Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 71312 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71312 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
“Yeah.” He runs his hand over my hip and under my shirt. “But not until nine.”
“Funny, I used to think nine AM wasn’t early.”
“You’re spoiled not having to get up for work anymore.”
“Right?” I roll over, pulling the blankets up over my shoulders and remember yelling at Saanvi last night. “Actually, I think I’m going to hide out in the barn until Harry leaves.”
“Huh?” Ethan cups my breast with his hand and moves closer so his lips brush against my neck.
“I kinda, sorta thought Saanvi was a ghost and told her I was going to burn her bones and send her back to hell.”
Ethan sits up slightly, looking at me with an expression of amusement on his face. “When did this happen?”
“When you were blissfully sleeping.” I take a deep breath and stretch my legs out. “I had a weird dream about the ghosts at that bed and breakfast and then I heard someone in the hall. I hadn’t separated myself from the dream yet and I was sure a ghost was moving through the house.”
“But it was just your brother’s innocent girlfriend.”
“Hah. We don’t know she’s innocent yet.”
Ethan raises his eyebrows. “She’s saving herself until marriage. That screams innocence to me.”
“I bet some serial killers were virgins,” I shoot back and Ethan laughs. “But you’re right. She hasn’t waved any red flags and Harry seems really happy with her.”
“If you look for something bad, you’ll find it. Trust your gut. It hasn’t steered you wrong yet.”
“Easier said than done.” We stay in bed together for a little while longer and then we both force ourselves up. Ethan wants to get his own workout in before he has to train anyone, and the horses are going to angry-whinny at me when I finally step foot in the barn.
The guest room door is still closed when I go into the hall, then into Romeo’s room to feed him and let him out of his cage. I head outside to take care of the chickens before going into the barn. I might grumble about getting up early to feed everyone, but I wouldn’t trade this for anything.
Harrison, Saanvi, and Nik are all in the kitchen with Ethan when I come back inside. I smile and flick my eyes to Ethan, silently asking if anyone said anything about my little freakout last night. It was completely justified, given my lifestyle, but I can only imagine what Saanvi thinks of me.
“You guys heading out after breakfast?” I ask, going straight to the coffee pot.
“Yeah,” Harrison answers. “Saanvi has a cat.”
“I have automatic feeders and one of those water-fountain type bowls,” Saanvi quickly adds. “She’s fine on her own for a day or two.”
“Oh, nice. That’s a good thing about cats,” I say. “They’re independent.”
We eat breakfast together and Harrison pulls me aside when Saanvi goes upstairs to shower and get dressed for the day. I’m already wincing, ready for him to reprimand me for being weird around his girlfriend.
“So I can explain,” I start and then regret my words immediately since it’s apparent by Harrison’s confused look he wasn’t going to ask me why I came downstairs threatening to burn someone’s bones. “Never mind. What’s up, bro?”
“I’m gonna ignore the first part of that due to not wanting to get involved.”
“That’s probably the best choice when it comes to me. Between demons and ghosts and drama within the coven, it’s a lot to keep up with.”
“I’ll take your word for it.” He runs his hand through his light-brown hair. “She’s great, isn’t she?”
“Yeah,” I say, unable to keep the smile off my face. “She really is. So, don’t fuck things up, okay? I mean, assuming she’s not a demon—”
“That happened once. You’ll never let it go, will you?”
“Not until I die. And then I can promise you I will come back and haunt the shit out of you about it.”
He shrugs. “I’d expect nothing less, honestly.”
“Exactly. But what I was going to say, assuming she’s not an undercover demon, she’s way out of your league.”
Instead of joking back, Harrison grins. “Right? I was nervous to ask her out. I’m never nervous.”
And now I’m smiling again. “Well, it looks like you’ve finally met your match. Who knows, maybe this time next year we’ll be letting her in on the family secret.”
“About magic? Why would she need to know?”
I tip my head to the side, looking at my brother for a few seconds as I try to figure out how to put things without freaking him out. Deciding to just spit it out, push my hair back and say, “magic runs in our family. It’s skipped generations or siblings maybe since Grandma didn’t have powers but her sister did. Kinda like how I have powers and you don’t. But it’s still in your blood. It’s not impossible that either of our kids have powers too.”