Page 21 of Earth-Bound

I watched my mate as he shifted his feet, and felt the unsettled motion.

“I’d better get on with it.” His voice was light but the way he moved his feet, the unevenness of his tread, bothered me. “Don’t want the boss to think I’m slacking.”

He smiled at all of us as he left and my heart sank a little inside me. He hadn’t smiled at me specifically, only all three of us.

I watched him walk all the way to the house and enter through the front door. I watched him until he closed the door and I couldn’t see him any longer.

Randall broke the silence. “That went… well.”

“No, it didn’t.”

“It wasn’t that bad.”

Even though he said it, I could tell that not one of the three of us believed it. With my eyes still on that closed door, I asked, “Do you think he was put off by my appearance?”

“No.”

I couldn’t think of another reason why my mate would pull his hand away from me or why he would just walk away without being affected by me at all.

To my surprise, it was Broadmire who reassured me most. “Joe’s human. Probably doesn’t feel the magic.”

I considered that. It sounded reasonable. I wasn’t aware of how much a human could feel and it made sense that he wasn’t aware of our mate bond yet.

“Yes, that is most likely the reason.” I eyed the house. “Do you think I should go inside and speak to him?”

Broadmire shrugged, having been as helpful as he wanted for one day. I turned instead to Randall, who pursed his lips as he thought.

“Maybe just let him get used to you first,” he suggested. “There’s no rush, is there?”

My desire to claim my mate thrummed inside me but I shook my head. There was no rush. I could wait. One thing earth spirits had was plenty of time.

Chapter 11: Joe

Ifelt like a teenager with my first crush. My hot fantasy man was standing right there and he was real.

I took a second just to process that. He was real. He was real. He was real.

I wasn’t sure whether I was more glad or sorry. If he was real, then I could maybe fuck him, if he was up for that. On the other hand, I had seen him walk out of a tree, so if he was real, that meant I was getting weird again.

Nah, that had probably been a trick of the light.

See, nothing to worry about.

My fantasy man was real. And he knew Randall and Broadmire. And he was just outside, talking to them.

I peeked out of the downstairs window, trying to get a glimpse of them, but the little wall was in the way and the window was in just the wrong position. It was probably a good thing. I’d started to react to the sight of all that man in front of me, that white shirt billowing and those tight leggings. I had only just managed to stop myself staring openly at him anddrooling. That would have made me look even more moronic than I had.

Giving myself a shake, I went to the kitchen to fill up my watering can. It was lucky the sink was one of those huge old-fashioned ones and I could fit the can under the tap, and that nobody had thought to turn the water off in the last ten years.

I went from room to room, checking on the plants. When I got to the ones that had been upstairs, I looked carefully and was amazed at what I saw. They were flourishing.

“Hey darlin’, you’re looking good. You like this window better than upstairs, huh? Maybe you’re afraid of heights. No need to worry now, you’re nice and safe down here and you’re looking great.”

It was probably my imagination but the flamingo flower seemed to preen under my praise. I shut the thought down. With all the weird I’d bumped into recently, I did not want to encourage it.

I finished tending them quickly and moved on.

When I went upstairs, I did the back bedroom first and everything was fine.

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