Page 54 of Minnie: Double, Double, Toil and Trouble

My hands refuse to shove Damien’s chest.

And as he starts to lean in, I realize there is nothing I can do to stop him from kissing me.

I also realize that I don’t want to.

Please kiss me, Damien! I want to feel a man’s lips on mine. I want to know what it’s like to kiss someone.

His hot breath caresses my mouth and I crave him with every cell in my body. I need to kiss him.

My lips move. “Thanks, but no thanks.”

Damien instantly pulls away, leaving me feeling bereft. Leaving me silently begging for his lips, knowing I’ll never get to feel them against mine. Knowing I’ll never get to taste him, and just how much I want to.

Damien scowls. “It can be a marriage of convenience.”

Frustration is practically leaking off him. The man is clearly used to getting whatever—and whoever—he wants. He never had to deal with disappointment in his life. He wasn’t raised by Maude Montgomery. He never had his heart broken after his best friend ghosted him. He never felt shackled by a potion. He has never known what it was like not to be good enough.

All those feelings grow inside me, and Formula M shoves them down as far as they’ll go. I wonder, for the gazillionth time, how much more I can take. Will I reach a point when all those bottled-up feelings explode, and not even Formula M will be able to keep me whole?

Damien groans. “Look, Minnie, I wouldn’t be asking if I had any other choice.”

I roll my eyes, even though what I really want to do is cry. “Are you saying no one else is willing to marry the great Damien Starr?”

“I can’t marry anyone else,” he snaps. “It has to be you.”

My gaze drifts down to the pink, fiery magic connecting us.

It has to be you…

How many times have I longed to hear those words? How many days did I spend waiting for him to call me? Hoping that he’d tell me he made a mistake? That it’s always been me? That he needed me?

Why? Why? Why?

My mind screams it so loud I’m sure he can hear me. I need to know why. Why now? Why is he here? Why does it have to be me?

But the words won’t leave my mouth. I’ll never know. I’ll never know because Formula M won’t let me.

It stamps down the rage I feel toward it, until there’s just a sliver left, deep down. I barely even feel it anymore. I hardly even care.

Damien lowers his voice to a whisper. “I need you to honor this marriage contract. Please.”

Please.

The word echoes through the empty alley and floats up into the sky.

“No.” I don’t say it. Formula M does.

Tell me that you love me, I silently beg. Tell me you’ve never stopped loving me. Tell me that I’m the only one for you. Tell me you can’t live another second without me.

I wouldn’t believe it if it weren’t for the mate bond. It must be real. Maude Montgomery would have no reason to make me think my childhood best friend—the one she never liked—is my fated mate. She hates rock stars. And she hates convicts even more. She’d never bond me to Zachariah.

Unless she’s trying to mess with me…

Is this another punishment for letting Julian get away? But why?

Why? Why? Why? “You should go.” I sound bored. I always sound bored. The perfect society witch.

I hate it!