Hot Spell

by Shiloh Walker

  As he watched, she bent her head and buried her face in her hands.

  The sight knifed through him. He didn’t care if she didn’t want him. She needed him, as a friend if nothing else.

  Eager to go to her, he jumped to the ground, bypassing the steps completely, then headed into the maze at a jog. One hand brushing the corn stalks so that he wouldn’t miss an entrance in the dark, he wound his way deeper into the heart of the maze.

  She was still there when he entered the clearing. Matt cleared his throat, not having made a plan for what he’d do once he reached her.

  Ally looked up, her blue eyes glistening. “Matt? Are you real this time?”

  This time? Was she hallucinating now? God, if he’d needed proof of where lack of planning and living in a dream world of unrealistic expectations would get you, there it was.

  And yet, he didn’t care. He wasn’t here to judge her. He was here to help her.

  He walked over to the blanket and knelt beside her. Taking her cold hands, he warmed them between his. “I’m real.”

  “I’m sorry. I should have trusted you.”

  Matt blinked. That wasn’t what he’d expected her to say. Then again, she never said or did what he expected. “That’s—”

  “I promised myself that when I saw you again, I’d tell you the truth. About everything.”

  She took a deep breath, and Matt’s blood ran cold. Good Lord, how much worse could it get?

  “You already know I’m a witch.” Ally slipped one hand free from his grasp and placed a finger on his lips, silencing his protest. “I was afraid to tell you, afraid of what might happen to Cindy if you told other people my secret.”

  She shook her head, while he tried to ignore the feel of her soft finger pressing a feather-soft caress against his lips. Inanely, he wondered if she’d brewed the lotion that kept her hands so soft despite her long hours in the fields, and if she’d consider selling it. She could make a fortune.

  “I didn’t believe in you. I didn’t believe you’d still love me when you found out what I was.”

  Matt couldn’t stand to see the pain in her eyes. He parted his lips, drawing her fingertip inside his mouth, and caressed her with his tongue.

  Ally gasped, her eyes widening.

  “But wait. There’s more.”

  Reluctantly, he allowed her to pull her finger free. “I’m listening.”

  “You told me that you loved me, and all I could think of was that you’d discovered I was a witch. I forgot to tell you, I loved you too.” She paused, then added, “I still love you.”

  His heart leapt at her admission, but he forced himself to remain calm. He wasn’t making a decision without all the facts this time. “Is that everything?”

  “Well, there’s also that Susan seems to be better when she’s doing something that Brian was never involved in, like the maze. I’m starting to wonder if maybe keeping the farm is hurting her more than it’s helping.”

  He couldn’t believe it. It was as if she’d found his list of pros and cons and was purposely resolving every one of his projected issues. His list hadn’t included any of the real problems they faced, however.

  “What about that salve of yours? What was really in that?”

  “Mostly cucumber, which is kind of funny, really. I mean, people say ‘cool as a cucumber’ but it’s actually quite hot.”

  “Ally…”

  “Honestly. There were some other herbs and spices in it, but nothing bad. It’s exactly what I told you originally, a salve to promote healing by oxygenating the muscles.”

  “Then why’d I feel like I was on fire?”

  “Well, how do you think it gets the oxygen to the muscles? It opens all the capillaries. It’s like having a full-body blush.”

  “But the sex was so amazing. There must’ve been something else—”

  Her cheeks pinkened, but she continued meeting his gaze, reassuring him that she was telling the truth. “The sex was amazing because it was between you and me. The salve had nothing to do with it. Well, a little to do with increased blood flow to your penis the first time. But other than that, the only magic was what we were making together.”

  She slapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes going round.

  “Ally? What is it?”

  “I forgot. That wasn’t the only magic. I, um, borrowed your condom after the first time. To, uh, bless the fields.”

  Matt stared at her, temporarily unable to process her words into anything that made sense. “You blessed your fields with my used condom?”

  “With what was inside the condom, actually.”

  She hunched her shoulders, as if bracing for his angry rebuttal. But seeing her obvious discomfort, her fear of rejection or retaliation of some sort, he knew she’d upheld her promise. She’d told him the truth about everything, even when she expected that truth would drive him away.

  With a flash of insight, he realized Ally was nothing like his father. His father had lived in a dream world of possibilities, because he’d been unable to face the hard truths of life. Problems were always of someone else’s making, and would be solved by the next miraculous endeavor.

  Ally had no problem facing the truth, unpleasant as it might be. She’d seen the truth of the school district’s financial problem, and acted to resolve it. She’d faced up to what hiding her witchcraft from him had caused, and changed her behavior accordingly.

  So what if her world had different truths, truths that allowed for things like magic potions? No doubt she’d be equally mystified by the truths that governed land development.

  “That’s it?” he asked. “That’s everything?”

  She blinked at him in surprise, looking like an owl unexpectedly roused during the daylight hours. “That’s everything.”

  “Then I have one more question.”

  She nodded, bracing herself again. “Go ahead.”

  “Will you marry me?”

  Ally stared at him in stunned silence, then launched herself at him with a hug that knocked him to the ground and began covering him with kisses.

  “Yes. Yes. Yes!” she shouted. “Faerie wings and all!”

  Matt captured her face, stilling her long enough to press his lips to hers. She melted against him, breathing a honeyed sigh into his mouth. Just before he abandoned all rational thought and devoted himself to making love to his bride-to-be, Matt made one last plan. He would never worry if he couldn’t understand her, as long as he made sure she always knew how much he loved her.

  Epilogue

  One year later

  “Can I open my eyes now?” Ally asked, clutching Matt’s arm for balance as she stumbled over an uneven spot in the grass.

  His arm tightened around her waist, but he made no move remove the blindfold. “Not yet.”

  “Where are we going, anyway?”

  “I told you, it’s a surprise, to welcome you home and celebrate your re-enrollment for your doctorate.”

  He’d told her as much when he met her at the entrance to their long driveway, stopping her car and insisting she get out and come with him. She’d been hoping for some additional information. Well, if asking didn’t get results, she’d just have to charm the answer out of him.

  She ran her fingers along the sculpted muscles of his forearm, then feathered the inside of his wrist with light caresses in the way she knew drove him wild. She heard his sharp intake of breath beside her ear, and his arm squeezed her waist even tighter.

  “I’ve been away from you for two whole weeks. I was sort of hoping we could celebrate my return in private.”

  Matt pulled her forward, urging her to a faster pace. “We will. It’s not much farther now.”

  Ally trotted beside him, trusting that he had thoroughly planned their route to wherever he was taking her, and there was nothing dangerous that she needed to worry about tripping over. She sniffed, trying to place the sudden odors in the air.

  “Is that paint? And…wood chips?”

  He drew
her to a stop, turning her slightly, then reached up to untie her blindfold. “See for yourself.”

  With a flourish, he whipped the blindfold away.

  A brand new greenhouse gleamed in the late afternoon sun. Wooden walls painted a deep forest green rose to about knee height, then were topped by tightly caulked Plexiglas sheets that were themselves six feet in height. Additional Plexiglas sheets angled from the tops of the walls to the central ridge, although those windows had the hardware to be opened to release the heat in warmer weather. A six-inch wide red ribbon wrapped around the greenhouse, with a two-foot wide bow centered on the door.

  It was exactly as she’d described her ideal research space to him, when they’d been discussing her requirements for going back to school. But he hadn’t said anything since then, and she’d thought she’d be making do with some rolling carts in the sunroom until next spring.

  Ally squealed with delight, then turned to hug and kiss her thoughtful husband. “I had no idea.”

  “Take a look inside,” he prompted, pulling a large pair of scissors out of his coat pocket then handing them to her.

  She’d attended plenty of groundbreaking and grand opening ceremonies with him in the past year. She knew exactly where to cut the ribbon so that the beautiful bow would not fall to the ground and be damaged. Positioning the scissors, she was all set to slice through the ribbon, but a sense of wrongness stopped her.

  “Ally? What is it?” Matt asked.

  She glanced over her shoulder at his worried expression, and extended her free hand to him. “Do it with me?”

  His grin made her heart flip over. When his eyes darkened with desire, the trembling moved lower, setting her depths aquiver and starting a slow pulse throbbing between her legs.

  He stepped up behind her, molding his body to hers so that his erection nestled in the cleft of her ass. Wrapping one arm around her body to anchor them together, with his other hand he enfolded her hand around the scissors. He nuzzled beneath her ear, flooding her with liquid warmth until she needed his strong arm around her to hold herself upright.

  “On three,” he whispered, his warm breath puffing across her ear. “One.”

  “Two.”

  “Three.”

  His hand closed gently around hers, pushing the scissors closed. The ribbon fell cleanly into two parts.

  She’d learned at past ribbon cutting ceremonies that a clean cut was considered an omen of success. The first time she’d been told that, she’d leaned over to whisper to Matt, “Magic?” He’d grinned and whispered back, “Folk wisdom. I hear they have a lot in common.”

  Matt released her hand holding the scissors and gently nudged her forward. Eager to see what other surprises he had in store for her, Ally pulled open the door and went inside.

  Adjustable wire rack shelving ran along all four walls, leaving the center space empty except for a rolling desk chair by the far wall. That area of shelving had been designed as a desk area, with clear slabs of Plexiglas resting on top of the wire shelves at waist height, and file drawers flanking the space beneath.

  To her surprise, the desk was not empty. Matt had arranged her books in a neat row against the glass wall. Too many books. She hadn’t brought this many with her when she moved into his house.

  “You took my books from Susan’s barn?” she asked.

  “And everything else you still had over there. The closing is next week, and we had to empty the barn of everything not included in the sale for the new owners’ final walk through.”

  Ally nodded. Matt had been able to get an excellent price on the property, since the farm had a history of profitability. The fact that people from distant towns remembered the farm from having walked through the corn maze meant that many more people were interested in it than normally cared about a farm for sale. That had exerted a subtle pressure on interested buyers to make their bids higher than they would be otherwise.

  Susan had used most of the money to buy a small house in town, near her new job at the market. It didn’t pay much, but they wouldn’t starve. More importantly, it was very regimented, which is what she needed now. Since Cindy would remain in the same school, the disruption was minimal.

  At Ally’s suggestion, Susan had put the remaining money in a fund to pay for Cindy’s future college expenses. They both felt better, knowing that whatever happened, Cindy would be taken care of.

  That freed Ally to do what she wanted with her life. And what she wanted to do right now was show Matt how much she’d missed him for the two weeks she’d been gone, packing up her research materials from the University and getting close-out reports from her former thesis advisor, as well as filling out reams of forms required to transfer her credits to the local State College where she’d be finishing her doctorate.

  “Have I told you lately how much I love you?” she asked.

  Matt reached into one of the cardboard boxes shelved nearest the door, and withdrew a familiar plaid blanket. Just the sight of it made her heart beat faster, and warm anticipation puddle between her legs. “I thought maybe you could show me.”

  He shook out the blanket, spreading it on the floor of the greenhouse. He’d obviously prepared his surprise in advance, because he then withdrew a pair of wineglasses and a strangely square wine bottle.

  He knelt on the blanket and uncorked the wine, releasing the sweet scent of honey. As he poured a splash of the thick amber liquid into each glass, Ally realized it wasn’t wine. It was mead. He then withdrew a half gallon jug of fresh apple cider, and filled the glasses the rest of the way.

  Their gazes met across the folded blanket.

  “It’s not quite what you were brewing when I came to ask you to marry me, or what you were drinking when I finally did propose, but it’s as close as I could get.”

  Ally knelt beside him on the rough wool, took her glass from him, and lifted it in a toast. “Water, wine, or witch’s brew, whatever I drink, I’m glad I married you.”

  They clinked glasses and sipped their faux Mabon Mead. It wasn’t bad. But Ally wasn’t thirsty.

  Neither was Matt. By unspoken agreement, they both set their glasses down. They hesitated one last, long moment, staring deeply into each other’s eyes, celebrating and rejoicing in the love they saw reflected within.

  Then the love boiled over into action, and they were kissing, the sweetness of honey on their lips nothing compared to the sweetness of being back together again after two long weeks apart. Matt slid his hands beneath the hem of Ally’s sweater, tugging on her shirt until he could get beneath that as well and his warm, strong hands were gliding across the sensitive skin of her back. She moaned into his mouth, arching beneath his touch, and tore at his shirt until she could stroke and caress his back, too.

  He pulled her onto his lap, the heat of his erection burning through both their pants to trigger a rush of liquid between her spread legs. She rocked against him, pressing his swollen cock against her aching mound.

  This time, she swallowed his groan.

  Pulling his lips from hers, Matt kissed and licked the underside of her jaw, her throat, and the sensitive hollow where her neck met her shoulder. He scraped his teeth across the pulsing vein, closing his mouth over her skin and pulling to mark her as his woman, and she whimpered in pleasure.

  She fumbled between their bodies, trying to find the fastenings of his trousers. He wrapped his arms around her, one hand gently cradling her head, and pushed her onto her back.

  Once freed, he made quick work of his trousers and boxers, kicking off his shoes at the same time. He yanked off his shirt and jacket, flinging them blindly onto one of the greenhouse’s empty shelves. He stripped her pants and panties down to her ankles just as quickly, helped by her eager wriggling. While he wrestled the shirt and sweater over her head, she toed off her shoes and pushed her pants clear of her feet.

  They came together easily, knowing now just how their bodies fit. Ally spread her legs, letting Matt settle his weight between them, his cock a hard
ridge pressing against her stomach. He rose onto his elbows, leaning down to kiss her breasts, tonguing her nipples until they were as hard as his cock. She arched upward.

  “Oh, Matt. I’ve missed you so much these past two weeks.”

  “At least you were in a hotel. I was in our bed, smelling your scent on the sheets, the pillow, everywhere, until I thought I’d go insane with wanting you.”

  He growled, low in his throat, rubbing his balls against her soft thatch of hair, and nipping her breasts lightly before he pulled on her nipple, sucking it into his mouth with as much force as he’d used to mark her neck earlier. Ally moaned and arched her back, driving herself deeper into his mouth, while her fingers tightened in his hair, clutching his mouth harder to her breast.

  “Poor…Matt,” she gasped. “How…did…you…cope?”

  He lifted his head to look into her eyes. He was so consumed by need, his irises had been completely swallowed by the pupils.

  “How the hell do you think this greenhouse got built so quickly?” he demanded.

  She giggled, overwhelmed with tender feelings of love. Other men might go out for a night on the town with the boys, or take cold showers. Her man built her a beautiful greenhouse.

  “I love you,” she whispered.

  Matt lifted his hips, shifting to position his cock at the wide-open entrance to her channel. He slid slowly inside, the two of them groaning in unison as he filled her.

  Then he began to move. Sliding most of the way out, he teased her with short, quick strokes followed by deep, hard thrusts. She moaned and writhed beneath him, digging her fingers into the flexing muscles of his ass in an effort to hold him deep inside her where she wanted him. But he was too strong for her.

  She gave up, moving with him instead of fighting against him. As her body flexed and thrust with his motions, she felt the rhythm guiding his movements. It was one she’d taught him, as part of a magical blessing ritual.

  “What…are…you…doing?” she gasped.

  “Making…love…to…my wife.”

  She moaned as he thrust again, lifting her hips to take him as deeply as she could. “But…rhythm?”