By the time she was done, the dumpster was spotless, and I was ginning like a loon. There I’d been doing everything by hand when all I needed was my friends.

  “How come friend can do magic?” Petyr asked from right beside me.

  Huh. Where’d he come from?”

  “Oh, that’s cause the personal gain foul only happens when you use magic selfishly. Donny is helping Bella out, so all is good,” Evie explained with a small smile.

  “Da, makes sense. I found this by the dumpster, my witchy.”

  Petyr held up an empty can of tuna and what looked like a pile of old scratch offs. Why was someone playing the lottery and eating canned fish by my dumpster?

  Something really freaking strange was going on in Castor’s Corner. I frowned, tapping my finger to my chin when suddenly Evie’s stomach growled, and her cheeks turned bright pink.

  “Let’s go inside. It’s almost time for me to start my day anyway, and I’ll make you all some fresh donuts.”

  “Thank gawd!” Donny moaned, and Evie clapped.

  We waved at the boys, knowing full well they heard us and would be inside when they finished investigating.

  Our familiars joined us, and in less than twenty minutes, I was pulling out the first batch of fried goodness. Leaving them to cool and get rid of excess oil, I gathered the flavors of the day from the large walk-in fridge and pantry and laid them out.

  “Ooh, what are you making today, Bella?” Evie asked, rubbing her tummy.

  I had a sneaking suspicion my bestie was hiding something and exchanged a look with Donny. The newly blonde witch shrugged her shoulders, and I wondered if Evie was even aware of her actions just yet.

  “You’ll see,” I told her, stopping once to flip the donuts before returning to get all the toppings ready.

  Donny was on tea duty, and Evie was waiting with her hands firmly together and her eyes riveted on the varieties of toppings and fillings I had on the counter. I’d chosen the ingredients for my spectacular Hazelnut Chocolate Heaven, Candied Apple Pie, Bananas Foster—yes, I used a dash of my new extract, and half a dozen other flavors, including Lemon Meringue Logs.

  “Ooh, can I make a special request?” Evie asked as the boys walked in.

  “Sure,” I replied, taking the next batch out and plopping more batter in.

  I knew exactly how much those boys could eat. Shifter appetites were even bigger than witches and warlocks, and that was saying something. Thank goodness. I mean, with all the supes in town, those famously large appetites sure kept me in Crocs!

  “I want maple frosting with some of that spinach stuffing you have for your savory croissants, with bacon crumbles on top… and jalapenos… and candied apple sprinkles… oh, and peanut butter!”

  By the time she was done, everyone looked positively green. Even Jax who appeared to be trying not to dry heave. I pursed my lips, wiggled my fingers, and the extra ingredients she’d requested appeared in one grotesque whipped concoction inside a piping bag.

  “Evie,” Donny began, as I pinched my nose, lifted the bag, and started stuffing a few donuts with the gunk.

  Petyr came by and slapped a sticker—a skull and crossbones—on the bag, and I high-fived the little dude. Smart.

  “You really going to eat this?” I asked, sliding the finished travesty of fried goodness over to her.

  “Hell yeah, I am.”

  “Jaxson? Oh, Jaxson?”

  “Yes, Bella?” the big bad wolf asked.

  “I think you better have a talk with my friend and cousin very soon. Don’t you?” I asked in a singsong voice.

  Donny was laughing her ass off while Ryan was doing his best not to chuckle, He kissed his mate goodbye, grabbed a half dozen plain cinnamon sugar donuts for the ride back to the station and told me he’d return within the hour to start his shift.

  “You know these are amazing, right?” Conrad asked.

  Sexy man stole my attention while he gobbled two huge Lemon Meringue Logs, and I was totally unprepared for Evie to climb over the counter. She stole the pastry bag with her special filling inside and started slurping the whole thing down.

  A pretty gnarly wrestling match developed between the two and I had to work to keep my shit together, else I might have had an accident with some frosting and sprinkles. Good thing Jaxson was there to referee, only the big guy could not seem to get near his mate while she was snarfing down the goopy gunk mix I’d made at her request.

  That is so not pretty.

  “Ohmygawd, Evie! No!” Donny wailed, but nothing could stop her.

  Evie was a witch on a mission, and that mission involved sucking that pastry bag dry.

  Lucky Jaxson. Eww. TMI!

  I shook my head and sipped my cup of tea, sharing the last Bananas Foster donut with my, um, well, I guess he was my boyfriend.

  “Damn straight, I’m your boyfriend,” Conrad growl-hissed against my lips, licking a smidge of cream I accidentally got on my face.

  Excitement zipped through my body, and magic flowed through me. Happy as always to be near him. I took another bite, and this time I felt the cream smear across my face. Giggles erupted as Conrad took my face in his big, gentle hands and kissed me clean.

  I must look so damn silly.

  “Not to me, beautiful Bella. You look perfect, sweet witch.”

  “Are you reading my mind?” I shouted.

  Zap.

  A mini mountain of hardtack shot from my agitated fingertips. I had no time for this. I kicked the mound of crackers and turned on the man whose head had been buried between my thick thighs for the better part of an hour that same night.

  Donny, Jaxson, and Evie all stopped what they were doing and stared as I poked my finger into Conrad’s chest. I knew what that meant and no way! We had a deal.

  “I told you, no mating! We are going out. Keeping it light. That was the deal!”

  “I can’t help it, Bella. You’re mine! Now I am trying to go slow for your sake, but the bond is already there. Surely, you can see it. You have to know how I feel about you,” he answered back.

  The worry and trepidation in his stare hit me like a bucket of cold water. I could not do this. I was barely able to take care of my own feelings, never mind another person’s.

  What happened when he decided I was not enough? When he admitted he wanted to change me? I’d never had anyone love me for who I was except for family and my girls. Truth was, no man had ever looked at me the way he did, and I had no idea what to do with that.

  “That’s it. I need you to leave.”

  “Please, Bella, just hear me out.”

  “I can’t right now. Just go,” I replied, and turned my back on him.

  “Come on, bro. Let’s give them some time,” Jaxson muttered, and I heard rather than saw him and Conrad leave.

  The second he was gone, it was like a piece of my soul had been ripped from my body. I collapsed on one of the stools behind the counter and wept freely.

  Joint sniffles and arms—one smelling surprisingly not-sickeningly like spinach and peanut butter—wrapped around me, and the three of us had a good, long cry.

  “Why my witchy cries? I will destroy Shifter who did this!” Petyr vowed a few moments later.

  I noticed he’d already stuffed a handful of hardtack into his mouth. How he stomached the stuff, I did not know. But I was glad. It made cleanup a lot easier.

  “What?”

  I sniffed and sat up, shrugging Evie and Donny off. But it was too late, Petyr was gone.

  “Uh oh,” Donny murmured, wiping her eyes. “I better tell Ryan to let Conrad know.”

  “Don’t let that snake know anything!” I shouted, but I had no idea what she was talking about.

  “Honey, your Domovyk is going to try to cut his ball sack off. Now, I know you are mad at him, but trust me, you want that ball sack right where it is,” she said wisely.

  “You’re right. Call him.”

  “Honey?” Evie began. “Can you tell us what just happened? We thought you’d gotten off to maybe a rocky start, but why are you fighting with your mate?”

  “Will everyone please stop saying that? He is not my mate!”

  Donny and Evie exchanged shocked looks. Their brows raised and lips pursed together. Then those two heifers started roaring with laughter.

  “What is so funny?” I demanded.

  “Oh, honey, of course he is your mate. That very first night, I saw the two of you and I know you felt it too. Hell, me and Jaxson did too. I was just fighting it. But I thought you were smarter than me, Bella.”

  “You think I’m smarter than you?” I asked, stunned.

  I was a lot of things. Blonde, bubbly, talented at baking—but I was not very bookish and would certainly not consider myself brainy. Don’t get me wrong. I wasn’t like mouth-breather dumb, but I did not have Evie’s brains.

  “When it comes to a lot of things, actually,” she told me.

  “Seriously, Bella. I thought you and Conrad had hooked up months ago,” Donny chimed in.

  “Well,” I began and turned to face my friends. “We did hook up.”

  “AHHHH! YOU ARE SUCH A SLUT!”

  “Way to go, girl!”

  My besties pounced on me screaming and jumping up and down. I avoided their tickling hands, and the palm full of buttercream Donny tried to smear across my nose. We wound up in a giggling heap on the floor.

  “Oh, my Goddess, I need to go on a diet,” Evie moaned.

  “About that, girl,” Donny said, but I pinched the witch.

  That wasn’t our secret to tell. Evie deserved to hear that straight from the horse’s, er, wolf’s mouth. I helped the two of them to stand. Then, with a little magical aid from my besties, we cleaned up the mess we had made.

  “So, you hooked up,” Donny said, moving her hand for me to continue.

  “Yes, we hooked up, but you know what happened last time I had a man—”

  “YOU are not talking about that turd Jameson Vorhees, are you?”

  “Actually—”

  “Bella!” they yelled at me in unison.

  “Okay, Maribella Strega, I take that back about you being smart,” Evie said, swatting me on my butt.

  “Hey! You can’t do that! I’m like the Scarecrow after he gets his brain! You can’t take it back now,” I told her haughtily.

  “Fine. But you should know, Jameson Vorhees was a complete two-timing creep, and he did not deserve you,” Donny said.

  “He said he left because I wouldn’t change for him,” I mumbled.

  “What? That is a complete lie! Should we tell her?” Donny asked, her face twisted as if in agony.

  “Tell me what?”

  “Bella, Jameson Vorhees came on to both of us countless times while you were dating. Finally, he got the hint we were not interested in betraying you ever.”

  “What?” I asked, stunned.

  “It’s true. He was a dog, Bella! And later, we found out he was dating Misty Palmer the same time he was dating you.”

  Evie sighed and nodded while I stood there reeling. Donny took my hand, squeezing it while she continued the sordid tale.

  “Remember Misty’s Uncle Montgomery? Well, he threatened Jameson with having his powers drained and membership to the Warlock World Coven revoked if he didn’t leave town immediately—”

  “Wait. What? He left because he was two-timing two witches and a warlock threatened him?”

  “Oh Goddess, she hates us now, doesn’t she? Bella, I am so sorry we kept this from you. We didn’t find out till six months after he left, and by then we didn’t want to bring it up because you seemed fine,” Evie told me in rapid succession.

  “He told me I was fat.”

  “What?” both besties growled, and aqua and gold sparks lit up their fingertips.

  “Not in here, ladies,” I told them. “Anyway, he told me I was too big for a man of his standing to be seen with and if I loved him at all, I would wear a glamor while I worked on myself. I refused,” I told them.

  “How dare he!”

  “That warlock piece of shi—”

  Just then Petyr returned, looking a little worse for the wear. I moved to ask but he raised one hand to stop me.

  “I have avenged your virtue, my witchy, and I have given permission to the Shifter to court one as yourself, but only if you wish.”

  “You did what?” I asked, not sure if I wanted to laugh or cry.

  “Where I am from, fathers of daughters defend. That is job. Your father is not here—”

  He was in Florida with my mother, actually.

  “So, I step in for you. Snake Shifter has proven to be good man. His heart is true. But still, it is you who must decide. Now, I go back to dumpster to sniff out arson.”

  “Uh, okay. Thanks,” I muttered and gave him a little wave.

  “Wow. That was beautiful.”

  “Oh great. She’s crying again,” Donny said, and wrapped her arms around Evie. “So, Bella, are you mad at us?”

  “What? Not at all. I love you girls, you know that. We’re besties and cousins, but I admit, I’ve missed you. Watching you get close to your mates has made me kind of afraid, you know.”

  “We will never abandon you, Bella.”

  “And you don’t have to worry about being alone,” Evie said with a sniffle. “You have Conrad too. That snake loves you. I just know it. I feeeeeeeeel it,” she wailed.

  “Oh dear Goddess, get her home before she scares away my customers and tell Jaxson to get his ass home and tell his mate what she needs to know,” I mumbled, hustling them both out the back door.

  “But I wanted to talk about the wedding cake!” Donny yelled after I closed the door on them.

  “Too bad. It’s my gift to you, I have full creative control!” I shouted back.

  I paused for one full minute and let everything I’d learned just sink in.

  There was nothing wrong with me. I didn’t make a warlock move out of state because I could not keep a man happy. Jameson Vorhees was a lying two-timing piece of crap, and a total waste of time.

  Conrad Boman was nothing like him. He’d been patient, kind, and nothing but good to me. The least I could do would be to listen to him, right? Before I could chicken out, I grabbed my cell phone and sent him a text message.

  I think we should talk, snake man.

  Just tell me when and where, sweetheart.

  You pick. I’ll be finished at six.

  I’ll be there.

  My heart was pounding like a drum. I wished I could go shopping to get something sexy to wear for him, he’d have to settle for whatever I had in the dresser of spare clothes I kept in my office.

  After years of avoiding commitment, I was about to dive headlong into one.

  Here I go!

  CHAPTER 9

  I popped a few trays of muffin and tarts into the ovens and restarted the fryers. My batter was a solid eleven on a scale of one to ten—false modesty would get you nowhere in life—something else Granny always said. I was a fine baker, and now that the hole in my heart I had not even been aware I was toting around was filled to bursting, my baking took on a life of its own.

  Silly of me not to realize I was feeling separated from my friends all because of my stubbornness and fear of commitment to a certain smexy pants Shifter. Conrad didn’t deserve to be painted with the same brush as past relationships.

  He was his own man, and I was not the same young, naïve girl anymore. I was a pretty nifty Kitchen witch with friends, a thriving business, and a ton of customers.

  Holy crap—look at that line!

  “Mira!” I yelled, and the young woman came running to the back room where I had a couple of dozen fresh donuts all glazed and ready for the display case.

  “Can you please unlock the doors before the first customer has an aneurysm,” I muttered.

  Sheesh.

  The folks in Castor’s Corner were damned serious about their sugary needs. Couldn’t even be a second late before people started banging on the glass door. One old warlock with a gaping hole through his front teeth tried to magic a few croissants through the case, but it backfired, zapping him right on the butt.

  “Is this how you treat your clients, missy?!”

  “If my clients try to steal from me, then yes, it is,” I retorted.

  No more Miss Nice Witch.

  The residents of Castor’s Corner had long since deemed me a big softy, but I was through being taken advantage of. Petyr snarled from behind the counter, too short to be seen, but I appreciated his use of defensive magic on my behalf. Thievery in any form was simply not okay.

  “Ladies and gents, I apologize for the delay this morning. We had another incident in the wee hours of the morning and are running a touch behind schedule. If you would please remain calm, Mira and Sally will get to you in an orderly fashion. I will come out to help as soon as I finish in the back. Thank you,” I announced to the three dozen customers who were now forming a neat line.

  After that, there were no more ornery customers. In fact, people seemed downright shocked to hear news of what had been going on. Odd, I never really thought about it. I naturally assumed word had spread, like it usually did in small towns.

  By the time I’d joined Mira and Sally, another of my employees, the morning rush had slowed. Mrs. Gennaro came in and headed right for me. She looked miffed, and I didn’t know if I had the strength to deal with her complaints. Seemed the lack of sleep—because of firebugs and smexy times with a certain sexy snake—had caught up with me.

  “Oh boy,” I whispered and put on a big smile for the older witch.

  It wasn’t her fault I was pooped, and my position as a small business owner meant I needed to deliver a certain level of customer service to all who frequented The Tasty Tart.

  “Miss Bella,” she began, and I braced myself. “I had to come in personally to tell you the pastries you boxed for me the other night were outstanding.”

  “Oh?” I frowned. If they were good, why did she look pissed?

  “Yes. No issues there. However, since you are part of the trifecta protecting our town, I am laying this complaint on your doorstep,” she seethed.

  “What complaint, Mrs. Gennaro? We fortified the words on time with no mess ups—”

 

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