Page 41 of Charmed, I'm Sure
“Don’t be an ass.”
After throwing his hands up in surrender, Taylor placed his phone face down on the countertop to spread the light out a little more. “Just explains why Clara told Addy you were walking around screaming gibberish, is all.”
“Wait.That’swhy you were out in this mess?”
“Yeah.” A hesitant smile curved his lips as he palmed the back of his neck.
“Are you out of your mind? There’s a hurricane outside!"
“You havegotto be kidding me,” he deadpanned, resting his hands on the tabletop. I shouldn’t have noticed how his muscles flexed as he put his weight onto his palms. I shouldn’t have traced every line anddivot across his arms. The tiny uptick on his lips when I finally forced my gaze to his face cemented that fact.
“Mags,” he drew my name out in a husky whisper that sent a shiver down my spine.
“Uh-huh.” I couldn’t concentrate—not with him stalking toward me like a lion hunting a gazelle. His eyes burned as they locked onto mine, and I couldn’t tell if it was the thunder outside or my own pulse roaring in my ears.
“What’s going on in that head of yours, sunshine?”
“Sunshine?” I squeaked, then cleared my throat.
He hummed in response, taking calculated steps toward me. “Bright and beautiful, but will burn you alive if you get too close.”
Raising my brows, I huffed out a breath. “Is that what you think of me?”
“Give me a reason that I shouldn’t.”
“Excuse me?”
“We’ve been dancing around each other for the better part of two weeks. Neither of us has taken the steps to open the conversation on whateverthisis,” he said, gesturing between us.
“Taylor, I… I don’t know what you want me to say.”
“I want you to tell me what’s going on in that beautiful brain of yours.”
I had to turn away, had to unglue my eyes from his or I was bound to burst into flames. “I, uh… I think I have some food in the walk-in that we could eat. I’m hungry; are you hungry?”
“Magnolia.”
Pushing away from the counter, I attempted to skirt past him to the cooler on the other side of the kitchen, thankful that my charms had held and the refrigerators were still running despite the lack of power.
I didn’t make it more than a step before his hand wrapped around my wrist, pulling me back toward him. My hands landed on his chest, his body heat searing into my palms as his heart thumped beneath at a pace as rampant as my own. Dropping his hold on my wrist in favor of my waist, he lifted my chin with the other.
“Talk to me, sunshine. Tell me I’m not alone in this. Tell me you feel what’s between us as strongly as I do.” His voice was barely above a whisper, his words washing over me like a summer breeze as his sapphire blues flicked from my eyes to my mouth and back again.
“Are you asking me, or telling me?” My words came out breathier than I’d intended, but it was hard to get oxygen to my brain when he was this close. Hard to do anything other than stare into his eyes as he held mine, the dim glow of the phone’s light carving out every chiseled feature on his face.
“I’mhopingyou feel the same.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Then I guess that’s just something I’ll have to live with.” His eyes bore into mine as he reverently stroked his thumb across my chin. I could feel his heart rate rising, could sense the shift in his breathing as he tried to keep it slow and steady while mine turned ragged.
“We barely know each other.” I don’t know if I stepped back or if he moved forward, but suddenly I was back in that gorgeous kitchen in the farmhouse. Only this time, his body pressed against mine, and instead of marble, cold steel bit into my still-wet sweats.
“That’s kind of the point of dating, is it not? To get to know each other?”
“But your friends—"
He leaned in further, his face a breath away from mine, cutting off all streams of consciousness. His man-candle-worthy scent penetrated my nose, causing my head to spin.
