“I just need to do a quick inventory, but that’s it,” I told her as I stood. “With the way business has picked up, thanks to a certain fiery red-head, I need to update my regular orders.”
She frustratingly didn’t even react to my comment. “I can stay if you need help.”
“Don’t you have a full class day tomorrow?” I raised one eyebrow and tried to restrain the need to accept her offer outright. Tomorrow was Friday, the only business day she didn’t work.
“Yeah, but it’s not like I have a class tonight.” She mimicked my raised eyebrow and a smile tugged at her lips. “Unless you have something you’d like to teach me, boss.”
She stepped into the small space, and I braced myself, vacillating between if she was flirting or finally about to attack. I would welcome either, at that point. Then she leaned forward and snatched a notepad and pen from the desk and left. I frowned, adjusted the inconvenience in my pants, and followed her.
If I let my guard down, I might as well put the chains on for them.
She was sitting on a crate in the dry storage room. I tugged the pen and pad from her fingers, tapping my temple with the end of the pen.
“Eidetic[28]memory, remember?”
She snatched them back from my hand. “Yeah, but I don’t have one of those. Writing things helps me.”
I snorted and started my internal counting process. “It’s not memory if you can look at a piece of paper and read it.”
“You’ve obviously never taken an Intro to Psychology class.” She gave me the side-eye I was coming to enjoy. “Writing things down is a type of memorization technique. It’s not just picking the paper back up and reading it off. It’s almost like you’re writing it directly into your brain. That’s why a lot of teachers use it in young learners, especially where spelling is concerned.”
Turning back to her, I crossed my arms and stared in disbelief. “You’re a Psychology major? I never would’ve guessed.”
Lexi wrinkled her nose. “Not anymore. I didn’t have a great childhood, and I thought it would help me understand why people are… the way they are. After two years, I decided I didn’t care anymore.” She kept her eyes on the paper as she drew lines across it. “I switched majors to Theater Arts, but it’s not as fun as I thought it would be.”
I leaned against the door frame, lowering my voice to a seductive growl. It didn’t usually work on her, but it was a habit now. “So whatdoesinterest Lexi Sutton?”
This was a piece of the puzzle I was dying to have. I’d circle back around to that childhood comment another time, but this was the first time she’d voluntarily opened up, and I wasn’t about to pass it by. Without the ability to read her, I was left with the unusual problem of—ugh—detective work where most people would’ve been on their knees, begging me to hear their secrets.
“Besides baking?" Her bright eyes flitted up to meet mine briefly. "World religions, actually."
I nearly choked on my own breath, forcing a smile back to my face instead. "Really? And you thoughtIdidn’t seem the religious type.”
She met my gaze fully then. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Gesturing to her entire self, I smirked. “Well, you’ve got the whole goth vibe going on. Black pants, a black shirt, tons of bracelets and necklaces, and the dyed hair.”
Lexi scoffed and turned her nose up. “Excuse me, but my hair is not dyed, thank you very much.”
“What?” I pretended to gape at her. I knew already by the lack of chemical smell around her. “There’s no way it’s natural. I’ve seen orange and I’ve seen auburn red. Yours looks like fire.”
Her lips flattened and she lowered her eyes to her notepad. “Yeah, I’ve got both of my parents to thank, I suppose. They’re probably the biggest reason behind my interest in religions, too.”
We were finally getting to the juicy stuff. Would she shut down if I asked about her parents? I hadn’t gotten anything from spying on her outside of work, but I’d seen her use two unique styles of magic. When I'd submitted her paperwork, a background check was on the list. She came from Salem, which explained the witch power I’d sensed.
It was her other half that eluded me. As much as this body was drawn to her, I needed to maintain control, regardless of how our interactions evolved. Though she couldn’t kill me, she was powerful enough to do some damage if she wanted to. My mortal body warred with my immortal mind, one wanting to fuck her until we both collapsed and the other wanting to eliminate a potential threat before she became a problem.
“How so?” I asked curiously.
“They were from two entirely different religions, and I suppose I wanted to see what else was out there and learn for myself. Neither of them pressed religion on me, but I was curious.” Lexi frowned and clicked her pen between making swift marks. “There are so many different gods across so many different regions. Some are even the Sophiee being under different names, and they all seem to have their own versions of Heaven and Hell.” She smiled up at me, and I swallowed hard at her next words. “Some of them are not nearly as bad as the stories make them out to be.”
I kept my face blank, despite what that smile did to my libido. There were far too many coincidences around her. She was making insinuations that could easily have been directed at me, but I’d kept my power masked completely around her. Unless she knew who I was before she showed up, there’s no way she would’ve found out since.
I pushed it all aside for later processing. Every interaction, every word of every comment would need to be analyzed before I did anything stupid. Not knowing what she was, and now knowing her parents were of different religions, her comment could very well have not been related to me at all, but one or both of them. It could’ve been a much-needed clue.
The thought was almost disappointing. Maybe I wanted her to know just to dispense with all the uncertainty that’d been hovering these past few weeks. The compulsion to take her was getting harder to resist every day, and I’d tried more than once to fuck her out of my mind with the multitude of willing women in Boston. Each time, I’d ended up leaving to hunt demons instead, going as far as Tennessee to find some when they weren’t near.
If I fired her, I was admitting defeat in whatever game she was playing. Maybe going for what I wanted would take the edge off the stress building in this fucking body.
