After Tessa finished her demonstration, she curled her finger at the big guy and had him following her down every aisle. She was more than happy to oblige every time he asked her to show him what our various trinkets, potions, and enchantments did.

I tried to hide my cringe. While demonstrations were needed at times to sell a product, they also cost money. There goes six hundred dollars down the drain, I thought when Tessa picked up an elixir.

Tessa glanced in my direction and hastily put the packet down.

It was only then I realized I was scowling in her direction, but that elixir took three weeks to fully prepare and cost sixty dollars per packet in raw materials alone.

“Perhaps I won’t show you that one.” Tessa’s bright white teeth flashed in a smile. “You’ll just have to trust me that it heals all imperfections and blemishes on your skin for a minimum of two weeks.”

“You don’t need to convince me.” The man smirked. “If your looks are any indication of what it can do.”

Oh gods. Gag.

But Tessa’s lashes descended over her cheeks as she flushed.

I held back an eye roll.

“Now if you’re looking for tasty snacks, we have an entire aisle of scrumptious low-calorie products.” Tessa led him around the corner near the back of the store. When he turned down the grocery aisle, the collar on his leather jacket inched downward. A dark flash of ink appeared.

I caught a peek of a tattoo in the shape of a . . . constellation? I couldn’t be sure, but the weird star pattern also had spikes around it with triangles. They looked like arrows.

But just as quickly as the tattoo appeared, his collar lifted, hiding it again.

My heart rate increased as a sense of uneasiness coursed through me. Slipping quietly to the next shelf, I pretended to dust again as I opened my senses and let my magic wash subtly toward him, hoping I’d get a sense of his aura. But just as a small stream of my magic made contact with his, a hot zap jolted me.

I squeaked at the unexpected flash of heat and dropped the feather duster. It fell to the floor making a noisy clatter, but neither Star Tattoo Guy nor Tessa so much as looked in my direction. They were too enamored with each other.

What the hell? My magic is seriously messed up right now. It was the second time in the past forty-eight hours that my magic had reacted that way. Maybe I’m coming down with something.

I hastily crouched down, groping for the feather duster, just as my cell phone rang. I grabbed the duster and whipped my phone out, expecting to see an incoming call from my delivery driver. But the name that flashed on the screen made me pause.

Carlos.

My phone rang again as Carlos’s picture continued to stare back at me. His deep-bronze skin, dark hair, and wide smile looked so familiar, and yet not at the same time. When did we last speak? Two years ago? We’d kept in touch for a year after his move halfway around the world, but as most relationships go when long distance becomes a factor, the time and commitment proved too tough to navigate. We’d never technically broken up. Our relationship had more fizzled out.

So why was he calling me?

Before I could decide if I wanted to answer or not, his call went to voicemail.

Tessa continued dazzling Star Tattoo Guy, completely in her element. I debated opening my voicemail to see if my ex had left a message, but my phone rang again.

My heart leaped, but instead of Carlos calling again, our accountant’s name flashed across the screen. I quickly swiped my finger across it.

Greyson’s loud voice boomed through the phone before I’d even said hello. “Tala, you there? Did I reach you at an okay time? Was hoping to go through this quarter’s numbers with you quickly, if you have a minute? I have to get this filed with the SFA today, and I’ve come across a discrepancy that you can probably clear up.”

Ugh. I’d nearly forgotten. Today was quarterly tax filing day at the Supernatural Financial Assembly—every business owner’s favorite day. At least it wasn’t the annual one. Those were even worse since they required in-person filing to ensure nobody was trying to impersonate someone else’s business or magically alter their information. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time a crafty sorcerer had tried to pull a fast one on the SFA.

“Sure, Greyson. What do you need?” I eyed Tessa as she spoke with Star Tattoo Guy. He held up a potion used to preserve one’s dreams so they could be re-lived when awake. That one was very popular with supernaturals who’d recently lost loved ones.

Except Star Tattoo Guy seemed more interested in studying Tessa’s slim fingers and swelling cleavage. I held back a scoff. Men.

A ding came from my phone. I pulled it away to see that a new text had arrived—from Carlos. My lips parted.

“Tala? You still there?” Greyson’s question snapped my attention to our conversation.

I brought my phone back to my ear. “Yes, sorry. What did you say?”

“Can you run through last month’s financials with me on the fae lands imports? My numbers aren’t jiving. I must have hit a key and accidentally deleted a column, but I’m not sure which one.”

“Sure, let me get to my computer.” I skirted behind the register to the door leading to the office.

Once inside, I flipped open my laptop. The news popped up since I kept up to date on supernatural news online. It was good for business as it kept me sharp with current affairs that could affect supplies and distributors. The latest stories flashed bright pictures, highlighting the fluctuation in the stock market, indicating the companies owned by supernaturals. Below that, an opinion piece had the provocative title, Is magically altering your body good for your marriage? And a story in the community section at the bottom reported that the immensely magical New Hampshire millionaire who’d disappeared a few weeks ago was still nowhere to be found.

I closed the news so I wouldn’t get distracted and pulled up the program that contained our inventory, sales, financials, and shipments. “Do you want me to email over my spreadsheet of our imports from last month? It might be easier than going through each one.”

“Yeah, that works. Send it over. Oh, and since I’ve got you on the phone, I’ve been meaning to ask you about Q4’s revenue projections. Do you have a minute to go through those?”

“Sure, just give me a sec.” I craned my neck to see through the still cracked door. I caught a flash of black material—Star Tattoo Guy’s jacket—then the sound of Tessa’s tinkling laugh.

She’s fine.

Leaning back on my chair, I nudged the door closed so our financials wouldn’t be heard in the shop. When I shifted my attention back to the phone, Carlos’s text appeared.

Hey, I’m back in Chicago. Can I buy you a drink tonight?

I stared at it in shock for a moment, then shook my head. I’ll get to that later.

“I’m back,” I said to Greyson. “And yep, fire away about Q4.”

∞     ∞     ∞

By the time I got off the phone, at least twenty minutes had passed. I hadn’t heard the bell ring again, so at least Tessa wasn’t swimming in customers.

After closing my laptop, I ventured back to the shop, but all was quiet.

“Tess?” My boots stomped softly on the floor as I peered down each aisle and around every rack, but Tessa wasn’t up front and neither was Star Tattoo Guy.

Weird. I hadn’t heard the front door jingle, which would have alerted me to him leaving. Even in the office I could hear its faint bell with the door closed.

“Tessa?” I called again. As a rule, we never left the front of the shop unattended for more than a minute, and since the clock hadn’t struck five yet—when Nicole’s shift started—it was still just Tess and me running the store.

I moved at a clipped pace to the back storeroom, ’cause if Tessa wasn’t up front or in the office, the back storeroom was the only place left for her to be.