Page 5 of Spicy Little Curses (Scared Sexy Collection #3)

Five

Dax

Bewitched

S he tasted like sweet dreams and bad decisions. And I was already in too deep.

I knew better than this. Knew exactly what I was risking. The ink on my skin burned, a pulsing reminder of what I was, of what every Rousseau man carried in his blood.

But when she kissed me, I forgot.

Her lips were soft, but her kiss wasn’t.

It was wild, urgent, the kind of kiss that proved she wasn’t afraid of curses or consequences.

Instead of pulling away like I should have, I instinctively dragged her closer, my fingers digging into the curve of her waist. I slid a hand into her hair, fisting it there, holding her still as I drank deeply and took what she was offering.

I felt like a starving man. Like I had no choice.

Hell, maybe I didn’t. Because the second my mouth claimed hers, it seemed inevitable, as if it had been written in the stars long before we met.

It felt like fate ... and fuck, did that feel good .

Her hands skimmed over my bare shoulders, then drifted lower, her fingers tracing the ink that twisted and coiled across my skin. The tattoos reacted to her touch the way they never had with anyone before. I knew this kiss was more than dangerous, that it could be deadly, but I didn’t stop.

I never wanted it to end.

I deepened the kiss, tasting the sweet heat of her mouth, loving the soft curves of her body pressed against mine. My restraint was unraveling by the second. She pushed me further, moaning into my mouth like she wanted to drown in this.

Fuck, I wanted that too.

For a second, I thought about giving in completely. About taking her right here, against the wall. Against anything . Letting myself be selfish, just once.

But then the ink flared.

Not just a flicker. Not just a warning.

A searing surge of heat lashed through my body, and suddenly I saw flashes of every woman who’d loved a Rousseau man and paid the price.

Blood on white lace. Lifeless eyes that stared at nothing. A body crumpled at the bottom of a grand staircase. Hands reaching out before being swallowed by the dark.

The way they screamed.

Sooner or later the curse took every one of them. Painfully.

I wrenched away from Petra, breathing hard, my skin on fire.

Looking dazed, she blinked up at me. We stayed like that for a moment as I fought the need still roaring through my body. When she licked her lips, I almost snapped and took her mouth again.

Instead, I forced myself to do the right thing.

“That wasn’t a good enough reason,” I said, my voice raw.

Confusion flickered across her face. “What?”

I made my voice as cold as ice and gazed steadily into her eyes. “You heard me. That kiss was crap. Now leave before I call the cops.”

She stared at me as if I’d lost my mind, then laughed right in my face, the little hellion.

“You’re pretty, Sunshine, but you’re a terrible liar.” She shook her head, still laughing.

I should’ve known that wouldn’t work. The woman didn’t make anything easy for me.

I raked a hand through my hair and paced away from her, as if distance could fix this. As if it could fix me , which was nothing but wishful thinking. “Look, you need to leave town. Immediately. Tonight. ”

If a sigh could be sarcastic, hers was. “We’re going in circles. You tell me to leave, I tell you I won’t, rinse and repeat. Let’s cut to the chase and save each other some aggravation, because I’m not going anywhere.”

When I turned to peer at her with narrowed eyes, she smirked.

“You don’t know me, but I’m as stubborn as a drunk goat on a narrow bridge.”

I made a face at her. “That’s the dumbest metaphor I’ve ever heard.”

She pursed her lips and considered it. “How about this? I’m as stubborn as if a drunk goat and a brick wall had a baby.”

“What’s with the drunk goats? You spend a lot of time around alcoholic farm animals?”

She laughed again. “I mean, if you knew my boss, you’d get it.”

I glared at her, infuriated by how adorable her laugh was and how the sweet taste of her lips still lingered on mine.

The little psychopath was actually bewitching.

Suddenly exasperated, she threw her hands in the air. “Cut me some slack! This is the weirdest thing that’s ever happened to me. Which is saying something, considering I once accidentally joined a cult because they had really good tacos.”

I stared at her for a beat, unsure I’d heard her right. “ What? ”

She waved a hand in the air dismissively.

“I’m obsessed with tacos. My therapist says it’s not really about tacos, it’s about unresolved childhood trauma and the tacos are just like a placeholder or something, a stand-in for my real emotional issues, which I think is just silly because anyone who’s ever had good carnitas will tell you that they’re the opposite of traumatic, they’re basically heaven on a plate, but she’s the one with all the expensive degrees. Anyway, the point is—”

“I get the point,” I interrupted loudly, dismayed to find my lips tugging upward into a smile.

She was making me smile ? This was a fucking disaster. I had to get rid of her. Now.

“So you’ll tell me about the curse?” she said eagerly, stepping closer. “And when it all started? And how it affects you? And why you have that suspicious bandage around your wrist?”

In addition to her pestering questions, her scent was making me dizzy. She smelled so good, I wanted to take a big bite of her.

I shook my head to clear it and growled, “No, no, and no .” When she just stood there, gazing at me in doubtful silence, as if she thought I might change my mind any second, I shouted, “No!”

She blinked. “I’m two feet away, Sunshine. There’s no need to holler.”

“I think there is, Notebook, because you’re not hearing me!”

“I am hearing you. I’m just not listening. Oh hey, there’s the freaky devil cat! Hi, Satan!”

“It’s Lucifer,” I said through gritted teeth, watching as Luce wound around Petra’s ankles, purring up a storm. When she stood on her hind legs and stretched up Petra’s thigh, mewing for attention, I stared in shock.

Petra hoisted Luce into her arms and cradled her like a baby, scratching under her chin. “I thought you said this cat was allergic to people.”

“She is,” I answered, totally confused. “She hates everyone.”

Petra smirked at me again. “Like her daddy. You know what I think this means?”

Glowering, I muttered, “Can’t wait to hear it.”

“I think it means this was meant to be.”

“This?”

“You. Me. The furry demon in my arms. It’s fate, Sunshine. So you have to tell me about the curse, because fate always wins, whether you like it or not.”

Under the bandage on my wrist, the tattoo of her name began to burn.

The only thing worse than a smart-ass woman was a smart-ass woman who was right.

I was about to issue a denial anyway, but the look on Petra’s face stopped me cold.

She stared over my shoulder into the shadows of the shop with a look that could only be described as pure terror.