“You clearly don’t understand the inner workings of the League. Your office space is a physical representation of your status,” he said. “How will other people know that you are very important unless you have a window? Or ten square feet more than they do?”

Dani nodded. “I have much to learn.”

“Well, my door is always open.”

“Is it near a window?”

Rob wriggled his eyebrows. “Yes, it is.”

Dani moved toward the check-out station. “Well, it was nice to meet you, Rob.”

“You, too. Um, some of the employees have a regular Saturday night get together over at the ‘residency court.’ If you like card games and mediocre food, stop on by.”

“Thanks, that’s really nice of you.” Dani pushed her cart to the checkout, where a bored teenager with a remarkable lip ring and blue-green hair scanned her groceries.

“Just so you know, when that guy says ‘card games,’ he doesn’t mean, like, poker,” the girl said.

“Does he mean strip poker?” Dani asked.

The girl shuddered. “Worse. Magic: The Gathering.”

“You have done me a great service.” Dani handed the girl a hundred dollar bill for eighty-two dollars’ worth of groceries. “Keep the change.”

5

Zed

She was on her computer again. Zed had no idea what Dani was doing that required so much computer time. He always thought witches spent their time in the open-air communing with sunlight or some such thing. But he’d worked at the maison every morning for a week, and she hadn’t so much as asked for the location of the faille. She mostly read and worked on her computer, occasionally taking breaks to offer him something to drink or sit on her front porch swing for what she called “meditation naps.”

Zed wasn’t making much progress with Dani’s shower because it turned out that he was not nearly as handy as he usually was when he was distracted by the sight of Dani through her back window. Damn near everything she did was adorable, from the way she got a little line between her dark brows when she was reading to the way she cursed under her breath when she messed up her hunt-and-peck typing.

He was going to have to ask this girl out on a real date or he was going to wind up with a restraining order. And considering that he was the highest authority in town, it was going to be really awkward to sign a restraining order against himself.

Dani emerged from the house in a pair of shorts and a tank top with a llama dancing across the chest. Her long, shapely legs were on full display in the heat, and he couldn’t help but notice the little constellation of dark freckles right over her left knee, that bore a striking resemblance to Ursa Major.

She asked, “You all done for the day?”

“Yeah, I got a bit done.”