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Chapter Four

I stood on the pavement outside the house, re-checking the door number for the third time. The butterflies sprang to life once more with feeling.

It was a nice house, quaint and well kept. There were no decorations in the front yard except small red geraniums that sprung from window boxes on the ground floor. A short gravel driveway led to a garage where a dirty black soft top Jeep Wrangler sat.

I closed the Maps app and stuffed my phone into my back pocket, wondering if anyone from J. Caw had called ahead and let Remy know I was coming. Maybe I should have done that myself. I guess it was too late now considering I was already standing on the pavement outside his front gate.

It seemed like a nice area and the house was pretty big, so his parents must have had good jobs. I wondered what college he went to and if I'd seen him around before, but surely I'd have noticed someone that I had a whole mystical connection with or whatever.

A key rattled in the front door and I froze like a deer caught in headlights. The door opened, spilling a rectangle of light onto the concrete.

A dark haired head peeked out into the misting rain. "Can I help you?" the figure asked in a deep voice.

It was getting a little dark so it was hard to see, but he looked tall. To be honest though, I'm so short that everybody looked tall to me.

"What?" I said stupidly, my heart racing.

This was not how I'd pictured the meeting going. I'd spent so much time thinking about it, standing outside the front of the house like a lemon, that someone had noticed.

Was it too late to turn tail and run away?

"You're standing outside my house staring at the geraniums like they're in for questioning. Do they need legal representation? I knew I should have gone for the daisies, they don't crack as easily under pressure." He waited a moment in silence, staring at my terrified expression, before saying, "I'm kidding. Do you need help, are you lost?" He adjusted his stance and the light danced on the ground, catching my attention for a second.

"I-" I tried to speak, but no words were forming.

How the hell does someone do this? Hi, I'm here to meet my destined one true love. That sounded dorky, even to myself. I should have called first, this was weird. Why did this feel so weird? Wasn't it supposed to be all sparks and fireworks?

The man stepped back, flicking on a porch light before he reappeared with an umbrella. He popped it open and stepped out into the rain, the porch light illuminating his features. His dark hair looked so brown it was almost black, messily pushed back in waves away from his face. In startling contrast to his dark hair, his eyes were light. Even from afar they looked insanely blue, and as he came closer I noticed they were so bright they were almost husky blue, encased in a froth of long black lashes.

What is it with guys and having such gorgeous eyelashes, by the way? I'm left with stumps that require curling four times and at least thirteen coats of mascara before I give up and put on falsies anyway. Life is so unfair.

Taking a shaky deep breath, I opened the front gate and took a step towards the approaching figure. Or at least, I tried to. In typical Plain Jane fashion, my boot caught the edge of the wrought iron fence and I stumbled. In a feeble attempt to right myself, I grabbed onto the gate. Some of the rusted paint splintered into my skin, causing a hiss of pain to escape my lips.

A firm hand grabbed my arm and steadied me but I couldn't focus on that. A sharp stab of warmth had shocked like a nuclear warhead through my body, bordering on pain, the epicentre where his hand encircled my forearm.

I yanked my arm away, stumbling again as I rubbed at it with my wounded hand. The aftermath of the shock left my ears ringing, almost like a siren was blaring from far away.

Had I just walked into a warzone?

"Oh," was all the man said, with feeling. He was rubbing his own hand against the leg of his jeans, but not like the experience had been unpleasant. He'd felt it too. He smiled crookedly and a dimple appeared in his cheek. It surprised me that my heart skipped a little at the sight.

Who the hell was this guy?

It was silent again for a second before he swept an arm towards the front door. "Why don't you come in? I'll make some tea."

Could this day get any weirder?