Ficorpio
Chapter 1
“You flirted with me, and now you want to run?”
The man wrapped an arm around me and lowered his face closer and closer.
My cheeks burned. I was far too embarrassed to look up.
His handsome, mischievous eyes gleamed with amusement as he leaned toward my ear and murmured, “If you’re trying to have a baby, I’m willing to put in the effort.”
Me: ???
On New Year’s Day, I received a wedding invitation from my ex-boyfriend, Daniel Reed.
My best friend, Hannah Carter, tapped me on the forehead with an expression of utter exasperation. Without giving me a chance to argue, she dragged me out of bed and announced that she was taking me to see an incredibly gifted Pana Tarot reader who could tell me all about my romantic prospects.
I was completely unwilling. I hadn’t even finished watching Julian Vale’s new show!
Hannah snatched my mobile phone away. “Keep watching, and Julian Vale still won’t become your husband!”
What I never expected was that, later that day, I would actually meet a man who looked nearly seventy percent like Julian Vale.
And he would wrap an arm around my waist and demand that I take responsibility for him.
“Master… I’d like a reading.”
I swallowed as I stared at the man sitting across from me, suddenly nervous.
Just a minute ago, Hannah Carter had shoved me into the private room before running off to greet someone. On her way out, she’d leaned in with a mysterious smile and told me the Pana Tarot reader was already waiting inside.
When I entered, I found only one person in the room: a young man idly shuffling a deck of Pana Tarot Cards in his hands.
His fingers were long and elegant, the knuckles sharply defined. They were almost unfairly attractive, and I caught myself staring at them for several seconds too long.
“What would you like to know?”
His voice rolled through the room, deep and magnetic.
I shivered. A strange tingling sensation ran through me, as if a current had passed over my skin.
Good grief. Why was his voice so… seductive?
At that moment, the man slowly lifted his head.
The instant I got a clear look at his face, I froze.
Oh my God. He looked exactly like Julian Vale!
Not one hundred percent, maybe—but at least seventy percent. The sharply defined features, the slightly arched dark brows, and those lazy, wicked eyes all bore an uncanny resemblance to the celebrity.
Especially when he looked at me and the corner of his mouth curved into a rakish smile…
My heart began pounding wildly. I couldn’t seem to look away.
Chapter 2
That woman Hannah had never mentioned that the Pana Tarot reader was this handsome!
I glanced down at the oversized sweatshirt I’d thrown on without a second thought. Suddenly, I regretted not making an effort before leaving the house.
“Weren’t you here for a reading?” The man’s lips curved again as he watched me with amusement. “What do you want to know?”
His question snapped me out of my ridiculous fantasy.
My head went hot, and before I could think better of it, I blurted out, “I want to know if I’m going to have a baby!”
“A baby?”
The man’s magnetic voice drifted over me again, edged with teasing amusement.
I froze.
Oh, God. What had I just said?
It was all Hannah’s fault. She’d been going on about having a baby every single day, and now I’d started talking without thinking.
I waved my hands frantically, my face burning. “No, no. I said that wrong. I meant a reading… about my love life.”
“A reading about your love life…”
He repeated the words with deliberate meaning.
My face grew even hotter. “I… my friend dragged me here. I just thought I’d ask a few questions…”
This was mortifying.
“Ohhh.”
For some reason, he drew out that one syllable until my heart began to pound wildly.
“Pick one.”
The man laid three Pana Tarot Cards on the table before me, then lifted his eyes and smiled.
I hesitated and stole another glance at him. The faintly roguish curve of his eyes caught me off guard.
I swallowed, and the heat in my cheeks shot higher.
No. Absolutely not. If I kept looking at him, I was going to lose all self-control.
I dropped my gaze in a panic and randomly picked a card.
“The Lovers.”
I blinked.
What did that mean?
Confused, I looked up at him. He gently rocked the card between his fingers, the corner of his mouth lifting.
“Looks like your love life is going to be pretty good this year.”
I blinked again, unable to tear my eyes away from that devastatingly handsome face. A pleasant little flutter stirred in my chest.
The man raised his brows, amusement deepening in his eyes, and had me draw five more cards.
I watched nervously as he studied the spread.
The smile between his brows grew more pronounced. “The cards say your Prince Charming will appear this year. And there’s a good chance it’ll end happily.”
He paused, then looked up at me with a wicked grin.
“Possibly with a wedding.”
My heart skipped.
“As for the baby…” His gaze flicked over me, still full of mischief. “If you work hard enough, there’s still hope.”
My face went even redder.
At that moment, the private room door opened from the outside.
“Sweetheart, I found the Pana Tarot Reader for you!”
Hannah’s excited voice rang through the room.
I stiffened and looked up. She hurried toward me, followed by a middle-aged man with an extraordinary air about him.
“Sweetheart, it turns out the Pana Tarot Reader stepped outside to take a call. I happened to run into him when I came back!”
Chapter 3
Hannah rushed to my side, beaming, and pointed toward the middle-aged man standing in the doorway.
The newcomer glanced at me, then at the man seated across from me. For some reason, I felt there was something meaningful in his look.
But my mind was already buzzing too loudly to focus on him.
I stared blankly at Hannah, then at the man who looked uncannily like Julian Vale.
The smile on his lips grew deeper and deeper.
And then I understood.
Oh, God.
At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to disappear through the floor.
Of course Hannah, who never met a situation she couldn’t make worse, kept urging me to go over to the middle-aged man for a reading.
“This Pana Tarot Reader is incredible. Every reading he gives is dead-on! If he weren’t Owen Carter’s childhood friend’s uncle, we never would’ve been able to get him here. Go on!”
“I don’t want a reading anymore…”
What was the point? I was already so mortified I wanted the floor to swallow me whole!
But before I could finish, that menace Hannah gave me a shove.
Caught completely off guard, I lost my balance and stumbled forward. The next second, my entire body pitched straight toward the floor—
Oh, no. There was no way I was going to avoid making a fool of myself now!
I resigned myself to the inevitable and squeezed my eyes shut.
Just as I expected to meet the floor face-first, an arm suddenly tightened around my waist. A moment later, a large, warm hand caught me, and in my panic, my own hand landed directly against the stranger’s chest.
Even through his shirt, I could feel the solid muscle beneath it…
Thump, thump—
My heart raced wildly, pounding so hard it felt ready to leap right out of my chest.
“Are you all right?”
The voice above me was so beautiful it could have made me forget how to breathe.
My heart gave a small, startled flutter.
“I’m— I’m fine…”
Embarrassed, I spoke as I slowly lifted my eyes.
Then I met a pair of clear eyes sparkling with a roguish smile.
With that handsome face so close to mine, only one thought remained in my mind.
I was done for. Totally, completely done for.
The man’s eyes curved with amusement, his smile so dazzlingly bright that it finally snapped me back to reality.
Oh God. What had I just done?
Mortification swept over me. I scrambled out of his arms and retreated to my seat, curling in on myself until I was practically a ball.
Hannah Carter, that traitorous woman, looked delighted. As if that weren’t bad enough, she gave the man a thorough inspection from head to toe, looking for all the world like an approving mother sizing up her future son-in-law. The grin on her face was impossible to hide.
She leaned over and reached for me. “Sweet—”