Page 21 of Unhinged Magic (Cutters Cove Witches #2)

“You mean us.”

I sighed. “Yeah, us.” I pushed my hands into the front pockets of my pants, staring tentatively back at her. “It’s all I can think about, Skip.”

She closed the space between us, pressing her hands to my chest, the warmth of her touch spreading a tremor through me. The intensity of it seemed to grow the more time we spent together.

I held my breath as her palm cupped my jaw.

Her touch ignited my bare skin. When she raised onto her toes, pressing her lips against mine, I willingly let her tongue explore my own, an instant charge of emotions hitting me at once.

The bond tugged at my core, dragging through me until it settled on my fingertips.

It was a feeling I had never experienced.

As if rebelling, the pads of my fingers ached. I didn’t understand it.

Skye pressed into me as I deepened our kiss, my hands falling to the small of her back as I gently nudged her to me, careful not to put any pressure on her still-raw tattoo. I nestled my hips against her, wanting her to feel how insanely turned on I was, what she did to me.

The desperation.

Inside, I was a grown man falling to my knees. A man willing to bargain anything and everything to make this right. She couldn’t know how this tore me up inside.

To her, I would be a picture of strength, holding us both together.

I weaved my fingers through her hair, caressing her scalp; as if my magic decided for itself, an uncontrollable urge ripped through me. It tore through my hands, and I felt it. Everything. The mate bond entered her subconscious, showing her.

I knew the moment it hit her, a rush of breath pulling into her lungs, an earthy moan accompanied by a full body shiver driving through her bones.

I didn’t stop kissing her, desperate for this not to end.

Knowing this would be only temporary, only a taste of the connection we had buried somewhere deep inside us.

She tore her hands through my hair with a newfound hunger, letting them roam my torso, grip my shoulders. Her hands crunched the front of my top in her palms, like she was afraid to let go.

“Wes.” She moaned in a way she hadn’t before, and it blasted through me, splintering my awareness to somewhere so far beyond what I knew to be real. She had never shortened my name before. Never said it like that .

Holy fuck.

It did things I couldn’t grasp, splintered my heart.

On a lust-heavy breath, she gazed heavily into my eyes, two shining, florescent beams of emotion exploding. “I feel it. Everything . How?” Her voice chimed with hope, and it destroyed me having to say what I needed to.

My hands remained in her hair, afraid to move them. “It’s temporary.” I planted a kiss on her lips, our breath holding each other captive. “I can’t control this… thing that’s happening right now.”

A whimper left her.

“Don’t stop. Please . I feel our bond. I feel it all.” Her eyes searched mine for an answer, a devastating plea in them.

My hands held on to her as if she was my last breath. My only chance in this life. “I can’t Skip. I told you. The minute my hands move from you, this is going to end. But we will find this again somehow. I will go to the end of the earth to find this. I promise.”

Glassy eyes stared back at me, droplets of sadness threatening to dampen her cheeks.

I kissed her again, passion turning into an ugly taste of what I knew I would lose in moments. I wanted to curse the world for putting her through this.

Our foreheads fell together, her eyes sliding shut. “Don’t let me go. Please,” she whispered. “I don’t know how to deal with what comes next.”

When I let go .

“What comes next is we don’t stop until we find our answer.”

She nodded, and, without thinking, I swiped a tear from her cheek, causing our connection to break.

Skye cried out. “No!” Grabbing my hands, she shoved them into her hair again, tears falling freely now.

I pulled her close, holding her tight against me, her chest heaving against mine.

I rubbed her back, holding her close. “Skip, it doesn’t work that way,” I choked, trying to rein in my own emotions. “I’m sorry.”

Her snuffles sounded against my chest, and moments passed where I just held her. As much as I hated this situation, to hold her like this was intimate. I wanted to hold her like this forever.

She finally pulled away, staring up at me again. “Can you stay with me tonight?”

Warmth spread through me. Like spiced mulled wine on a cold evening, lighting up my insides. “Are you sure?”

Her smile creased the corners of her eyes, nodding.

“Of course. Whatever you’re comfortable with.” I pressed my lips to her forehead. “But we can’t tell anyone about us. Not until we explain this to Ty.”

She swiped away lines of tear-streaked mascara. “Okay.”

I tucked a stray hair behind her ear. “We have to act normal. Like nothing has changed between us. Can you do that?”

Another snuffle. “Yes.”

“Okay. I’ll sneak out later tonight,” I assured her.

“Via the balcony again or front door?”

I grinned. “Wouldn’t you rather I hightail it over your balcony, ninja style?”

She nudged me in the arm. “I was hoping for more of a Dark Knight kind of thing, but that’ll do.”

I poked her in the ribs, and she let out a playful yelp. “Don’t be disheartened,” I said, my thumb finding its own rhythm, stroking her stomach. I needed to keep her hopeful. Lift her spirits.

At that moment, my phone rang, Ty’s name flashing on the front of the screen. Skye grabbed it off the counter, passing it to me. “You should get that.”

She was right. After last night, I had questions, so many questions after finding Ty playing ‘hide the finger’ with our new neighbor on our fucking kitchen bench .

He apparently saw the new girl, Morgan, use magic, but having not sensed her magic myself, I was worried.

The last thing Ty needed was another woman causing him heartbreak.

“Hey, what's up?”

Ty’s deep voice sounded on the other end of the line. “Hey, I need you to grab Skye and meet me at Morgan’s house.” I darted a look in Skye’s direction, her brow crumpling at hearing her name in the conversation.

“Now?”

He let out an impatient breath. “I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”

“Yeah, ok, I’ll pick her up. Be there soon.”

Hanging up the phone, I shoved it in my pocket.

“What was that about?” She pulled on her jacket.

Grabbing my keys off the bench, I rested my hand on the small of her back, steering us to the exit. “I’ll tell you on the way.”