“It’s fine, Caitlyn,” I said. The words came out softer than I meant them to—low and a little seductive. I bit my lip hard enough to stop myself from saying anything else.
What in the seven realms of hell was I doing?
It was bad enough that I had prayed that my fated mate would forget about me for another year—just long enough for me to untangle these feelings I had for Ambrose. Worse still, I’d even caught myself wondering if there might be a way out of the summoning altogether if Ambrose gave me even the slightest hint that he wanted more.
But flirting with a stranger? A client? A candy witch I hadn’t even met yet, just because her snort-laughs and rambling were... charming?
I needed to get a grip on myself.
“Anyway,” Caitlyn said, the fluster creeping back into her voice, “I’ll be with you in a few minutes and explain the, um... housing situation. Bye!”
I slipped my phone back into my pocket and dragged a hand through my hair.
My stomach grumbled.
Fuck. I should’ve fed before coming here.
But I just couldn’t bring myself to after the summoning. It had been hard enough to feed over the past six months. I was all out of sync feeding on my own, forced to confront just how much I’d come to rely on Ambrose to set the rhythm for me. Without him there, I had to lean entirely on raw incubi magic and hope it could make up for my lack of enthusiasm. I hated it. I only ever went out when hunger backed me into a corner, when I was close to starving and had no other choice. The last time had been a week before the summoning, and I hadn’t found the motivation to go out again since.
It didn’t help that I had pictured Caitlyn as some harmless old witch in a frilly apron—someone I wouldn’t want...
And yet, without even meeting her, I was already flirting.
Gods. How was I fucking everything up so badly?
I sucked in breath after breath, forcing my body to remember how to breathe while the edges of my vision crept inward. Everything felt too close, too tight—until the distant rattle of Caitlyn’s car broke through the noise in my head. Slowly, the pressure eased, my sight clearing as I latched onto the sound.
It chugged through the thicket of trees lining the field, the occasional flash of neon green flaring between gaps in the fall leaves before vanishing again behind the foliage. It felt like an age before the ancient car finally lurched into view, turning into the field with a trail of dark smoke choking out behind it.
The witch within was almost entirely obscured by the sheer volume of belongings she’d packed into every available crevice,from footwell to rooftop. Even the dashboard hadn’t escaped the messiness, buried beneath a coating of candy and burger wrappers.
The car finally seemed to give out, the engine letting out a death rattle as it lurched to a stop. I couldn’t make out Caitlyn’s features, aside from the hand that patted the wrapper-covered dashboard as if she were praising the car for making it to its destination.
I let out a deep breath and started toward the witch, who was seemingly struggling to open the driver’s door. The evening sun flashed off the window, a muffledthudsounding from within, as though she’d thrown herself against the door and still failed to open it.
My lip twitched into another grin as I reached the driver’s side handle and, with some force, wrenched the door open for her.
Wrappers and empty drink cups spilled from the footwell as the witch lurched forward, her hand still gripped around the inside handle. I’d expected the smell of rotting fast food and stale, sugary drinks to hit my nose, but instead I caught the faint scent of honeysuckle. My gaze dropped to the crown of her unkempt chestnut hair, my stomach knotting.
Slowly, she tilted her face upwards. The moment her wide, hazel eyes met mine, it felt as though the air had been knocked from my lungs.
She was the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen.
Which was going to make the next few weeksunbearable.
She stared back, just as stunned, frozen amid a sea of road-trip debris, blinking furiously as if she, too, felt stunned by me. Which she probably did. My incubus magic would have instantly transformed my features into whatever she most desired. The only people who would see my true form would be those whowere not actively searching for a night of pleasure, and my fated mate.
Her perfect mouth parted as though she meant to speak, but no words came.
I couldn’t stop myself from taking her in—the button nose dusted with freckles, the flush in her high cheekbones, the way waves of her chestnut hair tumbled over her shoulders.
“Um, Caitlyn?” I asked, an unfamiliar fluster creeping into my tone.
She blinked again, then nodded and took her first step out of the car. At her full height, she was almost a head shorter than my six-foot stature. Her clothes were bright, clashing in the most perfect way, reminding me of someone from the seventies—much like her car.
Her mouth opened once more, then closed. Her fingers remained locked around the car door with such force that her knuckles were turning white.
“I... you’re... I mean... you’re—” she began, the adorable fluster in her voice causing something to swell in my chest.
