A Touch of Magick (9 page)

“Rhiannon?”

She must have been quiet for longer than she’d thought. “I’m here.” She ran her finger across her collarbone and dipped between her cleavage. “Are you naked?”

The rustle of clothing came over the line. She heard the squeak of a bedspring and then he was back. “I am now.”

The idea that he was naked as he talked to her aroused her. His legs were long and thick with muscle. His belly flat. She’d felt his erection and knew it was substantial. In the flesh, she imagined it would be impressive—thick and long and hard.

“Do you have a hard-on?” She couldn’t believe she’d asked him that, but she wanted the answer.

“Oh, yeah. I’ve had one of those all night.”

“Really?” The idea that she wasn’t the only one having a hard time dealing with the intense sexual connection that had blossomed between them made her feel better.

“Yeah. You turn me on faster than any woman I’ve ever met.”

She was absurdly pleased. “You do the same for me. I mean, faster than any man. I’m not turned on by women. Shutting up now.” Heat raced up her cheeks and she didn’t need a mirror to know she was blushing.

His deep chuckle made her nipples tighten. “No, don’t stop. I like the fact that I turn you on.” His voice lowered. “You’re wet for me, aren’t you?”

She knew he wasn’t asking if she was still wet from the shower. She swallowed the lump in her throat. Was she really going to indulge in phone sex?

“I bet the soft folds between your legs are swollen and damp. Hmm,” he made a sound of pleasure. “I’d like to lie between your thighs and taste your sweet cream.”

Ohmigod! No man had ever said these kinds of things to her. Not even Jeremy, and they’d been together for almost a year. What surprised her was how much his graphic words turned her on. She could feel the trickle of liquid between her thighs. She shifted her legs restlessly.

“You’d taste so damn good,” he continued. “Then I’d find that tasty little bud at the apex of your thighs and tease it with my tongue. Would you like that?”

A low moan was her reply.

“Put me on speaker phone and touch yourself.”

She stiffened at his request. It was one thing to pleasure herself when she was alone. Quite another to do it when someone else could hear every sound she made.

She hesitated for only a second before putting the phone on speaker. “You touch yourself too.” Maybe if he did it, she could too.

“How?” His voice was thick with desire. It sent her libido into overdrive and bolstered her courage.

“Wrap your hand around your shaft.” She licked her lips and slid her hands down to cover her breasts as she waited for him to comply. Her breasts felt fuller and her nipples stabbed at the center of her palms. They’d never been as sensitive as they were tonight. “Are you doing it?”

“And more. My fist is sliding up and down my dick. I’m trying to imagine what it would feel like to have one of your hands wrapped around my erection while the other one cups my balls.”

She moaned, rubbing her hands over her nipples. It felt so good, but it would feel even better if it were his large, calloused hands.

“You can feel it too, can’t you?” Thankfully, he didn’t wait for an answer. She didn’t think she was capable of one. “I want to touch your breasts. To feel those soft, full mounds in my hands. Lick your nipples before sucking them into my mouth.”

“
Yes…
” she hissed. She could almost feel it.

“You’re touching them now? Pretending it’s me?”

She was panting harder now. Digging her heels into the bed, she arched her hips upward. She felt hot and swollen and empty.

“Put one of your hands between your legs.”

She didn’t even hesitate this time.

“Touch yourself.” He swore. “I want to touch you. See you. Taste you.” His voice was impossibly deep. Desire was evident in every word.

“You too,” she managed to gasp. She slid one hand between her thighs and immediately felt the damp heat. She could feel her orgasm building deep within her and knew it wouldn’t take much.

“Don’t worry about me. I’m so close I can almost taste it.”

She skimmed her fingers over the slick folds between her legs, teasing the nub at the apex. She moaned again.

“Come for me, Rhiannon. Let me hear your passion. Scream for me.”

Blindly, she pressed one finger into her core and came undone. She arched into her hand, feeling every contraction deep inside her. A low wail escaped her lips as she shook and shivered. A wisp of energy shot through her. She heard a crash, but ignored it, too caught up in her pleasure to care what she’d destroyed with her errant magick.

She heard Ryland’s hoarse cry and knew he’d come too. Letting go, she enjoyed every pulse of pleasure that rippled through her. She felt good. Amazing. But deep inside she still felt achy. Empty. She was beginning to suspect only Ryland could fill her and ease that ache.

As sanity reared its ugly head, she turned her head into her pillow and groaned. She’d broken her rule about having sex on a first date. Technically it wasn’t sex. She’d had an orgasm, but it was by her own hand, not his.

Goddess, she was losing it if she was trying to justify what had just happened.

“You okay?” Ryland’s sleepy, sated voice wrapped around her.

She unburied her head from her pillow and sighed. Was she okay? Physically, never better. Emotionally, she wasn’t sure. “Yes. You?”

“Better than okay. I just wish you were here next to me. I’d like to wrap my body around you and hold you all night. Maybe even wake you in an hour or so.”

In spite of her trepidation, she laughed. “You’re incorrigible.”

“You obviously bring out the best in me,” he teased. “We still on for dinner tomorrow night?”

She hesitated. What if he expected sex after dinner? After all, they’d just had phone sex.

As if he could hear her convoluted thoughts, he put her mind at ease. “No promises. Just dinner. I’d really like the chance to get to know you better.”

What could she say to that? “Don’t be late.”

“Promise. See you tomorrow. And I had a really good time tonight. At dinner and after. Night, Rhiannon.”

“Night, Ryland.” She heard the soft click and reached over to turn off her phone. The two brownies still sat in the box perched on the corner of her nightstand. She didn’t think that even chocolate was going to help her understand her feelings for Ryland. But it couldn’t hurt.

Grabbing the box, she dug out one brownie and took a huge bite. The chocolate exploded on her tongue making her moan. It was incredibly rich and moist.

She glanced over at her dresser and noticed one of her candleholders was on the floor. That must have been what she’d heard crash. She was only glad the candle hadn’t been lit. Otherwise she might have set fire to the place.

She shivered and lowered the brownie back into the box and set it aside. That was a sobering thought. The sexual energy that existed between her and Ryland was undeniable. It seemed to spark her magick. She’d always wanted to be able to tap into the power she knew resided within her. Now she wasn’t sure. What if she couldn’t contain it?

Abigail trotted into the room and jumped onto the bed. She circled twice and settled at the foot of the mattress. “I guess there’s nothing I can do about it tonight.”

Reaching out, she turned off the light. She needed to talk to someone. Maybe Esther or Maggie would be free for coffee tomorrow. Curling on her side, she tugged the covers tighter around her and closed her eyes. No matter what happened, she had to work tomorrow.

Sleep was a long time coming.

Chapter Six

The next morning, Rhiannon stumbled into work a full two hours before she had to open the store. She’d already had one hit of coffee at home, as well as a bracing cool shower—she couldn’t quite bear to make it cold—but she was still only half-awake.

She’d tossed and turned most of the night, finally giving up trying to sleep at all. She locked the door behind her, made her way to her office and immediately went to her phone. After picking up the receiver, she pecked out a number she knew by heart, glancing at her watch as it started to ring. She winced and hoped it wasn’t too early, but she really needed to talk to someone.

“Hello,” a sleepy voice answered.

“I woke you, didn’t I? I’m sorry, Esther.”

She could hear the sound of bedcovers shifting in the background. “It’s okay,” Esther mumbled. “Is everything all right?”

That was the one million dollar question. “I don’t know.”

“What happened?” Esther’s voice was crisper now, her friend much more alert than she’d been seconds before. “Rhiannon?”

“It’s a guy,” she blurted out.

There was silence on the other end and then a curious, “Really?”

“Oh goddess, Esther. We had a date. Everything went wrong. But it was so right. Then there’s my sister, Gwen. She had a theory about why my magick doesn’t work. We had phone sex,” she blurted out. “Me and Ryland, not my sister, Gwen.” She rubbed her forehead, feeling a headache coming on.

“Slow down, Rhiannon. Are you home or at the store?”

“I’m at work.”

“I’ll be there as quick as I can. And I’m calling Maggie.”

“Okay.” She slumped down in her chair feeling marginally better. Her friends would help her make sense of the situation. At least she hoped they could. “I’ll put on coffee.”

“Twenty minutes tops,” Esther promised.

The line went dead as her friend hung up. Rhiannon hung up the phone and sat there for a full minute before pushing out of her chair. She was still wearing her coat and carrying her purse.

“I’m a mess,” she said aloud. She pulled open her desk drawer and stored her purse. Then she hung her coat on the antique coat rack that stood just beside her door.

“Coffee.” Having something to do helped her focus. She strode from her office and into the small café section of the store. Selecting two types of beans, she set the pots brewing. There was hazelnut vanilla for her and an Irish cream for Maggie. Since Esther preferred peppermint tea, she plugged in the kettle to boil water.

There wasn’t anything she could offer her friends to eat as Ada wouldn’t be delivering her treats for another hour and a half. Rhiannon’s stomach rumbled, reminding her she hadn’t taken time to eat breakfast before bolting from home. If she’d been thinking straight, she would have planned better. But her thinking was completely muddled.

She’d been unable to look at her bed this morning without thinking about what had happened with Ryland last night. It was all too easy to picture herself sprawled across the bed as Ryland’s deep voice seduced her into doing things she’d never done before.

She’d stripped and remade the bed with fresh sheets, hoping to exorcise the sexual escapades of the night before. It hadn’t helped. As she’d smoothed the clean sheets on the bed, she pictured herself and Ryland rolling on them, limbs entwined.

Swearing under her breath, Rhiannon gathered three mugs. As she set them in front of the bubbling coffeemakers, she noted that her hands were shaking. She opened and closed them several times and took a deep breath.

The fact of the matter was she’d had phone sex with a man she’d just met. That wasn’t like her at all. She was usually much more cautious when it came to men.
But it felt right
, a small voice in the back of her head reminded her.

Letting out a shriek of frustration, she left the brewing coffee behind and headed to the front of the store. She’d rework the window display while she kept a watch for Esther and Maggie.

With a practiced eye, she examined the window, noting which stock was almost sold out. Flipping through her memory banks, she decided on several pieces that needed to be featured and set about gathering them from around the store. The work soothed her. Replacing items in the window, tweaking it to look inviting and enticing, was one of the things she enjoyed doing.

Her fall theme was in full swing. She had several small pumpkins, an assortment of gourds and some leaves scattered about. The pumpkins and gourds were real, but the leaves were made of silk. Real ones wouldn’t have lasted long in the window.

Several tall iron candleholders topped with orange spicy candles were tucked in the corner of the window. Books of all sorts, from cookbooks to spooky mysteries to paranormal romances were placed strategically about, tempting a person to pluck one from the grouping and take it home. Some of the books were on risers. Others were stacked. Several of the cookbooks were opened to tempting fall recipes. A crystal ball perched on a pewter base sat beside the pumpkin, while two silver wine glasses—one standing upright and the other tipped on its side—sat on the other side. A necklace and several bracelets were arranged on a hand-painted silk scarf.

She had just finished putting the final detail in place and taken a step back to admire her creation when she heard the rap on the front door. Glancing up, she sighed with relief as she saw the familiar faces of her friends.

Leaving the window display behind, she went to the door and let both women in. A gust of cool fall air followed them into the store.

“Sorry we took a little longer than I thought.” Esther held up a baker’s box with Clancy’s Bakery stamped on the side. “I figured Ada wouldn’t be here yet and you sounded like you could use something.” She glanced at Maggie. “Plus it took a bit of work to get Maggie out of bed.”

“Hey, Rhiannon.” Maggie yawned, but smiled as she gave her greeting.

Once again, Rhiannon was reminded of what good friends she’d found in Esther and Maggie. “Come on back. I’ve got coffee and tea.”

“Good,” Maggie mumbled.

A few minutes later, they all sat at a corner table with large mugs of fragrant coffee and tea and chocolate croissants on plates in front of them.

“Okay, spill,” Esther ordered.

Rhiannon took a deep breath. “It all started yesterday morning when I came into work and found the front of the store covered in graffiti.”

“I heard about that.” Esther sat forward in her chair, her blue eyes concerned. “Why didn’t you call me?”

She shrugged. “At the time there didn’t seem to be much point. There was no break-in, only vandalism to the outside.” Seeing her friend’s frown, she hurried on. “I planned to call both of you last night, but I was out on a date.”