Page 22 of Cursed Love
She looked up and down the hall but like the time in the alley, he was gone. The only difference was now she knew it was an illusion. She needed to learn that spell soon.
Thoughts of her powers, the things that go bump in the night, and Ryan swirled through her mind, keeping it too active to sleep. After grabbing her phone from the nightstand, she scrolled through her phone with hopes to calm herself. The only thing she managed to accomplish was checking her email and learning Ryan had added himself to her contacts at some point.
She could not believe how much had happened since her birthday. Could a person change that much in a matter of weeks? And then there was the bond she felt to Ryan…
The way she was drawn to him was almost unnatural. She had never been this infatuated with a man, and yet if she ignored his jackass moments, he was the only one she could recall feeling this connected to.
It was absolutely absurd, with him being a man she barely knew.
Chapter 9
Bending at the waist, he leaned his hands on his knees and panted. Peter, the bastard, looked on smugly. Ryan, unlike Peter, was dripping in sweat from their late-night sparring. Their unlikely, and frowned upon, friendship started over two decades ago.
Naturally stronger and more aggressive, Peter had decided to open a gym. Thanks to his knack for remaining unseen, Ryan’s talent of investigation had become his calling. They often practiced their fighting skills together, never knowing when they would need it to protect themselves. Many times, Ryan needed Peter for backup.
“She’s messing with your brain,” Peter said with a shake of his head. “Never thought I’d see the day when a woman managed to shake a few screws loose.”
Straightening, Ryan glared at Peter as he moved to the water fountain. Brandy’s image flashed in his mind. It had taken everything in him to not pull her into his arms and kiss her sassy mouth the other night.
They had worked for a few hours on her powers, and when he left, he felt so much pride for the woman, he wanted to burst. Sure, his dick wanted to burst free from his boxers, but that was neither here nor there.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Peter asked.
Ryan’s brow lifted. “I didn’t realize you turned into a woman, wanting to ‘talk about it.’ How about another round and then we call it a night?”
Peter jumped around lightly on the balls of his feet. Ryan followed suit, circling the mat and reading each blink, twitch, and shake of Peter’s muscles.
It did not matter how sore he was. He needed the workout to force the woman from his thoughts. His concern for her well-being affected him, and he didn’t like it. He hoped Peter could drive Brandy from his thoughts before it was too late for him.
Thirty minutes later, Peter got in his truck and Ryan unlocked the door to his apartment above the gym. He was exhausted, sweaty, and pissed. Normally, sparring with Peter relaxed him. A calm would wash over him as he worked out whatever issue he was trying to figure out. Not this time.
Throwing his bag on the floor, he made a beeline for the shower. After setting it to warm, he stripped out of his clothes. The water soothed his achy muscles. Each droplet pounded into the overworked tissue.
If not for the routine workouts with Peter, he would be scrawny. He had built muscles over the years from each fight, and the one-night stands had been his reward. At the mere thought of tumbling into bed with a beautiful woman, chocolate-colored eyes drove out the memories of the others. In their place lay Brandy, her hair covering his pillow in a messy halo around her head.
His blood moved quickly, filling every inch of his dick as his mind wondered what lay beyond her clothes. Her curvy body made his hands itch with the desire to explore. Would her breasts spill out of his hands or fill them just right?
Ryan wrapped his fingers around his length at the path of his thoughts. Thinking of her lips, he ran his hand up and down his shaft and exhaled a shaky breath. It did not matter how many times he told himself over the last couple of days to find a woman at the bar around the corner, he could not bring himself to do it. He’d tried once, but before he could even kiss the blue-eyed blonde, he’d superimposed Brandy’s features over the woman’s.
“This is the last time,” he scolded himself as he gave in to his desire. The pressure in his balls built, and his muscles became taut as he envisioned Brandy. For a brief moment, he imagined she was the one making him come and not the reality of another solo lovemaking session.
Ryan grunted and took a moment to catch his breath. His heart raced as he pressed his warm forehead to the cool tiles. “She’s just another woman!” He grunted with a slap against the shower.
After washing and drying himself, Ryan climbed into bed naked with a frustrated groan. He was still hard, and if possible, the ache in his balls was worse than before. Jacking off numerous times since meeting her had not been enough to forget the pull he felt. She was not a one-night kind of girl.
He needed to decide what he was doing. Either he wished her luck and stayed away, or he accepted the truth… Their connection ran far deeper than sexual attraction. It was the latter making his palms sweat.
Ryan would lose more than a few screws if he did not make a choice soon.
Chapter 10
Ryan had not been exaggerating. The power surge and practicing had left her with the worst sort of hangover, at least what she expected one to feel like. She could only guess how she felt was similar to being run over by a semi.
Brandy had not seen Ryan in a week. Refusing to dwell on it, she diverted her attention to working on her control. During multiple chunks of time each day, she focused on her powers. She ended each practice session on a high of excitement over her improvements.
Things at work were closer to her old normal, now that she was not causing havoc. Brandy fell in the habit of scrutinizing each person who walked into the café. She paid close attention to scents and any with the distinct smell of rotten flesh. Thankfully, no more tubars had come in since the woman Ryan followed out.
If anyone noticed her sniffing the air, she merely explained she was working on techniques from yoga. Only Erika had questioned her little fib. Brandy was not exactly a yogi, but the tips she found online helped center her.
