It had been an amazing feeling walking in and seeing them on the walls. I’d been giddy with excitement. When the secretary spotted me on the second visit and asked if I wanted the artist’s information, I stopped going, realizing how strange it probably seemed to stalk my own artwork.
“I know this florist shop. I’ve walked past it myself a few times. There’s a café beside it. Emanuel’s Bistro. They serve sandwiches, soups, salads, coffee, and tea. The place has a great ambiance to it,” Damon insisted. He stood to his full height and unrolled the sleeves of his white button-down. He redid his cuffs and then tucked his shirt back in, making himself look perfectly poised again. “Looks like we’re heading out for an evening cup of coffee, Miss Mathers, while we wait for my mystery woman to arrive.”
I didn’t argue with him. Instead, I closed his laptop and set it on the coffee table before standing and making my way to the door. The faster we found this woman, the quicker I could go home.
Home?
When had Gem Creek become home again? This city has been my home for over a year, and yet somehow, it suddenly felt foreign.
Nash.
I knew Gem Creek feeling like home again had everything to do with him and the past hurt we’d worked through. Nash was my home. He always had been.
Emanuel’s Bistro was busy when we arrived with two of Damon’s guards watching my every move. I listened to the young guy dressed in jeans and a beanie play his guitar and sing on the small corner stage, ignoring being their center of attention. The song was one I’d never heard before. I kept my eyes glued to the windows at the front of the café in the hopes that the red-haired woman I’d painted would walk by.
“What would you like, Miss Mathers?” Damon asked, sounding like a true gentleman.
“Green tea.” I purposely left off the please Gran had always taught me to say because I didn’t owe him any manners.
“Are you sure? No coffee or cappuccino?” Damon asked.
I shook my head. “Just green tea.”
My nerves were too frazzled for a large caffeine hit. It would amp up my anxiety too much.
“As you wish,” Damon said, flashing me a grin and a wink. Two girls at the table near us melted at his charming smile, but I rolled my eyes. Clearly, they couldn’t see the snake that he truly was.
No pun intended.
I shifted my gaze back to the window, searching for the red-haired woman. She didn’t seem to be anywhere in sight.
When it was our turn to place an order with the barista, Damon ordered my green tea and then a black coffee for himself. It didn’t take us long to get our order, and then I steered him to a table up against the front windows with a great view of the street, but also the florist next door. His goonies found a table nearby.
“I take it there hasn’t been any sign of her yet,” Damon said. He placed my cell on the table next to his coffee, and then popped the lid off of his cup so he could blow on its contents.
“Not yet.” I made sure my voice held confidence.
The last thing I wanted was for him to know I was fearful we wouldn’t be able to find this woman tonight. In the image I’d painted, there was sunlight on her, which I knew meant she would either show up in the next few minutes or not until another day.
I swallowed hard, not wanting to think about it. My bear growled and snapped at me. She was just as irritated as I was with my gift and its inability to be predictable with its timing.
“When you do, I will gladly give your cell phone back so you can make a call home,” Damon insisted.
“How kind of you,” I snapped without meaning to.
I took a sip from my tea and glanced around. The sun had set further behind the buildings of the street. It was growing darker out because of it, which meant that time was running out. If this woman didn’t show up in the next few minutes, there was no way we would find her today.
Damn it.
I needed an alternate plan because when this woman didn’t show tonight, Damon wasn’t going to be happy and I wasn’t planning on staying here overnight. Gran needed me. Her health was deteriorating fast, and I needed to be at her side. Not stuck in Denton, helping Damon hunt his Mystic in the city.
“Don’t,” Damon insisted in a firm, low tone, drawing my attention to him. When our eyes locked, his pupils elongated like the reptilian creature residing inside him. “Snakes are fast. We can strike quickly. Don’t forget that, Miss Mathers,” he said before taking a sip from his coffee, his eyes already returning to normal. Nothing about his expression would suggest to an onlooker that he’d just threatened me. He was scary good. I imagined it came with his line of work.
I leaned back in my chair and continued to sip my tea while staring out the windows.
And then there she was.
She carried a bag of something in one hand. Groceries maybe? And just like in my picture, she wore a purple shirt. When she paused at the flowers to smell them before passing by, I noticed the way the sun glinted off her red hair, making it brighter like in my painting.
“Damon, look. There she is,” I said, leaning forward until the edge of the bistro table dug into my stomach. “She’s right there, smelling the flowers.”
Damon swung around, and I knew the instant his eyes landed on her because I could hear his breath leave his lungs with a hiss. He stood swiftly and grabbed his coffee, but also my cell. Hope bloomed through me as I thought he would hand it to me, but instead, he made his way to the door.
“Damon, wait! We had a
