Free Kiss of Fire by Deborah Cooke Page B

stupid air-conditioning unit has broken again.” She shook a finger at him. “Now, this is irrational. I’ll call Malone’s, and as soon as the repairman crosses that threshold, I guarantee that thing will start up again. It’ll purr as contentedly as a kitten the whole time he’s here and he won’t be able to find anything wrong with it. That’s happened four times already this week.”
    â€œMaybe there isn’t anything wrong with it.”
    â€œDid that sound to you as if there was nothing wrong with it?”
    Quinn leaned against the counter. “Maybe it didn’t like you pulling away from me.”
    Sara laughed even though Quinn was serious. “Right. Next you’ll be telling me that Magda is haunting the place.”
    â€œDoes she?”
    â€œOf course not! There’s no such thing as ghosts.”
    He smiled ever so slightly, as if she was the whimsical one. “Are you sure?”
    â€œYes,” Sara said firmly.
    â€œThen how do you explain your air conditioner?”
    â€œMaybe I just need a better repairman. There has to be a broken part or some rational reason why it breaks down.”
    Quinn looked up, apparently thoughtful. Sara took advantage of the moment to study him. Maybe it said something about her lack of a social life that she thought he was the sexiest man she’d ever seen, even knowing what she knew.
    Or maybe that said more about just how sexy Quinn was.
    He looked at her so suddenly that he caught her staring, and Sara flushed. “You have to know that seers inherit their gift,” he said. The air conditioner sputtered to life, prompting him to smile the slow smile that melted Sara’s bones.
    And her reservations.
    Maybe he had magical powers of another kind.
    â€œThat was a coincidence,” she said, hating that her tone lacked conviction. “I’m no seer.”
    Quinn arched a dark brow. He picked up the mermaid, which was obviously cold again, and turned it over. “Where do you keep those tools? I’ll hang the door knocker while I’m here.”
    â€œThere’s a toolbox in the back closet, over there.” When Quinn would have turned away, Sara reached out and touched his hand. She was still startled by the spark, but liked that he paused at her touch. “What’s this prophecy, Quinn?”
    He hesitated for a moment, then seemed to recite something he’d memorized a long time before.
    When the Dragon’s Tail demands its price,
    And the moon is devoured once, not twice,
    Seer and Smith will again unite.
    Water and air, with fire and earth
    This sacred union will give birth
    To the Pyr ’s sole chance to save the Earth.
    Quinn held Sara’s gaze for a telling moment as she struggled to make sense of his words, then tossed the mermaid in his hand and turned away to fetch the tools.
    She was going to have Quinn’s child?
    And their baby would save the planet?
    Unfortunately, it wasn’t the first odd thing Sara had heard that day. She swallowed and felt pain in her neck, a reminder that someone had wanted to kill her.
    And Erik had warned her as much. She blinked and looked down at the books that the leader of the Pyr had chosen for her.
    Quinn returned with a drill and an extension cord, as well as a screwdriver. He moved with the athletic grace Sara already associated with him, as if he were totally in touch with the realities of the world. She cleared her throat slightly and he glanced up. “I didn’t imagine the dragon bit, did I?”
    Quinn shook his head. “Sorry. No.”
    â€œDo you do that often?”
    â€œNot as much as I once did.” He paused, then seemed to decide to say more. “It’s not always under my control.”
    â€œSometimes it just happens?”
    â€œNo, it’s predictable.” He opened the door and positioned the knocker. He glanced at Sara and she nodded approval of the location. “Lunar