by E. M. Moore
I held my hand out. “Calm down. It’s no use yelling at one another.” Gabe held his hands behind his head and sighed as he stared at the ceiling. Dude was super uptight.
“Let me just ask a question,” Travis said. “What the hell do we think is going to happen if we tell Walter our fifth is a female? Can it be that bad?”
“We’re not doing that,” Gabe seethed.
“But why?” Travis urged.
Gabe looked like he was about to fucking lose it, so I stepped up to the plate, not used to being the one who brought reason into anything. “I can’t explain it, Dude, but it just seems like a terrible idea. Every time I think about doing it, I get this ache in my gut that warns me away. I think we’re better off not saying anything. I know we can’t keep this up forever, but—” But nothing, I didn’t really have anything else to say because if it was up to me, I would keep it up forever. Except, Walter had other plans.
“I’m not saying I’m going to say anything, but I don’t like this,” Travis said. “Norah’s grandmother’s warned her about a girl mixing in with guys. Is that all it is? Is that why we’re so against telling them? I mean, what would they do? He just said that magic pulls the person that’s supposed to be in our coven. If they truly believe that, there’s nothing they could do about Norah being the fifth. She just is.”
“That sounds rational, and I agree.” Liam stood to face the rest of them. “I still don’t like it. I get the same feeling Randy does. My gut’s telling me we should keep Norah a secret. I don’t know if it has anything to do with what Granny said to her. She said it didn’t work out for the girl in the picture, so maybe that’s it. Maybe that’s why I want nothing to do with anyone else knowing.”
Gabe leaned over the back of the couch, his hands on the back cushions. “That’s probably it. Let’s just wait it out. We can’t worry about Walter as well as Dupre and Jay. We just have to focus on one thing at a time and right now, Dupre and Jay are the biggest threat. As long as we can keep Walter at bay and talk him out of sending another Order here, we should be good.”
“Do we agree?” Liam asked, eyeing Travis.
Travis shrugged. “Yeah. What else can we do?”
Behind him, a peek of a slender, feminine hand showed on the banister and then disappeared. Of course Norah would be right there listening to all of this. I should’ve expected as much from her.
6
Another Order coming to Salem? Not good.
I tiptoed back up the steps and slipped into my bedroom. Outside, the sky was darkening, but a flourish of orange and pinks silhouetted the horizon. A part of me wished I didn’t take so much pleasure from a place Liam hated, but this house truly was amazing. Liam’s parents may have been terrible, but they could at least do one thing right. Though, money made everything better, didn’t it? If you had the money, why wouldn’t you pick someplace like this to live? You certainly wouldn’t pick the little cottage I grew up in with the leaky roof and the bedroom door I couldn’t even shut all the way because the frame had somehow compressed and the door no longer fit in it anymore. I preferred to live a little more comfortably. I didn’t need something like this, but a door that shut was always more acceptable than ones that didn’t.
A soft knock came on my door then. I turned to my side on the bed and called out, “Come in.”
Liam’s head appeared around the corner. My heart stuttered a bit before picking up its normal rhythm. I couldn’t lie and say that Liam walking in on Gabe and I didn’t turn me on. It was hot. It reminded me of that night in the car with Randy and Liam and that was probably the hottest sex I’d ever had. Randy watching, then Liam playing with me while I gave Randy head.
I squeezed my knees together. Just thinking about it again was turning me on. As was the cute little blushed circles on Liam’s cheeks. “Hey,” I said.
He closed the door behind him and made his way to the bed before sitting on the edge. “I take it you heard everything down there.”
“Now, why would you think that?”
“I know you Norah Darbonne, and a meeting without you isn’t happening. What do you think about Walter said?”
I pulled myself into a sitting position and picked at the comforter in front of me. “Not happy with the talk about another Order coming to Salem. I think you’ve stalled him for now though. Hopefully we can get some sort of reaction to something going around Salem so we—you guys—can report back to him sometime soon. Not that I’m wishing for something bad to happen again.”
“Yeah,” he mused, pulling his legs up on the bed and crossing them at the ankles. “I hate to wish for something to happen, but it would help. I don’t really care for lying to Walter.”
A dreaded tug started in my stomach, reminding me of the lying Gabe and I were doing to the rest of them. It made me queasy. “Maybe it’s not really about that,” I ventured. “Maybe it’s more about hoping I haven’t broken you guys.”
His gaze narrowed. “Broken us?”
“Me being here? I hope it somehow really hasn’t thrown you guys off. We didn’t feel it when Dupre and Jay had their hooks into the sorority house. From what you guys have told me, that’s unheard of. The only thing that’s different is me—my presence.”
“Your presence is doing something to us, but I don’t think it’s anything bad.”
I stared at him. He caught my gaze and then looked away. Well, here was the moment. I had to talk to him about what happened there with Gabe.
I covered his hand with my own. “I’m sorry about earlier with Gabe.”
He shrugged. “It wasn’t a big deal.”
“Liam…”
He looked back at me, and I smiled, holding his gaze this time.
“I want you to know that there’s no pressure on my end. We can go the dating route like you want. I like that idea. I think it’s sweet, and romantic, and—”
“But you also like…” He cleared his throat. “…having sex.”
“Like, a lot,” I said, laughing. “Especially with you guys.” It was my turn for my face to flame. I squeezed his hand, trying to ignore the heat wave that just swept over me. “I’m not going to deny the attraction I feel for all of you. I’m also not going to say that the thought of you joining Gabe and I didn’t excite me because it did.” Oh, God. It so did.
“You really enjoyed it when Randy and I were together in the car, didn’t you?”
My throat dried out like I was in the Saharan Desert for multiple days without any type of sustenance. “Umm, yes.”
“What did you like about it?”
I peeked at him to make sure he was being serious. No doubt about it, he was. I shifted a little on the bed, knowing full well that if I talked about it, I was bound to get turned on again. “I think ultimately it came down to sharing something special with both of you, but sexually? It was about you both touching me at the same time, having someone watch, knowing we were turning that person on…” I blew out a breath. “Umm…”
Liam smiled. “Your face is flushed.”
I leaned over and gave him a peck on the cheek. “It’s your fault.”
His smile grew. “I liked it too,” he said, shaking his head a little. “I didn’t think I would, but it was a rush. I’m pretty sure you’ve guessed that I’m not the one who usually gets the girls, so having you want me, and on top of that, Randy watching in the rearview mirror, was…thrilling. It was like, ‘I’m the one making Norah feel his way. Not anyone else. Me.’ I know Randy was there, too, but…”
Holy shit. Hot flash. I moved closer to him on the bed, placing my right leg around his back and my left one over his lap. “I get it, Liam.”
“I also want to be enough for you alone.”
I tightened my hold on him and grabbed his chin to force him to look at me. “Oh my God, you are. You so are. We don’t need Randy, and we don’t even need a date to have me want you. You just need to be you.” Wow. How did I not realize that’s why he seemed so unsure? I needed him not to think that
way, and the only way I could think to help was to show him.
I pushed up and settled myself in his lap, my legs wrapped tightly around his torso before I lowered my lips to his. Softly, and surely, he kissed me back. It was so tender, so perfect that I melted into him. Aside from his usual shyness around women, he kissed so assuredly, like he was made to kiss me and only me. I opened for him and his tongue slipped inside, exploring his way over my lips. Beneath me, his body started to come alive and mine reacted in kind.
Before I started rubbing against him, though, I pulled away. “Is this what you want, Liam?” I asked, peeking down at his dick straining against his clothes. If he truly wanted to start from dating and all that, I wouldn’t push it. I wasn’t a sex-crazed monster. I mean, I was, really, but I could control myself if it’s what Liam wanted.
Liam rolled his hips into mine. “Yes, I want the best of both worlds.”
“Thank fuck for that.” I unbuttoned his jeans and unzipped him, releasing Liam’s cock from his restraints. He hissed as I gripped him through his boxers. “I can’t stop thinking about how good you felt inside me.”
“Jesus, Norah. You’re trying to kill me.”
His mouth sank into the crook of my neck as he pumped his hips into my grasp. I slipped his dick through the hole in his boxers and tightened my hold on his silky skin. Liam’s head rolled back. “Shit.”
He looked too perfect not to taste. I scooted back on the bed and rolled my tongue over his tip.
Liam stilled before exhaling an excited breath. “I was hoping you would do that.”
I leaned back and pulled at his pant legs. We shimmied them off and his boxers came next. “You need to work on asking for what you want, Liam.” Though I wanted to dive right back into putting his thick cock in my mouth, I hesitated. I wrapped him in my fist again, pumping him from tip to base, but locked my eyes on his. “What do you want? Tell me.”
He looked up, tortured, his hips coming up to thrust into my grip. I leaned over and kissed him thoroughly.
When I broke away, I stared at him again. “What do you want? Be specific.”
He rolled his hips again. “I want you to lick my head again.”
I gave him a small smile, then lay on my stomach in front of him. Darting my tongue out, I licked him slowly, curling it around his head, catching the pre-cum that beaded there. “Now what?”
“Put your lips on him. Just the head.”
I did as he asked, my tongue flicking over his tip.
“Oh shit. Deeper, Norah. Can you fit all of me in your mouth?”
His body shook as I slowly moved forward. I bent over the length of him, taking him all in and moving back out.
“Keep going. More.”
“Fuck, yes.” I did it again, locking my lips around his hard ridges. He was so hard, and the pre-cum kept coming and coming. The way he reacted, made me think he’d probably never gotten a blow job before. It made this so much hotter. I was his first experience and I was determined to make it amazing. Increasing my speed, I reached out with my hands to cup his balls.
He trembled, lifting his hips to try to keep up with me. “Jesus, Norah. I’m going to come.”
I pulled away, his dick popping from my mouth with a satisfied sound. I crawled toward him. “We can’t have that, Liam. Not until you’re inside me, and I’m wearing way too many clothes for that.”
He pulled at the hem of my shirt and I lifted my hands. Throwing it to the side, his gaze drifted down my body. “Take off your jeans.”
“Yes, Sir.”
His eyes flared. He must’ve liked that. In what I hoped looked sexy, I worked my jeans off until I was just in my bra and panties. I walked forward on my knees before straddling him, letting nothing but the thin material of my panties separate Liam from entering me.
Liam’s gaze intensified, giving that passion-fueled intensity that ratcheted up the heat in the room. He sealed his lips to mine, his hands working their way up my back to my bra clasps. He freed them and then worked the straps from my shoulders and letting it drop to the bed next to us. He leaned back on his hands, his gaze intent on my breasts. My nipples hardened and peaked, a fullness there that yearned for his touch.
“It really turned me on when you touched yourself.”
My hands worked my way up his stomach before tearing off his own shirt. Leaning over him, I whispered in his ear, “Tell me.”
“Touch your breasts.”
My head fell back as my hands came up to cup my sensitive skin. I arched into my own touch, my palms grazing my nipples. I hoped he would tell me to touch them because they were just begging for it, and just touching my breasts was like a big tease.
After a few moments, he spared me. “Play with your nipples.”
“Fuck, Liam,” I groaned as I flicked my finger over my hard nipples. At the same time, I arched into him, his hard cock rubbing against the thin material of my panties and my pussy underneath. I was going to need him inside of me, and soon.
“Hold them out for me.” He leaned forward, and I held my breasts out for him. When his hot mouth surrounded my nipples, I almost came out of the rhythm our hips moved in.
“Please touch me, Liam.” I rolled my hips into his and he moaned. His arms came around my back and hugged me to him, our hips joining even tighter now.
“I need inside you. Your panties—.”
“Rip them,” I said, nipping his ear. “I want you so bad I can’t wait. Just tear them off.”
He hesitated for a moment, but I kept grinding against him, the pleasure heating up between my thighs. He took two hands and pulled, the material ripping. He did the same on the other side and pulled the tattered pair away and in the next instant, pushed inside me.
“Oh fuck,” we both said at the same time.
“Christ, Liam. Please just…” I moved my hips faster, taking him in and out of me at a pace to match my desire. I wanted that orgasm. I was so fucking ready for it. “I want to come around you. Oh Liam. And you’re going to come inside me. Shit, yes.”
I rested my forehead on his and continued my pace, Liam meeting me stroke for stroke. Our harsh breaths mixed until I could tell Liam was about ready to lose it. His reaction excited me even more.
“Norah…”
“Yes, tell me.”
“I’m going to come inside you.”
My head fell back as my orgasm shot through me. “Yes!”
His followed soon after, his cock throbbing inside my spasming walls, letting everything go. He let out a low groan as I continued to rock against him until we were both just shuddering for breaths.
“Oh my God, Liam,” I finally said. “That was amazing. We need to do that, like, all the time.”
He held his hand secure around my back and flipped us so he was on top. He moved my hair from my face and kissed me. “That would make me extremely happy.”
I grinned up at him and then giggled like a schoolgirl. God, this boy. He was something else.
7
There was nothing like the morning after great sex. Wow. Shy Liam. Who would’ve thought? That was the second time he’d surprised me—actually, third. He’d surprised me in the car with Randy, but there was also that time in the cafe when he’d used his magic to protect us both like a badass.
Hot shit. If he hadn’t already went to school while I was just now on my way to ‘A Touch of Magic’, I might be dragging him into the back of the store to have him show me again how much he cared for me. Loved me? Maybe. Shit, wow. Was that what all this was? There were definite, finite feelings for them all. Deeper than friendship, deeper than even coven mates, though, I didn’t have experience like they did in being in a coven. Granny was a one-woman show. God, I missed the crap out of her.
I took a right down the cobblestone street where the shop was located and smiled when the sun shined down through the buildings. In the mornings, the quaint street was peaceful, old-school almost as if the world hadn’t even touched it yet. But once all the tourists starte
d waking up, as well as the other businesses, this turned into regular Main Street. All the shops put out their sandwich boards announcing sales and begging for customers to come in, only further reminding me that Salem, like New Orleans, though rooted in history and the supernatural, was just a hotbed for tourism now. It was the perfect storm for people like me. I enjoyed the history, and the money it brought me.
Damn. Granny would slap me upside the head for saying something like that.
Truthfully, when it came down to it, I loved that this was how I made my living. It beat going to college—for me, anyway. I could use what was inherent inside me to bring joy to others’ lives. It was kind of what Granny did, but she just gave it away selflessly. Maybe I should be more like that, but if what I sold someone here gave them fond memories of their vacation, or the ‘idea’ of magic, that was good too, right?
Also, I really needed a sandwich board, and a catchy slogan. And only about a gazillion other things before we finally opened.
My feet slowed automatically as up ahead, a figure came into view and bent down to peer into A Touch of Magic’s windows. She was on the shorter side with quite a voluptuous body all the way around with a brown, tasseled shawl draped around her shoulders. It could’ve been a tourist, but I didn’t think so. If it were a tourist, they would more than likely be wearing a Salem t-shirt, or one of those crafty witch hats I saw people wear around town.
I walked a little faster. I was new here, but I wasn’t new around the block. The last thing I needed was anyone stealing any of the ideas and hard work Liam and I had put into A Touch of Magic before we even opened. That ‘Make Your Own Spell’ station was genius.
“Can I help you?” I asked, as soon as I was within hearing distance.
“Ah!” The woman let out a short scream. She turned, her shawl trailing out around her as if it were a superhero cape. With one hand clutched to her heart, she said, “Oh my goodness.” She caught her breath for a few seconds while I just stared at her. Standing a little taller, she asked, “Are you A Touch of Magic?”