Page 56 of The Neighborhood Witch

His fingers lightly tapped on her back as they worked their way down and stopped short of the end of her shirt. A heat surged inside of him. He wanted to continue further; to reach under her shirt and work his way further down along the softness of her skin. He wanted so much more in that moment.

“I like it,” Alice replied.

“And I like you, Alice Primrose.”

Alice pulled back at the words he spoke. Their slow dance through the liquid grapes stopped. The music faded into the background. His breath caught in his chest, worried he said something wrong. She glared at him, blinking.

He waited for a response. Each passing moment felt like his calculated risk was imploding before his eyes. Her lip quivered. Each breath was shorter than his last until he was no longer breathing. A flood of emotions overtook his body.

She responded before their magical moment disappeared into ruin, “I like you too, Hugo Dodds.”

“May I kiss—” his words trailed as she nodded profusely.

Hugo slid his hands around the back of her neck to cup her head. His fingers wove into her purple hair. He leaned in to kiss her soft, purple lips. Slow and soft at first before pushing forward with more intensity—fire and passion. He tugged ever so slightly on her purple hair. Their tongues introduced themselves to each other and quickly found familiar forbidden desires.

A pulse rippled through his body. He melted away, lost in thethought of pure bliss—bliss he hadn’t felt in ages. He lost track of time and space and what was real. His mind and soul were ablaze with ecstasy. He wanted to live in that moment for eternity.

He pulled his hand away from her hair. In that moment, they stopped kissing, stopping to catch their breaths. His chest rose and fell, breathing deeply to quell the fire within his soul. It was too late. He wanted more. He needed more.

They leaned against each other, forehead to forehead. Hugo had not felt the fulfilling embrace of another soul in months. The embrace deluged the dry, cavernous hole in his soul with the flood waters of bliss. They locked eyes. Desire blazed within him. They matched each other breath for breath.

In a hushed tone, whispering a secret only they would know, Hugo asked, “Should we go upstairs?”

Alice let go of Hugo and snapped her fingers. A bottle flew across the room. She snatched it out of midair. With another snap, the cork jumped out and ricocheted off the ceiling. She downed a gulp straight from the neck of the bottle. She slammed the bottle against Hugo’s chest.

“Drink,” she commanded.

Hugo did as he was told. He drank the magical elixir held within the green bottle. “What now?”

Alice snapped her fingers. The bottle flew out of Hugo’s hand and landed on the wooden platform. She grabbed Hugo’s arms and turned him around, so his back faced the open room. With a shove of pure magical force emanating from Alice’s hands, Hugo stumbled backward.

He tripped over the vat wall and fell onto what he thought would be the stone floor. Instead, it was as if gentle hands cradled and placed him on a cushioned cloud. He glided across the room like being on ice. A familiar sensation from his days of playing youth hockey.

Drops of reddish, purple liquid fell onto the stone floor from Hugo’s wine must stained feet. He realizedhe was no longer touching anything solid. Instead, he was floating in the air. He smiled with ecstasy and anticipation.

He glanced over to where he once stood. Alice’s eyes locked onto him with a sense of passion, desire, and hunger. She trudged through the wine must. Each step sloshed more liquid down the chute into the press below. Not even the vat wall could break her stride. She strutted into the air as if the platform had extended itself above the stone flooring. Alice’s pace quickened as she moved closer.

Hugo stood up. An invisible force held him in the air. He removed his shirt and tossed it to the floor below. His toned chest was bare to the cold, damp air. He rushed toward Alice. She leapt into his waiting arms. The grape juices dripped down Hugo’s backside as she wrapped her legs around his waist. They kissed again with renewed passion and hunger for more.

Hugo held Alice closely to his chest as he dropped to his knees. He worked his hands down her back and under her shirt. She softly bit his bottom lip as each of Hugo’s fingertips traced their way up her spine. His hands worked to remove her shirt. She pulled away and threw up her arms to allow him to remove another barrier to their delight. He removed her shirt and cast it aside.

His firm yet gentle hands laid her down on the soft, invisible floor. Fingertips dug sensual paths down her back. They caught the elastic band to pull down the last barrier between them. He relished the moment as she writhed in anticipation, trying to wiggle her way out faster. She pressed her lips together as she was now fully exposed to the cold air. He grabbed the elastic band of his underwear and flung them off.

He lay on top of her, on top of her soft body. He gazed into her emerald green eyes. Hugo gently kissed her sweet purple lips. He moved his hands down her body until they rested on the curves of her hips. He pulled her closer. As close as they could be. She wrapped her arms and legs around Hugo in ecstasy. They breathed as one. They moved as one. They became one.

Hugo pulledup his pants and gazed at the spot in the air where they had been moments before. He was now on solid ground. He allowed himself to smile.

“That is definitely a first for me,” Hugo said.

“Me too,” Alice replied. “Come here. I need your help.”

Hugo sauntered over to the semi-clothed Alice Primrose toiling away at her workbench.

“What are you working on?” Hugo peered over her shoulder.

She hunched over, carefully reading from a spell scroll that was set out. Her fingers held her current place in the spell. The cauldron was ready to receive her next ingredient. “Next, two items coming together as one. Open the third drawer from the right in the top row, and hand me the stick inside.” Alice pointed to the apothecary drawers.

Hugo did as instructed. He pulled out the stick with black gaffer tape wrapped around the middle. “Hey, it’s our stick. Our perfectly broken stick.”

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