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“I’m not sure if it’ll get easier for you.” I scanned the dining room. “Looks quiet in here…”

“The kitchen is that way,” Lucien said, nodding toward a door not far from where we were.

I took a step toward the kitchen door and immediately felt light-headed, grabbing on to Lucien’s shoulder to steady myself. “You good?” Lucien asked.

“Yeah,” I said, “It’s just been a long night of magic use.”.”

“Long night of other things too.” He replied, with an oh-so-proud-of-himself grin.

I gawked at him. “What is it about high stakes situations that makes you say stuff like that?”

“Stuff like what?”

“The kind of stuff that gets me inappropriately excited,” I hissed. “We should be concentrating, not thinking about sex.”

Lucien shrugged. “Thinking about all the things I want to do to you helps calm me down.”

My face reddened. “Right now is absolutely not…” I swallowed, then licked my lips, distracted, “Not at all the time to be thinking about that.”

“You’re right,” he added, “I’ll stop.”

“That’s the problem,” I said, as we continued toward the kitchen door. “I don’t want you to stop.”

“Something to look forward to, then.” Lucien carefully opened the door and peeked inside. “Wait,” he whispered.

“What?” My heart shot into my throat.

Lucien shut the door. “There’s a guy in there.”

“Your father?”

“No, one of his men. He’s making a sandwich.”

“Great… maybe he’ll leave when he’s done?”

“If he goes anywhere, it’ll be in here.”

“Shit.”

“Shit is right. Can you turn us invisible?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think I have enough juice to keep us invisible for long.”

I could see him now, or the back of him, at least. He had a tub of peanut butter on the counter, and—oh God—he was scraping the contents of a can of tuna onto a piece of bread. This man was about to eat a peanut butter and tuna sandwich.

“What the hell?” I whispered. “Those two don’t go together!”

“Maybe they do.”

“In what world?”

“In the same world where pineapple on pizza works.”

“Please don’t tell me you like hot fruit on your pizza.”

“I like the salty and sweet combina—shit.”

“What?!”