“But he died and left me this house, so…I just need to get rid of it. I’ll give you a tip, if you didn’t hear me the first time. It’s a disaster.”
“I don’t think you’re supposed to be giving tips to the bidders,” I said. “Or do you say that to all the girls?”
He was checking me out from the crown of braids on my head to my well-worn hiking boots, and the long-sleeved black dress in between, the same way I checked him out. I think he shared the same opinion. He noted that I might be an attractive woman if I was cleaned up a bit. I wasn’t trying to impress anyone. I didn’t care if I looked old-fashioned and dowdy and was occasionally mistaken for a ghost when I was looking at these houses.
He was dressed to impress, on the other hand. I tried not to look too impressed, although his shoulders were very broad, and he had a good foot of height on me. I bet it felt nice to rest your head against his chest. I quickly jerked my eyes off him. What was I thinking here?
“I have some good memories of this garden,” he said. “My grandfather loved this spot. So I saw you checking it out, and—damn. You’re right. I told myself I wouldn’t get sentimental.” Now he waved a hand. “I don’t really want anything to do with this dump, but I wanted one more look at the garden.”
“Losing a grandparent has a way of doing that,” I said. “It’s okay.”
“Do you make much money doing this? Buying houses at auction? Surely it costs more to fix than the land is even worth. Who the hell would want to live out here?”
“You’d be surprised.”
“It has termites.”
“No.” I frowned. “What makes you think that?”
“It’s got—squishy floorboards.” He pulled some shades out of a pocket to look up at the grand facade of the house, as the morning sun was getting brighter.
“It could be carpenter ants,” I said. “They eat wood that is already rotting. Actually, they don’t eat wood at all. They just nest in it. It can be a big problem, but not on the same level as termites. Believe it or not, some people really like living in these old homes off the grid, away from civilization.” They’re called ‘wizards’. You don’t know your grandfather was one?
“You sound like you know your stuff.” The look on his face was obvious. I encountered it all the time. He had never met a woman who knew anything about home improvement in his life. And he was more intrigued by me now. In fact, he looked like he wanted to tame me. Show me who wielded the power tools in this world.
“You sound surprised.”
“Of course not. Women really do it all these days.”
“Yeah. We do. Thanks for noticing.”
“Maybe I deserved that one. You just don’t look like the people on TV.”
“Yeah, well, my dad can’t believe I’m doing this either,” I muttered. “And I don’t have hair and makeup people following me around. But I’m good at it. Damn good.”
“That’s great,” he said, but I swear he was still being condescending.
Or maybe I was just defensive. I didn’t make much money on this. At all.
In fact, so far I’d been lucky that I was often able to turn some magical artifacts left behind in the houses for side profit. I was just one woman, and I couldn’t do as much on my own as Kiersten and Caleb or Jake and Jasper. But the one advantage I had? I was the best witch. I could tell when a house had something special.
I looked at the house again and barely suppressed a sigh. I kept getting too attached. I vowed right then and there not to get emotional about this auction. This overly polished gentleman was right. This house wasn’t worth more than twenty thousand dollars. It would easily cost a hundred grand just to get this place up to a very basic standard for an adventurous wizarding couple.
“Thanks for the inside dirt,” I said. “Maybe you’ll save me from making a mistake.”
“Sure.” He gave me a brief smile, his eyes lingering a little longer like he was still checking me out. Giving me not just a once over, but a twice over. “Do you want to go grab coffee after this?” he asked. “I feel bad that you drove all the way out to this no-man’s-land just to find out the place isn’t worth anything. I could tell you a few ghost stories.”
Oh. That escalated. I didn’t expect it at all. Someone was…hitting on me?
A human?
Ever since my family disowned me because I wouldn’t agree to marry some pampered warlock ass, no one had asked me on a single date. I had actually been enjoying the anonymity. Avoiding men and all the trouble they brought with them.
Still, once in a while I looked in the mirror and wondered if I was unworthy of notice these days. I used to have a closet of gowns for balls and parties. I even owned a damn tiara like I was going to meet the Queen of England. My mom shoved all of me and my sisters into that role. Now I had run away in the completely opposite direction, spending half my time covered in century-old plaster dust and old house grime, living in a beat up truck when I didn’t have some house to sleep in.
He was giving my ego a little boost that had nothing to do with the glitz and false politeness of the elite wizarding world.
“Just coffee,” I said. “Nothing else. I’m a very busy girl.”
“I didn’t come to brood over my final memories of my grandfather just to pick up girls at the same time,” he said.
