Page 64 of Enchanted to Meet You

*World Council of Witches*

Derrick had a problem.

Derrick had multiple problems, actually, but the one that seemed most pressing was that he had slept with the Chosen One. Not just once, but multiple times.

And he didn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. If anything, he hoped he and Jessica continued sleeping with each other until one or the other of them put a stop to it. And the only thing he was certain of at this point was that that person wasn’t going to be him.

He’d known he should have turned down this job. He’d helped dozens of witches in dozens of villages exactly like West Harbor. Many had been saved. A few had not.

But none of those jobs had ever gotten personal... until now.

The obvious difference was Jessica. He could have laid theblame on her warm laughter and darkly shining eyes—not to mention her deliciously soft body and even softer mouth.

But he knew it was more than that. More even than her sarcastic sense of humor and skeptical attitude—both clearly worn as armor to protect a heart that was as vulnerable to mishandling as her home was to the elements. More even than that cheerful home and warm, inviting bed.

It was her. Just her.

That’s why he had to protect her, and why he was willing to risk everything to do so, even though he knew that when she found out the truth, it was probably going to get him banned from that bed forever.

But until that time, he could make himself useful. He’d been in her office in the back of her shop, using a putty knife and a hammer to try to unstick the window there, but now he was leaning in the open office door, watching while she fitted Esther’s friend with a gown. Or tried to, at least, since the kid wouldn’t come out of the dressing room.

“I’m sure it looks lovely on you, Gabby,” Jessica called to the girl.

“It doesn’t.” The reply from behind the velvet curtain sounded hopeless.

“Just come out and let me see. Or let me come in. It’s a tricky gown. It might need some adjusting.”

“It’s not the gown. It’s me. I look terrible.”

Derrick saw Jessica exchange glances with Esther, who was sitting in his old spot in the Friends and Family Chair, doing her homework. Jessica’s look was pleading. The kid rolled her eyes and called, “Come on out, Gabs. There’s no one else here.” At this, she exchanged an apologetic glance with the salesgirl behind the register. But the salesgirl only smiled and went back to whatever she was doing on the computer. “I’m sure you look amazing.”

“I don’t.”

But finally the girl flung the curtain back and came out of the dressing room. And... she was right. She looked terrible. Derrick couldn’t believe that Jessica, of all people, would have put her in such a hideous garment. A pastel nightmare of some kind of shiny material, covered in fake flowers, the kid looked like a wedding cake someone had left in the sun to melt—and from the expression on her face, she knew it.

“Okay,” Jessica said, her tone way too chipper. “That’s not so bad.”

Not so bad? He darted a look in Esther’s direction to see what her opinion on the matter was, but she’d wisely ducked her head back over whatever she was writing. Smart kid.

“Not so bad?” Gabby stared at her reflection in the full-length mirror in dismay. “What are you talking about? I lookawful.”

“You don’t look awful.” Jessica reached out to do something to the gown. “You just need a little...”

And suddenly, with a twist of Jessica’s fingers, the fake flowers fell into place, and turned to silk blossoms in the palest of purple that gently kissed Gabby’s shoulders, and then floated together to form a heart shape at the center of her chest. The shiny material seemed to transform into shimmering gossamer, nipping in softly to cling to Gabby’s curves in all the right places, then billowing out gently at others.

“There.” Jessica took a step back to admire her handiwork. “That’s more like it.”

Suddenly, instead of a melting wedding cake, Gabby looked like a woodland sprite. An enchanted fairy. Something otherworldly and ethereal. Definitely beautiful, anyway.

And she knew it. She was blinking back tears of astonishment at her own transformation in the mirror.

And she wasn’t the only one.

“Whoa.”

Esther had lifted her head from her homework and was staring in wonder at her friend. “Gabs. You lookawesome!”

Gabriella smiled—a small, tentative smile—and reached up to wipe her eyes. “Do I?”