Despite the fact my grandmother had always been negotiating the McLane curse, she’d still used her powers for good. Her effect on Detective Coulson and his obvious respect for her was evidence enough she’d made a difference in this town.
Though my stomach clenched at the thought of following in her footsteps, I now had more than enough courage to push that tight, uncomfortable sensation away.
I shrugged. “Well, as soon as Max finishes making pancakes, with extra sauce,” I said pointedly, “I think I might call Detective Coulson.”
Silence met that statement. It kind of felt like it was a hesitant silence as if everyone were giving me the opportunity to change my mind.
I wouldn’t change my mind. “I think it will take me a while to completely settle into my new subtle powers, but I’ll have great help, ha?” I flicked my gaze between Sarah and Bridgette.
Both of them smiled supportively.
“I’ll never be able to see the full future again,” my voice dipped down low, “but I still think I’ll be of some help.”
A massive grin spread across Bridgette’s face as she leaned in and patted a hand softly on the table. “A little help, Chi? Come on, we both know you’re gonna clean the city up in days.”
I shared a laugh with her.
Then?
Max finished the pancakes.
He set them before us, and we ate, the conversation quickly shifting to other topics.
Though Max engaged in conversation, every now and then, I felt his gaze lock on the side of my face. It felt warm, reassuring, and pleasantly expectant. Was Max, just like me, waiting until we were alone?
I soon got my answer.
Once we were finished, Bridgette and Sarah excused themselves.
Max waited until the front door closed before he turned to face me.
Though my stomach knotted with all sorts of confusing nerves, I turned around in the chair, locked a hand over the back, placed a palm flat on the table, swallowed, and faced him.
Silence. It spread between us, and I swear it was magical. Or at least, something was magical. Because the nerves and excitement kept building and building in my stomach until it felt as if I’d swallowed magical flame.
Max was obviously waiting for me to make the first move.
So I did.
I pushed up, took a step toward him, then another, then stopped. “You’re alive,” I said, and as comments went, it was about as obvious as they came.
A soft smile spread across his lips as he managed a nod. “So are you,” he added in a husky voice that sent thrills tumbling through my gut.
The nerves finally climbed high through my chest and reached my lips, pressing them into a wild grin. “It was touch and go there for a while. But I had a good bodyguard.”
He wouldn’t break eye contact with me. And it was so freaking intense that I swore his gaze was like two hands cradling me.
I pressed my lips together and tapped my fingers on my thigh. “So….”
“What happens now?” he asked in that same raspy voice.
My gaze had dropped to the floor, but slowly, as if I were climbing a ladder, I let it sweep up him until it locked on his eyes. “Yeah,” my voice dropped down low and shivered with a raspy tone of my own, “what happens now?”
“That’s up to you, Chi McLane.”
“Don’t you want… time? Time to figure out who you are without the shadow of McCain?”
Max looked serious as he considered my question. “I’ve had all the time in the world, Chi. Centuries upon centuries. I know who I am. And now I’m finally free of his influence, that doesn’t change what I want.”
Want, ha?
I’m sure I don’t have to tell you what that single word did to me. Hello, explosions, flames, electric shocks, you name it.
I swore my grin became stupid as it crumpled my lips and wobbled my chin.
Again, we slipped into silence, and again, there was an expectant edge to it. It was clear he was waiting for me to make the next move.
Maybe the old me would have hesitated.
The new me?
Why, she knew the secret to a good future was making it.
So she pressed forward, locked a hand on Max’s accommodating chest, leaned up, and kissed him.
It wasn’t the most passionate kiss in the world. We’d already had that the first time we locked lips. Instead, it was the warmest, gentlest, most loving experience of my life. It honestly felt as if a door was opening up, leading toward my perfect future.
This time there were no fireflies, this time the dark side of my magic wasn’t beckoning to me, willing me to lose control.
It was the exact opposite. Opportunity, pure and simple, spread between us as our warm lips locked together.
I had no idea if I was cut out for this world, no idea if I would make a good magical consultant to the police force.
But I’d give it a try.
And with Max at my side, though it sounded sappy, I imagined there was nothing I couldn’t do.
The end of a Lying Witch Book Four.
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Other fantasies by Odette C. Bell
The Odette C. Bell Fantasy Bundle
Agent of Light
A Lying Witch
Angel: Private Eye
Anna’s Hope
Gladys the Guard
Magical Influence
Modern Goddess: Trapped by Thor
The Frozen Witch
The Enchanted Writes
The Captain’s Witch
The Witch and the Commander
Witch’s Bell
If you liked the A Lying Witch Series, you may also like The Enchanted Writes. Read on for an excerpt from the first book.
The Enchanted Writes
It took Henrietta far too long to open her eyes that morning.
