Page 36 of Hex Appeal

Every muscle in my body goes tight.

Her lips twitch. “There are bedrooms upstairs.”

I stare at her. “Are you inviting me upstairs?”

“I'm considering it.”

“Serena.”

She grins. “Okay. I'm inviting you upstairs.”

I glance toward the abandoned candle. The wax is still in a semi-liquid state on the worktable.

Serena follows my gaze. “Oh.”

“We should probably finish that.”

She considers it. Then looks back at me. “We can come back to it.”

“Isn't there some sort of candle-making rule about that?”

“Not really.”

I scoff. “Aren’t you the candle professional?”

“And you’re the fire chief.” She slides her hand into mine. “Then I guess I'm in very safe hands.”

I look down at our joined hands. Then at her.

The woman I've spent the last week calling annoying. The woman whose smile I can't stop thinking about. The woman who somehow got me to talk about a part of my life I usually keep locked away.

The woman who made me a damn candle.

Maybe she's right. Maybe there's a little magic in everyone.

I squeeze her hand. “Lead the way.”

SEVEN

SERENA

The confidence I had downstairs lasts until we reach my bedroom.

Then it abandons me. Completely. Which is ridiculous.

I’m a grown woman. I like myself. I like my body. I spent too many years picking myself apart because I thought I was supposed to look different to waste the rest of my life doing the same thing.

But knowing all of that and standing in front of a man you desperately want to see you naked are apparently two different things.

Especially when it’s been a while. A long while.

Welles closes the bedroom door behind us.

For the first time all night, I don’t know what to say. Maybe he sees it on my face.

He doesn’t ask. He doesn’t make a joke or give me some speech about how beautiful I am. He just comes to me.

His hands settle at my waist. His eyes meet mine. And he kisses me.