Then just for good measure, she went to the Halloween decoration–festooned library. Because she could now fully process what she’d heard the Jerks say at the House. And she didn’t like the idea that Hannigan was causing Tabitha problems. Or trying to ban books.
So it seemed like a good idea to offer her support.
“You just tell me what you need,” she told Tabby. Then once she’d arranged to come and join her in the monthly yell-a-thon that was the town hall meeting, she went on her away. After maybe alittlebit of potion sprinkling. Just a touch, to possibly make certain people want to avoid the library, for reasons they couldn’t quite explain.
And all of this—everything she managed to do—proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was all herself again. The weird werewolf sex nonsense was a thing of the past.
There was just one problem:
Thinkingabout what had happened during the werewolf sex nonsense was very much not.
In fact, the memories hit her every five minutes or so. She’d be stirring a pot or talking to her mom about the weather or doing laundry—which now involved simply sprinkling a potion on her clothes and finding them clean and folded in a random drawer sometime later—and there it would be. The memory of some naked part of his body. Or the memory of what that naked part of his body had done to her. What Seth, her friend-slash-enemy-slash-friend-again had done to her.
It was disconcerting. It left her flushed and flummoxed. She found herself blushing when she was around him, even when they were just working on ways to guard against spell reversals, or making plans to help people without feeling like they were warping anybody’s brains. Their hands would brush as they both reached for the same book, and her mind would leap to other times they’d touched like that. It would stall her out, like a broken car.
And it wasn’t just her who noticed this was happening.
Pod noticed too.Get room, he said, after the thirteenth time they’d danced around each other awkwardly in the kitchen. Then of course Seth wanted to know what he’d chittered at her, and she didn’t know what to say, and oh it was just so weird and uncomfortable and impossible.
And even more so after she finally cracked the potion that would fix all the rest of his horny issues for good. Because for some inexplicable reason, she decided the best course of action was flying over to his place, at something like ten past midnight, to give it to him.
He actually came to the door in his pajamas.
Though, of course it wasn’thispajamas that were the issue.
“Cassie, what on earth are you doing here in the middle of the night? And why the heck are you in your underwear?” he asked as he took her in. And, okay, fair enough. This particular sleep set was more like shorts and a little camisole-type of thing. But it wasn’tthatrevealing. You couldn’t actually see anything.
“Okay, it’s hardly the middle of the night. And this isn’t underwear,” she snorted. But as soon as she did, she realized that neither of those two things was the point. The exact time she showed up and the type of clothing she wore didn’t matter. What mattered is that those things felt extremely weird, now that they were standing so close to each other.
So weird, in fact, that she really wished she hadn’t done this.
Because yeah, it had seemed reasonable back at home, in her kitchen, with the newly minted potion right in front of her, all ready to go. But right now, it did not seem reasonable at all. It seemed like something else. Something that made him look at her so oddly, she simply had to force out an explanation.
“Plus, you know. You’ve been waiting for this potion for a decade,” she said, and to her relief he practically slapped his thigh with dawning understanding and amusement.Oh, of course, his expression seemed to say—which put her firmly in the clear.
Or so she thought. Until he added almost casually, laughing, “Wow, okay.Nowit makes sense. Because, you know, for a second there, with you in that sexy outfit and the fact that it’s past midnight, I actually thought you might be here for some kind of late-night hookup.”
And as soon as he did, she couldn’t stop what happened.
Her face just dropped into shocked realization. Followed by what definitely felt like guilt and horror and about ten other things she knew she shouldn’t let show. Now Seth couldseeit. He was looking at it. Oh, and he obviously knew what it meant. He knew so much that he couldn’t even be polite about it.
“Holy shit,” he gasped. “You’retotallyhere for a hookup.”
And then it was just a matter of trying not to die of embarrassment. While denying everything in the most dignified way she could muster. “What? No I’m not. That’s nuts. Shut up. I’m leaving,” she said. Because apparently she no longer understood what dignity was. She even went to do just that. She grabbed the Hoover and turned.
And she didn’t feel thankful when he snagged her arm.
When he said, “No no, don’t leave, don’t leave. Just wait.”
After all, it was nice that he did. But it still meant having to face the mess she’d somehow made. And with absolutely zero excuses for why she’d done it, either. She had come here en tirely of her own accord. This was all 100 percent her. And sure, she had done it pretty unconsciously. She hadn’t really thought about why she really wanted to see him right at that moment in time. But what did that matter? She still looked like a thirsty weirdo, longing for something that could never be real. Like some small, deep-down part of her had really thought it could be—or at the very least hadn’t been able to cope with knowing it wasn’t.
It was apparently too much sweetness and heat and pleasure for someone who was half-starved to take. So now here she was. Fooling her own mind. And then doing something as humiliating asthrowing herselfat him.
“I can’t. I’m late. For never seeing you again,” she choked out, pulling against the hand he still had on her. But he held on, he held on, he wouldn’t let her escape this humiliation. And oh Jesus, now he was protesting.
“But never seeing me again isn’t necessary.”
“Of course it is. I just accidentally confessedthatto you.”
