Page 3 of Rise of the Witch (Witches of Keating Hollow #17)

Briggs wanted nothing more than to climb into the bed next to Melissa, rip the Kindle out of her hands, and ravish her until the sun came up.

He’d been fantasizing about having her in his bed for months now.

The gorgeous brunette with a sassy tongue was just his type.

It didn’t hurt that she didn’t care one bit about the music business.

When he’d been back in LA, it seemed that every woman he’d dated had thought he’d be a one-way ticket to a recording deal. That was part of the reason why he’d started hooking up with Kassie. She already had a deal and hadn’t been looking to him to help her in her career.

Not that he had connections to help someone anyway.

He was just a sound mixer. Sure, he was best friends with King McGrath, but that didn’t mean he had producers and managers on speed dial.

Everything was just so transactional in that town.

Keating Hollow was about as opposite of that life as one could get.

The town settled him. There was something about it that just felt right. Sort of like Melissa.

He shoved all thoughts of impropriety out of his mind and went to his closet, where he found a couple of extra blankets and a pillow.

“What are you doing with those?” Melissa asked as she placed her Kindle on the bedside table.

“Making a bed on the floor.”

“Why?” she asked, confusion written all over her pretty face.

“Because it’s the chivalrous thing to do,” he said, still clutching the blankets.

She snorted. “Chivalrous my ass. Put those away and just get in bed. We are both adults. There’s no reason for you to sleep on the floor.”

He opened his mouth to argue but was cut off when there was a sharp knock on the door.

“Briggs, it’s too cold in here,” Kassie said as she barged into the room without an invitation. “You need to change the thermostat. If I’m freezing all night, my voice will be like ass tomorrow.” She frowned, staring at him and his pile of blankets. “What are you doing with those?”

“Kassie, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” he barked, unable to believe that she’d just barged into the room.

“I’m trying to make sure I can sing tomorrow. Austin isn’t going to be too happy if I show up with a frog in my throat.” Kassie glanced at Melissa. “That’s what you wear to bed when you’re sleeping with a man like Briggs?”

Melissa glanced down at her pink silk pajamas and frowned. “What’s wrong with this?”

Kassie rolled her eyes, walked up to Briggs, took the blankets, and said, “Raise the thermostat two degrees. With these blankets, I should be comfortable enough.” Then she swept out of the room like she was the queen of the castle.

“Well, I guess that settles it,” Melissa said.

“Settles what?” he asked as he glared at the door, unable to keep his ire in check. His fingers curled into fists, and suddenly magic started to spark over his skin just like it used to when it flared out of control. “Son of a?—”

“Whoa,” Melissa said from right behind him, and she placed her hands on his shoulders.

The magic vanished right along with the pressure in his chest. He let out a breath and then turned to stare down at her. “How did you do that?”

“Do what?” she asked.

“The magic. You made it disappear.”

“I—that’s not… I don’t know what you mean,” she stammered. “I’m not magical. Like, at all.”

He shook his head slowly and then pulled her into his arms, hugging her. “Maybe not, but what you just did was pure magic.”

She let out a nervous chuckle. “What does that mean?”

He let her go and then led her back to the bed. “Did you see the magic sparking over my skin?”

“Yes,” she said. “I wasn’t sure what you were planning, but I figured whatever it was, you probably shouldn’t do it while you were mad. I was just trying to get you to slow down a minute.”

“You made it disappear. Your touch. That magic was out of control. I didn’t call it up,” he explained.

She blinked at him.

Briggs held her dark gaze for a long moment and then sucked in a deep breath.

It was time to explain. “The reason I rarely used my magic before is because I wasn’t good at controlling it.

That’s why I was always getting into trouble.

Serious trouble. Eventually, I decided that if I didn’t want to end up arrested by the Magical Task Force I’d have to give up magic altogether. ”

“But you used it tonight with the lights and the candles,” she said.

“I did. That’s because there’s something about Keating Hollow that settles me.

The magic of the town, the people, the fresh air.

I’m not really sure, but it’s one of the only places on earth where I can use magic without it controlling me.

Or at least it was until Kassie just barged in here.

But then you touched me and the magic disappeared, so it looks like you just saved me again…

or rather saved Kassie from goddess knows what. ”

“She’d look awesome with a pimple right between her eyes,” Melissa said, her eyes glinting with mischief. “Maybe I should have kept my hands to myself.”

Briggs chuckled as he shook his head. “Please don’t.”

She let her gaze roam over his chest. And when she licked her lips, he egged her on by tugging off the tight T-shirt he was wearing just before he climbed onto the bed.

Heat flashed in her eyes, and that was all he needed to know.

“Come here,” he said, his voice rough as he reached for her, tugging her so that she rolled on top of him.

“Well, this is a far cry from sleeping in a nest on the floor,” she said, her voice just as rough as his.

“Yeah, that’s not happening.” He buried his hand into her thick dark hair and then whispered, “Kiss me, Melissa.”

She let out a soft sigh and then pressed her warm lips against his.

They paused in that moment, just breathing each other in.

Briggs felt his skin prickle with a different kind of magic.

The kind that touched his soul. That kind that told him whatever this thing was between them, it wasn’t just a one-night stand.

It was something much, much more. And although that knowledge normally would have scared the daylights out of him, all he felt in that moment was a rightness he’d never felt before.

And when Melissa finally darted her tongue out to taste him, he closed his eyes, wrapped his arms around her, and made it his mission to explore every inch of the amazing creature who’d save him not once, but twice that night. He was going to make it worth her while even if it took him all night.

Briggs woke the next morning with his arms wrapped around Melissa.

Her head was nestled on his shoulder, and her vanilla scent was intoxicating.

He trailed his fingers down her bare arm and wished they had all morning to spend together.

If he’d had his way, he’d call in to work and spend the next few hours doing his damnedest to coax those sweet moans out of her again and again and again.

“It’s early,” she mumbled as she burrowed into him.

“I promised someone breakfast in bed.” He pressed a kiss to her temple.

She tilted her head up and opened one eye. “You’re really going to make me breakfast in bed?”

“A promise is a promise.”

Melissa rose over him and gave him a long lingering kiss. When she finally pulled away, Briggs was breathless and moments away from ravaging her again. But then his alarm went off and he groaned.

She flopped back onto the bed and said, “Dammit.”

“You can say that again.” He pressed a kiss to her palm and then rolled out of bed.

“I have to say, the view here is stunning,” Melissa said.

Briggs glanced at his window and frowned when he saw that the shades were still drawn. But when he shifted his gaze to her and saw her staring at him with open admiration, he couldn’t help the smile that tugged at his lips. “Right back at ya.”

He pulled on a pair of shorts and his T-shirt from the night before and then went for the door. “How do you take your coffee?”

“With an IV,” she deadpanned.

“A woman after my own heart. Black?”

She nodded.

“Okay. I’ll be back.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

The innuendo in her tone almost had him hightailing it back to the bed, but when he heard the water from the guest bathroom, he knew that Kassie was up, and that was enough to throw a wet blanket on his libido.

He made his way into the kitchen, made a pot of coffee and a batch of waffles. And because he was feeling generous, he made enough for Kassie, too. He placed hers in a warm oven and then took a full breakfast tray into the bedroom.

Melissa was sitting up, staring at her phone. The minute he walked in, she looked up, and her eyes widened when she saw the tray of food. “You made homemade waffles?”

“Don’t sound so surprised,” he said. “Were you expecting something out of the freezer?”

She chuckled softly. “I honestly don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this.”

He placed the tray beside her and then kissed her on the cheek. “Enjoy. I’m going to get in the shower.”

When he emerged from the bathroom fifteen minutes later, Melissa beamed at him. “The only thing more enjoyable than last night is this coffee.” She took a sip and added, “Keep this up and I might actually marry you for real.”

A ripple of pleasure washed over him as his lips twitched into a small smile. And for just the briefest second, he imagined her in a sexy formfitting wedding dress walking down the aisle toward him.

Where in the world had that come from? He frowned and shook his head, suddenly unsettled.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Nothing. I just need to get moving. Take however much time you need and lockup on your way out.”

“It’s because I said I’d marry you, isn’t it?” She let out a sigh. “It was just a figure of speech. For the love of the gods, don’t go all man on me.”

“It wasn’t that. I swear,” he said, walking back over to the bed and carefully sitting next to her.

Then he placed both of his hands on her cheeks and leaned in, kissing her so thoroughly that they were both breathless when he released her.

“Thank you for pretending to be my fiancée last night. Can I take you out to dinner tonight as a thank you?”

She looked flustered as she stared at him. “Dinner?”

“Yeah. How about that new place, the Elegant Cauldron? I hear they have the best lasagna within three counties. That’s what Miss Maple said, anyway,” he added with a wink, referring to the woman who owned A Spoon Full of Magic, the magical bakery in the heart of Keating Hollow.

“Well, if Miss Maple said it, then it must be true,” she said.

“It’s a date then,” he said. “I’ll get us reservations for seven o’clock and pick you up at twenty till.”

As Briggs walked out of his room, he smiled to himself, anticipating getting to see Melissa again that night, and maybe, just maybe, she’d find her way back to his bed.

He knocked on Kassie’s door. “Time to go.”

Her door flung open, and she stood there in a short skirt, knee-high boots, and a sparkling top. She looked as if she were getting ready to go on stage and put on a live show. “I need to eat breakfast first.”

“There’s coffee in the pot and a warm waffle in the oven,” he said. “There’s an insulated cup in the cupboard you can use. You can eat the waffle on your way.”

She stared at him like he’d grown three heads. “Are you being serious right now? I can’t have coffee and a waffle.”

“Why not?” he asked, frowning at her.

“I need tea and honey for my voice. And pop stars do not eat waffles.” She stomped past him down the hall and into the kitchen. “Please tell me you have fresh fruit and salmon.”

“Salmon?” he asked as he followed her. “There’s fruit. Apples and oranges are in the basket. I thought you got groceries while we were at the store last night.”

“I did get some things, like my tea and honey, but I was tired and forgot to get breakfast stuff.” She made a show of opening all his cabinets and huffing as she didn’t find whatever she needed. Then she pulled a tea bag out of her pocket and said, “Please tell me you have an electric kettle.”

That he did have. Or at least King did. “It’s right next to the coffee pot.” He gestured to the machine. “And there’s honey in the cabinet above it.”

“Thank the gods you aren’t totally useless. You’d think since you lived with a singer that you’d know these things.”

The only thing he knew was that King never ate dairy before singing. Everything else was pretty much on the table. And he’d certainly never refused Briggs’s waffles.

She huffed while she made her tea, sliced up an apple, and grabbed a handful of almonds. “Let’s go,” she said once she had her tea in one of his thermal mugs. “We don’t want to be late.”

“We certainly don’t,” he said and followed her out of the house. Once they were in his truck, he said, “We’ll look for alternative housing for you on our lunch break.”

She spit out her tea and sputtered, “What?”

“Look, Kassie. You can’t stay with me. It’s just not going to work out. So we’re going to see if we can get you a short-term rental or something,” he said.

“Did you miss the part about me not having any room on my credit card?” she nearly shrieked.

“No, I didn’t miss it. We’ll figure something out. You can pay me back when you start to make the big bucks or something.”

“I’m not taking your charity,” she said, her voice suddenly cold.

“But you’ll invade my house for however long this takes?” he asked, casting her a look of irritation. “It’s this or nothing. Understand?”

“And when I tell Austin that you took advantage of me?” she threatened.

Magic burst like flames over Briggs’s skin, and suddenly the truck lost power.

He gripped the steering wheel tight and eased the truck off the road.

Once they’d stopped, he stared straight ahead, breathing deeply while he willed himself to get control of his rage.

When he finally spoke, he said, “Looks like we’re going to be late after all. ”