Sia (Naughty Witches Book 3)

by Erin R Flynn

  “I’ve been thinking the same. I’ll have to look into it now that you’re mine over half the week.”

  She swallowed loudly but simply nodded, not commenting and looking grateful when I didn’t push. I gave her another kiss and went for the wine.

  She had the tub going when I came back and was sitting on the lip running her fingers under the water with a heartbreaking look on her face.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked gently as I squatted down.

  She flinched, blinking at me and snapping out of her head. “Nothing. Just thinking.”

  “You were sad.”

  She smiled. “Sometimes sad things happen and things end and no one can stop it.”

  I swallowed loudly, my heart aching for a different reason than her upset. “You’re going to miss Travis.”

  She did a double take and a great impression of a fish. “No, you when you leave. Travis is sort of a friend I’ve had fun together with but he’s human and will die. You’re something more than what we had and I will be sad when you’re gone.”

  “Maybe I won’t leave then,” I whispered, leaning down and kissing her other hand before dropping it. We got in the tub with our glasses of wine and she gave me a curious look. “Meave as her supermodel alter ego did an Instagram Live last night and told people what she used on her skin to keep it looking so young.”

  She chuckled. “My skin cream doesn’t keep her young. It works on humans though.”

  “Exactly. She also told them what else of yours she uses.”

  “That was nice of her.” She smiled and took a sip. “That will probably get us some sales. I’ll have to thank her.”

  I swallowed a laugh, as it would seem as if I was laughing at her.

  “Yeah, you got some sales, Sia. The site blew up. You’re completely sold out of the products she mentioned and emails are pouring in for more. People are calling it the Mia Sage challenge to see if they could end up with skin like her. It’s trending today and #ReliefRestock is all over social media.”

  She threw back her head and laughed. I wasn’t sure why but she kept laughing. She relaxed and started all over before finally sighing and taking a sip of her wine.

  “You’re really just going to leave me curious over here?”

  She smirked at me. “Maybe I’m punishing you for being all the way over there.” She giggled when I was pulling her on my lap seconds later. “I had been picking on Meave for dating a boy so young and she gave me shit back because you’re not much older than his eighteen. Plus, I’m over a hundred. We went back and forth and she landed a hit that I hadn’t come up with something new in a year.

  “I got bitchy and prideful and told her something I had been plotting but my store kept getting robbed and she was a wench for poking. She apologized but was excited for the idea, promising me if I could get it to work, she’d make me famous and no longer keep me secret. I just wanted the win but you’ve done so much that I really have had time to play, which makes me happy so I did.”

  “And it worked?” I checked, waiting until she nodded. “What did you make?”

  “A shaving scrub bar,” she answered, turning to snuggle up to me more so her side was against my chest. “You literally scrub the hair off like plucking or waxing. It’s the potion, but what I put into the bars helps the follicles and pores open up and then tighten after the hair is out so the hair comes completely out. I’ve been using it and I sent her one to test. Apparently she liked it and I won.”

  “That’s amazing,” I praised. “That won’t get you busted though?”

  She shook her head. “No, there are other products that do some of it like hair removal cream and whatnot, but yeah, this is better. I mean, you have to scrub for real for the potion to work, but it works. It doesn’t last as long as a normal soap bar and you should only use it once a week, but you should only need to like if you wax.”

  “Your sales are going to go through the roof even more then,” I muttered, kissing her hair. “I’m so proud of you. That’s really awesome.”

  “Thank you for helping me get here and keeping me sane,” she murmured, moving her lips against my neck. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

  Her glass started to lower and I realized she’d drifted off. I took it from her and enjoyed simply holding her for a while.

  I kissed her lips and prayed she would listen to me in her sleep. “Please keep me, Sia. I love you.”

  I was so in love with her.

  9

  Sia

  I woke up with a man in my bed and I liked it.

  I also woke up tender in intimate places after Deon rocked my world and I liked it.

  And I didn’t like change.

  It made me a bit grumpy, especially when he kept giving me eyes like he knew why I was adjusting how I sat or squirming a bit when I was standing. He was getting too comfortable and close to me and it was making me cranky. He’d actually slept in my bed.

  How did he weasel his way in there?

  Well, if I was honest, it was a gradual progression. Tuesdays and Fridays turned into Sundays, Tuesdays, and Fridays.

  I slept in his bed now and again and then all the time on his nights. Now he also had Wednesdays and showed me a kink I didn’t know I had and fucking that was better than I’d had.

  Knowing how to rock people’s worlds was my thing.

  My thing was being kinky. I was the one who played with people and trained them and here I was acting like a damn kept pet.

  Fine, not so demeaning but… Something. Something was really irking me and I didn’t like it. It was just before lunch when it hit me.

  I didn’t want to play with my normal Thursday night date. I was all fidgety because I wasn’t sure how I felt about still playing with others or having dates.

  Travis had said a lot about Deon and I being good together and his feelings for me and it was too much. It was overwhelming.

  So why didn’t I want to play with my normal Thursday night if I was feeling that way?

  Was Deon more than fun?

  Had I lost my mind and thought maybe there was something real going on?

  No, no, I didn’t do real.

  I moved over to the new hundred-and-fifty-gallon kettle and started loading ingredients. I flinched when he was there helping me seconds later. “I can do this.”

  “I know you can,” he muttered.

  “Don’t you have work to do? I mean besides smirking at and stalking me?” I flinched at the harshness of my voice, my brain spiraling out and no clue what to say.

  He didn’t reply for a few moments. “I apologize for making you uncomfortable and hovering.” He turned and walked away, grabbing his laptop before leaving the brew house.

  “Dammit,” I rasped after the heavy metal door slammed shut. “Fuck.”

  And I had no idea what to do. I did want space but he didn’t deserve me snapping like that. Maybe if we were going to have more nights together then we needed a bit of our own time during work and more.

  Balance. Yeah, we needed some balance.

  I cursed up a storm when I realized I sounded like a woman in a relationship and not just having fun. I loaded the kettle on autopilot, knowing the recipe in my sleep and trickling out the magic needed to make it work.

  Emotions affected magic and right then I was a tornado inside so I had to be careful.

  Which was why I spent my life never being a tornado inside. It was downright dangerous when I wasn’t grounded.

  I grabbed the first cart of racks that had the slab soap molds and brought it to the kettle after using the emulsifier to mix it completely. I turned on the draining spigot once I had the pitcher under it. I poured it into the first mold, watching everything swirl as it came out.

  Then I refilled the pitcher and did it again.

  And again.

  And again.

  And again, getting lost in the rhythm and flow as everything inside of me churned faster and faster until I honestly had no idea where I landed.


  Sirens blared outside from a distance and I almost dropped the pitcher. I shut off the spigot and hurried to the door. I just about reached it when Deon came barreling in, his eyes wild until he found me.

  “It’s a tornado,” he said, racing over to me. “You have a basement at the house, right?”

  I nodded, but then horror filled me. “It’s me. Shit, I’m doing it.”

  “What?” He shook his head. “Sia, come one, you need to get where it’s safe. The sirens are going crazy and it’s close.”

  “It’s me,” I snapped, pushing his arm away when he reached for me. “I’m a tornado inside. It’s manifesting because I’m so upset.”

  Hurt filled his pretty eyes. “Why? Why are you so upset? What did I do that—”

  “I don’t know!” I bellowed. “I don’t—I liked you in my bed. I don’t want to have a date tonight. You rocked my world. I’m the experienced one but you found the new kink.

  “I don’t—when did this happen? I mean, is Travis right what he said? Do you want this to be real? Did it become real and I missed that? I don’t know how to do this. This is why I keep things easy, because it’s calm and I never explode.”

  He mashed his lips to mine, which I was really sure wasn’t the right response, but I’d been panicking so maybe that was one way to snap me out of it. I felt the storm inside of me slow a bit as he lifted me up and kissed me deeper.

  The wall was against my back and him pressing me into it and then I couldn’t spin out. I was safe, in one spot, and… Kissing him. That was it for the moment.

  Could that really just be it for the moment?

  “I don’t know what I’m doing,” I rasped against his lips, trying to wipe the tears I felt forming, but he beat me to it.

  “I feel the same,” he promised. “I never wanted to let a witch into my life, Sia. After the way my mom—the damage she did I would be an idiot to even think of getting close to a witch more than professionally.

  “But you started to change my mind and heal me. Is it so wrong I did the same? Is it really so wrong that people see you’re happier or maybe can accept love and might want something real?”

  I didn’t know how to answer, instead moving my face to his neck and letting out shaky breaths.

  “Did you really make a fucking tornado?” he asked when the sirens silenced in the distance.

  “I have before,” I sniffled. “I’m powerful, mostly in potions, but all witches are tied to nature and have magic in that way. I know others who affect the weather too but for me, it’s when I can’t get a grip.

  “Briony said the day she saved me there was a horrible windstorm outside of the party and it delayed her. It stopped the moment I took her hand.”

  “Did I hurt you?” he worried, sighing when I shook my head. “I’m sorry I was hovering. I was worried I pushed you too much last night. I did, didn’t I?”

  “How horrible is it for you that you have to act like that because I’m a mess?” I choked out, pushing at him to get away.

  “No, I’m not letting you go,” he growled, holding me tighter and ignoring my struggling. “I choose you, Sia. I choose to take the small steps you need just as you give me what I need.

  “Yes, I want this to be real but I’m in no rush. I’m not trying to put a ring on your finger. I’m not trying to make you stop playing. I just want to be with you.”

  “I don’t know how,” I argued.

  “So what? You didn’t know how to make that shaving bar thing, but you did because you figured it out. That’s the question here. Do you want to figure this out or do you want me gone?”

  I snapped my head back so fast I clonked it into the wall hard enough I yelped in pain, rubbing it and moaning. “Shit, time out, that hurt.”

  “I’m sorry,” he mumbled as he carried me away from the wall. He sat me in a chair and moved behind me. “I don’t see blood, just a bump, not a cut.” He came back around and squatted down, moving his hands to my knees. “Why did you move like that?”

  “The options,” I mumbled. “That sounds so all or nothing.”

  “I didn’t mean it to,” he sighed. “I meant we’ll figure it out by being together like we have been, we’d work it out that way, not we need to sit down and decide everything or break up.”

  “Are we dating to break up?” I asked, my head really hurting now and from more than just the bump.

  He lowered his gaze to my lap, clearly not wanting me to see all of what he was feeling, which was silly since I could see his aura.

  “I was going to ask you out to dinner tomorrow. Somewhere casual maybe. I was hoping we could have that. Is that really too much?”

  “No,” I whispered, thinking it was silly to freak out with that when we ate all our meals together. “I shouldn’t have snapped at you, but maybe I do need some space or me time. I’ve been so used to being all on my own except with quick dates that… It was too much to realize how much has changed and we’ve been scrambling so it wasn’t noticeable but now we’re a bit more even and—”

  “I get it,” he accepted. “I was feeling it too.”

  “Yeah?” I checked.

  He nodded, taking my hand in his large, strong ones and kissing it.

  “Yeah, there’s been a lot of crazy and hot crazy but crazy and demanding nights and not a lot of mellow. That’s why I was hoping you’d let me take you to dinner. Let’s just go have dinner and try some new dishes somewhere. Relax a bit now that things are going better.”

  “A date?” I swallowed loudly, which he was nice and didn’t pick on.

  “Yes, a date.” He kissed my hand again when I didn’t answer. “Don’t worry about me, I’m not even asking to be a factor—but do you want to have your normal ‘date’ tonight?”

  “No,” I confessed, griping his hand tightly when I started to get upset.

  “Why? Why is that, Sia? I don’t think it has everything to do with last night or me.”

  I mulled that over a few minutes, glad he was patient and could handle me mulling because it was the only way I could handle things.

  “You’re right. Last night might have smacked me into seeing it’s not been fun for a while because we had super awesome. But it’s not just you or how hot things were. It’s gotten stale and he’s ready to move on but doesn’t, as if he can’t take that step.”

  “Yeah, he can’t.”

  I blinked at him. “How did you know that?”

  He opened his mouth but then closed it, blushing slightly as he looked away. “You’re already overwhelmed with my stalking. I don’t think you need to hear this.”

  “But I want to and yeah, I am overwhelmed, but it helps me settle that you pay such close attention to what I need and not just trap me.”

  “I wouldn’t ever trap you,” he swore to me. “I get how scared you are and I don’t blame you but you’re a goddess, not a pet to cage.”

  I leaned my forehead down to his, melting at how perfectly he said what I’d been so scared about. “Tell me how you knew, Deon. Help me settle this.”

  He sighed. “You don’t moan or cry out nearly as much when you have a date with him than say Travis or even your damn fireman that brings friends you enjoy.”

  I bit back a laugh. “The fireman makes you jealous?”

  “Yes,” he bit out. “The man is a damn hero and I’m a computer nerd.”

  I threw back my head and laughed. “Oh fuck, you are so much more than some geek living in his parents’ basement fucking with a computer, Deon. You keep people safe. You’re keeping me safe and you definitely get a hero status just to get me to eat better, as you are not the first to try but the first who hasn’t given up and declared me a permanent mess.”

  “You’re so not a mess,” he promised. “But yes, I knew you were tired of Thursday night. And Monday night.”

  I froze but then cursed under my breath. I was. He was completely right. They were stale and not fun anymore. It was… Routine and I didn’t want that.

 
; I didn’t want that from them when they had already suffered through that in their marriages. He didn’t let me stay focused on it though.

  “I’ve made it all too easy for you,” he sighed heavily. “You’re too spoiled. When you want my cock tonight I just won’t put out. No more pussy eating in the morning and—”

  “Now wait just a second,” I argued.

  “I let you get the milk and now you don’t want the cow.” His lips twitched like he couldn’t get over he’d just gone there. “I’ll make you miss me more and no more snuggles maybe.”

  I yanked my hand away and gave him a smirk. “You want to play that game? I’ll have you begging for any touch before dinner is over on this date.”

  “Yes, but you like when I beg and apparently I’ve been spoiling you.” He sniffed, raising his nose as he stood. “Maybe I’ll go help the Thursday group of harvesters for the free juice. They loved my ideas and are always nice to me.”

  More like they always flirted with him. I’d found him surrounded a few times by high school seniors while he blushed as they cooed and purred at him, wearing sexy little outfits to get his attention.

  “You have fun with that while I handle my normal date.”

  He swallowed loudly but then leaned down, moving his forehead against mine again. “What do you want to do tonight? What does my witch need to settle the storm inside of her?”

  “I want to play in the greenhouses tonight. It’s been weeks since I’ve even had a chance to enjoy them.”

  “Do you want company?”

  “Are you going to let little girls flirt and rub their bodies up against you?”

  “No.”

  “Then yes, company would be lovely, but I’m going to work you hard and I expect you shirtless.”

  “You as well.”

  “Deal.”

  He started to pull away but then brushed his lips over mine. “Don’t give up on us, Sia. Stay with me and we’ll figure it out.”

  “Promise?”

  “Yes, because I know there’s something special here and we both need the small steps.”