Mr. shaman

Mild amazement flashed in his eyes which were beautiful, by the way. An intense blue-green. To my relief, he played along and repaid my serve masterfully.

"You bet." His own arm curled around me, his hand resting on my hip with surprising sentiment. "I would have been here sooner, but I got held up in traffic."

Cute. I stared at Micke. "Rain check for our talk?" Micke gazed from me to the guy and then back to me.

"Sure. Yes. Of course." Micke had proprietary emotions toward me, but they were not strong enough for him to challenge a youthful competitor.

A few of my coworkers also stared with interest. Like Micke, none of them had ever actually seen me date anyone. Gabriel Loftbrok busied himself packing up a briefcase, never meeting my eyes again, for all the world ignorant to my existence. He did not even respond when I said goodbye. Possibly just as well.

My "date" and I left the store, stepping out into the cool night. The precipitation had halted, but clouds and city lights blotted out the stars. Examining him, I kind of wished maybe we were going out after all.

He was tall, really tall. Probably at least ten inches taller than my insignificant five-four. His hair was dark and wavy, brushed away from a deeply tanned face that almost made those sea-coloured eyes glow.

He wore a long, Brown wool coat and a scarf with a black, burgundy, and blue plaid pattern.

"Thank you," I said as we paused to stand on the street corner. "You saved me from an…awful situation."

"My pleasure." He held out his hand to me. "I am Shaman." "Nice name."

"I guess. It reminds me of a fantasy novel." "Oh?"

"Yeah. No one is really named that in real life. But in Shamance novels, there are a millions of them. 'Shaman the

Fourth Duke of Babylon.' 'The Shaman Empire.' 'Shaman the Terrible yet Dashing and Attractive Pirate of the carribean'"

"Hey, I think I read that last one. I am Katharina."

"So I see." He shook toward the staff ID badge I wore around my neck. Probably an excuse to check out my cleavage. "Is that dress the standard uniform for assistant managers?"

"This outfit is becoming a real distress in the ass actually," I noted, thinking of the various responses it had elicited.

"You can wear my coat. Where do you like to go tonight?"

"Where do I...? We are not going out. I told you: you just saved me from a minor entrapment, that is all."

"Hey, that is still got to be worth something," he countered. "A handkerchief? A peck on the cheek? Your phone number, please?"

"No!"

"Oh, come on. Did you see how good I was? I did not miss a beat when you roped me in with that come hither look of yours."

I could not deny that. "All right. It is 525-9066." "That is the store number." "..and how did you know that?"

He pointed to the Star City sign behind me. It contained all of the store's contact data. "Because I am literate."

"Wow!!. That puts you, like, Twenty steps above most of the guys that hit on me."

He veered hopeful. "So does that imply we can go out sometime?"

"Nope. I appreciate your help tonight, but I do not date." "Do not think of it as a date then. Think of it as …a

meeting of minds."

The way he looked at me indicated he wanted to meet more than just my mind. I shuddered involuntarily, but I was not cold. In fact, I was starting to feel unnervingly warm.

He loosened his coat. "Here. You are freezing. Wear this while I take you home. My car is around the corner."

"I live within walking distance, a few blocks away." His coat was still warm from his body and scented nice.

"Then let me walk you home."

His perseverance was charming, which was all the more reason I had to end things now. This was precisely the kind of quality guy I needed to evade.

"Come on," Shaman begged when I did not answer. "This is not much to ask for. I am not a stalker or anything. All I want is one walk home. Then you will never have to see me again."

"Look, you merely even know me…" I waited, reconsidering what he had said. "Okay."

"Okay what?"

"Okay, you can walk me home." "Really?" He cheered up. "Yup."

Few minutes later, when we arrived at my apartment building, he threw up his hands in anguish. "That was not fair at all. You are practically next door."

"'One walk home.' That was all you asked for."

Shaman shook his head. "Not fair. Not fair at all. But"..he looked up hopefully at my building. "at least I know where you live now."

"Hey! You said you were not a stalker."

He grinned, beautiful white teeth flashing against his tanned skin. "It is never too late to start." Squatting down, he kissed my hand and gave me a wink. "..Until we meet again, fair Katharina."

He turned and walked off into the Queen Anne night. I watched him go, still feeling his lips on my skin. What an unexpected, and amazing twist to the evening.

When he was no longer in sight, I veered around and went into my building. I was halfway up the stairs when I discovered that I was still wearing his coat. How was I going to get it

back to him? He did that intentionally, I realized. He let me keep it.

I abruptly knew then that I would be seeing wily Duke Shaman again. Probably sooner, rather than later.

Giggling, I continued on to my apartment, halting after just a few more steps.

"Not again," I murmured in exasperation.

Familiar feelings stirred behind my apartment door. Like a glittering hurricane. Like the humming of bees in the air.

There was a group of immortals inside my home.

What the fuck? Did I need to start indicting admission to my apartment? Why did everyone unexpectedly think they could just go right inside when I was not there?

It appeared to me then, ever so briefly, that I had not sensed Jake and Scholes's presence earlier. They had caught me totally unaware. That was weird, but I had been too diverted by their news to pay much attention to anything else.

Furthermore, my current anger did not enable me to further ponder that odd piece of trivia now. I was too annoyed. Flinging my purse over one shoulder, I raved into my home.