Alix (The Coven's Grove Chronicles #1) by Virginia Hunter Page B

vanity, and bingo, the keys were right beside them.
    Alix made her way across the room, and grabbed her keychain. She smiled with a touch of regret at the little purple troll that dangled from the chain. He was another purchase she had made the day she got her Volkswagen. A damn shame, she thought. Maybe I can get it fixed up after all this craziness has ended . Shaking her head, she went back to the door, and stepped outside.
    Sam stood next to the twisted piece of purple metal that used to be Alix’s pride and joy. She opened her hands, signaling Alix to throw her the keys.
    “You don’t have to do this,” Alix said.
    “Yeah, I’m a saint that way,” Sam replied. “Look, you guys need to talk some things out...without an audience. Now give me the damn keys before my ass freezes off!”
    “Don’t be gone long, all right?” Alix said, tossing Sam the keys.
    Sam saluted, and hopped into the car.
    Alix went back inside, her stomach began to twist into knots. The whole discussion with Sam about talking to Troy had been just that—talk. Now she found herself on the verge of actually having to do it. Talking that is. How that conversation would go was anyone’s guess, but the closer Alix got to finding out, the less she really wanted to. She was afraid he harbored some resentment about what she had done to him, and how it had put his life in danger. Hell who wouldn’t be? I’d be pretty pissed myself . That was only part of it though. The real reason she was dreading the conversation was because of the possibility that he might not feel the same way that she felt about him. The yearning to be close to him had been so intense sometimes, that it couldn’t have been natural. Being with him the last twenty four hours had helped in a way, but had also stirred something deep inside of her. She wanted him, in every way. And she needed him to feel the same.
    Steam fogged the big mirror over the two-sink vanity. Troy came out in a towel, and began wiping the mirror with a wash rag. The muscles along his back rolled under his flawless skin, and the dimples just above his athletically shaped ass were delectably easy to see in the light streaming from the bathroom. He looked over his shoulder. “Sorry, let me get some pants on.”
    Alix bit back a comment about her not minding him being in just a towel, or even less for that matter. Get a grip girl, she thought, as she sat on the corner of the bed, and said, “Okay.”
    Troy grabbed his jeans and went into the bathroom. When he came back out, his snug-fitting pants had replaced the towel, which was now being used to dry his hair. He was still shirtless, and the muscles along his side rippled as he scrubbed. “Where’s Sam?”
    “She needed some air,” Alix answered, staring at him while his head was still covered by the towel. She moistened her lips, her eyes devouring every scrap of him. “I gave her the keys to go for a drive.”
    Troy stopped scrubbing. “That might not be the best idea,” he said, as he pulled the towel away and eyed her. “At the least she might get pulled over...which I’m sorry about the car by the way.”
    Alix quickly averted her gaze. “Yeah, I thought so too, but she was pretty insistent.” She wrestled with her amped up nerves, until she felt safe enough to not betray her thoughts, then raised her eyes to meet his. “Don’t worry about the car. There are bigger issues to deal with at the moment.”
    “Well, if it makes any difference,” he said with a wry grin, “the jeep that me and that creature landed on back at your apartment was mine.”
    Alix barked a laugh. “So you’re saying what happened to my car was payback?”
    He chuckled, and scratched his chin. “Karma, not payback.”
    Guilt washed over Alix, even though she knew he was just giving her a hard time. The events that had transpired the past few weeks were entirely her fault. “I’m so sorry about the tattoo. I just wanted to give you some protection,” she