Page 5 of Magical Moonbeam

His fingers were still tangled with mine, warm and steady. He didn’t say anything.

He just stood there watching me like he was trying to memorize the moment, and I felt a magical pull to do the same.

But that intensity, that quiet and thoughtful way that he looked at me, always made it hard to breathe. It was like being seen too clearly, and I wasn’t sure if I was ready for someone to notice the cracks and not mind them.

Keegan shifted his hand, bringing mine to his chest.

“I think about you more than I should,” he said, voice low.

His words stunned me, and I swallowed hard. “Keegan…”

“I told myself not to go to impossibilities and that I shouldn’t even entertain the idea. You know that it would complicate everything. But I keep… ending up here. With you. Wantingyouto believe in yourself the way I do.”

His eyes searched mine, and he raised his hand to my cheek, slowly and deliberately.

I didn’t pull away.

I couldn’t.

The wind rushed past us in a sudden gust, and my pulse heightened with a mixture of uncertainty and excitement.

“I’m not going to do it unless you want it too,” he said, thumb brushing the edge of my jaw.

I didn’t answer, not with words.

I leaned into his touch, tilted my face just slightly as his breath hitched, and my heart raced.

His lips met mine, and he kissed me.

The kiss wasn’t tentative or rushed.

Just… sure.

His kiss was as if he’d been waiting for this, not just days or weeks, but lifetimes. This was the kind of kiss that wasn't about fireworks or urgency, but it held weight, promise, and certainty.

Keegan’s hand cradled the back of my neck, drawing me closer, and I leaned into him, into the strength I’d come to rely on and the gentleness I’d never expected.

The world around us slowed, the magic sighed in the leaves, and the flowers bloomed brighter. The stone wall at my back warmed as the Ward pulsed quietly.

When Keegan pulled away, he rested his forehead against mine.

His breath mingled with mine, and his voice was rough. “I’ve wanted to do that for a long time.”

My lips still tingled. “Yeah?”

He nodded. “Since the day you showed up with your friend, thinking your kaleidoscope tea was messing with your mind.”

I smiled, dazed, and a little breathless. “That’s oddly specific.”

“You made an impression.” He shrugged with a smirk. “But I was also counting the days you’d come to your senses and leave Alex. You deserve the world, Maeve.”

Surprise flashed through me, and I almost forgot that I was a new witch and headmistress of Stonewick Academy as his words coated me with the security that I never knew I craved.

I reached up and toyed with the edge of his collar, grounding myself. “I’ve been waiting for a kiss, too.”

He brushed his thumb over my cheek again, then stepped back, just enough to let us breathe. His smile was softer than I’d ever seen it.

“Don’t doubt yourself, Maeve. And don’t forget you’ve got me, no matter how tangled this gets.”