, "Owen's the one you want to talk to about that."
Owen was the last person I wanted to talk to about either dating or about being serenaded by men who used to be frogs. "Why's that?"
"It sounds like one of his spells. The layering's the clue. Most prank spells are one-dimensional, but the beauty of this one is that 'breaking' the enchantment actually only makes it worse by making the victim become obsessed with the woman who breaks the frog part of the spell."
"I don't know him that well, but fraternity prank spells don't seem to be Owen's style."
"When we were in college, he made extra money by doing custom spell work. I'm surprised to hear that one's still going around, and that it's made it to the city." He shook his head. "He should have asked for royalties. That was one of his better ones. It really brought out his sense of humor."
"You mean all the bad poetry?"
"He was taking a Shakespeare class that semester."
"Don't tell me he's a Barry Manilow fan."
"No, that was the customer's request—they were looking for something really humiliating. The opera is pure Owen, though."
"So, how do I break this spell?"
"It's supposed to break when the victim meets someone he'd like even without a spell. Around the university, that meant it was usually over within a day or so."
"And if he doesn't? Or if he really does like the woman?"
"Then you'd have problems." He studied me for a while, and his gaze gave me shivers. I wasn't used to being looked at that way by men. The sweater Gemma loaned me must have been especially good with my coloring. "And I can see where that's a distinct possibility. Yeah, you should definitely talk to Owen if this guy keeps bugging you. He's probably got a back door built into the spell, so he could break it for you."
I wondered what Jeff's type would be. Dealing with the situation that way was far preferable to confessing my predicament to Owen. Whether or not he had any interest in me, I still had at least a minor crush on him, and the last thing any girl wants to do is talk about her dating woes to a man she's attracted to, especially when her dating woes are so weird.
I drained the last of my tea and said, "I'd better get home soon. My roommates will be dying to get the postdate debriefing."
He took my mug and carried it into the kitchen, then came back to the living room and helped me to my feet. "You okay now?"
