Take a Chance on Me

Evernight
Publishing

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright© 2012 Vanessa
Devereaux

 
ISBN:
978-1-927368-95-4

Cover
Artist:
Jinger
Heaston

Editor:
 
JC Chute

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING:
The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is
illegal.
 
No part of this book may be
used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission,
except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This
is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any
resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or
dead, is entirely coincidental.

DEDICATION

For Richard
Thompson and all the others who serve their country.

TAKE A CHANCE ON ME

Perfect
Pairing

Vanessa
Devereaux

Copyright © 2012

Chapter One

Disciplinary Hearing: Witches’ Realm Board v. Sadie Sutton

Sadie bit her bottom lip. She wasn’t looking
forward to this day, but it was her own fault. Who would have thought having a
little fun would get her into this much trouble with The Board?

“And how much damage was done to her neighbor’s
car?” asked the chairwoman, Margery.

Sadie slid down on the chair.
Holy shit.
She knew the answer to that: a hell of a lot.
Mercedes Benzes aren’t cheap things to fix.

“Twenty-five thousand dollars, and there was also damage to the
front lawn and part of his house when he drove the car into the living room,”
said
Becca
, flicking through her notes. That had been
his own
damn fault. He should have hit the brakes as
soon as he’d felt himself careening into the front yard.

“And Mr. Mooney.
Did he suffer any injuries?” asked Margery.

Becca
turned back to the first page. Sadie glanced down at her fingers,
pretending to check her nails. Sadie knew what was coming next, and for that
reason couldn’t bring herself to look Margery in the eye.

“He broke his nose. He needed ten stitches in
his forehead, and is still recovering from a broken leg.”

Sadie slyly looked up for just a minute. Margery
pulled her glasses down to the tip of her nose and glared over their rims. She
tried not to look her directly in the eye, but Margery, being older by 175
years, had more power and Sadie couldn’t resist.

The older witch beckoned her over to the chair
directly in front of the table with the five head elders.

Sadie stood, her legs wobbling as she made her
way over to them. She’d only meant to teach her neighbor a lesson and have some
fun at the same time. After all, he’d backed over her newly planted petunias
and begonias.
 
How could she have known
he’d held no malicious intent but was just one shitty driver? And when she’d
sent a little hocus-pocus his way, how could she have guessed that her powers
would be strong enough to cause mayhem?

Margery raised her finger and let it fall
swiftly. Next thing Sadie knew her butt had hit the chair with force. Obviously
she’d been daydreaming and hadn’t heard the request to sit. Margery wasn’t
known for her patience, or her leniency, for that matter.

“And what do you have to say for yourself, Sadie
Sutton?”

“I’m sorry.”

“A little late for that.
It’s not surprising that we witches and warlocks get a bad name
when you do awful things like this to innocent mortals.”

Sadie swallowed. She somehow knew she wouldn’t
like the sentence that was about to be handed down.

“I think the punishment should fit the crime.
I’d like you to do something that will benefit mortals in the nicest possible
way, and am therefore assigning you to work with Nadine.”

Oh, God. No. The woman wore nothing but pink and
worked with everything connected with love and sex in the universe. Sadie
didn’t know the first thing about either.

“I don’t think it would be a good match,
because…”

Margery raised her hand. “Where are your
manners? I haven’t told you to speak, nor to argue with your sentence, for that
matter. You will work with her and take on whatever assignment she gives you,
and hopefully you won’t get yourself in any more trouble.”

“And how long is this assignment to be?”

“Ah, yes, I have to decide upon a punishment
level. Let’s say fifty years, shall we? And you’re to report to her
immediately.”

Margery snapped her fingers and before Sadie had
a chance to even open her mouth again she sat opposite Nadine, who was checking
over Sadie’s council hearing papers. A bright pink boa adorned her neck and
shoulders and she tapped the desk with her frosted pink nails as she read.

“So I have you for fifty years,” she muttered.

Sadie rolled her eyes, hoping Nadine didn’t
catch it.

“I saw that. And might I just add that here in
the love department, there is no room for cynics…”

“I don’t know the first thing about love among
the mortals.”

“You’re here to learn. You do know that we
arrange for couples to meet in the first place, don’t you?”

“We make people fall in love?”

Nadine shook her head.
“Not
exactly.
I mean, they’re destined for one another, but sometimes they
need a little help getting together, you know? Just a little push, and that’s
where we step in.”

“Sort of like matchmakers?”

“Exactly,” said Nadine, punching the air.

“So how do we do that?”

“That’s going to be your new job. I’m getting a
bit too old to do all the work, so you’ve come along at the right time.”

Sadie had heard that Nadine was actually 400
years old, but lied about her age on her driver’s license.

“Oh, and I should tell you that we’re also
responsible for mind-blowing orgasms, too.
If you ever come
across a couple who need a little help in that department, that is.”

Sadie almost choked on her own spit.

“I have to arrange for mortals to…you know…?”

“Well, you help them just a tad.
 
Most women would be very disappointed if we
didn’t enhance things a little. Yes, some mortal men have no idea how to make a
lady go cross-eyed or what to do to curl her toes.
Quite sad,
really.”

“So, what’s my first assignment?”

Nadine snapped her fingers and her file cabinet
rolled open. A thick folder overflowing with papers flew through the air and
landed with a thump on her desk.

She slid it across to Sadie. “Here you go: a
list of couples we need to get together. Read through them and start to make
notes of who belongs with whom.”

Sadie was about to raise her finger in the air
and direct it at the folder when Nadine slammed her fist down on the desk,
making her pink tea cup jump so high it careened off the desk before shattering
on the floor.

“Darn it, that was my favorite one,” said
Nadine. “You are not to use your witches’ skills for this.”

“But I’m a witch, and this is the love
department.”

“It’s your punishment. You will match them up
with non-witching skills.”

Sadie looked at the folder. Shit, this would
take all of fifty years.

“Go on, off you go.
And no
getting into any trouble.
You’re to report back to me in a week, at
which time I want to hear you’ve got at least one couple together.”

Sadie grabbed the folder and headed outside. She
snapped her fingers and returned to her house to live among the mortals. She
flopped down onto the couch, glanced out the window and noticed her neighbor
outside in his yard. He still had his leg in a cast and was sitting on a chair,
suntanning
.

Sadie knew she should go and apologize to him.
She realized she’d been downright mean.
Howe
But first, she had to find two people to pair. She opened the
folder and looked at the case histories and photos. This would take forever.
She couldn’t use her witching skills, but there had to be an easier way to do
this.

An idea came to her.

What better way to do the work than to get someone else––a
mortal––to do it?

She’d open a matchmaking service. That would
narrow it down. People would sign up and she could read their profiles and pair
accordingly. Sadie closed the folder with a smile on her face. Maybe this
punishment wouldn’t be so bad after all.

“You did what?”

Mitchell ran his hand over his head, and for the first time in a decade
felt what could be considered actual hair and not the short stubble he’d grown
accustomed to. He glanced in the mirror: this new look would take some
getting
used to.
 

This whole
way of life will take some getting used to.

“You still there?”

His
brother
Ryan’s
voice jarred him back to more important things, like this blind date Ryan had
arranged without asking him first.
 
After
a bad experience, Mitchell had vowed never to try again. He’d thought he made
that more than clear to his baby brother.

“Yeah, I’m here…and I’m still pissed at you.” He
sat on the bed.

“You shouldn’t be, because I went to a lot of
trouble to arrange this for you.”

“You know I hate blind dates. In fact, it was
you who set me up on the last disastrous one, while I was home.” He spotted a
loose thread in the quilt and began to pick at it.

“Guilty as charged. However, this time it’s
going to be different.”

“Different?” Mitchell scooted up the mattress
and leaned back on the headboard.