Page 38 of Charmed, I'm Sure
Panicked eyes darted around the town square, her lip trembling as she continued to search for her fuzzy friend.
Swearing to myself that I would kill this damn cat if it gotherormekilled in this storm, I pulled her toward the back of her building.
“Keys, Mags. I need your keys.” With shaking hands, she pulled them from her pocket and handed them over. But as soon as I opened the door, she bolted.
“Meowfoy!”
“Dammit, Mags. Get inside!” I demanded when I caught up to her.
“No!”
“So help me, woman, if you don’t get inside—”
“What, Taylor? What are you going to do?”
Her outburst had me raising an eyebrow. She was cute when she was mad, and my next choice would likely only infuriate her further.
“Put medown!” Her screech was swallowed by the storm as I flung her over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Her fists slammed into my back as I walked toward the back entrance of her shop.
“Not until we’re inside,” I yelled loud enough for her to hear.
With a disgruntled groan, Magnolia ceased her assault on my spine when she realized it wouldn’t change my mind.
Once the door was closed and locked behind us, I gently set her back on her feet. But that single action had me back at square one, as she glared up at me, looking like she could incinerate me with her eyes.
“What the fuck is your problem?!” she yelled, pushing against my chest.
“Me?I wasn’t the one wandering around town in the middle of ahurricane!”
“I was looking for my cat!”
“Yeah, about that.Whatwas this furry little escape artist's name?”
A flush bloomed in her cheeks, dimming the fiery hate in her eyes. “That’s… that’s none of your business.”
“Oh, on the contrary, sunshine. I believe it’s one hundred percent my business since I just drove into a hurricane to save your ass.”
“Save my?” She huffed out a breath, then turned to storm further into the space. “Look here, Taylor. I didn’tneedyou to ‘save my ass.’ I was perfectly—”
“Safe? Please tell me you were not just about to say safe.”
“Fine.I was perfectlyfine.”
My head fell back, and I counted the speckles on the ceiling to calm my nerves. “Mags.”
“I was just trying to find my cat.” Her voice cracked at the end of her sentence, and when I met her gaze, her eyes shimmered with unshed tears.
“Dammit, Mags.” I closed the space between us in a few strides and pulled her into my arms. I shouldn’t have felt relieved when she melted into my embrace, her face burrowing into my chest as her tears fell, but I did. God, I loved the feeling of her there. Of being the one who could bring her even a little bit of comfort. And sure, I was the onlyone around at the moment, but that didn’t mean she had toacceptthe solace I offered.
We stayed that way until her shoulders stopped shuddering. When she pulled her face from my chest, a wary grimace spread across her lips.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what, baby?” That was the second time I’d called her that. It wasn’t intentional; it just slipped out. But it felt good.Right. And the fact that she hadn’t recoiled either time made my heart beat a little faster.
“Well, I’d say for soaking your shirt with my tears, but you already look like a drowned rat,” she said with a light chuckle.
“Oh, like you look like Miss America right now?” I joked back, but even soaked through her clothes, she was a vision.
