Page 6 of Cursed Touch
Vanessa inwardly cheered. “Would you like some?” she asked, offering the plate.
“We just ate lunch around the corner. Now eat.”
Vanessa popped a few pieces of ham and the Colby Jack cheese in her mouth and hoped she didn’t look like some feral animal as she chewed before her customers.
“I’m Brandy, by the way,” the brunette said, her eyes cast downward on the cherub tucked away, “and this is Serena.”
Vanessa gave them a little wave and covered her mouth with a hand. “Vanessa.”
“Nice to meet you,” they said and waved a hand toward the food, telling her to have another bite.
Once Vanessa got enough to hold her stomach over, she tucked the plate away and dabbed at her mouth with a napkin. “I’m so sorry about that, but thank you. That should help my sugar levels.”
“Are you diabetic?”
She shook her head. “No, but when I don’t eat, it plummets and makes me sick and even nauseous.” Vanessa moved around the counter and toward a display in the corner. “Is this what you were looking for?”
Serena moved forward, and her fingers caressed a few of the pendants pinned to the velvet. “Wow, these are beautiful.”
“Thanks.”
She stepped to the side so they could shop comfortably, but Serena placed a hand on her shoulder. “Wait,” she said, and heat flooded Vanessa’s skin.
Her eyes narrowed on the slim hand pressing against her as she disappeared into her thoughts. The heat wasn’t sexual. While Vanessa found both women attractive, it wasn’t the same. An image of Dr. Tingles popped in her mind, and her heart stuttered to life. Whatever energy surrounded these women was unlike anything she had ever experienced.
“Serena,” Brandy hissed.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—”
Vanessa studied them closely. “No, it’s okay. You just… startled me…”
“I’d like them all, and I was wondering if you could make some of those chakra bracelets with lava stones?” Serena asked carefully.
Vanessa’s eyes rounded with surprise, but she managed to bite her tongue. “Yeah. Sure. Great! I have a shipment of the stones coming in, so let me know how many you’d like, and we can create the order. It won’t take more than a day or two once it’s in.”
“I want one hundred,” Serena said, her brow quirked up.
“Oh… Well, then I’ll need about a week, two max. If I may ask,” she said as she pulled out an order form, hoping it wasn’t covered in dust. “Why so many?”
Serena smirked. “A few will be gifts, but I own Sage Beginnings, and my customers would love these.”
Vanessa recognized the store’s name but had never gone inside. She did not know what Serena sold for a living, but she just helped Vanessa pay the rent.
Chapter 4
Carter dropped into a seat, careful not to jar the plate of food in his hands. Varying conversations flowed around him, and he marveled that Gia, his baby niece, was sound asleep among his family’s everyday chaos.
“You okay?” Claudia asked. She was engaged to his brother Max, who was slightly younger than Carter.
Carter forced a smile and nodded. “Yeah, just tired.”
It wasn’t entirely a lie. He had been getting shit sleep for the last week, ever since he saw the woman in the emergency department. She was never far from his mind, and it was beginning to piss him the fuck off. He could not do anything about the woman because she had a man.
“You don’t seem fine, but I do understand having things going on in your mind. If you want to talk, I’m here,” she told him and took a bite of her food before her daughter, Katia, ran up to her.
“Momma! Look what AuntieSe-enagot me!” Katia announced excitedly.
Carter’s gaze moved from Katia’s joyful expression to the small swing moving Gia back and forth. Her soft baby face remained angelic, even with her cousin’s excited chatter. Even if Carter was the type to intervene—and he wasn’t—he could not chide the child for being so exuberant.
