Chapter Twenty-One
The next week was so busy for Blair that she was only able to see Luke in his apartment twice.
She also cleaned her house top to bottom, getting rid of or hiding anything that hinted magic, witches, or even eccentric sisters and their cat.
There were no new festival calamities, thankfully, other than the fact that the entire committee, not just Earl, now had rashes on their arms. Blair’s secretly magic pumpkin, turmeric, ginger power shots were effective, though, so Blair was making a fresh batch every morning to maintain the anti-inflammatory effects of the fresh turmeric root.
She told everyone in the festival committee they could come to the café anytime for power shots, free of charge.
As for their research, Belinda learned that the Hecate’s Wheel was used all over the world to protect witches, dead or alive, so it couldn’t help them now since it was a witch the festival needed protection from.
Also, it tended to be effective protection against natural threats and didn’t work well to protect against people like witch hunters, which explained why the Stormvale witches were killed in the building with the symbol on the doors.
Bianca was able to determine that the disease that destroyed the original pumpkins at the farm did have a death marker in it, which meant that it was magic likely done by something no longer alive.
Finally, Monday came and the doorbell rang at the Briarwood house at exactly seven p.m. Blair jumped.
Her heart was beating loud, and she had no idea why.
She’d seen Luke so many times over the last few weeks, the novelty of having Luke Caldwell in her life again should have worn off by now.
But this – having him in her house – felt different.
He’d been here before. Back when they were dating, they’d hung out at Blair’s house many times, watching old movies while having Blair’s mom’s famous masala chai and Indian nankhatai cookies.
But they’d actually been a couple then, and things were different now.
Tonight might complicate her feelings for Luke Caldwell even more.
Taking a deep breath, Blair opened the door to a smiling Luke, holding a glass container in one hand and a bouquet of sunflowers in the other.
He’d brought flowers. Sunflowers were friendship flowers, but still.
Luke looked neater than usual. Blair was used to him in clothes meant to be in a construction zone all day.
But he was wearing a slim blue sweater over a black dress shirt.
And his jeans weren’t his normal worn Levi’s.
These were darker and looked newer. Was he dressed up for Blair?
He looked . . . hot. Devastatingly sexy. Blair swallowed.
‘You brought flowers,’ she said. Why was this so awkward?
‘I checked. Sunflowers are non-toxic to cats.’ He kicked off his shoes. ‘I think cats might be attracted to them, though – I saw three strays on my way here.’
Blair frowned, looking out the window. And yes, sure enough, it was raining.
She wasn’t sure what this meant. Blair took the flowers from him.
Kass knew better than to eat random plants, especially in this house, but it was a kind gesture for Luke to confirm his gift was okay for their pet, even if he wasn’t really a pet.
Blair motioned Luke in, and he held out the container.
‘I made my mom’s famous Earl Grey ice cream,’ he said. He sounded as nervous as Blair felt.
‘You made ice cream?’
He nodded.
‘I can’t wait to try it.’ Blair took the carton to the freezer. She couldn’t believe he made ice cream from scratch for her. And she had no idea why this gesture was making her emotional.
‘You look nice,’ Luke said after she’d stashed the ice cream in the freezer. ‘Different.’
‘I normally don’t look nice?’
He shook his head, leaning to speak into Blair’s ear. ‘No, you normally look beautiful. You still look beautiful, just different.’ Blair shivered from the feel of his warm breath on her neck.
Blair was wearing a dress. Not for Luke, though – she wore dresses and skirts a lot.
But this one was different from her normal ones.
Blair usually wore shorter skirts with tights and boots, but this was a long floral dress in shades of burgundy, orange and yellow that was really more Belinda’s style than Blair’s.
In fact, Belinda had ordered it online, but it had been too short on her, so she gave it to Blair.
Blair didn’t know why she’d put it on today.
‘C’mon.’ Blair took the flowers to the dining room. ‘Bianca’s been cooking all day.’
‘It smells delicious.’
Bianca had made Indian food – breaking out their mother’s recipes that they only made for special occasions. ‘Hope you like curry.’
‘Love it,’ Luke said.
The dining room looked lovely, thanks in part to Blair scrubbing the walls and ceiling to remove most of the soot stains.
Bianca had decorated the table, making a centrepiece of leaves, flowers and pinecones.
She’d even lit a cinnamon-scented candle, so the tantalizing scent of Indian spices was mingling with fall aromas.
Bianca was setting wine glasses on the table and grinned at the sunflowers in Blair’s hand.
‘That’s exactly what the table needed,’ she said, taking the flowers from Blair.
‘Hi, Luke! Blair, can you pour the wine? I’ll get these in water.
Belinda called, she just left the bookstore and will be here soon!
’ Bianca took the flowers to the kitchen.
Blair narrowed her eyes at her sister as she walked away.
Why was Bianca being so . . . hospitable?
It wasn’t that Blair expected her sister to be necessarily rude to Luke, but for the first time, Blair wondered if her sister had an ulterior motive for wanting to have Luke over.
Other than to have Blair and Belinda look into his mind to learn about his past and future, of course.
‘Um, I guess I’ll pour the wine,’ Blair said. ‘Red or white?’
‘Red,’ Luke said. Blair took the bottle from the sideboard and poured two glasses. After handing Luke his, he held it out for Blair to clink glasses with before he took a slow sip, eyes on Blair the whole time.
‘What?’ Blair said, self-conscious. Why was he looking at her like that?
‘Nothing. This is nice.’ He chuckled. ‘Just realized that this is the first time that we’ve had a drink together since prom night.’
Blair laughed. ‘Don’t remind me!’ They’d ended up at an after-party in the forest with some of the more rebellious members of their high school class, and both Luke and Blair drank so much, they’d vomited together under a tree. ‘I can hold my alcohol much better now.’
He nodded, still looking at Blair with that same unreadable expression. ‘Why are you looking at me like that?’ Blair asked.
He shook his head, a tiny smile on his lips. ‘You’re going to think I’m ridiculous.’
‘I already think you’re ridiculous.’
‘When I first saw you here in town you looked so much like you did when we were kids, that it kind of messed me up. Sometimes when we’re together it feels like I’ve gone back in time. I think this might be the first time I’m seeing more adult Blair than teen Blair in you.’
Blair raised a brow. ‘So, I look old? You’re full of compliments tonight, aren’t you.’
Luke laughed, then stepped closer to her. ‘You look mature,’ he said. He stepped even closer. ‘You look stunning, actually.’
His face was inches from hers now. And he looked beautiful, too.
She knew exactly what he meant – with his dress shirt and sweater, he looked like a man, not the kid who she’d butted heads with so many times.
Also not like the lumberjack she’d been having a casual fling with for the last three weeks.
Luke’s hand reached up to touch her cheek, making her shiver.
She wanted to kiss him, but not for the same reasons she usually wanted to kiss him.
Not because of their simmering tension, or because she wanted to get him in bed, either.
She wanted to kiss the full-grown adult man who had put on a nice shirt and brought flowers when she invited him to dinner.
She wanted to kiss him because she liked being close to him.
And maybe it showed on her face, because he smiled small, then leaned in and he kissed her.
Goosebumps erupted from Blair’s toes to her face.
He tasted like red wine and outdoors and she wanted to unzip this man and climb inside.
Every kiss had been amazing, but this one felt almost .
. . reverent. Slow, and soft, and when she put her hand on his waist, he hummed.
He pulled her closer, tongue dipping into her mouth.
Okay, maybe now she wanted to get him in bed.
‘MEOW!’
Blair pulled away and glared at Kass in the doorway. Stupid cat was so old-fashioned about relationships and didn’t think the Briarwoods should even kiss someone without commitment. Living with a judgmental cat was so frustrating. Belinda was behind Kass, a smile on her face. ‘Hi, Luke!’
Luke grinned, wiping his lips. ‘Hi, Belinda! I finished the book, ready for Thursday’s discussion!’
Thursday was the romantasy book club in the café.
Blair hadn’t gone back, letting Travis work during them, but Luke never missed a meeting.
Belinda and Luke spoke animatedly about the book, and about the one the club would be reading next.
Luke even suggested some titles that he thought they might enjoy.
This was surprising to Blair because the Luke she remembered hadn’t been a reader.
But also . . . he wasn’t supposed to be here long enough to start another book.