Suddenly Spellbound

by Erica Lucke Dean

  Chloe groaned. “Well, I feel like shit. And I miss my husband.”

  “Hey, where is Jon?” I spun my head around as if I expected him to be hiding behind the curtains or something. Hey, weirder things had happened. The guy was a magician.

  “I left his ass in Vegas. And if he doesn’t get his act together, I won’t be going back.”

  I gasped and tried to pull myself to a sitting position, only to flop backward. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “What’s to tell? I hate the groupies, and he won’t stop flirting with them.”

  I reached out and squeezed her hand. “I’m so sorry, Chloe. And here you are, dealing with my ridiculous issues when your marriage is at stake.”

  “Pfft.” She waved her hand, clipping herself in the nose. “My problems will still be there when I get back. I’m just glad I didn’t sell my house, or we’d be shacking up at the Red Roof Inn.”

  I rolled onto my back and cracked up. “We both know you wouldn’t be caught dead at the Red Roof Inn.”

  “True.” Chloe cackled beside me. “Besides, five-star hotels may be nice, but I really like my bed.”

  I exhaled. “I really liked Jack’s bed.”

  “Oh, sweetie. If he’s anything like his brother, I’m pretty sure you’re thinking about the things he did in that bed.”

  “Hey!” I gave her a little shove, almost sending both of us over the side. “You’re supposed to be cheering me up.”

  Chloe snorted out a laugh. “Sorry. I’m drunk.”

  “Yeah, me too.” I swallowed the last of my mirth and sank into the mattress.

  “I’m heading to bed.” She bumped my shoulder. “Awful Waffle in the morning?”

  “Deal.” I didn’t wait for her to leave the room before rolling into a ball on my side with the pillow clutched in my arms like a teddy bear. I’d been through worse things than losing Jack. I’d almost gone to jail for murder. If Jack hadn’t been there…

  A sharp pain spiked through the center of my chest. To hell with being a strong, independent woman. I didn’t want to think about the rest of my life without him.

  I drifted in and out of a fitful sleep, unable to turn my mind off. My thoughts were torn between memories of Jack and images of Liam. And Chloe’s words continued to loop through my brain on repeat. They put a spell on you. But no matter how things might have appeared, I couldn’t believe my father would do something so completely unforgivable.

  Moonlight spilled in through the window, and I watched, mesmerized, as shadows danced across the floor. The shapes moved and shifted until I could swear I saw Liam’s outline in the darkness.

  “Ivie…”

  I sat bolt upright, my stomach leaping into my throat. “Liam? Wh-what are you doing here?”

  The bed dipped as he sat at my feet. “I felt as if you needed me.”

  “You said that earlier. But I don’t understand. How can you feel when I need you?” I gripped the sheet in my fists to keep from reaching out to him.

  “My senses are always on high alert when it comes to you.”

  Confusion flowed through me like hot maple syrup over pancakes. “But why?”

  “Because we’re connected.” He scooted closer until his fingers brushed my hip. “Why can’t you see we’re meant to be together?”

  I shivered at the contact. “Liam, I’ve told you already, I love Ja—”

  “Jack. Yes, I know.” He brushed a stray lock of hair from my face then cupped my cheek. “But you have to admit to yourself—if no one else—you feel something for me too.”

  Despite myself, I melted into his touch. “I’m so screwed up; I don’t know what I feel.”

  “Stop fighting it.” He leaned in until our lips were all but touching, and the hammering of his racing heart filled my ears. “I know you want me as much as I want you. Just this once, give in.”

  I swallowed back a moan. “All I’ve done since I met you is give in.”

  He tensed before latching his lips to mine as if he were drowning, and I was his only source of oxygen. With gentle pressure, he guided me against the mattress as his weight settled over me. “Is this okay?”

  I gave him a faint nod, seeking out his lips again. A giant switch flipped in my brain, and every minute fiber of my soul shifted its focus to Liam. His kisses sobered me up only to intoxicate me again. I clung to him, struggling to stay quiet for fear of waking Chloe, only a few rooms away, while roving hands slipped under my threadbare T-shirt, leaving a fiery trail in their wake.

  I was going straight to hell, and I would’ve been lying if I said I gave a damn.

  Thundering hearts and soft groans, coupled with the whispered sounds of our clothes falling away, seemed deafening in the dark night. Once we were skin to skin, I could have sworn dual electric currents zipped below the surface, waiting to ignite.

  His lips grazed my earlobe. “If we do this, there’s no going back.”

  I gulped then nodded, unsure if I was ready, but unwilling to stop something that felt so right. So… necessary.

  Liam lined himself up at my entrance. “I’ve waited my whole life for this moment.” Then with a gentleness I didn’t expect, he entered me.

  Unfamiliar warmth spread out from the spot where we joined. The distinct flavor of his magic coursed swiftly through me like wind, engulfing every molecule in my body until his butterscotch-and-hot-pepper taste filled my senses. Sex with Liam was like nothing I’d experienced before. I knew it wasn’t love. I couldn’t even be sure it was real affection. I struggled to put a name to the emotions swirling around my veins.

  Possession. Plain and simple.

  A twinge of something familiar swept through me—the same tugging sensation I’d felt that first day in the lab—as if my very soul had ripped free, and something foreign had taken up residence in its place. Panic set in, and I was desperate to pull away, yet unable to release my hold on him. He was a magnet, and despite my love for Jack, I found myself inexorably drawn to him.

  Pleasure—so intense it bordered on pain—swelled, and I struggled to form words. “Liam, what’s happening?”

  His arms tightened around me in a bear hug, and his thrusts grew impatient. “Our binding is almost complete.” His lips found mine again, and he used his tongue to part them, darting it into my mouth to stop my protests even before I’d decided to voice them.

  This was more than sex. As he moved within me, I felt him in my blood. Every beat of my heart was for Liam. Every breath I took made me want him more. With one last violent shudder, Liam grunted out his release then stilled as another wave of pleasure spiked through me. I didn’t think my orgasm would ever end.

  For several minutes, neither of us spoke. We just lay there, catching our breath in the darkness. Then he rolled off me and pulled me into his arms. “You’re mine now.”

  My head throbbed, and I squinted at what could only be a floodlight pointed directly into my eyeballs.

  “Wake up, sleepyhead.” Chloe’s artificial-sweetener voice made me want to lash out at her with whatever limbs I could convince to move.

  Wait. Chloe?

  “Where’d he go?” I sat up and winced. The ticking time bomb in my head counted down to the big BOOM.

  “Where’d who go?”

  I untangled myself from the blankets to discover the clothes I’d worn the night before—or rather was still wearing. As in not naked. And for someone who’d supposedly had sex fairly recently, my nether regions felt awfully cold and unused. “Something really weird is going on.”

  Chloe chuckled. “And you’re just discovering that now? Where have you been?”

  “Right here. All night long. But I was sure I wasn’t alone. I thought… I mean, maybe I dreamed it, but it seemed so real. Liam. He was here, and he told me I was his now.�
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  “How’d he get here?” Chloe looked around the room, peeking under the bed and behind the curtains. “And where’d he go?”

  “That’s just it. I don’t think he was here. Not really. But I don’t think I dreamed it either.” I watched the wheels turn in Chloe’s head until her eyes popped wide, and she flopped onto the bed beside me.

  “Are you saying…?”

  “I think you’re right. I think Liam and my dad put a spell on me.”

  Chapter 12

  “Explain to me again why we’re halfway to North Carolina?” Red streaks etched across the evening sky as day slipped quietly into night, and I slumped into my seat to stare at the trees whipping past the window. If my life hadn’t spiraled so completely out of control, I might have enjoyed the mountain views.

  Chloe’s pale-blond hair billowed around her as we raced northward on the rural highway with the top down. “You need someone who can figure out what sort of hold Liam has on you.”

  The sound of Liam’s name on her lips sent a shiver through me. Memories of his hands on me came flooding back. But they weren’t really memories, were they? Why couldn’t I shake the feelings he stirred in me? “And you’re convinced we need to travel three hours from home to do that?”

  “I’m certain you need an intervention, and I only know of one place within driving distance with the kind of tools we need.”

  I couldn’t help the sound that forced its way out of my throat—a cross between a laugh and a groan. “Come on, Chloe. Where are we going, really?”

  Chloe angled her face toward me and rolled her eyes before tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “We’re heading to Ratz in the Attic. And before you ask: no, it’s not a secret lab conducting unsanctioned medical experiments on the unsuspecting offspring of sorcerers. It’s a blues bar.”

  “Oh, well, that’s a relief. Seriously, Chloe!” I gaped at her, completely dumbfounded. If we hadn’t been going nearly eighty, I would have considered bailing out of the moving vehicle. “In the midst of my worst crisis to date, we’re going to listen to music?”

  She flashed me a sweet smile and nodded. “Among other things.”

  I waited for her to laugh, but her serious expression didn’t waver even a little as she stared at the road. We were going way too fast for the hairpin turns ahead—more proof that my best friend was completely nuts. “Okay, all kidding aside. Where are we going?”

  She furrowed her perfect brows. “I thought we’d already covered that.”

  I grabbed hold of my seatbelt like a lifeline and waited for her to elaborate. She wasn’t getting out of this that easily.

  “Listen, it’s not like we can waltz into an urgent care facility and ask them to remove a spell. You need a specialist.”

  I choked out a laugh. “A specialist. And what? I’m supposed to believe we’ll just happen to run into this specialist at a random bar in the mountains?”

  She snorted. “Of course not. I called ahead. He’s expecting us.”

  The bluesy music assaulted me the minute the door swung open, a combination of hot guitar licks, the rhythmic ratatatat on the drums, and crashing cymbals. The bass thumped so loudly I felt it in my bones, and I had to shout to be heard. “Why are we here?”

  Chloe scanned the room, her eyes settling on a large man on a stool on the stage, practically swallowing the mic as he belted out the lyrics in his heavy Cajun accent. She gave him an enthusiastic wave, and he smiled. “There he is!”

  I sidestepped a petite brunette carrying a tray filled with drinks. “There who is? You aren’t seriously going to tell me you drove me to the middle of nowhere to talk to a musician?”

  Chloe rolled her eyes, tucking a strand of her pale-blond hair behind her ear. “You’re a”—she leaned in to whisper—“witch. You clearly need a witch doctor.”

  My mind raced as I tried to put two and two together. Chloe wasn’t just run-of-the-mill crazy. She was certifiable. “What are you talking about? What witch doctor? Have you and Jon been smoking peyote in the desert?” I bit the words off and spit them at her.

  “No, I haven’t been smoking anything, illegal or otherwise. I met Daddy Whatnot in Vegas. He came backstage after one of Jon’s shows. He’s a fascinating guy—a voodoo priest, also known as a witch doctor.”

  Daddy Whatnot? Voodoo priest? Witch doctor? I planted my feet on the sticky floor. The silicone in her boobs must have leaked into her bloodstream. Or the bleach from her highlights had finally soaked into her brain. Either way, she’d lost her mind. “I’m not talking to a-a-a whatever he is. That’s crazy!”

  “No crazier than hallucinating the Scottish hottie in your bed. You said it yourself. You can’t understand your own feelings. And you said it all started with that spell in the chem lab. None of this makes sense, and you can’t go on like this forever, unless you’re ready to walk away from Jack.”

  I refused to admit she had a valid argument. And walking away from Jack was too painful to contemplate. “What if it’s not a spell? What if I’m just attracted to Liam?”

  She came to an abrupt halt, making me crash into her from behind. “Are you really asking me that? Ivie Marie McKie, you love Jack.”

  “Yes, I love him with everything inside me, but I just can’t believe my father would do something so…”

  “Dirty and underhanded? Well, believe it, because I don’t believe for one minute your feelings for Liam are real. He’s cute and all, but that doesn’t explain why you’d risk everything less than eight weeks before your wedding.”

  Chloe was right. I was on the razor’s edge of ruining the best thing that had ever happened to me, and the only solution that made any sense was staring me in the face. I just refused to accept it.

  The song ended, and the band set their instruments aside as the mellow tones of classic Bob Marley came through the speakers. Chloe ran onto the stage, squealing as she wrapped her tiny arms around the hearty bass player. She looked like a doll in his massive embrace. He had to have been as wide as he was tall, or close to it. But for a man of his proportions, he moved like a cat, spinning her around as if she were a ball of yarn that weighed nothing.

  “As I live and breathe.” His voice boomed out like a cannon blast as he pulled away from her embrace to scrutinize her. He smiled behind his heavy salt-and-pepper beard. “Chloe Blake! How the hell are ya, sugar?”

  She beamed at him. “I’m good, Daddy. But look at you—you’re fabulous!”

  “Well, of course I’m fabulous. It’s about time you noticed.” He laughed, and the thunderous sound startled me. “So have you come to your senses and decided to dump that fancy husband of yours for a real man?”

  Chloe giggled. “Not quite yet, but I’ll keep you posted if I change my mind.”

  “So if it isn’t amour, what brings you to my neck of the woods? And who’s the lovely lady you’ve brought with you this evening?”

  I must have looked like a frightened deer when he turned his intense gaze on me. Daddy Whatnot’s overwhelming presence rendered me speechless, not that I would have known what to say, anyway. Were there some sort of rules of etiquette when dealing with a voodoo priest witch doctor? Was I expected to curtsey? I had no clue.

  “This is my best friend and soon-to-be sister-in-law, Ivie McKie. She has a delicate situation she’s dealing with, something your special expertise might help out with.”

  When I didn’t respond, Chloe elbowed me.

  “N-nice to meet you.” I forced a smile and reached a shaky hand toward the man. He grasped it in both of his giant paws.

  “Well, I’ll be. Jon’s little brother gonna marry this pretty lady? He made a good choice, he did.” His Cajun accent seemed to fade in and out according to his excitement level.

  “He did,” Chloe agreed somberly. “But, Daddy, Ivie’s situation could
ruin the whole thing.”

  “That bad, huh?” Daddy Whatnot pulled the flat cap off his head and scratched the bald spot hiding under it. “Well, lay it on me.”

  Chloe scanned the room then pointed to a table in the back and led the way. Once we’d settled in, I gave Chloe a nod, and she started from the beginning, bringing the witch doctor up to date on my dilemma.

  She barely paused to take a breath as she told him everything from the first minute I found out I was a witch, right up to the minute she’d tricked me into getting in her car to drive deep into Appalachia this afternoon. She let out a sigh. “So there you have it. Ivie’s under a spell, her father’s up to something, and Jack broke off the engagement because she kissed Liam.”

  “That’s quite a predicament to be in.” He nodded, eyeing me as if I might turn him into a skunk or something. And in truth, I could do it if I wanted to. I’d gotten much better at controlling the magic. “I’ve got to play another set here any minute now, so you girls order a drink on me, sit back, and enjoy the show.” He patted my hand then scraped his chair across the old pine floorboards as he got up. “As soon as I’m finished, I’ll do what I can to fix you right up.”

  “A love spell, huh? That’s serious business.” We sat in the back of the bar, and Daddy Whatnot gulped down his second Lemon Drop in a row.

  “Can you fix it?” Chloe asked.

  “I can try.” Daddy Whatnot laughed and looked me, his expression turning serious. “But I have to ask: are you sure you’re not just conflicted about your feelings for the younger Blake?”

  I stared into his chocolate eyes. “I’m not conflicted. I love Jack.”