100% That Witch - Celia Kyle Page 0,2

his usual shirtless state, just shrugged.

“Just another day at the office. Come on.”

Tiffany paid casual attention to whatever pleasantries they were exchanging in the kitchen, purely for the sake of gossiping with Kelly later. Nero was about as opposite from Ryan as a guy could get, though he was sexy in his own way. She couldn’t catch any hint of chemistry between them, but any bit of gossip was good gossip, as far as Kelly was concerned.

When the doorbell rang, Tiffany nearly jumped out of her skin. People were starting to arrive and one of them would be Rhys. Prancing to the door, she took a second to check her makeup in the mirror in the entryway—she’d gone heavy on the kohl eyeliner and light on the bronzer—then squared herself and pulled the door wide. All four of the Rhonelle brothers stood at the threshold, Rhys’s lean frame towering over the others.

Hearts immediately exploded in her eyes... and then floated out of them like bubbles, popping in front of Rhys’s bemused face. Tiffany blinked hard in an effort to control her crazy powers and not make a total ass out of herself—at least not so early in the festivities.

“Welcome,” she said a little too formally. “Please come in.”

Smirking at each other, they filed past her, easily making themselves at home. There was an almost careless disregard for their sister’s carefully arranged seating chart, and Tiffany rocketed in among them to make sure her spot next to the lean necromancer was secure.

“All right,” Kelly said, peering into the room from the stairs. “Now it’s starting to look like a party!”

Ronun hung behind her, regarding his love with a wide, indulgent smile. They swept in and pleasantries were exchanged, but all talk came to a grinding halt when the vampire with the man bun emerged with Nathan from the kitchen.

“Well, well, well,” Kelly said with a sideways smile. “So this is your mystery man. Old Nate over here has been keeping you a big secret.”

Nero looked momentarily taken aback and turned to look at the bare-chested man loitering behind him.

“What can I say?” Nathan said lazily, sipping on his beer. “You didn’t ask.”

Around the dinner table, everyone buzzed with conversation. Well, everyone except Ryan, who sat staring at his plate beside Onyx and darting the occasional venomous look at the hulking interloper.

“So, you’re a professor?” Lock asked as he treated himself to a forkful of potatoes.

“Freshly appointed,” Nero said with an easy charm. “They added me to the horticultural studies department for the new semester.”

“Seems like a good fit,” Duval said, wryly gesturing toward Nero’s beard with his butter knife. A good-natured laugh rippled over the table, only to be cut short by Ryan muttering bitterly.

“I’m sure it’s not the only thing that fits.”

Nathan scowled across the table, but Dane quickly swooped things back into lighter territory. At least, that’s what Tiffany vaguely assumed because everyone laughed at whatever he’d said. For her part, she was too caught up with her proximity to Rhys to worry too much about anything else.

She’d spent the better part of the meal trying to contrive ways to nudge her leg close to his. Every time she managed a successful brush, some new adorable woodland creature sprang to life and bustled around under the table—sometimes on it. It wasn’t exactly subtle, but then subtlety had never really been her strong suit.

“Do these things come in any other color besides pink?” Rhys asked.

As he lifted the one sitting prettily in the middle of his dinner plate and gently set it on the floor, Tiffany’s heart fluttered and another little pink bunny came bounding into the room.

“I sure hope not,” Nero said with a huge grin, scooping one up to scratch it under the chin. He took a stem of broccoli from the serving platter near him and began feeding the adorable bunny nestled on his lap.

A big man cuddling a tiny critter was just about the cutest thing in the world. He seemed to sense her watching him because he glanced up at her and smiled.

“So Nathan tells me you’re a vegetarian vampire or something,” Kelly said as she tucked into her slice of roast. “What’s that all about?”

He grabbed another piece of broccoli for the bunny. “Not exactly. Given how I lived before I was turned, I do what I can to practice ethical feeding.”

“At least something about you is ethical,” Ryan muttered, making sure to help himself to a generous serving of meat.

“What exactly does that