Free No Shoes, No Shirt, No Spells (Mystic Cafe Series) by Rose Pressey Page A

Rory.” I wanted to grab him by the shirt, drag him to the back, and tie him up in the storage closet. But maybe this was a good thing. From the looks of what I saw earlier, I didn’t know if I could handle watching women fawn all over Rory. If Tom discovered the spell had worked on him, maybe he could fix it, although I still stood the chance of losing the café. It was a lose-lose situation.

Chapter Fourteen
    Within an hour, Tom had returned, and Rory came through the door with him. I said a silent prayer that a crowd of women hadn’t followed him into the café. Maybe the spell had worn off. Could I be that lucky? No, it would probably linger like cheap cologne.
    “ I don’t know what hit me, but I’m suddenly starving.” Rory glanced from me to Mary Jane.
    “ Have a seat.” I smiled, then cast a glance over at Tom.
    He shrugged as if to say, “Yeah, I know I’m good at what I do.”
    Rory slid into a booth and I placed the menu in front of him. His smile was contagious. I smiled so much when he was near that my cheeks hurt. My thoughts turned to his lips and how they’d feel pressed against mine. Now was not the time for me to become sex-crazed.
    He waved off the menu. “If you don’t mind, I’d like another cheeseburger. I didn’t get to finish the last one.” He winked.
    He’d asked for another burger? Seriously? This guy was braver than I thought.
    I blushed. “Sure, no problem.”
    As I moved away, Tom approached.
    “ I don’t like this at all.” I wiggled my index finger in his direction. “I only like the idea of doing magic that helps others, not something that would make them talk against their will.”
    “ It won’t make him talk against his will. He’ll only tell me what he wants me to know. It’ll come without him questioning my motives, though, so that makes things a lot easier.”
    “ If you say so, but no funny business.”
    “ Hey, I’m not the one mucking up my magic.”
    I stuck out my tongue.
    When Tom slid into the booth across from my handsome magical mishap, I reluctantly walked away. Rory’s burger couldn’t cook fast enough. Now would have been a perfect time to try and find a reverse spell, but I wanted to hear every word exchanged between Tom and Rory. There was no time. Tom had said I’d get to hear it all for myself, and I was going to hold him to that. My only hope was Mary Jane listening in. Thank goodness she had busybody tendencies.
    I hurried from the kitchen with plate in hand.
    “ Have a seat,” Tom said when I approached their table. “We’re just chatting. Since you don’t have any other customers right now, why don’t you join in?”
    He had the smooth talk down pat. His demeanor bordered on used car salesman though, so he might want to tone it down a notch. I’d have to inform him later.
    “ I’d love to,” I said through a forced smile. But I was faced with a dilemma: which side to sit on? If I picked Rory, I might overheat, but if I picked Tom, Rory would again think we were an item. I pulled a chair up to the end of the booth. Problem solved. Tom gave me a sideways glance and released a snicker. This all seemed so wrong and it kind of creeped me out.
    “ So, tell me Rory, how are things?” Tom picked up one of Rory’s fries and popped it in his mouth.
    “ What do you mean?” Rory squirted ketchup on his burger, then replaced the top of the bun.
    “ I noticed you had a very beautiful woman hanging around earlier.” Tom wiggled his brow.
    My stomach churned when he mentioned the beautiful woman. Did she have to be a knockout?
    “ Is that your girlfriend?” Tom stared at Rory expectantly.
    My throat tightened as if a boa constrictor had coiled around it. How had Tom found out? I didn’t think he’d noticed. Please let Rory answer with a resounding no.
    “ No. She was my girlfriend.” He glanced at me, then peered down at his plate. “We, um, broke up over a year ago.”
    “ Still friends then, I see. Close friends,” Tom