Easy Magic (Boudreaux #5)

“The floor is pretty much dry now. There was some product damage, but—”

“No,” he interrupts, “that’s not what I meant. How are you?”

I blink at him for a moment. “I’m fine.”

He steps to me, searching my face. “Did you sleep?”

“I slept fine.”

“Liar,” he whispers and drags his knuckles down my cheek, making me tingle in a purely feminine way. And I’m still not bombarded by his emotions and thoughts.

It’s just his warm touch, and my femininity responding to it.

Fascinating.

“I didn’t sleep at all,” I reply with a whisper.

“Why?”

I cock a brow and pull myself together before I embarrass us both and climb him like a tree. “I might have a few things on my mind.”

“Not sleeping won’t solve it,” he replies and tucks my hair behind my ear. “I’ll put in a claim with the insurance company tomorrow, but in the meantime, I’ll pay for anything that was ruined.”

“Thank you.”

His lips twitch with humor, and I lick mine in response.

“Let me take you out to dinner tonight.”

“Oh, well—”

“Yes,” Lena calls from the other room, “she’ll be there!”

Beau chuckles and I smile, shaking my head.

“You won’t be there?” he asks.

“Yes, she will!” Lena yells again.

“Shut it,” I say, not taking my eyes off of Beau. “Not you, her.”

He nods and smiles, and my knees turn to Jell-O. What am I, sixteen?

“I’ll be working until about six.”

“Well, that’s convenient because I live very close by.”

He’s flirting with me. Beau Boudreaux is fucking flirting with me.

“Really?” My eyes widen, playing along. “That is convenient.”

“So, I can pick you up at 6:30?”

I bite my lip and nod. “Sure.”

“Great.” The smile hasn’t left his face. Beau’s smile should be illegal. “I’ll see you this evening.”

He leans in and kisses my cheek, then turns and waves at Lena as he leaves the shop.

“Holy. Shit.” Lena says and props her hands on her hips. “If you don’t go out with that man, I will put a hex on you.”

“No, you won’t,” I reply with a laugh.

“Okay, I won’t, but I will not speak to you for at least a month.”

“You won’t do that either.” I flip the sign on the door to OPEN and walk behind the sales counter. “Besides, I just told him I’d go.”

“Don’t bail,” she says seriously. “He’s not just attractive. Attractive might be the understatement of the century.”

Well, she has me there.

“What are you going to wear tonight?”

I frown. “What I’m wearing right now. I won’t have time to go home.”

“I’ll go to your place to get you something sexier.” She taps her forefinger to her lips, looking me over. “That’s a great work outfit, but it doesn’t really scream push me against the wall and do me.”

“Well, that’s a relief.” I laugh and rub the back of my neck. “It’s the first date. The chances of him making it to home base are slim to none.”

“If a man who looked like that wanted to take me out, it would be my mission in life to get his pants off of him.”

“Speaking of, who were you with last night?”

She frowns. “I told you, you don’t know him. And no, he didn’t look like Beau at all.”

“Nobody looks like Beau.”

“I really feel like it’s your duty for your fellow women to have sex with Beau and then write an ode to it.”

“You’re stupid,” I reply, giggling. “I can’t write.”

“Oh, I think he’d inspire a limerick or two,” she says with a sigh. “I know! Let’s read your cards!”

“No.” I shake my head and begin checking stock, making a list of what I need to pull from back stock.

Ignoring me completely, Lena retrieves her tarot cards from her handbag and sets them on the counter.

“Cut them.”

“No.”

“It won’t be as accurate if I cut them,” she says with a huff.

“We’re not doing this,” I reply. “You know I don’t like tarot.”

“Fine.” She sighs and begins turning the cards over anyway. “Hmm.”

I don’t want to know the future. That’s one thing I can’t read, and I don’t want to. I’m happy to live in the present, and let life happen.

I haven’t had my cards read since I was a teenager.

“This is interesting.”

“Shut it,” I reply. “I don’t want to know.”

“It’s not bad.”

“No means no, Lena.”

“Fine,” she says again and gathers the cards back into a stack and stashes them in her handbag. “I want you to have fun tonight, Mal. You deserve it.”

“Well, I guess we’ll see how it goes.”

She smiles and wraps her arm around my shoulders, and the familiar love and affection wraps around me like it always does when Lena touches me. “Bang him.”

“No,” I giggle. “But if I do, you’ll be the first to know.”

“Hey. Go big or go home, that’s what I say,” she says.

“Why do people say that? What’s wrong with going home? I like it at home.”

“Well, if you go home, take Beau with you.”

***

“She brought me this?”

I stare at myself in the mirror and frown. I know for a fact this didn’t come from my closet. She was sneaky and cut the tags off, but this is not my dress.

I would never pick it out for myself.

It’s a simple black wrap dress, with a deep V neckline that shows off the girls and makes me want to reach for a scarf, but I don’t have one, and Lena didn’t include one on purpose.

She did bring my favorite red heels to go with it, and while I’ll admit the dress makes me look curvy and pretty, I’m showing way more skin than I’m comfortable with.

Which was exactly her intention.

If I didn’t love her so much, I’d strangle her.

I sigh and smooth my favorite raspberry lipstick on and stare at myself in the mirror.

I clean up nicely.

Suddenly, there’s a soft knock on the door, and there’s Beau, peering in at me with a smile and a fist full of bright blue forget me nots.

Not roses. Forget me nots.

“Hi,” I say when I open the door. “I just have to grab my bag.”

“You’re stunning,” he says before I can turn away. His eyes move from the crown of my head to my red shoes and back up again. “These are for you.”

“Thank you.” I fuss over the flowers for a moment and smile up at him. “How did you know these are my favorite?”

He blinks rapidly. “I didn’t. They’re my favorite, and more personal than roses.”

After putting the flowers in a vase, I grab my bag and Beau leads us out of the shop, and waits for me to lock the door.

He takes my arm to guide me to his car, and I stiffen, like I always do when being touched, but it passes quickly.

“You’re getting better,” he murmurs as he opens my door.

“At what?”