Southwest Days (Semiautomatic Sorceress Book 2) by Kal Aaron (ebook reader for manga .txt) 📗

get used to it now. This isn’t about me being flaky. It’s my job.” She pulled out her phone. “Give me your number, and I’ll text you to set something up when I’m free.”

“Are we talking days? Weeks? Months? Ballpark?”

“All? None?” Lyssa grinned. “If I knew how my life was going to go from day to day, I’d be a much calmer woman, but I’m willing to entertain the notion something good might have fallen into my lap.”

Bill stared at her, his face scrunched in confusion. She couldn’t blame him. She sounded completely self-absorbed. He could easily find a woman who wasn’t wrapped up in so much trouble. It’d probably be better for him.

Tricia had found Fred. An Illuminated could be with a Shadow outside the old families. In theory, it should have been easier post-M-Day, but she was a Torch with a secret identity, making that all a wash.

But coincidences meant something to her, sinister and otherwise. They could signal the intentionality of people or the universe. Fate might be hard to accept, but that didn’t make them lies.

Too many things in her life had lined up in strange ways for her to accept a random universe devoid of at least a path, if not a plan. She’d come to believe that even more in the last month after finding the picture of Chris.

Pushing Bill away made the most sense for both of them, but Tricia’s advice about finding a life outside of being a Torch hung in the back of her mind. Lyssa was closer to finding Chris than she’d ever been. Once she did, they could be a family again, and a hole in her life would be filled. Would she be able to move on after that?

One way to do that was to seek more. She’d let her personal life all but slip away the last few years until the line between Hecate and Lyssa had disappeared.

“Going once, cowboy,” Lyssa said before she knew what was coming out of her mouth. “Going twice…”

Bill offered his number. Lyssa smiled and typed it into her phone.

“You going to give me yours?” he asked, sounding hopeful.

“You’ll get it when I text you.” Lyssa grabbed her helmet from the back of her bike and pulled it on. “Do what you want in the meantime. And to be clear, this isn’t a loyalty test. You did catch me at a bad time with work and everything else. I’m not saying I’m not a bitch, but I’m not being one about this.”

“What exactly do you do for a living?” Bill asked.

“I’m a corporate troubleshooter.”

“Oh. That’s cool. Whatever that is.” He smiled. “I hope you finish shooting trouble soon.” He chuckled.

“I fully intend to shoot some trouble.”

Lyssa had never understood why she’d settled on that cover story. It’d popped into her head years ago, and she’d run with it ever since. Part of it could be that people didn’t seem that interested in following up once they heard the word “corporate.”

If they asked, she tossed out jargon about synergy and corporate goal alignment, and they smiled and nodded before trying to change the subject. It all sounded important, and she could easily claim corporate privacy kept her from talking about specific clients. It also explained why she had to travel so much and could afford an expensive bike and a nice house in Scottsdale.

“Do you think it’s wise to lead that man on?” Jofi asked.

Lyssa kept her smile through her flare of irritation. She’d only brought him along because she didn’t want to risk running into a rogue unarmed, even if she was limited to the two preloaded mags. The last thing she needed was a bound spirit who didn’t even know what kind of spirit it was giving her dating advice.

The most annoying thing was that he was right. Whether future partner material or assassin, it wouldn’t hurt to expedite things with Bill and test him at the same time.

“Screw it,” Lyssa said.

“Huh?” Bill pointed to himself. “Me?”

“I’ve got to drop something off,” Lyssa said. “I’ll have a few hours after that because I can’t go forward with my current job until I hear back from some people. If you want to have dinner tonight, this is your chance.”

Bill ran a hand through his hair. “Sure. Why not? Just text me when you’re done dropping things off.”

Lyssa started her bike and roared off, leaving the stunned Bill staring after her. She’d either finished a masterpiece of flirting with a long-term payoff or made a hideous mistake.

Chapter Nineteen

Lyssa decided against dropping the shard off with Damien before she texted Bill the address of a relaxed seafood place in Tempe she’d found a week ago. The universe might not be trying to tell her to date him. It might be trying to tell her to shove Jofi in his face and pull the trigger. But whatever happened with Bill, she wasn’t ready for him to know where she lived. Suggesting a place in Tempe might throw him off a little.

Of course, he could trace her license plate, but there was only so far she was willing to twist things in her mind. Unless she confirmed he knew she was Hecate, there was no reason to adopt drastic measures. This didn’t have to be a stressful encounter, and he already seemed tolerant of her personality.

After she offered the location, Bill responded with a suggestion of dinner about an hour after that. Lyssa hadn’t bothered to change. He might as well see the real her, and he’d been interested when she was driving around town before.

They hit the restaurant. Both ordered poached salmon and settled in with their meal. While he chose to have a beer, Lyssa stuck to water. Fighting while drunk was obnoxious and hard, no matter what Hong Kong action movies suggested. And it could be difficult to keep secrets once the drinks flowed.

Light conversation drifted back and forth, mostly idle talk about her motorcycle and his Silverado. She didn’t know what