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I look at her and she looks back.

For the first time since meeting Artemis Volpe, she has no sarcastic comeback. Neither do I.

And that scares the shit out of me.

I’ve spent my entire life believing magic was something people invented because reality was depressing enough.

But tonight, beneath the moon, with Artemis staring at me like I’ve just rewritten the rules of her world, I’m starting to wonder if I was wrong.

Maybe magic isn’t about beautiful things or impossible miracles. Maybe it’s the one thing that can make a cynical man forget, even for a fucking second, that he ever stopped believing.

Because although I’d never admit it aloud, at least not yet...

My heart already knew magic wasn’t a myth.

Magic had a name.

Artemis.

artemis’s unwanted thoughts

Things that happened today that short-circuited my brain.

The human rain cloud kissed me.

I kissed him back.

I have replayed the incident approximately forty-three times.

Unfortunately, his lips taste really, really good.

It’s official… I have a problem.

Him.

twenty-two

. . .

Hard as Ice

“The worst part about feelings is… everything.” — A

The fucking shower isn’t helping.

That’s problem number one.

Problem number two is that I already knew it wouldn’t.

One kiss.

One fucking kiss, and somehow I’ve ended up standing under water hot enough to melt steel, thinking about the little nightmare and those plump, glossy lips that taste like warm vanilla while I pump the fuck out of my hard cock.

“Fuck.”

Hot water pours over my shoulders while steam swallows the entire bathroom. Within minutes, the glass walls disappear behind fog. I stay beneath the spray anyway, hoping the heat will burn Artemis out of my head.

It doesn’t.