“So?”
“So it’s worth fifty dollars! I can’t just go out and buy another!”
For all that Reggie’s being paid well by my aunt, she still has the mentality of someone that eats instant ramen and shops at Goodwill. She can buy a dozen of these cards now. I shake my head. “Those are the rules, I’m afraid.” She’s fun to tease, and I hold the card higher in the air. “I look forward to winning this one—”
Before I can complete my sentence, Reggie crawls the short distance across the couch and reaches for the card. I automatically hold it higher, and then she’s in my face, and our noses are an inch away from each other.
I can see every freckle on her face. I can see her dark eyes as her gaze focuses on me, and I watch as her breathing speeds up. I’m suddenly no longer thinking about cards, and neither is she. Her expression grows soft, her gaze flicking to my mouth.
I’ve never wanted anyone more than I want Reggie now in this moment. “Reggie,” I groan.
“I’m sorry,” she breathes. “I’m all over you, aren’t I?”
But she doesn’t move away. She doesn’t move at all. She just hovers, as if waiting, and I can feel her breath on my face.
I know she’s my aunt’s familiar. In this moment, I don’t care. “Can I kiss you?” I ask, voice hoarse.
“Please” is all she says.
I close that brief distance between us, flicking the Sun-Phoenix down to the coffee table. The moment my lips brush Reggie’s, her arms go around my neck, as if she was simply waiting for me to make the first move. Her mouth is soft and sweet, and there’s just a hint of sugary coffee on her lips. I kiss her like an explorer, with small, brief kisses, as I learn the layout of her mouth and how she responds. I press my mouth to hers over and over again, paying attention to her upper lip, the freckle at the corner of her mouth, her full lower lip. Then I brush my tongue against the waiting part of her mouth.
Reggie moans.
My entire body reacts to that wordless sound. My sac tightens and my cock throbs. I flick my eyes open to watch her face, and notice that hers are closed, an expression of pure bliss on her as I kiss her. I hold back a groan of my own and nip at her lower lip before dipping into her mouth again. She feels so good in my arms. Like bliss. Perfection.
In five hundred years, nothing has felt so right.
My arms are around her waist, and I lick into her mouth, loving that she kisses me back, loving that her tongue brushes against mine. She tastes good, but she feels even better, and when she shifts her weight, I realize she’s climbing into my lap instead of sliding away from me. She wants the kiss to keep going.
Fuck, so do I.
Holding her tightly, I kiss her harder, our mouths melding in a steady stream of flirty movements, of lips brushing against one another, of tongues teasing back and forth. I’m lost in the heaven that’s Reggie’s mouth when her backside vibrates.
She stiffens, pulling away from me. Giggles. “That’s my phone.”
“Ah.” I lean forward, wanting to kiss her again. Her eyes are dark, her lids heavy, and her mouth is pink and swollen from our kissing, and it’s just making me want her even more. She leans in, her gaze going to my mouth, her fingers grazing my neck.
Her backside buzzes again.
With a groan, Reggie gives me one last nipping kiss. “I should get that. What if it’s Dru?”
“It’s not Dru,” I promise her, stealing another kiss. Now that I have her, I don’t want to let her go.
“It could be important,” she murmurs, and kisses me again. “It could be Nick.”
Nick’s not important, I want to say, but I know he’s her friend. I kiss her one more time and then reluctantly pull away. “See who it is, then.”
She gives me an almost-shy look of apology, then pulls her phone out of her pocket. She’s wearing a plain white shirt today, and as she leans back against the couch and pulls up her phone messages, I can see her nipples outlined against her clothing, another sign of her arousal.
I wonder if it’d be too much if I dropped to my knees in front of her and licked her pussy?
Probably. I’ve been accused of being too intense in the past. I rub my mouth, thinking. It’s difficult for me to make that kind of judgment call. After five hundred years, I tend to know what I want, and instead of making me more patient, it’s made me less. I see no point in waiting on something when it’s everything I need.
And right now I need Reggie. Desperately. I’ll work something out with Aunt Dru. I’ll have to stay here for a while, and the thought doesn’t irk me like it normally does. I can share Reggie with Dru for a while. I won’t steal her apprentice, but there’s no reason Reggie and I can’t explore this thing, see where it goes . . .
Reggie’s face drains of color. She stares at her phone screen, her gaze darting as if she can’t quite believe what she’s reading.
“What?” I have to ask. My protective side is getting the better of me, and I don’t like seeing that fear on her face. “What is it?”
She clicks her phone off and holds it to her chest, but she doesn’t return to my arms. Instead, she’s gazing at me with wariness. I wonder what it is she’s just learned and why it’s changed the expression on her face from arousal to uncertainty. “Ben, can I ask you something?” When I nod, she licks her lips—those perfect pink lips—and continues in a small voice. “Did you murder your parents?”
Murder. Such an intense, accusing word.
Yet a correct one. The old darkness threatens to flood through me, the bitterness, the anger I thought I was past. So Reggie’s been gossiping about me, has she? And now someone’s warning her off by telling her all the things I’d like to forget.
“Yes,” I say flatly. I don’t elaborate.
She flinches. Just once, but it’s enough to kill the mood. To kill everything inside me.
“I see,” Reggie whispers. She remains where she is, clutching her phone. “Ben. Maybe this isn’t such a good idea between us . . .”
Because I’m a murderer. Because I’m a warlock and a bad guy and a monster. Because I’m one of those wretched Magnuses and our reputations are as foul as our magic. I can just imagine what they’re telling her. I should have known I wouldn’t be allowed to touch someone like Reggie, even for a short period of time.
I’m not good for her.
So I just shrug. “You should probably go up to your room. Don’t worry. I’ll keep a lookout.”
Part of me wishes she’d say something. That she’d tell me we’re still going to be friends, that I must have had my reasons. That what others say about me isn’t possibly true. She doesn’t, however. Reggie silently gets to her feet and goes upstairs.
And there’s nothing left to say.
22
REGGIE
Holy fuck.
I lean against the door in my bedroom, breathing hard. My body’s still singing, my nipples tight and aching, and the taste of Ben Magnus lingers on my mouth.
I wasn’t expecting that. Sure, I’ve been nursing a crush on Ben for weeks now. All that initial hatred turned into a raging lust-bomb far too quickly, only heightened by the fact that he plays a mean game of cards. I never expected to do anything with it, though. He’s just kind and caring and gentle, and so I might have said a few suggestive things or might have skipped wearing a bra when we’re together, just to see if he’d notice.
The card incident happened purely by accident, though. Maybe I’ve been too casual with him, too friendly. Maybe I’ve made my crush far too obvious. Whatever it was, I didn’t intend to kiss Ben. It was amazing, though. He kissed like . . . like he wanted to devour me. To savor me with tiny little bites. As if I was a delicious dessert he couldn’t get enough of. Even thinking about it right now makes my toes curl.
Penny’s text messages changed everything, though. I read through them again, just because my mind still hasn’t processed the gravity of them.