He arched one brow. “Good to see you, too.”

“Sorry,” I said with a tiny laugh. “You just caught me off guard. I was thinking.”

He eased back against the file cabinet. “About what?”

“Er, things. Work. Boring stuff.”

My God, I was short. Of all the things I should have been thinking at that moment, this probably ranked near the bottom, but I couldn’t help it. Lucas wasn’t any taller than I was—the real me—but he was a damned sight taller than Paige, who barely hit five foot two. The sensation of having to look up at someone was so disorienting that my brain snagged on it and wouldn’t let go. And while I was thinking this, Lucas was giving me a look that told me I had to do something—something Paige-like—fast.

I slid forward, smiled, and grabbed his hand, then leaned up against the file cabinet beside him, my side touching his.

“So,” I said…and then couldn’t think of anything to go with it.

“About that gift.”

“Gift?”

He smiled down at me. “The one you are trying very hard to pretend you’ve forgotten about.”

“Ah…that gift. The one from…your trip.”

He nodded, and I mentally high-fived myself. Lucas always brought Paige something home from his trips.

“So what is it?” I asked.

He arched a brow again, a clear “You have to ask?” and I knew I was losing ground fast.

“Now, let me see.” I grinned and stepped away, letting his hand fall. “What could it be? A fur coat? Noooo. A Lamborghini? Noooo.”

He shook his head, but didn’t smile. Okay, joking wasn’t going to get me out of this. Think harder—what would Lucas bring Paige as a gift…?

“Magic!” I said. “You brought me a, uh, a spell or a spellbook. Right?”

His brow furrowed. I knew I’d got the answer right, but I think my delivery had been a bit off. I grabbed his hand again and grinned at him.

“Okay, Cortez,” I said. “Stop goofing, and tell me what you brought me. Is it a spell? A new one? What does it do?”

He laughed, and I breathed a mental sigh of relief. Only Paige called Lucas by his last name, and her enthusiasm for new magic matched my own.

“I told you yesterday that I was picking option twelve,” he said. “But I lied.”

“You…did?” Option twelve? What the hell was option twelve and what did it have to do with a new spell?

His lips twitched in a grin that lit up his eyes and made him almost handsome. “Yes, I apologize for my dissembling, but I wished to conceal my true intentions until such time as we were able to execute them without fear of interruption.”

“English, Cortez.”