“I’ll let him know you’re available for a date,” he said, earning him a playful whack on his chest.
“You two…know each other?” Bridget asked.
“Bridget! Please tell me that the man, that youdidn’tget the phone number of, is Bas Greatdrakes. Christ on bike, girl, what’s wrong with you?” Marge chided before looking up at Bas. “Don’t mind her. She doesn’t know how to date.”
“I don’t really know how either,” Bas replied, his smile widening. “How do you two know each other? Are you teaching Bridget magic? Because she’s damn good.”
Marge’s brows shot up into her turban. “Is she now? She helps run the store and lives above it. Bridget, why didn’t you tell me you had magic?”
Bridget was staring at them, and Bas could see she was one step off dissociating. Bas gently nudged her with his mind, and her eyes refocused.
“I don’t have magic,” she said, her voice small and confused.
“Yes, you do. Maybe we should have that coffee now?” Bas said softly.
Marge clucked her tongue. “Ah, love, I didn’t know you were having an awakening. Well, you’re in good hands. No one knows magic like the Greatdrakes. Come back soon for tea, Basset.”
“Only if you read my leaves,” he replied, and the old woman flushed with pleasure.
“You’re your father’s son, all right,” she said and turned to Bridget. “For Christ’s sake, get his number this time.” Marge bustled back inside, the bookstore door swinging shut behind her.
Bridget stared at him. “I think I’m going to need something stronger than coffee.”
“I have an excellent cellar at home,” Bas’s mouth said before he could stop it.
“I also have excellent skin that you might be planning to turn into a lampshade,” Bridget quipped.
“Why? Do you put lotion on it?” Bas shot back.
Laughter burst out of Bridget, and Bas’s whole body lit up at the sound. She was pretty before, but when she laughed, she was something else entirely. ‘Stunning’ didn’t even begin to cover it.
“Okay, you get some cool points for knowing aSilence of the Lambsreference when you hear it,” she said.
“What about Marge knowing me? Surely you can trust me a little if she does?”
“Marge sounds like she’s trying to nail your dad, so I don’t know if she’s the best judge when it comes to trusting you,” Bridget replied.
They reached the coffee shop, and Bas opened the door for her. “That’s okay. I’m happy for you to make me work for it.”
“You are something else,” Bridget replied as she moved past him to get inside.
Bas got a lungful of her scent, like cinnamon and fresh rain, and he had to physically stop himself from grabbing her and burying his nose in her hair.
His dragon roared to the surface, and Bas smiled wide. “Sweetheart, you have no idea.”
6
Bridget had nervous sweat pooling at the base of her spine. She put in her order for a coffee and didn’t have time to object when Bas paid for it. She was too shell-shocked by the encounter with Marge and how she knew him and his family.The Greatdrakes.
Fuck. She knew who he was now and why he had seemed familiar. The Greatdrakes were an intermarried family with the fae royals. Not to mention, Marge had real magic, and they both seemed to think Bridget did too.
“You look like you’re about to freak out on me,” Bas said, sitting down opposite her. They were tucked into a quiet corner where the other customers wouldn’t overhear them. He sighed. “It’s the family thing, right? What is it? You hate the fae?”
“The fae saved my life, so no, I don’t hate them,” Bridget replied. She shrugged out of her leather jacket to try and slow down her sweating. Had she put deodorant on that day? She couldn’t remember.
Bas’s dark brows rose. “Sounds like there’s a story.”
“There is, but you haven’t earned it yet.”
