Page 48 of Bewitched By the Headless Horseman
Slowly reaching forward, her hand brushed against his smooth, cool skin. Stevie’s heart skipped a beat as he turned over her palm to draw gentle circles in the center with his fingertip.
“Sorry not everyone’s skin can be as silky as yours,” Stevie murmured.
“I rather like how yours feels.” Even though he couldn’t inhale, Stevie could’ve sworn she’d heard him take a shallow breath. “You’re not ensnared by venom tonight. This may be forward of me, but what would you do if I kissed you?”
“Notimagine spelling you into an insect.” Stevie’s hand left his and skated up his chest to just behind his neck. “Thismight be even more forward.”
Kit chuckled and his fingers entangled in her hair. Then as light as fluttering dragonfly wings, cool lips that tasted of moonlight coasted across hers. His teasing movements only made her greedier. And seeming to crave more too, his other hand drifted to her hip to pull her closer.
Stevie didn’t just inch forward, she crawled right into his lap like a possessed soul willing to do his bidding.
“You know, I wouldn’t mind at all if you kissed me a second time,” she whispered against his lips.
“All you had to do was ask.” Then Kit’s mouth was on hers, his tongue slipping between her lips, deepening the kiss. She moaned, wrapping her arms around his neck and gettingas close to him as possible. He hardened beneath her, and she wished she could peek at him to see his expression, but she only tightened her eyelids, not willing to risk their touches snapping apart.
“You have me at your will,” Kit rasped.
“The Headless Horseman at my will? What will all the ghosts say?” Stevie grinned. As she finally had the chance to loosen the first button of his shirt collar, a distressed whinny screeched outside in the distance. Stevie’s eyes shot open and she dropped through Kit.
He was already standing and bolting through the wall. She threw back the curtains as Roxy darted from the living room into hers. No one was in the backyard except for Kit, whistling for Inferno to hear his call.
But the horse never answered.
Chapter Eighteen
As Stevie placed two waffles on her plate and drank her daily brew to kick Levi’s magic inside her blood to the curb, a loud knock pounded on the door.
Lucia grasped a golden envelope when Stevie answered. “I have good news to help level the bad, but also some more bad.”
“Would that mean someone found Levi’s bones, or you felt Kit’s stallion somewhere?” Stevie asked. After the council dug up Levi’s bones, they’d been missing from the empty coffin, not even a strand of hair had remained. As for Inferno, Stevie and Kit had searched endlessly for him throughout Sleepy Hollow, to no avail.
“Neither, but I did bring a brew with a horse’s hair for Kit to try. He just needs to drink the solution after adding a drop of your blood. There’s also this.” Lucia held up the envelope. “Adelia arrived early this morning and one of her servants brought it for us to meet with her this afternoon. As for the bad—I went to help spell the land this morning, as per usual, and when I pressed my hand against the earth, I not only felt warmth, but apulse. The ground itself feels hollower.”
Stevie’s chest tightened. “It’s Levi.”
Lucia fidgeted with the hem of her shirt, seeming nervous for the first time since Stevie had known her. “I’m going to get ready for the meeting.”
“All right.” Stevie took the vial from Lucia, then forced down the waffles, but her stomach churned with nausea over what her sister-in-law had said. If the land was becoming hollower because of Levi, what exactly was he trying to do? Her heart lodged in her throat at the thought that she wouldn’t have an answer before the next full moon in order to save Kit.
Stevie polished off her milk to calm her nerves.
Kit still wasn’t back from searching the town, so she took a hot shower while her pulse thrummed. She needed the time to speed up so they could discuss everything with Adelia.
After toweling off and blow drying her hair, Stevie put black winged liner on top of a light gray eyeshadow. She ran a brush through her orange locks, and even though she was still weighing the possibilities, she couldn’t block out how she and Kit had kissed two nights ago, the feel and coolness of him, his hands both strong and ethereal against her.
“Stop being an idiot,” Stevie scolded herself as she padded into the living room. She shouldn’t be reminiscing about such things when it felt like her town could crack in half.
“I suppose sometimes I can be an idiot,” Kit teased.
Stevie’s gaze flicked to Kit relaxing on the couch, Roxy lying beside him.
Her heart picked up that he’d made it safely back. “I wasn’t talking aboutyou. I meant me.”
“Hmm,” he said, a smile in his voice. “I would have to disagree. By the way, you look lovely.”
“I thought you hated this dress.” She grinned, gliding her hands down the silken skirt.
“It looks better on you.”
