Jingle Hells (10 page)

While getting advice on my new love from my
old seemed wrong, I had to ask, “But how?”

“Eve is part of Adam’s past. An important
past, it’s true, but still the past. You are Adam’s present and
most likely his best future. Make him see that, Amy, and you will
win.”

We sat in silence for a long moment as I
digested his words. “Why are you telling me this? Don’t you want me
back?”

His gaze told me everything. How much he
wanted me, how much he missed me, how much he loved me. In a blink,
though, his eyes hardened. “I want you to be happy. If Adam makes
you happy, then so be it.”

Outside my office, I heard music and
people’s voices. Samson’s booming one, Delilah’s beautiful one.
Liddy’s laughter. The shop wasn’t open for business, but Emilia and
Keisha had definitely opened it up for friends. “That’s mighty big
of you.”

“Yes,” he snorted and tried to smile. “It
surprises me as well.”

A moment later, there was a knock on the
door. “Who is it?”

Adam stuck his head in, his face going from
happy to see me to not happy to see Lucifer. He stayed in the
doorway and ignored his nemesis as he spoke to me. “Sorry about
earlier. I was hoping we could, you know, pick up where we left
off?”

I sat a little straighter and mimicked Luc’s
hard eye stare. “What about Eve?”

“I explained a few things to her, and well,
I don’t think she’s gone for good, but for now…”

He trailed off and glanced at Lucifer. Luc
was looking down at the floor, but he raised his eyes to mine and a
world of emotion showed in them. “Go,” he said, jerking a thumb in
Adam’s direction. “Fight. Just remember, I’ll be fighting for what
I love too.”

The magic in my chest shivered at his
declaration. The rest of my parts did as well. Rising from the
desk, I went to Adam’s outstretched hand.

“Thank you,” I said to Luc, stopping in the
doorway and turning back to smile at him.

He nodded. “Be happy.”

And with that, he shimmered out of
sight.

“You okay?” Adam asked as we entered the
parlor.

As I’d suspected, Keisha and Emilia were
throwing a party. All my friends were there from the Witches
Anonymous group and even Father Leonard had come by. He and Marcia
were sharing cookies and he raised a glass of red punch to me when
he caught my eye. Bing reminded us he’d be home for Christmas for
the millionth time, and the Christmas tree positively glowed from
the number of lights Keisha and Samson had strung on it. “I think
so.”

Adam squeezed my hand, and suddenly, I had
no problem believing in the Witches Anonymous second step to
freedom. Luc’s last words rang in my ears. Be happy.

A higher power had caused me a lot of
problems, but he’d also just restored me to sanity.

Can a bad witch go good in thirteen steps?
Not if Lucifer has his way with her!

Copyright 2009 Misty Evans

“…one supernaturally sexy incantation from
beginning to end.”

~ Long and Short Reviews

A Tickle My Fantasy story

Amy Atwood is a witch. Not the harm-none
kind…the Satan-worshipping, devil-made-me-do-it kind. But after
catching Lucifer in a particularly wicked hex act with her
goodie-two-shoes Wiccan sister, Amy does what every self-respecting
witch would do. She pops a Dove chocolate in her mouth, ends her
affair with the devil, and swears an oath never to use magic
again.

She wants to be normal. Human. Even if it
means no more fun—and she’s looking for a nice, normal guy to
complement her new lifestyle. And ice-cream-loving firefighter Adam
Foster looks like perfect hero material.

Lucifer, however, isn’t about to be nice
about letting her go. Stalked by Satan, manipulated by the angel
Gabriel—and surprised by Adam’s true identity—Amy finds herself up
to her black hat in trouble of Biblical proportions…

Warning: Welcome to temptation. Sexy Lucifer
is going to enchant you. The original Adam is going to charm you.
And the angel Gabriel is going to scare your socks off!

Excerpt

In a room full of witches, you’d think I
wouldn’t stand out. You’d be wrong.

My name is Amy Atwood and I’m a witch. Not
one of those goodie-two-shoes Wiccans. No, I’m a Satan-worshipping,
Devil-made-me-do-it witch.

However, after catching Lucifer performing a
particularly wicked hex act with Emilia, my sister—a tried and true
Wiccan—I turned my back on the Devil. I didn’t exactly expect him
to be faithful, but bewitching it with my sister? High ick factor.
So, no more casting spells to entertain him. No more curses to
carry out his desires. No more witchery of any kind.

That’s why I was attending my first Witches
Anonymous meeting. Glancing around at the faces staring back at me,
with their raised eyebrows and thinned lips, I suddenly realized
the last part of my introduction, about the Wiccans, I said out
loud. In a room full of the goodie-two-shoes sisters.

Way to go, Amy. Stepping on broomsticks in
less than thirty seconds. A new record, even for me.

Too bad I couldn’t cast a spell and enchant
them all, but I’d sworn an oath to stay clean. Because magic is a
slippery slope. Even one small curse or spell could put me on the
downhill slide back to Lucifer. So far, I was sticking to my oath.
I was good now. Normal.

Human.

Yeesh. The thought made me shudder.

Anxiously caressing the square of Dove
chocolate stowed in the pocket of my jacket, I gave the witches in
the room my most charming smile, full of ear-to-ear goodness. I’d
promised myself if I got through the meeting, I could have the
chocolate.

And there wasn’t much I wouldn’t do for a
Dove.

The door behind me opened, saving me from
making a false apology. A tall, good-looking guy with a determined
look on his face pulled up short as he took in the circle of women.
His T-shirt was a bit too tight and his jeans a bit too loose, but
his boots were high-quality leather with snappy silver toes peeking
out from beneath the frayed hems of his pant legs.

That’s what I call goodness.

His intense brown eyes looked intelligent
when his gaze locked with mine. “Uh, hi,” he stammered, his focus
dropping to my mouth. It stayed there a second too long before
returning to meet my eyes. Thank the devil I’d worn my plum lip
gloss. “Is this room 12A? I was looking for the Harley Brothers
meeting.”

Men and Harleys? Now that was my kind of
group. “I’m Amy.” I stepped forward to extend my hand. “I was
looking for that meeting, too. It must be down the hall.”

The grin that passed over his face showed me
one perfect dimple. He took my hand with confidence, his warm skin
kissing mine like a lover as he pulled me toward him. I noticed an
apple with an arrow piercing the core tattooed on his right
arm.

“Let’s get out of here, then,” he said, “and
let these fine women get back to their…whatever meeting.”

Out in the hall, I put my hand over my mouth
and giggled. “Your timing is perfect. You just saved me from being
burned at the stake.”

Up close, his brown eyes looked like the
color of the Dove in my pocket. The dimple reappeared. “Rescuing
damsels in distress is one of my specialties.”

I’d never considered myself a damsel in
distress. However, the dimple won me over, saving him from a sharp
rebuke. I found myself wondering if his eyes got darker, like
melted chocolate, when he got mad.

Or horny.

He took my hand again. Soft warmth enveloped
it. “I’m Adam Foster.”

Instantly, I thought of Bananas Foster.
Yummy. My mind was already casting a circle of lust around us when
I caught myself.

No spells. No charms.

No fun.

“Nice to meet you, Adam Foster.” I took my
hand back, wishing I could curse Lucifer and Emilia for forcing me
to embrace goodness and normalcy. “I better let you get to your
meeting.”

“You’re not coming?”

“No.” I glanced at the door to Room 13C and
shuffled my feet. “I swore an oath to be good. I have to go back to
this one.”

“Back to the stake, huh?”

“You could say that.”

He gave me a nod. “Maybe after our meetings,
we could grab an ice cream?”

A Harley-riding, tattooed man who wanted to
go for ice cream? Normalcy wasn’t all that bad.

And revenge on Lucifer, whether by stake or
by mortal torment, was extremely satisfying. “I’d love to.”

“Meet you outside later?”

“I’ll be there.”

As he walked away, I watched the back of his
dark brown hair brush his neck and thought about touching that same
spot with my fingers. When Lucifer discovered I’d taken a new
boyfriend—a human one, no less—he’d be mad as hell.

Who says being a good witch isn’t fun?

About the Author

Misty was bitten by the writing bug when she
won a contest in 4
^th
grade with an essay about her dad.
Today, she writes the award-winning Super Agent Series and Witches
Anonymous series. Her debut novel,
Operation Sheba
,
Super
Agent Series Book 1
, won the CataNetwork Reviewers’ Choice
Award in 2008, a CAPA nomination in 2009, and the New England
Reader’s Choice Bean Pot Award for Best Romantic Suspense in 2010.
Operation Sheba
was the number one Kindle Romantic Suspense
book and a Top 10 Kindle bestseller for over a month in 2010.
I’d Rather Be In Paris
, the second book in her Super Agent
Series, was nominated for a 2009 CAPA for Best Romantic Suspense,
and along with the third book in the series,
Proof of Life
,
was a Top 100 Kindle Bestseller in 2010.

Misty is currently at work on the next books
in both her series as well as her new Lost Worlds Series coming
soon from Carina Press. She likes her coffee black, her conspiracy
stories juicy, and her wicked characters dressed in couture. To
learn more about Misty and her books, visit
www.readMistyEvans.com
,
or
www.magicalmusings.com
or follow her on
www.twitter.com/readmistyevans
.
Readers who would love to access free reads may join her Yahoo!
Group at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MistyEvansSuspense
.