Page 17 of Magic and Matrimony

She lifts her gaze to look me in the eye. “I know you say that. And maybe you believe it. But you will get bored with me. Until we can figure out a way to break this hex. I don’t want to overcomplicate things.”

I frown and nearly bite my tongue to keep from saying my next thought, but it has to be said. “Technically, couldn’t we get a divorce, and you would be free from the hex?”

It feels wrong to even ask that. I don’t want to get a divorce. I don’t know why, because Piper and I really shouldn’t be married in the first place. This was supposed to be a help-out-a-friend situation only. So why do those words taste like ash in my mouth?

“I don’t know.” Piper shakes her head. Sadness creeping back into her eyes. “What if we get divorced, and the hex reverts backto my uncle?” She tips her head back, blinking up at the ceiling. “I know this is really inconvenient.”

I drop my apple on the table and move back to Piper. I cup her cheek to make sure she’s looking at me and she hears what I’m about to say. “Piper, it’s not. I wouldn’t have offered to help if I didn’t mean it.”

“I’ll figure out a way to break the hex. It should be easier because you’ll allow me to talk about it now.” Her shoulders sag. “I’ll ask Morty or Fitz.” She shivers when she says Fitz’s name. The witch is possibly the oldest in town and is honestly slightly terrifying. Not that I think she would hurt Piper, but she has a sharp tongue. You definitely don’t want to piss Fitz off, but she doesn’t fuck with people who don’t warrant it, and Piper doesn’t deserve to be punished.

Morty, on the other hand, is the owner of Woodroot’s Apothecary. He knows way more about our town than he’d ever admit, but could he help with Piper’s hex?

“What if I didn’t sleep with other women?” I don’t quite know where the words come from, but now they’re out in the universe, I can’t take them back. I stroke my thumb over her cheek.

Piper gives me a skeptical look. “For how long?”

I sit back in my chair and poke around at the leftover food. Nothing else is worth eating. “What if I don’t sleep with another woman for two weeks?”

Piper laughs and gets out of bed, displaying a whole lot of mouthwatering leg. “Maybe eight months.”

My jaw drops and my eyes reluctantly go back to her face. “Are you saying I couldn’t sleep with you or anyone else for eight months?”

Piper wanders over to her bag and gets out a toothbrush and toothpaste. “I’m not saying you have to do anything, Ambrose. The fact that it seems like too much to ask tells me it’s not really worth it for you.”

A little growl rumbles in my throat. “One month.”

“This isn’t a negotiation,” Piper says. “I’m not limiting you. I’m just saying that I can’t sleep with someone who’s going to be sleeping with other people.”

Suddenly, there’s nothing more important than me getting Piper to agree to a deal. “Two months.” I pick my apple back up and take another bite, juice trickling down my chin. Piper licks her lips as she watches. I give her a toothy grin.

Piper narrows her eyes, and then shakes her head. “Fine, if you can go three months without sleeping with another woman, then we can have sex again,” she whispers the last part as though someone might overhear this conversation, and then sprints off to the bathroom.

“Done,” I call out after her. The word sounds gleeful, even though I’m not at all happy with the outcome of this conversation. For multiple reasons. First of which, I don’t want to wait three months to get my hands on Piper again. Second, I don’t like that this is how Piper views me. It’s not that she’s judging me. In fact, I think I’m the one judging myself.

I don’t want to think about that though either.

Tossing my apple on a plate, I follow Piper into the bathroom. Her eyes meet mine in the mirror as she brushes her teeth. I lean against the doorway, watching. Once she rinses her mouth out, I grab her hand. She looks at me with wide eyes as I lift her fingers and press a kiss on her palm. “Since I can’t seal our bargain with a kiss, this will have to do.”

9

AMBROSE

Piper sleeps the entire plane ride back home, her head resting on my shoulder. She wakes up long enough to walk to the car, and then falls asleep again. It makes me wonder how long it’s been since she’s had a good night's sleep.

Fuck.

I’m tempted to drive over to Tucker’s house and beat the living shit out of him. Maybe I’ll drop Piper off and then go take care of that. I don’t know exactly what he’s done to her over the years, and it really doesn’t matter. He abused her and took advantage of the fucking shitty thing that her own father did to her.

My thoughts are full of what the future holds for us, because I have no damn idea what that is. We’re on the way to the chateau right now, because Piper’s phone is currently at the bottom of a giant urn in my hallway. She has her own apartment, her own life. I can’t expect that she’s just going to move in with me. It also doesn’t feel right to let her go home and have things go back to the way they were before. We haven’t talked about it though, because she’s been sleeping for most of our journey back.

We pull up to the chateau, which is a sprawling mansion on the edge of town. Built in the Tudor revival style, and tucked back into acres of natural wood, it’s a surprise at the end of a long, winding drive. When my friends and I were kids, we named it the chateau because it was so massive and there are more than a few sets of armor inside.

Driving down the winding driveway, I circle a statue of the original Roth ancestor that helped found Mystic Hollows. His name was Jasper, but I call him Sir Ponce because he looks like a dick.

I park in the circular driveway instead of the garage. I’m sure Piper wants to go home after we get her phone. My senses are immediately on alert. Something is off. I stare at the house as Piper wakes up.

Piper straightens and rubs at her blurry eyes. “We’re here? I didn’t mean to sleep the whole trip.”

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