Page 49 of Bargains with Benefits
“Yeah, Daisy is expecting me.” He patted her shoulder while giving me a suspicious glare reminiscent of Seraphina’s.
I didn’t connect the dots until he was already gone. “That’s Daisy’s husband? The Daisy I work with at the paper?”
Luna nodded, and Seraphina slid her a Solstice Sip. Then Luna turned to me, her face serious.
“What is it?” I asked. “If it didn’t work, it doesn’t matter. We don’t have to try again.” Her lip curved into a hesitant smile, and she twisted one of the silver strands around her finger. I’d never seen her look so nervous.
“You’re killing me, Luna. What happened?”
She laughed, which seemed to finally break her nerves. Taking a big gulp of her drink, she explained, “Well, he offered exactly what I needed before I could even ask. My name day is next week, a day I’ve never spent with him, but he asked me to come to Pierce House for a celebratory meal.”
“That’s great, right?” I asked. Seraphina was listening over Luna’s shoulder. I glanced at her. “Isn’t that great?”
Seraphina’s glare still cut deep, even with our tacit peace.
Then Luna’s hand was on my cheek, pulling my face back to hers. “Focus, Vincent.” She seemed to realize she was touching me quite familiarly and snapped her hand back to her glass.
My hand raised of its own accord to touch the place her palm had been.
Seraphina groaned. “Keep telling the story before I lose my appetite.”
Luna’s face reddened. “Well, I said I’d accept, but I wanted to bring someone. He seemed to know who you were, or at least your surname. Anyway, he asked who you were to me that you’d be invited to this event.” She coughed, her nerves showing again. “And, well, I told you I was a terrible liar. The only thing I could come up with was to say you were important to me and that you would be reassuring to have with me when I didn’t know what to expect from him and my grandmother.” She paused, taking another long sip of her drink. “Anyway, I’m pretty sure he now believes you and I are seeing each other…romantically.”
Seraphina laughed, leaning forward on the bar before I could say anything. “Why does he believe that, Luna?”
The glare Luna leveled at Seraphina was just shy of adorable. She tried her best to look menacing but couldn’t hide her affection for even a moment. “Fine!” She waved her hands around. “He believes that becausethat’swhat I told him. I told him we’ve been seeing each other.”
Seraphina’s cackle echoed off the rafters as she headed to the kitchen, likely to check on an order. This left Luna and me staring at each other. I didn’t say anything, and her cheeks flushed again. Words still eluded me. I knew I needed to find some soon but couldn’t decide which ones. She said she didn’t like to lie, so she’d said we were together because it felt close to true.
What did it mean that saying we were seeing each otherdidn’t feel like a lie to her? Hadn’t I been thinking the same? Too many words were fighting for space, and none of them made it out.
“It’s fine if you don’t want to go under such circumstances,” she stammered. “I can look for evidence for you.”
I reached for her hand and her gaze focused solely on where our skin touched.
“You will not go alone,” I said. “I will happily take you—be your date for your name day meal. Are you sure you want to search his office? We don’t have to…”
She squeezed my hand. “I have to. He said he wants to start fresh.” That was nice, but it seemed oddly out of the blue given what she’d told me about the last twenty-some years of her relationship with him. She must have seen the questions on my face. “I need to know if I can trust it.”
That, I understood.
“If he’s trying to change the course of our relationship, I need to know if he’s secretly working against half-fae and their magic.”
“Of course, Luna. We’ll do whatever you want.”
Her returning smile was shy as her hand fell to her lap, breaking our contact. I hoped my intention was clear, but I also was not prepared to scare her off with some declaration of my feelings. That was what I’d been trying to get to the first time I’d tried to break our bargain. I wanted to tell her that she meant more to me than our stupid deal. If we could move past our disastrous first meeting, whatever we might have was worth more. She’d had no interest in the topic then.
You didn’t say any of that.My wind swirled in my chest as if helping me see the obvious.
Well, that was a good point.
I didn’t think I had any better words now to express myself, and I didn’t have time to find them as she continued.
“Wonderful,” she said. “The meal is next week.”
I nodded. “Are we still good to come by and test your magic tomorrow?” Ambrose and Evelyn had made this particular plan with her, but I wanted to be there. As before, I wasn’t sure either of the academics were best suited for tests where the expected outcome was outside their control.
“Yes, I’ll have a fresh loaf of bread ready for everyone, and we’ll see what we can do.” She smoothed her skirt as if in reassurance. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll head home. It’s been a long day.”
