Page 16 of Charmed

"I'll admit, initially I was prepared to cut and run." He scratched the stubble on his chin. "But once I adjusted to the concept, I got over it and I've done everything that's been asked of me." He paused, staring blankly at her mixing. "I realize I'm a follower, not a leader, and I'm not the strongest link in our chain, but—"

She slammed the bowl down a second time. "Where the hell did that come from?"

He looked at her, saying nothing, but the vulnerable openness in his eyes gave her a glimpse at the scared boy he used to be.

Goddess help her, but she wanted to comfort him. "That's your uncle talking."

"He wasn't wrong, Fiona. I joke around, rarely take anything seriously, and all I have to show for myself is that I said yes to a gorgeous brunette in the woods when she asked for my help."

And now she wanted to kiss him. "Any other guy would be in the fetal position and begging for his mama after the things you've seen or done. Yet you chose the treacherous road and manned up when it would've been easier to walk away." She gripped the edge of the table and leaned forward. "Do you have any idea how rare a gift it is to be able to laugh in the face of fear? Your sense of humor is a strength, not a weakness."

Mad at herself, at him, she picked up the bowl and continued stirring. In the silence that followed, it took everything she had not to look at him to read his reaction. If she did, she might do something fatally idiotic and crawl across the workstation to kiss him into the next full moon.

"You gave me a compliment."

She stirred faster. "I did not. I told you the truth because it seems you've been believing lies."

He grabbed his chest like he was in cardiac arrest. "A compliment wrapped in the truth. What is this strange sensation I'm feeling? Must be shock."

"I take it back about your sense of humor. You don't have one."

"Too late. It can't be unsaid." He grinned, glancing at the items on the station. "Can I help?"

She almost dropped the bowl. "Don't you have work to do? Other people to annoy?"

"It can wait."

Setting her healing lotion batch aside, she slid a bowl in front of him and passed him a fresh spatula. "Have at it."

When he just stared, she went around the table to his side and placed her hands over his. Demonstrating the motion of folding ingredients, she breathed in his woodsy scent and became acutely aware of how close she'd thrust them. The corded muscles in his forearms shifted with his movement and his large hands were warm against hers. Uhn, and his veins. Why that caused her nipples to peak was beyond her.

His gaze trailed from their task, up her arms, and made a gentle sweep over her face. Inches apart, his exhale caressed her cheek and his swallow clicked in the humming quiet. "I, uh, think I've got it."

Her mind screamed retreat while her body begged for more contact. Unimaginable heat coursed through her system and threatened to consume her in a backdraft of pent up inferno. The appropriate time allotted to pull away came and went, but yet he didn't make a move. Didn't try to kiss her or say something charming or so much as wink.

Rejection pierced her midsection and, somehow, she forced her gaze elsewhere, clearing her throat. "Don't get too much of that on your skin." With a bravado she barely mustered, she walked back to her side of the station and began mixing the last batch.

Gaze down, he went to work on his bowl. "Why can't I get any on me? It's just lotion, right?"

"That's the romance-scented one." Thanking her lucky stars he'd given her an opening, she smiled. "It has a diluted potion in it that'll make you horny."

His hands stilled while his expression dialed straight toward too-late-for-that.

Good. Served him right for not acting on his impulses. Then again, if he had, the world might end in an explosion that made the Big Bang seem like a holiday sparkler.

He was pensive a long beat until he furrowed his brows as if figuring something out. "I couldn't sleep last night." His tone was rough and low, determination underneath, and suddenly, he had her full attention. "The curse and destiny kept ramming my skull. But something odd happened at dawn, and the notion cemented after I came to see you."

Warning knells clanged. "Yeah? What did you conclude?"

A pause, and he met her gaze. "You're the type of woman to go into battle with, not against. And though all this may scare me to death, there's no one I'd rather have by my side."

Chapter Five

Riley leaned back in his chair at the dining room table in the mansion and listened to Tristan wrap up his report on what his security team was doing to track their uncle. The others were intently tuned in but, to Riley, they weren't making much progress. The jerkwad had all but vanished after the incident with Kaida a couple months ago.

"I don't know." Tristan sighed and nudged his plate away. "I took pictures of all the portraits we have for the various forms Uncle Greg took over the years, courtesy of the glamour spells, yet we have no idea what version he's using. Facial recognition software is limited, plus the only cameras on the island I can quietly tap into are the security one in the Meath Hotel lobby and the traffic cam on Main Street." He rubbed his neck. "He hasn't used his credit card since the spring, nor withdrawn from his account."

"And he hasn't gone back to work at the hotel branch in the UK." Ceara frowned, setting down her silverware. "The staff there would have called you, right?"

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