Page 40 of Bargains with Benefits
She laughed. “Please don’t mistake me. I love the fasteners. They’re perfect.”
“I will accept your love of the fasteners if you accept myprior compliments as having nothing to do with this dress,” I said, pulling her closer.
Her cheeks flushed, and I took a little pride in her reaction to me. My wind decided it wanted a turn, and it swept across her cheek in an attempt to cool her flush.
Her gaze met mine, a little sad. “Do you ever wonder what would have happened if we didn’t need each other the way we do?”
I let out a breath. “I’m sure that’s one of the topics we’re not supposed to discuss tonight.”
She laughed and bumped into me as we danced. What did I say to that? We hadn’t had the most graceful first meeting, but she was right; we’d had a chance at...something, at the end. Before I’d learned her last name. That thought had me shaking my head. We’d never had a chance because she’d been planning to use me the whole time. She’d always wanted to ask for the recommendation, like everyone else.
That assumption no longer felt right, though. The answer was only a breath away if I dared to ask.Do I want to know?I slid my hand down her arm, leaning close and whispering into her ear before I could stop myself. “I think about it all the time. I wonder when you knew I was the author of ‘Benefits of Magic.’”
She stepped back and I stopped breathing as her bright blue eyes widened.
“I didn’t know until after you left, Vincent.” She stopped moving, but stayed in the circle of my arms. “One of my regulars…his wife works with you at the paper. They told me later that evening.”
I let out a shaky breath. It was what I wanted to hear, but why did it make me feel so terrible?
“I think I need to go.” I let her hand drop.
She nodded and followed me from the dance floor. Paying the tab, we left the tavern. The night was chilly, a cold windsweeping across the city from the sea. She shivered, looking up at me like she wanted to say something. I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear anything else. Why had I asked? I hadn’t really wanted to know the answer. I’d convinced myself to push her to spy on her father because I’d been sure she was using me for my column. Had I really believed she orchestrated our meeting? It didn’t even make sense. She’d thrown a drink at me; it was hardly a move to win my affection.
It worked, though.
My wind tapped against my forehead in a pattern that said I should know better. That my thoughts were incongruent with everything else I’d known about her. The more I got to know her, the less I could cling to the lies I’d told myself. If I accepted the truth that her regular had mentioned what I wrote and she’d decided to ask me what she considered a harmless favor, our bargain, what I asked of her, made me a bit of a bastard. She couldn’t have known how often people asked to have things featured. She was nothing like the rest of them. I wasn’t sure she had a disingenuous bone in her body.
“Luna,” I started. She’d been watching me closely. I had no idea what she’d seen on my face.
“You can’t take it back now,” she said, and they were the last words I expected.
“Maybe we shouldn’t?—”
“No.” Her hands were on her hips. “I don’t know how you convinced yourself to agree to our bargain in the first place, but I see your regret.” She stepped closer, her chin rising slightly. “It’s too late. You agreed. We both still need this.”
She was right, of course. I still wanted to write feature stories. I still needed a way to get to her father. But did it have to be through her?
As if hearing my thoughts, she continued. “I’ll send a message to Darius, and we’ll get to work on your side of things. I’ll buy a few more stupid dresses”—she waved her hand downher body—“and we’ll both get what we want by Long Night. You will have your investigative piece, and I’ll have saved my inn.”
I swallowed my response. There wasn’t much I could say, even if, truthfully, I wasn’t sure that was what I wanted any longer.
19
Luna
Days later, I was still venting my frustrations with Vincent on the dough I kneaded. In the safety of my cottage, I stewed on his question from the magic tavern.How dare he show regret? I pushed my palms into the dough and folded it.How dare he realize he was the ass in this whole bargain.I could admit I realized now why he’d been so sensitive to my request for a recommendation. That was what everyone did. That was how everyone saw him.
You saw him that way, too, before you knew better.
That was the problem, wasn’t it? I couldn’t have known how people used him for his recommendations without knowing him.
Couldn’t the same be said for him and your relationship with Darius?
I shook my head and folded the dough again. No. He’d known there was strain between me and Darius.He’d said he went to the court records office. Vincent would have seen where my name was in the Norden book.
Why is this bothering me?
I didn’t know what had come over him, but his hesitation to continue our bargain had been plain as day on his face. I could still see it with perfect clarity. I gritted my teeth and folded the dough again.
