A Witching Well of Magic: A Cozy Mystery (Witchy Women of Coven Grove Book 2) Read Online Free PDF

hand in his pants pocket. He was still in that sharp, tailored suit. “I took some time to think it over and run the numbers. I’d like Bailey to come run the tours for me. I tried to digest enough information to run a convincing tour myself, but… I just don’t quite have the hard drive for it. What do you say?”
    Though she’d been excited at the prospect of running the tours again, and suspicious enough of Aiden Rivers to want to keep an eye on him, now that he was actually making the offer Bailey couldn’t help feeling somehow manipulated—like this had been his plan all along; to get her onto the tours for some nefarious reason. Like, perhaps, to keep an eye on her. The irony was not lost on her, but she couldn’t help feeling that way. Not after the odd questions he’d asked.
    So she hesitated.
    Avery’s eyes bulged at her for a moment, from outside Aiden’s peripheral vision as he mouthed, “Oh my word, take it!” and then quickly went back to being calmly, pleasantly engaged but disinterested. Except for his eyes, which bored into her as he willed her to accept.
    It didn’t help that Aiden very quickly sweetened the pot. “So we’re clear,” he said, “I won’t pay you the way Poppy did. I looked over her old books. That kind of money was ridiculous for this job. I can easily triple it, especially if we keep up this kind of business during the summers alone, much less the rest of the year. And, of course, I’ll pay you a good wholesale ticket price on your souvenirs.”
    Somehow, it still felt like manipulation. More so, now. What exactly did he want from her? Why was he really here?
    “ She’ll take it,” Avery said brightly, when she didn’t answer fast enough for him.
    Aiden glanced at Avery, and then smiled back at Bailey. “Is that right?”
    Triple Poppy’s rate. That was very nearly a full time income, and difficult to overlook. Lately, Ryan hadn’t been writing; at least not anything paid. He maintained a blog but it was all new to him and monetizing it was still a long way away. Not so long ago, he’d written the piece about Martha Tells’ murder that had resulted in the story going wide—but there had been some spat between him and the new owners that he preferred not to talk about. Whatever it had been about, it seemed he’d been fired, or blacklisted, or whatever the equivalent for a freelance journalist was.
    This kind of money would be helpful just now.
    Avery and Aiden both stared at her, waiting. Bailey realized she’d been holding her breath, and let it out with a sigh. “Well,” she said, “I suppose, I can’t really turn it down. Not if it means you’d be running the tours.”
    “ Perfectly reasonable logic,” Aiden said. “Wonderful! Well, since you went to all the trouble of filling the books for the next two days, you can start tomorrow, first thing. We’ll sort out the paperwork after the last tour. How does that sound?”
    “ That would be fine with me,” Bailey said.
    “ Good,” Aiden told her. “So, now that that’s out of the way, I do have another question, since I’m here with you two brilliant locals.”
    “ Shoot,” Avery said.
    “ I’m afraid I haven’t gotten around to stocking my kitchen just yet,” Aiden said, “so I find myself in need of a local haunt to get a good supper from. Either of you have any recommendations?” He watched Bailey, though he was, technically, asking both of them.
    Bailey sensed that the question had a bit more nuance than it sounded like, but she went the literal route anyway, just in case. “Well, there’s Gray’s Diner on third,” she said, “they don’t make anything that isn’t great. Then there’s Sandbar, on tenth by the beach—it’s a seafood place. This time of year, they have really great oysters. Brick-a-Brac is a pizza and pasta place, but their pizza is the best; they’ve got this giant brick oven at the end of the dining room where you can see them make it.”
    Aiden was