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“I love it.”

Bum. Bum. Bum.

She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him, the bra draped from her fingertips down his back as he made out with her for a few minutes longer.

And when at last she pried herself away from him and slid out of his truck, she meandered toward the front door, scrambling to find her keys in her purse. The strap fell off her shoulder twice, and goodness she couldn’t even imagine what a hot mess she looked like right now. She looked up at him and grinned. She could see the white of his smile as he watched her out his open window.

“You’re trouble, little cactus.”

“I’m innocent,” she teased.

Bum. Bum. Bum.

“I’ll wait for you to get inside safe,” he called.

“I like you,” she said, feeling absolutely high on whatever he’d just done to her body.

“Good.”

She snorted and nearly dropped her keys as she tried to fit it into the lock. With the door finally opened, she turned and waved to him and then went inside.

Bum. Bum. Bum.

A smile stretching her face, Jess locked the door behind her and padded straight into her bedroom to flop onto the bed, stretched out like a starfish. She stared at the ceiling fan above her with what she could only imagine was the stupidest grin known to man.

Her phone vibrated in her purse, and she pulled it out, and read the text from Kade.I like you too.

She curled her knees to her chest and squealed to extract her happy, excited energy.

Bum. Bum. Bum.

The sound was louder now. Sitting up, Jess locked her arms on the bed and listened more carefully.Bum. Bum. Bum.

It was definitely louder now.

She leaned forward and scooted to the edge of the bed, horror rising up inside of her as the sound got even louder. Bum! Bum! Bum!

There was a soft glow coming from the velvet pouch her locket was contained in.

Bum! Bum! Bum!

With trembling fingers, Jess emptied the locket onto the bedside table, and gasped as she saw the pulsing light emanating from it.

She stood in a rush and bolted to the opposite side of the room.

Bum! Bum! Bum!

“No,” she whispered in horror. “No, no, no.”

Her mother had described this.

Her mother had told her stories about how the locket had come to life when she’d fallen in love with Jess’s father.

She’d described how the curse had activated.

How it had slowly gone from light blue, like it was right now, to a deep indigo blue over a matter of weeks. And when it glowed black, her dad…who was supposed to be this invincible tiger shifter…just dropped, and died.

Bum! Bum! Bum!