Chapter 17

T rixie

The next day I rose early. I headed to my new parking space which was a very fancy parking space indeed. It was below ground, directly beneath our apartment complex. Another perk of my new gig.

I hopped in my car and took the old Honda for a spin through the car wash. I put air in my partially flat tires and vacuumed the carpets. Then I picked up a little air freshener decal from the gas station and hung it from the rearview mirror. The slight scent of coconuts filtered through the car and wasn't wholly unpleasant.

My car might not be the chariot that Dominic Kent was used to, but at least it was clean. I figured with how much Dom was paying me to shuffle him around town, the least I could do was make my car presentable.

I waited in front of the building and texted Dominic that I was outside whenever he was ready. He hadn't told me he needed to be anywhere today, but I wanted to make a point that I was here to work. I wasn't here for a handout, even if that's what this situation was currently feeling like. I was determined to earn my keep.

To my surprise, Dom replied that he'd be right down. When he stepped out of the doors of the building, I felt my breath catch in my chest. Dom looked magnificent this morning, just slightly disheveled, but in a way that made him seem almost human. His hair wasn't quite perfect, and he was wearing jeans and a sweater that looked like he might've just thrown them on at the last minute. I felt a flutter in my stomach that was halfway between panic and lust.

"Good morning, sir ," I said, pulling open the rear door to my Honda with a flourish.

Dom hesitated, resting a hand on my shoulder as he leaned close. "Must we be so professional about all this?"

"We must," I said, fighting the zing that traveled down my arm at his touch. I could smell gel on him and see his damp hair up close and personal, as if he'd leapt out of his shower just moments before. "I looked over the arrangement you emailed me last night, along with my salary, and the salary definitely includes complimentary door opening."

"Can I sit in the front seat?" Dom asked. "Please."

"I guess it's your money, your choice. But I won't be offended if you want to sit in the back and do work and make phone calls and take names like important people do."

Dom grunted. "I'll take the front."

I saw movement out of the corner of my eye as Dom opened the door. Something off, a look from a pedestrian who'd been gazing this way for a beat too long. A gait just a bit too fast. I threw myself in front of Dom just before a microphone was pressed toward my face.

"Leave my client alone," I informed an anxious looking man who was no doubt paparazzi or a reporter covering The Circle's election. Things had been quiet on that front for some time now, but we weren't totally forgotten. We wouldn't be free from the coverage until it was over. "No comments."

"Client?" The reporter looked between me and Dom. "The two of you are working together now? "

I could almost see him gleefully processing this information. When I glanced at Dom, his figure towering over me despite my valiant attempt to play bodyguard, I saw an almost amused quirk to his lips.

"It's none of your business," I snapped. "But if you don't get out of our faces right now, you'll regret it."

"Regret it?" The reporter stepped even closer. He smelled like Cheetos that had gone stale. "I'm sure the public would love to know about the two of you canoodling in this hunk of junk."

"The public doesn't care about us anymore," I scoffed. "Any paparazzo with a dollop of self-respect gave up camping outside of our apartment complex over a week ago."

"Good thing I'm so persistent."

"Now, Dean." Dom tsked. "This isn't necessary, is it?"

Dominic spoke in a slithery soft voice as he stepped around me, delicately moving me behind him like I was a figurine he'd temporarily misplaced. I had no clue how Dom knew the man's name.

It took me a long, long minute to figure out that Dominic was using his allure magic. The charm that came with the territory of being a vampire. Most vamps possessed the ability to woo someone, to make them gently forget small things. It wasn't strong enough to act as a complete brainwash, but it was a step in that direction.

I swallowed hard, wondering if I'd been oblivious to Dom's allure all this time. Had he been using it on me and I'd simply missed it? I wanted to think I'd have noticed, but now there was a seed of doubt in my stomach that had me wondering if that were actually true .

"Two hundred bucks says this won't end up in any newspaper," Dominic instructed the reporter firmly. "I think a better story would be that you camped out here, came up empty, and decided never to step foot here again."

Dean's eyes were a little too wide, his mouth parted dumbly as he nodded, blindly accepting the cash shoved into his hand. "I think you're right, sir."

Then Dean turned and wandered off a little aimlessly, as if he'd had a bit too much wine. I studied Dominic as he watched the paparazzo walk away. He had been completely unfazed by the interaction.

Dom had almost seemed amused by it, actually. But when push came to shove, he'd stepped in front of me. He'd wanted to protect me, and hadn't he always? He'd shown me time and time again that he did care about me, about my well-being, about my safety.

Dominic's track record was getting too impressive to deny. The reporter he'd hunted down from the alleyway. The paparazzo he'd pushed away today. The way he'd fled to my side in Crystal Rivers. The fear in his eyes when he relayed the story of the murdered woman in the alley, and the painful moments when he'd thought it was my blood. The way he did simple, thoughtful things, like make sure I had a safe parking space.

I felt a rush of nerves as I hurried around the car and got into the driver's seat. After the kiss we'd shared in Gran's kitchen, it felt like something had changed, shifted between us. I didn't know if it'd meant anything to him, but I couldn't stop thinking about it. Even sitting next to him, my body was having a visceral reaction to his nearness .

"Where to, Boss?" I asked chirpily, hoping he couldn't hear the shakiness in my voice. "What's on the big agenda for today?"

"What's your favorite coffee shop?"

"You're asking the wrong gal," I said. "I either make my cup of joe at home because it's cheap, or I get the punch card at the gas station and go there because every seventh cup is free."

Dom wrinkled his nose. "If I wanted to take a business client out, or to ask a woman for coffee and actually impress her, then where would I go?"

"In that case, I know just the place." I drove us to a new location, happy that I didn't need so much as a GPS system to find my way today. I was a whole new witch. "I've never been to this place before—at least, not inside. I've dropped plenty of people off outside and it seems totally glam. The coffees are, like, seven dollars a pop."

"Then that's where I want to go."

I pulled up outside of Magic Beans, an airy and expensive coffee shop where people could afford to blow the equivalent of my entire paycheck on coffee and a croissant. When I parked out front, Dom glanced over at me.

"You coming in?" he asked gruffly.

"No," I said. "I'll find a spot to park, and you text me when you're ready to be picked up. I'll pull the car around."

Dom made a disgruntled face, but he didn't argue. But before I'd even been able to find a parking spot in this congested area of town, he'd texted me to pick him back up.

"That was quick," I said, leaping out of the car to open the front door for him. "Picking up drinks for someone? "

Dom held two coffees in his hands. He delicately climbed back into the car and put both coffees in the cupholders while I got back in the driver's seat.

"I wasn't sure what you liked," Dom grumbled, "so I got you something called a Matcha Magic which the woman informed me is tea, and then I got you an Espresso Patronum which is—"

"I know what an Espresso Patronum is," I said, practically salivating. "Special blend of espresso, some fancy milk, house-made brown sugar syrup topped with real gold leaf. It's like eleven dollars."

"I thought you said you'd never been there before?"

"I haven't. But I've perused the menu online a few times."

"Well, now's your chance to go to town. They're both yours."

"Dom, that's like twenty dollars' worth of drinks."

"You can stop calculating how much I spent on caffeine. It's not a big deal."

"Where to now?" I shifted in my seat. This morning was not going the way it was supposed to go.

I was supposed to be separating myself from Dom. I was supposed to be putting distance between us for a multitude of reasons. For example, his brother might kill me. Also, Dom was now my boss. Not to mention, we'd soon be going our separate ways. Getting involved didn't really make sense.

But every basic instinct in my body told me otherwise. The vampire looked absolutely delicious in that sweater and those jeans that formed around his sturdy body. His hair had dried now, but in a way I'd never seen it land before. A little tousled, and I fought back the urge to reach over and touch it, to run my hands through it for no reason at all except to be near him.

"We can head back home, I guess," Dom said, sounding unsure for possibly the first time in our relationship. "That'll be all."

"But you didn't get anything for yourself."

"I don't need anything." Dom waited a beat. "I am a vampire, lest you forget. I don't need food or caffeine, I just consume it occasionally...because."

"Speaking of vampire oddities," I said, "talk to me about your allure magic."

I started driving without a destination in mind. It felt better to have the vehicle moving so I didn't have to look at Dom as we spoke. That felt too intimate somehow.

"You sensed I used it on the paparazzo?"

I nodded. "Can't most people sense when you're using it?"

Dom studied me carefully. "No, it's quite rare. I wonder if it's because you have a history of seeing auras. Allure magic is in the same family as reading auras."

I shifted uncomfortably. "Maybe, I guess that would make sense."

"Did it upset you to see me glamour him?"

"No. I'm just curious how it works. Is it like brainwashing?"

Dom gave a chuckle so soft I almost missed it. "Nothing like that. Allure magic is a real thing, but it's much less magnified than most people imagine. It's mostly a myth."

"I saw you do it. My eyes weren't playing tricks on me. "

"Like I said, it's real magic," Dom said. "But in stories, it's often ballooned into this big thing. The truth is that I can't erase peoples' memories. At best, allure helps me to be persuasive or convincing. If a person very astutely does not want to be glamoured, they won't be. It's not magic , magic. It's just an innate thing."

"I guess it's a similar sort of magic to reading auras—an innate thing. People often think it's more powerful than it really is. Have you tried to use your allure on me?"

"No." Dom stilled. "Not since the day we met, at least. I knew then it'd never work on you. But even if it had, I would never have used it."

"So what's happening between us..."

Dom reached over, and I just about rear ended the car in front of me as his hand touched mine. "It's nothing to do with magic, Trixie. I swear to you."

I was loosely driving us back toward the apartment complex. Eleven dollars' worth of coffee sat in the console next to me. It gently dawned on me then that Dom hadn't really needed to go anywhere. The puzzle pieces clicked into place—the wet hair, the clothes, the lack-of-destination. I swallowed.

"Dom, I wanted you to hire me for a real job," I told him. "I don't want to make your life harder. I don't want you to be placating me with this driver gig."

Dominic reached up, played with the tips of my hair ever so gently. I froze at a stoplight, willing his fingers to never stop. "I just wanted to see you today, Trixie."

"You shouldn't have to pay me for that. "

The light turned green, and I pulled ahead. Dom's fingers dropped from my hair.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I just wanted to keep you safe. It's the only way I know how."

"You promised me that this would be a real job." I practically pleaded with him. "I don't want to make your life harder than it already is."

"You don't make my life more difficult, Trixie," he murmured. "At least not in any of the important ways. Please don't quit."

"I'll give it a few more days, but you have to promise me not to make me feel like an idiot."

I parked in front of the apartment complex. Dom sat next to me, as if considering what to say. "Will you come up?"

I blinked at him. That was the last response I had expected. "Come up and do what?"

"Drink eleven dollars' worth of coffee with me?" Dom paused. "Off the clock."

"Off the clock," I repeated.

"Just because I like you, Trixie Gardens."

I was willing to bet he could hear my heartbeat clomping against my chest like a bucking bronco. "It's a good thing I like you too, Dominic Kent."