been savagely buttering a piece
of toast that she didn’t intend to eat, her gaze had roamed unbidden down his
denim-clad thighs and back up to those icy-blue eyes. Heavy-lidded, with a
mixture of sleepiness and inherent male confusion, they’d drawn her in and
destroyed the Zen calm she’d attempted to create with the project of cooking
breakfast.
Callie had, very long ago, overcome
the natural Fae fascination with humans as potential mates. Enough of her kind
had tried and failed to sustain relationships with mortal beings for her to
have learned a thing or two.
By all the gods! She hadn’t
been sent here to fall under the spell of Nick Garrett’s irrepressible charm. She’d
been sent here to learn a valuable lesson and to make recompense for her
mistakes. She refused to allow herself to be distracted from her task, even for
a minute. As she fluffed her hair and studied her reflection in the mirror, she
thought of the Minuteman Motel. Why had she felt such a sense of relief when
Nick returned for her? The magick she’d worked in room five had made it even
more comfortable than his tiny, sparsely furnished apartment. Why hadn’t she
stayed? Why had her Fae heart skipped a beat when he’d knocked on her door? `Stop
it!śhe admonished her rosy-cheeked reflection. `Stop it right there!´ `Sorry.
I wasn’t peeking. I just came to see if you needed something to
wear.Ćallie whirled around to find Nick standing in the bedroom doorway,
one hand shielding his eyes. She swore her hidden wings fluttered. Hadn’t he
figured out she possessed an endless and portable wardrobe any human woman
would kill for? `I’m dressed,śhe said when she’d recovered her composure.
The only thing she’d forgotten was her shoes. She hastily gave herself a pair
of tan work boots that complimented her suburban hiker chic. `I was wondering
if you were stealing another one of my shirts,´ he said with a smirk, dropping
his hand. He leaned against the door jamb, his coffee mug paused halfway to his
lips. Callie forced her gaze back to the mirror. `I put your shirt back.´ He
shrugged. `You could keep it if you want.´ `That’s okay. It was big on me
anyway.Śhe held her breath for a moment, wondering what to do next. The
best course of action, she decided, was to disappear for a while. So she did. `Callie!
Where’d you go now?´ Despite his decision to accept the outrageous things he’d
seen her do, it still left Nick strangely disconcerted to have her pop out of
existence right before his eyes. Magicians performed similar illusions with
mirrors, but the only mirror in the room showed just what he’d seen with his
own eyes. Once again, she simply ceased to be standing right in front of him. `Where
are you? Can you still hear me?´ The embarrassment of talking to an empty room
battled with his frustration at her departure and won. He left the bedroom,
shaking his head and muttering to himself. `What did I say to get her dander up
now? Never met a woman so touchy in my life.´ Back in the kitchen, he
confronted the remains of the meal she’d prepared for him. He decided to
surprise her by cleaning up, and halfway through the task, the irony of it
struck him like a freight train. He was cleaning up his own kitchen to impress
the crazy faerie who had essentially moved herself into his apartment. A
faerie, who, if her previous feats of prestidigitation were any indication,
could have snapped her fingers and done the job in less time than it took
to«well, snap her fingers. Maybe she had the right idea. Getting out of the
apartment and clearing his head seemed like a better idea than scrubbing a
frying pan, so he left everything half done, grabbed a shirt from his closet the
blue plaid which now carried a lingering scent of roses and left with no
intention of coming back for a good long time. Ted Farley stood behind the bar
with his massive hands wrapped around an industrial-sized can of salted
peanuts. With measured
of toast that she didn’t intend to eat, her gaze had roamed unbidden down his
denim-clad thighs and back up to those icy-blue eyes. Heavy-lidded, with a
mixture of sleepiness and inherent male confusion, they’d drawn her in and
destroyed the Zen calm she’d attempted to create with the project of cooking
breakfast.
Callie had, very long ago, overcome
the natural Fae fascination with humans as potential mates. Enough of her kind
had tried and failed to sustain relationships with mortal beings for her to
have learned a thing or two.
By all the gods! She hadn’t
been sent here to fall under the spell of Nick Garrett’s irrepressible charm. She’d
been sent here to learn a valuable lesson and to make recompense for her
mistakes. She refused to allow herself to be distracted from her task, even for
a minute. As she fluffed her hair and studied her reflection in the mirror, she
thought of the Minuteman Motel. Why had she felt such a sense of relief when
Nick returned for her? The magick she’d worked in room five had made it even
more comfortable than his tiny, sparsely furnished apartment. Why hadn’t she
stayed? Why had her Fae heart skipped a beat when he’d knocked on her door? `Stop
it!śhe admonished her rosy-cheeked reflection. `Stop it right there!´ `Sorry.
I wasn’t peeking. I just came to see if you needed something to
wear.Ćallie whirled around to find Nick standing in the bedroom doorway,
one hand shielding his eyes. She swore her hidden wings fluttered. Hadn’t he
figured out she possessed an endless and portable wardrobe any human woman
would kill for? `I’m dressed,śhe said when she’d recovered her composure.
The only thing she’d forgotten was her shoes. She hastily gave herself a pair
of tan work boots that complimented her suburban hiker chic. `I was wondering
if you were stealing another one of my shirts,´ he said with a smirk, dropping
his hand. He leaned against the door jamb, his coffee mug paused halfway to his
lips. Callie forced her gaze back to the mirror. `I put your shirt back.´ He
shrugged. `You could keep it if you want.´ `That’s okay. It was big on me
anyway.Śhe held her breath for a moment, wondering what to do next. The
best course of action, she decided, was to disappear for a while. So she did. `Callie!
Where’d you go now?´ Despite his decision to accept the outrageous things he’d
seen her do, it still left Nick strangely disconcerted to have her pop out of
existence right before his eyes. Magicians performed similar illusions with
mirrors, but the only mirror in the room showed just what he’d seen with his
own eyes. Once again, she simply ceased to be standing right in front of him. `Where
are you? Can you still hear me?´ The embarrassment of talking to an empty room
battled with his frustration at her departure and won. He left the bedroom,
shaking his head and muttering to himself. `What did I say to get her dander up
now? Never met a woman so touchy in my life.´ Back in the kitchen, he
confronted the remains of the meal she’d prepared for him. He decided to
surprise her by cleaning up, and halfway through the task, the irony of it
struck him like a freight train. He was cleaning up his own kitchen to impress
the crazy faerie who had essentially moved herself into his apartment. A
faerie, who, if her previous feats of prestidigitation were any indication,
could have snapped her fingers and done the job in less time than it took
to«well, snap her fingers. Maybe she had the right idea. Getting out of the
apartment and clearing his head seemed like a better idea than scrubbing a
frying pan, so he left everything half done, grabbed a shirt from his closet the
blue plaid which now carried a lingering scent of roses and left with no
intention of coming back for a good long time. Ted Farley stood behind the bar
with his massive hands wrapped around an industrial-sized can of salted
peanuts. With measured
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