Poison and Potions: a Limited Edition Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy Collection

by Erin Hayes

  But not tonight. Not anymore.

  “It’s a big city, Fairweather. None of us have to be alone unless we want to.” He winked. “Trust me on that.”

  All right. That was mean, but fuck it. Like a coward, she had left him. And when she finally came back, without so much as a call, she treated him like he didn’t matter.

  Maybe he didn’t. Maybe that was the thing. He was her Meredith.

  She blinked and looked down. “I just wanted to see you,” she said in a small voice.

  “That’s rich,” he said, leaning back against the wall. “Am I wrong, or did you not just tell me to stay the hell away from you?”

  She looked back up at him, and he wanted so much to grab her again, to kiss her and tell her how hard it had been not knowing where she was or if she was okay. But more than that, he didn’t want to be the pathetic person he felt like for wanting that. And he sure as hell didn’t want her to know he wanted it.

  “It’s been a hard night,” she answered.

  “It’s been a hard year,” he said. “But I’ve been getting through it.”

  “About that,” she answered. “There’s a reason I’m here.”

  “I bet,” he answered, moving closer to her. If he was her Meredith, he might as well get the perks out of it. “Why don’t you come inside?”

  “I can’t.” She looked down again. “Actually, maybe I should come in. This is probably better done away from prying eyes.”

  “That depends on your kink, I guess,” he answered, intentionally being crude.

  She didn’t answer. Following him into the living room, she said, “The place looks nice.”

  “Yeah… I made some changes.” He turned to her. “Got rid of some stuff.”

  “I figured you’d have moved back home after I left. You know, for your safety.”

  “I can take care of myself, Juju,” he answered, moving closer to her. “Besides, this whole place is lined with Himalayan salt and lilac petal. No magic works here.” He wiggled his fingers. “Except my own.” He put his palm against her stomach, mimicking the way she shocked him away from kissing her.

  “Yeah,” she said. “I wanted to talk to you about that.”

  “Is that what you wanted to do, Juju?” he asked, looping his fingers into the belt loops of her jeans and pulling her against his bare chest. “Did you come here to talk?”

  “Don’t call me that.” She looked up him with those eyes again.

  “You never used to mind before,” he said, staring down at her with parted lips. “In fact, if I remember correctly, you used to like it.” He moved his fingers from her belt loops and slid his right hand under the bottom of her shirt, tracing the area above her hip. “I remember you liking a lot of stuff.”

  “Roman, we can’t,” she said, but there was no mistaking the want in her voice. It was as familiar as it was enticing, as intoxicating as it was mutual.

  “We can,” he said, his hands settling on her hips and tugging at the line of her panties. “And we’re going to.”

  He pulled her closer and pressed his lips against hers. Like before, the world lit up. She rose against his chest, her breasts pressing against his bare skin, her nipples stiffening under her shirt. Even with all the alcohol pumping through his system, his cock still stirred.

  Damn, he had missed this. Missed the taste of her. The feel of her, as though she was sculpted just for his pleasure.

  She pulled away and opened her mouth, but she wasn’t going to use it for talking. He was going to make sure of that.

  He lifted her into his arms, bracing her ass and pushing her up against the wall. She arched her back and moaned, making him instantly hard.

  Her feet knotted together behind his back, and he pushed at her harder, his cock rubbing between her legs, over her pants.

  “Stay right there,” he muttered, backing away from her.

  Magic was great. Magic during sex was the best.

  His spell kept her in place, pressed against the wall, lifted into the air, and completely helpless to whatever he wanted to do to her. And more than anything, he wanted to punish her for pushing him away. For leaving him earlier today, for leaving him all those years ago.

  She would beg for him now.

  She breathed hard, her perfect breasts lifting and falling in rhythmic delight.

  Roman twitched his finger, and the top button of her shirt flew off. She gasped at first, but when she looked down at what had happened, she couldn’t hide that fiery blush. She wanted this every bit as much as he did. And he was going to make sure she knew it.

  He twitched his finger again, and the bottom button flew off. Another twitch for the top, and then again for the bottom. The last twitch opened her shirt fully, revealing her delicate breasts.

  He thought he was going to burst as he looked at her, helpless, panting, and soaking wet with anticipation. Those lips, those breasts, that gorgeous mound between her legs…he could do whatever he wanted with them. She wouldn’t stop him this time. Earlier she’d pushed him away because she knew she could not resist, but this time…it was too late. He already had her at the edge, and Julia never stepped back from the edge.

  He twitched his finger again, and every stitch of clothing she was still wearing ripped off and fell in tattered shreds to the floor.

  He unbuttoned his jeans, pulling them down and revealing himself to her. He grinned as her blush deepened, as her breathing shifted heavier, as her gaze settled on his shaft.

  With another twitch of his finger, the magic forced her legs apart. He moved his fingers in the air, making her moan. He was connected with her now, so connected that he could make her feel him from where he stood.

  “Not like this,” she said, pleading.

  He grinned, remembering how much she “hated” when he teased her this way. “It’s embarrassing,” she would say.

  “Not like this?” he repeated, continuing to tease her. “I thought you liked the distance between us.”

  “Roman—”

  “Sorry, love. My house, my magic, my rules.”

  His fingers moved in the air, pushing the sensation deep inside of her. Three fingers worth—almost enough to mimic the width of his cock. Enough to remind her of what he could do to her in the bedroom.

  Her wet walls squeezed around his fingers, clenching even tighter as she trembled with pleasure.

  Enough to remind him of what she could do to him as well. But he wasn’t going to let her know that.

  She mumbled something under her breath.

  “What did you say?” he asked, glaring up at her. “Juju.”

  “Take me,” she repeated. “Take me right now.”

  Her body glistened with sweat in the moonlight. Her breast, her pussy, her lips, her legs… He wanted them all, and he wanted them forever. But he would settle for tonight.

  “Take you how, Juju?”

  “Roman, please.”

  “Please what?”

  Her bottom lip trembled. He knew she hated this, which was exactly why she fucking loved it. “Fuck me,” she whispered.

  Good girl.

  He strolled over to her, letting his cock rub against the opening of her pussy. He pressed against her enough for his head to create pressure against that tight little entrance. “What do you want, Juju?”

  She whimpered.

  He leaned in, his lips brushing against her earlobe, his voice a low growl when he whispered. “Say it. Now, Julia. Tell me what you want.”

  “I want you…inside of me.”

  Perfect. Then they wanted the same thing—but as long as she’d been the one to beg for it, he wouldn’t have to feel bad about giving a pounding that she’d had coming to her for over a year and a half now.

  He nudged himself deeper, grinning as her body resisted it. She was tight. The way she got when it’d been too long. Which could only mean one thing: she hadn’t been with another man since she left.

  She still loved him.

  Roman went easy on her only
for a moment, but then he drove his cock into her, freeing her from the magic and letting her weight fall against him. He wanted to feel her. All of her. And he wanted her to know that what she was feeling was one hundred percent him.

  As she wrapped herself around him again, a sweat-covered and glistening mess of passion and panting, he turned. Moving toward the bedroom, he forced the door open. He kissed, then bit her lip just hard enough to let her know he meant business.

  And then he tossed her onto the mattress, flipped her over, and spanked her hard, kissing the back of her neck before working himself back inside of her. She was as tight and eager as ever as she arched against his thrusting. The mattress muffled her moans as he held her still by her hair, grinding into her from behind, his hips slapping against her perfect ass.

  There was so much he wanted to say to her, but he wasn’t sure she wanted that. And he wasn’t about to put himself out there, to risk his heart saying how he felt. So instead, he gave her what she did want.

  And he gave it to her hard.

  Making love opened up too much room for getting hurt. Fucking was safe. Fucking would be enough to keep her around long enough for them to get back to what they had.

  She was on the cusp of orgasm. He could tell from the way her moans had shifted to a more desperate need.

  “Not yet,” he warned her.

  Not this time.

  Julia wasn’t like other women. Other women, it was the orgasms that kept them coming back. With Julia, it was unfinished business, and that was exactly why he wasn’t going to let her finish tonight.

  He sped up his thrusting to send himself over the edge, spilling his hot fluids into her and smacking her ass again with another hard slap as he pulled out.

  She whimpered, turned back to him with hurt in her eyes, but didn’t have the guts to say anything about it. That’s a Fairweather for you.

  “Next time,” he promised.

  They both knew the mind-blowing orgasms he could deliver. And that’s how he could be sure tonight wouldn’t be the last he saw of her.

  He threw her one of his shirts to put on as a nightdress and climbed into bed next to her. She tucked herself under the blankets with him, and they both fell asleep in the silence. The way it used to be.

  Somehow, he was going to get that back. For good.

  “I need to talk to you.” Her voice pulled him from the most peaceful sleep he’d had in over a year.

  When he opened his eyes, Julia was already dressed and standing beside the window with her arms crossed over her chest.

  Roman groaned. “Come back to bed. You have too many clothes on.”

  She turned to glare at him. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

  “What? Last night?”

  She raised an eyebrow.

  “Hey, I only used magic for the sex—not to make you want it. That’s on you.” He sat up, rubbing the rest of the sleep out of his eyes. “So what’s this really about? I’m guessing it not about how I like my eggs.”

  “I remember how you like your eggs,” she said. “I need you to be serious.”

  She was gorgeous, with the moonlight beaming off her skin, dressed in a short blue dress that hugged her curves just right.

  “Where’d you get the dress?” he asked, throwing his hands behind his head and resting against the headboard. “Last I saw them, your clothes were in less than great condition.”

  He smiled, but she didn’t.

  “I must have left this here last year.” She shuffled. “It was still in the closet.”

  There was a coldness in her voice that hadn’t been there when they’d went to sleep. It was as if they were back on the cliffs, like all that passion never happened at all.

  “You know me. I never throw anything away,” Roman said, trying to sound as indifferent as possible. “You sure that’s the one you want. I’m sure there are other dresses in there, too. If I remember their owners correctly, some of them might even be your size.”

  She blinked, but again didn’t return to the softness of last night.

  “I’m fine,” she answered. “Besides, that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about.”

  “I get it.” Roman scoffed, looking away. “You’re either going to tell me that you can’t live without me but you have to, or that you can’t live with me but you want to. We’ve been through both and, to tell you the truth, I’m not interested in going through it again.”

  But that wasn’t true. Even knowing how it ended, how much it hurt, if he had the chance to start things up with Julia again, he would jump at it.

  Of course, hell would find itself the victim of a very unlikely blizzard before he would ever admit that to her, not when her eyes stared at him so unfeeling and her mouth pursed itself so accusingly.

  “It’s not about that,” she answered. “We both know how this ends, Roman. We’re adults now. We don’t have to pretend we can change our worlds for each other.”

  Roman leaned forward, eyeing her all the way down. “What’s that supposed to mean, Ju—”

  “Don’t!” she said firmly. “My family had a coven meeting last night.”

  “The famous Fairweather get-togethers. Must have been a hell of a party. I’m sorry I missed it,” he said, letting a thin smile drape across his face.

  “I am, too, because you were the subject of one of the more spirited conversations.”

  The levity dropped out of the room. What in seven circles of hell were those has been bastards doing with his name in their mouths? They hated him. They more than proved that last year, and he had the scars to prove it.

  “I don’t know whether to be honored or disgusted.” Roman glanced at the floor and then back up at her.

  “Are you practicing dark magic?” she asked, setting her jaw.

  He pulled the covers back, standing up to confront her.

  She balked a little, probably because he was completely naked. But it wasn’t anything she hadn’t seen before.

  She spun away, shaking her head and blinking hard.

  “Oh, hide your blushing eyes,” Roman scoffed. “You’re not exactly virginal.”

  She turned back, awkwardness replaced by anger.

  “Are you practicing dark magic?” she repeated, louder now.

  “Is that your business?” he asked, glaring down at her.

  “It sure as hell is!” Her eyebrows pulled lower over her eyes. “I care about you.”

  “Is that right?” He chuckled harshly. “Don’t you mean you care about my dick? Because I haven’t seen where you’ve had much use for the rest of me.”

  “Don’t be crass,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”

  “Seems like you’ve got a foolproof plan for that.” He crossed his arms over his bare chest. “Because the last time I got hurt, you sure as shit were nowhere to be found.” He traced his back molars with his tongue. “And I’ll be as crass as I fucking want to. This is my house, in case you’ve forgotten.”

  “Is that what the lease says?” she asked him daringly.

  “It does now,” he shot back. “Didn’t think you’d mind.”

  “This is beside the point.” She huffed. “You know how dangerous that dark stuff is, Roman. You saw what it did to your grandfather.”

  He bristled. In that moment, he hated that she knew everything about him, even though there’d been a time he’d loved exactly that.

  “What I know is that my family has a rich and storied history with that magic—history that they’ve lost in the last few generations. That’s the only reason a coven like yours would ever have a chance of competing with my family.”

  “This isn’t about my family,” she said, glaring at me.

  “The hell it isn’t. Your family is the only reason we’re not together right now.”

  “My people are not the only ones who would have disapproved of our relationship.”

  “But they’re the only ones who had the power to stop it,” he said, heat r
ising into his face. “Look around, Julia. I’m gone. I’m not with them anymore. I’m living the life we planned for ourselves. The only difference is that you were too much of a coward to do it with me.”

  “Is that what you think?” She narrowed those eyes at him. “Are you really that short-sighted, or are you just stupid?”

  “You have no idea what my life has been like!”

  “I know enough about it to know that you’ve let your family turn you into some dark magic guinea pig. And it’s dangerous.”

  “Or maybe that was the other way around,” he said, once again being purposefully nasty. “Maybe this is who I am. Maybe it was you who I let turn me into somebody else.”

  “We both know better than that,” she said.

  “The only thing I know is that I can’t trust you,” he spit back. “You came here with ulterior motives. Are you working for your family? Are they afraid of me? Because they should be.”

  For a long moment, she stared at him, breathing heavy and weighing something between her eyes.

  “What happened to you,” she said, near breathlessly.

  “I grew up,” he said. “Finally started seeing the world for what it was, and the people in it for what they really wanted. You should try it sometime.”

  “Maybe I should,” Julia said. “Because I obviously haven’t been making the best decisions lately.”

  “You and me both, Juju,” he answered.

  “I just wanted—”

  “I know what you wanted,” he said. “You wanted to come in here, after being gone for eighteen fucking months, and tell me what to do with my life. You thought I would be so happy to see you that I would be such a goddamn puppy dog, that I’d leap at the scraps you gave me and do whatever you wanted so long as you promised to drop in every once in a while. Are you even staying here, Julia? Are you back for good, or did you just drop by to send my life into ruin again?”

  “I—I can’t be here,” she said. “It’s not good for me.”

  “That’s what I thought,” he answered disgustedly, looking down at his bare feet. “Get out.”

  “Roman, you need to listen to me. If you don’t—”