Samhain Publishing Ltd, Ebooks and Books in Print

Say You’re Mine

Violet Calder needed a drink.

Days off were meant to be spent away from work. Her family didn’t seem to understand the concept seeing as not one, but all four of her siblings had called about one case or another the firm was working on. Everyone except Finn. He’d called to see if she could pick up something from the dry cleaners for him since she had the day off and “nothing better to do”. He was smart enough not to call back when she’d hung up on him.

Regardless of having a very rare Friday off, here she stood in her office going over details needed for an unexpected hearing Monday morning that involved a client from one of their cases. She was used to those last minute calls, had come to expect them working for her family’s private investigative firm, but tonight she had plans. Fearing that her oldest, non-detail oriented sister might have missed something in the file, Violet had changed into her evening clothes before heading into the office. As soon as she wrapped this up she planned to meet up with her best friend, Leslie, for a few drinks and a late dinner.

Perched on the edge of her chair, Violet flipped through the file.

A body materialized on her desk.

Violet shoved back from the desk, her heart firmly lodged in her throat. “Jesus Christ, Tate.” She glared at her cousin.

Dressed in pale blue lingerie with a see-through wrap, her long lithe body stretched out on Violet’s desk, Tate Calder frowned. “What the hell?” Confusion dawned on her face as she glanced around. “This isn’t Greg’s place.”

“No kidding.” Violet crossed her arms. “You’re still sick, aren’t you?”

Tate chewed thoughtfully on her bottom lip. “I thought I was fine.” On a sigh she pushed herself to a sitting position.

“You should know better.” It was common sense to any witch or warlock not to screw around with magic when they weren’t feeling one hundred percent. Things always had a tendency to go wrong.

Violet gestured to her desk. “You can get down anytime.”

“Right.” Tate gave her a half smile and slid off her desk. Taking note of Violet’s dress, her eyes widened. “Wow. Where are you headed?”

“Just for drinks.”

“Trolling for men with the man-eater?”

Violet laughed. “Yeah.” Her family had labeled Leslie “the man-eater” since she went through a new guy, sometimes two, a week.

Tate grinned. “Have fun.”

“Wait a second. You’re not going to try teleporting again, are you?”

“I’m not about to go out and catch a cab dressed like this. See you Monday.” In a blink Tate vanished, leaving Violet to marvel over her cousin’s ability to travel in such a way. Teleporting small objects often left Violet weakened. She didn’t know how Tate so easily transported herself around the city on a regular basis. Although that particular ability did make Tate very good at those jobs that entailed getting in and out of places quickly without drawing much attention.

Violet glanced at the clock on her desk. Still plenty of time. Snatching the file off her desk, she headed down the hall toward her sister’s office. She didn’t know how Darby handled sharing the CEO duties and being the figurehead for the firm their dad and uncle had founded. Representing the company was more than Violet could have managed. She was perfectly content with her job as client liaison. Given the rough-around-the-edges personalities of some of her siblings, she understood that clients sometimes needed a go-between.

“Ms. Calder?”

Violet paused and crossed the polished marble floor to the receptionist’s desk.

Their temp, one Finn hopefully hadn’t seduced yet, tipped her dark head to the side. “Everyone else is gone for the night or busy, and there is a really upset woman in the waiting area.”

“Did she say anything?” Violet took a step back and peeked through the frosted glass doors, but couldn’t see anyone inside.

“Something about a lost dog.”

It wouldn’t be the first time they’d been hired to track down a pet, but it was usually the eccentric wealthy types with money to burn. “I’ll take care of it.” Violet handed the temp the file she carried. “Make sure Darby gets this tonight. She’s expecting it.”

“Of course.”

“Evening, Ms. Calder.”

Violet tensed at the deep, unmistakable voice directly behind her. She slowly turned around, all too conscious of the thinning air in the room. “Good evening, Detective.”

Short, dark brown hair, a five o’clock shadow that suited him entirely too much, and bottomless brown eyes that sucked you right in when they weren’t slicing a person in two, all combined to make a package Leslie liked to refer to as “sex on a stick”. There was only one problem with him.

He was a serious pain in the ass.

“Your brother around?”

Violet crossed her arms. It helped to fill up the space between them. Detective Reece Prescott had a habit of standing much too close. She figured it was an intimidation tactic. Having grown up with two overbearing older brothers, not to mention her three cousins, few men intimidated her. Unfortunately, Reece seemed to be in the minority. “Which one?”

“Dante.”

“Why do you need to speak with him? Or are you just planning on harassing him?”

Reece broke his usual stoic mask with a frown. “He hit me first.”

Biting the inside of her cheek, Violet shrugged. Why he always got his boxers in a bunch whenever she mentioned that, she’d never know. “Well, as much as I hate to disappoint you, Detective, he’s already gone for the night.”

He surveyed the lobby as though he didn’t believe her, and finally nodded. “Let him know I was looking for him.”

“Sure.”

He continued to stare at her.

“Was there something else?”

Instead of turning away, he took a step closer. His gaze tunneled into hers, warm and slow. “You don’t like me much, do you Ms. Calder?”

“I don’t dislike you, Detective.”

For a moment she could have sworn his eyes paused on her mouth.

“It’s Reece.” Without another word, he strode away.

But that didn’t stop her heart from continuing to thump against her ribs. She stared after him, wondering if she would’ve had enough guts to ask him out for a beer if he wasn’t a cop and she wasn’t a witch.

Call Me Cupid

His gaze tunneled through the surrounding crowd, and when those intense blue eyes finally landed on her, she couldn’t suck in a deep enough breath of air.

AJ whirled around as though she hadn’t felt the weight of his stare and searched for her sister. From the corner of her eye she saw him maneuver through the laughing and chatting bodies to get to her.

She tipped back the wine glass and downed the remaining contents.

You’re over him. So cool it.

Her hand trembled as she set the empty glass down on the closest table.

Yeah, that worked real well, she thought wryly.

She tried and failed to force herself to look at him as he approached. AJ closed her eyes and stole another quick breath. She squared her shoulders and turned to face him, making certain the polite smile she managed to pull together couldn’t be interpreted as anything but sincere.

Forget that she was shaking inside. Badly.

The slow smile that curved his mouth, transforming his face from hard-ass police officer into something much softer—sexier—made her stomach tug.

“Hi,” he said slowly.

AJ swallowed. “Mom said you were coming to the wedding.”

His grin widened. “She said you were okay with it.”

“I am.”

He crossed his arms, the gesture instantly getting her back up. “I’m fine with it,” she repeated, her voice purposely cooler.

She could do this, be polite, friendly. They’d done it a number of times since their break up almost three years ago.

So why was this time so different?

Because you’re marrying someone else tomorrow.

“How’ve you been?” AJ waved over his shoulder as her aunt left the party, probably for the night.

“Good. What about you?”

“Good. Busy.”

“I’ll bet.” He drawled it out, shoving his hands in his pockets.

An awkward silence settled between them.

“I figured you would’ve had a big case on the go.” He always did. Always had.

Cooper shook his head, his gaze dipping to her mouth and holding there.

Heat rushed through her veins, then promptly fizzled out as she remembered all the nights he’d left her home alone, each case increasingly more important than the last, until there hadn’t been enough room for her in his life. Not when he ate, slept and breathed the job.

She had finally wised up and realized she couldn’t live like that. Couldn’t settle for second place every damn time.

Cooper nodded towards the terrace doors. “Can we talk?”

“Isn’t that what we’re doing now?”

“Alone.”

She shook her head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

An expression she couldn’t decipher crossed his face and he took a step back. “Maybe I should go.”

Damn, now she felt guilty. They were still friends, sort of. She reached out and grabbed his arm, keeping him from turning to leave. His gaze dropped to the fingers she curled around his shirt, then up to her face.

She immediately let go. “Stay. Dad loves talking to you. I heard him complaining that you hadn’t stopped by long enough to watch a hockey game with him lately.”

Cooper smiled and her stomach did that predictable flip thing again.

“There you are.”

A smile came instantly to her lips at the sound of Kirk’s voice. And with it, a feeling that should have been anything but relief eased her rigid spine.

Kirk slipped an arm around her waist and held out a hand. “I’m Kirk.”

Cooper didn’t hesitate on the handshake. “I’m the ex.”

“Ah, I see.” The grip on AJ’s waist tightened. “I didn’t know you were coming.” Kirk shot AJ a glance that fell just short of annoyed.

Cooper nodded over his shoulder. “It was AJ’s parents who talked her into inviting me. She didn’t know I was actually going to show.”

“I see,” Kirk said again.

AJ frowned up at him, surprised at the distaste in Kirk’s voice. He wasn’t normally so clipped with anyone. That had been one of the thing’s she’d always appreciated about him. He wasn’t the overly passionate type, but reliable, steady. Everything she needed. Looking at Cooper, it almost felt childish to admit—even to herself—she’d found those characteristics so appealing in Kirk because they were the opposite of her ex.

“I’m going to go say hi to your parents.” Cooper ignored Kirk’s jealous tone and walked away.

“You should have told me he was coming.”

“Mom just mentioned it this morning.” AJ reached out and straightened Kirk’s tie. “Where did you disappear to?”

Kirk blinked. “Just last minute wedding stuff.”

AJ laughed. “Last time I checked, everything had been left to me.”

“Not quite everything.” Distracted Kirk glanced around the room, his attention pausing on Cooper and the blonde standing next to him at the bar. AJ recognized her from Kirk’s office.

“I’m going to go mingle.” He kissed her forehead and headed over to a small group that consisted of his brother and parents.

The rest of the day started to catch up to her. The running around, the things she still had to look after in the morning, the fact that her husband-to-be and her ex—whose gaze she could feel boring into her—were sharing the same space.

Where was her sister? Taking so much after their mother, Melody never failed to give her a hundred different things to ponder at once. And right now she wanted to think about anything but the fact that Cooper had come.

A few more relatives sidled up, exchanged a few words, and departed. It couldn’t have been more than a few minutes of distraction, but when she scanned the room, she didn’t see Cooper. Both relieved and…

She shook her head. No way was she going there tonight.

Spotting the terrace doors, she decided a little air and a peek at the gardens where she’d be married tomorrow might be exactly what she needed to settle herself down. The soft February breeze caressed her face, unseasonably warm for this time of year. AJ crossed to the wrought iron railing and looked out over the illuminated gardens.

“Nice night.”

AJ whirled at the voice that came from the shadows to the left. Her breath trembled out as Cooper stepped forward and came to stand next to her. She had to tip her face back to see his face, his expression masked by the dim lighting. He stared at her for a long moment, his gaze inspecting every angle.

He glanced out at the gardens. “Does he make you happy?”

“Yes.”

Cooper nodded thoughtfully. “I’m glad.”

Music drifted from the opened window behind them.

He reached out, gripping her waist and drawing her close, moving to the slow sway of the beat.

AJ tensed, her palm flat on his chest. “What are you doing?” And just where had her voice gone too?

The smile he offered in response took her back to the day they met when he hit on her at a friend’s place. “Dancing.”

She tried to squirm free. Unsuccessfully.

“Come on,” he pleaded. “One last dance before you’re a married woman.”

The warm pressure of his arms holding her tight battered away at her resistance. “One dance.”

He beamed, and she glanced away, focusing on anything but his handsome face.

For a full minute they managed to simply…dance. She felt him watching her.

“Do you ever think, ever wonder what things would have been like if we…if things hadn’t ended the way they had?”

The regret she heard in his voice brought her head up. Big mistake.

Now she was looking directing into his eyes. Eyes that melted into hers countless nights as they talked, laughed, made love. When she realized she was staring at his mouth, she stepped out of his arms.

“That was a long time ago.”

“Not to me.”