“Why?”
“Jeez, you argue over the dumbest things. I’m going to see if I can’t make a parking space happen, that’s why.”
He made a left at a cross street and then a right to circle back. “You can do that?”
“I can do lots of things, Dominic.” Pleased, she tried not to laugh.
“Teach me.”
“All right. But not while you’re driving.” She closed her eyes and used her othersight instead. Ebb and flow. Energy swirled and broke in waves against the buildings. She found the places where the energy was disturbed and honed in. In the should we leave now void Meriel found, she sent a whispered yes. And when they reached the gelateria again, a spot was just opening up where a car was pulling away.
“Damn,” he muttered, making a very smooth parallel job into the vacated spot. “Don’t touch the door.” He got out and circled the car. He moved like a predator. Like a Were. She wondered if it had come from hanging out with Simon Leviathan or if it was just part of his makeup.
“I can open a door. I’m not an idiot.” He helped her out and closed the door.
“Can and should are different things. When you’re alone or with other people you can open your own door. When you’re with me, you’ll let me take care of you because I like it and because why shouldn’t you let me?”
He was so incredibly arrogant. In any other man she’d have been inspired to slap his face and huff off.
But Dominic wasn’t like any other man. On him, it totally worked.
“Don’t be so bossy.” Still it wouldn’t do to let him get cocky or take it for granted that he’d be getting his way all the time.
He laughed as he opened the door to the boutique gelateria she’d discovered just a few months prior. “Tom says it’s written into my genetic code. But you’re a big girl, you know how to tell me to back off if that’s what needs telling.”
Utterly unconcerned with that possibility though, he walked them through the crowd to the counter. “What should I get?”
“My favorite is pistachio. But it’s all really good.”
“Meriel, it’s good to see you!”
She laughed and looked up to Dominic. “My secret’s out. I come here so often they know me by sight.”
He leaned down and brushed a kiss against her temple. “One look at you and who’s going to forget?”
He was so good at that.
Blushing, Meriel ordered some pistachio with some chocolate malt for herself and decided on chocolate flake and vanilla malt for Dominic. He reached for his wallet and she sent him a raised brow as she opened her bag. “My treat, remember?”
He got the cutest furrow between his eyes when he was thwarted. But he shrugged. “Thank you. Will you share yours with me? Just … a lick or two?”
The woman behind the counter choked a little as she handed the change back. Meriel laughed. “Yes, he’s really like this all the time. It’s why I keep him around.”
Dominic laughed at that, hugging her closer to his side. “As if you could get rid of me.”
They sat in his car and shared the gelato. It pleased her that he’d liked it so much. It was such a sweet, normal moment. Still, in the air between them their chemistry sizzled and she couldn’t help but imagine him naked. Ha, as if she wanted to stop that.
“I can’t believe I’ve never had this before and it’s only a few blocks from my club.” He leaned in and licked her spoon, making her all dizzy and dry mouthed.
He turned enough to meet her gaze and the smirk on his lips told her he knew just exactly what he was doing to her and her hormones.
She had to swallow hard, but she did find her words enough to say, “You’re very naughty.”
He sat back in his seat and turned the car back on and took them to his club. “I’m trying to show you just how much, but you keep making me work for it.”
She snorted. “Please. When’s the last time you had to work to get a woman into bed?”
Ignoring the line of cars, he drove straight to the front, got out after giving her a look daring her to open her door on her own. He opened it and helped her out, tossing the keys to the valet. “But you’re not some woman,” he murmured as he escorted her through a side entrance. The same one they’d gone out the night before.
She paused in front of his office door.
“What?” He put himself in between her and the door. Good gracious, when he did stuff like that it made her all trembly and swoony.
“The warding here is off. Can I fix it?”
He opened the door and ushered her in. “Only if I can watch and you’ll go slow enough so I can learn.”
Dominic never failed to surprise her. Bold. Arrogant. Totally alpha-male material. But he wasn’t afraid to ask questions or to learn new things.
So she walked him through the wards, showing him how to amp up the energy with some mini-feedback spells within it. “These little steps mean you won’t have to use nearly as much from the font. The spell perpetuates its own strength this way.”
“Can’t believe I never thought of that.”
Warmed by his praise, she moved through the rest of the ward, pointing out thin spots and minute errors in execution, which left the overall spell weaker and easier to pull apart.
Despite that, she had to give him credit, the work was very, very good, and she told him so.
“Thank you.”
“Can I …” She wanted to show him how to use his othersight; it was clear he didn’t really access it very well, but she didn’t want to embarrass him either.
He stood very close, taking her cheeks in his hands and tipping her face up to see it better. “You can. Anything. Just say it.”
She swallowed, hard. “Can I give you some tips on how to open yourself up more fully to your othersight?”
He paused and it made her nervous.
“It’s just that you do it, but you’re not using it to its full potential. It’s a very powerful tool.”
“This will make my spellwork stronger?”
“Yes. Part of the way magick works when you spellcast is you use energy to form intent. If you use your othersight better, you can manipulate and direct the energy flow more efficiently. Then your spellwork is stronger. Plus, it’s a good tool in general.”
“You use it all the time?”
“Yes. Most witches do. I can show you how to blend it better with your regular consciousness so it’s not distracting.”
“Show me. Tell me.”
So she took his hands. “My mother’s bond-mate was my first real magickal teacher, but it’s really my father who taught me how to use my othersight effectively. He relates to his magick like it’s math. And since I hate math it took him a while to get to me. But I’m thickheaded.”
Dominic grinned and ducked in to give her a quick kiss.
“Essentially, your othersight is like radar. You open yourself to it, yes, but really it’s about using your magick to relate to all you see around you. If you use it while you do your spellwork, you’ll be better able to see the thin spots, where things are weak or the knot with another part of the spell needs to be tighter.”
“But clearly you can work magick without it. I rarely use it.”
“Sure you can. But an enterprising witch with a better handle on her othersight than the originator of the spell can spot all the weak points in a spell and unravel them.”
“Oh. Good point.”
“Your othersight is there, always. You don’t have to make it, or manage it. You just need to make opening yourself up to it part of how you work your magick until it’s second nature.”
She walked him through it, pleased at his quick progress, delighted by his reaction to learning something new. The more he practiced, the better he’d be until it was second nature.
When they finished, he pulled her into his arms, slowly, as if they were dancing. The kiss warmed up slowly. A brush of his lips and then another quick one.