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“That’s why you drink alcohol.”
“I mean, it’s not only why I drink,” I said defensively. “I enjoy a nice cabernet. I’m not a total lush.”
“I didn’t mean you were. I meant that when your magic starts to get the better of you, alcohol helps to temper it. Liquor helps all of us in that way—it slows a werewolf’s transformation, it dulls a vampire’s bloodlust, it contains a witch’s magic.”
“That’s true.”
“Why don’t you use your magic?”
“It’s none of your business.”
“It’s dangerous to keep it pent up like you do.”
“Okay, Grandma.”
“Sounds like your grandmother is a smart woman.”
I rolled my eyes. We spun slowly, and something about being in his arms made me feel like I was protected by an entire army of tanks. As long as Dominic Kent’s thick arms were around me, nobody would bother me. Talk to me. Disturb me.
I was safe here, and I craved that sense of security. I hadn’t had someone watching out for me in so, so very long, and I hated how much I missed that feeling. I missed feeling like someone cared about me.
I had Emmy of course, and my grandmother, and a few other people I called friends, but it wasn’t the same. Emmy would be going off to school soon, and we’d eventually grow apart as she blossomed in her career and I... didn’t.
My grandmother had her own life, her own friends, her own existence in a warm retirement community where she lived in a cottage in upstate New York. She loved me, but it wasn’t her duty to be here, watching over my every move as a grown woman.
But Dominic—he seemed to care. I didn’t know why, but he did. And as much as I despised him for stealing my home, I couldn’t help but wonder if there were more layers inside the deadly vampire than I’d initially given him credit for.
“Why don’t you want to campaign?” he asked.
I looked into Dominic’s eyes, really, truly, for the first time. It was a mistake. His eyes were black pools that drew me in headfirst. I sank into the depths of danger and darkness that swirled within the vampire. I could feel it on him like a sheen—the deadliness that accompanied him. I didn’t want to associate with Dominic Kent, but I couldn’t stay away either.
“I don’t want to be part of The Circle,” I whispered. “I don’t want anything to do with it. I don’t want the attention on me. I don’t want to be responsible for making big changes in the magical community. I don’t want anything that goes along with being in the public eye. I just want to do my own thing.”
Dominic crooked an eyebrow that tilted his dangerous expression into a more adorable one. “You want to keep driving around passengers that smell like pretzels and crayons?”
“Okay, so I’m not crazy!” I licked my lips. “I knew Little Hank smelled like pretzels and crayons.”
“It was a very unusual odor.”
“Yes, very, but he paid me a good sum of money and didn’t bother me, so...” I did my signature shrug again. “I think he was trying to get out of town before the moon was full.”
“Trixie. You’re one of the most powerful witches I’ve run into in all my years on this earth.” Dominic eyed me carefully, letting me know that was a lot of years. “Why do you drive around jackasses who might want to murder you?”
“I drove you around today. Are you admitting you’re a jackass who might want to murder me?”
Dominic cocked his head. “Yes to the jackass, no to the murder.”
“At least you’re honest.”
“Remarkably so,” he said softly. “Which is why I need to tell you that you can’t do that anymore.”
“Do what?”
“That.” Dominic studied my mouth. “The way you lick your lips. When we’re this close, you just can’t, Trixie.”
“Can’t what?”
Dominic spoke in a rasp. “For some reason I can’t understand, my control is... more difficult when I’m around you.”
