But that wouldn’t be today.
In the meantime, I had a witch to spend the evening with—and I refused to waste another minute.
* * *
“Yes, sis,”Hazel whooped as I walked out back after saying goodnight to Aspen who’d managed to fall asleep just before I arrived. Oakley was already posed within the carved hexagon perched in the yard. She held each diagonal, legs settled in the corners beneath her, rocking strappy nude heels and looking like a Goddess-damned queen. “Really sink into that hip.”
Oakley shifted her curves, gripping the wood, crystals swaying in the autumn breeze. Her body looked incredible, but her eyes were anxious, shoulders slightly too tense. Insecurity casting a pale-green highlight around her.
“Didn’t realize we were getting a special audience tonight,” Hazel called out over her shoulder. “But while you’re here, think you could help my sister remember how stinking hot she is?”
“Happy to.” Taking a few steps closer, I brought my hand across my chest, reminding my heart not to beat right out of it. My attention roved over the lace bodysuit that clung to every beautiful inch, mesh covering most of it, aside from a few strategically placed stars—a constellation I couldn’t wait to trace with my fingers. My tongue. “You’re absolutely spellbinding, Wicked.”
I sprinkled some sweet seduction her way, savoring how her cheeks flushed and her chestnut gaze became hooded when it locked with mine.
That’s my witch.
The switch had been flipped, and for a moment, I forgot anyone else was there. She was eye-fucking the shit out of me, and I was tempted to drop to my knees and crawl to her altar for some proper worship.
Hazel’s voice cut into my thoughts. “Got it. Thanks for helping her out, Lynx.”
I blinked rapidly, watching Oakley move out of position and stride toward me. She looped a finger around my belt and dragged me to her by my hip. “You think you’re the only one who can play that game? Think again.”
Fuck. Me.
I placed a hand on the small of her back, leading her inside. You never knew when someone could be out in the pines or snooping from their windows around here. “Saros will be sad he missed this.”
At the mention of Saros, her face fell, and I instantly regretted my words, fumbling for some way to comfort her. “He had a pretty rough time at headquarters. Being there just brings up…things he’d rather forget.”
When she didn’t respond, disappointment clawing along her sides in dull charcoal grays, I added, “He needed a night to unplug and be solo.”
The garage door was hanging open, several outfits hanging on the rack set against the opposite wall. “Are those your other designs?”
“They are,” she replied, pride brightening her words in a beautiful rainbow.
“You keep them in the garage?”
“Yeah.” She shrugged, heading in that direction, gesturing with a nod for me to follow her. “It’s my studio for now.”
“For now?”
I joined her, sifting through the designs on the rack, each one more delectable than the last. I wanted to see her in them all, lace and satin caressing my skin while I fucked her senseless. To clutch them in my fingers as I peeled them away and took her again with nothing between us.
“Yeah, there’s a space that’s available in Mystic Square that I’m thinking about renting.”
“That’s an amazing location. You should snag it.” Rocking on my heels, I retreated a few steps and slipped my hands in my pockets, trying to stoke out my half-mast erection.
I scanned over the seemingly hundreds of designs papering the walls, swatches of fabric tacked around them. It was like a window into her creative mind, and it had me in awe.
“I don’t have the funds to invest in it just yet. Atlas offered to handle it for the first year while I get on my feet, but—”
“You should take him up on it.”
Confusion spread across her face. “Really?”
“Yeah. It would be an amazing opportunity for you.”
“But wouldn’t it be weird for me to accept that help from him?”
