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No reason except I still wasn’t totally sure how to talk to this grown-up and stunningly handsome version of the boy I’d once caught salamanders with.
Outside his door, I summoned the energy of my spark and drew it around the apartment with a few sweeps of my arms to mute the sounds of our conversation to anyone outside. Then I knocked.
“Come on in,” Gabriel said from the other side. “It’s not locked.”
I found him flipping through the row of old CDs he and his dad had left behind on a shelf. It’d been a hot day and the heat lingered in the apartment, so Gabriel was only wearing an undershirt with his jeans. He might not have been as brawny as Seth, but there was ample musculature on display as he pulled one case off the shelf and turned toward me. Suddenly I was feeling a little hot too.
“We only took our favorites,” he said, looking up from the CD. “I forgot about some of these albums.”
“Anything worth listening to now?” I asked.
He chuckled. “From my contributions, only if you’re into very dated pop-punk and hip hop. My dad had some new country stuff that might not be bad. Is it better if we have something playing to cover up our voices?”
“My magic will take care of that,” I said. “But if you want to put something on…”
“Maybe later.” He slid the case back into the shelf and flashed his easy grin at me. “I’m supposed to be listening to you.”
The heat I’d felt earlier gathered in my cheeks. “I think it’s more the other way around,” I pointed out, moving to the couch.
“Right.” He ducked into the kitchen. “Do you want anything to drink?”
Already the perfect host, even though he’d hardly have had time to stock his fridge. I didn’t think he’d like it if I acted like he was some kind of charity case I couldn’t bear to take anything from, though. “What have you got?”
“So far just beer and lemonade.”
Getting even a little buzzed around him didn’t sound like the wisest idea right now. “Lemonade would be great. Thank you.”
He came back out with a bottle of beer for himself and a glass bright with lemonade. I accepted the drink and tipped back a gulp of the sweet-and-sour liquid.
Gabriel sat down at the opposite end of the couch. He leaned one of those well-muscled arms across the back cushion, stretching his feet out toward the coffee table, looking totally at home. Which I guessed he had a right to.
“I’m not sure I have much to report yet,” he said. “I guess you know your dad and Derek went out for a drive today.”
I nodded. “They were going to check out a property Derek thought might fit what one of the investors Dad works with is looking for. Derek’s kind of… half architect, half real estate agent.” In a community as small as ours, if you wanted to mainly work for witching folk, you had to be pretty flexible. “Did you overhear anything?”
“Just some general business talk,” Gabriel said. “They didn’t mention you or your stepmother while they were by the garage. They seemed friendly enough, though.”
I made a face. “The two options are that they’re plotting illegal magic together or that Dad still thinks Derek’s his future son-in-law. Either way, there’s no reason for them not to be friendly.”
“Yeah. I’ll continue keeping an eye out. And it’s not as if I’m confined to the garage. I can always take a little stroll through the gardens on my time off, maybe conveniently when they’re out there, if you text me a heads up.” His grin turned sly.
“Thank you,” I said.
“It’s not a problem.” The grin faded. For a second, his bright blue eyes were completely serious. “I came back here because I was worried about you, Rose. It seems like I had good reason to be. I wish I’d already found out something you could use.”
“You only got here a couple days ago,” I said. My throat tightened. I took another gulp of lemonade. “And I asked my dad about giving you this job to helpyoumore than to help me.”
This time his smile was softer. “I know that, Rose.”
That look, that smile, made my heart flutter in a way it hadn’t earlier. I groped for a change of subject. “I didn’t come out tonight just to get a report on what you’ve seen either. How are you doing? It looked like you were getting along okay with the other staff.” I’d seen him laughing with Matt, who managed the garage and served as our main driver, when I’d headed out to town this afternoon. “I guess you get along with just about everyone, though, don’t you?”
He laughed. “I do meet the occasional person who just won’t warm up to me.”
“Oh, yeah? I’d like to see that just to know it’s possible.” I gave him a playful nudge with my foot. “But I guess you met all kinds of people with all that roaming around you did. Do you still keep in touch with anyone you met in all those places?”
Gabriel shrugged. “Not really. I’m not the best pen pal. More of a face-to-face guy, you know. But the ones I got along with, they know they could hit me up if they were passing through town.”
I wanted to ask if he’d hit it off with any women, but that felt too personal somehow. Maybe because I’d have been asking with more than just innocent curiosity. “Is there somewhere you’d want to go back to? When everything has settled down for me? I know it must be hard, being back here again.”
