“Of course I want you to stay, but you can’t.” I jerked and slapped a hand over my mouth. Had I just said that out loud? What was happening to me?
Amusement danced across Liora’s pretty face and was quickly dashed when I glowered at her.
“I’m confused. Do you want me to stay or to leave?” Liora tilted her chin up at me.
“I want you to stay.” Again, shock filled me. Where were these words coming from? What she needed was to leave. I wasn’t remotely in the mood for being the source of town gossip once again. And yet here I was, my mouth saying what logic was telling me would be a bad decision.
“Great, then I’ll stay.” Liora beamed at me, like sunshine spearing through the trees, and I gaped at her.
“What is happening?” I demanded. “Why am I saying exactly what I shouldn’t be saying? What I should be saying is that I don’t want you to stay because I don’t want to become a part of the village gossip mill once again. Yet all I can seem to say is that I want you to stay.”
“That’s nice, isn’t it then?” Liora toed the floor in fuzzy purple socks, looking everywhere but at me.
“Liora,” I growled, and her eyes snapped back to my face.
“Oh, um.” Liora shrugged one shoulder, sheepish, and her eyes darted away again.
“Bloody hell, woman. You’ve done something. Haven’t you?” I pointed at the acorn. “This isn’t here by chance, is it?”
“No, not entirely.”
“Not entirely or not at all?” I demanded, my pulse picking up. Iknew it. Liora had always been one for witchy things, leaning hard into her astrology and tarot, and God knows what else.
“Um, not at all?” Liora asked.
I closed my eyes and counted to ten, though every ounce of me wanted to throttle her.
“Tell me, exactly, what you were doing.”
“Is that part of the lease agreement? That I have to explain everything I do in my space?” Liora crossed her arms over her chest, a stubborn look crossing her face, and she pushed that full lower lip out in a small pout.
“Of course not,” I said. “If I’d known it was you signing the lease, I’d have written a spanking clause into it.”
Liora’s mouth dropped open.
I froze.
This was not good. Whatever was happening to me wassonot good. At all. I couldn’t possibly have just suggested that I wanted to spank Liora for violating any terms of the lease. Yet the image of bending her over the couch and dropping her jeans made me just a touch dizzy.
I needed to focus.
“Is that… is that something you like to do to women?” Liora asked, her voice breathier than normal. Her eyes had widened.
“Yes.” I slapped a hand across my mouth and shook my head. Removing my hand, I took a deep breath. “No. Yes. It depends.”
“Depends on what?” Liora’s eyes narrowed.
“I don’t know.” I threw up my hands. I couldn’t believe I was having this conversation. What was happening to me? “The woman. What we’re doing. If she likes it. If she asks for it. Probably a million other factors that I can’t think about right now because all I can think about is the fact that I’m pretty sure you’ve done something to me. Have you?”
“Ummmm…” Liora drew the word out, her teeth working into that full bottom lip again, and I groaned.
Shehad.
She’d done something to me.
“Just tell me,” I said, hands clenched at my sides.
“I was just trying out a wee spell from my gran’s book. It was meant to be?—”