Page 27 of Handcuffs and Hexes

“You’re still recovering. We should feed you. The Mermaid’s Delight at the marina serves some very good food.”

“You have to try their lobster bisque,” I said, agreeing.

Hazel looked down at her casual sweatpants and T-shirt. “I’m not sure I’m dressed for a proper restaurant like that. It looked swanky from the outside.”

“That’s no problem,” Seth said.

With a wave of his hands and some softly muttered words, Seth transformed her clothes into a slinky black dress with a slit that showed just a little too much leg and her sensible sneakers into a pair of strappy, platform heels that were a tad bit too high. He also did her makeup with magic. She looked sexy as fuck with winged liner, thickly applied mascara, and perfect red lips.

“Damn!” I said, clutching my chest. I’d never seen her like this, and it was fucking hot! She was always very attractive, but this was something else.

“Let’s bring our sexy girl to dinner, shall we?”

Chapter 13

Hazel

Ilickedthelastlittle bit of cheesecake from the fork Liam held out to me with a satisfied hum. Seth and Liam had not been kidding when they said this place had great food. The amazing food and company meant that I’d completely forgotten to feel self-conscious for not fitting in at such a swanky place or about being seen in public on a date with two men. It had helped that Seth had requested a table in the corner.

And this was totally a date, despite the fact that Seth had disguised this boating adventure and dinner as a way to help me recover. After our little discussion on theRevenge, I decided I was okay with that. I wasn’t ready for a relationship; I didn’t think I’d ever be. My only attempt at a relationship had ended up a massive failure, and I’d since decided that relationships weren’t for me. My parents’ fucked-up dynamic was all I’d ever known, and it had not set me up for success.

But I could handle some fun, especially if it was the responsibility-free kind.

I doubted we’d bump into anyone from the precinct at a posh place like this on a Wednesday afternoon. It wasn’t even dinner time yet. And even if they saw me, I wasn’t sure they’d recognize me in this get-up.

Over the course of the last twenty-four hours, I’d thoroughly convinced myself I deserved some fun after my ridiculously long, self-imposed exile from men. I wasn’t going to let the chance to experience two of the hottest male specimens I’d ever come across pass me by. And if I had to be completely honest, I’d had a crush on Seth for a while despite also hating his guts. It was like the more I hated him, the more I wanted him.

I had been a little disappointed when nothing sexy happened on the boat. But then again, I hadn’t realized just how ravenous I’d been. I’d practically inhaled my steak and lobster, which had been a shame because they were so good, and I wished I’d savored them more.

“So your family really never mentioned magic at all?” Seth had asked after taking his bite from Liam’s fork.

Despite our short time together, I could already tell that the sexy demon’s love language, or was that like language—because this was just for fun—were acts of service. I’d thought it was a little strange at first since he was a demon that was forced to serve for generations, but he truly seemed happy to do all the little things for us, like making us drinks back on the yacht, and feeding us dessert now. Liam wasn’t anything like the other demons I’d dealt with before though. To be fair, I’d only ever dealt with perps and EA enforcers in work mode.

“No, not after I left Darlington,” I said. “And I didn’t remember anything until I came back. I was too young, or maybe it was The Wall doing its thing.”

“Whatever you remembered when you came back here, you would’ve gotten back anyway when The Wall fell,” Seth said.

“I see, so perhaps I would’ve ended up back here anyway to find my grandparents. Because I remember spending time with them, and I remember the swing in their backyard. It’s still there,” I said with a smile. “But I don’t think it’ll hold my weight now. I think they kept it, hoping it would remind me. You know, I always wondered what would’ve happened if I’d had magic. Would I have remembered Darlington faster?”

“I wouldn’t say you have no magic,” Liam said. “You have an aura, a glow. There’s magic somewhere in you. I feel it.”

“Pumpkin’s right,” Seth said, taking one last sip of his wine. “You have magic in you. It’s not very strong, but it’s there.”

It wasn’t the declaration that I had magic that had me reacting; after all, Chief had said so for years, but it was Seth’s pet name for Liam.

“Pumpkin?”

Liam blushed, the pink appearing on his cheeks as if he were in an anime, complete with the diagonal lines, which, okay, was kind of adorable.

“He likes his pumpkin spice lattes every fall,” Seth said with a hint of a smirk.

“I do.” Liam admitted it like it was a horrible secret.

I giggled. “So do I. Nothing wrong with that.”

“Great, now it’s two versus one,” Seth lamented. “Now I have two basic bitches.”

“Guilty as charged,” I said with a grin. “But about the magic thing, Chief said my granddad could nullify magic.”

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