Nick had the sort of tone that suggested he’d said my name more than once.
“Yes?”
He huffed but didn’t ask me about my lack of attention. “I said I live near six members of my coven.” His attention went back on the road, but he kept stealing glances at me until we pulled up outside a lovely cottage and he turned off the engine. “You can really feel it?” he asked, making no move to get out.
I assumed it was his house we were sat outside, but I didn’t get out either. “I can.”
“What’s it like?”
“Can’t you feel it too?” The air was so thick with it, I struggled to understand how that was possible.
His fingers tapped on the steering wheel, agitated. Whatever internal discussion he was having with himself it looked as though he had no intention of sharing. Instead, he shrugged a shoulder. “I guess I’ve lived here for so long, I must be used to it.”
I understoodfaemagic, but I didn’t have the depth of insight into witches to refute that statement, so I let it go for now. My curiosity wasn’t so easily quelled, and I stored up questions in my head, waiting for the right moment.
And when will that be?
If the night, well, morning now, was heading where I thought it was, where I wanted it to despite all the reasons it shouldn’t, then talking would be the last thing on my mind. Darkness surrounded us still, the lack of streetlights this far out of town blanketing the car with inky blackness.
The club seemed a million miles away, but I remembered the heat in his gaze as he’d looked at me and uttered that one word that crumbled my resolve. “Please.” I don’t know why it’d had the effect it did. Maybe it was the way he’d said it. The promise in it.
He brought you back here to talk, though.Remember?
Yeah, of course he did.
I hadn’t realised I’d made any noise until Nick said, “What’s funny?”
I glanced at him, the lack of light doing nothing to hide the intensity in his eyes or the tension in his jaw as he stared at me.
I wanted him.
I’d wanted him when I first laid eyes on him, and that feeling hadn’t gone away. If anything, it had only got stronger the more time I spent in his presence.
His hand on my thigh at the police station. The concern in his voice when he asked if I was all right.
The way my body reacted.
With hindsight, I thought maybe that was the moment the fascination I had for him went from purely physical to something… more. What thatmoremeant for me or him, I had no urge to find out because whatever it was, it was impossible.
And yet… I wanted to do it anyway.
A train of thought so unlike me, Axel would be proud.
The thought of Axel drew a grumble out of me. The image of him with his mouth attached to Nick’s irritating in a way it had no right to be. After all, he had history with Nick. One I needed to be certain was over before I got out of the car.
“You and Axel?” I finally shifted in my seat to get a good look at him, my eyesight sharp enough in the dark to see his forehead furrow and his lips purse.
“Are friends. Good friends who used to fuck, but we haven’t done that in a long while.” He raised an eyebrow. “Is that going to be a problem?”
“No.” Maybe to others it might be, but he wouldn’t be the first person Axel and I had both had sex with. If that was even on the cards. I was still hoping my rational, rule-following side would kick in any moment.I’m sure the high court will be delighted to see how their representative is spending his time.
I wasn’t sure I could swing any of this night as being part of the investigation.
“Good.” Nick finally let go of the steering wheel and reached for his keys. “Shall we go inside then?”
“To talk?” I asked, unable to keep the scepticism off my face. I expected Nick to react with a heated look, or something to suggest that talking was as far from his mind as it apparently was from mine, but to my surprise—and disappointment—he nodded, eyes full of a sincerity that rang true.
“Yes. To talk.”
