I shrugged. "I think it was mostly for me to hone my instincts with men. I don't know that she thought I was in anydanger."
Martin scoffed. "She created this town. She knows more about us than anyone. I have trouble believingthat."
"I don't know, Martin. All I know is when I wake up tomorrow, the world is going to be very different for me." The tears pooling in my eyes fell down mycheeks.
Martin reached over and took my hand. "It's going to be okay. Ipromise."
"You can't promise anything. You don'tknow."
He squeezed my fingers. "I know. But I will be here for at least the next couple of months. I can promise you nothing will happen to you while I amhere."
"Thanks," I said quietly, marveling over how right his fingers felt within my own. My glance went to my destroyed kitchen. I was too drunk to do anything with that tonight. "I think I'm going to go to bed." I stood and immediately lost my balance. Martin was out of his chair almost too fast for the eye to see and caught me against his chest. We stood there for a moment, our breaths mingled. I started to push him away, but he shook his head and swept me up into hisarms.
"Come on, Wine Girl," he said, not unkindly and carried me down thehall.
With a goofy smile, I wrapped my arms around his neck and snuggled into his broad chest. I could feel the rapid beating of his heart. Either Martin was out of shape or I was affecting him in some way. I smiled against his shirt and closed myeyes.
8
Martin
There wasno way in hell I was leaving Katie alone tonight. That girl was a massive mess. How someone could leave her over something that dumb and three times no less boggled my mind. But I was a man who didn't give a shit about extravagant wishes. I didn’t need much, only a tool in one hand and a cold beer in the other to enjoy life. A woman would have been nice, but sometimes I felt like Midnight Cove had only the slimmest of pickings. I was uninterested in witches because I was one. Technically. My magic was that of the Romani's. A world unlike the one of modern day witches. I was uninterested in their sprays and cauldrons and tendencies to rely on the Law of Attraction. Although, I didn't use much magic anymore. I'd found my calling by using my hands and my tools. People didn't really need magic for themselves when they were happy. Though I did the occasional bone and tea reading for relatives when they called, I'd all but retired from anything to do withmagic.
Meeting Katie was making me rethink that, though. What had Portia been thinking when she'd taken away Katie's ability to disguise herself? On one hand I understood it. Katie was hiding from the world and when you did that, the world tended to catch up with you in the most unpleasant ofways.
I spoke from experience. Carrying Katie to her room was intimate in too many ways for me. She was beautiful. Her long dark hair fell across my arms and swept across my thighs as she lightly swung in cadence to my steps. Lush lashes curled upwards against her closed eyes and her beautiful golden skin was flawless. Her mouth was slightly open and her breathing quiet and steady. Partially thanks to the wine and most likely having a little bit due to exhaustion fromstress.
I swung open her bedroom door, hesitating a minute at the threshold feeling like I was in some ways violating her privacy by coming into her space. With a shake of my head at being silly, I crossed into her room and was immediately hit by the smell I'd begun to automatically association with her - jasmine and honey. Her room was slightly cooler than the rest of the house and a light on top of her nightstand highlighted her apparent fascination with medieval history and bare chested men if the stack of romance novels littering it was any indication. An unbidden smile crossed my face as I gently laid her onto the four poster bed. Her covers were a dark grey with no pattern on it. It was an odd, masculine choice but it just highlighted how little I knew about the woman lying in front ofme.
She sighed and shifted, and I gently pulled the covers on top of her, careful not to disturb her. I stood over her for a moment, marveling over her beauty until I had to sigh. Getting involved with a client would be an utter disaster. Even if she was gorgeous, made amazing cupcakes and had a smile that made me feel like I was having the best kind of heartattack.
I eased away from her bed and quietly made my way to the door but I paused just before stepping out. Judging from the sheer amount of wine she'd drank tonight, Katie was going to wake up with the mother of all hangovers. I let out a snort. For the second time around me. If I hadn't known what she'd gone through, I might have wondered if she had a drinkingproblem.
I turned around and stepped into the connecting bathroom. A quick search through her medicine cabinets revealed a bottle of ibuprofen. I shut the cabinet quickly before the urge to snoop turned the best of intentions into something a little creepier. I shook out two pills from the bottle, set it on the counter, and hurried into the kitchen to get a glass of water. I crept back into her bedroom, set both on the nightstand, switched off the light, and made my way back into the livingroom.
I slipped off my shoes, punched one of the couch pillows to try to adjust it to my liking and laid down on her oversized couch, pleasantly surprised to find it was comfortable. I didn't make a habit of staying over a client's house, but I also didn't make a habit of carrying them to bed either. I crossed my arms behind my head and stared at the ceiling for awhile, my mind racing withthoughts.
Katie was an enigma. I'd been working for her awhile and the only thing I knew about her was she'd been dumped multiple times and that she was a jinn. Oh, and she liked to bake. She moved like a cat, sleek and silent, and she hid who she was from the world. Was I seeing the real her? Or was I seeing the facets that she fabricated in order to avoid showing me her realself?
I sighed. Tonight felt real. I was seeing a woman in the very real throes of grief over her relationships ending so horribly and her fears that her life as she knew it was going to be over. And I wasn't sure I could do anything at all to protect her. That thought had me shifting uncomfortably. How could I help a woman without getting in too deep? She obviously had no desire to date again. At least right now. But could I really continue to pretend that Katie didn't cross my thoughts during every wakinghour?
I groaned quietly and shoved a pillow over myface.
I was a contractor toher.
Nothingmore.
The sooner I started acting like it, the easier this would be for me when the job wasfinished.
9
Iwokeup with a mouth full of cotton and a marching band with a grudge in my head. I blew out a pained breath, blinked rapidly and let out a low moan. Wine was the devil. A fruity, deliciousdevil.
I lifted one hand to press it in the middle of my brows and winced as additional pain hit me in the brain. "Ouch. Aaaagh." I gingerly rolled over only to see my salvation sitting right in front of my eyeline. Two pills and a large glass of water. Hydration was the enemy of hangovers. I pulled the pills toward me and sat up best I could to drink thewater.
I got the pills down and slithered back under my pillows and waited for them towork.
Twenty minuteslater I could get up without thinking I was going to die. Granted, I still didn't feel amazing, but each step didn't make me want to hurl, so that was progress. I made my way into the bathroom, brushed my teeth thoroughly, because...gross, and winced as I looked in the mirror. Yesterday's mascara had escaped its prison and made an obstacle course down my cheeks. In addition to the rare pale pallor of my face, I looked like a woman who had been sentenced to death row and could not even deal. I turned the faucet on to cold, grabbed a washcloth and wet it thoroughly. I soaked my face with the rags, then wrung them out and pressed the cloth to the back of my neck. I was a hot damn mess. The memories of last night came back in a clamor of panic and I groaned as I stared at myself. "You're an idiot," I whispered. I'd told Martin I was a jinn. But when I let the thought slide through me, I wasn't as upset as I should have been. First because I liked him. A lot. Second because everyone in the entire town probably already knew my secret thanks to the tricks of Portia Kadish. I was going to find a way to pay her back in spades.Somehow.
