Page 23 of Charmed

One more syllable from him and she would to melt into a puddle. Her, going soft. Over a man. The ridiculousness!

"Come on." Not waiting for a response, she strode into the kitchen and flicked on the lights. She went right to the stove, started the kettle, and removed two mugs from the cabinet.

He trudged into the room and stopped over the threshold, his expression lost.

"Sit, Riley." She fixed a calming tea for him and a restorative one for herself before joining him at the round glass-top table. "Drink."

"I don't want tea, Fiona. I—"

"Riley Meath, drink the damn tea now."

He huffed and drained the mug like it was a finger of scotch. Setting the cup aside, he whistled through his teeth. "That was really hot."

She assumed he meant the drink and not her bossiness. It took a lot of effort, but she bit back a retort. "The soothing effects will kick in shortly." Sipping hers, she eyed him over the rim of her mug. "Talking about it might expel the jitters from your system."

A baleful glance. "Talk? Because we're masters at conversation, Fi. We could spend all day chatting until our tongues fell off and still accomplish nothing."

This was a bad thing? "Ball's in your court."

Dropping his elbows on the table and head in his hands, he stared blankly at the space between them. "Most of the time, I believe the six of us will get through this. Truly. With our combined knowledge and skills, we'll conquer all and save our destiny. But then days like today happen, and instead of our fairy tale starting with Once upon a time, it goes something like, Fuck this shit."

She grinned. "And they lived happily ever after."

"The End." He dug his fingers into his eye sockets. Paused. "I thought you were dead." He drew a ragged breath that stole hers. "For a split second, you went down and I thought he'd killed you. My heart outright stopped. I would've sold my soul to trade places with you, to have it be me laying there." He lifted his head and set his red-rimmed eyes on hers. "Screw tasks and curses, Fi. I was scared I'd lost you, that I'd failed you."

With utmost caution and great concentration, she placed the mug on the table, hands violently trembling. It was a miracle it hadn't fallen from her numb fingers and shattered into a million pieces like he'd just done to her. Tears stung her eyes, and it was all she could do to keep them at bay.

He'd done more than burrow under her skin or worm around. It had been a meticulous sanction, an effort of painstaking mindset to the contrary, but he'd gone and made her care. She'd tried to keep a distance, steel her heart to his charm and boyishly handsome face. Pointless.

Riley Meath was one of those rare breeds of male that shouldn't, for all intents and purposes, exist at all. He could make her laugh, knew when to fall in line, challenged her at every turn, was brave enough to admit when he was scared, and would rush into flames to save those he loved even if he couldn't see through the smoke and it meant getting burned.

And, somehow, during the past couple months, she'd made that short list of people he gave a damn about.

"I couldn't have been more useless out there." He dropped his chin and rubbed his jaw.

"Goddess, I love it when I get to prove you wrong." She swallowed the boulder in her airway so she could be very, very clear with him. "You walked home with me tonight instead of trying to talk me into a drive, understanding that I was in a pissy mood and had to work it off. Then you issued compliments and flirty distractions. When your uncle showed up, you tried to put yourself between me and the dragon. Twice, I might add. And when he rendered me incapacitated, you didn't leave me alone to charge after him like most guys instinctually would have done. You kept your head, no matter how frightened you were, and carried me to safety for help."

She traced the rim of her cup with her fingertip, utterly leveled by his actions. "If that's your version of useless, I'm interested to see what you accomplish when you exert effort."

He emitted a sound that was part laugh and all shock. Shaking his head, he stared at her wide-eyed. "You're consoling me? Now, after what he put you through, you're consoling me?"

"There you go again, assuming I'm patting you on the head. I'm not feeding you a line, consoling, complimenting, or any other verb you toss out. Facts, Riley. I'm giving you the truth as I see it."

"Unbelievable." He rose so swiftly, the chair banged the wall. Spine rigid and muscles flexing, he stalked the far side of the kitchen. "I swear, during ninety-nine percent of our encounters, I look at that sinful mouth of yours and think, how is there no blood? How does that sharp tongue not slice everything to shreds? And then you go and say something nice to knock all sense out of whack."

"Flattery will get you everywhere." Because it was either clench her thighs or jump his bones, she decided on a distraction. There was nothing sexier than him riled. She walked their cups to the sink, then parked her butt on the island facing him, her legs dangling. "Don't stop on my account."

His jaw ticked. Tendons bulged. Veins popped. But he kept right on stalking the tile floor. "You are a manipulating, inhibition-stealing, reputation-ruining, groan-inducing distraction on two legs."

"Mmm-hmm." She checked her cuticles, feigning indifference. Was it possible to orgasm without physical stimulation?

"You smell like a twilight-laced mistake, move like wet dream, and speak like you eat cute and fuzzy kittens for brunch." He whirled on her. "And you do it with a customized drop-me-dead tone that single-handedly put your picture next to sultry in the dictionary." He pointed at her, baring his teeth. "Your eyes have got to be a God-given gift for hypnosis purposes and one glance at your body urges me to genuflect every second of every day. I'm not even religious, Fi. You're evil like that, just so you know."

"Uh-huh." She hoped like hell her favorite pink vibrating toy upstairs had fresh batteries. "Tell me more. Get it out of your system."

"Christ, woman. Would you please shut up?"

Ha. Now they were getting somewhere.

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