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“Why is he leaving?”
“Colin says he always runs when things get romantic. The last time a woman tried to date him he disappeared into the woods for nearly a year. His clan wasn’t sure if he was alive or dead until he emerged with a beard down to his waist, wearing a cape made of beaver pelts and speaking almost exclusively in Shakespearean sonnets.”
“Huh.” Casey pops another bite of egg into her mouth, chewing thoughtfully before she says, “Well, the beaver pelt thing sounds pretty bonkers, honestly, and I thought you hated Shakespeare.”
“I hate the tragedies. I love the comedies. And the poetry.” I sigh as I prop my chin in my hand, just the thought of Baron reciting a sonnet enough to make my insides turn to mush.
Casey snorts. “Wow. You do have it bad.” She swats at the air above my head. “There are cartoon hearts dancing over your head.”
I nod. “I do. He’s my One, Casey, I can feel it.”
Her lips twist in an uncertain squiggle. “Is he, though? I mean, call me crazy, but a guy who’s so terrified of intimacy that he runs off to live in the woods every time someone tries to date him, doesn’t sound like the kind of man I want for my sister. You deserve someone who’s crazy about you, Annie, someone who will fight for the chance to be with you, not run the other way.”
“I do deserve that, and Baron will fight for me. Eventually.” I shrug. “I just have to fight for him first.”
“Baron,” she echoes, her brows drawing together. “Is he the one that lives in the swamp? From the way Blaire talked about him I assumed he was…special.”
I sit up straighter, surprised. “Special? Really? She said that?”
“Not special like that,” Casey says. “Special as in…he needs extra help balancing his checkbook and is probably a closer relative of our cavemen ancestors than the rest of us.”
I huff. “That isn’t Baron at all. He’s probably one of the most educated people I’ve ever met. Yes, he’s gruff and grumpy, but his cabin is filled, floor-to-ceiling, with books. All he does is read and think and I’m pretty sure he’s writing a book though he wouldn’t show it to me.”
“So, you’ve been to his house…” Casey sits back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest. “And I’m assuming this wasn’t for a book club meeting?”
“I mean, we did talk about books at some point. We were just…naked while we were doing it.” Casey lets out a whoop of excitement that I quickly shush with frantic flaps of my hands. “Hush,” I hiss, “Blaire will hear you.”
“I’m sorry, I’m just so excited for you,” Casey says, still grinning ear-to ear. “I thought you were going to miss out on that part of life, and I was a little sad for you. I mean, as awful as Manny and most of my ex-boyfriends have been so far, sex is still pretty fucking amazing.”
“Literally,” I say with a wiggle of my eyebrows that gets us both giggling. But I pull myself together and guide the conversation back to the matter at hand. Amy could be finished feeding any minute and our chance to chat without Blaire overhearing will be over. “So, I know he likes me the same way I like him. He’s just afraid and doesn’t think he’s worthy of love. Colin says it probably has something to do with what happened when he was turned. His wife and children were killed by his enemies while he was trapped in a cellar. He found them at sundown and the scene was…brutal. He’s apparently never forgiven himself for failing to protect them.”
Casey’s brow furrows with empathy. “Oh, wow. The poor man. That’s a lot of pain and guilt to carry for…what? A few hundred years?”
I nod, wishing I could tell her about the pregnancy, but I didn’t tell Colin and I don’t plan on telling anyone until Baron and I are a couple.
Or, at the very least, until I tell him first. He’s the baby’s father, after all. He should be the first—after Kitty—to know.
“So, you see why I have to be the fighter this time around,” I say. “And I’m fine with that, I just…don’t know how to fight this kind of battle. Baron seemed jealous of Colin last night—enough to interrupt us at the bar and follow me home—but is jealousy really my best bet? That seems like it could get weird really fast. And I’d have to let the person I’m using to make him jealous know about it or it wouldn’t be right, and I can’t think of anyone I trust that much. Colin is too busy with work to play those sorts of games, and I don’t really know anyone else.”
“Let me think on it for a bit,” Casey says, tapping her chin with the end of her fork. “But you should definitely go to that vampire party tonight. And go looking like hot librarian sex on a stick.”
“Librarian sex?” I cock my head.
Casey nudges my foot with hers under the table. “Yes, girl. If this man has a cabin full of books and quotes Shakespeare, he’s clearly as much of a bibliophile as you are. And he’s proven he’s a fan of your charms. We’ll play those up tonight and see how it goes.” She shrugs as she pushes her chair back. “Winning him over might be easier than you think.”
I want to ask her more questions, like—Is getting him back into bed really all it will take to break through his resistance? How is librarian sex different than normal sex? And how soon is too soon to get my bibliophile hands on his…bookmark again?—but Blaire emerges from the steps leading to the basement with Amy in her arms and our stolen moment is over.
Casey collects her daughter, shooting me a discreet wink and promising, “We’ll get ready together tonight, Annie. I have a dress you can borrow so don’t worry about what to wear,” before she heads upstairs to get her and Amy ready for the day.
Blaire arches a brow my way as she takes a plate of eggs from Kitty and settles at the table. “Why are you worried about what to wear? You don’t usually care about clothes.”
I scrape my leftover eggs into the sink, earning a grateful gurgle from Kitty, who is a big fan of leftovers. “I just thought it would be fun to dress up. It’s not every day your sister saves the world, you know. I’d like to look nice for the occasion.”
Blaire rolls her eyes, but she’s smiling as she says, “We didn’t save the world. Just Nightfall, and it’s not like it was any hardship.” She exhales a dreamy sounding sigh. “Sex magic is more fun than roller coasters and the annual plant sale at the hardware store combined.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” I say with a smile. “I’m still stuck on level one spells. I’m pretty sure Celeste is going to fire me as a student if I don’t make a flower bud bloom on command soon.”
“No way.” Blaire shakes her head. “Celeste knows it takes longer for half witches to come into their full power.”
