Must Be Magic (Spellbound) by Sydney Somers Read Free Book Online Page A

it last night.
    “I saw Bryce leaving last night.”
    The last pill stuck in her throat and she made a choking sound before taking another drink. “What?”
    Dante stood opposite her, arms crossed. “Bryce.”
    She shook her head. “Whatever you’re thinking, just stop.”
    “So I shouldn’t be thinking that he took advantage of you?”
    “Would I be fully dressed in last night’s clothes if he had?” Though now that she thought about it, she was pretty sure she was the one who had tried to take advantage.
    She winced at the memory.
    Dante opened his mouth to argue, but she cut him off.
    “As much as you’d love a reason to kick his ass, you’re going to have to settle for disappointment this time. Sorry.”
    “I saw him leaving your bungalow.”
    She shrugged, hoping she looked far more dismissive about the whole thing than she felt. “He made sure I got back here without losing my sandals along the way.” The not-so-fuzzy memory of wrapping her arms around Bryce as he carried her made her cheeks start to warm.
    “He’s a guy. Trust me, he wasn’t thinking about the well-being of your footwear.”
    “Maybe he has a shoe fetish.” She bent down to straighten her sandals and hopefully hide her flushed face from her perceptive sibling.
    “You think?” He perked up and she could all but hear the gears spinning in his head. No doubt he was wondering how he could use a tidbit like that to his advantage.
    Darby rolled her eyes and straightened. “He does not have a shoe fetish.” It seemed important to clarify that just in case it crossed his mind to spy on Bryce to be sure.
    “Then what was he doing here last night?”
    “He didn’t try anything, Dante.” Unlike her. God, what had she been thinking? Right, she hadn’t been. Why didn’t that make her feel any better then?
    “And you didn’t want him to, right?”
    “No.” She escaped into the bathroom. At least it was easier to believe that the morning after. Last night was a different story.
    She wasn’t fast enough getting the door shut. Dante’s arm shot out to stop her from slamming it in his face.
    She folded her arms in front of her. “What?”
    “You look guilty about something.”
    “I do not.”
    “Darby.”
    “Dante,” she countered, unable to mimic that tell-me-or-I’ll-tell-Mom tone he’d been using on her since they were kids.
    He cocked his head, trying to read her mind. It was a game they’d been playing since they were ten years old. Right around that time she’d started holding back things from her twin—things that usually involved boys—and Dante had been determined to prove he knew her so well that he didn’t need for her to actually speak out loud.
    And maybe a time or two his guesses had been so dead-on that he’d convinced her he really could read her mind. Then again, he’d also convinced Finn he could jump out of their tree house without getting hurt. Finn hadn’t talked to Dante for a week after he ended up with a broken arm.
    Ignoring the penetrating stare that had made her cave more times than she would ever admit to, she gave up on locking herself in the bathroom. Instead, she dug through her half-empty suitcase for shorts and a T-shirt.
    “If I’m feeling bad about anything, it’s that I’ll be forcing every smile on Bree’s hike this morning.” The group hike hadn’t sounded so bad yesterday. Now she was thinking she’d rather take her chances jumping out of a tree house.
    “The hike that starts in fifteen minutes?”
    “Really?” She grabbed his wrist and checked his watch. Crap.
    “Nice try though.”
    She let out a breath. “Fine. I threw up on his shoes last night, okay?”
    He arched a brow. “His feet looked fine to me.”
    Of course Mr. Attention to Detail would have noticed that. It was what made Dante so good at his job.
    “Would you walk around with vomit on your shoes?” She waved him toward the door. “I felt bad and took care of it.”
    “Why?”
    “Because we called a