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Marilyn Lawford and the other town council members supporting the Media and Tech Center proposal had been unmoved by Destiny’s dire warnings.
“I also stopped by to tell you how thrilled I was to get your text.” Destiny pulled a tablet from her large beaded bag and powered it up. “And that I’m lining up potential dates for you. I’ve created an astrological chart, but I need some more info.”
Bee’s insides twisted a little. Though she’d thought a date would help distract her from Adam, she was starting to realize he wasn’t exactly ignorable.
In fact, she’d been having a hard timenotthinking of him since their first encounter yesterday morning. Plus, now she had extra work and research to do, so—
“Destiny, thank you so much, but I didn’t mean to imply that I need a date right this second.”
“Honey, you needed a date yesterday.” Destiny gave a throaty chuckle and brought up a folder on her tablet screen. “Last week. Lastmonth. I’ve already started a file for you. I know your birth date, but do you remember what time you were born?”
The twist tightened. Even now, it was hard for Bee to think about the circumstances of her birth and the two parents who’d welcomed her arrival into the world with love and joy. The parents who’d been stolen from her only five years later.
“I don’t know what time I was born,” she told Destiny. “And really, I was just interested in a date. Not a One True Love.”
“Honey Bee.” Destiny eyed her narrowly from beneath her mascara-coated lashes. “We areallinterested in our One True Love. The world revolves around immeasurably deep, lifelong connections between people, but sometimes, they require a bit of intervention and finessing. You didn’t ask me to set you up because you’d like a bowl of artichoke soup. Youneedto find your One True Love.”
Bee smiled weakly. She wanted to believe in One True Loves. She really did. And relationships like the ones Aria had with Hunter, and Grace with her fiancé, Lincoln, came very close to convincing Bee that OTLs were a real thing. For some people.
But for her? She’d been burned one too many times. Not in romantic relationships—although she’d had her share of breakups—but in believing so hard that an ideal home and family existed and wishing even harder that they would be hers one day.
Yet every time, she’d had to face the pain of disappointment until she’d finally concluded that the concept of home wasn’t for everyone. Some people were lucky enough to have it or find it, and others just weren’t. She was one of theweren’ts.
It was the same with One True Loves. They required hope and risk and opening up the deepest parts of yourself to let someone else in.
Which meant they weren’t for Bee—not that she would ever argue the point with Destiny. Even if she really was just looking for artichoke soup and a distraction from Adam Powers.
“Do we have to find my One True Love rightnow?” she hedged.
“No time like the present,” Destiny sing-songed, swiping the tablet screen with her ring-laden finger. “Since you’re a Pisces, I’ve been looking for Scorpios, although—”
She looked up sharply, her gaze snapping to the conference room door. Adam emerged, his attention on his phone.
Bee’s heart jumped as she saw him the way Destiny must be seeing him for the first time. A tall, gorgeously rumpled man in jeans and a T-shirt that hugged his broad chest and shoulders, his hair flopping over his forehead in a way that made her want to drive her fingers into the thick, dark strands and push them back while—
“Who—” Destiny pursed her lips and tapped her fingernail on the side of her tablet “—isthat?”
Before Bee could answer, Adam looked up and caught her gaze. No, hetrappedher gaze as if he were catching a butterfly in a net. He swerved and came toward her.
Oh, no.
Destiny would latch on to Adam like a barnacle attaching to a hull. Then she’d start gushing about his powerful energy and One True Loves.
At some point, she’d announce that the Oracle cards had divined that Adam was The One for Bee, which of course was utter balderdash. She’d do all sorts of things to try to get Bee and Adam together—many of which would involve spells, herbs, and quite possibly howling at the full moon.
Bee believed in other worlds and mystical powers, but she and Adam were already clashing on the “other worlds” front, and she did not want to be the target of Destiny’s love spells.
Especially when she was having enough trouble dealing with the one Adam was casting over her.
She stepped in front of him to put the brakes on the matchmaking engine before Destiny revved it into gear. Maybe if she blocked his seriously hot aura, Destiny wouldn’t intercept it.
One could hope.
“Bee, I forgot to ask if you…” Adam stopped, glancing at Destiny over Bee’s shoulder. “Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“Didn’t you?” Destiny’s usually warm, throaty voice was as sharp and pointed as a harpoon.
Bee blinked and turned to stare at her friend. “Um…it’s okay. Adam, this is Destiny Rose. She owns the Moonbeams shop on Mariposa Street. Destiny, this is Adam Powers. He’s the…”
