the experience of being pursued by someone as desirable as Keir Culain. The fact that he could become a mythic being at will wasn’t as strange and difficult to accept as I would’ve thought just a week ago.
“I like you, Keir. I don’t need to tell you that you’re ridiculously appealing because you already know that. But if you really work for the magistrate, what you’re suggesting would be risky. We could be creating some irrevocable problems just by behaving like we aren’t mature.” He sighed deeply and looked away. “Let’s get to know each other as friends. Explore our compatibility before diving headlong into something that would be awkward to the max if it didn’t work out. How does that sound?”
“It’s not my first choice.” I smiled as I reached up and pulled a lock of his silky hair through my fingers. “We’ll have suppers at the pub?”
“I can’t promise every night.” Truthfully there was no reason why not except that a girl can’t be that easy.
“When you can.”
“Perfect.”
“Most nights.”
I laughed. “You get points for persistence.” I looked in the direction of the car, suddenly wanting my Mundie shoes. “I’d better start back.”
“I can make dinner.”
“Thank you. I’ll grab something at home. Journals to read.” That’s when it hit me. “You’re the sephalian.”
“I am.”
“I’d never heard it before. Not outside the journals. That’s you in the big stained-glass window.”
“Humans call me a gryphonic shifter. Sometimes chimera of sorts. Yes. That’s me.“
There was a question in my throat struggling to get out while I tried to exercise enough self-discipline to suppress it. I failed. I had to ask again. “Why me?”
He lowered his chin and stared into my eyes. “You mean why do I find myself thinking about you throughout the day?”
“Well, I didn’t know that, but sure. Let’s start with that.”
He cocked his head. “The bugger you married must’ve been a horror to your self-image if you don’t know. Rita, you’re everything a male could want. Beautiful. Smart. Funny. Gracious. Kind. I like your voice. And I love your laugh. I hear it in my dreams.”
Wow.
I was near speechless, again, not because my voice had frozen, but because my brain had frozen. In less than a minute Keir Culain had given me more reason to feel attractive than over two decades combined with my soon-to-be ex. My sensuality was responding by blooming to life. Stay for ‘dinner’. Stay for ‘dinner’. Stay for ‘dinner’.
“I can’t deny the part of you that will remain human is like a magnet.” I wasn’t expecting that. “Fae live a long time and can usually have what we want. That’s fertile ground for boredom. The self-awareness that you’re not here forever, that time is limited, it creates an urgency to everything you do. It’s like sparks are shooting off all around you all the time, the sense of urgency, the desire to really live while you can.”
Keir had a way of rendering me speechless. He made it sound like mortality was the better way to go. So much for all the people who’d died looking for the Fountain of Youth.
Bringing to bear self-control that was extraordinary for me, I said, “Thank you for tea, the tour, and for showing me... everything. It’s a day I won’t forget.”
“If you ever need me, I can change forms and be at your house in seconds.”
I turned back. “Seconds?”
He grinned. “I can fly really fast when I want to.”
“Oh.” I let that sink in as I neared Romeo. “Thank you. That’s good to know.” I hesitated as I started to get into the car. “Where’s your phone?” He pulled it from his pocket and held it up. “Where does your phone go when you change into your, um, other form?”
He smiled and shook his head. “It waits with my clothes until I want it again.”
Of course, questions came to mind, but that sounded like an in-depth interview for another time. So, I settled on, “Good night.”
After Brad passed on, and I use the human phrase because there’s no magic-kind equivalent, his nephew moved into his house and took over the shop. I liked the kid very much and he liked me. He even gave me a ‘rapper name’, Just Ice.
I said, “Why? You find me cold?”
“No.” He smirked. “Don’t you get it? Just Ice? Justice?”
Braden became a regular at my luncheons. He was beyond charming. He was entertaining.
The days began to take on a routine. My mornings were occupied with social media including email and walking with Lochlan while