Page 19 of Charmed, I’m Sure (Witches of Bellevue #1)
Peachy keen, Jelly Bean
Magnolia
Family Chaos
Magnolia
Couldn’t find Meowfoy. Are we sure he’s not hiding in the house somewhere?
Aunt Evie
We’ve turned this place upside down.
Madison
Even shook his favorite treats, and nothing.
Aunt Evie
Magpie, where are you? The storm is getting worse.
Magnolia
I’m at CharCutie waiting it out.
Madison
*large eyes emoji*
Magnolia
*zipped lips emoji*
Meredith
What’s going on?
Sista Sista Chat
Madison
Why do I feel like there’s more to this story?
Magnolia
Maybe because Taylor Hallows hauled me over his shoulder and brought me into my own shop?
Meredith
Holy Mother. *wide eyes emoji*
Magnolia
And now he’s looking at me with a weird look on his face.
Meredith
Do you have a weird look on your face?
Meredith
Side note: can we please get an italics function in text messaging? I want my inflections inflected!
Magnolia
I’m going to go. Need to save my battery life since I don’t think I have my charger here, and I don’t know how long I’ll be stuck.
Madison
Yeah, okay, Mags. I’m sure it’s torture being 'stuck there' with the guy you’ve been drooling over.
By the way, I’m using this in a book. K, thanks.
Though we couldn’t see it, the sound of rain hammering against the roof and wind whipping against the building told us the storm was still having a field day with Bellevue. It had only been an hour at most, but the heavy silence settling inside my little shop was louder than the chaos outside.
We’d taken up residence on CharCutie’s kitchen floor, leaning against one of the stainless-steel tables as we tossed random objects into one of my mixing bowls across the room.
It was the only thing I could think of to occupy ourselves, especially after Taylor peeled his rain-soaked shirt from his body—his impressive physique on full display.
It wasn’t like he was carved from granite, but good lord, he was fit in all the right ways.
Strong arms and chest, with just a hint of cushion around the middle.
The kind of body that’s nice to look at but even better to curl against. After all, who likes to lay on a rock?
I, on the other hand, had sprinted out of my house in a dingy t-shirt with bleach stains and sweatpants that had seen better days. And since I had been at home, I didn’t even have a bra on under my shirt. Given that I’d just endured the freezing rain, there was no way he hadn’t noticed.
“Soooo,” Taylor drawled as he launched a piping tip toward the bowl, the metallic clang echoing through the air as it hit the lip and ricocheted away. “Dammit.”
A snicker escaped me before I could stop it as I launched my own toward the bowl, achieving the same result. “So?” I parroted back.
“Are we going to talk about it?” He threw another piping tip, a muffled ‘yes’ escaping his lips when it landed inside the bowl.
“Talk about what?”
“Well, we could start with why you thought chasing your cat in a hurricane was a good idea.”
“And the conversation would end there. Just like it has every other time you’ve tried.” Pushing up from the floor, I rounded the table in search of something to keep my hands busy and to distract myself from the inquisition in his eyes.
“Magnolia.”
As soon as he said my name, the lights flickered a few times before the entire space went dark.
If I’d been there alone, it wouldn’t have been a big deal; a little wiggle of my fingers would have illuminated the place in a magical glow.
But with Taylor here, I had to fumble around the kitchen, searching for a flashlight.
A curse slipped from my lips as something clattered to the floor just before a beam of light landed on me.
“You alright over there?” he asked, concern lacing his tone.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Where’d you get the flashlight?” When I turned around, I suppressed the urge to facepalm as Taylor held up his phone and shrugged.
Of course. A fucking phone.
“Mags, are you okay?”
“Oh, I’m peachy keen, jelly bean. There’s only a hurricane outside, my familia—family cat is missing, the power is out, and I have a half-naked man standing in the kitchen of my business.
Just another Friday.” My words rushed out in a breathless stream, my head spinning slightly from the abrupt lack of oxygen.
“Mags, I’m sure your cat will be fine.”
“You don’t get it." I threw my head back, taking a deep breath as I ran my palms down my face. “Meowfoy is more than just a family cat. You… you wouldn’t understand.”
“You’re right; I don’t. We never had pets growing up. But uh, Meowfoy? You named your cat Meowfoy?”
“And Hermeownie.”
“Hermeownie?”
“Don’t be an ass.”
After throwing his hands up in surrender, Taylor placed his phone face down on the countertop to spread the light out a little more. “Just explains why Clara told Addy you were walking around screaming gibberish, is all.”
“Wait. That’s why you were out in this mess?”
“Yeah.” A hesitant smile curved his lips as he palmed the back of his neck.
“Are you out of your mind? There’s a hurricane outside!"
“You have got to be kidding me,” he deadpanned, resting his hands on the tabletop.
I shouldn’t have noticed how his muscles flexed as he put his weight onto his palms. I shouldn’t have traced every line and divot across his arms. The tiny uptick on his lips when I finally forced my gaze to his face cemented that fact.
“Mags,” he drew my name out in a husky whisper that sent a shiver down my spine.
“Uh-huh.” I couldn’t concentrate—not with him stalking toward me like a lion hunting a gazelle. His eyes burned as they locked onto mine, and I couldn’t tell if it was the thunder outside or my own pulse roaring in my ears.
“What’s going on in that head of yours, sunshine?”
“Sunshine?” I squeaked, then cleared my throat.
He hummed in response, taking calculated steps toward me. “Bright and beautiful, but will burn you alive if you get too close.”
Raising my brows, I huffed out a breath. “Is that what you think of me?”
“Give me a reason that I shouldn’t.”
“Excuse me?”
“We’ve been dancing around each other for the better part of two weeks. Neither of us has taken the steps to open the conversation on whatever this is,” he said, gesturing between us.
“Taylor, I… I don’t know what you want me to say.”
“I want you to tell me what’s going on in that beautiful brain of yours.”
I had to turn away, had to unglue my eyes from his or I was bound to burst into flames. “I, uh… I think I have some food in the walk-in that we could eat. I’m hungry; are you hungry?”
“Magnolia.”
Pushing away from the counter, I attempted to skirt past him to the cooler on the other side of the kitchen, thankful that my charms had held and the refrigerators were still running despite the lack of power.
I didn’t make it more than a step before his hand wrapped around my wrist, pulling me back toward him.
My hands landed on his chest, his body heat searing into my palms as his heart thumped beneath at a pace as rampant as my own.
Dropping his hold on my wrist in favor of my waist, he lifted my chin with the other.
“Talk to me, sunshine. Tell me I’m not alone in this. Tell me you feel what’s between us as strongly as I do.” His voice was barely above a whisper, his words washing over me like a summer breeze as his sapphire blues flicked from my eyes to my mouth and back again.
“Are you asking me, or telling me?” My words came out breathier than I’d intended, but it was hard to get oxygen to my brain when he was this close. Hard to do anything other than stare into his eyes as he held mine, the dim glow of the phone’s light carving out every chiseled feature on his face.
“I’m hoping you feel the same.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Then I guess that’s just something I’ll have to live with.” His eyes bore into mine as he reverently stroked his thumb across my chin. I could feel his heart rate rising, could sense the shift in his breathing as he tried to keep it slow and steady while mine turned ragged.
“We barely know each other.” I don’t know if I stepped back or if he moved forward, but suddenly I was back in that gorgeous kitchen in the farmhouse. Only this time, his body pressed against mine, and instead of marble, cold steel bit into my still-wet sweats.
“That’s kind of the point of dating, is it not? To get to know each other?”
“But your friends—"
He leaned in further, his face a breath away from mine, cutting off all streams of consciousness. His man-candle-worthy scent penetrated my nose, causing my head to spin.
“I’m not friends with them, Magnolia. I haven’t been in a long time. And if those are your only concerns, then…" A smirk tugged at the corner of his lips as his eyes flicked down to my mouth.
“Then what?” I breathed.
“Then I don’t see how this could be a bad idea.”
“Oh, there are many reasons this could be a bad idea.” Did I mean to rise up on my toes? No, not really. But he was like a planet, pulling me toward him with gravitational force.
“Care to share them?”
“Not right now.”
Taylor
When Magnolia’s lips met mine, I didn’t know how to react. Had I wanted her to kiss me? Was the sky blue? I’d thought of little else since Halloween. But it had taken me by surprise, so it took me a moment to get my bearings—which had evidently been a second too long because she began to pull away.
Not wanting—or willing—to let the moment end, I wrapped my arm around her waist and pressed her into the counter behind her.
She melted against me, her arms snaking up my chest to wrap around my neck, leaving a trail of fire in their wake.
Everything about her was intoxicating: the way she smelled, the way she felt beneath my hands, and the feel of her lips on mine.
But when I swept my tongue across the seam of her lips and she moaned?
Good lord. That one little sound vibrated against my lips and down into my groin.