“You must think I am a complete basket case now,” she said.
I chuckled under my breath and cupped her face in my palm. “I think you’re real,” I whispered.
She covered my hand with her own, holding my eyes. “Tell me why I feel comfortable saying all of this to you when I barely know you,” she asked. “Tell me why this is so easy.”
I couldn’t answer, but it relieved me that I wasn’t the only one who felt it.
“Is it your stupid magic?” she asked, amusement in her tone. “Are you using glamour on me?”
A tease, I knew, but I hadn’t used my powers on her all night. Everything had simply been us.
“You know what glamour is?” I asked.
“Of course, I know what glamour is,” she answered. “I’ve read Percy Jackson.”
I laughed out loud. “The minotaur erotica makes sense now,” I said.
She blinked, apparently considering it, her smile widening. “You know, I hadn’t thought about that, but I guess it does.” Her laugh filled the apartment, and I held onto her as she shook her head at herself. “Oh, isn’t it funny the things from your childhood that progress into fetishes and kinks?” Her head tilted, lip sucking behind her teeth, her eyes brightening up at me.
It was so fucking cute that I considered changing my flight the next day.
“I’ve always found that fascinating,” she continued. “How your childhood can mold so much about your life.”
Just as she opened her mouth to go on, she sat up suddenly, her wide eyes shooting to the balcony. She bolted off the couch to the fire escape balcony, coming back inside with the heaping bowl of snow after, her face aglow with apparent memories of a childhood she’d loved.
“We havesomuch snow,” she declared, making me smile at the look on her face. “Help me make it?”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - GAVIN
HELPING CHLOE MAKE her favorite childhood treat was like stepping into a domestic bliss I’d once forgotten. I leaned back onto the counter while she worked, occasionally helping out with mixing or tasting, and I had to admit, the flavor was enticing. Or maybe it was that the delight on her face was so enthralling that the shit snow could have tasted like my least favorite food, and I would have loved it anyway.
“We have to let it freeze,” she said as she bent over to close the freezer drawer, licking her fingers when she straightened.
“Least favorite game as a child?” I asked, continuing our random questions.
“Oh, that’s easy,” she said as he piled up the dirty spoons. “Duck, duck, goose.”
I laughed. “What—why?”
“I was always scared of getting chosen and then having to get up to run or chase someone. I hated it.”
“Such aspoilsport,” I teased.
That smile broadened on her lips. “Accurate,” she chuckled. “I used to get so embarrassed. It took me a long time to get over it,” she admitted. “One day I just decided, fuck it. I don’t care what others think of me. I still don’t like public games like that, but… at least now if I trip over my own feet or say something awkward, I know how to own it.” She turned to run her cold hands under the water and then leaned back on the counter.
“Favorite holiday—besides Valentine’s Day,” she added, smirking at me. “Surely the god of desire has another holiday he likes.”
“Halloween,” I answered.
“Oh? What do you do on Halloween? Dress up with a bow and arrows?”
I eyed her mocking face and shook my head. “Usually working,” I answered. “Something about that holiday…” I shifted on my feet, arms wrapping around my chest as I considered why exactly I liked that day. “The entire vibe of it. Its history…”
“The unknown,” she added, meeting my eyes. “Dangerous and full of mystery. Dark… It’s perfect.”
A soft silence padded the room as we watched one another. I shifted the weight on my feet, the question I wanted to ask her dancing on the tip of my tongue. I knew what she had said, but…
“Ideal date?” I asked.
