Page 31 of The Bookseller and the Alpha (Witch Twins #1)

Calypso

“Don’t bother,” I muttered. “I’ll take a cab.

” I heard him open the front door and say something to Billy before his footsteps returned.

He paused outside the room. Would he say something?

What did I want him to say? I gripped the collar of the robe as I stood like an idiot in the middle of his room.

I didn’t understand what had happened. Last night and this morning Luc had been caring and gentle.

He’d shown me a side of him I hadn’t known existed.

Then gentle Luc had morphed into scorching hot Luc.

I had begged him to fuck me on his couch.

It had been the most sexually intense experience of my life.

And then he’d locked that intensity and passion away as if it had never existed.

After I’d asked him to put me down, he shut down completely.

But he had apologised for leaving and said he would see me tonight.

I wanted to believe that meant something, but I couldn’t forget that I was only in his apartment because I was a job for him. He had clearly remembered it.

The footsteps retreated. I slumped down to the bed. The front door shut behind him. I dropped my head to my hands blowing out a shaky breath. Fuck me.

Or, as it turned out, don’t fuck me. I let out a short, unhappy laugh as I dressed quickly in the clothes he’d left for me.

They weren’t mine. The store tags were still attached.

I was sure that Luc had told Billy what to buy.

They were my size and just the sort of clothes I liked to wear.

Pretty underwear. Jeans. A soft cotton shirt and a cable knit sweater.

Socks and ankle-high boots. He’d thought of everything.

If I’d had any other option, I’d have left them right there in the apartment.

Who was he to buy me new clothes? And how had he got my size so right?

Did he fuck that many women that he could tell her clothing size from looking at her?

The thought hurt. I was so stupid. But unless I wanted to take a cab in my fluffy pjs and bare feet, I needed these clothes. That was fine. I could pay him back.

As soon as I was dressed, I got the hell out of his apartment.

It was best if we both forgot that this had ever happened.

We had both crossed a line we shouldn’t have.

Ten minutes later I was out on the street, hailing a passing cab, directing the middle-aged driver to take me to my apartment.

I spent the trip staring straight ahead, seeing nothing, drumming my fingers on my leg.

I was restless and twitchy, unsettled inside my skin.

Luckily for me the driver wasn’t chatty, although his eyes kept sliding to me through his rearview mirror.

Eyes on the road buddy . When we stopped at a red light it seemed that he wanted to say something, opening and closing his mouth several times, but he just shifted in his seat.

That got through to me. I looked myself over.

Had I put my sweater on inside-out? Were my nipples showing?

I gave myself a once-over. Nothing seemed out of place.

Had Luc given me a hickey? I didn’t remember him biting me, but then I’d been drifting in such a haze of hormones that I’m not sure I’d have noticed.

We pulled up at the front of the building. “What’s wrong?” I held my credit card out to the driver. “You’re looking at me like I’ve got two heads.”

The cabbie waved my card away. He had tipped his body towards his side of the cab, putting as much distance between himself and me as he could. “No charge lady, just don’t hurt me.”

“What?” My eyebrows winged up in surprise. What was he talking about?

“You, you…” the cabbie stuttered. He had started to sweat.

Was he high? “Why would you think I’m going to hurt you?

” The cabbie just waved his arms in the air in front of him.

No. At me. I took another look at myself.

Shirt buttoned. Sweater on. Bra properly underneath layers.

Fly up. Seatbelt on. Wait. The seatbelt was on but it pressed tight against my body, under tension.

The vehicle had come to a stop and there’d been no hard braking.

“You… you… you’re floating,” the cabbie finally managed. “And your hair, it’s um… you know.”

Gods above. I was floating! The moment I realised, I fell back into my seat with a firm thump and the seatbelt returned to normal tension around my midriff.

Okay, I had been floating. That was weird.

As weird as the incident in Luc’s kitchen.

I looked at the cabbie. “Sorry,” I muttered, neck heating in embarrassment.

“Just go,” he said. “Please.”

Static electricity zapped me as I grabbed the cab door. Crap that hurt. Stepping out, I was careful to touch both feet to the ground. My heart was galloping in my chest as I freaked out. This shouldn’t be happening. I was too old. I’d been tested. I had no magic.

I exited the cab in front of the café that occupied the building adjacent to my apartment block.

The reflection from the plate glass window showed a woman with a halo of wild hair, swaying in a non-existent breeze.

And her eyes. Gods. Her eyes glowed silver.

Her mouth dropped open in surprise and she put a shaking hand to her mouth.

Not her mouth. My mouth. The woman in the reflection was me.

Fuck. What was going on? I needed to talk to my sister.

Keeping my head down, I hurried to the front entrance of my building.

I slowed my steps. The lobby door was open, a workman in the doorway.

On the back of his overalls the words “Phoenix Security” were stitched.

He looked up as I approached. His eyebrows lifting was his only reaction to my appearance.

He looked about fifty. Mismatched eyes. Broad shoulders. Tall. Another Shifter.

“Ma’am,” he said. “I have to check that you are on the approved list before I can let you in.”

“Show me your ID first.” My voice was hard.

The nervous flutter in my stomach relaxed a little after I saw that he was a Shifter, but after the shock of last night, I wasn’t giving my details to anyone without knowing who they were.

And given that this building wasn’t owned by any of the city’s Shifter packs, it was weird to see one here.

He held out one hand, palm up, showing no threat, then reached the other one slowly towards the lanyard at his neck. Pulling it over his head, he held it out to me. The photo on his ID matched the man in front of me. I took good note of his name. Tom Hutchins.

“I’m Calypso Ferrera. Apartment 303.” I showed him my own ID. “What’s going on, Tom?”

Tom picked up a small tablet, glancing at it briefly.

“Ms Ferrera. Building security is being upgraded. A security guard will be in the lobby twenty-four seven.” From a bag beside him, he pulled out a keycard, holding it out to me.

“From now on, you’ll need this to enter the building.

” He checked his tablet, frowning at what he saw on the screen.

“And someone will be at your apartment later to install new locks.”

That was odd. “I didn’t authorise that.” Did I want it? Absolutely. After last night I would take all the security I could get. But I couldn’t afford it. Not this month. Not after whatever damage I had to fix from the intrusion.

“Not my call, ma’am,” he said. “And the bill’s been paid in full upfront.”

I narrowed my eyes at him.

He shrugged. “I’m just doing my job.” He thrust the keycard at me. “You go on upstairs now Ms Ferrera.”