“How long?” he asked, his mouth against her collarbone.
“Since day one. You walked into my shop in that ridiculous three-piece suit, looking like you’d never touched dirt in your life, and I wanted to mess you up completely.”
“Mission accomplished.” He caught her hand, pressed it to his chest where his heart beat fast and unsteady. “Completely wrecked. Since the moment you threatened to hex me for touching your herbs.”
“I should have.”
“You did. Just not the way you meant.”
She laughed, but it turned into a gasp as his hands found new places to explore. Her magic rose to meet his, honeyed warmth shot through with violet, flowing across their skin like water.
“Beautiful,” Marcus murmured, pulling back to look at her.
“You said that before.”
“Bears repeating forever.” He kissed her again, slow and thorough. “Beautiful, brilliant, impossible witch.”
Marcus’s hands were everywhere, sliding up her sides, cupping her breasts, tracing the curve of her waist like he was memorizing her by touch alone. Hazel arched into him, her own hands exploring the hard planes of his chest, the ridges of muscle she’d been trying not to stare at for thirteen days straight.
“Thirteen days,” she gasped as his mouth found her neck, teeth scraping gently. “Thirteen days of watching you walk around shirtless, doing pushups, being stupidly attractive, ”
“You could have said something sooner.” His thumbs traced circles beneath her breasts. “Could have ended both our suffering.”
“Professional boundaries,” Hazel managed, then lost her train of thought entirely as his mouth closed over her nipple through her bra.
“Fuck professional boundaries.” He unhooked the clasp with practiced ease, tossed the bra aside. “I’ve been going insane. Do you know what it’s like, sleeping five feet away from you? Hearing you breathe? Knowing you’re right there and I can’t touch you?”
“Yes,” Hazel said, pulling him up for a kiss that was more teeth than finesse. “Because I’ve been doing the same thing. Watching you sleep in that chair, wanting to climb into your lap, ”
“You should have.” Marcus kissed down her throat, between her breasts, lower. “I would have welcomed it. Would have pulled you down and, ”
His words cut off as he reached her navel, his fingers hooking in her sleep shorts. He looked up at her, eyes dark with want but still checking. “Can I?”
“If you stop to ask permission for every piece of clothing, we’re going to be here all night,” Hazel said.
Marcus laughed, warm and genuine and absolutely wrecked. “Is that a complaint?”
“It’s a strategic observation.”
He pulled her shorts and underwear down in one motion, tossed them aside. Then just looked at her, laid out on the bed, completely bare, purple sparks already dancing across her skin.
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” he said roughly. “I’ve been thinking about this. About you. Every goddamn night.”
“Then stop thinking and start doing.”
Marcus settled between her thighs, and when his mouth found her,hot and sure and absolutely perfect,Hazel’s back arched off the bed.
“Marcus, ”
He hummed against her, the vibration making her gasp. His hands gripped her thighs, holding her open as he worked her with devastating precision. Tongue and lips and the perfect amount of pressure, like he’d been studying for this, learning what made her fall apart.
When his fingers slid inside her, working her in time with his mouth, the sparks exploded into full magical light, purple aurora borealis painting the cabin walls.
“God, I love your magic,” Marcus murmured against her inner thigh, watching the light show. “Love how it responds to pleasure. To me.”
“Less talking,” Hazel gasped. “More,oh fuck,more of that thing you just did.”
He did it again. Built her higher, reading her responses, adjusting based on every gasp.
