Interrupted Magic Page 7

  What was happening to me? Was the herb so powerful? I sniffed, checking for scents I couldn’t identify. Peaches. Strawberries. Fresh bundles of basil. Ian’s mint. Nothing unusual. Ian said the fenugreek had a maple smell, but that was one thing I didn’t detect. I was afraid to crack the plastic box, considering how affected I already seemed to be.

  Ian’s voice was low, seductive. “Come with me.”

  I willingly followed him to the checkout, where I paid for the fenugreek leaves. We walked out together, and on the sidewalk beside my car, he ran his hand down my arm.

  “I don’t even know your name,” he said.

  “Brynn,” I managed to whisper.

  “Brynn. Such a lovely name. Such a lovely woman. I can’t help but think we were meant to bump into each other today.”

  My hormones were singing. Whether it was fate or not, I was fighting an extremely impulsive decision to follow this man wherever he wanted to take me. I stifled a giggle, realizing I wanted to be “taken.” I’d never had such a physical response to a man.

  “Would you like to take a walk with me?” He leaned down and kissed me again.

  All reason disappeared with the tenderness of his lips, the taste of his mouth—a hunger that demanded to be fed. “Yes.”

  He laced his hand with mine and I willingly followed him to the end of the strip mall.

  Like most of Wisconsin, Woodrow had its share of wooded areas. The strip mall opened to a grassy field, bordered by neat rows of tall, pine trees. I followed Ian into the woods, the spongy scent of the earth and the tang of the trees in my nostrils. He stopped beside a log, sheltered from the road, and pulled his shirt over his head. I rested my palms on his bared chest, feeling the rapid beat of his heart. A glance southward showed what I already knew. He wanted me as badly as I wanted him. I initiated the kiss this time, and as he pressed my back against a tree trunk, I unfastened his pants.

  We were doing this.

  He had me out of my jeans in short order and as I wrapped my legs around his narrow hips, he eased me to the nest of clothes on the ground.

  My pulse raced. My vision blurred, as if I’d been drugged. The world had narrowed to me and Ian and the pine trees and the way we all came together in what—ridiculously enough—formed a “more perfect union.” Thanks, history class.

  I cried out as my world exploded in a sea of sensation, and soon became aware of Ian’s groans with his release. He collapsed on top of me, our hearts pounding. He kissed me again—my lips, my neck, my chest—his hands roaming my body.

  “I’ve never been quite this impulsive.” His voice came out in gasps. “You seem to have bewitched me.”

  “I think you’ve got that backward.” I laughed. “I can’t say I’ve ever gone off into the woods with a stranger before, either.”

  “Brynn.” He said my name as if testing it. “We aren’t strangers. I feel as if I’ve always known you.”

  Oddly enough, I felt that, too.

  He nodded. “I’m afraid to let you go, afraid if I do, I’ll never see you again. I want to see you again.”

  Under other circumstances, I might have been spooked, but I’d learned the magic did what it wanted. Clearly, we were at its mercy. I kissed Ian and he slid into me again, going more slowly this time, more in control.

  A cool breeze raised gooseflesh on my skin and moments later I watched him convulse once more.

  What was I doing?

  When he pulled away, I sat awkwardly, reaching for my discarded clothes.

  “I don’t know what to do with what just happened,” he said.

  I cupped his cheek and gave him a soft kiss. “I don’t either.”

  We fumbled to get dressed and left the woods for the parking lot.

  “Do you need help with the recipe?” he asked.

  I started to tell him how the spell had travelled from Daria to Kyle—Oh shit. Kyle. “Uhhh...”

  “It’s an excuse, I know. I want to see you again.” Ian took my hand. “I’m going to give you my phone number. You can call me when you’re comfortable doing so. Something tells me we are destined to meet again. At least I hope we are.”

  I nodded and handed him my phone. He added his number and as he returned my phone, this way-too-handsome man stared at me for a long time. “Don’t wait too long,” he said. “I want you again already.”

  Right back atcha.

  Ian unlocked a CRV parked two cars over, reached for the door handle and then laughed. “I didn’t get what I came for.”

  I stood like a statue, watching him, aching for him. He kissed me once more before he walked inside Gupta’s Market.

  Chapter 13

  Had I imagined the interlude? I drove home utterly bemused—and shocked at my own behavior. Fenugreek was known to increase virility. Were the effects so powerful? Except I hadn’t smelled it, hadn’t tasted it.

  As I turned onto my street, Lisa paced outside my house. She hoisted the garage door for me and I pulled my car inside.

  “I’ve been trying to call you,” Lisa said. “I figured when Dylan told me Kyle had guy things to talk about, they involved you, so I thought I’d come over and keep you company.”

  My afterglow evaporated. Lisa had come for a pity visit. Everyone knew things between Kyle and I had deteriorated. “And find out what secrets Kyle was sharing with Dylan?” I closed the garage and walked to the house.

  She held her arms out. “We are still best friends, aren’t we?”

  I unlocked the door and waved her inside. “Of course, we are.” Which didn’t mean I was about to tell her I’d just come from having the best sex of my life.

  What had I done?

  I leaned on the kitchen counter, overcome by the butterflies Ian had unleashed in my belly—and guilt. Ian must have bewitched me. Why else would I have followed him into the woods and thrown caution to the wind? Why else was I tingling for him still?

  Was this what had happened to Kyle when he’d cheated on me? Except when Kyle had been bewitched, he’d had no recollection of his relationship with me.

  “What’s going on?” Lisa asked.

  I shook my head to clear it. “Excuse me?”

  “You seem different.”

  “Different how?” I opened the corner of the package of fenugreek and sniffed—maple, just like Ian said. No, I couldn’t blame what happened on the herbs.

  “I know Kyle didn’t sleep here last night. I overheard him say the two of you hadn’t ‘slept together’ slept together in months. Then I heard him say you were pressuring him to shit or get off the pot, in a manner of speaking, and he wasn’t ready to do that.” She shrugged. “That’s when I figured I’d better come get the scoop.”

  “You mean that’s when they left,” I guessed.

  “Well, that, too.”

  I continued to the dining table and pulled out a chair. “Do you want something to drink? Something to eat?”

  “I vote we order a pizza and mix some margaritas. Seems like we need a girls’ night since the boys are having a night out.” She let out a gasp. “Oh, wait. Not margaritas. They’ll make me too sleepy. Do you have Coke?”

  “I do. You order the pizza, I’ll get the drinks.”

  Five minutes later, I handed her a can of Coke and a glass of ice.

  “Okay,” Lisa started. “Let’s start with Kyle and his house. He says he doesn’t think he’s going to sell.”

  I nodded.

  “What happened?”

  “I think you know what happened. He’s lost his place in this world, and if he isn’t in control, no one is.” I frowned.

  “He’ll get over it.”

  “Maybe, but I won’t. If this is a glimpse of a future with him, I’m out,” I said. “You should know how he is better than anyone. Didn’t you tell me your sister broke up with him in high school because he was so controlling?”

  “He’s different now. He’s changed,” Lisa said. “The two of you just work.”

  “Apparently not. Now that he is
n’t on the force, he’s seems to think I don’t know how to do the most simple tasks, and we can’t get married unless it’s on his terms. This isn’t what I want, Lisa.”

  She thumbed her glass. “Are you two breaking up?”

  I paused to consider. “Pretty sure we broke up when he called off the wedding.” And after my afternoon with Ian, I’d discovered a relationship level I didn’t know existed. Infatuation?

  “I don’t believe it,” Lisa said. She pushed out of her chair and marched up the stairs.

  “Where are you going?”

  “I want to see for myself that he’s moved out, that his clothes are gone,” she called down.

  Ash stalked across the living from the workroom, stretched her front legs, and jumped into my lap. I stroked her fur, trying to make sense of today. The gentle rumbling of her purr did its thing, calming my mind.

  I still felt like I’d cheated on Kyle.

  Lisa descended the staircase more slowly, and when she came around the wall that separated the stairs from the living room, her eyes were wide. “I thought you were kidding.”

  “His clothes are gone?” I asked.

  “You didn’t know?”

  Stupid of me not to have noticed. “I didn’t, but I guessed as much. He’s been withdrawing for months. He hasn’t slept here since he lost his job.” Did that give me permission to sleep with someone else? “He didn’t want to take a chance on an unwanted pregnancy since we couldn’t afford a baby right now.” Except there were other ways to avoid getting pregnant, not to mention the fact Nora believed I was sterile.

  Ian hadn’t used protection.

  My pulse raced. I hadn’t even thought about protection. The past two years without hadn’t yielded even a late period. Contraception hadn’t been an issue. A moment of outrage passed over me. What kind of man had unprotected sex with a stranger? What about disease? I didn’t know anything about Ian.

  I hadn’t asked about protection either. Outrage was replaced by lust. Our chemistry was off the charts, as proven by our inability to control ourselves, and by our carelessness.

  I knew he possessed the same hidden skills I did.

  Why had it taken a traveling spell to acknowledge Kyle and I had reached the end of our relationship?

  Lisa sat at the table and literally bounced in her seat, her eyes sparkling. “Speaking of which...”

  I looked at her, at her glass of Coke—no margaritas. “You’re pregnant?”

  She nodded, a huge grin on her face.

  I hugged her. “Congratulations. Dylan must be over the moon.” I put a hand on my abdomen, thinking of all the times I’d thought about having a child with Kyle, something that obviously wasn’t meant to happen.

  Lisa took my hand and I pulled away. “What’s going on with you?” she asked.

  If I told Lisa about Ian, she’d tell Dylan, and Dylan would tell Kyle. Even if my relationship with Kyle was over, he didn’t need to find out about my moment of weakness.

  “Brynn?”

  Moment of weakness. The fenugreek had to be responsible. Ian probably wouldn’t even remember me away from its influence.

  I remembered him. He’d said he wanted me again, and damn if I didn’t still want him.

  “Earth to Brynn?” Lisa waved a hand in front of my face.

  I blinked back to the conversation. “Kyle and I have one last thing to take care of, and then we’ll be moving on. Separately.”

  “As in breaking up?”

  “Lisa,” I groaned with exasperation. “Didn’t you say his clothes are gone? And he’s not selling his house. What will it take to convince you he and I don’t want the same things anymore?”

  “This is just wrong,” Lisa said. “We’re family, the whole group of us.”

  Tears welled in my eyes. I couldn’t argue. Before we’d become a couple, Kyle and I had been friends, and yet I’d known even then our relationship was more about being comfortable together than being in love. His friends had taken me in as an extension of him.

  Romantic love was an ideal. I was a realist.

  Nora and Fletcher were in love. Romantic love. An example of what I could have with Ian.

  Ian? That was lust. A chemical reaction.

  “Brynn, what is going on? I can see you worrying something in your head,” Lisa said. “Who are you going to talk to if not your best friend?”

  I wanted to tell her. Needed to tell someone, but she was the wrong choice. The best I could do was to confirm my future wasn’t with Kyle. “I can’t be who Kyle wants me to be,” I said.

  Ian would understand my gifts. I didn’t have to worry about him walking in on a spell, or questioning the things I could do.

  I didn’t know Ian.

  The doorbell rang. Grateful for the interruption, I grabbed some money, opened the door and paid for the pizza.

  Time to redirect the conversation.

  “How far along are you?” I asked. “Do you know yet if it’s a boy or a girl?”

  Lisa’s smile turned sad. “We don’t have to talk about the baby.”

  More pity over my inability to conceive? “We most certainly do. I want to know everything. Are you having morning sickness? Do your clothes still fit?”

  She bounced in her chair again, brimming with excitement. “I throw up every morning.” As if that was something to be excited about. “I’m actually losing weight. The doctor says I’m about eight weeks along.”

  “And I’m just finding out about this now?” I asked.

  “They say you shouldn’t tell people until after the first trimester, in case something goes wrong, so technically I shouldn’t have told you now.”

  I grinned and shook my head. “When is the little bundle due to arrive?”

  “March 15.”

  “Beware the Ides of March,” I quoted in a theatrical voice.

  Lisa laughed. “No one ever delivers on their due date. It would be so cool if we were going through this together.”

  Which would have required me to actually sleep with Kyle, and that hadn’t happened in months.

  I’d slept with Ian. If, by some stretch of fate, Ian had gotten me pregnant, I’d be due two months after Lisa, in May.

  As if.

  Chapter 14

  After Lisa left, I retreated to my workroom to bottle essential oils and prepare whatever special orders the grimoires called out. When I’d finished, I reached for the light switch when I saw the package of fenugreek beside the potion I’d mixed for Daria. A flush of lust coursed through me, again followed by a prickle of guilt, which I hastily dismissed.

  Kyle had removed all his things from my house, and he’d made his intentions clear. I had nothing to feel guilty about.

  Which brought me to what had happened with Ian. I’d never slept with anyone on a first date—much less the first time I’d met them. Was it the influence of the fenugreek leaves? I hadn’t smelled the tell-tale maple scent in the market. Or, as Ian had said, had the magic brought us together?

  I took my phone from my pocket and stared at his name and number.

  Don’t wait too long, I want you again already.

  What did I know about this man?

  As he’d said, I felt as if we’d known each other forever. We’d shared incredible chemistry. He was like me.

  I shot a glance out the window, at Kyle’s house across the street. No lights on. He was certainly in bed by now.

  No. I couldn’t call Ian, and yet my body ached for the way he’d touched me, kissed me. I didn’t trust myself not to invite him over and pick up where we’d left off.

  I’d learned the art of astral projection when I’d met my niece. I could visit Ian’s dreams without corporeal distractions. I nodded to myself, happy I’d come up with a benign solution.

  With one last look across the street, I flipped off the lights and headed to my bedroom. Cross-legged on my bed, I closed my eyes, and whispered the spell.

  My consciousness took me outside, beside Nora’s enchanted beech t
ree in the woods. Had I recited the spell incorrectly? I was alone. Maybe I’d mistaken what I’d seen in Ian’s eyes.

  The bracelet my mother had given me warmed my wrist, and Ian materialized a moment later, like a hologram, surveying the area until his gaze landed on me.

  “Clever,” he said. “And nicer than a phone call, although I’d much rather be able to touch you.”

  Then he hadn’t forgotten me. My mouth went dry. I cleared my throat. “I thought we might get to know one another without the physical distractions. I’m still not sure you haven’t bewitched me.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “I’d thought the same of you, but I think we both know that isn’t true.” He surveyed the woods, his gaze landing on the enchanted tree. “A sacred place?”

  I nodded.

  “If we were bewitched, we wouldn’t be here now. We would be either at your home or mine—in person.” He parted the tree’s weeping branches but didn’t walk under their umbrella. “This is a lovely place. Tell me who you are, Brynn.”

  I’d visited his dreams to discover who he was. “You first. All I know is you’re a frequent customer at Gupta’s.”

  “I am, but not you. You told me you grow your own herbs, something I’d like to be able to do eventually.” He glanced around the woods. “Would you like to walk?”

  “Yes.”

  He waved me forward to lead the way. “How long have you been using your talents?”

  “Five years, give or take.”

  Ian nodded. “Then you’re a late bloomer.”

  “No,” I told him as we reached the footpath. “I cast my first spell when I was thirteen—unintentionally—but I didn’t know about my gifts at the time. My parents died when I was young and my guardians chose to ignore what they didn’t want to know. When I left their home, I stumbled onto the aunt I share my legacy with.”

  “You cast your first spell when you were thirteen? How did you not know?”

  I wasn’t ready to share the disastrous results. “I had no one to tell me I could cast a spell. I lived in denial when things didn’t go as planned. What about you?”

  He looked up into the dark foliage overarching us. “I visited my uncle every summer, starting in high school, learning the old ways. I couldn’t say when I began mixing things for my friends or for strangers who seemed to recognize I could help them.” He graced me with a wide, warm smile. “I studied chemistry in college, and when I graduated, I accepted a real job.”