To Love A Witch (A Novel Nibbles title) by Debora Geary Read Free Book Online Page B

put away enough food to please
even Franco. He clicked on the Skype button to open video chat.
“Hi, Mom. What’s the emergency?”
    “Hi, sweetheart. Who’s the pretty redhead?”
    Like Jolie, his mother could see bits of the
future. There were so many ways this could end badly. Jake cursed
whatever insanity had made him answer the call and tried to avoid
catastrophe. “Just a new friend, Mom.”
    “I don’t think so, my son. I saw her kissing you
on a big rock, with more than one kind of magic in the air.”
    Jake looked over at Romy, apology in his eyes.
She was a fascinating mix of embarrassed and horrified.
    “Jacob Stanley Hayes, is that girl there right
now? Call her over where I can see her.”
    He shrugged helplessly and waved Romy over. She
looked ready to impale him on her fork, but she came.
    “Oh hello, dear,” said his mother. “I’m Deva,
Jake’s mother. You are indeed a pretty little thing. Good for you,
kissing my son like that. He needs a little excitement in his
life.”
    “Mom.” Jake growled, but he didn’t expect it to
do any good.
    “He’s a bit of a daredevil, but I imagine that’s
half the fun. He’s also one of the most steady men I know.”
    To his amazement, Romy grinned. “Somehow, I
don’t think you like your men steady and predictable.”
    His mother was delighted. “Indeed I don’t,
darling, but I think that maybe you do. I won’t keep you. You go
back to eating and contemplating whether you want to kiss him
again. Jake, call me soon, so I don’t have to embarrass you again.”
With that, she was gone.
    Jake badly wanted a bag to pull over his head.
“I’m so sorry. My mom can be a bit overwhelming sometimes.”
    Romy shook her head. “You have a mom who loves
you, Jake. Don’t apologize for that.”
    Okay, now he needed a hole big enough to crawl
in. “She’s always been this big force in my life, and especially
growing up, that could sometimes be really embarrassing. My mom,
the fortuneteller.”
    “Like a real one?” Romy looked fascinated.
    “Yeah. No one sees more than a few bits of the
future, but she gets more than most. I always swore growing up that
she only got the parts where I was going to get into some kind of
trouble. Wreaked havoc with my dating life as a teenager.”
    He reached out to tug on Romy’s hair.
“Apparently, it still is.”
    She went absolutely still, and he was suddenly
very unsure of his next move. Nothing moved, not breath, not
thought. Just the touch of her hair on his fingers, and a fierce
need for more.
    “I didn’t thank you for earlier today.”
    She wanted to talk? Jake tried to get his verbal
brain back in motion. “Thank me for what?”
    “I’m actually not entirely sure what you did.”
She looked away for a moment, as if trying to remember. “While you
were touching my face, there on the rock. I was fighting to tamp my
magic down, the way I have my whole life. I’ve never believed I
could handle it—but you did.”
    He nodded. The memory of her face glowing with
hope and power unleashed was shutting down his verbal brain
again.
    “I could feel some kind of flow coming from you.
Was it magic—were you helping me?”
    He shook his head slowly and closed his eyes as
truth hit. He was such an idiot. His mother hadn’t called about a
kiss. She’d called because she’d seen the moment he’d fallen in
love.
    “No,” he said softly. “It was just me, believing
in you.”
    Her smile trembled. “Why?”
    Words failed. He tugged again on her hair and
pulled her in close. The kiss shook his world.
    Then he realized his world really was shaking.
“Shit.” He cupped Romy’s head under his chin. “Sorry, give me a
moment.”
    The plates on the table started rattling. He
hadn’t lost control of his magic this badly since he was
sixteen.
    Romy looked up, eyes huge. “We don’t get
earthquakes in New Mexico.”
    “Nope. That’s me. You spark, I make the ground
shake.”
    He’d managed to get the shaking down