The Professor Woos The Witch (Nocturne Falls Book 4) (18 page)

“Thanks, Ivan.” Bridget took his card. “Be right back.”

He leaned toward Pandora. “You must drink a lot of water.”

“I will.” She crossed her heart. Or her entire body. It was hard to tell. “Promise.”

He signed the check, took his card back and helped her to her feet, then made sure she had her purse. They were about halfway to her house when the last shot kicked in. A sudden wave of wooziness came over her, and her strappy gold sandals turned on her. She tilted toward him, grabbing his arm.

He caught her before she fell. “This is no good.”

“I think my shoes are—whoa!” Next thing she knew, she was completely off the ground and in Van’s very strong arms. “You’re carrying me.”

“Da. Your walking now is not so good.”

She poked at his chest. “You’re very muscurly. Muscularly. Muscle-y.” She laughed and poked his chest again.

He snorted. “
Kotyonoko
, you are drunk and it is my fault. I am sorry.”

“No.” She waved her hand through the air. Being carried was really a nice way to travel. “I had a good time and you’re a good listener. Thank you.”

“You are welcome.”

She smacked his chest. “And you paid. You shouldn’t have done that. I have money. How much do I owe you?”

“Drink your water and we are good. It’s what friends do.” He stopped at a crossroads. “Remind me. Which way to your house?”

She pointed toward the street and told him the house number. They started off again. “How’s your house?”

“It’s very good.”

“It’s very big.” She yawned. Sleep was tugging at her hard. She put her head on his shoulder.

“Pandora. We are here.”

“Huh?” She lifted her head. She’d definitely drifted off.

Van was standing on the walk that led to her front steps. “I do not want to put you down. There is someone on your porch.”

She blinked and looked toward the door.

Cole was sitting on the bench by the front door. He stood. He was dressed for a run. Basketball shorts. T-shirt. No glasses.

“Put me down, Van. I can walk.”

He eased her to her feet as Cole came down the steps. His dark eyes seemed angry. Or maybe hurt. “I thought we could talk, but I see now there’s nothing to talk about.”

A surge of annoyance sobered her enough to stay upright without wobbling. Too much. “No, there isn’t. Unless you’ve changed your mind about leaving.”

He snorted and looked at Van. “Doesn’t look like there’s still a reason for me to stay.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Means you work fast.”

Van stiffened. “We are just friends.”

“Yeah,” Pandora added. “Good friends.” Cole was taller, but Van was wider. And Van could breathe fire. Was that a wisp of steam curling out of the side of his mouth? She put her hand on Van’s arm to keep Cole from getting scorched. “Thanks for getting me home. Call me for lunch or something.”

Van’s gaze shifted from her to Cole then back to her. “I should wait until you are inside.”

Cole frowned. “She’s not in any danger from me.”

“I’m a little tipsy, Cole, in case you hadn’t noticed.” She leaned forward and almost fell over.

His frown softened. “Are you okay?”

“I will be. I need to go to bed.”

Van held on to her. “She will be hungover tomorrow.”

“No, no.” She shook her head, then stopped when that made her surroundings spin. “I’m going to drink lots of water, I promise.”

Cole sighed. “She drank because of me.”

Van nodded. “Yes.”

She pushed at Van’s rock-solid arm. “Shh. Don’t tell him that.”

“Damn it.” Cole started to push at his glasses, realizing a second too late he wasn’t wearing them, and dropped his hand. “I’m sorry, Pandora. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I thought you knew—”

“Stop.” Her stomach started doing questionable things. “I just want to go inside and go to bed.”

Van helped her forward. “Keys?”

“Purse.” She handed the bag over to Van. “Side pocket.” Then she looked at Cole. Pretty, pretty, oblivious Cole. “This isn’t the time.”

He nodded. “I see that. I’m sorry. Tomorrow?”

“Sure. Whenever. Bye.” She wanted him gone before she embarrassed herself by blowing chunks all over her yard.

“Tomorrow.” He took one more look at Van, then headed for the street, breaking into a run.

She sighed as the sound of his footsteps faded away. Then she sniffed. She felt like crying. She blamed it on the booze.

Before the tears came, Van had the front door open and Pandora back in his arms. He carried her in, then set her up on the couch with a bottle of water, two aspirin and her cell phone at hand. “I should stay.”

“No, I’m fine. Really.” Embarrassed and way too drunk, but fine.

“You will call if you need me.”

“I will. Promise.”

He slipped her shoes off and covered her with the throw off the back of the couch. “Call me in the morning, or I will come over.”

“Got it.”

Pumpkin jumped up and draped herself over Pandora’s legs.

With the sound of purring and the front door closing, Pandora gave into sleep.

Cole was a well-educated man. He knew the difference between smart decisions and dumb decisions and yet, he thought, as he stood on Pandora’s front porch the next morning, he couldn’t tell which one this was. But he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her or wondering if she was okay. She’d even shown up in his dreams. He had to do something.

Even if that guy she’d been with last night had been something more than a friend.

The shopping bag he carried was filled with take-out boxes of bacon and eggs, hash browns, biscuits, and blueberry pancakes from the diner where he’d eaten breakfast a half hour ago with Kaley and his dad. A place called Mummy’s. It had been very busy, and the food had been very good, so there was no question about the quality of what he’d brought her.

He just had no idea if she’d even open the door for him. Or if her friend from last night would still be there.

Please don’t let that be the case.

If she didn’t open the door, he’d leave her the food anyway. On the rare occasions he’d been hungover, diner food—once he’d been able to eat—had been just the thing. And since he was the reason she was hungover, he kind of owed her.

With no real hope, he knocked.

A few minutes went by. He’d bent to set the bag on the porch when the door swung slowly open. Pandora’s fat orange cat sat in the foyer staring at him.

On the other side of the foyer, Pandora leaned against the kitchen doorway, a cup of coffee in one hand, the other finishing a flourish in the air. Had she used magic to open the door? She was swaddled in a big, fluffy ivory robe, an emerald green P embroidered on the breast. She waved her hand and the door opened wider. She frowned. “I thought you were Charisma or Willa, even though I told them not to come over.”

“I was…worried about you. Are you okay?”

“Do I look okay? I’m hungover like a frat boy after a weeklong kegger. I’m never drinking again.”

“You don’t look anything like a frat boy. You look pretty good, actually.” Her makeup was smudged like she’d slept in it, and her hair was a messy knot on top of her head, but it was kind of adorable. And sexy. An image of her sprawled in bed floated through his mind.

He had it bad for her. Bad.

He picked up the bag. “I brought you breakfast.”

The cat meowed.

“Pumpkin, you already ate.” Pandora stared at him. She’d yet to say he could come in. “From?”

“Mummy’s.”

She perked up a little. “Any pancakes in there?”

“Blueberry. Also biscuits, bacon and eggs and hash browns.”

She swallowed. “You can come in. But I don’t feel like talking.”

“That’s okay.” As long as she felt like listening.

He waited until she’d had her first bite of pancake dripping in butter and syrup, both of which Mummy’s had provided in ample amounts. She made a happy, that’s-delicious noise.

“Good?”

“Always.” She glanced at him, then pointed toward the counter with her fork. “You can have some coffee if you want.”

“Thanks.” He got a cup, then joined her at the kitchen table. “Do you remember much of last night?”

“I remember all of it. I was tipsy and unstable, but I didn’t black out.”

He nodded. “I owe you an apology. And an explanation.”

“I’m listening.” She stabbed her fork into another bite of pancakes.

“I’m sorry for not explaining things better. For not telling you upfront that I had no plans to stay in Nocturne Falls. And for assuming you knew. But I didn’t expect for anything to happen between us, either. You didn’t even like me initially.”

She looked up through her lashes at him. “You seem to think I do now.”

He nodded. “You certainly seemed to like kissing me.”

“I did. I don’t anymore.”

“You can turn it on and off just like that?”

“When it means protecting my heart? Yes.” She got up and refilled her coffee, but stayed at the counter. She held the cup in both hands.

He took a breath, but hesitated, turning his thoughts over in his head before he put voice to them. What if she didn’t want the same things he did? What if…
Just say it.
“I came over here because I wanted to see how you were but also to apologize for upsetting you. And I wanted to let you know that I’m willing to give us a shot if you’re willing to risk—”

She stared over the cup at him, unblinking. “No.”

That wasn’t the answer he’d expected. His gut sank. “No? Really? Pandora, taking risks is part of life.”

Her gaze dropped. “Thank you for the food, but I think you should go.”

He stood. “Why are you so afraid of getting hurt?”

She closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, they held a pain that surprised him. “Because I’ve been hurt. I don’t ever want to feel that way again. And I don’t want to be responsible for someone else getting hurt.”

“No one does, but—”

She mumbled something else that he swore sounded like, “Not again.”

“I’m a grown man. I can take it. Tell me what happened.”

She shook her head. “Cole, you have no idea.”

He took a step toward her. He wanted to pull her into his arms, but he didn’t need an equation to show him how that would turn out. “Then tell me.”

She walked past him and went back to the table. She put her coffee down, picked up her fork, then put that down too. “I had a pretty serious high school boyfriend. He was…a lot like you. He didn’t believe in magic or witches or anything that didn’t have a solid, scientific explanation. My magic was…well, it wasn’t stable. It never has been, but in those days it was early still and everyone thought I was just a late bloomer.”

She took a deep breath, then let it out. “I couldn’t imagine my life without Ren. I thought we’d go to the same college, get married, have kids and live the white-picket-fence life. I also thought I’d make a believer out of him.

“We were coming home from one of the football games one night, and it had just started to rain. I had a stupid impulse to show him just how real my magic was. I don’t know why that moment seemed like the right one, but it did. Teenage foolishness, maybe.”

She swallowed. “I cast a big spell. Way bigger than I had any right to.”

“What was it?” he asked.

“An umbrella spell.” She laughed, but the sound was bitter. “How could he not believe if I could make the rain go away, right?”

She continued, her gaze going to a faraway place. “There was a huge flash of light, and he jerked the wheel and the car rolled.” The color that had started to come back to her face drained out of it. “He was thrown out of the car and killed instantly. I barely got a scratch.”

She’d lived with this since she was a teenager? He tried to imagine Kaley’s reaction to such a thing. No wonder Pandora’s broken magic was such a big issue for her. “Pandora, it’s not your fault a bolt of lightning startled him. I’m so sorry you’ve been carrying this all these years.”