Page 8

Hazel

I was going to have to add his talented tongue to the list of things I hated about Seth, even though right now it was making me scream in pleasure.

His fingers? I hated them too. I hated the way they curved up as he fucked me, finding my G-spot effortlessly and turning me into a moaning, gasping, crying mess as I pulsed around his thick digits.

Most of all, I hated how easy that had been for him. It was never that easy, not even with myself. Seth must be cheating with magic.

The air around us seemed to shimmer like it could feel everything I felt. Seth was kissing his way back up my body now. He had one hand down the front of his pants while the other was still on my thigh.

I realized I also hated how much I wanted to kiss him now and taste myself on him.

“Oh man, Liam’s going to be so jealous.”

Seth’s words hit me like a bucket of ice water.

What the hell was I doing? Seth and Liam were a couple! All this started because Seth wanted to make up for a kiss. But now... what had we done?

I shoved him away and scrambled back, nearly falling off the other side of the island.

But years of keeping in shape because I felt like I had something to prove—not just because I was only a human but also a woman on the force—meant I managed to land on two feet and successfully put the island between us.

I quickly smoothed the too-sheer top back down over my body.

“What’s wrong, Sweetcheeks?”

“Stop! Seth, I can’t do this. I don’t know what the fuck type of games you two are playing, but I don’t want any of it. If you guys get off on making each other jealous, find some other gullible girl.”

He looked back at me, confused.

“Whatever relationship issues you two are having, figure it out on your own. Don’t use me to make each other jealous. What the fuck is wrong with you?”

My thoughts were running all over the place, and I hated how out of control I felt. I hadn’t had a hold on the situation since yesterday, and I was sick of it. He’d touched me, and I’d turned into a needy puddle of goo. It wasn’t fucking fair. I couldn’t believe what we’d just done!

Seth looked shocked. “That’s not what’s happening. Listen—”

I covered my ears, even though it felt so ridiculously immature.

“No! I’m done! I’m not listening.” I turned, eyeing the stairs and cursing the fact that I still hadn’t figured out where the washer and dryer were.

If I had been dressed, I’d be eyeing the door.

“Where the hell are my clothes?” I demanded.

“I’m sick of wearing this piece of shit! ”

“Hey, now! I love that piece of shit!”

“You can have it back.” I tore it off because it wasn’t like it was covering anything vital anyway, balled it up, and threw it at him.

I stormed around his home, looking for my missing clothes.

I was done here. I was tired despite a full night’s sleep.

I was hungry. My heart was confused as fuck, and somehow, my libido was acting like it was a teenager again.

And now that stupid headache, which had miraculously disappeared when the hanky-panky started, was coming back, and it was coming back with a vengeance.

Screw this. I was out. I didn’t care who thought I needed to be monitored because of that stupid-ass spell. Stick a fork in me, I was done.

I wanted to cry. But I wasn’t going to show weakness. I’d done enough of that in the last twenty-four hours to last a lifetime. I was a cop, damn it. And I’d worked hard for the position. I didn’t cry!

It was all Seth’s fault. Seth and his perfect abs, and his perfect... wow, even half-hard, he was impressive. I tore my gaze away. I needed to get away from him. And Liam too. I had no chance against these guys.

Suddenly, it felt as if my feet were glued to the floor. What the hell? Was this Seth’s doing? It had to be! The asshole had magically magnetized my feet to the floor! I tried to pull away but only managed to lose my balance. I windmilled my arms, trying not to faceplant.

Then Seth was there, wrapping his arms around me and surrounding me with that musky, masculine scent of his.

“I didn’t mean it that way,” he said softly. “I didn’t mean that Liam would be jealous you touched me . I meant he’d be jealous I got to touch you . We’re not doing this to piss each other off. Nothing like that, Gorgeous.”

“Stop calling me that. I’m not Sweetcheeks, or Gorgeous, or Hazy Daisy, or whatever. If you want to call me Hazel instead of Sarah, fine, but at least use my name.” But my words had no force behind them.

“Hazel,” he said. “You are not getting in our way. No one is upset with you, and we’re not upset with each other.

You are not messing anything up.” He moved to stand in front of me, then cupped my face in his palms in a way more intimate than I’d ever thought possible.

“Look at me. We want you. Both of us. Separately and together. Don’t you want us too? ”

“Let me get this straight,” I said, my fingertips going to my temple to soothe the pounding starting there. “You two are trying to pick me up together?”

“Something like that. But I wouldn’t call it picking you up. That sounds crass.”

Was this something they did to keep things fresh?

Well, at least I didn’t feel so bad about kissing them and.

.. other things. But I wasn’t some chick at a bar or a club who could go back to pretending not to recognize them next week.

I bumped into Seth at work all the freaking time; I couldn’t just throw caution to the wind and jump into their arms and bed.

“Is your headache back?”

“Yeah,” I admitted.

“Shit! I should’ve taken care of that first, before your other needs.” He moved his hand up to my head and immediately the splitting headache seemed to calm. “How’s that feel?”

“Better,” I sniffed. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I wondered if I should tell him the headache all but disappeared when we were fooling around, but I decided against it. “But we still can’t do... whatever this is.”

“But you don’t deny that you want us,” Seth said slyly.

I decided that honesty was the best policy; I’d always been straightforward with everything else in life.

“Of course I want you two,” I said, eyeing his washboard abs. “Look at you! The two of you are hot as sin. But what the hell is going to happen the next time we cross paths at work?”

“That depends on what you decide to make of this and how far you want to take things.”

“But it’s not professional.”

Goddammit! That sounded so stupid. We’d already shot right past unprofessional.

“I’m not working right now, are you?” He guided me to the couch and pulled me down to sit in his lap.

“No. But...”

“And we are both consenting adults?”

“Yes. But...”

“So tell me, Officer Cooley, are we breaking any laws?”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Don’t call me that right now.”

Seth sent me a devilish grin. “Well, if it’s against the law to imagine you sandwiched between Liam and me, then you better lock me up now and throw away the key.”

And just like that, every word in my vocabulary fled for higher ground as my brain was flooded with images of the two of them doing the most terrible and wonderful things to me.

Fuck. I was screwed.

“We’ll be as discreet as you need us to be, Gorgeous. Everyone thinks I’m full of it anyway. I can flirt with you all day long, and they’ll be like, ‘Oh, that’s just how he is.’ They’ll never suspect a thing.”

Was that why he acted the way he did? So people would underestimate him? I guess if people knew just how much magic he had, and I had a feeling it was a lot, they’d be wary of him. The way it was now, they just rolled their eyes and thought he was annoying.

I found myself cradled in Seth’s arms. I was so tired already, even though I hadn’t even had breakfast yet, that I didn’t have anything left in me to fight. That was until I realized I was still completely naked.

I struggled to get out of his arms. “You don’t need to do this.”

“Do what?” Seth asked, releasing me enough so I could sit up in his lap but not leave.

“This!” I gestured to us. “This isn’t me. I’m no damsel in distress! I don’t need you to comfort me. I shouldn’t need you to make a stupid coffee. I’m not weak.”

And I most certainly shouldn’t be enjoying it like I was. And I did enjoy it; that was the scariest part of all.

“No one in their right mind thinks of you as a damsel in distress, Hazel Sarah Cooley. We all know you’re tough.

You have to be, rushing into every situation thrown at you the way you do.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t lean on someone else sometimes.

It doesn’t mean you’re weak.” He leaned forward and lowered his head, resting his forehead against mine like he was the one who needed support.

“You don’t have to be tough all the time to be strong.

Sometimes, it’s stronger to learn to lean on someone else. ”

Was he speaking from experience? I couldn’t imagine him needing help or leaning on anyone.

“As if you’ve ever been weak a day in your life, Mr. Big Shot Wizard. Weren’t you WEC once? Don’t they only accept the world’s very best?”

I didn’t know the full details, but it was generally known to those of us on the force who had to work with him that Seth quit the WEC due to irreconcilable differences.

Some believe it was because he was head-hunted by the Dragon of Darlington.

That was how powerful he was. So, while Tommy sometimes gave Seth a hard time, he’d never dare cross him the wrong way.

Seth tucked me back into his arms. “Did you know I was so desperate once that I went up to a dragon I’d never met before and begged for help? That’s how Desmon and I met.”

“You? Begging? I’m not sure I can imagine what that looks like.”

“I’m sure you’ll see it soon. Liam has me begging all the time.” He winked.

My jaw dropped as filthy, filthy thoughts rushed to my head.

Seth just chuckled. “But for now, let me tell you how I met Desmon while I make you some breakfast. That coffee isn’t enough.”

The coffee in question floated into view and landed on the coffee table in front of me.

I reached for it and found it still warm.

I expected Seth to release me so he could go to the kitchen, but he didn’t.

Instead, I suddenly heard the fridge opening.

I gasped and peered over but found no one.

It had opened by itself, and the eggs were taking themselves out of the carton.

He was making breakfast with magic!

“You thought you could get away from cuddles that easily, did you, Hazy Daisy?”

“Apparently not.”

“Nope.”

Then Seth told me about how when he was sixteen, his very pregnant mother had disappeared, and his father had sent him, not even an adult yet, on a mission to retrieve her.

“When I finally found Mom, she’d already given my sister away to the first witch she could find.”

“What?” I exclaimed. “She gave her baby away?”

“Yes, but it wasn’t done out of malice. It was an act of love.

She didn’t want her daughter to suffer as she had.

Daughters and wives in powerful wizard households, especially those who are part of the WEC, lived glamorous but sad lives.

Because of their genetics, most are born with an abundance of magic but are forbidden to ever use it.

They are married off young, usually to one of their father’s friends, and then their husbands tap into their magic, channeling it and using it as if it were their own. ”

“That’s horrible.”

“Yes. And my mother didn’t want more of the same for her daughter.

So she ran. My father had known why and charged me with bringing her back for her punishment.

I found her but couldn’t bring myself to drag her back.

So I went to Desmon, begging him to hide her and offering my services for life in return. ”

“That’s very brave and the right thing to do. I guess he said yes? Does that mean Desmon doesn’t really pay you? And wait, this happened when you were sixteen? You didn’t leave the WEC until The Wall fell much later.”

The smell of bacon and toast were now filling the loft, and my stomach rumbled, expressing just how empty it was.

“He agreed, but waited for me to finish my schooling and get as powerful as I could first. He took Mom in but put targeted amnesia spells on both me and Liam.

We returned home empty-handed, and when my father and his friends used magical means to fish the information from our heads, they only found a fruitless search.

I went back to school, completely forgetting about my deal with Desmon.

“But slowly, the memories came back. By the time I graduated at the top of my class and was accepted into the WEC, I remembered everything and went in secret to visit my mother. Desmon had encouraged me to join the WEC. It gave me experiences I’d have never gotten.”

“And when The Wall fell, you left?” I asked.

“Yup. But none of that would’ve happened if I hadn’t been terrified and desperate and begging for help at a dragon’s door.

And trust me, that’s a lot worse than needing help making a coffee.

You technically still have a concussion.

Remember? I understand needing to appear strong when you’re out there,” he pointed out the window at the city of Darlington, “but you spend your life taking care of the people of Darlington. In here, let Liam and I take care of you, even if it’s just for a little while. ”

I got ready to protest, but then he said, “And then when we need it, you can take care of us back.”

He was turning it into a give-and-take situation, which I was a lot more receptive to. But still, this was Seth! Annoying, full-of-himself Seth. Stole-my-freaking-cruiser Seth.

“But I’m supposed to hate your guts,” I said, the words almost a whine.

“You can go back to hating my guts after.”

I wrinkled my nose. “I’m agreeing to let you take care of me, for now. But that’s it. I’m not agreeing to anything more.”

“Good enough for me. Now, let’s get some food in you.”