Page 23 of Spellbound

And still I wondered if I had somehow fallen victim to a love potion that I just couldn’t detect.

Some arcane, previously unknown to me concoction that was stronger than my own power to find it.

Was that possible? I couldn’t remember any time he’d offered me a drink, or a time when I’d left something unattended around him, or anyone else for that matter, but his magic kept breaking through.

He could have put some kind of quick obfuscation spell on me.

He was showing no immediate effects, and neither was I, but we had to wait. After about twenty minutes had passed, he said he didn’t feel well.

He looked up at me with panic in his eyes, “Oh…I think I have to throw up.”

I took him quickly to the bathroom, and he vomited three times before he was done.

It smelled slightly of Sulphur and burned his throat as he expelled it.

He got to his feet still shaky, and suddenly his mouth fell open in a silent cry, and he began to have a convulsion.

I lowered him back to the ground and put him on his side, his feet beating a tattoo on the floor and I was frightened by this reaction. I was afraid he’d hurt himself.

I didn’t know what to do, except to pour one healing spell after another over him, but nothing seemed to help.

It went on and on, or maybe it just seemed that way to me.

The convulsions stopped almost as suddenly as they’d started a few terrifying minutes later, and he looked up at me with eyes I didn’t recognize.

They were dark, almost black, for one thing and full of hatred.

His lips peeled back from his teeth in a snarl, and he leaped for my face, his hands curling into claws.

I held him off me and managed to choke out “Agyd abba!

And he screamed in pain and collapsed in my arms. A black wisp flew out of his mouth and streamed from his nostrils.

I threw a spell after it to destroy it and my spell caught it by the door and it went up in a little black ball of flames.

He sagged in my arms, and I feared for him for a moment until I realized he seemed to be sleeping peacefully at last.

After checking his breathing to make sure he was all right, I picked him up and carried him outside to front porch. I ran my hands over every part of his body and said a quick healing spell over him. I could find nothing wrong.

I decided he’d been through quite enough today and to just let him sit beside me and breathe.

I realized it was getting to be afternoon, and we had spent most of the morning fighting the thing that had been possessing him.

I held him in my arms, and he fell asleep against my shoulder on the porch swing minutes later.

After a while, I picked him up and carried him to the bedroom. He never woke up and I left him there after sealing the door.

****

Asher

I woke up in bed with a bad taste in my mouth and a horrible headache, feeling like something significant had happened while I slept.

I just couldn’t remember what that could be.

I remembered that Ben had brought me to the cottage and then spent some time with me, asking a lot of questions.

But I couldn’t remember much of what we’d talked about now.

I heard a truck pull up outside and hurried to the door to see who it was. Ben was getting out of the truck, and I wondered if he’d forgotten something.

“Hello,” he said, as he saw me at the door looking out. He was walking a little aggressively straight toward me, and I backed up a step.

“I thought you might be awake by now,” he said. “I came back to ask you something.”

I rolled my eyes, but playfully, or at least I hoped he’d take it that way. I didn’t like fighting with him. “Oh, okay. Come on in and fire away.”

“No, I didn’t mean I wanted to ask you more questions. I wanted to talk to you.”

“Okay. Well, come in and sit down. The mosquitos and gnats are coming out.”

He came in and stood by the door. He took my hand, which surprised me. I felt like we’d been mad at each other earlier, though I couldn’t remember much about it now.

“I came to tell you that I’m sorry if you’ve been a little upset with me today. I’d like to apologize.”

“Have I been upset?”

I was confused because I didn’t remember much about that. And we’d talked a lot since I’d arrived, hadn’t we?

“I’m talking about how my dog knocked you down. You could sue me for that, you know.”

“Oh…no, Dolly didn’t mean to do it. I think I got in her way, when she was trying to get to you.”

“I’m sorry about it anyway. With the storm hitting last night as you arrived and then my dog knocking you down, I’m afraid you didn’t get a very good first impression of us.”

“Nobody’s fault,” I said, smiling at him. “It’s fine.”

We just stared at each other then and it was like the whole world was holding its breath. “I have something else I’d like to ask you, too.”

“Oh? Well okay. Ask away.”

“I wanted to see if you’d come to my house for dinner tonight. A welcome kind of thing. If you don’t think you’ll be too tired.”

“Who, me?” I realized I’d almost squeaked out the words and cleared my throat. “I mean, just me? Did you mean me and my grandma?”

“No,” he said, and smiled down at me. “Just you, tonight.”

“Yeah…yes, I’d like to come. And I’d love to see your house. That sounds great.”

He smiled. “Good. I’ll pick you up in about an hour then?”

“Oh, sure. That’s great. I’ll be ready.”

I was standing in the doorway, and he looked down at me.

He leaned in and put his hand on the doorframe above my head, stepping close enough to my body to almost touch it.

I looked up into those amber eyes, and then he lowered his head to kiss me.

I saw his handsome face coming toward me and I sighed and leaned in.

This was the first time today that he’d acted like he remembered what we did last night.

He stopped just inches away from my lips. “I’m glad you decided to come here, Asher. I hope you’re going to be happy here.”

It was hard to believe that someone like Ben might have some feelings for me, but here he was.

Brent had told me once that I was like a rose.

Pretty on the outside, but too prickly and thorny to really enjoy.

I carried that with me for a long time. He leaned in and I felt his soft lips brush over mine, once and then twice, as if warning me what was about to happen and giving me a chance to push him away.

As the kids at my college would say, as if …

He pressed his warm lips to mine, those moist, lush lips that I had imagined so many times. I put my hands up to his shirt and curled my fingers into it just to hold on. Should I have told him to back off? Fat chance. Was this all happening a little fast? I didn’t care.

I pushed at his chest a little, but gently, to see what would happen, and he backed off willingly, not forcing me in any way.

I opened my mouth to tell him this might be a bad idea—and that I’d be leaving in six months—but I couldn’t seem to get the words to come out of my mouth.

I just stared up at him instead and pulled him back.

He took the opportunity to bend down and kiss me again, this time slipping his tongue inside my mouth and touching it to mine.

My heart started banging around in my chest.

His hands dropped down to my ass as he pulled my hips toward his.

I gasped, but he kept kissing me, one of his hands on the back of my neck, holding me firmly in place.

I whimpered a little when he tried to move away and I grabbed his shirt and pulled him back to me again.

His lips curved upward as he pulled me even closer, continuing the kiss.

I’d never been kissed like that before in my life.

Not by anyone, and certainly not by my ex, Brent.

He never really liked to kiss, just wanted to get me naked as fast as he could.

I realized I was getting lightheaded from Ben’s kisses, but I was enjoying them way too much to move away.

I could feel his hard, rigid cock pressing against me, and I pushed my bulge up to his hand.

I think he could have taken me right there against the door if he wanted to, and I wouldn’t have done anything to stop him.

In fact, didn’t people often christen a new house like that?

I thought it was a fine tradition, and I heartily approved.

Then he surprised me by pulling away, making sure I was steady on my feet before taking a step backward, and giving me one last, quick brushing of his lips against mine.

I felt his hand pat my ass as he smiled down at me.

I hadn’t been ready for those kisses to end.

“See you in a little while, Asher.” And he turned and went to get in his truck.

I stood there, frozen, and almost afraid to move, in case it was all a dream, but I woke myself up by moving too fast and ruining it.

As I watched him driving away up the road, I knew it hadn’t been any kind of dream.

Ben Jackson had asked me on a date, and he’d be back later to pick me up. It was almost too good to be true.

I closed the door behind him and sat down hard on the sofa again, wondering what on earth I was getting myself into, because I had a feeling that I was way out of my depth with a man like him.

I went into the bedroom and saw my suitcase, though I had no memory of bringing it in.

Another memory lapse, or had someone brought it inside for me?

I decided to at least unpack and get something done.

I spent the next little while hanging up my shirts and pants and putting my shoes and belts and things away in the closet.

There was a box by the window labeled “Bedroom” in black magic marker, so I found a knife to cut it open and began to unload it too.

It was full of fall clothing, including jackets.

If we stayed the whole six months, it would be October when I went back to Atlanta—always assuming I could stick this out for that long.

Those odds were definitely improving. I put them all at the back of the closet.

I went back in my closet and picked out an outfit to wear later that evening, still unable to believe this was happening.

By six, I was freshly showered and shaved and dressed in gray slacks and a navy-blue pullover.

I’d turned on a lamp by the sofa for when I came home later and I kept checking the time on my phone, half afraid I’d dreamed the whole thing.

But at 6:02, Ben’s big truck pulled in the driveway, and he got out and came to the front door.

I stepped out on the porch to greet him. It was twilight, the first stars appearing in the sky, and the spruce trees in the front yard throwing shadows across the grass. It seemed like a perfect night.