“No way, just shows you can overcome adversity,” Maxwell chuckled. “But we’re going to break this curse. And before the New Moon, too.”
“I hope so,” Chloe said and then she let out a cry.
“What?” Maxwell sounded alarmed.
“I think that’s it!” Chloe shone her torch over a patch of Wallaby Grass to her left, where she could see just a hint of violet poking out. “The Phebalium, or whatever it is!”
Maxwell followed the direction of her gaze, crouching down to examine it. “It certainly looks like the picture.”
“Finally!” Chloe handed him a trowel. “We both have to get our hands on it, remember?”
“I remember,” Maxwell said, and they both reached for the little flowering plant at the same moment, their fingers brushing together.
Chloe had to try very hard to ignore the embers that spread from her fingertips to her chest at his touch. “Um, well, let’s…” she said, reaching for the spade and trying to angle the torch on a nearby rock.
“Yes,” Maxwell wasn’t looking at her. “Let’s.”
They worked silently, carefully digging around the tiny violet flowers and coaxing delicate roots from the hard, cold earth. It would be hell getting the dirt out from under her fingernails, but when the little plant was finally free, Chloe stood up and held it aloft in triumph.
“Done!” she declared. “Take that, Hedgehog Hex!”
“Well done!” Maxwell said. And, to Chloe’s enormous surprise, he wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug. Before she could fully appreciate what was happening – or just how hard and muscular his body was – he had let go, taking a step back. “I mean, go team us!”
“Go team us,” Chloe echoed, wondering if she had just imagined that hug. But the sparks flying under her skin from his touch assured her that she hadn’t. That was…well, it was certainly something.
“We should get back,” Maxwell said. “You’ve got to work in the morning, I’m guessing.”
“I do,” Chloe sighed. “I’ve got another showing of this cottage on Golden Dawn Avenue. It’s honestly lovely and well-priced, but I’m struggling to find a tenant.”
“Golden Dawn, that’s just off Bailey Street?” Maxwell asked. “Prime location; you could walk to everything.”
“You sound like me,” Chloe teased.
“Maybe you’re rubbing off on me.”
“What, you’re going to start your own Real Estate Agency?” Chloe asked in mock horror. “You should know, I’m pretty serious when I’ve got competitors.”
“I’d have to be crazy to try and compete with you at anything,” Maxwell said, smirking in the torchlight. “You’re far too energetic and productive. I’ve gotten lazy, living the way I do. The only thing I’m planning to do in Crowley Lake is find some folk willing to play poker with me.”
“Really?”
“Cards are my big passion,” Maxwell said. “And poker’s so fascinating. I’m old enough to remember Faro; the game poker originated from. It’s been fascinating to see how it’s changed over the decades.”
“That’s…kind of cool,” Chloe said and listened as Maxwell began to tell her about the history of poker and what had led to Texas Hold’Em becoming the dominant mode of play in the last twenty years.
When she finally dropped the vampire back at the imposing Sanguis Estate in the darkness of early morning, Chloe began to wonder if maybe there was more to Maxwell than just a firm body and model-worthy face.