by E. M. Moore
What was wrong with me? Sensing my discomfort, he tried to move his hand, but I quickly put mine on top of his. “Don’t,” I told him.
Thankfully, he didn’t react to my telling him not to stop touching me. I didn’t want to have to explain myself. What could I say? I feel better when your hands are on me? Pathetic, and cheesy, all rolled into one. Instead, he switched positions on the bed so his back was against the wall. He then put an arm around me and moved my head to his chest. My arms wound around him like they had a mind of their own. Once we were situated on the bed like that, I was instantly at ease. My headache had subsided. The room around us was in complete shambles, but I really didn’t care at the moment. My body was happy. My magic was happy.
Gabe bent over and kissed the top of my head. He pulled back right away. “Oh, ow.”
I lifted my head and watched as Gabe pulled his finger away from his lips. A trace of red stained his fingertips. Blood. “What the matter?”
He bent my head back down and searched my hair. “Something sharp,” he said. He continued his perusal until he picked out something and moved it to my line of sight. “You want to tell me why there’s glass in your hair?”
My hands immediately went up to my head, but he batted them away. “Oh, right,” I mumbled, feeling stupid for going for my hair when Gabe had just gotten cut. “A big picture window exploded over Liam and I earlier. I should probably get in the shower.”
I went to move, but Gabe put a hand on my shoulder. “You sure you’re up for it? I’d hate to have to run into the shower to save you from fainting.”
His lips curled around his words and I just shook my head at him. “I should be fine. But you might want to stay just in case.”
I was half flirting, half needing him to stay. What if whoever came in here earlier and knocked me out came back? Plus, like Granny said, it just felt right being next to him.
Gawd, girl problems.
I hurried into the small, crowded bathroom and shut the door behind me. After taking a lot of time to shower, half getting the glass out of my hair and half trying to talk myself into getting back out there with Gabe, I finally stepped out. The steam had fogged up the bathroom mirror, so I wiped at it with one of the extra washcloths. I dried off as best as I could and wrapped a towel around me. Right about the time I started looking for something to put on was when I realized I hadn’t brought any clothes in with me. Well, this was going to be awkward.
“Um, Gabe?”
“Yeah?”
“Just checking that you were still here.”
“Why would I be anywhere else, Love?”
I placed my forehead on the door and giggled before sealing my lips shut again. “Well, we have a slight problem.”
I heard a thump, and then several more before the door to the bathroom whisked open. Cold air pricked my arms as Gabe stood in front of me like a Gladiator. His gaze searched the surrounding room, his shoulders relaxing only minutely before his stare returned to me. Then, his chest stilled. His eyes worked their way from my face down to my neck, bare shoulders, and then lower. My skin burned everywhere his eyes touched.
I shifted where I stood under his intense scrutiny. “I meant that I didn’t have any clothes to put on in here.”
“Oh. Right.” His face flamed as he tried to look away.
“Thank you for taking the awkwardness out of the situation though,” I offered, biting down on a smile.
“Yup, that’s me,” Gabe said, his tone amused. “Taking the awkwardness out of everything is kind of my thing.”
Why did I feel like that was probably the truth? Besides Liam, he seemed the most chill out of all the guys I was drawn to. He even had a leg up on Liam because Liam was awkwardness in and of himself. Gabe had a sexy confidence, pretty much the epitome of the jock type. “You must be a good soccer player,” I said, pulling my towel around me tighter.
He trained his eyes on me. “Why do you say that?”
I lifted a shoulder. “You just seem the type.”
“I can’t tell if that’s a compliment or not.”
I brushed past him, my right shoulder blazing with heat as it touched him. “I don’t know either,” I told him honestly. Trying to ignore him, I searched my room for something to put on. Everything was strewn all over.
Gabe cleared his throat. When I looked back, he had the same bra I took away from him earlier hanging off a finger. Padding toward him, I took it gingerly off his finger while still trying to keep some of my dignity intact. “Thank you.”
I bent down to pick up a pair of underwear sticking out from underneath the bed when the top of my towel spread apart. I just barely caught it before the whole thing unraveled. I took a quick peek down, my body otherwise frozen in place at the near close call. Just a little more cleavage, nothing terrible.
A hard groan came from Gabe. “You’re fucking killing me. Please stand up.”
At the same time he said that, a wave of cool air brushed against my skin. I peered down further and noticed the gaping hole that showed off the bottom cup of my breasts. “Oh God.”
“You’re telling me.” I stood, and he took my shoulders, maneuvering me back into the bathroom. “Stay here. I’ll get your clothes and then you can get dressed in peace before I decide I like you better in just the towel.” He winked. “Which obviously I prefer you in just the towel. So what I guess I’m trying to say here, Love, is that I’m being a gentleman.”
I nodded up at him dumbly. He turned away and scoured the floor for my clothes. Within a minute, every single piece of clothing I’d brought with me was on top of the small table just inside the hotel room door. He chose every article of clothing I’d need and brought them to me. Pushing past me, he left them on top of the sink before turning and shutting the door behind him, leaving me in the bathroom by myself. I threw my head back to look at the ceiling. “My Lord,” I whispered. “Give me strength.” Like with Randy, my nerve-endings were on haywire whenever I was near the sexy Brit.
Maybe I was lonelier than I thought back in New Orleans. Or maybe it really was just these guys, this mysterious pull to them.
All I knew was, if I still planned to leave, I needed to get my shit together.
Chapter Ten
When I came out of the bathroom, Gabe was just righting the lamp on the bedside table. While I’d dried my hair and basically tried to pull myself together in there, he’d spent the time putting everything in the small hotel room back the way it was. When he heard the floor creak, he peeked behind him. A stunning smile graced his face. “Can’t say that I didn’t prefer the towel look, but you’re still beautiful no matter what.”
Yep. Typical jock confidence. “You are good at soccer, aren’t you?”
“Football,” he corrected. “We Brits call it football, and yes, I am good at it.” He grimaced. “Well, when Order business doesn’t get in the way.”
“The call? You got it earlier, didn’t you?” Travis had said the same thing, that’s how he’d known where to find Liam and me. Well, Liam anyway. They had the whole coven connection thing going on.
He laughed softly. “Faked a foot injury again. My whole team thinks my joints are made out of glass.”
Though he laughed, I could tell it bothered him. “Must be hard having a life when you’re also supposed to be saving the world.”
He looked up at me, his head cocking to the side a little. “Yes, and no. Not really. I just know I have a greater purpose, I guess. Most of the time it doesn’t bother me at all. It’s easier when there’s a fifth, too.”
There’s the talk about the fifth again. I was going to steer well clear of that topic. I’d be gone tomorrow.
Tomorrow? What happened to today? A little voice in my head said.
I told it to shut up because obviously something had just happened to me and I shouldn’t be running away now. I had no one to rely on in New Orleans, but at least I was semi-connected o this group of guys.
Gabe scooted over on the bed and pat
ted the spot he’d just occupied. I quirked an eyebrow at him, but took the spot anyway. Once again, he put his arm around me and I settled on his chest. Just in his arms, my heart started a more steady, slow rhythm, and I jokingly wondered if the world was going to shit around us, if I’d care as long as I was in his arms. He was sweet, and although I was attracted to him, it wasn’t that scary intense attraction I’d felt with Randy yesterday. Just thinking about him, my blood started to boil. “So, do all of you know where I’m staying now?” I asked.
“Afraid so. It’ll be hard to get rid of us now.”
“Wonderful,” I deadpanned, pretending to be annoyed.
He laughed and the scent of freshness filled my nostrils again. “Yeah, I have a feeling you’ll get along with us just fine.”
I’d been smiling right along with him, but this comment made me gnash my teeth together. I wasn’t staying. I wasn’t staying, I repeated over and over to myself.
Gabe’s fingertips brushed against my skin, trailing a line from my elbow to my shoulder. Like a kitten, I wanted to purr at the contact. My natural reaction was to pull away. This was too much, too soon, but like with Randy, it just felt right, too. So, instead, I went against everything my brain told me to do and cuddled up closer to him. “Who do you think tried to hurt us?” I asked, involuntarily shivering. Even though I kept telling myself I was just asking out of curiosity, and that it didn’t really matter because I’d be gone soon anyway, part of me felt like I was a little too invested in his answer for that to be true.
“Unfortunately, we have no idea,” Gabe said. “Since we’re one guy short, our power is on the fringe.”
“But you all felt the pull earlier, didn’t you?”
“Oh absolutely,” he said. “We all felt it, that’s not usually the problem. The problem comes from what we can do after we feel it. I’m glad Liam was able to keep you guys safe. He’s a good witch.”
“Yeah,” I said, remembering how he’d taken charge of the situation, so different from what I imagined his reaction might be. He went from awkward college kid, to don’t-mess-with-us within a few moments. Hot as fuck, actually.
Jesus, body. Get a damn grip. You can’t be interested in all three of these guys. Your next stop will be the Jerry Springer Show for fuck’s sake.
“Did you win your game today?” I asked, trying to keep my focus.
His lips pressed to the top of my head. This time, there was no exclamation of pain afterward. “Yep, two to nothing. Maybe you can come watch me play sometime.”
“Maybe,” I offered noncommittally even though my body was screaming at me to say yes. I didn’t want to lie to him.
“Hey.” After lifting my chin to make me look him in the eyes, he said, “I know things are really weird right now, but it’s kind of nice to talk to someone you have things in common with, isn’t it? It’s cool that I can just be myself with you instead of having to always cover up who I really am. I mean, I can be myself around the guys, but that’s not really the same thing, is it? I’m not asking for you to make any decisions about the coven right now, Norah.”
My breath caught as he spoke. He was absolutely right. I didn’t know a lot of real witches in New Orleans. Granny and I kept to ourselves, and then when I branched out and opened the voodoo shop, I’d immersed myself in a fake world of palm readers and psychics. None of them were legit. “You’re right. This is actually really nice,” I told him. “It can be exhausting trying to cover up who you really are.”
“Exactly.”
His gaze searched my face. The link that was always around us ratcheted tighter and tighter until we were inches away from one another. His hot breath caressed my lips. Fuck it, I told myself. What could go wrong?
I bridged the gap between us, pressing my lips to his. He sucked in a breath as if he wasn’t expecting me to do that. I smiled to myself, loving that I’d surprised him. His lips swept over mine, and I relaxed into his touch. My body hummed in approval. I reached out to cup his cheek. Breathless, we both pulled away and just stared at one another. He ran a hand through my hair and steered my head back toward his chest. When he spoke, his voice came out tight. “What do you do in New Orleans?”
Content, I closed my eyes. “I own a voodoo shop.”
“Really?” he asked, doubt in his voice. “I didn’t see that coming.”
I shrugged. “It’s a way to pay the bills. I don’t sell them any real spells. Not usually, anyway. The tourists just like the idea of magic. They want to live out the fantasy without really having it.”
He hugged me tighter to him. “I’d hate to be non-magical.”
I couldn’t agree with him so I kept quiet, listening to Gabe’s heartbeat as he ran his fingers up and down my arm with steady pressure.
After a few minutes of silence, he asked, “Are you feeling better?”
I nodded into him. “Why do I feel like that has a lot to do with you?”
He held a breath in his chest. I looked up at him, then leaned over to capture another kiss. This time, it wasn’t as sweet as the first. My fingers moved down his chest and snaked under the hem of his polo. Oh, heaven. He was ripped. I tugged his shirt up and broke the kiss to stare down at him. “Holy hell.”
“Is that a good thing?”
I met his eyes to find him smirking at me. Yeah, he knew he was hot. I pulled his shirt the rest of the way off and took my time playing my fingertips over the dips and planes of his chest and abs.
“Not fair,” he said. “Your turn.”
“You already saw mine,” I teased, even though I was already itching to get out of my shirt. Our connection pulled us closer and closer. I wasn’t happy until I situated myself on his lap. His body responded, his hard dick growing under me. And here I was, at a crossroads again. I just hoped he didn’t ask me a yes or no question. To ruin another night with a premonition would be torture. I didn’t want to think. I wanted to feel. Liquid heat had already formed between my legs, practically soaking my panties. His hands reached up my back as he unclasped my bra, then he stayed there, kneading his fingertips into me that moved my hips closer and closer.
“Norah?”
I moaned into his kiss. My body crackled with energy. “If my shirt comes off, I hope you plan on touching me.”
He all but tore my shirt off and lowered his hands over my breasts. I looked down as he flicked and rolled my nipples between his thumbs. “Gabe…”
“Shit, I know,” he said. He palmed my breasts, stroking them to the rhythm of my hips rolling into his.
I’d already worked myself up just massaging myself against him and feeling his hands on me. “This is fucking crazy,” I said, as I undid the button on his pants and pulled his zipper down. Reaching one hand into his boxers, I gripped his cock in my fist.
“Fucking A.”
He ducked his head, his lips surrounding first one nipple then the other as I stroked him. My heart beat like mad, and the energy around us sizzled. I sniffed the air, finally realizing what the scent I’d noticed around him was. It smelled like the air after a summer rainstorm. “Rain,” I said, smiling.
“My magic,” he said breathlessly. “And you just had to be fucking sugar, didn’t you?” He rolled us over until he was on top. After removing my jeans and panties, he towered over me. I still had a grip on him and moved him ever so much closer to where my body begged for him with each breath. His tip teased my legs, and I made a low moan. He matched mine, his glorious chest on full display. “Sweetheart, I hate to be a downer, but I don’t have any protection. I don’t imagine you…”
My shoulders deflated, and I loosened my grip on him. Talk about a douse of ice water. “No,” I said, searching the room as if condoms would magically appear. “You really don’t” I asked Gabe though I didn’t know why he would joke about this. Not when everything within us was pulling us to one another.
He shook his head, and I briefly thought about telling him to just fuck me anyway, but the truth was, I didn’t know these guys. Sur
e, pure, unadulterated bareback sex sounded sexy as hell, but— Wait, what was I trying to talk myself out of?
Gabe lowered himself on top of me. He kissed a trail down my chest and stomach to the apex of my thighs. He hovered there even as my knees opened in invitation. “Can I lick you?”
“Oh, fuck yes,” I mewled, my hips coming up to meet his sudden movement forward. The first touch of his tongue to my pussy felt like pure pleasure. Energy crackled out of me and the lamp next to the bed dimmed.
Well, that was new.
Gabe’s hands slid under my ass and around my thighs until he played with my nipples as he licked. My fingers splayed through his hair, urging him on. “Do you want more, Norah?”
I locked eyes with him as he licked me from center to top, his lids hooded over as he paid extra attention to my nub. “More,” I told him. “God, yes.”
Removing one hand from my breast, he brought it down to my upper thighs, pushing inside as his tongue flicked over me. My fingers clenched in his hair as my orgasm hit me hard and fast. His finger dipped in and out as he rode my pleasure out, eeking every last happy sigh out of me.
He watched as I came back down, his chest expanding with every deep breath. “That was so fucking sexy.”
I sat up and pushed him back. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”
I followed him as he lay back near the foot of the bed. While one finger stroked his shaft, my tongue played with his tip. He was surprisingly gentle as he wound his fingers through my hair, urging me over his cock while his eyes rolled into the back of his head. I took him all in, running my tongue down his length as I went. I stayed with the pace he set, his hips making tiny movements upwards as I sucked. When he moved faster, so did I, matching his wants. Breathy gasps erupted from Gabe’s throat as his fingers tightened their hold, pulling my hair in a delicious way. “Fuck, I’m going to come.”
I made a sweet vibration in my throat that tipped Gabe right over. A cry ripped from his mouth as he pushed his hips up several times quickly, with the last one finally releasing into my mouth as I swallowed, licking and sucking him until he lay spent on the bed.