Wiccan, A Witchy Young Adult Paranormal Romance (23 page)

Even if I’d been so inclined, I
couldn’t have lied to him. Something about his eyes…

“
Yes,” I admitted then
clarified, “Well, I’ve tried, but it doesn’t work.”

“
What have you tried to do
to me?”

I felt my cheeks heat and knew they’d
be pink with color. “Once I tried to get you to kiss me, but you
didn’t. Once I tried to get you to tell me all about Lisa Bauer’s
case, but you didn’t.”

He stared at me—hard—for a long time
before he said, “Is that all?”

“
Well, I tried just now to
get you to drop this, to stop asking me about it,” I said, then
grinned a shaky grin. “You can see how well that
worked.”

He was quiet again, but he started
walking toward me again. I resisted the urge to back up against the
sink.

“
You realize that you
could’ve cost us this investigation.”

Alarm set in. “What? How?”

“
Never, never,
never
dabble in an
ongoing investigation like that,” he warned.

Though he was obviously aggravated
about that, too, there was something else in his eyes,
something…hungrier.

“
Have you ever tried to
manipulate the way I feel?” he asked.

He wasn’t doubtful or concerned that I
had this “talent.” He was just worried about how I was using it
against him. And that irritated me.

“
No. Of course
not!”

He was only inches from me now. I could
feel the heat radiating from his body and smell the cinnamon on his
breath.

“
So you’re not making me
feel anything right now?”

“
No. If I could, I’d make
you leave,” I confessed nervously.

His eyes flickered down to
my lips then back up to mine and I lost the ability to
breathe.
That’s
what was in his eyes. He
was
hungry. For me.

The knowledge of that—of his desire for
me, of his hunger for me—burst into a white hot flame of yearning
that threatened to burn out of control.

Just like the strike of that Black
Mamba, Grayson’s hands were gripping my upper arms, squeezing the
tender flesh like steel bands, and hauling my body up against
his.

When his lips found mine, there was no
tenderness in them, only passion. Fevered need. A furious appetite
for my flesh and my soul. And I responded with nothing less. My
hands were in his hair, holding his mouth to mine. Our tongues
tangled in a hot, wet twist.

And then his hands were all over me.
They circled my waist and roved over my back and hips. Then he was
lifting me.

I felt the cool granite of the island
beneath my legs as he set me on top of it. Grayson pushed them
apart with his body as he settled between them. With a will of
their own, my legs wound around his waist.

He groaned, his fingers digging into
the flesh of my thighs as he pulled me tight against him. He
crushed his pelvis into mine and warmth poured through my body,
pooling between my legs where our bodies met. He swayed against me
and a purr of pleasure that I couldn’t control bubbled up from my
throat.

The sound of a car door penetrated the
passionate haze that had settled over my brain, but I was slow to
react. Grayson, however, was not. Suddenly, there was distance
between our bodies and he was setting me back on my feet. He walked
over to stand near the door, running his fingers through his hair
again then smoothing it back down.

His breathing was ragged and when our
eyes met, there was raw need in their burning depths. It made my
toes want to curl.

I felt giddy with unfulfilled desire.
But also, I felt confused for having been interrupted so abruptly.
Grayson didn’t appear to be suffering from that at all.

When my Mom came through the door, I
casually put the lid on the tea and said, “Mom, you remember
Detective Grayson, don’t you?”

Mom’s eyes went from me to
Grayson and back again. The smile that lit her face when she looked
back at me told me that whatever was going on, she approved of my
choice. It was
that kind
of a smile.

I walked to the refrigerator to hide my
answering grin. I was elated for some reason.

“
Of course. Detective
Grayson, how are you? How’s the investigation coming?”

“
Just fine. Thanks for
asking. I was just following up with Mercy.”

“
Mmm,” she said, smiling
devilishly. I hoped that he couldn’t read her smiles as easily as I
could. How embarrassing!

“
Well, I guess I’d better be
going. Mercy, thank you and I’ll be in touch.” With that, he turned
to my mother and nodded. “Ma’am. Nice to see you again.”

“
And you, Detective,” she
replied knowingly.

Grayson left, closing the door behind
him.

Dramatically, Mom turned slowly toward
me and put her hands on her hips. “Well, I hope that was as
friendly a visit as it looked like from my end.”

I felt like I would bust wide open if I
tried to hide the smile that was radiating from my heart and oozing
through my every pore.

“
It was friendly,” I said.
Then with a giggle I couldn’t contain, “Very friendly.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Surprisingly, the next day I felt
rested. I attributed it to a residual high from repeated revisiting
of the details of the previous afternoon, ones that were
permanently etched into my brain. I think they sort of obscured how
tired I was. I didn’t really notice and I didn’t really
care.

That had to be it because my night
certainly hadn’t been restful; quite the opposite in fact. My
heated exchange with Grayson was the only thing that was different,
but boy! What a difference it had made.

I was fairly certain that, somewhere
along the way, against my will and without my notice, I’d fallen in
love with Detective Grayson. That seemed particularly weird when I
didn’t even know his first name. I know they’d said it on the news
once, but I couldn’t remember it. Not that it bothered me. It
didn’t seem to matter what small details I didn’t know about him.
The important thing was that I knew the big stuff, like what kind
of a person he was deep down. That was all that mattered to
me.

Just as I was leaving my second class
of the day, I heard the muffled chirp of my cell phone. I shifted
to the edge of the steps and stopped to dig it out and answer it.
My heart swelled when I saw that it was Grayson.

“
Hello,” I said, unable to
keep the smile from my voice. My cheeks got hot with embarrassment,
as if Grayson could read my mind and could tell how happy I was to
hear from him.

“
Mercy Holloway,” he said in
a low voice. Chills broke out all over my arms. The way he said my
name was like a caress.

“
Hey,” I said, feeling all
melty inside.

“
How’d you sleep?” Was that
a note of mischief in his voice?

“
Sleep? What’s
that?”

He laughed, a deep, velvety rumble that
tingled all the way to my toes. “Good. That makes two of
us.”

It pleased me to know that he was as
affected by our steamy session as I was. Though I hadn’t slept, I’d
spent my time alternating between fiery fantasies and reliving
reality, which was almost as good. And that was saying a
lot.

“
Where are you?” he asked,
his tone a little louder and more business-like.

“
At school. I’ve got one
more class and then I’m out for the day. Why?”

“
How ‘bout some lunch at the
park?”

My already good day just took a turn
for the spectacular. “Sounds good. You picking me up?”

“
I can do that. Where will
you be?”

“
The main entrance to
campus, right there beside the Administrative building, is not far
from my class. Want to meet me there?”

“
Yep. What time?”

“
12:30 ok?”

“
12:30 it is.” I figured
he’d just hang up as usual, but he paused. At first I thought he
had something else to say, but after a few seconds, he seemed
almost to be floundering.

“
Grayson?”

“
Yeah. Sorry. Alright, I’ll
see you at the main entrance at 12:30.”

“
Ok. See you there.” Then he
hung up.

I pulled the phone away from my ear and
looked at it in puzzlement for a minute, then, with a shrug, I
flipped it closed and dropped it back into my bag.

Unfortunately, having awesome plans
like that only served to draw class out to at least three times its
normal length. Every time I looked at my watch, it had only been,
like, five minutes, but it felt like at least fifteen to
twenty.

By the time the class had come to an
excruciatingly painful close, I was up and out of my seat, headed
for the door. I bobbed and weaved in and around students and clumps
of people, hurrying to get to Grayson. My stomach was bubbling
excitedly and I thought it quite possible that I’d never been
happier.

When I crossed in front of the Admin
building, I saw Grayson’s dark blue Charger turning in beside the
campus sign. I stepped off the sidewalk and waited for him to pull
alongside me.

I doubted that being trampled by a team
of wild horses couldn’t have kept the smile off my face. But I
didn’t feel so bad when I saw the smile that spread across
Grayson’s lips when I hopped into the passenger seat.

I wanted to lean over and kiss him, but
I resisted the urge. Not only was our relationship still new and
not to the point of PDA yet, I doubted that it would be appropriate
in view of ongoing investigations and all anyway.

He must’ve been feeling something
similar, however, because before he guided the car away from the
curb, he reached over and grabbed my hand. His eyes met mine and he
lifted my fingers to his mouth.

The brush of his lips made my skin
tingle. And though it was a simple gesture, it seemed to suck all
the air right out of the car. Or at least, that’s how it made me
feel—breathless.

When he lowered my hand from his mouth,
he held it in his, resting our entwined fingers on the gear shift.
Then, with a grin, he guided the car away from the curb and sped
off toward the park.

My belly growled loudly. He glanced
over at me and then down at my stomach. His lips twitched the
tiniest bit before he turned his eyes back to the road.

“
Hungry?” Something about
the way he said it made me think he was talking about more than
just food.

“
Starving,” I said
softly.

His eyes darted back to me and I saw
fire burning behind the warm hazel color.

“
Don’t do that,” he growled,
his other hand tightening on the steering wheel.

“
Do what?” I
teased.

Without looking at me again, he said,
“Keep it up and I’ll show you.”

Lava bubbled in several key places
throughout my body at the promise in those words. I felt flushed
all over and very, very attuned to the man sitting so close to
me.

Neither of us spoke again until we
reached the park. When he turned in to the lot, I had to ask, “I
thought we were eating lunch.”

“
We are,” he replied,
pulling into a slot and cutting the engine.

“
What were you planning on
feeding me? Bark?”

“
Funny,” he said, casting me
a twinkling look. “Not real big on observation, are
you?”

At first I was puzzled, but the longer
he watched me, the more I figured I must’ve missed something.
Something big.

Sure enough, when I really
paid attention to things
other than
Grayson, I noticed the spicy smell of chili with a
hint of underlying hotdog saturating the air. How I’d missed the
mouthwatering smell, I hadn’t a clue. Well, that’s a lie. I know
exactly how I missed it—Grayson.

I inhaled, closing my eyes in ecstasy.
“Mmm, I love hot dogs.”

“
A hot dog gets that kind of
reaction?” he observed skeptically. Then he grinned. “Makes me wish
I was a hot dog.”

He smiled. I smiled. It was just a
smiley kind of a day. I felt like I was in a terribly cliché
romantic comedy. And I was loving every minute of it.

I don’t know where the easy banter and
sliceable sexual tension had come from, but it was wonderful. It
was by far the best lunch I’d had in…well probably ever. Until he
ruined it.

We were sitting on top of a picnic
table with our feet on the seat. He’d just put our trash in the big
metal can and come back to perch beside me. He was so close his
shoulder and hip were touching mine. He leaned forward and put his
elbows on his knees, clasping his hands together and staring down
at them.

“
Mercy, there’s something I
have to talk to you about.”

My heart stuttered in dread. As much as
the words themselves, the way he said them sounded so
ominous.