Bewitching You Read Free Page A

He was handsome, he had a successful career at Linden’s Advertising, and they’d been through a lot together, including the death of Hayes, Gray’s twin brother.
    Her chest constricted.
    Rachel didn’t want to think of Hayes. Not now. It was too painful. She shook the depressing memory out of her head and turned her thoughts back to Grayson.
    The clincher had been when he’d met her parents. They’d immediately adored him. He had them under his spell...or it could have been because he was the first man she’d ever brought home who wasn’t an unemployed artist of some sort. Rachel couldn’t help it. She’d loved the passion that exuded from a man holding a paintbrush or a guitar or a camera...
    Consequently, Gray was the first boyfriend her parents had liked, and it felt good to have their approval finally. So good, that when Grayson had proposed a couple months after Hayes’s funeral, Rachel had accepted. Time to move on.
    No looking back.
    The bell above the bakery door rang and she crooked her head to see Grayson walk in.
    “Hi,” Rachel said, surprised. She wasn’t expecting to see him until dinner.
    He wore dark jeans, a snug t-shirt that stretched against his muscular chest, and a smile that melted her heart. He really was a handsome man.
    And he looked so much like Hayes.
    ~ * ~
    Gray pulled Rachel into his arms and squeezed her tight. The morning’s events had left him frazzled, and he needed to be with his fiancée so he could forget about who he thought he’d seen.
    “Wow,” she whispered into his ear as he lifted her off her feet. “This is a...nice surprise.”
    He set her back down and met her bemused stare. He brushed a lock of her strawberry-blonde hair away from her porcelain cheek. She was beautiful. Everything he needed in a woman, he reminded himself, even as an empty feeling settled in his stomach. “I came to help.”
    “Really?”
    “Yeah.” He forced another smile.
    “Grayson?” Nora came up behind Rachel, wearing the same confused expression on her face. “Whatever are you doing here?” She walked around and gave him an air kiss.
    “I’m here to help with the wedding plans. It’s long overdue, don’t you think?” He grabbed Rachel’s tightly fisted hand and maneuvered his fingers in between hers. She always seemed tense around her mother.
    “Of course not. You’re a busy man, and Rachel, well, Rachel’s just a student. She and I can take care of all the details. Your job is to worry about showing up to the church on time.”
    Rachel bit into her lip, probably holding her tongue like she did so well. Gray wondered what it would take for her to defend herself. He longed for the day it would happen. Maybe at dinner he’d give her a pep talk. What she needed was a confidence boost. Being raised by a woman like Nora couldn’t have been easy.
    “Isn’t that right, Rachel?” Nora cocked her head in that condescending way that grinded Gray’s nerves.
    “Sure,” Rachel said softly, as she lifted some chocolate frosting off a piece of cake. “We can handle it."

Chapter Two
     
    A car was parked in the driveway of the home Sofia and her mother shared, so Sofia pulled along the tree-lined city street and cut her engine. The old blue sedan probably belonged to one of her mother’s clients. It didn’t look familiar.
    Sofia’s mom was one of many fortunetellers in Indianapolis, Indiana. She read palms and tarot cards with an accuracy that bewildered and sometimes frightened. Occasionally, when urged by an eager, generous client, she brought the crystal ball into play. To Laura, a ball of glass was just that—a ball of glass. Still, it was the one prop that delighted most of her patrons and had them coming back for more.
    “Who am I to argue?” Sofia’s mother had once said with a devious grin and a handful of cash. “They only want to hear good things about their future anyway.”
    Sofia couldn’t blame her mother. The few times a client had gotten a preview of an