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Niko pulled his truck into an empty space behind Indigo’s building and turned the engine off.

Indigo turned to him and asked, “Are you headed home now?”

“That depends on you. Are you free for dinner?” There was a glint in his eye, and a tiny hint of a smile played on his face.

“I’m free for more than that.” She pushed the door open and hopped out, waiting patiently for Niko to join her.

He didn’t make her wait long. Once he was by her side, he asked, “Should we cook, get takeout, or go to The Salt Circle?”

“Takeout.” She slipped her hand in his and led him up the stairs to her apartment. She was one hundred percent done with trying to deny her feelings for the man. After the last week, it was clear to her that if she didn’t allow herself to trust him, then she was the lost cause. Because this man had done nothing but protect her from everyone who was trying to pin this crime on her. If she couldn’t trust Niko, she couldn’t trust anyone.

“Works for me,” he said as he tightened his grip on her hand.

Once they were inside, Indigo paused for a moment. She was torn between tugging Niko into her bedroom and rummaging through the takeout menus. But when Niko’s stomach grumbled, she chuckled and went to the drawer in her kitchen. She pulled out a handful of menus and handed them to him. “You choose, and I’ll call and order.”

“Pizza, Italian, fish and chips, Thai, and sushi. Plus there’s always The Salt Circle for takeout. Not bad for such a small town,” he said, choosing the pizza menu and handing the rest back.

“When there’s a film being shot here, there are usually a few more food trucks around, too. Tacos and Cuban and my favorite, the soup and sandwich truck.” Indigo pressed her hand to her heart as she remembered the last time she had food from there. “They have the absolute best gourmet grilled cheese and tomato soup. Seriously, they should package and sell it at the general store. They’d make a killing.”

“Too bad nothing is filming around here right now. I’d be down for that for sure.” He winked at her and she rolled her eyes, knowing he was teasing.

“Just tell me what pizza you want, and I’ll get it ordered.”

“The buffalo pizza,” he said. “And the garlic knots.” He frowned. “Unless you have a problem with garlic.”

“Me?” She threw her head back and laughed. “No self-respecting Easton woman would ever shun garlic. I’ll order extra.”

Niko grinned at her while she placed the order and threw in a margherita pizza for herself.

“It’ll be here in about thirty minutes,” she said as she opened a bottle of red and poured them each a glass.

“Thank you.” Niko took the glass and sat on one end of her couch.

Indigo sat next to him, tucking her feet underneath her as she faced him. After she took a long sip and felt her muscles starting to relax, she said, “I can’t stop thinking about what you said about Professor Mitchell.”

“What’s that?” he asked as he eyed her over his wine glass.

“You wanted to know if I thought it was possible that he’d been the one to compel Tricia and now perhaps Polly.” The relaxation she’d felt with the first sip of her wine started to wear off as she thought through what she wanted to say. “I admit that it’s hard for me to believe that Professor Mitchell is involved in any of this. I certainly don’t want to believe it.” She just couldn’t. Not after the way everything went down.

“I understand. People who have charm and charisma often are overlooked as suspects in any sort of crime. No one wants to believe their favorite teacher or uncle or neighbor would do something so heinous.”

Indigo frowned, hating that he had a point. But still, sometimes a person just knew when something was off and when it wasn’t. Didn’t that count for anything? “Where does gut instinct come in?”

He eyed her curiously. “Are you saying your gut says he’s innocent?”

“Yes,” she said without hesitation. “I heard you when you said you needed to investigate him to rule people out, and I’m not saying you shouldn’t. But something tells me that Mitchell is one of the good guys. Out of everyone, he and Professor Cannon are the only ones who stood by me. They’d believed in me. Hell, Mitchell still believes in me. I didn’t tell you this, but he even offered me a job today as his research assistant.”

Niko’s eyes turned stormy as he said, “You aren’t thinking of taking that are you?”

“Oh no. That’s out of the question. But why would he offer that to me if he’d stolen my spell and was responsible for Tricia’s death? That makes no sense to me.” Suddenly a deep sadness washed over her as she relayed one last truth. “Besides, if he turned out to be the one responsible for compelling young women, I’d likely lose all faith in humanity.”

Niko put his wine glass down and held his arm out, inviting her to lean into him.

Indigo didn’t hesitate. She needed to feel the comfort and warmth from someone she trusted. And there was no one besides her sisters and grandmother who she trusted more than Niko Morales.

She chuckled softly.

“What’s so funny?” he whispered as he rested his chin on the top of her head.

“Me,” she said into his chest. “Isn’t it ironic that after all these years of vowing to stay away from law enforcement that I not only end up in bed with an MTF agent, but I start to fall for him, too?”

Niko froze.

After a beat, Indigo looked up at him. “Niko?”

His gaze landed on her lips. And then before she could say anything else, he wrapped both arms around her, pulled her closer, and claimed her mouth, kissing her in a way that made the rest of the world disappear.

Indigo’s grip tightened on him, and there wasn’t anything in the world she wanted more than this man. To be held by him. To let him transport her into another world where the only spells were the ones made of human touch and connections.

Love.

That’s what this was.

Indigo was in love with him, and she knew there was no going back. She only prayed that he’d take that gift and cherish it, because if Niko Morales broke her trust, she knew she’d never be the same again.

They stayed locked in each other’s arms as time seemed to stand still. She didn’t want to think about spells or professors or ex-fiancés. She just wanted to stay in her carefully crafted bubble with Niko and let herself love someone again.

Niko ended the kiss but didn’t pull away as he spoke. “Are you sure this is what you want?”

She smiled against his lips. “I’m sure.”

“Thank the gods,” he said and stood, holding out his hand to her.

Just as she got to her feet, the doorbell rang. They looked at each other before they both laughed.

Niko strode to the door, paid the pizza delivery person, and then turned to her and said, “I hope you were serious about garlic not bothering you, because now that this is here, I’m gonna have to devour my portion before I devour you.”

Indigo’s face heated as a smile claimed her lips. “I look forward to it.”

* * *

Indigo woke wrapped in Niko’s arms. The sun was streaming in the window, shining on their bare skin, and she couldn’t remember when she’d ever felt so content. It was her day off, she had a sexy man in her bed, and there was nothing pressing she had to do. In that moment, her life was nothing short of perfect.

“Good morning,” Niko said, his voice gravelly with sleep.

She turned her head, noting his hooded eyes and the sexy stubble shadowing his jawline. “It’s a very good morning,” she agreed before pressing a soft kiss to his lips.

“No argument here.” He gazed down at her as he gently brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes and tucked it behind one ear. “What do you have planned for today?”

“This.” She gently pushed his shoulder so that he was lying on his back and then climbed on top of him so that she was straddling him. “Do you have any objections?”

“None.” He wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and rose up to meet her in another passionate kiss.

Everything about their connection was fire. Indigo hadn’t ever experienced anything like it before. Being with him just felt… right. It was right in a way she couldn’t explain, other than to say that she felt whole when he was near.

Niko let out a barely audible growl as he lifted her up and spun so that he was hovering over the top of her.

She grinned up at him, loving that she was able to make him lose even a smidgen of his control. It was powerful and made her feel both sexy and wanted.

His hands seemed to be everywhere at once, driving her mad. And just when she was ready to beg him to take her, the doorbell rang.

They both groaned as Niko rolled off her and lay staring at the ceiling.

“Do you always have visitors before eight o’clock in the morning?” he asked.

The doorbell rang again in a rapid succession, indicating that the visitor could only be one person.

“No, only when Sage shows up,” she said, rolling out of bed and grabbing her robe. “That one gets up before the crack of dawn when she’s working at the glass studio in the summer. It’s easier to work in the hot shop before the temperatures heat up.”

“Tell her to take her bucket of ice water and pour it over her own head,” he said as he draped his arm over his eyes.

Indigo chuckled. “Go get in the shower. I’ll meet you there in a few minutes.”

He lifted his arm, his expression full of interest. “The shower?”

“Yes. Now go. I’ll get rid of her posthaste.”

He jumped out of bed, kissed her soundly, and then disappeared into the bathroom. A moment later, she heard the spray of the shower.

Indigo was still grinning as she opened the door and found not just Sage, but her other two sisters as well. She tightened her robe around her and said, “Something wrong with your phones?”

“Nope,” Sage said as she brushed past Indigo and headed straight for the kitchen. She was already making a cup of coffee when she added, “It’s yours that needs to be checked. I left three messages and you never responded.”

Indigo frowned, wondering where she’d last left her phone.

“Good morning,” Prim said, eyeing Indigo’s robe.

“Looks like we might have interrupted something.” Lily giggled as she peered at Indigo’s neck. “Is that a hickey?”

Indigo slapped her hand over the perceived hickey and said, “No!”

Lily threw her head back and laughed. “Just kidding. There’s no hickey. But it does look like there might be a love bite.”

“Oh. My. Goddess,” Indigo said, looking around at her sisters. All three of them looked so similar with their blond hair and slightly delicate features. Meanwhile, she was the odd woman out with her dark hair and curvier figure. If she didn’t look like the spitting image of her grandmother, Indigo would’ve sworn she was adopted. “Why are you here? Just to humiliate me, or is there something important that I need to know?”

The three of them sobered instantly.

Sage brought two coffee mugs from the kitchen and handed one to Indigo. She had her long hair tied up in a neat bun and was wearing jeans and a long-sleeved cotton shirt, indicating that she had indeed been up working in her glass shop early that morning. “Grandmother sent us. She said there are some negative forces focused on you and that we should do a binding protection spell until this negative energy is cleared out.”

“She did?” Indigo was slightly taken aback. Her grandmother didn’t usually recommend such measures unless she was really worried. She swallowed hard and glanced away.

“Indy?” Prim moved to stand next to her older sister. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I…” She grimaced. “I suppose I was hoping that all of this would blow over, but it doesn’t seem like I’m going to be that lucky, am I?”

“It could,” Sage said, but she didn’t sound confident.

“Thanks, sis. That’s reassuring.” Indigo took a big gulp of the coffee.

“Is that the shower?” Lily asked as she walked toward the bedroom.

Indigo ran and cut off her sister before she could walk through the door. “It is. I was just getting ready to get in before you people tried to knock my door down.”

“Really?” Sage glanced at the coffee table and the two empty wine glasses that had been left there when Niko had carried Indigo into her bedroom.

“Okay. That’s enough.” Indigo waved them toward the door. “Everyone out. Let me get showered and dressed, and I’ll meet you at the coffee shop in twenty minutes.”

“Twenty minutes,” Lily said with a snicker. “Right. We won’t be seeing you for at least an hour.”

“Longer if she’s lucky,” Sage said with a wink.

Prim rolled her eyes. “Okay, that’s enough. Indy doesn’t need our commentary.”

“Thank you, Prim,” Indigo said, grateful for her youngest sister.

“What she needs to do is get in that shower before her man turns into a shriveled prune,” Prim said.

“Shriveled is the last thing one needs when they have a naked man in their shower,” Lily added.

“TMI!” Sage cried as the three of them filed out of the apartment.

Indigo shook her head and said, “Order me a pumpkin bread and a chai latte. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“We’ll order it in about forty-five minutes,” Sage said as she bounded down the stairs. When she got to the bottom, she turned and said, “Have fun!”

Indigo slammed the door on her sisters’ smirking expressions and then went to find Niko.