Must Be Magic (Spellbound Book 4)

by Sydney Somers

  * * *

  Bryce couldn’t sleep. Not like Darby could, but he kept his eyes closed most of the trip back to St. Lucia. It kept his father at a distance. It kept everyone at a distance.

  Except Riley. He’d lost track of how many times she’d sat beside him, grilling him on everything that happened when they were on the island.

  She didn’t seem to care that he kept his eyes closed almost every single time.

  By the time they’d docked and disembarked the fishing vessel, Darby had a death grip on his hand. The nervous clenching felt the same way his stomach did.

  Fucking awful.

  He could see her family heading toward them—his too—from the end of the dock, and knew he was running out of time with her.

  She seemed to read his mind and turned, wrapping her arms around his waist, even though he knew it probably hurt her arm.

  “You need to go with your family.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “They’re worried about you.”

  “I don’t want to leave you,” she whispered, clinging to him so tightly her mouth brushed his ear when she spoke.

  Letting her go—for now—was the only way he could think to keep the peace. They’d all been through enough. She’d barely made it through his and Dante’s exchange on the boat, and as much as she’d joked afterward, he could tell the confrontation had upset her.

  He wouldn’t be the reason anything else troubled her today.

  “Just for a little while,” he coaxed. He leaned back, smoothing the hair from her face. “Tonight you’ll be with me. Or sooner than that if you want. But they need time. They almost lost you.”

  And he needed time to deal with his father. He just wished he had a clue how to handle that.

  “How will I find you?”

  “I’ll make sure everyone knows.” He couldn’t stop himself from covering her mouth with his, lingering for just another beat. “Maybe just not Dante,” he teased.

  She rewarded him with that stunning smile that flipped his heart around in his chest. He enfolded her in his arms once more, second-guessing the plan to let her out of his sight for more than a minute.

  He knew it was the right thing to do…for everyone but him anyway.

  “I’ll see you soon.” He’d never had to try so hard to smile in his life. He nodded to where Finn stood watching them. Dante had joined the rest of the Calders, his expression unreadable.

  “Okay.” Her smile looked nearly as forced as his felt.

  What the hell were they doing?

  Before he could voice that thought aloud, she was swept away, her family closing ranks around her.

  He stayed where he was a moment longer, then turned to find Bree in front of him. She threw her arms around him, squeezing the last of the air from his lungs.

  “It’s just for a little while,” she echoed. She stood back, and after giving Finn a little wave, she led Bryce toward the car parked a few feet away.

  * * *

  She wasn’t coming.

  Bryce glanced at the clock in his room for the hundredth time in the last two hours. Like he had half a dozen times already, he crossed to the door—a much more tolerable process now that his leg had been fully treated and he’d been given something for the pain—half-prepared to track her down.

  She’ll come.

  Forcing himself to sit, he glanced at the clock again. It was after nine. How in the hell had he gone weeks, months, even years at a time without seeing her and barely six hours was eating a hole right through him?

  He should have stayed with her. Aside from seeing the doctor, talking to the local authorities and being set up in a suite at the resort, he’d had nothing but time on his hands.

  His family had stuck around for awhile, until he’d confronted his father about Darby’s pregnancy. Although he’d looked regretful, his father hadn’t apologized, insisting he had done what he thought was best at the time.

  Everyone had cleared out then, but both his mother and sisters had popped back a couple times since then. He expected to hear from one of them again within the hour.

  He blew out a breath. Where was Darby?

  She wasn’t coming.

  He’d made sure everyone knew his room number, had done everything but skywrite it for everyone staying at the resort to see. Had she changed her mind about being with him?

  He rejected the idea as soon as it crossed his mind.

  She’ll come.

  Christ, he felt like he was picking the petals off a freaking daisy.

  To hell with it. He grabbed his keycard off the table and wrenched the door open.

  Darby stood at the threshold, her hand poised to knock. “Hi.”

  His gaze moved from the top of her clean, shiny hair to the modest blue sundress and down to her sandaled feet.

  “You got a pedicure,” he said lamely. She was here. Finally. And he was talking about her painted toenails.

  Awesome.

  She laughed, and it was hands down the best sound he’d ever heard. He did a mental rundown to figure out what else he could say that she would find funny.

  “Riley insisted it would make me feel normal again.”

  “Do Riley and normal even belong in the same sentence?” He held the door open, really hoping he wouldn’t have to haul her inside.

  Scratch that.

  He did want to haul her inside. Into his arms and straight into his bed.

  She moved before he could, sliding past him, brushing up against him just enough that he knew the move had been intentional.

  The door slipped from his hand as he pivoted, drawing her back to his chest before she moved out of reach.

  “You took too long.” He noticed then she’d forgone the sling for her arm. He relaxed his hold. A little.

  “I know. I needed to make sure they were okay.”

  He could have laughed. Even after what she’d been through, she’d worried about what her family needed. He imagined her pedicure was more about reassuring Riley than trying to feel normal again.

  Lips against her ear, he said, “You are something else.”

  “That almost sounds like a compliment.” She turned in his arms, nudging him back until he came up against the door.

  “I am a nice guy from time to time.”

  She sucked in her bottom lip, the gesture making him instantly hot. “I seem to remember exactly how nice you can be.”

  He ran his hands up her sides, pulling her even closer. “I like that train of thought. What comes next?”

  Leaning in to run her lips along his jaw, she shook her head. “I’m a little undecided.”

  Capturing her hand, he slid it down between their bodies. “I may be able to help you out…with that,” he finished, his breath catching the moment her fingers closed around his arousal.

  She’d been in the room less than a minute and he was already achingly hard for her. Did she realize she didn’t have a chance in hell of keeping that sundress on for more than two minutes in his presence? Five, tops.

  He planned to see to its leisurely removal just as soon as he could think beyond the slow pump of her hand along the length of his cock.

  She dropped to her knees, looking up at him with such sinful intent that he nearly closed his hand over himself to hold back the exquisite pressure building inside him.

  He hauled her back up, sinking into her mouth before she could ask what he was doing. He wanted the slow slide of her tongue and the melting softness of her lips moving beneath his.

  Wanted it for the rest of his life.

  Someone knocked on the door.

  “We’re ignoring them,” he murmured against her lips. He was done sharing her tonight. Her family or his, it didn’t matter. “They’ll think I went out.”

  “Or they’ll worry.”

  Well, hell.

  His eyes narrowed. “Okay. They get five seconds.”

  “Thirty,” she countered, taking a step back from him, undoing the tiny buttons he’d barely noticed along the si
de of her dress. “I’ll be waiting in the bedroom.”

  “Fifteen,” he shot back, waiting until she was out of sight before he pulled open the door.

  His father walked straight in without waiting for an invitation. Bryce would have preferred Dante’s company.

  “I realize we didn’t end things well earlier and I wanted to clear the air.”

  “Now isn’t the best time,” Bryce argued, wondering if he was still angry enough to want to throw his father out of the room.

  He was.

  “I made some mistakes, some things I can’t take back. I can try to fix some of it, but the rest… Some things can’t be changed.”

  Bryce struggled to follow his father.

  “The Calders and Lancasters,” he began, but Bryce cut him off.

  “No more, Dad.”

  Thomas Lancaster shook his head, his age more apparent tonight than Bryce could remember seeing in a long time. No matter what had happened in the past, Bryce knew the close call with the plane had taken a toll on his father. He’d hugged him on the beach that morning, something he hadn’t done in years.

  “The thing I really wanted to talk to you about is keeping tabs on the Calders. I think after everything that’s happened we should look at—”

  “You keep tabs on my family?”

  Oh fuck.

  Darby stood in the bedroom doorway, her accusing glance sliding back and forth between him and his father.

  “You don’t understand,” he tried, realizing that any argument he made wasn’t going to matter to her.

  Without looking at his father, he motioned to the door. “You need to leave.”

  If his father wanted to disagree, he didn’t voice it, leaving with no more than a murmured “I’m sorry” on his way out.

  “You keep tabs on my family?”

  He nodded. “There have been some cases—”

  “How long? And when were you going to tell me? Before or after we went home and I moved in with you?”

  “I’m not even a DA anymore.”

  She didn’t look like she cared. “You spied on us.”

  “Don’t you think that might be a bit harsh coming from someone whose family is paid to investigate other people?” He closed his eyes the moment the stupid comment left his mouth. He really wasn’t helping his cause. “Darby, wait.”

  She was already to the door, giving him no more than a murderous glare before she walked out and slammed it behind her.

  Well, fuck.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “It’s Bryce,” Dante said. He stood in front of the door but made no move to open it after the third impatient knock, waiting for her.

  Darby turned away from her brother, hugging the pillow a little closer to her chest and trying to pretend she was interested in the movie Riley had on the television. “I don’t want to talk to him.”

  “Darby,” Finn put in softly from his chair on the opposite side of the suite’s living room.

  The resort’s supervisor, still shocked about his boss’s extracurricular activities, had upgraded all their rooms after their ordeal.

  “It’s the third time he’s stopped by looking for you,” Finn added.

  She didn’t say anything.

  “This isn’t cool.” Riley crossed her arms. “I’m starting to feel sorry for the guy.”

  “What did I miss?” Violet said over the cell phone set to Speaker in the middle of the table in front of Darby, the last of her question ending on a grunt of pain.

  “I’m taking you to the hospital,” Reece said in the background.

  “It’s fine. I’m fine. The baby is fine.”

  “You’re lying,” Dante said from over Darby’s shoulder, leaving the door now that the knocking had stopped.

  Violet scoffed. “This baby is not arriving until all of my family is safe and sound and back home. We’ve discussed it.”

  “I wasn’t part of that conversation,” Reece clarified.

  “So what exactly did Bryce do?” Violet asked.

  Riley leaned forward. “Darby’s just finding out that Bryce kept tabs on us.”

  “Really? I thought everyone knew that.”

  Violet knew too? Jesus. Darby tossed aside the pillow. “How did I not know that?”

  Everyone shrugged.

  She glanced at Finn, then Dante. “You knew about it?” How was it possible that she looked after the day-to-day running of their PI firm and that particular subject had never come up in conversation?

  “It wasn’t a secret. McNally gave us a heads-up about it long ago.”

  Riley made a sound of disbelief. “McNally was the one keeping tabs? Typical.”

  At least Darby wasn’t the only one in the dark about everything.

  “Keep me posted,” Violet said. “Reece is going to have a stroke if I don’t go pretend to have a nap or something.”

  “You’re in labor.”

  “I’m not,” she countered. “Love you guys. See you all soon.”

  Violet hung up and Dante slipped the phone back in his pocket, his gaze landing on Darby. Something flickered in his eyes.

  Darby picked up the bowl of fruit even though she felt no interest in having any. After eating so little for those few days on the island, she assumed she’d be ravenous anytime regular food was put in front of her.

  Apparently not.

  She studied her twin. “You’re not saying anything.”

  He shrugged.

  “No I told you so?” He’d been damn good at them once upon a time.

  “Is that what you think I’d do?” he asked, surprising her.

  “Well…yeah,” she decided on. “You’ve never been his biggest fan.” More than once she’d had to talk him out of getting physical with Bryce. The most recent incident little more than a few weeks ago after Bryce’s cross-examination of Riley in court.

  “Things change.”

  For which one of them?

  As if reading her mind, he snapped, “I saw the look on his face this morning, Darby. It killed him to let you out of his sight.”

  Her stomach bunched at hearing her brother’s observation, but she ignored the sensation. She picked up his glass and sniffed the contents. “What the hell are you drinking, anyway? You just said things change and now you’re back to growling about him.”

  “He shouldn’t have let you go. I wouldn’t have if I’d been in his place.”

  Riley whistled. “Somebody just caught the train to creepy town.”

  Cringing, Dante let out a breath. “I did not mean that in a creepy way. Just that, he shouldn’t have let you walk away. Again.”

  Darby shook her head, still a little lost.

  Looking like she was getting comfortable, Riley stared at Dante. “Are we finally going to hear the big secret, or are you two going to keep playing the psychic twins all night?”

  “This isn’t that big of a deal,” Dante said to her, ignoring Riley altogether.

  Darby was pretty sure her mouth fell open even though part of her—okay, maybe all of her—knew she was overreacting. “You of all people should understand—”

  “What I understand is that you can’t keep walking away and hiding behind me—”

  “That’s not what I’m doing.” She’d needed to talk and Dante was always there for her. Okay, so maybe she had been counting on the fact that staying with him might hold Bryce at bay, but only for a little while. Maybe. Right?

  “Aren’t you?” Dante challenged as though he could sense her uncertainty. “You’ve done it before.”

  She started to shake her head, wanting to deny that this was the same as what happened in Florida, but ten minutes after she’d walked away from Bryce last night, she knew she’d let her fear take over. Even after everything they’d been through together, she couldn’t quite shake the fear that their feelings for each other weren’t enough.

  Maybe Bryce keeping an eye on them was part of the territory, but what if it was a sign that too much had happened for them to eve
r be able to fully trust each other?

  And if they couldn’t trust each other… “I’m not the bad guy here. I just… Losing him hurt so much the first time.” She closed her eyes. “I can’t go through that again.” The first time had nearly broken her.

  With a sigh, Dante pressed a kiss to the top of her head and left the hotel room, but his comment about her running and hiding seemed to hang on the air.

  A tense silence descended in the room, making it all the more obvious when Riley switched channels on the television.

  “The remote is right there.” Darby nodded to the remote on the table beside her sister, the one that went ignored in favor of using magic.

  Riley arched a brow. “Wow, you have been hanging out with a Lancaster, haven’t you?”

  “They’re not always wrong. We don’t have to use our magic just because we can,” she countered, regretting her sharp tone almost instantly. “Sorry. It’s been a long day.”

  Riley stood up. “I get it.” She offered a weak smile. “I should probably see what’s up with Dante.”

  “I sounded like a total bitch, didn’t I?” she asked Finn when Riley left.

  He held his finger and thumb an inch apart.

  “Great.” The day just had to get worse. “Dante and I hardly ever fight.” Darby sank a little lower in the couch, closing her eyes and wishing Dante hadn’t made so much sense.

  Or maybe that was just the exhaustion talking.

  “I know.”

  She half expected Finn to leave, too, but when he stayed where he was, concern written into the soft frown on his face, she sighed.

  “Part of me wanted to stay.” She ran a hand through her hair. “I knew it was crazy, I mean who would choose to stay stranded on some deserted island? But at least then I didn’t have to deal with the stupid tension and rivalry between our families.”

  And those weren’t even the parts that had worried her the most. The moment real life intruded she and Bryce were right back to square one. Hell, they weren’t even home yet and already there were problems.

  “I just wanted to be with him.”

  “So be with him.”

  “It’s not that easy.”

  “Yes it is,” Finn said. “It is that easy. Every couple has moments that seem impossible to overcome, but you do it. You hang in there and find a way through. You and Bryce have already overcome more than most people.”