Annette Blair by My Favorite Witch

dark jock, and the soft, fair jet-setter, Kira thought a new-millennium pissin’ contest, rich-boy style, might be brewing.
    She leaned back in her chair, tapped her pencil against her smile, and crossed her ankles to wait for the show.
    “Kira,” Goddard said, using her first name for the firsttime since their postmeeting chat, making her name sound like honey on his tongue, probably for Billy’s benefit. “I thought I gave you the afternoon off. What are you still doing here?”
    “I wanted to call Sister Margaret and give her a heads up on the play. She’ll need to get started, and we should set a date for the sake of publicity. Then I want to call a friend on the Journal, see if we can get some buzz going. I think I can get a story in the Boston papers, too.”
    “Go team, ” Jason said. “Want to iron out a few details before you call?”
    “Sure. I’ll be ready in a minute,” she said, going for her notes, pleased by her promotion to the team.
    “Well.” Billy pouted as he rose, ignoring Goddard. “I guess that’s our spin canceled for the day.”
    “Right,” Kira said, waving him off without looking up.
    JASON smiled in approval at Kira’s response to Billy. He and Billy had been rivals through high school, whether it was drinking, sports, cars, or girls, but they’d grown up now . . . for the most part.
    It wasn’t his fault, Jason thought, that the people who worked here at Castleton Court called Billy the Court Jester while they called him the Boss. Sweet.
    Kira stepped into his office, notes in hand. “What are you smiling about?” she asked.
    “Progress,” Jason said. “By the way, I’d like to do a ghost hunt at Rainbow’s Edge tomorrow. How does first thing in the morning sound?”
    “What are we gonna do,” she asked, “sit and wait for something to spook us?”
    “Of course not,” he said on a frown. “I thought we’d check out the library, see what we can find on the history of the place.”
    “I read only one history on each house, so who knows?” she said, choosing a sofa. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and finda tunnel . . . with a skeleton . . . and hidden treasure, so we can improvise.”
    Jason didn’t seem to appreciate her sarcasm. “We’ll find something.”
    “I still can’t believe you invited people to a ghost tour without making sure the house had ghosts.”
    Jason opened his notebook with a hard flick of his wrist. “Had this talk,” he said. “Didn’t appreciate it then. Don’t appreciate it now. Moving on.”

Six
    JASON took the sofa opposite Kira while she reviewed her notes. An art deco coffee table stood between them, but he suspected that a referee would be a smarter bet.
    Over the next hour they discussed the Rainbow’s Edge Ghost tour, disagreeing often.
    The last time he felt this exhilarated, Jason thought, he was gearing up for a championship game.
    The ghost tour quarrel led them to his giving the boys at St. Anthony’s hockey lessons, over which they outright battled, Jason playing offense loudly, Kira playing defense brilliantly.
    “Bottom line,” she said. “They’re boys in need, and you’re an adult who can help them. So, you’ve been benched for a while. Tough cookies. Suck it up.”
    With those words, she’d kept him from scoring. The game ended at one-to-nothing in her favor. Jason was beginning to see his coordinator in a whole new light, while trying not to imagine her in a lot less clothes.
    His luck. He had himself a sexy “witch” with a brain, a heart, and a smart mouth.
    She argued for the sake of the boys, for foundation ethics and good planning, which could only spell success in the end. He’d never admit she was right, but he respected the hell out of her feisty spirit.
    By the time they finished, Jason felt justly pleased with his first day’s work. He’d survived an invigorating battle of wits, and made strides to benefit both the foundation and the boys at St. Anthony’s, but not without the