Chapter 11
“WHY are you here?” Nell cruised into Meriel’s office.
“That’s my line.” She got up and moved to embrace her friend. “I’m so glad you’re back. Tell me about the honeymoon.”
“I’m not telling you shit here.” Nell waved and her pretty diamond ring caught the light. “It’s Sunday. You’re at work. This is ridiculous.”
“Says the woman standing in the office on Sunday lecturing me about being here on a Sunday.”
“I’ve been having sex with my absurdly handsome husband multiple times daily for two weeks. I have the rest of my life to catch up on.” Nell laughed. “Girl, I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed Fiji. But that’s mainly because I was too busy getting carnal with William.”
“Let’s get some lunch. I have so much to tell you.” She squeezed Nell’s hand.
“Most of it had better have nothing to do with this mage crap. I want to hear all the good stuff first. Then we’ll talk about work.”
“I need a reuben.”
Nell looked at her carefully. “What the hell, Meriel? You only need reubens from Three Girls when you’re eating your feelings.”
Meriel laughed, like truly, deeply laughed because she’d missed Nell so much.
“I met my bond-mate. Guess what he does?”
Nell goggled at her. “You better mean last night. You have to since you haven’t told me anything about it until right now.”
Even though she knew Nell would be mad, she was still giddy over it. Both at having Nell back and being able to talk about Dominic with someone who’d understand.
“You are in such trouble.” Nell looked around and grabbed Meriel’s bag. “Let’s go. We’ll talk elsewhere. You can’t be at work on a Sunday anyway.”
Her friend’s expression told Meriel there was no use arguing with her and she didn’t want to.
They walked down to Pike Place and grabbed the aforementioned sandwiches, along with some cookies and a few lemon bars. One more quick stop for some tea and they headed over to Nell’s place.
“Where’s the mister?” Meriel looked around for William.
“He had to run down to Vegas for a few days to deal with work stuff. Sit down, I’m going to start the water for tea and you’re going to tell me everything. Most notably why you’ve met your bond-mate and haven’t ascended yet.”
“He’s the guy who runs Heart of Darkness,” she said around a mouthful of her sandwich.
“Why, oh, why do we get tested with men who run nightclubs?” Nell shook her head, grinning. Her husband owned a burlesque-themed nightclub in Las Vegas and was in talks to open another locally. Nell had met him nearly two years before while investigating a woman who’d stolen money from some Owen holdings. The woman had been his ex and he and Nell had connected from the start.
“We haven’t done the ascension spell yet because … gah, it’s complicated.”
“Complicated how? Is he married? With someone already?” That happened, they both knew. The bond was perfect if one meant in the way it connected two witches and unlocked magickal potential. But people had lives and life included things like the person you’re a potential bond-mate to being with someone already.
“No, not that, thank goodness. He’s outclan. He didn’t even know he was a council witch until I keyed him into the font and we worked our magick together.”
“Good lord, so what does he think? That we have secret police and arrest people who don’t give us all their worldly goods?” She stood again. “Why do we have no chips out? Falling down on the job, Meriel.”
Back in moments, Nell tossed a bag of Doritos on the table between.
“I’m going to be so sick in like fifteen minutes if I keep inhaling this.” Nell put her sandwich down a few minutes later. “I can’t not tell you this any longer. I have no willpower and I think it might be because I’m pregnant. And, obviously I want to share that with you because it’s so totally cool!” Nell laughed, clapping her hands and Meriel got up to give her friend a hug.
“Damn right it’s cool! How long have you known?”
“Oh, you don’t get to be pouty over me not telling you when you met your bond-mate and didn’t even leave me a voice mail about it.” Nell frowned a moment and then got back to the point when they’d sat down again.
“I was late on our wedding day. But I thought hey, stress of the wedding because as you’re aware, his mother is Satan’s minion on earth.”
Meriel nodded, sipping her tea. This was an accepted truth.
“Anyway, I was late but it’s not the first time so I’m really not thinking it’s a big deal. You on the other hand have no such excuse.”
“I didn’t tell you because I wanted you to have your honeymoon without any intrusions. I couldn’t tell you over the voice mail. I don’t even …” She shook her head, not knowing how to say it and already on the verge of tears as it was.
“We’ll get to that next.” Nell gave her a brief glare. “I’m about six weeks along. We haven’t told anyone but you. My parents would fuss and I’m not ready for that yet. God only knows what his mother will do, but I truly hope it means she’ll stay on the other side of the country. Like forever. He’s telling his brother on this trip to Vegas. It’s”—she paused, smiling at Meriel—”it’s the most wonderful thing I could have imagined. He’s been beautiful about it. He wanted to take a picture of the stick with the two lines. The stick I’d just peed on, for heaven’s sake.” Nell shuddered and made a face. “So of course I vetoed it, but I’m giving him credit for being so mushy about it. And by the way, Meriel, were you aware that many resort sundry shops carry pregnancy tests? All in all, pretty much the best honeymoon a gal could ask for.”
“I’m so happy for you both. This is so cool.”
“It is. And you’re going to be here to help me because you know how hopeless I am at this stuff. What do I know about babies?”
“Puhleeze. You’ll do great. Anyway, don’t look at me, I can’t even keep a houseplant alive.”
“You know everything. And if you don’t, you know where to find the answer. I think William’s more excited about that than I am. He just sold half the club to his brother. Nash will run it.”
Meriel knew what a big deal that would have been. As long as William had the sole responsibility for the club, he’d never be able to live in Seattle full-time. This sale meant he was committed to life here with Nell and their baby. It was a really good day.
“I was just thinking what a good day it was.”
“Yeah. I knew you’d make me feel even more excited. And you did. Now, tell me about Dominic. What’s his deal?”
“He’s everything I thought I didn’t want. Overbearing. Bossy. Likes having his own way. Looks so damned good you know why he mostly gets it.” She grinned. “He’s arrogant. Just oozes testosterone. Has a mysterious past that — come on, let’s face it — you know has to be dark. Wary.”
She bit off the corner of the lemon bar and sighed happily.
“And he’s also protective. Gentle. Sweet at times. Intelligent on several levels. He’s a smart businessman. You can tell when you look at Heart of Darkness. He’s got a great deal of power. He doesn’t even have an idea of how much. He was raised by a foster father. He doesn’t talk much about his parents, just that they’d died when he was a baby.”
“What’s he like in bed? What does he look like? Come on and tell me the juicy stuff.”
“He’s about six and a half feet or so. Big. The kind of body that tells you he works out.” Meriel paused to fan herself. “He boxes. He tried to make it sound like he and his friends just met up and I don’t know, punched each other a lot. And being familiar with men and the kinds of things they consider fun, I believe it. Whatever it is, his upper body is tight and muscular. It’s the flattest belly I’ve ever seen in person.”