Page 22 of A Touch Enchanted

Not again? What the hell was she talking about? “I think I’m missing something here.”

She pushed a hand out as she took a step back from me. “Just stop, okay. I don’t want to have this talk with you right now. We kissed, it was fun. Won’t happen again.”

“The hell it won’t happen again.” I cupped her jaw and tilted her chin up to meet my gaze. “I know you felt something when we kissed. It didn’t have a damn thing to do with magic.”

Tears rimmed her eyes. “Why are you doing this to me?”

Horror filled me as her tears spilled over. Maybe I’d misread everything. Just because that kiss had been earth-shattering for me, didn’t mean she felt the same way. Fuck. I was so twisted up over this woman, I couldn’t even read basic signals anymore.

I dropped my hands and the sapphire light glowing from my palms promptly dimmed. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what the hell is wrong with me.”

“I have to go.”

Without giving me a chance to answer, she turned around and ran for her apartment, leaving me standing on the beach alone with my confused dog.

Chapter eight

Violet

Yesterdayhadbeenalot. Seeing Donovan almost die from that arrow in his chest unlocked a fear inside me so powerful, I didn’t think I’d survive it if something happened to him for real. Thank God Finn got there in time.

Then there was that kiss.

I touched a finger to my lips at the memory, still feeling the heat of him burning into me, consuming me, possessing me, making me fully his. I don’t know what the hell I’d been thinking. Kissing him like that opened me up to things I hadn’t shown him since the night he rejected me. I’d been so careful to keep my feelings on lockdown. Even when he first pinned me against my door and ground his cock between my legs like he might die if he didn’t get inside me, I didn’t let him see just how deeply he had me.

That kiss ruined everything.

I’d actually gone back in for more, and he turned his head. Then, worse, he tried to have the letting-me-down-easy talk. I wanted to die. The humiliation of it heated my cheeks and I pressed my hands against them to cool down.

In that one second where I’d been so damn relieved he was alive, I let my guard down and I undid every promise I’d made myself over the last nine years. And he rejected me again.

I had no one but myself to blame. I knew better. Donovan would never see me as more than a friend, and the only reason why we kept finding ourselves in compromising positions was because he had a mean case of magic blue balls and needed to take the edge off. It was all well and good when I could blame my magic, too, but the moment I showed him even a hint of vulnerability, all of a sudden, he wanted to talk. No fucking thank you.

But we still needed to practice. And I needed another shot at the ocean. Nirah had come along and messed things up for me, and I could only assume that was because I was getting close to something he didn’t want me to find.

I couldn’t leave Donovan alone on the beach, though. Yesterday had been too close a call. Galen was allegedly working on an alarm system for all of us, but I couldn’t hold off and wait for that. Which meant I’d have to find a way to bring Donovan with me.

I picked up the phone and my dad answered on the first ring. “Hey, Squirt. Didn’t expect to hear from you this week. Aren’t you supposed to be preoccupied with saving us all from certain doom?”

My parents knew the legend just as well as everyone else who had grown up here, and I hadn’t kept my magic or what I’d need to do with it from them. They were delighted. My mom baked me a cake and wrote “Congrats to our real life mermaid” in pink frosting.

They made a celebration out of everything, so it was no surprise they were over the moon to discover I was one of twelve people on the island who had been gifted with power. When I got fourth place in the mile run on Field Day, they hung a banner in the living room that said “Congrats to our little track star.” When I went to prom with Jackson Everett, they hung a banner that said “Have fun, but be safe” next to a bowl of condoms, in case I missed the message. They were equal parts embarrassing and endearing and I wouldn’t have them any other way.

“I’m working on it.” I couldn’t keep the smile out of my voice. My parents radiated comfort and joy and I always felt a little better when I talked to them. “That’s part of why I’m calling. I need to borrow some scuba equipment for Donovan.”

“Sure thing, Squirt. Come by this afternoon. Your mom will be happy to see you.”

I hung up and finished putting a wire frame around a hunk of sea glass that would end up becoming the pendant for a necklace. I’d been experimenting with sea glass more frequently now that Audrey could easily supply me with a fresh batch just by touching Wes. A single jolt of her lightning fused the sand into the jewelry that paid my rent.

I’d kept myself busy all morning. Once I’d finished my current task, I could no longer put off the inevitable. I had to call Donovan.

He hadn’t shown up to practice, but I hadn’t really expected him to. He probably thought I needed space to lick my wounds after coming off another, fresh rejection from him. And neither one of us were morning people. I just thought it would be easier to avoid getting caught up in the side effects in the early hours, but it didn’t really matter what time of day we practiced. I wanted him just as much at dawn as I did at night.

He picked up on the first ring, and I blurted my request out in a rush before I could get scared and trip over my words. “Do you want to come over and practice tonight? I’m getting scuba equipment from my dad, so you can be in the water with me.”

I squeezed my eyes shut as he hesitated. “Do you want me to come over?”

“Yes?” I pinched my lips between my teeth.

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