Charmed: Destiny Romance by Emmie Dark Page A

for a moment, as if waiting for an imaginary studio audience to applaud her arrival.
    Mel had to blink at the blur of scarlet red and burnt orange chiffon that cut a swathe through the shop as her godmother made her way to the counter. Aunt Gertrude had obviously decided to match her outfit with her makeup today – a new twist – because her powdery cheeks were apple-red and her lips coated in garish neon-orange lipstick.
    ‘Good morning,’ Mel said, wincing – partly at Aunt Gertrude’s face, partly because that was totally a lie. It was the worst morning ever.
    ‘Something’s rotten in the state of Tasmania. What’s up with you?’
    ‘Uh . . .’ It took a moment for Mel to get her head around Aunt Gertrude’s twisted saying. ‘Nothing. I’m fine.’
    ‘Pish.’ Her godmother waved a ring-encrusted hand. ‘I know fine. You aren’t it.’ She leaned over the counter towards Mel and took a long, deep sniff before her face broke out in a grin. ‘Oh! You finally got yourself some!’
    ‘Aunt Gertrude!’ Mel’s face flamed against her will. ‘That’s disgusting. You can’t . . .’ she sputtered. ‘You just can’t . . .’
    ‘Smell it on you? Yeah, I can. Hot stuff, too, by the whiff of it.’
    Mel shuddered at the idea of her godmother smelling sex on her, but decided to put it out of her mind and never think about it again. Ever.
    ‘It was jacket guy, wasn’t it?’ Aunt Gertrude said with narrowed eyes.
    ‘No.’ Mel didn’t need to give anything more away. Her godmother would only use it for teasing and ammunition sometime down the track anyway.
    ‘Liar. It was. Just as well I cursed Dorothy so you were here when he came back to collect it.’
    Mel gasped. ‘You didn’t! Poor Dorothy! She had a terrible morning.’
    Aunt Gertrude clicked her fingers on the glass countertop, her expression set at nothing less than
glee
. ‘She’s fine. But I want to know more about jacket guy! Tell me all the juicy, gory details, and don’t leave anything out,’ she said, pulling up a stool and settling in. ‘I’m too old to bother with all that stuff myself these days, but I don’t mind a bit of vicarious shenanigans!’
    Mel rubbed her forehead, hoping she could somehow make herself disappear. For a while she glared at the front door of the shop, willing a flood of customers to walk right in. But she was wearing her ring, so her mind control powers were limited – and besides, yesterday’s sunshine had vanished as quickly as it had arrived, and there was no one out on the cold, wet streets this morning.
    ‘It was good, he was lovely, and now it’s over, okay?’ Mel could only pray to the goddess that just this once Aunt Gertrude would leave well enough alone.
    She should have known it was a fruitless wish.
    ‘You’re not getting out of it that easily. And why is it over? If it was
good
and
lovely
 – though I’m guessing it was more like
saucy
and
steamy
 – why wouldn’t you go back for more?’
    Mel shook her head. ‘You know as well as I do that I’m not allowed to have a relationship with a non-magical person.’
    ‘Relationship, schmelationship,’ Aunt Gertrude scolded. ‘Who said anything about a relationship? I thought we were talking about sex!’
    Just as she was in the midst of saying that, a customer opened the front door. Unfortunately, the chimes were nowhere near loud enough to drown out Aunt Gertrude’s voice, and whoever had walked in had just heard her joyfully announce that last part.
    And then, because clearly the universe had it in for Mel this morning, the customer was . . . Michael.
    ‘What are you doing here?’ Mel gasped, then clapped her hand over her mouth. That wasn’t what she’d meant to say at all. She didn’t know
what
she’d meant to say. All she could think about was overcoming the almost instinctual urge to run over and press her body against his.
    ‘Now, now, is that any way to speak to a customer?’ Aunt Gertrude