Midnight Magic

by Ann Gimpel

  “It’s going to be a lovely day,” he murmured, fitting his body against her back. “The first day of a whole new life for you.” He pulled her close, an arm about her waist, before continuing to talk low close to her ear. “Eleanora and I spoke for a while last night. We believe it won’t take more than a year or so for you to learn just how much you can do.”

  Cassie turned abruptly so she was facing him. “You knew last night?” she asked, even more shaken. “How?”

  “Because, dear one, you were bleeding power all over the place—once your heartbeat stabilized, that is. Fran was absolutely delighted. That aristocratic British patina of his went up like a poof of smoke. I swear he was grinning like a gargoyle just before he vanished.”

  Cassie closed her eyes and struggled to make sense of what Jeremy told her. A gazillion questions clamored for recognition, but figuring out where to begin was daunting.

  I’m an engineer. This is just another problem to work through.

  Bullshit! Electronic Workbench can’t help with this one.

  She met his gaze. “What exactly do Mother and you think I’ll be able to do?” She held her breath. Maybe the answer would be simpler than she imagined.

  “Hard to say.” He stroked her back gently. “Your power is a combination of many things. Making predictions is a dicey proposition, but it’s possible you’ll be stronger than either her or me.”

  “What if I don’t want any of this?” she asked. Cassie worked to keep her voice steady. “It’s not like I ever lusted after magic.”

  Now, now, an inner voice chided.

  “Ah, well, that’s not totally true,” she admitted, glad the bedroom was still dark enough he couldn’t see her blush. “There were a few years when I would’ve given anything to be like Mother, but I really did come to terms with just being me... Oh, hell.” She gave up trying to explain herself. “I’m blathering.”

  “’Fraid there’s not much choice involved.” He pulled her to him again and ran his hands along her hair and her back, creating little patterns that felt soothing. “It really will be okay. I can teach you how to dial down the luminosity in about an hour.”

  Cassie melted against him. A confusing welter of emotions rocked her. On the one hand, she was exultant she could finally share her mother’s world. On the other, she was scared shitless of the unknown.

  “Yes,” he agreed. “There are all those things.”

  “You can read my mind?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “I suppose you’ve always been able to.”

  “Even Tyler, low life that he was, had that ability. Why would you think I didn’t?” Mild reproach ran beneath his words.

  She shook her head. “I don’t know. Don’t pay any attention to me.”

  “Oh, but I want to...pay attention to you that is.” He laughed low against her hair. “You invited me into your bed after all.”

  “That was...” She broke off unwilling to admit how much she craved the comfort of his arms.

  “Last night you told me you loved me.”

  She giggled. “It was the tea talking.”

  “Oh really?” He angled his head until he looked right into her eyes. “Because I’ve loved you for years.”

  The words rang sweetly in her heart, and she closed her uninjured arm around Jeremy. He moved his hands lower until they settled around her ass.

  “That’s better,” he breathed in her ear. “Close. Just as close as we can get. Blood to blood, Cass. We belong to one another now.”

  When she raised her face to his, he kissed her long and slow, exploring the interior of her mouth. She wrapped her other arm gingerly around him and held on tight. Her nipples turned into mini points of delight, crushed against his chest. For a second she wondered if they’d leave those cunning lighted trails too.

  He kissed her harder, and she kissed him back. Savoring the taste of him, the feel of his lips firm against hers. Emotion poured from him, and she lost herself in the wonder of the man in her arms. Hunger for him raced along her nerve endings, and she writhed against his body, thrilled by the press of his ridged flesh hard against her stomach.

  Cassie pulled away from a kiss that was becoming endless. She ran her fingertips over his shoulders and then traced the planes of his face. “We need to—”

  “Yes, our clothes have to go. Now.” He smiled tenderly and then sat up and unbuttoned his shirt.

  “Here.” Half sitting, she reached over, her fingers deft. “Let me.” As she tugged the chambray fabric off his shoulders and touched his skin, the same numinous glow rose from her fingers and his chest. The effect was tactile as well as visual, and it was the most erotic thing she’d ever felt. Her fingertips were as sensitive as her most private parts. Heat raced to her core, and she reveled in the touch of his skin.

  Reaching under her sweatshirt, he cradled a breast and grazed a thumb across her nipple. She yelped with delight and leaned into his hand, hoping for more.

  “See,” he crooned as he eased her top off. “This magic stuff’s not all bad. Especially when there are two of us.” Bending his head, he fastened his mouth around her nipple. He sucked on it and teased it with his tongue. Sensation swirled around her like a living thing. Colors in the air intensified everything until she was so close to release she could hardly stand it. Moving a hand between her legs, she only had to flick her clit a couple of times before she tumbled into an orgasm so intense she thought she’d pass out.

  He covered her hand with his, insinuating fingers inside her while his hot, insistent mouth remained latched to her breast. When he finally let go of her nipple, she pulled his head back toward it, not wanting him to stop.

  “Once more, darling,” he crooned. “That was so easy, I know you can come again. I feel the energy.” He moved down her body, pulling off her sweat bottoms, and slid his tongue into her flowing nether regions. He sucked and teased her engorged flesh, licking, biting, encouraging her arousal to build.

  Cassie tangled her hands in his hair. She writhed and bucked beneath him, crying his name. He worked a finger inside her and reached to claim a breast with his free hand. Another wave of passion took her and spun her around. Release flooded her senses way past overload.

  She’d never come more than once before, but her body told her there could be more—lots more—with Jeremy.

  When she opened her eyes, her breath still coming fast, he was unzipping his jeans and slithering out of them. Fascinated, she couldn’t look away. It might’ve been a trick of the loose-fitting clothes he always wore, but where she’d thought his body would be soft and pudgy, hard lines of muscle came into view. Broad shoulders and a chest dusted with blond curls topped a hard, flat stomach. He had the most beautiful cock she’d ever seen. Thick at the base, tapering to a graceful glans, it was wonderfully, joyfully erect.

  Reaching for him, she ran her hands over his chest and shoulders. “You...you’re different than I thought.” She felt foolish. Heat rose to her cheeks, making her even rosier than she already had to be from her orgasms. Was she going to just out and tell him she’d thought him woefully out of shape?

  He chuckled and captured one of her hands. Turning it palm up, he kissed it and then licked the spaces between her fingers. Cassie quivered, and heat sparked again between her legs.

  “It’s useful,” he murmured, raising his gaze to meet hers, “if others misjudge me for a nerd. When they underestimate me, it often buys me a critical advantage. Like in the catacombs. All those men were so intent on you, they ignored me. Tyler wrote me off as an overweight fag.”

  Understanding dawned and she snorted. “It’s a glamour?”

  “Uh-huh. More like a reverse one, but the same principles apply.”

  “You didn’t look different until you took off your pants.”

  “The illusion’s so much a part of me, I suppose I wear it like a second skin. I have to think about it to let it go.”

  “Well, I would’ve liked you either way.”

  “Are
you sure?” His body wavered, and the old, familiar Jeremy was back.

  “Yup.” She reached for him.

  He laughed. The Greek god body shimmered back into place. “I’d rather save my magic for you.”

  She laughed too, and he pulled her against him. The touch of his nakedness against her was so electric, she moaned low in the back of her throat. Sexual hunger more intense than anything she’d ever imagined engulfed her.

  “I want this,” she reached hungrily for his cock, “more than I’ve ever wanted anything. The glamour didn’t change that part.”

  “You’re observant. It’s one of the things I love about you.”

  Obligingly, he moved so she could close her hand around him. Cassie hadn’t ever felt anything quite so wonderful. “All this time,” she marveled as she touched him gently, almost reverently. “I had no idea. Jesus, think of all the wasted opportunities.”

  She fell into a rhythm, stroking his shaft, circling the velvety head, and then moving back down. Liquid dribbled onto her thighs, and she wondered how much hotter she could get. Though far from a virgin, she was in uncharted waters.

  “If you’d known,” he laughed breathlessly and thrust his hips upward as she milked him with her hand, “you might not have appreciated my stellar mind.”

  “You never know,” she murmured. Cassie offered him the softest of smiles. “Tell me what you’d like. Anything, dearest. Just tell me.”

  “You on top.”

  “Sounds wonderful.” She grinned. Anticipation of how he’d feel inside made her heart beat double-time. “Let me find a condom.”

  “Darling.” He laid a hand on either side of her face. “I gave you my blood to save your life. Quite aside from that, I wouldn’t mind at all if we made a child.” He kissed her tenderly. “You told me a long time ago you had an IUD. Maybe, once things feel a bit more normal, you’ll decide you don’t need it anymore.”

  She scooted back so she could focus on him. What she saw melted her heart. “Jeremy Winslow, are you asking me to marry you?”

  His green eyes danced merrily, “Why, yes, I suppose I am.”

  “I accept. Be warned! I’ll hold you to it, even after we’re out of bed.”

  He threw back his head and laughed. “Never doubted it for a moment. Come here, wench. Where were we?”

  “Didn’t you say something about me on top?” Grinning mischievously, she moved so her leg draped over his body. He placed his hands on her hips and helped her straddle him, being careful of her injured arm.

  Cassie sank onto his shaft, her body closing around him. Scarcely recognizing the wild sounds filling the room as her own, she took him as deeply as she could, wriggling for good measure when he bottomed out inside her. The sensations were incredible, as if his cock were ablaze with tiny streamers that ticked her insides almost unbearably. She rocked against him, moving up and down. He placed his hands on her hips to set a rhythm. Back bowed with desire that shot liquid fire through her, she rubbed her nipples, tweaking them hard as she got closer and closer to another climax.

  His breathing grew ragged. Jeremy moaned and then gasped some words in the Celtic tongue she recognized from her mother’s spells. His cock swelled, getting harder and harder within her. She opened her eyes to a swirling vortex in her familiar room. Everything was awash in iridescent light. She felt him spasm once, and then again. Her own peak rushed in on the heels of his, all heat and fire and stars.

  When her body stopped thrumming like a well-tuned harp, she collapsed on top of him, panting. A disembodied part of her brain wondered if there was enough air in the room for her to ever catch her breath again.

  “Cassie, mo croi, my heart, my love.” He half sang to her, English mingled with Gaelic. She wondered just what kind of spell he’d cast—and then hoped it would bind them forever. He tangled his fingers in her hair and kissed her face and neck in between words.

  Daylight streamed into the room. Something irrevocable shifted. Jeremy hadn’t been kidding when he said this was the first day of a whole new life for her. Feeling silly and giddy and sticky, she finally pushed away from him.

  “I’m up for that coffee now.” She couldn’t stop smiling. “After a shower.”

  “Whatever milady wants,” he quipped. Jeremy swung his long, well-muscled legs over the side of the bed and stood. “You’ve made me a very happy man. Do I get to wash all of you?”

  “You’re leering at me.” She chuckled. “The odd thing is I think I like it. Uh-uh, no mutual washing. I’ll wash me, and you can wash you. I need to keep my bandage dry. Any more sex and I’ll be sore.”

  “Well,” he smiled at her, “we can’t have that.”

  “Look at us.” She led the way into the bathroom. “We’re grinning like a couple of fools.”

  “Maybe it’s because we’re happy.” A serious note entered his voice.

  She ducked beneath the curtain of water from the handheld shower. “We deserve to be.” She wetted, soaped, and rinsed as she traded soap, water, and the washcloth back and forth with him.

  He shook water out of his blond hair, stepped out of the tub, and reached for a towel. “Yes.” He still sounded somber. “That we do. This has been one of the longest years of my life. I was gearing up to, ah, declare myself about the time Tyler inveigled his way into your life—”

  “Why’d it take you so long to make up your mind?” she interrupted, curious, as she finished rinsing shampoo out of her hair and turned off the water.

  “I had to get permission from the Druid Council.” He looked uncomfortable. “They don’t often allow us to bond with mortals.” Shrugging, he added, “You’re not even supposed to know the Council exists, but under the current circumstances—”

  She thought about her mother’s long period of celibacy once Fran left and finally understood. Not everything, but more than she had. “So their rules apply to all Celtic magic wielders?” At his nod, she asked, “Will I be part of the Council?”

  He nodded. “Not on the Council per se, but you’ll be expected to attend general meetings. I’m certain your mother will want to introduce you.

  “The other thing I suppose I ought to tell you is I only got permission to wed you day before yesterday. Even though I was planning to court you a year ago, I would’ve been breaking Druid law.” He favored her with a rakish grin. “Just so you know what you’re getting into here.”

  “I’ll risk it.” She grinned back. “Always did like my men with a dash of sedition.”

  “I didn’t figure your infatuation with Tyler would last.” Jeremy handed her a towel. “Then your mother collapsed and embroiled us in fae-spawned enchantment.”

  “Why didn’t you say something about Tyler sooner?” she asked, moving back into her room to root around in her closet for something semi-clean.

  “What was I going to say?” He spread his hands in a self-deprecating gesture. “‘Hey, Cass. Your boyfriend’s a fraud.’ At the front end of things, you wouldn’t have believed me.” He scooped up his shirt and pants from the floor and proceeded to get back into them. “I did say something when things got so bad I couldn’t stand it anymore.”

  “What about me thinking he was a demon? Was he?”

  “Some of the fae did join forces with them. If the energy in this house was any indicator, Tyler was probably involved.” Jeremy exhaled sharply. “It’s a long story, and not a very pretty one. Let’s not sully today with darkness.”

  In her secret heart, she agreed. They’d dealt with enough evil. Now was a time to heal. She unwrapped the towel from around her hair and tossed it over a chair. Then she wriggled into some jeans and a flowered sweat top and held out her arms. “None of that matters. We can’t do any of it over. All we can do is move on from now. I have Mom back. And we have each other.”

  “Yes.” He moved into the circle of her arms and returned her embrace. “We do, and we always will.”

  “Blood to blood,” she murmured against his shoulder.

  “Uh-huh.” He
kissed her lazily, taking his time. When her hips moved against his of their own volition, she pulled away.

  “Coffee,” she said firmly and tugged her long, wet hair into a scrunchie. “And breakfast. Would you rather cook or go out?”

  “Let’s see what Eleanora wants,” he suggested as he pushed open the door into the hall.

  Cassie crowded close on his heels.

  Coincidentally, or perhaps not—after all, Eleanora was psychic—the door to her Mother’s room cracked open, and she strode through it. A colorful scarf spanned her waist, breaking up the black of her clothing. Her dark hair gleamed in sunlight pouring into the upstairs hall.

  “Good morning, children.” Eleanora walked toward them, Murietta perched on her shoulder and Hector bringing up the rear. “I couldn’t help but hear you talking about breakfast. Going out would be simply lovely. I’ve been trapped in this house for close to a year.”

  “There’s that little omelet place you used to like,” Cassie suggested.

  “Perfect, darling.” Eleanora headed for the stairs. “Grab your coats and I’ll meet you in the garage.” She turned and looked meaningfully over her shoulder at Jeremy. “We can plot our strategy over that amazing Yogi tea they make.”

  “I suppose I’m the object of that strategy.” Cassie took Jeremy’s hand, and they followed Eleanora down the stairs. “After all, I’ll need lots of magic lessons. Then there’s the whole Druid society thing. If that wasn’t enough, Father should be here shortly to add his two cents’ worth to the mix.”

  Jeremy quirked an eyebrow and laughed. “See,” he managed when he could talk again. “Psychic already and we haven’t even begun to train you yet. Be sure to keep hold of my hand while we’re at the restaurant. I’ll redirect all that energy, so it doesn’t leak out.”

  Cassie rolled her eyes. “Good thing you thought about it, because I sure didn’t. Right after breakfast I'll need a crash course in how to control it myself.”