Page 41 of How to Flirt with a Witch

Headlights illuminate the street from behind us, casting moving shadows over her face before the car parks and plunges us back into darkness.

Natalie breaks our gaze and takes off her seatbelt. She gets out, and by the time I’m done fumbling with my own seatbelt, she’s opening the passenger door and extending a hand to help me.

I take it, sparks shooting up my arm at her gentle grip. For a moment, it’s easy to forget about curses and mysteries and everything but the way her touch makes me feel.

She takes the slow cooker from my arms. “I’ll walk you to your door.”

“It’s okay. I can manage the ten steps.” I motion to the blue house on the other side of the picket fence. The stone walkway leads around back to the basement suite.

She strides ahead and opens the gate, letting me through. “I’ll walk you to here, then.”

“Thanks.” I slip past her into the yard.

As she passes me my purchase, our hands brush, and I swear she lingers for longer than she has to. I let her warmth tingle through me as her slender fingers fit between mine… and then the moment is over, and we step apart. Is the air thick, or am I just hopelessly crushing?

“Thank you for coming with me. I’m sorry we didn’t have any luck today.” Her words are disappointingly formal considering the amount of time we just spent together.

Dipping her chin, she steps toward her car.

A sudden panic overcomes me, my breath hitching. My last seconds with her are slipping away. After all we’ve faced, all our conversations, and the swoop in my belly every time she looks at me… Thiscan’tbe it.

“Natalie?” I blurt.

She turns, a perfect vision in the dark street.

My mouth goes dry, my nerves twisting, but I have to ask. I can’t let her leave without knowing. “Did you only want to spend time with me today because you wanted to know if I have some kind of curse-finding ability, or…?”

Her lips twist, teasing me with a shadow of the smile I got to see earlier. “It’s complicated. I admit I find you intriguing.”

“Oh.” A balloon inflates inside me, making me light.

“I like how persistent you were about a kitten you’d only had for four days. You have…” She squints into the distance as if interested in something down the street. “You have the ability to love deeply. It’s an admirable quality.”

“So…” I shift, my heart beating so hard it’s like I’m sprinting. If she doesn’t want me to pry into who she is and what all this is about, fine—but I think there’s chemistry between us, and maybe we can still get to know each other. I draw a breath and summon every ounce ofbravery I possess. My next words come out in a rush. “Do you want to come to a New Year’s thing with me?”

Natalie freezes. After an excruciating pause, she combs her fingers through her hair, not meeting my eye. “I don’t think we should spend time together, Katie.”

Her words puncture the balloon inside me, taking all the air out of my body. “Why not?”

She turns toward her car. Hesitates. “Because you don’t want to be involved with someone who deals with exploding dolls.”

She walks away, each footstep a nail in my heart.

And yet…

I can’t help noticing she didn’t say “because I’m not interested in you” or any iteration of that. Her rejection is about the curses—and when it comes to that, who is she to tell me what I want?

I mean, sure, curses seem dangerous, but that doesn’t make me want to back away and pretend none of this happened. Apart from solving a mystery, Ilikeher. In the span of today, I graduated from having a giddy crush to a deep, aching desire.

“What if I’m meant to be involved?” I step closer, my hips pressed against the picket fence. “Istumbled on Lucy. We met becauseI found a curse.”

Natalie opens her car door and pauses. I bite my lip, waiting.

But she shakes her head firmly. “I’m putting you in danger just by being around you.”

“I don’t care!” For the first time since arriving in Vancouver, I’ve found somewhere I want to be—a person I want to know. “Natalie, I’m not afraid of curses.”

Her brow furrows. She studies me, one leg in her car. “Well, you should be.”