He smiled at her.
Then she did what she’d been doing each day since they’d arrived. She went and gave him a big kiss.
“I like waking to that,” he said.
“Me too.” She took a deep breath. “Ah, breakfast.” At eight at night, but who cared? “Thank you, Orion.”
“It’s my pleasure.”
She paused. “You really don’t have to do things for me if you don’t want to. I appreciate it, but please don’t feel like it’s your job to take care of me.”
“But it is, mate.” He rubbed her nose with his, and the darling expression made her heart swell.
So this is love.She sighed. “You’re pretty great.”
“For a vampire?”
“For a man. Male. A romantic partner, how’s that?”
“Romance? I don’t know if I’m all that romantic. That might actually be part of the spell.”
“I don’t care. I like you as you are.” Her smile faded.But is that who you are? How much of this is really you and how much is the spell?
He took her chin in his hand and stared into her eyes. “No spell could make me feel this way. Stop worrying.”
“You always know what I’m thinking.”
He winked. “I’m that good.”
She laughed, feeling amazing.
He opened his mouth and froze.
“What’s wrong?”
“Stay here.” He vanished, out the door so fast the curtains swayed in his wake.
She’d given Macy directions to the place but no one else, and Macy hadn’t texted that she’d be arriving. Nervous, Kaia grabbed a rolling pin from the kitchen and moved to the front, peering through the curtains in the sidelite to the left of the door.
Moments later, Orion breezed through with a relaxed expression. “My kin and your sister have come to visit.”
“Oh good.”
Their shared relief faded as they realized what that meant.
Kaia shrugged and tried to pretend she wasn’t bothered. “Well, our happy vacation had to come to an end sometime. And hey, at least you can get back to normal.”
“With you by my side, yes.” He seemed adamant about that, so she had some hope that they might continue this relationship. Orion was so sweet and kind, loving and thoughtful. Could his non-spelled self be that different from the male she’d fallen in love with?
Macy walked through the door with two vampires. Not quite as large and imposing as Orion, the handsome one in the suit had a proprietary hand at the small of her back. Kaia had heard about Macy’s fancy mate, so she figured he had to be Duncan.
The other one looked as if he wanted to eat her, and she took a step closer to Orion.
Tall, dark, and fierce with shaggy hair and muscles to rival Orion’s, the snarl of danger was there and gone when he glanced to Orion. “About fucking time.” He dragged Orion into a bear hug then quickly put his snarly face back on. “Who the fuck is this?”
“Watch your fucking tone,” Macy growled in a voice Kaia had never heard her use, shocked at all the F-bombs dropping all over the place.
The angry one rolled his eyes. “Let it go already, Macy. You got pranked. Hell, Rolf gets me all the time. I let it go.”’
