Mercenary Magic by Ella Summers

fine, thank you,” she replied. All one of them.
    He didn’t look appeased. Or amused.
    “Fine, it’s because I’m broke. I have no money to waste on fancy dishes I can’t even pronounce,” she admitted. “Happy now?”
    “No, I am most certainly not happy. You need to eat,” he told her. “Don’t worry about the cost. You’re on the clock. You can bill your meal to me.”
    “In that case, I may just order a salad with my soup.”
    “Hold on now, before you do something really crazy.” He looked at the waiter. “Scrap the salads and soups. Bring her a steak.”
    “Now just you hold on. I am perfectly capable of ordering on my own,” she protested.
    “No, you’re really not. You need real food, not rabbit food. I can’t have you passing out in the middle of a fight.” He waved the waiter away. “It’s not healthy the way you live. And it doesn’t make any sense. You have magic. A lot of it.” He held up his hand, stopping her emerging protest. “With your magic, you could make so much more money, and yet you do everything in your power to make sure you remain a bottom of the barrel mercenary. Why? You’re clearly hurting for money, and there’s a definite path open to you to alleviate this problem. I’m familiar with Mayhem’s payment tiers. All you’d have to do is march into Simmons’s office and fess up that you have magic. Once you were tested, your pay rank would jump from the bottom right up to the top. That I can guarantee.”
    “Why do you even care? My money—or lack thereof—is my problem.”
    An agitated wrinkle formed between his eyes. “You’re being absurd.”
    “Then let me be absurd. It’s my problem. I don’t want to talk about it,” she said. “And you have a very overinflated view of my magic.” She nudged the roll across her plate, putting on a cheery smile. “I’m a mushroom, remember?”
    “No.” Kai reached forward and seized her hand, freezing it before she could continue fiddling with her food. His skin was hot, like it had been forged in a volcano. He looked her right in the eye. “You’re not.”
    Sera wasn’t sure how to respond to that, but the waiter saved the day. He’d returned with two plates, an enormous steak upon each. And by enormous, she meant this-could-feed-a-small-mercenary-team enormous. She drew her hand away from Kai’s and picked up her silverware. Eating was a good way to avoid talking. Kai was already eating; he’d met the arrival of his dinner with great enthusiasm. But through it all, his eyes never left her. He stared across the table at her, as though he was plotting something. They ate in silence.
    When he’d devoured the steak, he waved over the waiter so he could order dessert. The waiter turned to her, but she just shook her head.
    “I’m full.”
    “Bring a second slice of cheesecake,” Kai told him, and the waiter scurried off.
    Sera resisted the urge to draw her sword. “I said I was full.”
    “You did.” He didn’t get it.
    “Why are you such a control freak? What gives you the right to decide what’s best for everyone?” She tried to keep her tone level, but, yeah, he was really starting to piss her off.
    He met her glower with a calm smile. “When the cake comes, and you still don’t want it, then I’ll just eat yours too.”
    Whatever. This was all a game to him, and she would not play along. The waiter returned with their dessert: two slices of cheesecake with a chocolate crust and raspberries on top. It looked good—maybe even good enough to make her forget she was stuffed. But she wasn’t about to give Kai the satisfaction. He was already watching her with a smug smirk on his face, like he knew she wanted it. He leaned in toward her, magic rolling off of him, flooding her, filling her with heat… 
    He froze, and the magic snapped back into him. His eyes looked past her shoulder. “Our man has arrived.”
    “What?” She shivered. The sudden withdrawal of his magic had left her