Leo did have a plan. Several, actually, in varying stages of development. But sitting across from Junie in this corner booth, watching the light catch the copper in her hair, he found himself saying words he hadn’t planned at all.
“I need your help.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “My help? My shop is a crime scene and my magic is unstable. What could I possibly help with?”
“Your grandmother’s encoded entries. The ones Victor’s people stole.” Leo leaned forward, the animal inside rising toward the surface. “You said you couldn’t crack the cipher. But you’ve been looking at those pages for twenty-six years. You know them better than anyone.”
“You want to decode my grandmother’s recipes?”
“I want to understand why Victor wanted them badly enough to burn through your wards to get them.” He held her gaze. “Whatever’s in those pages, it’s important. Important enough that someone in Haven Shores told him about it. Important enough that he’s willing to destroy businesses and drain ley lines to acquire it.”
“I don’t have the book anymore. In case you forgot.”
“But you remember parts of it. The pages you studied. The patterns you noticed even if you couldn’t interpret them.” He watched her face, looking for the moment when she started to consider it. “Work with me. Help me understand what we’re dealing with. And I promise you—we will get that book back.”
Junie was quiet for a long moment. Glimmer watched him with unblinking eyes.
“Why do you actually care what happens to my grandmother’s book?”
Leo should have had an easy answer. Professional obligation, civic duty, or the importance of recovering stolen property.
But Junie had been honest with him. Had shown him her broken pieces. Had trusted him when she had no reason to.
He owed her the same.
“Because it matters to you,” he said. “Because I saw your face when you realized it was gone, and something cracked open in me that hasn’t felt right since. Because—” He stopped. Started again. “Because I don’t know how to stop thinking about you, and I’m tired of pretending I’m not trying.”
The words fell into the silence between them like stones into still water.
Junie stared at him.
“That’s…” She swallowed. “That’s very honest.”
“I’m told I have that problem.”
“It’s not a problem.” Her voice had gone quiet. “It’s unexpected. From you.”
“From the uptight lion in the ruined suit?”
A ghost of a smile crossed her face. “I was going to say that, yes.”
They sat there. Leo could hear her heartbeat—fast, slightly irregular. Could smell the shift in her scent, the undertone that his instincts recognized with absolute certainty.
Want. Need. Recognition.
She was feeling it too. This impossible thing between them that he’d been fighting since the moment he’d walked into that welcome dinner and scented her across the room.
“Okay,” Junie said finally.
“Okay?”
“I’ll help you. We’ll figure out what Victor wanted with my grandmother’s book. We’ll find the traitor in Haven Shores.” She met his eyes, and determination blazed there. “And then we’ll destroy him.”
“Partners, then.”
“Temporary partners.” Junie held up a warning finger. “This doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven you for being an insufferable know-it-all. Or for having better handwriting than me. Or for—” She gestured vaguely at all of him. “Whatever this is.”
“Whatever what is?”
