Page 28 of Season of the Witch (Toil and Trouble #3)

She didn’t remember him being this chatty but sex between them had always been hot and fast. They’d been young and so greedy for each other.

“I don’t believe it,” he was saying, voice strained as he swiveled his hips and hit a spot inside her so pleasurable that she dug her nails into him and gasped.

“If it was this good…how did I…let you… go ?” He snarled the last as she began to come, her body writhing, everything inside her ripping to shreds.

The next moments became a blur of speed and sound and sensation, her orgasm hitting every nerve in her body until she felt wrung out.

He grunted her name, stiffening, his cock shallowly thrusting as if he couldn’t help it as he groaned harshly through his own climax.

When he collapsed, his head tucked into the crook of her neck. Exhausted as she was, her heart pinched at the familiarity. Hesitantly, her hand came up and cradled the back of his head, fingers sifting through his hair.

She allowed it for one minute before shoving at him. “You’re sticky.”

He lifted his head, every line deepened into laziness. Even his grin was slumberous as he dropped a kiss on her nose. “You were amazing.”

“I know.” She shivered as the cold touched her heated skin.

He watched her, something creeping into his expression. “And…it was good for you?”

“You want a performance review?” She snorted, before catching the flicker in his eyes. Was he actually worried?

She remembered the music room, his lack of confidence masked by swagger.

She softened. Just enough to lift her head and kiss him, lushly. A thank-you.

“You’re sticky,” she murmured again, an idea coming to her that had her smirking up at him. “So am I. We should shower.”

Only when he grinned did the pinching around her heart ease. At least until she noticed the room in disarray and the burnt carpet in the shape of feet.

* * *

Tia yawned, resting her head against the headboard. It was a late start, made later by Henry’s wandering hands. The man might have felt some insecurity last night but that had vanished by their next round. And their next.

She swallowed as the memories of the long, hot night made her squirm.

It had been perfect. Mostly because every time he’d tried to slow it down, she’d sped it back up.

Contrary to his big talk about her not winning every time, so far it was Tia 3, Henry 0.

Or maybe 2.5 since the last round had been strictly oral for both of them.

She’d convinced him to go to breakfast, to put in some time with Siddeley. They needed to keep the warlock sweet, especially since she couldn’t imagine explaining the burnt carpeting in a way that didn’t make her or the proper English warlock blush.

Maybe she’d get some practice now.

She’d talked herself in and out of this call for twenty minutes, getting more and more agitated. Not a big deal, no big thing. She forced her thumb to press the call button before she could be any more ridiculous.

Emma’s face popped up, extremely uncomfortable. “You know I hate looking at myself when we do this. Why’re we FaceTiming?”

“Duh, because I like looking at my face.” Tia made her voice casual. No big deal. Not a big thing. “Is Leah with you?”

“She had to run to the shelter, but it’s slow so I told her I’d be fine.”

That tracked. Ever since Gabriel and Leah had taken over the animal shelter Leah loved, it’d been busier than ever.

Tia couldn’t decide if her friend’s absence was better or worse. “Okay. I’ll catch her later.”

“For what?”

She’d practiced this. “Breaking the news” felt like what she had to say was too important, so she just dropped it in like—phrase of the day—it was no big deal. “I figured I’d let you guys know that Henry’s with me and we had sex. You know, before you hear anything on the grapevine.”

Emma’s face froze. “Wait, what?”

Tia directed some telekinesis into the covers, lifting the corner up and down, up and down. She kept her expression nonchalant. “Henry came with me on the work trip. It’s boring as fuck so we figured why the hell not.”

“Why the hell not,” Emma echoed. “Are you kidding?”

“It’d be a weird joke.”

“You. Slept with Henry. Pearlmatter?” she clarified. Disbelief rode her voice. “Like insert part A into part B?”

Tia had to grin. “That, and part C, part D, part E…”

Emma slapped a hand over one ear as if that’d help. “No, no, no. Why do people keep telling me these things?”

“You’re acting like this is big news,” Tia told her, curling her toes under the covers. “It’s not.”

“You had sex with your nemesis—the man whose dick you’ve threatened to hex multiple times—and it’s not big news?”

“No.” She pulled her legs up to her chest. “It was stress relief. You told me to.”

A choking noise came from Emma. “I didn’t tell you to sleep with Henry!” A beat. “Was it good?”

“Attagirl.”

“I hate you. Just tell me.”

“It was…” No big deal, she reminded herself. “Good.”

“That’s it? Good?” Emma sounded doubtful.

“You guys steamed up every room when we were younger. I walked in on you once and my hair practically caught on fire—thanks for that therapy bill, by the way. You’re not telling me after eight years of buildup that the sex was just good .

” Emma searched her face. “You’re hiding something. ”

Sometimes she hated how well her friend knew her.

Tia rolled her eyes to disguise it. “Geez. Okay, look, it was fucking amazing. But it’s casual. We’re casual.”

“Nothing about you and Henry is casual.”

Except they weren’t them . Special circumstances meant they were living in the moment and Tia wanted to keep it that way.

But she couldn’t tell Emma that without telling her the actual secret, the one her mom had made her swear to keep.

If she broke that promise after her string of screwups… She swallowed.

“Don’t make this what it’s not, Emma,” she told her, shifting under the weight of guilt, torn between her two worlds. “Just because you’re in love and seeing hearts everywhere doesn’t mean everyone is. Sometimes hot sex is just hot sex.”

“Uh-huh.” Emma snorted. “Gingerbread man incoming.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You can’t catch me,” Emma recited in a singsong voice. “Run while you can, Tia. Henry’s always been good at catching you.”

Something sharp and cold sliced her. “Not this time,” she insisted. “It’s not the same.”

Emma smiled but backed off. “Fine. You want me to tell Leah?”

She couldn’t deal with another version of this call. “I’ll text her.”

“That text is sure to go down well.” Emma smirked.

Tia smirked back. “Just like Henry.”

“Gah. I’m hanging up now.”