Page 75 of Bewicched

“I’m going to bake, but you can go back to sleep. You have a few hours before Phil and the guys show up.” I headed to the kitchen and then remembered. “The dryer.” I jogged up the stairs to move our clothes.

Once I was done, I brushed my teeth and dealt with my hair. I needed to put it up before I started baking. No one wanted my hair in their food. I flipped my head over, gathered my hair, coiled it up, and then flipped up to secure the sloppy bun with a super strong band.

When I came back down, Declan was still standing at the open door.

“Everything okay?” I went to the pantry to start collecting ingredients. Ever since meeting Detective Osso last night, I’d been thinking of making something with honey. I’d pretty much decided on brown butter honey cookies, although honey vanilla pound cake was a close second.

“No,” Declan said.

It took me a moment to remember I’d asked him a question. I put down the flour, sugar, and honey on the counter and turned. “What’s the matter?”

He walked toward me, his stare intent. “Are you attracted to me?”

“Oh, um.” My whole body went up in flames every time I looked at him, but I was pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to tell him that. I cleared my throat. “Yes. Yes, I am.”

He blew out a breath. “Good.” He came to a stop directly in front of me. “I don’t know how to reconcile feeling this way about you if nothing can ever happen between us.”

“Oh,” I said again. I was having a hard time thinking when he was looking at me like that.

“So I propose an experiment. Before either of us go too far down this path, we should kiss. If you can’t be with me, I need to find a way to stop thinking about you naked.”

“Oooh” seemed to be the only word I was capable of.

“What do you say?”

The fire in his eyes melted my resolve. “Okay.”

He took each hand, slowly pulling my gloves off and dropping them onto the floor. He held my hands in his own, his thumb brushing circles in my palms. “Still okay?”

Was it? I didn’t hear his thoughts, so I nodded.

“Good.” He leaned down, his lips hovering over mine until I couldn’t take it and leaned forward, taking his mouth with my own.

It was electric. Groaning, I went to my tiptoes and wrapped my arms around his neck. He grabbed my butt and hiked me up around his waist so the height difference wasn’t so problematic. He tilted his head and his tongue was sliding along my own.

And then I was sitting on some surface I could care less about because his hands were gripping my hips and his lips were on mine. I had my legs wrapped so tightly around him, he was never getting loose.

After a few hours or a few minutes, he leaned back and looked down at me, a finger caressing my cheek. “Do you know what I’m thinking?”

“I hope to hell it’s what I’m thinking,” I said, flexing my legs, bringing him in closer so we lined up just right.

“But you don’t know for sure?” he asked.

“What? No, I—oh! No. I don’t know what you’re thinking. It’s something nice, though, right? Please don’t be thinking I have a huge ass and you can just close your eyes and pretend I’m someone else.”

His growl filled the room and stirred up the bubbles inside me. Leaning in, he kissed my neck before nibbling on my ears. “If you remember his name, I’ll go rip his throat out. I won’t even feel bad about it.”

He ran his hands from my hips to my thighs and back. “He was clearly a moron. You are”—he studied me from the top of my head down to my feet—“a work of art, one created to drive me mad.” His hands moved up, barely brushing the side of my breasts.

I was going to combust. Here and now. Just go up in flames, immolated on the altar of lust.

“You’re a siren, calling men to die at your feet, no room in their thoughts for anything but you.” He kissed me again, long and deep. His hands gripped my hips, pulling me to the edge of the counter and then tipping me back, the bulge in his jeans hitting me just right. When his hips began to move, my head dropped back on a groan.

“Arwyn!”

Declan and I stopped and stared at each other a moment. Did we both hear that?

“Oh, darling. It’s so much worse than you said.” Shit. Mom.

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