He studied her for a long moment, then said, “Busy is good.I’ll stay out of your way.”
Lisa blinked.“Stay?”
He nodded toward the small sitting nook near the front, a cozy space with two overstuffed chairs and a low table covered in magazines.“I’d like to finish my tea.Seems like a pleasant place to enjoy the atmosphere.”
Her lips parted in protest, but she seemed to think better of it.“Suit yourself,” she muttered, and moved behind the counter.
Rezer took a seat, stretching his long legs beneath the table.He hadn’t planned to stay.But something in the way she had saidThursday, and the way her eyes had widened at whatever knowledge had sparked in her mind had him even more curious.Too bad for her—curiosity in him was rarely harmless.
The hours slipped by, quiet but full.Lisa moved through the shop with easy grace, speaking softly to customers, blending teas, and rearranging jars with a focus that made the smallest task look deliberate.She talked to herself sometimes, muttering things like, “That’s the last of the chamomile,” or, “Of course the labels are crooked again,” with that same dry humor that had already become familiar.
Every so often, the phone would ring.He caught fragments of her end of the conversation—mostly polite, occasionally exasperated.
“Yes, Mrs.Darnell, the dream balm will be ready tomorrow.”
Pause.
“No, I don’t think it’s haunted, but if it starts whispering to you, maybe don’t use it.”
Her voice always softened when she laughed, a warm, human sound that slipped past his guard more easily than he liked.
By late afternoon, the sunlight had thinned, slanting gold across the front windows.Lisa had refilled her shelves twice, answered a dozen calls, and was now restocking the crystal display by the door.But it wasn’t the crystals she kept looking at.Her gaze flicked to the entrance every few minutes, the smallest crease between her brows each time the bell didn’t chime.
Rezer’s jaw tightened.“You’re waiting for someone.”
Lisa startled slightly, then busied herself with a box of sage.“I’m expecting a regular customer.”
He leaned back in the chair, voice low.“Tony?”
Her hands stilled.“How do you?—”
“Syndra,” he reminded her of the female’s words, “And you said Thursday as if you remembered something about this day in particular.Something about your face changed.”His voice dropped as he raised a brow at her.“I pay attention.”He didn’t bother to tell her that he knew who Tony was, though he’d never met the male.Most dark elves knew who worked for Trik, back when he was the assassin and not the ruling king.
“Of all the men to actually pay attention,” Lisa muttered, then sighed, setting the box down.“He’s just a friend.”
“Human.”It wasn’t a question.
She hesitated.“Yes.I met him at one of Trik’s casinos.He moved here for a slower life—or so he says.He stops in once a week for tea.”
“Tea.”Rezer’s mouth curved, not quite a smile.“He worked in a casino?I don’t imagine he looks like the tea-drinking sort.”
Lisa gave him a pointed look.“He’s not, but he insists he is.And I let him keep the illusion because it’s easier than arguing.”
Rezer studied her, keeping his expression unreadable.“You’re kind to indulge him.”
“It’s called manners.”
He nodded slowly.“Still.A man that age chasing a woman, what?Five or six times his years?Unusual, isn’t it?”
Her brows rose.“Six times his years?”Her voice rose as her lips grew tight across her face.“Are you just purposely being obtuse or do you really not know how rude it is to bring up a woman’s age?”
He tilted his head, feeling the faintest spark of humor, or maybe provocation, and he felt alive.It felt good.He didn’t address her question.Just poked the bear again.“Aren’t you, technically, old enough to be his great, great, great grandmother?”
Lisa stared at him, her expression moved from disbelief, maybe some slight amusement, then straight into irritation.“That’s one way to put it.But it’s a jackass way.”
Before he could retort, the bell above the door chimed.
Rezer turned his head toward the entrance, and there a man stood, looking much too comfortable for his liking.No doubt this was the infamous Tony.
