Page 31 of Season of the Witch (Toil and Trouble #3)

twenty

Henry linked his fingers with Tia’s as he walked them through the crowd toward the abandoned town hall at the side of the square.

His cock was already hard, making him damn uncomfortable as they passed the other revelers.

He suspected they knew what he’d already figured out, like he had a big sign above his head confirming this witch can lead me around by my dick .

Tia’s eyes were bright, color in her cheeks most would think was from the cold but he knew was from arousal. He knew from memory .

He savored that even as he wished she’d tell him more. How was he going to learn where they’d gone wrong if she pulled back every time he brought up their past?

He was so lost in thought, he didn’t see Siddeley and Lady Mildred until they’d almost collided with them.

Siddeley lit up like a Christmas tree. “Lord Henry! Lady Tia!” He wore a thick tweed coat and a flat cap decorated with stitched snowflakes. “Are you having a good time?”

“Uh,” Henry said inelegantly, hiding impatience under a smile. He had the sinking feeling now they’d run into the warlock, Tia would set her sights on bigger prey. The investment was everything to her.

“I haven’t been to a carnival in years,” Tia was saying, grinning at the pair. “Will I sound old if I say it’s so noisy?”

“Quite right, Lady Tia,” Mildred piped up, wrinkling her nose at the roar of laughter from near the drinks stand. “However, the tree-lighting is at midnight, so we always stay for that. And Archie does love to watch everybody enjoying themselves.” She smiled at him dotingly.

“The noise is part of it,” Siddeley countered, grinning down at her. “You love it really, Mother.”

She sniffed. “Are you enjoying your stay in England, Lady Tia?” she asked instead of answering. “I seem to recall your mother enjoying her time out here.”

“My mom came here?” Tia asked, surprise flickering across her expression.

Mildred nodded. “A few years back now, maybe twenty, thirty years ago. Stayed with some of her wilder friends, I believe.” Disdain traced the words.

It wasn’t hard to conclude that wilder probably meant not Higher society .

Tia looked more surprised than ever. “My mom? Gloria Hightower?”

“Mmm. I’m happy to see the next generation hasn’t any of those same unseemly impulses.” She nodded in approval.

Henry coughed. Tia’s hand squeezed his in warning.

“We were heading over there.” Siddeley motioned in the direction of a makeshift stage. “Some of the locals have put together a Christmas choir.”

“That sounds great,” Tia enthused.

Henry’s disappointment ballooned. Not only was he not getting his hands on Tia in the next five minutes, he’d also have to listen to carols with a hard-on. Fan-fucking-tastic.

“Can I escort you?” Siddeley offered his other arm.

Henry watched as Tia beamed at the other man. “We were actually about to get something to drink. How about you save us some seats and we’ll catch up?”

His heart began to beat harder, faster, blood rushing south.

Siddeley agreed and he and his mother headed off toward the stage.

Tia tugged his hand. “You’ll have to work fast.”

Five minutes later, he had her pushed against a wall in the town hall, his cock buried in her from behind. He covered her mouth with his hand to muffle her moans, his other hand supporting them both as their hips rolled into each other.

“Fuck,” he hissed, sweat dripping into his eyes. The fire raged inside him and a red glow appeared around his fingers on the wall. Smoke wafted around his hand.

“Yes,” she moaned, her voice muffled, and she bit him as she came.

Neither Siddeley nor Mildred commented on the fresh bite mark on his palm when they found their seats, but he made sure to keep Tia’s hand in his to hide it. Just in case.

* * *

Tia’s compact chimed loudly from her suitcase.

She capped her mascara, musing on every person it might be as she dropped the tube into her makeup bag. Her friends typically used their phones, but it could be business. Maybe Xia. Or Lionel?

“Want me to get it?” Henry called from the bedroom.

“Why would I?” she retorted, walking in from the bathroom.

He was sprawled on the bed, eyes closed, one arm behind his head. The picture of contentment and a temptation to sin. She wanted to climb on top of him and also run fast in the opposite direction.

His eyes cracked, reading her. He patted his thighs once.

She gave him a vulgar gesture, prompting a laugh, and only when she’d turned to get her compact did she let herself smile, too.

After fishing out the engraved gold piece, she flipped open the lid and her pulse tripped. “Mom.”

Gloria’s lips curved in the mirror. “You sound surprised. Can a mom not call to say hi to her daughter?”

“She could.” Tia lifted a warning finger to Henry as he sat up so her mom didn’t see him. The last thing they needed was more matchmaking. “She could also be wanting a progress report.”

“Guilty.”

“Give me two secs to get private.”

“Oh.” Surprise made Gloria blink. “Aren’t you in your room? I thought that was a bed.”

Shit. Tia shifted the compact farther to the left. “I am. It’s just, uh, Henry and I were going through some…stuff. Strategy.”

A gleam sifted into her mom’s dark eyes.

Tia scowled. “Don’t even,” she warned quietly.

“Let me at least say hello to the boy.”

Tia let out a short sigh as Henry rolled off the bed immediately. His hands rested on his hips, then he crossed his arms, before finally he leaned on the night table.

She held back a laugh, pivoting the mirror to him. Smooth , she mouthed.

Henry’s smile stayed polite. “Lady Hightower.”

“None of that, now, it’s Gloria. How are things?”

“They’re going well.”

“And your memory?”

He shifted, the movement awkward. “Yeah. Okay. Mom says the potion master thinks he’s getting closer.”

Tia’s heart fluttered. She hadn’t known.

“Yes,” Gloria confirmed, making the fluttering worse. “I met with Lionel yesterday. He’s having some trouble eliminating the side effects, but as you say, believes he’s getting close. He had hoped, though, since you took such a small dose, they’d be coming back on their own.”

Henry shrugged, broad shoulders moving under the sweater in discomfort. “A few feelings, here and there,” he evaded.

“Tia, I hope you’re also working on it.”

She had been. She had…and then it had been less of a priority.

Tia fought to keep her unease beneath her skin and turned the compact back to her. “No luck so far,” she sidestepped. “I’m going to go somewhere private, Mom. I’ll call you back.”

“All right.”

Tia clicked the compact closed. Heavy, beating silence followed. “So,” she said, forcing a casual tone, “chances are you’ll get your memories back soon if Lionel keeps going. He’s obviously having better luck than me.”

Henry nodded. He didn’t look happy or unhappy, just…weird. Like he didn’t know what to think, either.

“I guess I’ll have to get used to arguing with you again,” she pushed out in a lame attempt at humor.

“It’s been…well, strange, but also nice?

I guess. Not being wands at dawn with you.

” Immediately, she felt like she’d exposed her throat and backstepped.

“But whatever, not like I can’t deal with brooding Henry. ”

His careful gaze stripped her of her armor and she clutched the mirror until her fingers went white.

“Maybe nothing will change,” he said, voice as careful as the way he was looking at her. Like she was a step from shattering.

She jutted up her chin, her only defense to attack. “You’re forgetting that we broke up for a reason. This is just…a Christmas vacation from reality.”

“Does it have to be?”

His question made her heart catch, then race, so fast she felt her breath shorten. Her fingers tingled as magic pulsed under her skin.

There was no real answer. He was Henry, but without the memories of what stood between them, he couldn’t possibly understand how complicated things were.

How they always seemed to end up hurting each other.

And when it came down to it, when he got those memories back, that fact would drive them apart again.

She held up the compact, forcing her hand steady. “I’m gonna go call her back.”

Obvious frustration crumpled his expression before he sighed. “Stay. I need some air.”

His tone was brusque enough that she caught his arm as he passed.

As his chin angled down, fear lifted her onto her toes.

Stupid after what she’d just said, but if she could only have this time with him, she didn’t want to ruin it with talk of feelings.

Heat was easy and she showed him how by planting a hot one on his mouth.

He caught her waist and held her close as he answered the invitation with a soft, thorough kiss. His hands spread across her rib cage, big and tight enough to cause loops of lazy desire in her system.

“I’ll miss you, too,” he teased as he pulled away. Sounding more like himself.

She dropped back on her heels, relief buried behind layers of scorn. “Go, if you can get your giant ego out the door.”

“Not my ego that’s giant, Celestia.” He stole another kiss as she tried to smack him, and was out the door on a laugh.

It held in the air for a couple of seconds, fading as she stared after him. Then she got herself together and used the mirror to call her mom back.