Page 89 of Not Your Ex's Hexes
“Then don’t say anything. I know this came out of left field. Think about it. And if you’re not ready now, I completely understand. The offer is open-ended. I won’t fill it with just anyone, so…” She handed Rose a card etched with the Sparks of Hope logo. “Call me with any questions, and if you need help with that sanctuary, or you need someone to bounce around some ideas with, I’m your witch.”
“Thank you, Callie, that’s a generous offer all the way around,” Rose said, meaning it. “I’ll think about it.”
They talked for another minute before Christina returned with a matchmaker twinkle in her eye and a “handsome shifter” Rose justhadto meet. Seeing the sheer panic on her face, Callie played interference by asking for an introduction herself.
Thank you,Rose mouthed gratefully to her new friend.
All in all, it was a pretty good day and Rose couldn’t help but think that maybe karma had finally decided to cut her a little slack… and she hoped it kept coming.
19
Bingo!
Nerves weren’t something Damian was accustomed to having. As a Hunter, giving in to nerves got you killed. In vet medicine, it killed your most vulnerable patients. In a lively night out with a sexy witch, he wasn’t sure what it got him, but as he pulled up in front of the address Rose gave him, he was certain he was about to find out.
Knowing she loved keeping him on his toes, he’d expected a bar, or maybe a pool hall so she could beat his pants off yet again. Maybe even a nightclub where she could literally dance circles around him because his hips had absolutely no damn tempo.
Butthis,he sure as hell didn’t expect.
Pulling up the GPS on his phone again, he double-checked the address to make certain he’d gotten it right, and saw Rose step out the main doors.
He momentarily forgot what he’d been about to do. Formfitting blue jeans cupped her ass deliciously, and her hair, pulled up in one of those sexily mussed pony-buns, revealed the delicate slope of her neck and his favorite nibbling spot below her ear. She scanned the sidewalk, pulling a pink zip-up sweatshirt tightly around her body, and stopped when she saw him sitting in his truck.
She waved, standing beneath the lit sign for the Restview Retirement Center & Community Hall, her eyes twinkling as heclimbed out from the driver’s seat. “You found the place! I was beginning to think I scared you off with the wild night talk.”
After locking the truck, he made his way toward the curb. With each step, Rose’s smile grew until it reached ear to ear, and it was a gorgeous sight. He’d seen her decked out in a fancy gown at Vi and Linc’s Bonding Ceremony. He’d enjoyed the sight of her naked, curvy body undulating above him. But she’d never looked as beautiful as she did now in jeans and a hoodie, and it took a slow minute for him to realize she was waiting for him to say something.
He cocked an eyebrow and couldn’t help but chuckle. “A wild night out at the retirement hall? Doing what? Playing chess? Shuffleboard?”
She scoffed and looped her arm through his and led the way inside. “Shuffleboard is for amateurs. You haven’t lived through an extreme game until you’ve bingo’d with the most lethal bingo players this side of the Hudson River. And I’ll have you know, there’s no one more lethal about bingo than the people through these doors.”
He almost asked her to repeat herself when they stepped into a large hall. Rows of tables filled the room, lined up like a bingo hall army, and front and center stood the general, with bushy white hair, speaking loudly into a crackling microphone.
“B-seven,” he announced. “B… seven.”
The senior citizens mumbled at their tables, some as they enthusiastically stamped their colored markers onto the cards in front of them. Others grumbled, not finding the called number.Bingo.
“Your lively night involves numbered squares and pretzel bowls?” He shot her a coy look.
“Do not judge this night by the game or the snacks. I’ll have you know that this crowd can be seriously cutthroat.” She fought against a forming grin, pulling him to a gentle stop. “I need to know that you can handle this, doc. It’s not for the faint of heart, and you definitely don’t want to divert your attention for longer than a second or else they’ll sense your weakness and go in for the kill.”
“Are we still talking about bingo, or some show on Animal Planet?” Damian chuckled.
“You jest, but I’ll have you know that both are extremely entertaining ways to pass the time.”
“You know what else is entertaining?” He leaned close, and dropped his voice to a low rumble.“Sex.”
Her lips quirked. “Well then, I’m glad I could expand your entertainment activities repertoire by one more.”
A familiar older Norm woman glanced up from a nearby table and waved.
Rose grabbed his hand, their fingers reflexively entwining as she led the way to the table and took one of the empty seats. She patted the one next to her. “Sit and stay a while. Beentertained. And let’s see how lucky you’ll get tonight.”
The double entendre didn’t pass without his notice, and they both broke into soft chuckles, his growing more amused by the second. He’d barely sat his ass down when the woman from outside Rose’s building narrowed her gray eyes on him.
“You’re him, huh?” She pursed her lips, studying him as if he were a bug under a microscope.
A quick glance to Rose revealed nothing as she pulled unused bingo boards from a stack and laid them out in front of her. Damian shifted awkwardly in his seat. “Depends onthe himyou’re talking about, ma’am,” he said politely.
