him.
Which was stupid. Nothing could protect her from him.
When she’d first walked into the bar, he’d noticed how tall she was and that she was not wearing those ridiculously high-heeled shoes women went for these days. She had long legs and nice breasts.
The most striking thing about her was her eyes. One was green and the other was blue.
She turned to face him. This was the closest he’d been to her. Before a table had separated them. Now there was little space between them. Her eyes mesmerized him.
“Is that a witch thing?” he said.
“What?”
“Your eyes.” He reached out to shift a strand of her dark hair away from her face so he could get a better look.
Her eyes widened at his touch. He kept his expression stony, but inside he was startled by his reaction to the feel of her soft skin and silky hair. His fingers tingled.
Dammit, had she cast some sort of spell on him? He eyed her suspiciously. He never tingled. He got hard. He wanted sex. But he never tingled.
“Whatever you’re doing, stop it,” he growled.
“Doing? I’m not doing anything,” she shot back. “You’re the one who touched me.”
“A mistake I won’t make again,” he said.
“Good. Glad to hear that. And no, my eyes aren’t a witch thing. I mean, yes, it’s true that several generations in my family have eyes like this, but so do humans.”
“Your grandmother doesn’t have eyes like that.”
“My mother did.”
“She’s dead,” he said.
Zoe took several steps back but kept her eyes on him. If looks could kill, hers would have reduced him to a pile of burnt ashes. She had some serious power locked up in that mild exterior. He wondered what it would take to make her lose control.
She jabbed her finger at his chest. “You’re not fit to talk about my mother.”
Even her finger jab made him tingle, and that angered the hell out of him. Who did she think she was, telling him he was unfit? “Why? Because I’m a vampire?”
“Because you’re arrogant and rude and mean.”
“Yeah, so?”
“Those are not good traits,” she told him.
“They are in a vampire.”
“Nick doesn’t seem to be like that,” she said.
“He’s already taken, so don’t think you can seduce him into your bed.”
Shaking her head, Zoe took several big steps even farther away from him. “That comment was completely inappropriate.”
She sounded so prim and proper that Damon was totally turned on. The Hunter in him responded to her retreat, making him want to give chase. The vampire in him responded to everything about her.
She wasn’t the first witch he’d ever come in contact with, so he couldn’t blame his reaction on that. No, there was something about her specifically that he was finding incredibly sexy.
“Are you trying to cast a spell right now?” he demanded suspiciously.
“No. I already told you I’ve given up the practice of witchcraft.”
“Witches lie,” he said.
“Perhaps some do. I don’t.” Her gaze turned thoughtful. “What made you think I was trying to cast a spell?”
“Nothing.” He wasn’t about to admit that she got to him.
But she seemed to know anyway. “Right.”
“Don’t look so smug, witch.”
“Don’t look so angry, vamp,” she instantly shot back.
Now Damon’s eyes were the ones that widened. No one ever spoke to him that way. He was feared on five continents. He’d escaped one of the levels of hell and had done more killing than he could keep track of.
Yet here she was, standing before him, refusing to back down. But she had shown fear when he’d talked about investigating her background. And she’d shown anger when he’d mentioned her mother. Those were both weaknesses that he was determined to check out. Because he wasn’t about to lose in a power struggle with a witch, no matter how sexy she was.
“So did you and Damon work things out?” Gram asked Zoe once they’d returned to their rental house.
“You mean Damon the Demon?” Zoe said.
“Don’t say that.” Gram looked around nervously. “Demons are not to be messed with.”
“They’re not real,” Zoe said.
“No? Vampires and witches are real. So are demons.”
“Have you ever met any? I don’t mean warlocks who are demon-mean. I mean a real demon.”
“I’ve heard about them and that was enough,” Gram said with a shiver. “How did we get on this horrible topic anyway?”
“You asked me about Damon.”
“He seems nice, right?”
“Nice?” Zoe stared at her grandmother in disbelief.
Gram grinned and elbowed her like an adolescent girl at a sleepover. “I think he likes you.”
“I think he wants to stuff me in a boiling cauldron or toss water on me like the witch in
“He certainly was watching you, that’s for sure,” Gram said.
“He dislikes me and all witches, that’s what’s sure.”
“Why would he dislike witches?”
Zoe shrugged. “He wouldn’t say.”
“I don’t understand. We told him we wouldn’t cause any trouble.”
“I know. And speaking of that, he had us investigated.”
Gram’s face paled.
“It’s okay.” Zoe gave her a reassuring hug. “Our coven back in Boston is bound by our laws not to reveal our secrets.”
“Right. If Damon knew the details, he’d have tossed us out immediately.”
“But he is suspicious, so we have to be very careful,” Zoe said.
“Certainly.”
“And that means not drawing attention to ourselves.”
“Unless it’s your Bella Luna products we are drawing attention to, right?” Gram said.
Zoe was proud of the online natural botanical beauty line she’d started. Her business was still in its up-and- coming stage, but a popular artisan soap blogger had said the Bella Luna soaps were among her favorites, which had resulted in a nice boost in sales.
“I do wish you’d let me amp up your products a little,” Gram said. “I could make the anti-wrinkle cream a real winner.”
“No magic.”
“Too late,” Gram admitted.
“What did you do?”
“I used an unpacking spell to get your work area all set up with your creams and things. The upstairs apartment is perfect for your business. It has its own kitchen for you to work out new mixtures and soap combos.”
“The soaps are the most popular items in our product line. I can hardly keep up with the demand,” Zoe said.
“If you’d let me help you by tweaking a few of your items then you could afford to hire someone to help you.
