Page 36 of Spellbound After Midnight

He lifted my chin with his fingers until our eyes met. “I would.”

The certainty in his tone wobbled the brush in my hand. Why did he have to stand so close? I could feel the heat from his touch like a brand.

As if I’d spoken my thoughts out loud, he let go and stepped back. Feeling off-balance, I brushed the bristles over the wine stem, leaving a milky-white stain.

“Now, we wait.”

“How long?”

“Patience, Detective.”

Derrick cast me a long-suffering look and flipped through a leather-bound volume of moon phase rituals. He moved on to a manual on fortune-telling.

“You certainly have a lot of interesting merchandise. Where do you find things like this?”

“Specialty markets, mostly. The charms and candles are all local. I mix my own potions, but some ingredients I have shipped from overseas. That’s where you get the good stuff, but it’s more expensive.”

He nodded absently, his gaze traveling over a shelf of faceted crystals. Beneath it was a series of spells arranged side-by-side under a pane of glass. His brow quirked as he read the small brass plate affixed to the display.

“Beginner Love Spells: Make Him Yours Before He Sees the Real You. Really, Tessa?”

I leaned my elbow on the case and tapped the glass. “Those are some of my best sellers.”

“I bet. Do the love spells work?”

“There haven’t been any complaints. Why, are you in the market?” I teased.

He leaned closer to read one of the scrolls. “Let’s see, this one looks good. The Lightning Love Spell. Ingredients call for lemon zest, hemlock, a mirror shard, and a scorpion’s tail. Mix with a lock of your target’s hair, and it will send an enchanted bolt straight into your lover’s heart.” He squinted at the fine print. “Caution. May cause burning.” Throwing back his head, his throaty laughter filled the quiet shop.

I couldn’t resist a smile. It was nice.More than nice.I’d finally cracked his cool exterior. Who knew what lay further underneath?

When his amusement faded, I placed my hand on his arm. He went still beneath my touch, the heat from his skin warming my palm.

“That’s the first time I’ve heard you laugh. I like it. You should do it more often.”

A beat of silence passed while he looked at me, his expression haunted and tinged with a sense of loneliness. It was riveting, and I couldn’t turn away from it. Didn’t want to.

“In my line of work, there aren’t many reasons to laugh.”

The room had grown unbearably warm. I closed what little distance remained between us, and his hand moved reflexively to my waist, gaze falling to my mouth. The action alone sent a shiver of anticipation through my body. For the love of spell books, he was handsome.

“How tragic.”

His voice was rough. “Do you think so?”

“Very much. You might need me more than you realize.”

The air thickened. My lips parted, and his fingers tightened against my hip.

“Maybe I do.”

I held in a breath as he dipped to brush his mouth against mine in a tentative kiss. It was unhurried, a lingering taste that left me restless. His fingers smoothed over the back of my neck, drawing me closer, deeper. The scent of his skin, the slide of his lips, and the low rumble in the back of his throat became my only focus when our bodies molded together. He didn’t kiss like the straitlaced detective with alphabetical taste; his mouth was pure abandon, leaving my senses in shambles.

The pressure of his lips softened, and Derrick drew back, dragging the pad of his thumb across my bottom lip as he expelled a ragged breath.

“I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Probably not,” I whispered.