by ERIN BEDFORD
“Now, that’s a lie.” Griffin shoved Ian on the shoulder but took a step closer to Callie. “But I can bench a lot.” He picked up Callie’s hand and pressed his lips to the back of it.
Callie giggled and batted her eyelashes. “I bet you couldn’t bench me.”
“Oh, I’ll take that bet.” He dragged her away and into the crowd. Callie giggled and glanced back at me, giving me a thumbs up sign.
“Think she’ll be okay?” I asked Ian, letting him pull me into a slow dance.
“Oh, she’ll be fine. The same kind of spell at the dorms was put all over this house. He can’t do anything against her will.” He traced his fingertips down my shoulder, along my arm, and laced them with mine. We moved from side to side along with the music, and everyone else faded away.
“What about you? Bring many girls here? Is that what the spell is for?” I asked in rapid succession, staring up at him. I watched his lips move as he went to form his words. Usually, he was quick to answer, but with the drinking, it was taking him longer to form his thoughts.
“No, but we have quite a few parties here, it only makes sense. Keeps everyone involved save.” One side of his lips curled up, and his eyes dipped down to my tank top. “Now, you are dressed completely wrong for this party. How are you going to swim in this?” He fingered the strap of my top.
I smacked his hand and grinned. “I have a suit underneath. You just want an excuse to see me take my clothes off.”
“Can you blame me?” Ian leaned down and brushed his lips along my neck and then nipped my earlobe. “You’re addicting. I’d love to get another taste of you.”
My body warmed at his words. I hummed and bit my lower lip. “Well, maybe we’ll have to find some time to give you another dose.”
When we were just about to kiss, a hand pulled us apart. “Do you mind if I cut in?” Paul came between us, looking just as delicious but much soberer than Ian.
“Sure,” Ian chuckled and patted him on the shoulder. “If I can’t share with my brother, who can I share with?”
I giggled, but Paul’s lips barely twitched. Hmm. What’s his problem?
“I’m going to make the rounds. You take care of our girl.” Ian gave Paul a knowing look before disappearing into the crowd.
Paul didn’t take Ian’s place in the dance, instead standing there with his hands in his jean pockets. He was one of the few who wasn’t dressed for the party. The tense setting of his shoulders told me something was on his mind.
“So ...?” I shifted in place, trying to start the conversation. Maybe find out what was eating him.
“You look really good.” Paul gestured to my outfit and then rubbed the back of his neck.
“Thanks.”
“I saw Callie found someone to sink her hooks in already.” Paul nodded his head in the direction Callie had gone.
“Yeah, now maybe she’ll be less interested in who I’m sleeping with and more interested in her own love life.” I laughed and then rolled my eyes. “Not likely but one can dream.” Paul’s lips curled upward into a smile. “There it is. Finally.”
Then the frown returned.
“What?”
I crossed my arms over my chest and stared him down. “Are you going to tell me what has your panties in a twist, or are we just going to keep making awkward small talk?”
Paul smacked his lips and looked around the room. “Not here. Too many ears.”
“Alright.” I gestured with my hands for him to lead the way.
He took my hand and pushed through the crowd, leading us up the large staircase. When we hit the top of the stairs, a weird rubber band-like feeling came over me. The sound of the party muffled but didn’t completely disappear, not like it did at the gate.
“What was that?”
“A barrier spell. It’s just to keep the party downstairs and away from our bedrooms. It helps to keep random people from finding a bedroom not their own.” He shot me a grin and a wink, the first one I’d seen all night.
We went down a hallway and turned left, before finally stopping before a door. Opening the door, he waved me inside. The room smelled like him, mahogany and vanilla. It even looked the way I thought it would look, with deep rich colors and a wall full of books. The four-poster bed took up the majority of the room, the duvet a sapphire blue.
“I love your room.” I twisted around to face him, only to find him inches away. Licking my lips, I swallowed. “Hey.”
“Hi,” Paul took my waist and drew me to him. I placed my hands on his arms, waiting to see what he would do. Surely, he didn’t bring me up here just so we could ... you know.
His lips brushed against mine in slow sweeps, but as much as I wanted to let him deepen the kiss and see where the night would go, something was bugging him, and that took precedence.
“Paul,” I pulled my head away and shifted out of his embrace. “We’re supposed to be talking.”
Paul let out a frustrated growl, dragging a hand through his hair. “That’s the problem. We always just talk. I’ve talked to you more than I’ve even kissed you and I got there first. That’s the crazy thing. You kissed me first.” He paced back and forth in front of me as he ranted passionately.
“Hold up a second.” I held my hands up, waving them to get his attention. “So, the reason you’re all bent out of shape is that we haven’t done anything more than talk and kiss a bit?”
“Right.”
I sighed and dropped my hands. “Paul, you’re not jealous of the other guys, are you?”
“No,” he shouted and then lowered his voice. “No. I’m not jealous of you seeing them. I’m more ... disappointed by the outcome of our encounters.”
“What? You lost me.”
Paul scratched the back of his head and grimaced. “It seems like I’m always getting you hot and ready only to have you fall into another man’s arms.” I tried to speak, but he stopped me with a hand. “Now, I don’t blame you. I know my school work along with my TA job has made me fairly busy. And I take fault in that. However, it doesn’t dismiss the fact that—”
“You’ve gotten the short end of the straw.” I finished for him with a small smile. “I get it. I do. I’m having a difficult time juggling my own class work and four guys.”
“Four?”
I winced. “Ah, yeah. Aidan has now been moved up from cute stalker to sexy man meat with great hands.” I grinned at the memory of what those said hands had done to me.
“Right,” Paul drew out with a nod. “So, another one to get further than me.”
“Well,” I shifted toward him with a coy flutter of my lashes, “we’re alone now. There’s a barrier on the upstairs so the only people who could interrupt us would be ...?” I played with the neck of his t-shirt, pulling my bottom lip into my mouth with a grin.
“Ian or a member of the household.”
I fingered my necklace brushing my collarbone. “I have something that could help with that part.”
Paul’s gaze dipped to my necklace. “The wishing amulet? What would you say?”
I thought about it for a second. What could I wish to give Paul and me a chance to get closer? Well, what was the problem really? Every time we started getting somewhere, we got interrupted, or Paul had to go to work.
So, what we needed were time and privacy. Now, to word it so that it didn’t bite me in the ass. No need for another Sabrina incident. I couldn’t just ask the amulet to get people to leave us alone because that could end up with us being alone for five minutes or forever.
Tricky, tricky.
“I wish no one would come looking for us or enter this room for ...” I raised my brows at him. “... an hour?” I stated it as a question, but the necklace warmed immediately. I clucked my tongue. “Well, I guess that worked. We have an hour. Think that’s long enough?”
Paul grinned, pulling me to him. “I’ll make it work.”
Chapter 18
There was one thing I could say about the Broomstein brothers. They we
re givers all the way. However, they each had a different style to it.
Where Ian liked to tease me until I exploded, Paul was all about getting as many orgasms out of me in a short period of time. It might have been the short time frame I had wished upon us, but I couldn't complain.
“No more,” I gasped, tugging on his hair to drag him out from between my legs. “I surrender.”
“Are you sure?”
I laughed at his apprehensive expression. “If I had a white flag, I’d wave it.”
Paul crawled back up my body so that his lower half laid between my thighs. His hard length brushed against my sensitive skin, and I let out a moan, caught between pain and pleasure. I now believed death by orgasm was a thing. A great, wonderful thing.
Kissing me lightly, Paul reached between us and shifted his hips. I came out of my delirium long enough to put my hand on his arm. “Hold on. Do you have any condoms?”
Paul’s brow furrowed. “No. I don’t use condoms.”
I gaped at him, pushing him away in horror. “What do you mean, you don’t use condoms? Everyone uses condoms.”
Shaking his head, Paul moved to sit on the edge of the bed. “There’s a potion girls take for that. I never had to worry about it with ...”
Jealousy flared in me. “Sabrina, you mean? You never had to worry about using a condom with Sabrina.” Now I really was worried. So much for the mood, it was thoroughly smashed. With a disgusted growl, I climbed out of the bed and began pulling my clothes back on.
“What are you doing?”
Shoving my hair out of my face, I glared at him. “What does it look like? I’m done here. What a waste of a wish,” I muttered, jerking my shoes on with angry force.
Paul rushed around and cut me off before I could hit the door. “Come on, don’t leave. Just because I don’t have a condom like a stupid ...”
“Keep talking, Paul.” I snapped, snarling in his face. “Just keep going. You’re doing a great job of making sure you never see me naked again.” I spun around and reached for the doorknob.
“Look, I’m sorry.” Paul grabbed my arm. “I’ve never dated someone who was raised as a human. I didn’t know I’d need to prepare something, or I would have.”
“And you just assumed I’d be on something?” I quirked a brow, crossing my arms over my chest. “Despite what the rumors are spouting about me, I’ve slept with a total of one person. One.” I held up my finger and shoved it in his face. “Forgive me for not jumping onto birth control the morning after when he dumped me!”
Paul’s face had a mixture of horror and pity. That was the final straw. Jerking my arm away from him, I marched out of the room and hurried down the hallway before he could stop me again.
I didn’t run into anyone on my way back through the maze of a house. Luckily, we hadn’t turned too many times for me to find my way back to the staircase and the raging party below. That rubber band feeling came over me as I popped out of the private area, and the music blared loudly in my ears.
Rushing down the stairs, I searched for Callie or even Trina, who I had yet to see at the party. When I didn’t see them amidst the dancing guests, I headed outside. The music was just as loud out here, except the lights were dimmed to allow for a kind of sexy ambiance.
The massive pool was filled to such a capacity that I feared someone might drown from all the writhing bodies. The water changed colors on demand as bubbles were created out of nothing, floating up and into the night sky. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that it was a regular old college party, except for the bathing suits covered in dancing pineapples and the random swirls of multicolored sparkles floating in the air without any kind of wire attached to them.
I now understood the need for the bubble around the property. If a human came wandering in to investigate the noise, there’d be all kinds of hell to pay.
I passed by a couple of people making out on some lounge chairs, searching around for Callie’s familiar blonde head of hair. A squeal pulled my attention to the pool once more.
Callie’s blonde head came sputtering up from beneath the water, a playful irritation on her face as she splashed the perpetrator. Griffin laughed and wrapped his arms around her waist, dragging her to him. They backed up against the side of the pool and proceeded to make out.
Well, there went my ride. I so was not getting in the middle of that. I’d never hear the end of it.
Turning away from the pool, I bumped into someone’s cup, and it all came spilling out onto my jean shorts.
“Sorry,” the girl whose drink I spilled on me grimaced.
I shook my head and proceeded to pull the wet shorts off. “It’s my fault. Don’t worry about it.”
“You know, I know a spell that would dry that right up.”
The familiar sound of Dale’s voice had me spinning in place. I launched myself into his arms and buried my face in his neck. Inhaling him deeply, I could feel the stress of the night melting away.
“Hey!” Dale patted me on the back, holding me tight. “I’m glad to see you too.”
Tears pricked my eyes as I held onto him. I didn’t want to move away. I didn’t care who was watching, I just wanted him to hold me for a moment.
“Max.” Dale eased me back, wrapping an arm around my shoulders as he led me to a chair in a more secluded part of the pool area. After sitting me down, he brushed my hair away from my face, his thumb smoothing across my cheek where a tear had escaped. “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
I shook my head, turning my face away from him. “It’s not important.”
“Well, it sure seems that way. You’re crying.” Dale thankfully didn’t try to turn me back to face him. I hated crying. I wasn’t a pretty crier, and I didn’t want him to see me this way. He smoothed his hand along my hair, his voice low and soothing. “You can tell me. I’ve been told I’m a good listener.” He huffed a laugh, making me smile slightly.
Sniffing, I twisted around, my eyes down at my hands. “I think I just overreacted.” I sighed heavily. “Am I wrong to get jealous over an ex when I’m the one forcing four guys to date only me?”
Dale’s thumb pressed my chin up, urging me to look at him. “No one is forcing anyone to do anything. I promise you, we all want to be here. We want to be with you.”
“But why?” I grasped his hand with mine. “What’s so special about me? I’m nobody.” Dale started to interrupt, but I beat him to it. “Okay, so I have famous grandparents that don’t mean anything to me, and if anyone wants to be with me solely for that reason, they might as well hit the road.”
“So, money and fame aren’t things you value?”
“No.”
“Did you know that Aidan, Ian, and I were best friends in elementary school?” Dale said out of the blue.
“You were?” my eyes widened. “What happened? I mean, between you and them?” I left out the obvious reasons that Ian and Aidan were still best friends. I mean, they pretty much tag teamed me in my room.
Dale lifted a shoulder. “What usually happens. We drifted apart, became interested in different things. Also, their parents weren’t that happy about them hanging out with someone like me.”
“You mean someone without any magical status?”
“Yeah. So, it might not mean much to you, but most of the people here ...” He gestured around the party, where no one was paying much attention to us. They were too busy focusing on their own entertainment. “... they care. Being with you not only makes them look good to their peers but could open doors for them in the magical community they might not have had otherwise.”
“So, you think that Ian, Paul, and Aidan only want me for that reason?” Anger and hurt swelled in my throat, my eyes burning once more.
“No.”
My head jerked up to meet Aidan’s hard gaze. His form loomed over Dale and me, covering us in shadows.
I forced down my anger long enough to ask him, “No? What do you mean no?”
Aidan knelt before m
e, drawing the attention of those around us. He didn’t seem to care though. “I did not know your name before I saw you in my mind. I only saw a beautiful woman with a laugh that lit up the sky.” He took my hands in his large ones. “I knew once I met you that I had to know you.” Aidan’s lips caressed the top of my knuckles. “Nothing and no one would have kept me away.”
Wow. That was what I called romance. Who knew a man of so few words would have that kind of passion inside of him? The fact that he had been watching me before we even met, maybe even before I came to school, should have freaked me out but it didn’t. It made me feel confident that someone wanted me for me and not for my grandparents’ name or money. He made me feel wanted.
My mouth dry, I wetted my lips before opening my mouth to speak. “So, your stalker tendencies weren’t because of my winning personality?”
His lips curved at the edges. “No. They were not.”
Dale cleared his throat, interrupting our moment. “You know, you can’t really keep calling him a stalker when you also call him your boyfriend. It will confuse people.”
I glanced from Dale to Aidan. “He’s right. You have touched my boobs, after all.” I grinned and giggled, earning a heated look from Aidan.
“Come on, the party’s just started.” Dale stood and offered me a hand. “How about a drink?”
I stared at his hand and then to Aidan. Aidan stood as well, also offering me his hand. With a huff and a smile, I placed my hands in both of theirs and let them pull me to my feet. Those who had been watching before had already turned their attention back to their own conversations. No one even cared about us anymore. We were yesterday’s news.
Aidan and Dale ushered me over to the bar they had set up outside by the pool. I didn’t really drink, but I allowed Dale to order me something and push it into my hand. I took a small sip of it and made a face.
“Not good?” Dale asked with a laugh as Aidan watched me with bemused eyes.
I scrunched up my nose and shook my head. “It’s bitter and kind of burns.”