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He threw his head back with a laugh. “There is no way that can be true. Nothing has ever made us bicker like that damn thing.”

She joined in on his laughter. “Do you knowwhywe fought over it? Because I have my suspicions that it’s the same for you as it is for me.”

“Oh? Is it because you were a bit scared that you would end up kissing me? In a crowded diner full of the town’s worst gossips?”

“Something like that, yeah.” She kissed him sweetly. “But you can so easily push my buttons, so sometimes, I only wanted to make you as crazy as you were making me.”

“I promise to only push your buttons when absolutely necessary now. Deal?”

“Deal. So that means that you’ve got to say yes.” She batted her eyes up at him, hoping that he would concede without any more details.

“Say yes to what?” he asked, one of his brows hooking up.

“Tonight, we are becoming mates.”

“No.” He shook his head. “Absolutely not.”

“Yes,” she shot back, trying to add her usual fervor. It was completely absent, however. “Absolutely. We are doing this.”

Cohen didn’t stop shaking his head. “We can definitely have some amazing sex, but we aren’t making this kind of choice tonight. You need time to settle after casting that spell.”

“Why? I just wove my magic into every fiber of this town. I know I’m going to live here forever, but what’s more, I know I will be living here with you. Until the day I die. So why wait to make it official? You know I am stubborn and that I get what I want, Cohen. What makes you think you can talk me out of it?”

“Because I wouldn’t be any kind of worthy man if I didn’t make sure you were thinking it all through.”

“What is there to think about?” she argued.

“Okay, so maybe it’s not so much the thinking as the …” He sighed. “I’m just scared it’s too much for you. We have had a very intense day, love. Maybe tonight we continue to rest.” Cohen kissed her softly. “Tomorrow is another day.”

For a moment, she considered what it would be like to ignore the pull she felt for him. To keep it for another evening when they hadn’t spent the day battling forces to save Half Moon Key.

“Or,” she said with a grin, “we take this opportunity to celebrate.”

“Celebrate,” he repeated, skeptical.

“We made it. Wedidit. We saved our hometown and all of its inhabitants. I did a whole lot of magic I didn’t think was possible. We need to do something to celebrate that.”

“So let’s have some champagne. Let’s not get you making life-changing decisions after such an emotional and physical day.”

“I appreciate that you want to be the savior and the good boyfriend right now, but I am telling you that this is what I want. I just saved Half Moon Key with you, and I wanna rejoice in that.”

Cohen didn’t say anything for a little while. He only started at her, his eyes carefully taking in her features. “Oh, Alana. I wanna fight you on this, but I’m done fighting with you unless it’s for the booth.”

“You’re giving up very easily,” she teased.

“Only because you’re right. There is no winning against you. Against the pull I feel for you.”

She reached for her phone and flipped through it, earning her a frown from Cohen. “What the hell are you doing, love? Weren’t we just discussing all kinds of sexy times?”

She grinned at him. “We did, yes. But you just said that I’m right, that there is no winning against me. I want that recorded. For later. This is important.” She barely contained her fit of giggles.

“I’ll tell you every day, love,” he promised, kissing her neck.

“Every day?”

“Sure, I will. And I’ll tell you that I love you ev ...” Cohen didn’t finish his sentence, his body frozen against her.

She cupped his cheeks. “Cohen? What’s going on? Ar ...”