“Right. Insert a hashtag here like they do on social media. Hashtag provemewrong. Hashtag reallyanasshole.”
“You’re ridiculous.” Ash brings both hands up and rubs them from his forehead down to his chiseled jawline in utter exasperation. I wonder how many other people can make him do that.
“And you’re just…just…well, you gave me this curse, and that about sums it all up perfectly. Hashtag fuckingcursed.”
“Okay, I’m ready for you now. Who wants to go first?” Ginny interjects in the sweetest, firmest old lady—I’ve had just about enough nonsense from you two today, and we haven’t even started flipping these cards yet—tone.
I turn and find her standing right beside us. By the door. I have no idea how she came from the back and walked up to us so silently. Arggh! The authentic creepiness just dialed itself way the heck up.
I think fast and point frantically at Ash. “He does.”
He thinks fast and points frantically at me. “She does.”
We speak and point at the same time. I want to stick out my tongue, but I’m afraid the ring might make my face freeze that way, just like my mom always threatened when I was young. I mean, it’s cursed, and it made Ash Cromwell kiss me in his kitchen. It could make anything happen.
That kiss. No, I am not thinking about that kiss. No freaking way. That kiss, as far as I’m concerned, never happened. Ever. Never. What kiss? Right, the one from never.
“Just follow me,” Ginny says sweetly. She moves off fast and silently, leaving us to work it out between ourselves.
“This was your idea,” Ash says, so close that I can feel his breath on my neck—warm, minty, and sumptuous. It causes a strange vibration to rattle its way through me. “You should go first. After all, you’re the one with the ring on.”
“Fine. If you’re too scared to get in that seat and let the fake lady do a fake reading, then I’ll lady-up and show you that you have nothing to fear.”
Ash is too smart to be goaded, so I guess he gets a point for that one. “Alright.” He grins innocently at me. “Go for it.”
I have no choice but to head to the back. It looks very much like the front, but with more tapestries hanging all over the walls and from the roof, giving it a cavernous, magical kind of look all on its own. The nature sounds are playing back here too, and the incense is so thick that it almost looks like clouds. The table is a small round one with two seats, one on either side. It’s covered with a rich blue tapestry with gold embroidery along the edges, and it spans out in a pattern to the middle.
“What kind of a spread would you like?” Ginny sits down and waits for me to do the same. I slowly sink into the chair. It’s a hard wooden one with a black leather seat. It’s also antique and kind of uncomfortable, but maybe that’s just my rigid-ass posture at the moment.
“Ummm…” Is it wrong that all I can think of for spreads is spread eagle? Yes! Yes, that is very, very wrong.
“Or tell me what you want to accomplish with the reading.”
I practically feel Ash tense behind me. He’s standing just a few paces back from the chair, looming over the table like a big, dark, sexy shadow. Curse you cursed ring! I swear it’s putting these thoughts in my head. The curse has clearly spread from my mind down to my lady bits because that would explain an awful lot. Right, anyway, I can’t just blurt out a big speech about this ring and why it won’t come off my finger.
“Uh, I have a bit of a situation. I want to know what I should do and how it will turn out.”
Ginny smiles at me. Goodness, she’s so cute. Despite her advanced years, she doesn’t have that many wrinkles, and her eyes are the deepest green I have ever seen. She also has a heart-shaped face that makes her look entirely youthful.
“The four-card spread would probably be best.”
“Uh, alright. Sure. Yes, please.” I realize I’m nervous, so I snap my mouth shut.
I watch Ginny take out her deck from a wooden chest on a side table. She treats it reverently, and it makes my breath catch. She shuffles it, glances at me, and then lays out four cards side by side on the table. I hold my breath until she sets the deck aside and looks at me.
“Are you ready?”
I want to say something along the lines of “No, I’m suddenly not,” and literally run out of the shop, but that’s not an option. For one, Ash would never let me live it down, and I can’t stand him thinking I’m not brave enough to sit through my own freaking medicine. Or whatever. I was the one who suggested this, so I have to go through with it, massive waves of anxiety aside.