Forever Magic

by T. M. Cromer

  Copyright © 2019 by TM Cromer

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  All rights reserved.

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  ISBN: 978-1-7338198-3-1 (Digital)

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  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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  Cover art: Deranged Doctor Designs

  Editor: Trusted Accomplice

  Books by T.M. Cromer

  Books in The Thorne Witches Series:

  SUMMER MAGIC

  AUTUMN MAGIC

  WINTER MAGIC

  SPRING MAGIC

  REKINDLED MAGIC

  LONG LOST MAGIC

  FOREVER MAGIC

  ESSENTIAL MAGIC

  MOONLIT MAGIC (coming soon)

  Books in The Stonebrooke Series:

  BURNING RESOLUTION

  THE TROUBLE WITH LUST

  A LOVE TO CALL MINE (coming soon)

  THE BAKERY

  EASTER DELIGHTS

  HOLIDAY HEART

  Books in The Fiore Vineyard Series:

  PICTURE THIS

  RETURN HOME

  ONE WISH

  Look for The Holt Family Series starting March 2020!

  FINDING YOU

  THIS TIME YOU

  INCLUDING YOU

  AFTER YOU

  THE GHOST OF YOU

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Epilogue

  Essential Magic Excerpt

  From the Author…

  Also by T.M. Cromer

  To Monica B.

  Thank you for putting up with me and all my quirks. Your patience and understanding defies belief. I need to find a way to channel your Zen.

  1

  Someone was in the house.

  In an economy of movement, GiGi Thorne-Gillespie stood, dressed in a stunning black catsuit, and conjured a weapon, all with a simple wave of her fingers. With a few whispered words from old Granny Thorne’s spell book, she’d effectively cloaked herself and any sound she was likely to make. She didn’t bother to be quiet—there was no need now that any noise would be deadened—and headed for her husband’s unused study.

  Husband? Ex-husband was closer to the truth. The divorce would be final within the next thirty days. A divorce that she had requested. For a moment, she wished things could have gone differently. Wished she and Ryker might have continued on as they had begun—deliriously happy.

  She shoved aside her melancholy and focused on the problem at hand—the intruder in her house. Light shone through the crack in the doorway. GiGi placed an eye to the opening and peered through. Whoever was in there had moved outside the scope of her vision, which meant she would need to enter.

  Easing the door open infinitesimally, she held her breath then waited. When the sounds of movement continued uninterrupted, she inched the door wider. Once again, the intruder moved out of her sightline. She swore quietly and pushed the door wider still.

  Without warning, a hand came from nowhere and pinned her to the wall. Acting on instinct, she lifted her arms, pulled the air from the room, and blasted her assailant. He grunted but held fast.

  “One would think a Thorne would be more powerful than that little gust of wind,” the man said lazily. “You can drop the cloak, sweetheart. I know it’s you.”

  GiGi muttered the words to reveal herself and glared at her soon-to-be-ex husband’s ruggedly handsome, smirking face. “I could’ve thrown you into next week if I wanted. What are you doing here, Ryker?”

  His eyes dropped to the hand now lightly caressing her throat. Then he ran his hot gaze down her body at a snail’s pace. Those dark, bedroom eyes missed nothing. “Nice,” he murmured. With a regretful sigh, he dragged his attention from her body and focused on her face. “What would you say if I told you I’ve retired? That I’m here to humbly ask you to reconsider the divorce.”

  The deep, sensual quality of his voice combined with his words sent her heart into overdrive. Because her rapid pulse would be a dead giveaway of her feelings, she shoved his hand away and rushed to put distance between them.

  “I’d say you’re out of your mind.” With her back to him, she closed her eyes and willed her nerves to settle. “First, you’d be bored within a week without your precious spy games. Secondly—”

  His arm wrapped around her waist, effectively stopping the rant she was warming to. With his large hand splayed across the flat of her abdomen, she found it nearly impossible to think straight.

  “I’d never be bored as long as I’m with you.”

  She bent one of his fingers backwards and smiled at his hiss of pain. “Secondly, I don’t want you,” she lied. “Pretenders don’t interest me.”

  “I’ve never lied to you.”

  “Right,” she snorted. “Show yourself out. I’m heading back to bed. I need my beauty sleep. Wouldn’t want to subject my next lover to bags and sags.”

  “You’re toying with fire, GiGi.”

  Yes, she knew she was. Perhaps the reason might be because she hated the cool indifference he portrayed most days. She paused in her grand exit and faced him.

  “We’ll be divorced in less than thirty days. If you think I’m not going to enjoy the remainder of my life, you’re cracked in the head.”

  Ryker’s face turned hard in his anger. The sight made her heart thud faster. Once, she’d have smiled an invitation and cajoled him from his pique with a wicked promise to rock his world, but those days were long gone. Fifteen years gone. But oh, those first years, when love was new and exciting! Then it all went wrong. She was left jaded and bitter with no faith in the man standing before her.

  Suddenly emotional for all they’d thrown away, she sighed and turned away. “Stay or go, it’s your home until the end of the month.”

  She’d almost made good her escape when he called her name. Pausing with her hand on the door, she didn’t bother to look over her shoulder.

  “I never cheated on you.”

  Facing him, she said, “Didn’t you, though? If not the entire physical act, then enough of it.” When he would have defended himself, she held up a hand. “Yes, you’ve told me multiple times. ‘It was a simple kiss.’ ‘It was all for the Witches’ Council.’ You were ‘on a mission.’ Blah, blah, blah.” Opening the door even wider, she said. “I didn’t care what your excuses were then, and I certainly don’t care what they are now. You destroyed our marriage with your stupid job. You did. Let that sink in, Ryker.”

  She registered his disappointment and shrugged. “I hope it keeps you warm at night.”

  “According to you, I have enough women for that.”

  A sharp pang struck her heart. Even now, the idea of him with another cut her like a machete through butter. Wordlessly, she fled back to her bedroom. She shut the door behind her, trying desperately to catch her breath against the threatening sobs. She had sworn to herself the last time she’d cried for him was the absolute last time. Giving in to tears now was pointless.

  “I’
m sorry.” His regret-filled voice sounded muffled from the other side of the solid wood panel. “I didn’t come here to revive our old fight, sweetheart. I…oh, blast it. I feel like an absolute idiot trying to talk through the door. Open up, GiGi. Let me in.”

  “Go away, Ryker,” she ordered harshly.

  The doorknob beside her turned a half inch then stopped. She stared at the metal handle and waited for his next move. She heard the click and saw the knob settle back in its original position.

  “Sleep well,” he murmured.

  Closing her eyes against the sting, she nodded her head as if he could see. A single tear rolled down her cheek, and she swiped at it. Furious with how quickly she succumbed to her wrecked emotions, she went straight to her closet and pulled out her leopard-print suitcase.

  Ryker flopped back into his office chair and scrubbed his face with his hands. Goddess, he was tired of fighting with his wife. All he wanted was to live out his days in relative peace with GiGi. Relative, because there were times when he loved to see her fired up. Petty squabbles led to wonderful make-up sex, or at least they had. Once, when they were young and crazy for each other.

  He glanced around his personal space. The room she had so lovingly conjured for him from a mental image they’d created together. The executive desk was made of a distressed maple hardwood and stained a deep honey. It had bold, antique metal accents from an old seafarer’s trunk. Matching shelves lined the far wall and contained classic volumes from the Gillespie family library. They had belonged to his sister, Trina, but he’d inherited them after she was murdered.

  Ryker grimaced. He’d lost so much—his parents, Trina, GiGi—and for what? For an organization that would have continued to function with or without him. For one that was practically irrelevant at this point in time.

  His attention was caught by his cigar humidor. Instinctively, he reached for his father’s old lighter in his left pocket.

  Ryker found himself smiling.

  GiGi detested his smoking habit. She made him promise to quit on the day they’d married. Until their vows were exchanged, he could smoke one every fifteen minutes should he care to, but once they tied the knot, that was it.

  No matter how many miles separated them, he had honored that promise. Just as he’d honored his promise to be faithful, regardless of how many lonely nights he spent. Yes, GiGi had shown up at an inopportune time during his mission. Yes, she’d found him kissing Marguerite Champeau, but he hadn’t really had a choice. If he hadn’t shown that cold-blooded succubus attention at that point during his stay at the Champeau mansion, it would have been suspicious. Had his wife shown up even ten minutes later, everything could have been avoided. Marguerite would have been unconscious from the drug he’d slipped into her drink, he’d have raided the safe, and he’d have been back in his guest room, dreaming of making love to his wife.

  GiGi’s interference had cost them both everything that was important. Topping the list was their relationship. Now, he had less than thirty days to rectify the situation and make his wife fall in love with him again, and he had no earthly idea how to do it.

  “Ryker?”

  His head whipped up, and his eyes drank in her lovely form like a man dying of thirst. The black spandex catsuit she’d been wearing when he arrived was gone. Currently, she sported a lavender sweater set that brought out the deep amethyst of her eyes, along with a pair of flowing black slacks. He wanted nothing more than to rip those articles of clothing off her body and keep her naked in bed for the next month until she changed her mind about the dissolution of their marriage.

  “I’ve decided to stay at Thorne Manor until the divorce is final.” Her words were a bucket of frigid water on the small flame of hope he’d had that she might’ve returned to talk things out. “That should give you time to remove whatever it is you want from the house.”

  He opened his mouth, but no words would come. As he searched for the perfect prose, the one thing that might alter the path of their relationship, his gaze fell to the leopard-print suitcase in the hall.

  “For effect?” he asked as he nodded to the case. “It isn’t like you couldn’t conjure your outfits.”

  Her expression turned haughty. “You’re always looking for some underhanded act on everyone else’s part. I wonder, Ryker, is it because you’re so deceptive yourself?”

  He swung his legs from atop the desk and slammed the soles of his shoes on the floor. In one smooth motion, he was on his feet and charging in her direction. She didn’t have the sense the Goddess gave a mule, because she continued to stand her ground as he rapidly approached.

  “You are determined to push my buttons, aren’t you, sweetheart?” He shook his head and locked gazes with her. “This couldn’t wait until the morning? You just had to come down and tell me you were leaving? Why? So I can feel more guilt? You’re a damned piece of work.”

  They stared at one another. Neither blinking. Neither moving, except for their harsh breathing. Neither willing to give an inch.

  “Let me help you with your bag, dear,” he sneered. He snapped to teleport the suitcase to the porch of Thorne Manor. Only, the case didn’t go anywhere. He frowned and tried again. What the hell? Unsure what had happened to his magic, he tried a third time.

  Nothing.

  “Um, sweetheart…” He said the words softly so as not to freak her out. “…I don’t want to worry you, but I want you to try to send your bag on ahead to the Manor.”

  She frowned and looked down at her luggage. With a careless wave of her hand, she attempted to transport it to her family’s estate. The hard plastic suitcase slammed into the wall and went no farther. She tried again and again with the same results.

  Wide-eyed, she faced Ryker. “What the hell?” she whispered in dawning horror. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that their teleporting abilities had been neutralized.

  “I’m not sure. Could be Blockers.”

  He shot a pulse of energy toward the light switch, thrusting them into darkness. He reached for her hand and ran with her toward a safe room he’d installed when they first created their home. If Blockers were on the premises, then their magic would be ineffective for most things. Either way, he had to get her to safety ASAP. In their panic room, Ryker had stored a good amount of weapons and a food supply to last them for a few days.

  “How did they find us? The wards were strengthened by my brother just this morning.”

  He stopped short. “Alastair? Alastair was here?”

  “Yes. He said you sent him to reinforce the wards because you may have collected another enemy.”

  He didn’t answer. Instead, he continued toward the safety of the panic room as he pulled his cellphone from his pocket. He hit the speed dial for Alastair. The call went to voicemail. “If you did what I think you did, you better call me back, you sonofabitch!” he said in a low, savage tone. He disconnected and shoved the phone into his pants pocket. “That manipulative bastard!”

  “Are you sure this is his doing?” She cast a nervous glance toward the floor-to-ceiling windows as they hurried through the hallway. “Is it possible someone means to harm us?”

  The tremor in her voice tempered his anger. “It’s doubtful, sweetheart. The odds are more likely that if true Blockers were present, the enemy would have been through our front door by now.” The metal door shut and the lock engaged. Ryker gently drew her close to him, closing his eyes at the contact. “Also, the coincidence is too great that your meddlesome older brother visited our house today.”

  GiGi drew back slightly and shot a look toward the wall of monitors.

  Ryker put a light pressure on her jaw to turn her head. “GiGi, look at me.” Her concerned violet-blue eyes searched his face. With an attempt at cool confidence, he smiled. “I won’t let anyone hurt you. Ever.”

  He watched the screens that showed the area surrounding the house. When no detectable movement could be seen, he nodded. Yeah, he was almost positive this was a prank on Alastair’s part
. The motivation behind the act was anyone’s guess.

  “Try your magic again. See if you can send the case.”

  She focused on the screen that displayed the foyer and lifted her hand. The bag rose off the floor a few feet.

  “If there were Blockers surrounding us, it’s doubtful you’d be able to use your magic. I’m going to teleport to the main hall. Stay here, no matter what.”

  He turned up the volume of the security system. No sound drifted to his ears. “Stay here,” he ordered again when she refused to answer. He left her to test the front door and got a shock that knocked him on his ass.

  “Ryker!” she screamed as she appeared next to him to check him for injury.

  Nothing was hurt but his damned pride.

  “Yeah, not Blockers or we wouldn’t have been able to teleport from room to room. Looks like Alastair’s locked us in for some stupid-ass reason,” he told her grimly. “I’m going to pulverize your brother.”

  Wisely, she remained silent.

  2

  GiGi suspected she knew good and well why her brother had locked them in their house together. This was in retaliation for GiGi and the rest of the family locking Alastair in with Aurora a few weeks back. Apparently, her brother felt it would be a brilliant way to reunite GiGi with Ryker. “You’ll only pulverize him if I don’t beat you to it,” she muttered. “Can you stand?”