Page 43 of Charmed, I’m Sure (Witches of Bellevue #1)

Not like a ritual sacrifice, or anything.

Taylor

“How long have you known you’re a witch?” I asked, popping the final bite of my third—don’t judge, they’re that good—cinnamon roll into my mouth.

Magnolia shrugged, taking a long sip from her coffee.

“Since I moved here. So, eight? My mom hadn’t said anything before that—not that I can remember, anyway.

But Aunt Evie spilled the beans as soon as she brought us to Bellevue Manor.

” Her gaze dropped as she spoke, but a soft smile tugged at her lips, the memory clearly bringing her joy.

Turning to the window, coffee cup cradled in her palms, she added, “I felt it, ya know?”

“Felt what?”

“The magic.” Her voice was soft, wistful. “As soon as I stepped foot in that house, it was like the warmest hug you could imagine—wrapping around me, like it was welcoming me home. Like I was meant to be there. It’s just too bad the rest of this godforsaken town doesn’t see it that way.”

Her eyes dropped to her mug as she set it down on the floor where we’d been sitting. Plates, napkins, and coffee cups littered the space around us as we leaned against the cabinets. I really needed to go furniture shopping.

Wiping my hand on a paper towel, I grabbed her wrist and tugged her toward me until she settled across my lap. Gently, I tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and turned her face to mine.

“You are meant to be here, Magnolia Bellevue. And if the people in this town haven’t figured that out yet, that’s on them. No more hiding, sunshine. Especially not from me.”

“It’s not that simple, Taylor.” Her voice was firm but tinged with sadness. “I can’t just go around town throwing spells this way and that. All that would do is start a witch hunt. People already treat me like a pariah; I’d rather not give them an actual reason.”

“Okay, fair. And also totally unfair. But can you promise not to hide from me anymore?”

A tiny furrow formed between her brows as her eyes searched mine. After a deep inhale, she nodded. “I can promise to try. This is new for me, too, cowboy. Not even Jaelyn knows.”

“Really?” I couldn’t hide the shock in my voice. When she shook her head, I pressed, “But she’s your best friend, right?”

Magnolia nodded, sadness flickering in her gaze as she looked down at her fidgeting hands. “She is. But even the best of friends can start a witch hunt. It’s why my mom stopped practicing—at least, that’s what Aunt Evie told me.”

I must have looked confused because she sighed and shifted until she was straddling my legs.

“According to my aunt, Mom had a friend—Susan… Suzanne? Something like that—who was her best friend through high school, college, even nursing school. They were as tight as two people could be.”

“Two peas in a pod,” I offered.

“Exactly. Anyway, one day, Mom found a spell in the grimoire…” She paused, catching my raised brow, then rolled her eyes. “A grimoire is like a family spellbook. Or a witch’s cookbook, I guess. It’s full of spells, incantations, rituals, stuff like that.”

“How big is this book?”

“Big. But that’s not the point. Focus, cowboy.”

“Right. Sorry. So your mom and… what’s-her-face?”

She huffed out a chuckle but continued. “Mom found a spell that lasted twelve hours and would reveal a person’s innermost thoughts and feelings about a posed question or action.”

“Sounds simple enough.”

Magnolia scrunched her nose, a clear sign she was bracing for my reaction. “It is… but it requires a drop of their blood. Just a drop, it’s not like a ritual sacrifice or anything, just a simple prick of the finger—nothing dramatic.”

“Baby, calm down,” I said with a chuckle, cutting off her nervous rambling. “What happened next?”

“Well, Mom cast the spell and told her she was a witch. She even did a few minor tricks to sell it. And Mom got the answer she needed. Susan—or Suzanne, whatever—freaked out, and Mom had to give her a sleep tonic to get through the next twelve hours.”

“What happens when the time runs out?”

“They forget. It’s like it never happened.”

I let that sink in for a moment—possibly too long, judging by Magnolia’s concerned expression—then finally responded with a contemplative, “Hmm.”

“‘Hmm’? That’s your response? ‘Hmm’?”

“It makes sense, honestly. It’s a good way to test the waters without risking everything.”

“Who are you?” she asked with a disbelieving laugh.

Wrapping my arms around her waist, I pulled her closer. I loved how perfectly she fit against me, like two puzzle pieces coming together. “Taylor Hallows. Nice to meet you.”

“Fuck off,” she said, laughing as she playfully pushed at my chest.

“How about I fuck you instead?” The words barely left my lips before Magnolia’s mouth was on mine, her hands tangling in my hair as she ground against me.

“Is that a yes?” I asked when we came up for air.

“Absolutely.”

“Where do you want these?” Magnolia asked, rummaging through yet another box. “Looks like a bunch of medical textbooks. Don’t you have to return those?”

“Only if you don’t buy them outright,” I replied, pulling random odds and ends from my own box. I really should’ve Marie Kondo’d this stuff before packing.

“Okay, Mr. Fancy Pants. But where do you want them?”

When I looked up, Magnolia was standing across the living room by the built-in bookcase, a hefty medical textbook in each hand.

I had no other explanation for why all the blood in my body suddenly traveled south except for the fact that it was her—standing there in the t-shirt and sweatpants I’d, begrudgingly, loaned her.

But hot damn, if seeing her in my clothes wasn’t one of the biggest turn-ons there was.

“Earth to Taylor,” Magnolia sing-songed, waving one of the books before letting out a grunt and pulling it to her chest. “Fuck, these are heavy.”

“That they are.” Palming the back of my neck, I scanned the room, trying to figure out where to put them, and came up blank.

Did I mention I really needed to go furniture shopping?

With a sigh, I said, “I guess just stack them on the shelves for now. I’m planning on setting up an office-slash-guest room eventually, but those shelves will do for now. ”

Magnolia muttered something like “okie doke” before returning to the task at hand.

We worked in relative silence for a while, but when I opened the next box and found my Bluetooth speaker, I let out a whoop of excitement.

“Did you find gold?” she asked with a laugh, peeking out from behind a blanket she was folding.

“No, but I found this.” I held it up as she dropped the blanket, her lips pulling into a smile. “Want some music?”“Always.”

Thanking whatever benevolent being presided over electronic devices and their battery life, I turned the speaker on and pulled my phone from my pocket.

“Any preference?”

She hummed, then said, “Maybe nineties or early two-thousands?”

“Seriously?” I deadpanned.

“As a heart attack, Doctor Hallows.”

“Hardy har har,” I retorted as she laughed, shaking my head while connecting my phone to the speaker.

Typing “early 2000s” into Spotify, I scrolled until I found something tolerable.

I settled on Fireflies by Owl City and hit play.

Magnolia’s face lit up, and she started singing along, her hips swaying as she unpacked another box.

Okay, maybe the playlist wasn’t so bad if that was the reaction I got from my girl.

My phone hadn’t been back in my pocket for more than thirty seconds when it pinged repeatedly with text notifications.

Sighing, I perched on the windowsill and opened the thread from Addy.

There was a collage of pictures from the night before: shots of her and Colin, a quick selfie of the two of us where she beamed while I looked like I wanted to be anywhere else, and a few more with me in the background looking sullen—complete with laughing emojis in the captions.

I’d just finished scrolling through the last one when another text popped up.

Addy

Mary sent this to me. It’s cute! But you’ve got a lot of explaining to do, big bro. *smirking emoji*

Before I could even process what she was talking about, another image loaded.

It rendered me speechless. Though the resolution was still decent, the picture had clearly been taken from inside the house and zoomed in so far that the Christmas lights strung above the dance floor had starburst streaks.

And right below those twinkling bulbs were me and Magnolia, standing impossibly close, our faces lit with moony smiles as we gazed at each other.

“Goddammit,” I muttered, pinching the bridge of my nose beneath my glasses.

Was I pissed that our privacy had been invaded—again? Yeah. But I couldn’t help the smile tugging at my lips as I stared at the photo. Magnolia looked incandescent under the glow of the lights, her smile radiant as she looked up at me. We just fit.

“Everything alright over there, cowboy?”

Magnolia

Taylor’s mouth was taut as he stared down at his phone, his hand absently rubbing his jaw.

“Taylor?” I hedged, stepping closer to him.

“What? Oh, yeah. Everything’s fine. Just…” He trailed off, squeezing his eyes shut as he pulled off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Here.”

He extended his phone to me, and I took it, glancing at the screen. Two emotions hit me in rapid succession.

One: Awwe, look how cute we look. This would make a great wallpaper.

Two: What the actual fuck? Who? What? How?

“Uh, Taylor. How did you get this picture?”

He let out a heavy sigh, dragging his palms down his face before slipping his glasses back on. “Addy sent it. She said the wedding planner passed it to her.”

That tracked, especially given the look Mary had shot me as she left the kitchen earlier.

I set his phone on the nearest box and stepped between his knees, framing his face in my hands as he’d done to me so many times. His eyes avoided mine, so I pulled out the big guns. “Babe.”

Deep sapphire blues locked onto mine instantly. I felt his smile against my palms before I saw it.

“What did you just say?” he asked, his voice soft with disbelief.

“You heard me.”

“I don’t think I did.”

“Taylor.”

“No, that wasn’t it.”

I tried—and failed—to look disapproving. Even with narrowed eyes, I couldn’t mask the smile tugging at my lips. “I called you babe. Don’t make a big deal out of it.”

“Oh, but it is a big deal.” Taylor’s arms slid around my waist, pulling me closer until my knees bumped the windowsill.

“Either way, I’m not mad about the picture,” I said.

“You’re not?” He sounded genuinely surprised.

“No, I’m not. A little annoyed that our private moment wasn’t so private, but it is what it is. I just hope Addy didn’t send it to everyone and their mom.”

“She wouldn’t,” he assured me. “She is, however, giving me shit for not telling her about you. But that’s my problem.”

“Then there’s nothing to be mad at. Actually, can you send it to me?”

Taylor’s eyes lit up with joy, and the sight was more heartwarming than I could have anticipated. “I don’t know why you look so surprised that I want a copy,” I teased.

“Not surprised, cher. Just happy.”

In one swift movement, Taylor stood, lifting me with him. My laugh dissolved into a gasp as his lips met mine, and I wrapped my arms around his neck.

When he started walking, I squealed and wiggled in his arms. “Taylor! You need to unpack!”

“True. But that’s not what I want to do right now.” To punctuate his point, he tossed me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and smacked my ass.

“Taylor!”

“Ahh, memories.”

“What?!” I squeaked, propping myself up on his back to glare at him.

“The last time I had you like this, you were screaming like a town crazy person in the middle of a hurricane looking for your cat. I can’t believe you don’t remember.”

Oh, I remembered. I remembered appreciating his ass before remembering I was mad at him. I remembered hating how attractive he was when I was supposed to despise him.

And yet, here we were. Somehow, in the short time we’d been reacquainted, my tune had changed.

Taylor was kind. He was generous.

And he was mine.

Mine? What kind of fantasy novel bullshit was that thought?

“Trust me, I remember,” I said. “Kind of hard to forget you falling off my counter and into my baking supplies.”

Taylor froze in the doorway to the hall, and I couldn’t help but laugh—until he slowly slid me down his body, my feet finding the floor.

“You’re going to pay for that, cher.”

“Taylor…”

He stepped back, dropping his hands. The look on his face was menacing in the best, most delicious way. He looked like he wanted to devour me, and the heat pooling in my belly told me I wouldn’t stop him.

“You’ve got a two-second head start, sunshine. Don’t waste it. Because when I catch you…” His slow, predatory smile was all the incentive I needed to bolt down the hall and straight into his bedroom.

Sure, it was a little on the nose. But the sooner he caught me, the sooner I got to have him.