“Yeah.” She shook her head and then began to pick at her food again. “I have no idea what they’re for, but they always want me to go and try to sway me by saying there’ll be eligible guys will be there. It’s disgusting.”

  “They want you to find an appropriate boyfriend?” I fucking hated that like hell.

  She shrugged. “I guess. But there’s zero chance I’d like anyone they did, so I’ve never worried about it.”

  The idea of Hazel with anyone else hit me like a punch to the chest. It always had. She’d gone to my senior prom with Micha Anderson. He’d been a senior when she’d been a sophomore and I’d had a lot less fun watching his hands on her that night.

  If Hazel ever knew the kinds of thoughts I’d had about her back then… I wasn’t entirely sure she’d believe me. Especially since she thought very different kinds of things about me.

  “Do me a favor,” I told her, knowing that I would be walking a fine line between teaching without influencing her as we were supposed to do and totally influencing her. “Don’t go to any of your parents’ fundraisers.”

  Hazel snorted then popped a fry into her mouth. “You don’t have to worry about that at all. I have no intention of ever going.”

  That was at least a relief.

  As we talked, I realized how much I had to hold back. I couldn’t even accidentally let any of the coven work slip. She wasn’t ready to hear that she was a witch. Instead, I focused on work and some of the dumber things Luken, Oliver, and I had done over the years. Though her eyes darkened every time I mentioned Oliver, and I began to wonder if he’d done more to her than I’d known.

  Hazel even asked me about the women I’d dated, but I most certainly didn’t want to talk about that. Not with her.

  Once we’d finished, I paid and then drove back to her house. We’d had such a good time that I didn’t want to let her go. Alas, I had to.

  “Are you in a hurry to get home?” she asked after I pulled into her driveway.

  “No.” My answer was automatic. The last thing I wanted to do at this point was leave her.

  Part of it was the crush I’d had on her all those years ago and the fact that it hadn’t gone away. If we would’ve talked like this in high school, it would’ve been a totally different story.

  “Then come on.” Hazel hopped out of my car and headed toward the back of her house.

  The Rileys’ house was huge compared to any of the houses I knew of. Which was probably why they lived outside of town on a good amount of land. It was two stories and probably had lots of rooms.

  I followed Hazel around. My steps faltered right before I caught up to her. The back of this place was amazing. There was a walkway that headed out into the darkness. Who knew how far this went, but the sides were dotted with solar lights that illuminated the path. In the distance was a pond. Not overly huge, but a pond nonetheless with a dock that looked like one of those detachable ones that would float out into the water.

  They also had a pool and when I saw it, my mind immediately went to Hazel in a bikini. My hands itched to make contact with the silky-looking skin on her back. This dress should’ve been illegal.

  Hazel tossed her purse onto a table and waved me on.

  “What’re we doing back here?” I asked quietly once I was beside her. Part of me was hoping she was going to say skinny-dipping, but I didn’t think we were there yet.

  “Walking.” She glanced at me then away. “Unless you don’t want to. I just wasn’t ready to go inside yet.”

  “Your parents are home?”

  She shook her head. “They’ll be late, but the house still feels claustrophobic even when they’re not here.”

  This house was big enough that I knew space wasn’t the issue. “Well, I’ve got all night.”

  A smile appeared, but it was small and not all that joyful. “What’s going on?” I asked as I brushed her hair back over her shoulder. When she didn’t flinch, I took it as a good sign.

  We’d been laughing not five minutes ago and now something was different.

  “Nothing.” She shrugged. “I had fun tonight. More than I thought I would.”

  “Me too. Though I had no doubts how much I’d have.”

  Her quiet laugh was barely audible in the breeze. “But I’m still confused.”

  “About?”

  “What is this, Miller? It’s so weird.” She shook her head as if she weren’t sure what to say or how to say it. “We weren’t friends in high school. You were… not the nicest person, but you’ve been nothing but nice to me since you walked into the store and I’m over here waiting for the other shoe to drop. For the camera to pop out telling me it’s all a joke.”

  “Hey.” I yanked her arm to get her to stop. “It’s not a joke.” We were standing close to one another, her chest almost brushing my stomach and her full lips had one hundred percent of my attention.

  Out here in the dim light, with the water beside us, would’ve been an excellent place for a first kiss. But that wasn’t why I was here and I wouldn’t do it before I knew she wanted me to either way.

  “It’s not a joke,” I told her again. “High school was a long time ago.”

  She snorted. “Not for me.”

  “I haven’t been there in a long time and I wasn’t part of any of the pranks. Am I an asshole for not stopping them? Yes. But it wasn’t me.”

  “I know. I knew even then it wasn’t you who wrote the stuff on the bathroom wall but I think you do and even if I asked you wouldn’t tell me, right?” When I didn’t answer, she rolled her eyes and began moving again. I followed because I already had no choice. Wherever she was going, so was I and I cursed the fact that the coven had sent me to her.

  “So then what is this?” she asked again, this time much quieter.

  I knew what she was asking, but I had to think about my answer, given that I couldn’t admit what I wanted tonight to be. Since this was technically a job for the coven, it wasn’t supposed to get personal.

  Yet it had.

  Finally, I decided to screw the coven rules. This was a job for them, yes. But nothing was saying it couldn’t be both.

  “A date,” I told her before I’d decided myself. But that was what this was. It was a date. No way around that. We’d spent time together, laughed, and overall had a good time. But it was the feelings that I didn’t want to admit to that made it a date by anyone’s definition.

  “A date.” Hazel wasn’t looking at me. She was watching out in front of us as we kept walking. We’d made it almost around the pond in these few minutes. It wasn’t a huge pond, but the silence between us must’ve stretched out longer than I’d thought. It was all going by too quickly. In no time we were going to be back at the house and she was going to disappear inside.

  “You want me to stop asking things like that, don’t you?” Her voice brought me back to what we’d just been talking about.

  “Asking what?”

  “What this is. If you’re messing with me. All of that.”

  I scratched the back of my head. No way was I going to lie about this. “I would prefer you not question it so much, but I understand why you are. You can ask a million times if you want to, but if I’m being honest, Hazel, I had the biggest crush on you in high school, so asking you out tonight didn’t take much convincing.”

  “Convincing?”

  “Of myself,” I answered quickly. “I didn’t have to talk myself into it or hype myself up.”

  “Wait.” She stopped, suddenly causing me to almost trip on her. Then she spun around to face me, her red hair flying out around her before settling on her shoulders again. “You just said you had the biggest crush on me in high school.”

  “Yeah.” I smiled. “Because I did.”

  Her mouth softened and her lips parted. She made a sound like she was trying to say something, but nothing was coming out. Then she let out a loud groan and backed away from me.

  “I can’t believe you, Miller.” She was stomping away from me and it took me a second to realize that I needed to get moving before she got around to the front of her house and was lost to me.

  But where this anger was coming from, I didn’t know.

  “What’d I say?” I called out after her. “I was being honest.”

  She snagged her purse off the table she’d set it on when we’d come back here but kept her death march going.

  “I just can’t believe you, Miller. All of that garbage I dealt with and you’re telling me that you liked me the entire time?”

  “I was a fucking teenage boy. We’re not known for our wise decision-making.”

  She snorted. “That much, I know. But you could’ve told me then. Or hell, talked to me so I didn’t think you hated me.”

  “Did you care if I hated you?” None of it had seemed to bother her much back then, so I couldn’t be sure.

  She suddenly turned to face me, causing me to come to a sharp stop.

  “Did I care?” she yelled into the night air. “Of course I cared! If you knew how much I thought about you then, it would be embarrassing to me. I thought about you all the time. About how different things would be if I weren’t so repulsive to you.” Hazel threw her hands up and then was walking toward the front door again.

  “Repulsive? Jesus Christ,” I muttered as I scurried to follow her. She was almost on the steps when I grabbed her wrist. “You weren’t at all,” I told her. “Trust me… if our thoughts from then were on the table now, I’d be the one embarrassed.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” She didn’t try to get away from me.

  I raised an eyebrow. “Think about it, Hazel. I was a sixteen-year-old guy.”

  Her cheeks turned a beautiful pink color that I instantly wanted to see again and again. “Oh my god.”

  She slapped a hand over her face as if what I’d said embarrassed her when in reality, the only person who should have felt anything near that was me. Somehow, I wasn’t, though. Her knowing about back then… Turned out, that was what I wanted all along.

  “This is ridiculous,” she finally told me. “All of this wasted time…”

  I moved in, grabbing her hips with each hand, then pulled her toward me. “How about we just not waste any more?” Mostly because we didn’t have it to waste, but she didn’t know that yet.

  Everything I was telling Hazel was one hundred percent true, but I couldn’t forget why I’d actually been sent to her. I had a job to do, but if in the end, I got that done and got the woman of my fucking dreams, I’d be ecstatic.

  “Can we just act like none of that ever happened?” I asked her, knowing this was a big ask. She’d taken all of that shit really personally and I’d spend however much time necessary to make it all better.

  “Yeah. Fine. We’ll do that.” She nodded as if agreeing with herself. “But I can’t guarantee that if I see Oliver, I won’t kick him in the nuts.”

  My chuckle was stark against the quiet night. “I won’t even try to stop you.”

  “Good.” She folded her arms just under her breasts. It took all of my willpower not to let my gaze falter from hers. “Wouldn’t want you to get caught in the sweeping motion.”

  Yeah. Me, either.

  “OK.” She sighed heavily. “I’m going to go in and try to start processing all of this. Maybe eat a pint of ice cream.” I would’ve offered to get her dessert but was pretty sure this was emotional comfort eating. “Good night, Miller.”

  “Good night.”

  Watching Hazel turn away from me and walk to her front door was hard when I wanted to sweep her up into my arms and kiss the hell out of her.

  That would have to wait. I wasn’t so sure it would’ve been a welcome move quite yet. Didn’t matter how much I wanted it. I needed her to want it.

  “Hey, Miller.”

  I turned at the sound of my name and Hazel was so much closer than she’d been before. She was moving quickly too.

  Hazel didn’t stop until she got up on her toes, leaned her head up, put her hands on either side of my face, and kissed me quickly. I didn’t even have time to respond.

  I reached out to pull her in closer so I could really kiss her, but she slipped right out of reach and walked backward toward the door.

  “Hey, come back here.”

  She giggled. “Night, Miller.”

  I shook my head. “That’s not fair.”

  She wiggled her fingers and then disappeared behind her front door.

  Damn. That had barely been a kiss, but I was half hard from it. Like every teenage fantasy was coming true and I couldn’t fucking wait.

  7

  MILLER

  I could still taste her on my lips for a long time after that kiss.

  I even sent her a text saying as much.

  The coven might’ve sent me to her, but at this point… I didn’t care. This part was for me because I wasn’t about to let Hazel slip through my fingers for a second time.

  To be sure that I didn’t rush her, I didn’t see Hazel again that week. The calls and text messages weren’t enough. The pics on Snapchat helped a little because at least then I could see her.

  My alone time, I spent thinking about how I was going to tell Hazel she was a witch without freaking her the fuck out and I didn’t talk to anyone about it. First of all, I should’ve been able to handle any job the coven threw my way and I wouldn’t be the one to fail at it. Secondly, a big part of me wanted to keep Hazel all to myself.

  If I talked to Luken and Oliver about all this, they’d offer to help, and eventually, I might’ve needed it, but right now… Right now, Hazel was all mine. They knew what the To council had sent me on but had been good about not making it a bit deal. Yet.

  Technically, I should’ve kept my hands off Hazel and my dick in my pants. I wasn’t supposed to use any influence I might have over her to sway her choice. The council said that it had to be her choice, but damn. That rule was going to be difficult to follow.

  In no world was I going to let Hazel choose the shadow coven over ours. Then she’d be lost to me forever.

  “I thought you were working.” Hazel’s tired voice came through the phone, making me feel so much closer to her than I was.

  “I am. I was.” I sighed. “Listen, the festival is this weekend and I want you to go with me.”

  “Festival?” she asked, like she had no idea.

  “Are you serious right now?” I snorted. “Hazel, everyone knows about the Summer Day’s festival this weekend. Vendors. Activities. The picnic and movie in the park.” A perfect place to find out you’re a witch. I didn’t add that last part or that I planned to put a protection spell on her after I told her.

  Still had to make that, though.

  “Oh, right. Yes. Sure I’ll go with you. Want me to pack a picnic lunch?”

  I scoffed. “Please. I invited you. I’ll pack our picnic.”

  “If you bring a basket with only Cheetos and beef jerky, I’m going to leave.”

  I chuckled into the phone. “There goes my plans.”

  “Miller!”

  “Take it down a notch. I know how to pack a picnic basket.”

  “I’m trusting you,” she told me. “I tend to get hangry if I don’t eat.”

  “Noted. I’ll bring snacks for after, too.”

  Hazel snickered into the phone. “I always have an extra snack in my purse.”

  Beautiful, sweet, funny, and carries snacks at all times? I might have to marry this woman.

  Fuck. I couldn’t believe I’d even thought that. Though is shouldn’t have surprised me.

  The entire reason that I didn’t do relationships and said I didn’t believe in true love was because it was never going to be Hazel. I couldn’t have her so I didn’t want anyone else.

  On Saturday afternoon, Hazel came out of her house before I could get to the door.

  She was wearing a pink strapless dress that hugged her in all the right spots but flared away from her at the hips. Her flat sandals meant she was still a lot shorter than me.

  Up until now, I’d mostly dated taller than average women and was beginning to think it was because I didn’t want them to remind me of her.

  That was so fucked-up.

  Her red hair was down and kind of wavy. I could imagine pulling those strands through my fingers.

  “Hey.” Her green eyes sparkled in the sunlight.

  “You look…” I blew out a breath to show my appreciation. “Beautiful.”

  She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “This is just a sundress and it’s super-hot today.”

  I shrugged. “You look fantastic.” Hazel tried to keep from smiling so that I wouldn’t see it, but I saw. With her, I always saw because of how fucking closely I watched her.

  Once we were in the car and I was pulling out of her driveway, I told her, “I packed us a lunch that I hope you’ll like.”

  “I’m really not a picky eater.”

  “Still. Lots of water because it’s pretty hot out, but it should be a good day.”

  “Sounds good to me.” She settled back into the seat like it was the most comfortable thing in the world. “You know, if you would’ve had the courage to talk to me in high school, we could’ve saved some time.”

  “It wasn’t that east.”

  She snorted like she didn’t believe me. “Of course it was but you didn’t pay any attention to me back then.”

  “Hazel.” I glanced over at her and held her gaze for as long as I dared before needing to watch the road again. “I always knew what you were wearing. Every single day. I knew your class schedule and who your friends were. I even know who wanted to ask you out. I paid a lot of attention.”

  “Gotcha there. Not a single person asked me on a date until after you graduated, so you couldn’t have—”

  I raised an eyebrow but kept my focus on the road, a smile playing at the corners of my mouth.

  She still didn’t know that I’d kept other guys away from her for years. This might not have been the right thing to tell her, but it was all true.

 

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