Page 14 of With This Witch
A spark jumps from her finger in response. Lachlan’s eyebrows raise in question, and Petra does her best to brush it off as a misfire. Thankfully, he doesn’t question it. Instead, she lets the booze and his compliments continue to take the edge off.
“Well, Mr. Grace,” she says with a wink, “why don’t we go and try our hands at axe throwing?”
“Sounds like a plan.”
The friendly staff member who leads them to their throwing booth keeps glancing at Lachlan. Petra gets it: he’s a big man, is objectively attractive, and commands attention wherever he goes. The staff member, Lacey, reviews the safety rules and uses the time giving instructions to touch Lachlan’s arm on more than one occasion.
Petra’s disapproving magic goes rogue and shoots a spark at Lacey’s feet, making her jump.Oops.
Lacey, now flustered, looks to Petra, a look of understanding dawning. “I should get back. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask,” she says before making a rapid exit, careful not to turn her back to Petra on the way out.
Lachlan gives Petra a knowing smile. “Alright, Miss Rose, you first.” He hangs his leather coat on the hook.
Petra smiles and does her best not to visibly pant as she watches him push his long sleeves up, exposing the toned, tanned, muscular forearms. She gives her head a shake to clear her thoughts. Petra will not let sexy-as-fuck forearms distract her. She’s in this to win. And to have him buy her more drinks.
She picks up the first axe on the rack, glancing behind her to make sure that Lachlan is a safe distance away. She staggers her legs, placing her left foot forward, and draws her hands up behind her head, both hands firmly holding the axe’s handle. She brings her hands down and takes a deep breath. As she prepares to throw, she hears Lachlan behind her say, “Oh, one more thing. No cheating with magic.”
She turns and glares at him. She faces the target again, summons her strength, and propels her arms and hands up and forward, releasing the axe. She watches it spin through the air with great speed and precision. Or so she thought. As it was about to hit the target, it rotated just a bit more than it needed, and instead of landing a perfect bullseye, it made a loudthunkand fell to the floor. When she turns back, she spots Lachlan poorly trying to hide an amused grin behind his hand as he pretends to scratch his upper lip.
“That was just a practice shot,” she says.
“Mm-hmm. It looked like a great one.” He’s barely holding in his laughter as he slides his phone back into his pocket. She swears she catches a flicker of something cross his face as he does. Anger? Sadness? She’s not entirely sure, but she doesn’t want to ruin the moment so she lets it go.
She narrows her eyes at him, moves over to the high-top table, and takes a sip of her drink. “Why don’t you show me how it’s done then, hot stuff?”
“Hot stuff, huh?”
“Oh, shush! Go take your turn,” she says, waving him away.
Smirking like the arrogant demon he is, Lachlan moves to the wall and picks up the next axe in the line. He makes quick work of positioning himself to throw. Releasing the axe with great force, it lands with a solidthump,firmly lodged into the center of the target.
“Did you catch that? Or do you need me to show you again?” he teases.
Petra rolls her eyes but smiles. They continue to take turns throwing until they have worked and finished their allotted time. Despite losing, Petra feels calmer and more centered than she has in a long time. This was precisely what she needed. So far, the night has been better than she anticipated. Being able to watch him flex and seeing his muscles ripple with each throw hasn’t hurt either, to be honest.
“So, little lady, what’s the verdict? Are you up for some arcade gaming, or is this the end of our short-lived relationship?”
Petra places her hand on his forearm.So warm. “I think I could go a bit longer. Plus, I am a master at Skee-Ball, and I need to redeem myself for that miserable performance with the axes.”
They spend the next couple of hours playing various arcade games, including Skee-Ball, which Petra literally single-handedly wins. They cash in their game tokens, and Petra chooses a large plastic ring as her prize, which Lachlan promptly takes the opportunity to place on her left ring finger.
“Sorry, I haven’t had a chance to get you an engagement ring yet.”
Beaming as she looks at her hand and up at him, she says, “This is perfect.”
As the night winds to a close and the Axe Me a Question staff are pushing them out, Petra can’t help but feel that maybe, just maybe, this whole fake marriage thing won’t be too bad. She can do this. They can make this work.
Lachlan walks her back up to her apartment, and as they get to her door, Petra begins to wonder how real they’ll make this. Will he kiss her goodnight? Does she want him to? Her magic sparks inside her.
“Thanks for a great night, champ.”
“No, thank you. I had a wonderful time. It was exactly the night I needed. You were a great fake date,” Petra replies.
“Maybe we should do this again sometime?”
“I think if we want to make this believable, we definitely will want to. How does Tuesday sound?”
“Sounds like a date.”
