Page 11 of The Tea Witch's Promise

"I think walking would be better."

With a smile, he came towards me and didn't stop until he was mere inches away. He was so close, I could feel the heat radiating off of his body and smell ale on his breath.

My heart beat faster and there was a part of me that recognised the feeling as one I'dneverhad around Rooibos Brewster before.

"Brew?" I whispered, trying to dismiss the feeling as just because of the ale. It wasn't because I wanted him to kiss me. It couldn't be.

He tapped my nose gently and wrapped my shawl back around me. He adjusted the way it fell over my shoulders in such a caring way that it did funny things to my insides. Every touch was like a whisper of care. It was warm from being around his body, and more than that, it smelled like him, even if that shouldn't be possible from the short time he was wearing it.

"There." He gave me a doting smile, but it wasn't like those he gave to Jasmine and the twins. Or even to Oliver. I didn't think I'd ever seen him look at anyone like this.

My heartbeat quickened from his proximity and the heat rushing up to my cheeks had nothing to do with the ale. Instead, I found myself staring into Brew's dark blue eyes. Up close like this, he was truly handsome and I could see why all the giggly women were so crazy about him. Nice lips, a strong jaw, and slight stubble that I wanted to run my fingers over.

The thoughts surprised me. MaybeIwas drunker than I thought.

Brew stepped back, breaking the spell he had me under. "Goodnight, Katie."

I swallowed hard. "Goodnight."

He sauntered away, only turning around when there were a good ten paces between us. He gave me a lopsided smile. "I never said I wasn't interested."

My chest tightened even more and I could almost feel my heart burst. Why did I almost believe him when he said it like that? Worse, why did I want it to be true?

I really had drunk too much if I was fantasising about Rooibos Brewster.

Chapter7

Brew

The scentof tea filled my nose as I entered the warehouse where we stored it for the infirmary, and our own personal family use. My magic tingled within me, as if able to sense that I was so close to the source of my power.

The smell of the dried leaves was invigorating and I wanted to roll around in it like a cat getting high on catnip. It would garner some strange looks from my siblings and I was sure Mum would kill me if I did something so wasteful so I restrained myself.

That seemed to be one of the things I was getting a lot of practice with at the moment.

My gaze strayed to Katie on the other side of the room where she was having an animated conversation with Cami. Although it seemed mostly one-sided, which wasn't a huge surprise, Cami dominated pretty much any conversation she was in.

Katie looked over in my direction, and our gazes locked. For one moment, it felt like the world faded around me, and nothing mattered but my best friend's sister.

And then she looked away.

That was not a good sign.

I wondered how much she remembered from that night outside the tavern and how seriously she'd taken my tipsy confession. I'd been worrying about it constantly since, and I'd been dreading Oliver bringing it up. The two of them were close, there was no way she'd be able to keep quiet about me doing something dumb. But he hadn't said anything yet.

Hopefully, she'd just brushed it off as a joke, the same way she did all the other times I'd flirted with her. As much as my feelings were true, it didn't seem mutual and I didn't want to make her uncomfortable. It was probably for the better that she didn't reciprocate, I didn't want to complicate our lives or those of the people closest to us. Like Oliver who would not be happy about me starting a romance with his one and only sister. And that was before I considered the delicate balance between the four families who ran Purple Oak. I couldn't pretend to understand precisely how it all worked, but Mum had been explicitly clear with me when I'd started showing interest in people.

The children of the other four families were off-limits. And that included Katie.

Jasmine marched into the warehouse and clapped her hands, putting an end to the chatter. When we were younger, I'd always envied her easy way of commanding people. She was so good at it, and it felt like I should be better considering I was the oldest. Now I was grateful for it. I didn't really want to be the one in charge, I was much more comfortable in the infirmary.

"It's going to be a long day so let's get started," my sister said.

"Loosen up, you sound like Mum," Cami responded.

I snorted but held back my laughter. I knew how my sister was and she meant business. There'd be no messing with her today. Everyone was going to doexactlywhat they were told.

Jasmine set her hands on her hips, in exactly the same way as Mum did. "And if you don't quiet down,Chamomile,I'll tell you off like Mum."