Page 29 of Boss Witch

“That orgasm face.” She fanned herself.

He thought she meant it, and his heart quivered in his chest. Had anyone ever been that excited just from touching his cock? How much stronger would her response be when their mouths—­oh, it’s when. I see.Already he was planning to get tested so he could find out.

“Would it be ridiculous if we took a long nap and then ordered delivery for dinner? Maybe we can take another shot at that show we didn’t watch and check on Benson. I know he has food and water, but I don’t want him to be frightened.”

“Sounds perfect,” she mumbled sleepily.

After pulling the covers over them, he settled her close, taking her scent in with deep, delighted breaths. Now she smelled of honeyed melon, pineapple, and sex. It was possibly the most delicious perfume ever invented, and he wanted to lick her from head to toe.

“Are you staying over?”

I shouldn’t have asked. Flings don’t get overnight privileges.

If she stayed over, if they had dinner and spent the night cuddling and watching TV, then took things back to bed for round two, they’d be entering relationship territory. So he braced himself for the inevitable refusal. He shouldn’t want more than he was allowed.

This is enough. It must be.Then her answer broke over him like an unexpectedly bright sunrise, shades of undeserved joy spilling through him in emotional pinks and golds.

“I’m staying.”

Chapter 9

Two days after Clem spent the night with Gavin, she reached her limit with Gram’s criticism regarding her cousin Danica’s poor judgment.

She’d been reading texts and listening to voicemails until she was good and pissed. Today, they were having it out, as she was tired of being asked to report on Danica like she’d been recruited as a double agent. Families shouldn’t be like this. It wasn’t the first time she’d had such a thought, and anger boiled inside her like water in a tea kettle.

She couldn’t deal with the pressure of distracting Gavin while Gram carped and complained. Now the old witch stood outside the shop, staring at Clem pointedly. Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, she beckoned in silent invitation. There were no customers in Fix-­It Witches, and Danica hadn’t come in yet.

No time like the present.

Clem didn’t waste time on pleasantries as the bell on the door tinkled, signaling Gram’s arrival. She did put down the old-­

fashioned radio she was working on, though.

“If you’re here to talk about Danica, you can turn around,” she said, firing from the hip.

“Why are you so hostile, Clementine? I only want the best for Danica…and for you as well. But if you’d rather, we could talk about your mother.”

She sucked in a breath.So that’s how she wants to play, huh?

“Mom can manage her own life. So can I. Danica can too. If you’re bored, since you frittered your power away on that grimoire, take up a hobby, or get married again.” Clem smirked. “Want me to find you some good Bindr profiles? You’re an attractive woman. I’m sure somebody would be interested.”

Gram narrowed her eyes. “I see what you’re trying to do here, and it won’t work. Truly, have you no care for this family at all? You’re the only one who has any hope of talking sense into your cousin. She loves and respects—­”

“So you want me to weaponize the love and respect Danica has for me, is that it? Does thatfeelright to you? I wonder what goes on in your head, I seriously do.”

“She’s dallying with a mundane. Such naivete will ruin her life!”

“You say it will, but Auntie Min and Mom seem happy enough.”

It cost her to pretend nonchalance, as Clem had internalized too much of her grandmother’s prejudice to be fully sanguine about her mother’s remarriage to a mundane. Allegra seemed brighter, though, and there were no tumultuous arguments, no dishes smashing or sobbing fits after Barnabas dropped some particularly vengeful magic. Never to do physical harm, but he’d often ruined her mother’s things to exact punishment for her expectation of loyalty and devotion. Clem had her own conflicted feelings about monogamy, but she did know one couldn’t simply decide fidelity was for chumps without having a conversation with their partner first. If a relationship stopped meeting someone’s needs, they should end it if a new normal couldn’t be negotiated. In her opinion, both her parents had failed in various ways, but Barnabas had been more of a dick about it.

Gram stared at her as if Clem had unexpectedly stuck a knife in her chest. “I thought you missed your father. Goddess knows, the man could be a trial, but have you forgotten—­”

“Haveyouforgotten how you tried to patch things up between them, and we caught him in bed with two of my friends?”

Mundane girls, barely eighteen. And they wereformerfriends now. Though it wasn’t their fault, not even slightly, Clem couldn’t get past the awkwardness. Now, whenever she saw Ashley and Tara, she flashed on them bracketing her father, naked, and that was not a scene she cared to revisit. It was also when she’d stopped engaging with him because she’d understood then that he accepted no boundaries on his own pleasure, and he believed himself to be so important that it didn’t matter who he injured, so long as his desires were fulfilled.

Gram grimaced. It seemed that even pure witch blood didn’t absolve Barnabas in this situation. “Such a thing would be impossible to forget.”

---