MagicalKiss

Magical Kiss

Virginia
Cavanaugh

Being a carnal magic user doesn’t make Breeze Hawthorne
“easy”. In fact, she’s tired of the nasty names her kind tends to get labeled
with. So when she finds herself paired with sexy water user Chehon McFlint,
she’s determined to keep things professional, no matter how bad her body burns
for him.

A horrid beast is about to break loose from an underwater
prison and Breeze is running low on juice. When she fails to get hold of her
usual service partner, she’s faced with a decision that could cost her
emotionally. Chehon seems ready, willing and able to handle the job of
recharging her, but Breeze isn’t so sure he’ll leave her heart intact when the
job is over.

A
Romantica®
paranormal erotic romance
from Ellora’s Cave

Magical Kiss

Virginia Cavanaugh

Chapter One

“This better be important.” Breeze Hawthorne pulled off her
helmet, running one hand through her black-and-purple short hair. It had
already been a long night, but she couldn’t ignore the last-minute text from
her superior telling her she was needed ASAP. Working for Magical and Mystic
Security had its days—well, mostly nights—that totally made her want to get out
of the witch business for good. But one would have to have a choice to be able
to get out and things don’t work that way in the magic business. The magic
chose the person, not the other way around. Once you had it, you had it. Then
you could only decide what to do with it.

Sure, she could open up a little shop and don the
bright-colored dress and head covering, peddling potions and fortunes, but what
would be the fun in that? Most nights she loved her job. Making other magical
creatures quake in fear had its perks. And there was that whole saving humanity
part that was cool too. But nights like tonight, when she had already needed to
stop and shower off preternatural goo twice… Well, yeah, you get the picture.

Shadows danced in the dimly lit alleyway as a cat screeched
and landed on a tin trash can with a metallic rumble. The man standing in the
shadows pushed away from the cinderblock wall and began a slow cocky pace
toward her. She knew that walk. It had been months since they’d been paired
together. Chehon McFlint. A sexy warlock with nasty power. He drew his powers
from the element water. And damn if he didn’t have the body of an Olympic
swimmer.

He strode forward, and as he walked under the soft, yellow
glow of a security light she could see his mischievous smile. His dirty-blond
hair hung in waves that skimmed his strong shoulders. The baby-blue tank top he
wore did little to hide his expansive sun-kissed chest. Smooth skin stretched
tight over superb muscles. Damn if she wouldn’t mind having a bite of that. White
cargo shorts hung low on his lean hips. The light waft of air brought his scent
into her nose. Salt. Sea. Man.

Moisture gathered around her lower lips and she rocked
forward on her motorcycle, applying pressure to her sensitive clit. Her energy
was low. At least she blamed her body’s reaction to him on that, but in truth
she’d wanted him for months. However, she drew the line at sleeping with
possible partners. Being a carnal magic user, she had to be careful. Sex fueled
her magic. Because of this, people in the witch and warlock community tended to
treat her kind like whores and big ole sluts. She got no respect as a person,
however, plenty was given to her as a witch. But only because carnal magic held
the second most power, the first being blood magic. Those witches and warlocks
were even rarer.

“Hello, Chehon. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

His tongue snaked out to moisten his full bottom lip as he
caressed her with his gaze. “I wish I could say you owe me, but unfortunately
you owe an unwise, untrained blood user.”

Surprise had her eyebrows rising as she swung her leg and
dismounted her bike. “Are you sure?”

“Yep. Teenage girl and her teeny-bopper friends decided to
play at being witches. Damn if they didn’t get one hell of a surprise.”

“Has the foundation picked this girl up yet?” The foundation
gathered up magic users as their powers came online and took them to a school
out in the middle of nowhere to train them. She could still remember the night
they’d come for her. She’d been seventeen and half years old, and a fire had
been lit within her that she couldn’t quench. The young witch who found her was
kind and gentle. An air user who had knocked her out so that she wouldn’t
suffer through the sexual craving. They then gave her a medication to slow the
onset of her powers. Most carnal users didn’t come on line until their
mid-twenties. The next few years had been spent gaining knowledge until she was
old enough to deal with the way she would need to charge her batteries.

“Yeah. And I took care of her friends’ memories.”

She wanted to groan. If he had to do a mind wipe, then this
couldn’t be good. “How bad are we talking?”

“Well, let’s just say people will be talking about a water
spout on the news that came out of nowhere. Too bad they have no idea how close
they were to massive destruction.”

Since they were meeting in the alley behind the shops that
lined the beach, Breeze had a feeling something nasty had nearly been
unleashed. Some mystical creatures needed tough prisons. A lot of those sat on
the ocean floor.
Crap
. “Whose cell was affected?” she asked as she
winced.

“Moktanal.”

She rolled her eyes and released a groan. “Seriously?” This
night just kept heading further into the land of Cluster Fuck. Moktanal was a
repugnant, large beast that breathed fire, making the ocean floor an awesome
place to keep him. But damn if it wasn’t going to take some major energy to
repair the walls of his cage. Which meant she would need to recharge. “How bad
is the damage?”

“Extensive. We need to get started soon or he’ll be able to
escape.”

She pulled her cell phone from the pocket of her leather
pants. “Give me a second to make a call.” She walked away from Chehon as she
dialed the first number. There wasn’t any need for him to overhear her
arranging a booty call. Sampson’s voice mail picked up and she left a quick
message to return her call. As soon as she disconnected she hit the second
programmed number on her call list. Lucian picked up after the second ring.

“Hey, gorgeous.”

“Lucian, I need to see if you can meet with me?”

“Running low on juice, baby?”

She ground her teeth. “Yes. And I need to do this soon.”

“Well, I’m in the middle of dealing with some ghouls right
now. I could maybe meet you in a couple of hours.”

Breeze was unsure how long their problem would wait, but
unless she could get hold of Sampson, then she would have to take what she
could get. “Fine. Call me when you’re done with your ghouls.”

The flip phone closed with a snap, and she turned on her
boot heel, heading back in Chehon’s direction. “I can’t do much of anything in
my current state, and it will be a few hours before I can get a boost.” She
wanted to cringe as she discussed her need to fuck some other guy with him.
“I’m waiting on a call back from Sampson he might be able to help me out sooner.”

Chehon released a low whistle as he arched one light-colored
brow. “Not sure how much time we have.”

“You can see if there’s a blood user who’s available to help
you.” After all, there were others he could siphon energy from. But damn if a
feeling of jealousy didn’t stab her right in the chest at the thought.

He grimaced. “Not really a fan of working with the slaughter
types.”

“Well, you may not have much choice. Beggars can’t be
choosers when world destruction hangs in the balance.” But she couldn’t really
blame him. Blood users could be scary people. Most of them used animal
sacrifice to draw big power, but some of the more shady types used humans. Of
course those witches and warlocks didn’t work for M and M Security. At least
that she knew of.

Chehon blew out a frustrated breath. “We’ll wait and see if
Sampson calls you back. Shall we?” He held out his hand.

She gave him a questioning stare.

“I don’t have anything pernicious in mind. I thought we
could go sit on the beach until you get your call. Besides, I could use a
recharge myself.”

She ignored his offered hand, too afraid of what
skin-on-skin contact with him would do to her when she was this low, as she
strode past him and made her way toward the sand. He might have felt slighted
by her actions, but she couldn’t worry about that. She had to protect her own
feelings in this. So far Chehon had never treated her like a whore. Their
conversations always seemed to flow with ease and they even laughed together
from time to time.

Breeze sure didn’t want to mess things up by coming on to
him, because she was weak, and having him reject her, or worse, looking at her
the way others did. Just another carnal user looking for a quick fuck. No. She
never wanted him to look at her that way. She angled her head up to the sky.
Stars sparkled brightly, scattered across the inky black blanket. The full moon
gave off ample light. The crash of the waves filled her ears, a pleasant sound.
The air around them stirred lightly with a humid wind. “It’s a nice night.”

“Yes, it is.”

She shivered as his hot breath caressed the back of her
neck. How in the hell had he sneaked up right behind her? A quiver of desire
danced through her pussy and she suppressed a moan as she speed up, wanting to
put distance between them again. His rich laughter had her glaring at him over
her shoulder. The little shit knew what he was doing to her. “That’s not fair.”

He held his hands up at his sides. “I’m totally innocent.”

“My ass.”

“Is quite lovely I must say.”

“Chehon,” she said, her voice laced with warning. “Keep it
up and when I’m recharged I’ll fry yours.”

The threat earned her another deep laugh. She marched
through the sand mumbling. “Men.” She looked down at her phone, willing it to
ring. But not even a chirp came from the tiny device. Where in the hell was
Sampson?

Breeze came to a stop as she reached the shore. A small
distance away the water lapped at the sand. She took a seat and stared out at
the endless expanse. Why couldn’t she be an air user, or anything else?
Sometimes she wondered if she would ever be able to have a serious
relationship. Other witches and warlocks did. But most carnal users tended to
keep things casual, never knowing when they might be called on for big jobs
that would require several power-ups.

Her gaze moved to Chehon as he kicked off his sandals and
waded into the water. Waves swirled around his calves and knees. He turned to
face her, deep-blue eyes meeting hers. They reminded her of the depths of the
ocean, shades darker than her own. A smile tipped up the corners of his full
lips, revealing a dimple on his left cheek. She balled her hands into fists,
fighting the urge to approach him. Lust coiled in her lower belly as she
watched him move through the water, heading back in her direction.

She wanted to tell him no. To stay put. Go back and play in
the waves, but she couldn’t find her words. He sat next to her, stretching his
long tanned legs out toward the water. The tide was moving in, and each slide
of the salt water skimmed up the beach and lapped at his feet.

“Too bad we have to work tonight.”

She turned to look at him, but he continued to stare out at
the ocean. “Well, it pays the bills.” Actually it did more than pay the bills.
She made pretty good money.

“I was just thinking it’s a nice night for a swim.”

She laughed. “It could be cold enough for popsicles to grow
off your wet ass and you would still think it a nice night for a swim.”

He turned a devilish smile her way. “I like the water, but I
don’t think I’d go that far. But if you were to join me on a cold night for a
swim, I guarantee that I could help you defrost.”

Her jaw dropped but she quickly recovered, slapping him
playfully on the arm. “I’m sure you would.” Her hand burned as she pulled it
back and she ground her teeth to keep from reaching out and stroking her
fingers down the bulging muscles in his arm. Why couldn’t Sampson hurry the
hell up and call her back?

Chehon took a deep breath and exhaled on a low sigh. “I know
you want to wait for your
friend
to call you back, but I’m a little
concerned on the timeframe.”

She felt her brow lift as she glared at him. “I know you
aren’t suggesting I go find the first bum hiding under the pier to get my rocks
off with?” His words stung. “I’m sorry I’m holding you up, but just because I
am a carnal user doesn’t make me a whore who will saddle up with any Tom, Dick
or Beach Bum. I have more requirements than a pulse.” She threw a hand full of
sand out in front of her as she bit back the rest of her rant. Damn. Why had
she thought him any different? She turned her gaze away from him as she tried
to calm down. She was a professional and she could do this. It wasn’t as if she
hadn’t been lashed with that attitude before.

“Breeze?”

She ignored him. The sound of the oncoming wave roared and
Breeze turned her head a second too late. Water splashed over her lap drenching
her. “Shit!”

She glared once again at Chehon who seemed to be nice and
dry. “Damn you!” She pulled her phone from her pocket. Water ran in rivets from
it and the screen was dark. “You ruined my phone.”

“Breeze, listen to me.”

“And why should I do that? In fact. I’m outta here.” She
started to stand but an iron grip seized her wrist, pulling her. A harsh breath
burst from her lips as she landed on her back in the sand. Before she could
take in her next gulp of air, Chehon loomed above her.