Chapter 7 #3
Gregory groaned. “No.” Then he clarified to Sascha, “You’re wrong about Stephanie coming to the house tonight.”
“Maybe it’s another night. Sometimes my visions are off a bit, but I’m there when she is, so I assumed it was tonight.”
“What does she say or do?”
“She’s snarky, as usual. But I don’t have any problem with that.”
“She better not be there.”
“Are you enjoying your brisket?” Sascha licked her lips.
“I sure am. It’s delicious.” Then Gregory got a call from his sister. “Yeah, what’s up, Rose?”
“Damon wanted me to pass a message to you to give to Sascha.”
“Yeah?” Good. Damon wasn’t interested in Gregory’s sister then.
“He doesn’t want you anywhere near Sascha because you almost got her killed once.”
“Did you tell him she’s going to help me try and figure out who’s trying to kill me?”
“Nope. I’m sure he would be furious.”
“Okay. I’m glad you didn’t tell him then. But if he’s marrying Lucy, he has no chance with Sascha anyway.”
“I’ll let you go because I know Sascha has to get back to work soon. Be sure and have her pick up a bag of some of her things to stay the night with us so she can have more time to try and figure this out.”
“I’ll ask her. It’s fine with me, but not sure it is with her.” Then Gregory and his sister ended the call.
“What’s fine or not with me?” Sascha asked, licking her fingers.
He sure wanted to lick her fingers and mouth like she was.
“My sister suggested we stop by your place, pack a bag, and you can stay over for a few days to work on the case. Just in case you can get any, uhm, future visions, and spend more time searching through anything you might need to, to learn what you can.” He figured if he said she was staying a few days, she would go along with it, but if he said just overnight, the same thing.
He wanted her to stay with him until they caught the attempted murderer.
“Stay with you?”
“Yeah. We have several guest rooms with their own bathrooms, so you will have privacy.”
She considered him for several minutes, then finished her drink. “You know what, okay. My new house won’t be ready for four days. In the meantime, I could spend time at your place trying to figure out what's going on with you. So what did Damon say?”
Gregory’s lips parted. “You overheard?”
“Nope, my hearing isn’t that great.”
“You envisioned it? But not what was said?”
“Nope. Rose said she was calling you about Damon, and that’s all I could gather. So what did he say?”
“He doesn’t want me around you because I’ll be the death of you.”
“He’s so sweet.”
Gregory didn’t want to hear it, though he had to admit Damon did want to take care of her, and he did think that was heroic. But Gregory wanted to take care of Sascha himself. The sooner he could identify the attempted murderer, the sooner they would all be safer. He worried about Rose too.
“This was delicious. Thanks so much for buying us our lunches. But I need to get back to work.”
“Oh, one other thing. Rose asked what you wanted for dinner.”
“Shrimp Alfredo?”
“That sounds good to me.” He wanted to kiss her. He had no excuse to do so, but the urge was powerful. He took a deep breath, leaned forward, and kissed her mouth, tasting the brisket like he knew she could taste his.
The kiss deepened into something more sensual, needier, and he thought she felt the same way.
Then, breathlessly, she pulled away, kissed his cheek, and shook her head. “You think that we cousins have some kind of spell over you guys, but damn, Gregory.”
He chuckled. She reentered her booth to get back to work, and he was thrilled she was staying with them for a few days.
He headed out of the fairgrounds and called his sister. “Shrimp Alfredo tonight and our finest white wine.”
“Did she ask for the wine?”
“Nope.”
“Did she agree to stay with us overnight?”
“For four days and nights.”
Rose laughed. “Don’t tell me you told her I said she needs to stay that long.”
He just chuckled, got into his car, and drove off. “I should have asked what she would like for dessert.”
“I’ll call her.”
“Don’t tell her that you only wanted her to stay a night.”
“I won’t. I’m glad she’s staying longer. I’ll have someone to talk to besides you now that Marvin and I are no longer an item.”
“Have you told him that?” Gregory wasn’t sure if his sister had actually called it quits with Marvin.
“Not yet.”
He wished she had. There was no need to prolong the inevitable if she was done with him. “Has he even tried to get hold of you since yesterday?”
“No.”
“Well, I hope you’re done with him. If you want, I can get our PI to check on him to learn more about his affairs and anything else you might want to know.”
“No. I’m good. Are you picking Sascha up from the fair and bringing her here?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you think it’s safe? Maybe I should get her.”
“No, I’ll do it.” He was curious about Sascha’s apartment and how she lived. In fact, he was interested in everything there was about her. Which was really not his style. But there was just something about her that drew him in.
He knew she didn’t have special witchy spells, yet he sure felt like she had cast a spell over him.