Enchantment (24 page)

No wonder, dickhead.

Adrian shook his head and took a quick sip of
wine. It wasn’t for him to judge. Like a lawyer, he chose to stay
impartial when working with a client.

Naturally Mr. De Vos didn’t want to do the
dirty work himself even though he was fully capable.
Gutless.
No wonder the witch left him for a normal.

The girlfriends would be the easiest. A
simple Simon Says spell and they’d agree to pose in compromising
positions with Adrian or whomever he chose. Their boyfriends would
be in for a bitter shock the next time they opened their email
inbox and found the lewd photos attached. Poor schmucks. The women
wouldn’t even be able to deny it. They would remember doing what
Adrian told them. They just wouldn’t know why.

As for the witch . . . well, he’d come up
with something. Adrian had plenty of practice dealing with
witches.

He took another sip of wine and hit
reply.

He sent his customary response:
I’m
intrigued. Forward details.
And hit send.

Adrian sat back. Done. Back in the biz. Where
he belonged.

The laptop clicked shut as he pushed down the
lid. He grabbed a stem filled with grapes and walked over to the
windows, popping the juicy morsels in his mouth as he stood staring
out over Paris. The most romantic city on earth.

It looked even more romantic at night with
the Eiffel Tower lit up all proud and erect.

Adrian glanced at the sofa. Such a shame the
leggy stewardess showed no interest in a private view for two.
Since when did marriage stop the French?

Truth be told, Adrian had had about enough of
the French scene. Amorous young couples were always holding hands,
embracing, and kissing in the most passionate, and very public,
manner. It would be a thousand times worse now.

Before the detour to Spain, Adrian had aimed
for London, but Nan had pooh-poohed it as she did everything else.
No doubt if they’d started out in London and Adrian suggested Paris
she’d pooh-pooh that, too. Nan was simply too hooked on Parisian
pastries, though for some reason she liked Marmite, which Adrian
found utterly disgusting.

Nan had no reason to complain after what
she’d done. At least that would make moving easier. Maybe Adrian
could find them something with a view of Big Ben. The magic scene
in England was much bigger than France, who found mimes more
amusing, and Adrian looked forward to speaking in his native tongue
more often. It would be easier for Nan, too.

Once Adrian put away the remaining food and
dishes, he set to unpacking. Before turning in he checked his email
and found that Mr. De Vos had already responded with names and
addresses.

Eager beaver. Maybe Adrian shouldn’t have
been so quick to unpack.

Once Adrian climbed into bed, he unscrewed
the lid off a small bottle of sleeping salts. He needed to sleep,
not think. Adrian held his breath as he moved the bottle under his
nose. He tightened the lid once more and set the bottle on the
nightstand. Then Adrian inhaled.

The sound of a siren woke Adrian early the next
morning.

Wee, won. Wee, won.

Yep, most definitely back in Paris.

The sun shoved its way through the
windowpanes with the same unapologetic persistence of a Parisian
pushing her way to the front of a line. Adrian had forgotten to
draw the curtains that night. He flipped the covers back, stepped
out of bed, and stretched in front of the window. Traffic moved
slowly on the streets below. His first day back home.

The apartment was way too quiet without Nan.
Might as well grab breakfast out. Adrian needed a double shot of
espresso and a croissant anyway.

He did a quick mental inventory of his
wardrobe, settling on a pair of khaki trousers and
diamond-patterned button-up shirt before snapping into them. Adrian
strode out of his bedroom and into the living room.

He nearly walked out of the apartment, but
something caught his eye. Adrian looked at the sofa again, this
time seeing Gray sleeping beneath one of his nan’s quilted throws.
Déjà vu smacked him square in the face. Back in Washington, he’d
found Gray this way inside his magic shop right after her
diabolical double destroyed an entire shelf full of
merchandise.

Gray had been up to no good then and Adrian
doubted she was up to any good now, despite how angelic she looked
sleeping. Her eyes were closed, her breathing light. Adrian watched
her like that for several minutes before stomping toward her.
Gray’s eyes fluttered open. His booming footsteps had woken her up
just as he’d planned. She looked momentarily displaced until her
eyes met Adrian’s. At that moment they lit up like the sun.

Adrian stopped in his tracks.

Gray sat up on the sofa. The blanket slipped
down her body.

Adrian hated that Gray had on the sundress.
It reminded him of the way it felt bunched in his hands as he
lifted it over Gray’s head and tossed it onto his bedroom floor
that first night. He may have been blitzed, but he still remembered
every single detail.

Adrian shook the thought away and replaced it
with an ominous stare. “Graylee Perez,” he said. “What the hell are
you doing here?”

Gray had the audacity to smile.

Adrian folded his arms over his chest,
waiting for Gray’s answer.

“Happy to see me?”

There was something off about her tone. It
was chirpy and flirty, entirely unnatural for Gray.

She pushed the throw aside. Her dress got
caught in the movement, being dragged, along with the blanket,
above her knees.

Gray didn’t wear garters or nylons. She was
all bare skin under the sleeveless wisp of cloth. It made her look
like a virgin maiden. But she was no virgin. Not anymore.

Gravity pulled the dress back over her knees
when she stood.

Adrian was reminded of their first morning
together in Barcelona, when she’d sauntered toward him the same way
she did now. It had taken him several minutes to form a coherent
thought let alone figure out what the hell was going on. This time
he knew.

Adrian cocked a brow. “I thought you were
cured.”

Gray stopped her slow, slinky walk toward
him. “I lied.”

“Why?”

Adrian watched Gray carefully. The way she
stared at him made him uneasy. It had been endearing in Barcelona,
but something about her now looked off.

Her bare shoulders moved up and down.
Adrian’s eyes followed the movement way too closely. He needed to
focus on the problem at hand rather than imagining his fingers
pulling the straps down her shoulders entirely.

Gray twisted her lips. He could almost swear
she didn’t know the answer. Finally she said, “I wanted to see your
reaction.”

Adrian had been damn proud of his reaction.
For once in his life he’d done the right thing. Gray said the spell
had been broken and she wanted to get on with her life, so he’d
gotten out of it. Letting her walk away was one of the hardest
things he’d ever done. If it all had to end that’s how he would’ve
wanted it. They’d been intimate. At the very least Adrian wanted to
know that Gray was going to be okay, but she’d upped and walked off
as though leaving him were the easiest thing in the world.

Now here she was screwing with his emotions
all over again.

“You ended this . . . charade,” Adrian said,
sweeping a hand into the room. Frustration caused his voice to
crack with emotion.

Adrian couldn’t do this. Not again. It wasn’t
fair to either of them.

He hadn’t realized how much her presence
pained him until she was back in his life. He’d indulged her far
too long in Barcelona. Adrian wouldn’t make the same mistake twice
because one way or another it had to end.

Adrian straightened up. “You shouldn’t have
come, Gray. I’m leaving at the end of the week.”

Gray’s face fell. “Where?”

“Belgium.”

“Why?”

Adrian drew his lips together in a tight
frown. It was good that he see her like this. This is what loved
turned into: mistrust, anger, insecurity. But he was glad she
asked. He wanted to tell her. Hopefully it would help Gray remember
why she had tried to break away from him in Barcelona.

Adrian straightened. “I’ve been hired for an
avenging job.”

Gray’s mouth opened in disgust. She looked
angry. All the better.

“Don’t you dare go.”

Adrian laughed crudely. He took a step
forward. “You don’t get to tell me what to do. We’re not really
together, remember? Besides, how do you think I pay for this
place?”

Gray didn’t seem to notice the posh apartment
or the killer view at her back. Her eyes never left Adrian. “What
about the Magic Club?”

“It’ll be here when I get back.”

“Then stay for me.”

Adrian put on his best game face. “You’ll
also be here when I return, and you’ll still love me no matter what
I do.”

Dead silence.

Adrian dared take a look at her. His lips
quirked up when he saw how red her face had turned. He’d begun to
wonder what it would take to convince her returning to him was a
bad idea.

Adrian barely had time to duck before Gray
hurtled the nearest object, a glass pillar candle holder from the
sofa’s end table, at his head. It shattered against the wall, the
scented candle clunking onto the floor before rolling sideways.

Adrian’s eyes widened. That was not what he’d
been expecting.

Gray grabbed the second nearest object, the
porcelain elephant Adrian had brought back from Poland for his nan.
The Polish believed elephants brought good luck. That didn’t seem
to be the case at the moment.

“Gray,” Adrian said warningly.

She chucked it at him. Adrian stepped to the
side. The elephant broke apart at his feet.

It was the Magic Shoppe all over again.

Every spell had consequences. They also had a
tendency to turn sour. This wasn’t Gray any longer. Funny thing
about love—it had a way of twisting in on itself.

Gray went for the table lamp next, ripping
the cord out of the socket.

“Enough!” Adrian bellowed, freezing Gray in
place as she lifted the lamp.

He walked to Gray, slowing as he came closer
lest her anger break through his spell and she smash the lamp over
his head. But she remained in place even when Adrian stopped inches
from her face. He took the lamp out of her fingers and set it back
down.

“I’m going to help you, but you need to
behave yourself.”

“Help me how?” Gray asked suspiciously.

“We need to get that spell reversed.”

“We?”

“Yes, we,” Adrian said, turning away from the
lamp to face Gray—still stuck in her frozen pre-throw pose. “You
can stay here, with me, while we sort this out. But!” he added when
her eyes lit up. “No more funny business.”

Gray’s eyes darted to the pieces of broken
glass and porcelain scattered over the floor.

“Sorry, I don’t know what got into me.”

Adrian shrugged. “I provoked you.”

“You’re good at that.”

Adrian laughed despite himself.

“Can you unfreeze me now?”

Adrian glanced back at the lamp. Gray could
easily grab it and fling it at him before he had a chance to
re-freeze her.

Gray’s eyes moved sideways, following his
gaze.

“I’ll behave . . . for now.” Her lips had no
trouble forming a grin.

Oh, what the hell? Adrian snapped his
fingers. To his relief, Gray didn’t go for the lamp. She did,
however, go for the kitchen as though she lived there, too. The
Gray he knew would have screamed at him for using magic on her.
Something funny was up with the spell. Maybe the longer it stayed
in effect the more it went to her brain. In which case Adrian
better hurry up and find Nan.

“I’m starving,” Gray said on her way to the
fridge. “What about you?”

“Yeah,” Adrian said, scratching the back of
his head. “I was just headed to the bakery.”

Gray wasn’t listening. She had her back to
him looking around in the fridge. She bent in slightly. Adrian
approached slowly from behind, unable to keep his eyes off her.
“Gray,” he said softly.

She straightened up and turned her head.

“Do you want to get coffee with me?”

She smiled instantly and shut the fridge.
“Well, you know what they say—when in Paris . . .” Gray
grinned.

Adrian returned it. “I think you mean
Rome.”

“Oh,” Gray said suddenly as though
remembering something. She moved swiftly toward the sofa. “Let me
grab my purse.”

Adrian followed her movement. He highly
doubted she’d go for the lamp a second time, but he could never be
too careful. Gray squatted by the edge of the couch, purse in her
hands as she straightened up.

Adrian craned his head around. “Where’s your
luggage?”

Gray flushed slightly. “I didn’t have time to
get it before my flight.”

“What do you mean? Did you race straight for
the airport the moment you knew I’d gone?”

“Not exactly. Charlene offered me a ticket,
but she said there was no time for me to get my things.”

Ah, the evil twin, now man. Adrian didn’t
like the sound of that one bit.

“Why the big rush?” he asked carefully.

Gray slipped the purse over her shoulder then
paused to look at him.

“The truth, Gray.”

She hesitated a moment then relented after a
sigh. “Charlene claims Ryan arrived in Barcelona. I don’t know.
She’s scared of him or something.” Gray rolled her eyes.

Something niggled at Adrian’s mind. He hadn’t
had a chance to process it when Gray first told him Ryan wanted
Charlene to go back to being a woman. This news had been quickly
followed by Gray’s accusations as to the cursed kiss with Charlene.
Now, suddenly, he understood what it meant.