Page 4 of A Touch Charmed

I took his hand, and as soon as his fingers closed over mine, light shone from our palms. Clear for me, and a white pearlescent sheen from him. Suddenly, I couldn’t remember why I wanted him to help me up. It seemed like a much better idea to have him join me in the water. I pulled him down on top of me.

The firm weight of his body pressing me into the warm sand sent sweet shivers down my spine. I rubbed my hands over his chest, feeling his firm muscles through his wet T-shirt. He smelled incredible, like sawdust and spice and something darker. It felt so good to touch him like this. Hunger darkened his intense blue eyes.

“Finn.” His name ended in a whimper on my lips.

His body shuddered as he closed his eyes and dropped his head, the tip of his nose touching mine. “Say my name again.”

“Finn. I need…” I dragged my core against his hard length. Bright spots of light burst in my peripheral vision. He felt impossibly good, to the point of making me mindless. “Touch me, please. I need to feel your hands on me.”

He gripped my thigh, running his palm up under my short white skirt. “I’m definitely going to hell for this, but right now, I can’t find a reason to give a shit.”

He crushed his lips against mine. While he’d always been a good kisser, time and whatever else I didn’t want to know about had upped his game significantly. His tongue stroked mine with expert skill, drawing out my moans and turning me into a liquified version of myself beneath him. I moved harder against the seam of his zipper, wanting more.

“Fuck.” He tore his lips from mine. “This isn’t right.”

He pushed off of me; then he was gone. Just like that. One second, he was on top of me, the next second, he was halfway across the beach. He moved before I could even blink.

I shielded my eyes against the sun. My legs still trembled with the need to have him between them. “How did you do that?”

“Speed.” He stared at his hands, where the sheen of his pearlescent light had just begun to dim. His fingers curled against his palm as he gazed at me in wonder. “That’s my power.”

What did he mean by that was his power? What was happening here? Why wasn’t he freaking out? And why had I pulled him on top of me like that? I didn’t want Finn.

A little voice in the back of my mind called me a liar, but I ignored that.

Even if I hypothetically wanted Finn, I definitely didn’t wanthimto think I wanted him, which amounted to the same thing. So why had I done that?

I rested my elbows on my knees and pushed my fingers into my temples. “How are you so chill about this? You moved twenty feet in a fraction of a second, and it’s no big deal?”

“I’ve had weeks to get used to this.” He sprinted back and forth, but only moved at a normal speed. “You should see what Wes and Audrey can do.”

I stood, fully aware of how little coverage my white skirt offered when it was soaking wet. I just had to wear red lace underwear today. His eyes dipped and his heated gaze had me clenching my thighs together. “Why aren’t you able to move fast anymore?”

“We work like a magical battery, with positive and negative ends. In order to access our magic, we have to touch.” He gave me a wicked grin. “But it comes with one hell of a side effect that we’ll have to figure out how to get under control.”

Welp. That explained a lot.

And absolutely nothing at all.

Chapter 2

Finn

ShowingupatThora’shouse out of the blue had gone worse than I’d expected. And I’d expected bad. It would’ve gone over a lot better if I could’ve casually run into her somewhere, accidentally touched her, and eased her into the idea of magic. But I hadn’t been able to do any of that because she never fucking left her parents’ property. I hung around the exit trails for two days before I sought her out, just to get Audrey off my back.

If I hadn’t fallen off the ladder, that whole scene down at the beach might’ve happened differently. I rubbed my hands over the top of my head. Wes had not been joking about the side effects. I hadn’t been that hard since the night I snuck through Thora’s bedroom window to find her wearing nothing but two scraps of white silk. Maybe I would’ve felt like less of an asshole if I could’ve blamed kissing her on the magic, but when she looked at me with those big green eyes, I fell all over again.

Hell, who was I kidding? I’d never gotten back up the first time.

I shouldn’t have kissed her, though. That had been one of many mistakes I made today. It took years to get the taste of her out of my memories. I’d almost gotten to a place where I could go a whole night without dreaming of her, where I wouldn’t wake up with my dick in my hand and her beautiful face on my mind.

I understood the effect I had on women, but most of them thought I was good for a fuck and not much else. Thora had looked at me like I was so much more, like she needed me, and it made me want to be someone worthy of that. Loving her made me a better man.

All these years later, I still couldn’t wrap my head around how it had gone so wrong.

I hadn’t done myself any favors by pissing her off, but she’d been so cool, so damn indifferent. I couldn’t stand it. She used to be like that in high school, with everyone but me. So, I struck first, wanting to see if she could hurt as bad as seeing her hurt me.

I should’ve walked away right then, counted my losses, and tried another day. But then she pulled me on top of her.

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