“I know,” he repeated, but this time, he lowered his mouth to mine as his other hand curled around the nape of my neck. It was a deep and fierce kiss, sending a rolling wave of heat through me. I wondered if he could devour me with just one kiss. I was so willing to engage in a little public indecency and find out, right here, in the parking garage. But he lifted his head, nipping at my lower lip in a way that sent a curling motion through my stomach.

“Goodness,” I whispered as he let go of my hand. “You’re really happy to see your car, aren’t you?”

“After we deal with the Crone, how about we find out?” he suggested.

A flutter moved from my chest to my stomach and then lower. “I am so okay with that.”

“Then let’s get this over with as quick as possible.”

I all but threw myself into the passenger seat. Letting the bagged feather rest in my lap, I buckled myself up as Zayne climbed in behind the wheel. He took a moment, checking the rearview mirror, gripping the steering wheel and straightening the visor before turning the key. The engine purred to life, and the smile that broke out across his face caused my heart to squeeze.

Shifting the gears into Reverse, he looked over at me. “Where’s your sunglasses?”

“Lost them.”

“Again?”

“Again.”

“Man, we’re going to have to start ordering them in bulk.”

“So I can start losing them in bulk?”

“Maybe we need to get a sunglasses subscription service for you, then.” He reached over, opening the glove department. He pulled out a pair of silver aviator-style sunglasses. “These aren’t that dark, but they’ll work until we can get you another pair.”

“Thank you.” I took the sunglasses and slipped them on. “How do I look? Badass?”

“Beautiful.” He backed the Impala out. “And badass.”

My smile was so big I was sure I looked like the biggest dweeb known to man, and the smile pretty much remained there as we drove to the Hotel Witchy. We chatted about Peanut and made plans to stop by the Warden compound to retrieve his phone after we made a pit stop at a drugstore...to purchase a pregnancy test for the first time in my life.

Fun times.

We arrived at the hotel, parking in the nearby garage. When we entered the hotel and I went to push up the sunglasses, Zayne took them from me.

“I think I’ll have better luck with them,” he said, hooking an arm of the sunglasses around the collar of his shirt.

“Probably.”

As we rode the elevator up to the thirteenth floor and walked the hall to the restaurant, I wasn’t at all worried about whether the Crone would be here. I had a feeling she knew exactly what day we’d return.