Page 20 of Handcuffs and Hexes

“What if something pulled you in?”

“Nothing pulled me in.”

“And what if the hole grew just as you touched it and swallowed you whole?”

“It didn’t. I’m fine.”

We had a short stare-off, and at the end, he pulled me over and kissed my forehead. “Don’t do stupid shit.”

“Says the one who nearly gets himself killed on every mission,” I muttered under my breath.

Hazel watched us, an amused look on her face. Finally she asked, “Do you think it’s safe enough to take a peek inside with something electronic?”

“We tried with Mateo’s phone but didn’t catch anything. We think we didn’t stick it far enough in.” I turned to face Seth. “You should give me bonus points for not sticking my whole arm in.”

He just inhaled and exhaled slowly, like he was dealing with a kid.

“What about a drone?” Hazel asked.

“Might work.”

“That’s something Chief would probably greenlight. I’ll suggest it when I get hold of my laptop. That reminds me… I need to go home and pick up a few things before this headache comes back. Whatever you did with my head and the food really helped.” She looked down at her body. “But I’m not leaving in this.”

“I’ll cast an illusion over it,” Seth said.

“What did I miss while I was gone?”

“I gave Hazel a rundown of how things are going to work between us. Did you know she was worried she was coming between us?”

“Worried?” I reached over and gave her good hand a squeeze. “You should be excited about coming in between us. Not worried.” I winked.

She sputtered, and Seth chuckled.

“She thought we were using her to make each other jealous.”

“Really? Shit. We should’ve been clearer on the get-go. I’m sorry, Babygirl. Seth and I are a couple, yes, but we are also very open to new experiences as long as we are together. Seth replenishes the witchy side of his magic through sex, and no matter how much we love each other, when things have to be done for work, sometimes it gets monotonous. We don’t want that to happen, so we take preemptive action.”

“Like finding a third for temporary fun?”

I nodded.

“So Mateo probably thinks I slept over last night for that?” Her face was starting to turn red.

“I told Mateo that Seth was caring for you for the next few days. I imagined you wouldn’t want the rest of the force talking about how you’re getting tag-teamed by a demon and a wizard.”

“I can always turn the first asshole that gives you a hard time into a gnat,” Seth offered. “That will shut everyone else up real quick.”

See, it was always gnats. Why was it always gnats?

“That would probably be Tommy. He’d make a good gnat. But I don’t think that will go over well with Chief Henderson.”

“It won’t be permanent.” Seth winked. “But we should slow down a bit. Sweetcheeks still has that headache today.”

“It’s not that bad now.”

“Because I used a spell to mute it.”

That had me frowning. Usually, magical hangovers went away pretty quickly once the right conditions were met. We’d fed her. She was hydrated. And she’d gotten a full night’s rest. If the headaches and fatigue became chronic, it was usually a bad sign. Using more magic to mask the symptoms was not a solution.

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