Southwest Days (Semiautomatic Sorceress Book 2) by Kal Aaron (best book recommendations TXT) 📕

“This is kind of weird,” Bill said, scratching his ear after finishing a bite of his food.

Lyssa stared at the fish on the end of her fork. “Mine tastes fine. I won’t say it’s the best I’ve ever tasted, but it’s hard to get good fish here compared to back in San Diego. I think I’ve kind of given up on anything better.”

Bill smiled. “I’m not talking about the fish, but it’s cool you told me a little bit about yourself. I can tell you’ve been trying not to. I’m not offended. I get that you’ve probably got your reasons to be careful around guys, but I’m happy you could open up to me, even a little.”

Lyssa had let it slip. She needed to be more careful until she was sure about him.

“You’re not the one who’s weird.” Bill chuckled and motioned between the two of them. “You and I are weird together. This date is weird. I’ve never done anything so quickly before, so I don’t know how to feel about it. I get there are speed-dating and Tinder and stuff, but I’ve never been into that kind of thing.”

“I prefer to think of it as spontaneous rather than quick. And I’ve never done speed-dating or Tinder either.” Lyssa smiled. “Tell me a little more about yourself. A man’s not defined by his truck and his smile, but they are a nice start. And you were brave enough to ask me out, so that’s worth some points.”

“I’m not a big hotshot corporate troubleshooter,” Bill replied. “And I’m from Gilbert, not California.” He smiled. “I shuffle files in an office. Nothing impressive like you.”

“Being a corporate troubleshooter isn’t as cool as you’d think,” Lyssa replied. She set her fork down. “I never know when I’m going to be ridiculously busy or sitting around bored for a while. And it amounts to shuffling files, just not in my own office. I go and tell people they have problems, but I don’t do anything to fix them.”

She didn’t know if she could start a relationship off with a bunch of lies, but she had no choice. Revealing her Sorceress identity to a man she didn’t know would go beyond trusting to ultimate stupidity.

“I kind of understand your whole unpredictable schedule thing.” Bill picked up his beer and took a sip. “What made you want to go into that line of work? I can’t imagine you being a kid and saying, ‘I want to be a corporate troubleshooter when I grow up.’”

The timing link between her library trip and Bill's appearance did suggest a remote possibility of him being involved in the incident. She didn’t think it was likely, but she had the means to check.

Lyssa reached into her pocket and pulled out the shard drive, flipping it back and forth in her fingers with a smile. “I come from a long line of people who like to solve problems in dramatic ways. So in a sense, I did grow up saying I wanted to go into this line of work.”

Bill eyed the drive, but he didn’t look interested or worried, more confused. “You’re not saying you’re a second- or third-generation corporate troubleshooter, are you? Is that a real thing?” He laughed. “Sorry if that came out rude.”

“Something like that, and yeah, something like that.” Lyssa laughed and set the drive beside her plate. “I suppose a lot of people fall into the same line of work as their parents when you think about it. It’s kind of like once you start paying attention to movies, you realize that not only half the actors are the kids of the last generation of actors, half the directors and writers are. What’s it called? Path dependence?”

Bill watched her, not the drive. She might have overplayed her hand. Possibly he could be a Sorcerer and just wasn’t using any active spells, but it’d be much harder for him to pull that off if he was concerned about fighting her.

When they’d entered the restaurant, Lyssa had kept her jacket on and half-zipped, claiming she was chilly. Bill didn’t seem to care or pay special attention to it or take notice of the powerful enchanted spirit-bound weapons inside. Knowing about them might have removed the worry for a prepared spy.

It was time to test him more directly. Passive sorcery was far easier to ignore than active sorcery.

Lyssa concentrated, imagining strings of pure darkness in her mind bundling together. The shadows at her feet deepened, all but unnoticeable, even if someone was looking right at them. Bill didn’t react. His breathing didn’t change.

She released the spell as Bill returned to munching on salmon with a soft smile on his face. Eliminating the possibility of him being a Sorcerer didn’t mean he wasn’t a threat, but so far, the evidence was piling up that he was just a Shadow interested in an attractive woman with a nice bike. Simple statistical probability supported that.

Her job and her brother had driven her into a corner, especially over the last month, but it wasn’t fair or sane to assume everyone was out to get her. He was a pleasant guy with a nice smile. His only flaw was his poor timing. That and his choice of friends, but that was a lot of men.

Lyssa grabbed the drive and stuffed it into her pocket. “I’ve got a question. It’s very important. You should take time and carefully think about the answer because it means a lot to me.”

“What is it?” Bill set his fork down and gave her a concerned look. “I promise to take it seriously, whatever it is.”

Lyssa took a deep breath and locked eyes with him. She let the silence stretch between the two of them. “What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?”

“Strawberry,” Bill replied without hesitation. “Why?” He laughed. “Am I kicked to the curb for not liking chocolate? Please don’t tell me it was supposed to