Page 28 of A Touch Charmed

“It’s fine,” I said.

“I’m sure.” He gave me a knowing grin. Galen was too perceptive for his own good. It made him a great scientist, but a pain in the ass as a brother. “Glad it’s working out, though. Can’t say I’ve missed you moping around my place.”

“I don’t mope,” I grumbled.

He chuckled as he set up his equipment. “I’m close to getting an alarm system set up for all of us. We probably don’t need it quite yet, but I don’t want to sit around and wait until we do. You should think about moving closer to town until this is over.”

“Would love to. You just point me in the direction of a free rental during summer solstice week. Unless you want us to move in with you.” At the horrified look on his face, I laughed and slapped him on the back. “I’m going to take that as a no, then.”

“What about moving in with Mom and Dad for a while?”

Considering I had big plans to spend the rest of the week making Thora say my name in that breathy way that made my cock hard enough to frame a house, I was going to have to pass on that one. “Not happening. We’ll be fine out here.”

“There are bigger things at stake than getting your dick wet.” At the look on my face, he held his palms out and took a step back. “I’m just sayin’.”

He wasn’t wrong about us needing to be closer to town, even if the way he stated his point made me want to punch him in the face.

I thought about asking Selene and Ella if they wanted to stay at my place while Thora and I crashed at Audrey’s condo, but Audrey would probably skin me alive if I put her grandma out of reach. If the physical attacks ramped up, I’d be able to get Thora in to help within a blink of time, but that would be a hell of a lot of walking for me. My energy wouldn’t keep up.

“I’ll talk to Wes about getting me a place to rent after the festival,” I said. “I’m not going to find shit available before then, so let’s just hope the curse continues to focus on us for the next few days so it won’t be a problem either way.”

Galen gave me a short nod and went to work. He set up his gadgets that beeped and lit up with different pieces of information that made absolutely zero sense to me. He tucked his tongue into his cheek as he made notes on the bits of data he’d begun to collect.

The sun began to rise over the cliff and the temperature rose with it. He took off his shirt and tucked it into his back pocket, revealing the puckered and silver scars of his youth. If the man who had given him those marks wasn’t already dead, I would’ve done the job myself.

I kept my eye on the woods in front of my house, but nothing stirred. No sense of unease crept up on me. It might as well have been just another day.

Galen continued to work quietly. I’d been around him enough to know better than to interrupt him when he was being brilliant, so I let my own thoughts wander to Thora, the curse, and everything we were up against. After an hour of collecting data, he packed up all his stuff.

He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes with his thumb and index finger. “I need to take this all home and analyze it, but don’t count on any easy answers. I think the best you can do is stay close to each other until I can get that alert system up and running.”

“I figured as much.” I gave his shoulder a quick squeeze. “I appreciate you coming over all the same.”

“No problem. You know I live for this shit anyway.”

Once his cart disappeared behind the tree line, I turned toward the bedroom.

I’d been avoiding the festival, since I thought it might be a sore spot for Thora. But yesterday had been a lot and she could use a distraction. I wanted to spoil her in all the ways she needed to be spoiled. Not with material things, but with affection and attention and fun. She didn’t have a whole lot of those things growing up, and if I had to guess, I’d say she hadn’t had much of it in Boston either. Lucky for her, one thing I excelled at was having a good time.

I brought a mug of coffee to her and set it on the nightstand. The heady aroma woke her without my assistance. “I thought we could go to the festival today.”

Her brows pinched together. “You want the two of us to go down to the festival?”

“Yeah. I haven’t been in years. Thought it might be fun.”

“Aren’t you worried people will talk if they see us together?”

“People will talk whether they see us or not.” I flashed her my best come-on smile, and her nipples tightened in response. I wanted to suck them between my teeth. “Do you think word hasn’t gotten around that you’re staying here?”

“Oh, God.” She buried her face in her hands. “It’s probably everywhere by now.”

“Exactly.” Gotta love that small-town life. “So we might as well get out there and give them a show. Are you down to say ‘fuck it’ and do what the hell you want for once?”

Her eyes burned with the fire that I had first noticed in high school, back when those small embers had been buried beneath a ton of other bullshit. “Let’s do it.”

Pride swelled inside me. Of all the sides of Thora I’d been drawn to, I loved her fearless side best. She’d been beaten down over and over by her asshole parents, but no matter what kind of shit they pulled on her, she always got back up, stronger than she had been before. Even when it hurt. Even when she thought she was weak.

The Aries in her would always be a fighter. The Libra in me couldn’t help but be attracted to that energy. We might’ve been born on opposite sides of the zodiac, but the reason our magic worked so well together made perfect sense to me.

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