The Bewitching Hour Read online

  She pressed her lips together, and then swiped at the hair that was sticking to her cheek. Hector wanted to kiss her. The urge dug at him. It was almost painful how much he desired her.

  Lifting his hand, he cupped her cheek, running his thumb down along her jawline. He tilted her head toward his, letting her know what he wanted. Her lips parted in anticipation, and it took all he had not to rush the moment in a desperate urge to taste her. He went slowly. So slow, the torture of it made him quiver.

  Her breath came in short pants as he licked his lips and slowly brushed them against hers. The slightest touch sent a rush of heat down his neck. He couldn’t believe what just kissing this woman was doing to him.

  Burying his other hand in the yards of her silky hair, he brought her closer and slowly, carefully, covered her mouth with his.

  And that’s when the lights went out and the entire place was plunged into darkness.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.” He sighed in frustration.

  Fiona fidgeted in his lap. “Sorry.”

  Chapter 4

  Of all the times for her knack with turning off electricity to show up. Just when the sexiest man she’d ever met was going to kiss her. And kiss her good, judging by the penetrating gaze he’d given her right before brushing his soft lips against hers.

  She pushed out of his lap, anger and disappointment swirling in her belly. “Jeez, I can’t even come to my cousin’s wedding without messing everything up.”

  His fingers wrapped around hers. “Don’t beat yourself up. It’s not so bad.”

  She glanced around at the dark area. Points of green light started to appear haphazardly around the room. Witches of varying levels were making glowing green orbs of witchlight.

  She met Lyra’s gaze over an emerald luminance Theron was forming in his hands. Her cousin smiled at her and shrugged. She was used to Fiona’s mishaps. Fiona appreciated her cousin’s nonchalance with the situation. It eased her guilt. But only a little.

  “I’m going to go.”

  With her hand still in his, Hector stood. “What? Why?”

  “So Lyra can have the rest of her wedding reception. As long as I’m here there’ll be no light, no music, no anything.”

  “Someone will work the breakers. It won’t last.”

  Even in the low green glow of floating witchlights, Fiona could see the eagerness on Hector’s face. The pleading in his eyes. She looked away. She didn’t want to see it. Maybe this was fate’s way of telling them that they had no business being together, even for one passionate night.

  She was a big believer in fate, signs and portents. And this one was telling her that their union was not supposed to happen. Everything was pointing to that now. Being interrupted while dancing, intercepted for the bouquet toss, now the lights going out right before their lips met.

  But looking deep into his soulful brown eyes, she wanted to believe that their meeting was not by chance. That there could be something here between them.

  “Don’t go,” he said again. “Have a drink with me. We can cozy up in the dark and make out.”

  She laughed at that. But his suggestion sounded very tempting.

  “Okay, but I’m going to talk to Lyra and Theron, and make sure they’re cool.”

  He looked at her for a long moment, then nodded. “Okay. But don’t be long.”

  She smiled, feeling her cheeks burn. He moved forward and wrapped his arms around her in a strong, comforting hug. She hugged him back, sighing with the way he made her feel. Safe. Secure. Loved?

  She shook her head at the last part. She was jumping to conclusions without any evidence. When he released her, taking a step back, she smiled again and went to find Lyra and Theron.

  As she walked, she could feel Hector’s gaze on her back. She had to fight the urge to look over her shoulder at him, or even to turn around. She didn’t want to appear too smitten.

  When she neared Lyra, her cousin was already looking at her as if she’d done another silly thing. “You’re not seriously thinking of leaving, are you?”

  “I thought about it, but Hector talked me out of it.”

  “Good.”

  “I just wanted to make sure you weren’t mad at me for messing with the electricity.”

  “You’re an idiot, you know.” Lyra shook her head. “But I love you despite that.”

  “I love you, too, even when you call me names.”

  “Well, I’m glad Hector talked you into staying. Why would you leave, anyway?”

  “I was thinking that this was just a sign that Hector and I aren’t supposed to be together.”

  “Fi, you and your ‘signs’ are pretty much always wrong.”

  “No, they aren’t. Remember Rob Sharp?”

  “Yes. The question is do you remember Rob Sharp? Despite his name, the dullest knife in the drawer.”

  “All the signs pointed to us not being together and I ignored them and our relationship was a disaster.”

  “Yeah, because Rob was an idiot and a jerk.” Lyra frowned. “Hector Morales is neither. What are you afraid of?”

  “That it’s the magic and nothing more. I don’t want to wake up the next morning and realize it was all just a spell.”

  Lyra hugged her. “We all feel that way, Fi. But you have to take the chance it might not be.”

  Fiona hugged her back hard. “When did you become the Dalai Lama to the lovelorn?

  “I don’t know.” Lyra laughed. “Just don’t tell anyone, okay? I don’t want everyone to think I went soft or anything just because I fell in love.”

  Theron took that moment to slide in next to Lyra. Fiona figured it was because of his vampire heritage that gave him that extrasensory hearing. Or he was just that in tune to his new wife. She liked to think it was the latter. It was more romantic that way. And seeing the two of them together, so in love, so mismatched yet perfectly in harmony, made Fiona want to believe in romance.

  “Your secret is safe with me, ma petite sorcier.” He kissed the top of her head.

  “You really shouldn’t be eavesdropping.”

  “I was only a little.” He smiled at Fiona as he continued to snuggle Lyra.

  She returned his grin. “I just came over to wish you both well. I hope you have a long and beautiful marriage.”

  “Merci, Fiona.” He grabbed her hand and pressed his lips to the back. “I wish the same for you.”

  She frowned, taken back. “What? I’m not getting married.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I thought you caught the bouquet. Is that not the way of things?”

  “It bounced off my head. Not a very good omen, I don’t think.”

  “Perchance, but if I’m not mistaken, that bounce propelled you into another direction.” He lifted one eyebrow, knowingly.

  Fiona thought about the way she’d felt sitting in Hector’s lap. Even now her heart picked up a beat or two. The sensation of his skin against hers, his heart quickening next to hers. The way he looked at her, with longing and need in his dark gaze. Thinking about it made her ache all over again.

  Beaming, she leaned forward and kissed both Lyra and Theron on the cheek. “Thank you.”

  Before they could respond, she swirled around to search for Hector.

  But after ten minutes of looking and asking various people if they knew where he went, Fiona couldn’t find him. She saw Caine sitting at a table and sat down beside him. She knew that he and the inspector had been talking earlier.

  “Have you seen Hector?”

  “I think he just went to the washroom.”

  “Thanks.” She got up from the table and, gripping her purse tight, started toward the washrooms.

  She didn’t mind the dark. It was kind of pretty with all the witchlight floating around, basking the room in a warm green glow. It was almost as good as candlelight.

  And that’s when she ran straight into five feet ten inches of egotistical witch.

  “Just the girl I was looking for.” He smiled, but it was lik
e a sliver of ice stabbing her in the stomach. Fiona felt the floor drop right out from under her.

  Chapter 5

  Hector came away from the bar with two glasses of champagne. Now he just had to find Fiona. Before he’d gone to get drinks, he’d seen her talking with Lyra and Theron, and then she disappeared. Which wasn’t unlikely, as it was fairly shadowed in the room.

  He spotted Caine chatting with Jace and Tala and went toward them. “Hey, have you seen Fiona?”

  Caine nodded. “She was just here looking for you, my friend. I told her you went to the washroom.”

  “Okay.” Champagne still in hand, Hector wandered toward the bathroom in the far corner. It was out of the way and in the dark. He really wished he could conjure one of those witchlight orbs right about now. Maybe then he wouldn’t feel like he was going to trip over something and fall onto the floor.

  As he neared the far corner, he could hear voices. One of them didn’t sound too happy. And it belonged to the woman he was looking for.

  “Please take your hand off me, Oliver.”

  Hector could see them now. Fiona was shoved up against the wall, and the man who’d danced with her earlier was looming over her.

  “Hijo de fu pinche madre,” he murmured under his breath. Setting the glasses onto the floor, Hector stalked toward them, his hands clenched tight. “I’d do what the lady asked there, buddy.”

  Oliver swung around and glared. “Mind your own business, buddy.”

  “Fiona is my business.”

  “Is she, now?” Oliver sneered. “I didn’t realize how far she’d fallen after I tossed her aside.” He looked Hector up and down with a condescending curl to his lips. “I knew she was ridiculous, but a human from San Antonio, that’s just unnatural.”

  Fiona pushed past him. “Don’t be an ass, Oliver. I know it’s a difficult task, but I’m sure deep down inside your soft interior you can find some decency.”

  Oliver’s eyes widened and he raised his hands toward her. The tips of his fingers glowed green. “You bi—”

  But that was all he was able to get out before Hector punched him in the mouth. Oliver went sprawling backward and landed smartly on his rear end.

  “Mind your mouth, buddy. Didn’t your nanny teach you any manners?”

  “I’ll sue you,” Oliver snapped. His words were a bit slurred due to the fact that both his lips were cut and he was bleeding.

  “Don’t you be ridiculous, Oliver. You deserved that and more.” Fiona moved over to Hector. She grabbed his hand and inspected it. “Does it hurt?”

  He nodded, enjoying her attention. “Maybe a little. The guy has buck teeth, I think.”

  She brought his hand up to her mouth and pressed a kiss to the bruised skin. “Better?”

  He nodded, wanting to tell her it hurt in other places, not on his hands, but by now they had a bit of an audience. Lyra, Theron and the others had gathered around.

  Lyra glanced at Hector and Fiona, then down to Oliver, who had yet to get up off the floor. “Is there a problem here?”

  “That Neanderthal punched me.”

  Lyra and everyone else glanced at Hector.

  He wrapped his arm around Fiona’s shoulders. “He was going to use magic on her.”

  “What? I would never—” he sputtered.

  Theron and Caine moved toward Oliver and yanked him up by the arms, none too gently judging by the wince on the witch’s face.

  “Time to go. The party is over for you,” Caine said. “Not a good idea to be bleeding in this group.”

  They dragged him sputtering and complaining all the way to the exit. The rest of the crowd dispersed, leaving Hector and Fiona alone.

  “You saved me, again.”

  “Not really,” he said. “I’m sure you could’ve handled that guy all by yourself.”

  “Maybe.” She ran her hand down his arm. “But I liked that you did.” Her fingers entwined with his. “Does your hand still hurt?”

  “A little.”

  “We should get some ice on it.” She smiled, and there was a little twinkle in her eye. “I have some in my room.”

  He nodded, and with his arm around her still, they walked toward the elevator. When they arrived at the closed door, Hector pushed the button, and then he said, “Hmm, maybe we should take the stairs.”

  Fiona smiled. “I’m willing to risk it, if you are.”

  The elevator doors opened and the two of them went in. The doors slid shut behind them and it started to descend.

  Hector nearly sighed in relief. “So far so good.” He smiled at her.

  She returned his smile, and he lost track of all the things he was planning to say to her, about chance and risk and never letting an opportunity pass you by. Clichéd phrases that would do better on bumper stickers and motivational calendars.

  What he really wanted to do was kiss her. Hold her. Touch her. Bury himself in the ultimate beauty of her.

  He wouldn’t let the moment escape. Not again. Not this time. He’d waited too long.

  “I—”

  That was all she was able to say before he had her in his arms, his hands under the silky strands of her hair, pressing her close. Her lips parted in a sigh, maybe to protest, but he didn’t let her do anything else before he covered her mouth with his.

  The kiss was everything he imagined it would be. Soft, sensual, erotic as hell.

  He swept his tongue over her lips and into her mouth, reveling in the way she responded to him. She matched him in every motion. Little moans of pleasure escaped her when he nipped lightly at her bottom lip.

  He wondered what other little sounds he could get from her. Would she moan when he touched her body, setting his fingers to play at her breasts? What would she do when he parted her sweet cleft with his fingers and circled her pleasure spot? He grew hard thinking about it, imagining it. So hard that he knew she felt it pressing against her.

  Looking into her face, he saw the high color on her cheeks. She was flushed from his kisses. It made her look even more desirable with her stunned feelings so evident on her face. He loved the way her eyes darkened to sea-green and her lips opened, swollen and wet from his kiss. It made him think of another part of her body, and he had to bite down on his lip to keep from groaning.

  “I want you, Fiona. From the second I saw you, I’ve wanted you.”

  “I want you, too, Hector.” Her eyes sparked, confirming her statement. “But I don’t do free and easy. I’m not that kind of woman.”

  “Me, neither.”

  She laughed.

  “I mean I don’t do free and easy, either. I don’t believe in one-night stands.”

  “Good.”

  He smiled and rubbed his hands up and down her back, fingering the strands of her hair. God, what would all that glorious hair look like spread across his pillow?

  “Why isn’t this thing going any faster?” He jumped up a little, bouncing the elevator.

  Fiona smiled, and he saw a little mischievousness in the glint of her eyes. The elevator lurched to a stop between floors.

  Hector’s eyes widened. “This isn’t in the realm of ‘free and easy’?”

  She shook her head, then playfully tugged on his bottom lip with her teeth. “More in the naughty arena.”

  “Lucky me. I get to be stuck in an elevator with a very naughty witch.”

  Still nibbling on his mouth, Fiona walked backward, pulling on his tie to follow her. In three steps her back was pressed against the elevator wall. He really liked this teasing, wicked side of her. It was a bit unexpected, but nonetheless, a real turn-on.

  He kissed her again and moved his hands up to run his fingers through her hair. She was so beautiful, so exquisite, like a pagan goddess. He could picture her holding court in an open field at night with a raging bonfire behind her. She’d be naked, her hair unbound and flowing around her like flames. And he’d be there on his knees waiting to worship every inch of her.

  Suddenly eager to taste her, all of her, He
ctor peppered kisses over her chin and down to her neck. He inhaled her fresh, tantalizing scent along her thumping pulse, then continued his path down to the slope of her throat. She moaned as he licked her there.

  Then he dropped to his knees.

  Startled, she gaped wide-eyed at him. “What are you doing?” He could hear the rising panic in her voice. And it caused a rush of shivers to run down his back. He liked that he’d caught her off guard.

  “Worshipping you.” And with that, he set his hands down around her ankles and started to move up her soft, smooth legs, gathering the hem of her dress as he went.

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  Chapter 6

  Fiona grasped the handrails along the wall of the elevator as Hector moved the skirt of her dress up. The contrasting sensations of Hector’s hot breath and the slightly cool air caressing the bare skin of her legs made her muscles quiver. She felt as if she was going to have to hold on for dear life with whatever Hector had planned. By the glint in his eye, she had a pretty good idea what that was.

  “Mmm, you are so beautiful.” Leaning forward, he pressed his lips to just above her knee on one leg, then the other.

  She bit down on her lip to stop a low moan from breaking free. He pressed another kiss and another to her skin, slowly making his way up her thighs. She was shaking so badly, she was surprised she could still stand.

  Hector must’ve noticed. “I’ll hold you up, carino. I won’t ever let you fall.”

  Closing her eyes, she let her head fall back as he neared the V between her legs. She took in little ragged breaths as he hooked his fingers into the band of her panties and started to pull them down. She couldn’t believe she was stuck in an elevator letting this man take her like this. It felt so decadent. But yet it felt so good and liberating.

  On another day, with another man, she’d never let this happen. She’d never even have considered it. But with Hector she felt so safe and secure. She trusted him fully; she knew he’d never hurt her, never push her to do something beyond her limitations.

  Once he had her panties down her legs, she stepped out of them and he balled them up and shoved them into his suit jacket pocket. He then shed his jacket and folded it over the hand railing. It looked like he was getting ready to work, or to eat. She giggled at that thought.