I tossed my dust rag into the plastic basket of cleaning supplies. “We spend time together. We eat dinner or watch TV. Then he leaves.”
“That’s it?” Ava asked. “No fooling around or anything?” She sounded shocked.
“Well, he does kiss me good night before he leaves, but that’s it.”
“One kiss?” Now she seemed horrified. “No groping or dry humping or anything?”
I made another face at her reference to dry humping and she rolled her eyes. “Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.”
Considering I’d never dry humped before and didn’t have any plans to start now, I let the subject drop. “No, nothing other than one kiss.”
“Does he at least slip you the tongue?” she asked.
“Ava!” I cried out, twisting toward her. “I can’t believe you asked me that.”
“What? The way you put it, he’s acting more like your BFF than your BF.”
I made a face at her. “BF as in best friend or boyfriend?” I asked.
“Boyfriend, Savannah,” she replied, clearly exasperated with my joking.
“I think he’s trying to take things slowly,” I stated.
“Probably, but there’s a difference between smart slow and glacier slow. A kiss with tongue isn’t exactly scandalous in this day and age.”
She did have a point, but we didn’t have a chance to debate it because the bell over the door to the shop rang and we both turned to face the customers.
Rhiannon Temple stood just inside the door. As she had before, she looked sophisticated and sleek, her long black hair hung in a straight sheet to her waist. She wore a royal blue sheath that hugged her slender figure. Over her forearm, she looped a handbag that carried a discreet triangular label that I recognized. A tall man loomed over her, his broad body dwarfing her though her heels put her nearly at the same height. He was large and muscular and he looked as though he belonged on a calendar for sexy bad boys on motorcycles.
“Hello,” she said, coming deeper into the shop. Her eyes flicked to me. “It’s nice to see you again, Savannah,” she greeted as she held a hand out to me.
Though I didn’t want to shake her hand, I took her fingers and released them as quickly as possible. Touching her skin made me feel chilled all over.
“Hello,” I replied.
Rhiannon turned to Ava. “Hello, you must be Ava Amaris.” She reached into her bag and removed a small cream-colored card. “I’m Rhiannon Temple and I’m a property developer and real estate agent in Austin. I stopped by several of your rental properties in Travis Heights and I would be very interested talking to you about them.”
Ava took the card but didn’t spare it a glance. “May I offer you and your…friend a coffee?” she asked, neither confirming nor denying Rhiannon’s assumption that she was Ava Amaris.
“That sounds lovely, thank you. I’ll take a nonfat cappuccino,” Rhiannon said with a small toss of her head. Her black hair rippled before settling back against her spine, moving as though it had a life of its own. I wasn’t sure why but the sight of her hair falling perfectly into place made me wonder if perhaps she was a witch. It was almost as if the strands rearranged themselves until they were completely smooth.
Ava’s eyes shifted to the man behind Rhiannon. “Can I get you something…” she trailed off.
“My name is Macgrath,” the man replied. “And I don’t want anything.”
His voice was rough and low, as though he didn’t use it often. Ava nodded and turned to me.
“Savannah, would you mind?”
Sensing the undercurrents of tension in the room, I hurried behind the counter, unsure of what I should do. Unlike Ava, I had no magical abilities and for some reason, I felt as though I might need them. My intuition wasn’t as strong as a witch’s, but it was twanging sharply at the moment, warning me that there was danger here. Mostly because the few emotions that radiated from the others were defensive or hostile. There was also an underlying sense of smugness but I couldn’t quite tell where it emanated from.
Quickly I made a medium nonfat cappuccino, putting it into a paper to-go cup. When I carried it to Rhiannon, she took it without a word of thanks, which only solidified my vague aversion for her into concrete dislike. My gaze flicked to Macgrath behind her and I found his gaze on me.
Disturbed by the way he was looking at me I lowered my own eyes and walked over to the shelves next to Ava. I began putting away the cleaning products, loading everything in the basket just to keep my hands busy.
“Why are you interested in my rental properties?” Ava asked Rhiannon.
The woman took a sip of the cappuccino before she answered. “I’d like to buy them from you,” she stated. “You own several homes on the same block and I’m interested in refurbishing them for resale. I would, of course, offer you fair market value for them.”
