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“You’re- you’re not?” I whisper scream.
He shakes his head and when the light turns green, starts to drive smoothly forward again. “Nope.”
“Why not? You know that I’m a disaster now. You know that this really isn’t an off night. You know that I’ve had an absolutely shitty year. And you know what else? I’m cursed.”
“Are you?” He slides one big hand off the wheel and sets it gently on my knee. “That’s nice?”
“Nice?” I gasp. “It’s not nice!”
He lets the softest of sighs escape his parted lips, but it fills up the car and makes me shiver all hotly again, because a sigh from Daniel is a sexy sound. At least that sigh was. Okay, maybe every single breath indrawn and exhaled is sexy from someone like him. Maybe it’s been too long since I got laid. Uh- no. Scratch that. Unless I mean it’s been too long since I got laid by him. And I’d like to do it again. Very much so.
“Leandra?”
Oh lord, the way he says my name, all smooth like chocolate. Yum. Chocolate.
“Hmm?”
“I think you’ve just had a real shit year. You met all the wrong people. Shitty people. At wrong times. I know a little of what it’s like to get burned. I was in a serious relationship for three years and then one day, I came home and found our place empty. All her stuff was gone. She left me a note that said she was bored and needed to move on. Just like that. It stung. Before that, there were a few instances where I got used because my family has money. And in between those, it was just the regular crap everyone goes through. Until the night I met you, I had thought that maybe it was best to stay single because honestly, it’s easier. Lonelier, but easier. I’d never done a one-night stand. That’s not how I prefer to stay single. I guess I’m not good at it That night I thought come morning, I was going to ask you if I could take you out properly. If you might change your mind. If you might like to go for breakfast, or see my plants, or- or- anything. And you were gone. And I was- well, destroyed a little. Disappointed. Hurt. I let it be, got on with my business, buried myself in my work and then I found that earring under my bed when I was cleaning and I thought maybe, if it was meant to be, I’d find you. At least to give it back, and if it was doubly meant to be, maybe you’d let me take you on a date and get to know you, because I have this feeling that you’re incredible. Everyone needs to vent sometimes. It doesn’t make me want to bail.”
I can barely speak past the weight lying on my chest and the extraordinary lump in my throat, but I have to tell him. He has a right to know. “The earrings are cursed. I’m cursed.”
His fingers glide over my knee to find my hand. He drives with his left, steady and certain and calm, while the strong fingers of his right-hand twist around mine, hot and comforting. I feel tangled up in his strength just holding his hand.
“I don’t mind,” he assures me.
I know he doesn’t get it. I’m going to have to tell him the whole story. He just thinks I’m being strange or maybe funny, or that I’m using cursed to mean unlucky like other people mean it. I’m going to have to tell him the truth. I’m about to do it, and then he swerves right, and a massive grouping of domed white structures come into view and I’m silenced by the awesomeness of it. Even though they’re just greenhouses on the outside, they’re somehow something more. Something magical. A place that’s closed, as I can tell by the locked gates, but a place that I’m going to get to discover with a man who is also kind of magical.
“Daniel, the- the curse is real. It really is.”
He stops the car and puts it in park, then kills the engine. When he looks at me, his grin hits me right in the pit of my belly like I’ve swallowed hot coals and a swarm of bees and they’re all brewing up something fabulous, maybe honey, or maybe mead, because I feel a little bit tipsy now, drunk on that grin.
“Don’t worry. I know all about curses. I got bit by the cactus curse a long time ago. Or maybe it’s plant fever. Either way, I’m still not bailing. Are you okay with that?”
He’s sincere. He really wants to know.
“I’m okay with that.” I’m shocked to find that I am.
CHAPTER 7
Daniel
Leandra looks lovely. She’d look great in any color, but the black dress she has on reminds me of the one she wore to the ball, even though they’re totally different. The fit is perfect. It hugs her curves and displays her long legs. She’s completely unapologetic about her height and walks confidently in her towering heels.
