Must Be Magic (4 page)

Kerry took a chance. She kissed
him.

*
* * * *

Tredje directed Gomit to stay
with the Gnome statues. Gomit didn’t object, just as Tredje suspected he
wouldn’t. In battle, Gnomes couldn’t be stopped, but outside of full-scale war,
they were the laziest of creatures. Taking up underground work after the Realm
Wars had ceased, when there was no longer a need for an army of Gnomes, had
softened the ugly blighters.

Turning his attention to the
human woman, he’d noted her business wasn’t very busy. Proudly, he’d also
noticed a steady stream of human conveyances entering and leaving his castle
across the way. That’s what having a Troll reside beneath a bridge did for you!
It also helped when the Troll stole the plans for a Leprechaun contest and
stuffed them beneath your door. The contest would have brought in too many
humans. He and the Gnome wouldn’t have had the chance to capture the woman.

But back to the matter at hand.
Aside from the Pixie—and Gomit and himself, of course—Tredje had yet to see
another living soul enter the front gate this day. Not that the Pixie had
entered by traditional human means. He’d popped into this dimension right
behind where the woman stood after tacking a new sign across the old.

So, Tredje didn’t try to conceal
himself as he scurried across the loose gravel toward the building the Prince
and his intended Princess had entered. He did try to make as little noise as
possible as he neared the transparent wall. The greenhouse was full of potted
plants that fortunately obscured the outside view from the inside.
Unfortunately, they obscured the inside view from the outside as well. Tredje
couldn’t see a thing.

He motioned for Gomit to join
him. But either the Gnome was taking his statue act too seriously or he’d fallen
asleep standing up. Tredje waved his arm in ever-widening arcs until Gomit
finally saw him. Gomit trudged across the space between them, huffing for
breath as he joined Tredje.

“We have to lure the woman out
here somehow…” Tredje tapped his bearded chin as he looked around for
inspiration. He espied the little hut in the back. The woman had gone to it to
put up her tools earlier. Tredje had seen her flip the little switch that gave
humans illumination, but no light had come on. And there was no window in the
building. The perfect spot.

He
poked Gomit. “There. That little hut. If we make some kind of noise out by the
hut, she’ll come running to see what it is. We’ll trap her inside and tie her
up. Then as soon as everything is quiet, we’ll carry her to me bridge.”

Gomit
remained quiet, as he should, and Tredje grinned broadly. There was never
anything wrong with a Troll’s plans.

Then
Gomit opened his mouth. “If we make a noise loud enough to bring the woman,
won’t the Pixie come, too?”

Tredje’s grin turned to a snarl.
Leave it to a Gnome to spoil a perfect Troll plan.

Tredje
tapped his chin again. “We’ll have to wait until the woman comes out to close
for the night. She always inspects the grounds before leaving. We’ll make a
quieter noise, one she can hear but the Pixie can’t. When she enters the hut to
see what it is, we’ll grab her then.”

“But
what if the Pixie comes with the woman to inspect the grounds before they
leave?” Gomit whined, wringing his hands.

Tredje
was ready with an answer. He poked Gomit in the chest. “In that case, Gnome,
you’ll have the privilege of creating a diversion to get the Pixie out of the
way.”

Chapter Five

Myghal was taken by pleasant
surprise when Kerry pressed her lips to his. He knew she found him a curiosity,
but she hadn’t seemed particularly attracted to him until this moment. He had
begun to think he’d ruined everything by not reciting the entire incantation,
and that the dust had landed him with Kerry at random. But as she deepened the
kiss, sliding her lips over his, slipping her arm around his neck, he knew she
was his perfect match, the other half of his heart. He could feel it the same
way he could sense what the plants wanted.

His cock thought so, too—a
painful, throbbing reminder that he’d been imprisoned at Castle Faer for two
moons without female companionship of any kind. By the time Malthe and Sirrin
had rescued him, even the female Faerie guards were starting to look good.

How would it be with Kerry? he
wondered. Need always drove him. The physical need he had no control over, and
the emotional need was just as uncontrollable but impossible to slake. While he
always found physical release, he’d never found an emotional connection with
any Pixie female he’d fucked. Would it be different with Kerry? Pixie lore said
that coupling with the other half of his heart would be an experience like no
other.

If this melding of lips and
mingling of breaths were indications, then he didn’t need to worry at all.

Kerry’s other hand slid down his
chest, brushing his nipple, and his sac tightened. He knelt, fitting himself
between her legs, and rested his hands on her thighs. She drew in a deep,
sudden breath.

Myghal pushed his tongue between
her parted lips as his hands glided up her thighs. His thumbs met where the
seams of the material came together and were sewn into a thick bump. He pressed
in, rubbing in circles, and Kerry moaned into his mouth, her lips trembling
against his. He continued the pressure and the circles until her hips thrust
back and forth, rocking her clit into his thumbs in a constant rhythm.

He felt the tension build in her,
felt her excitement escalate. Her breathing deepened and her lips went lax. She
laid her head on his shoulder and put both arms around him. She was nearing her
peak and he wanted to join her, to peel the jeans from her long legs and drive
his cock into her hot wetness.

He shook and his knees grew weak
at the mental image of fucking Kerry, but he managed to restrain himself. Kerry
needed this as a gradual acceptance of their intimacy. If he tried to do more,
the interruption might make her think twice about letting a stranger touch her
like this, and she might refuse any further closeness. Without physical
intimacy, he had little chance of convincing Kerry to travel to another
dimension and marry him.

When
her rhythm increased and little noises escaped her throat, Myghal knew it was
almost time. He gentled the pressure of his thumbs, making her move into him
harder. With only a few more strokes, her hips bucked and he felt her hands
fist in the material of his tunic. She moaned, one long, low vibration that
sounded like the sweetest music he’d ever heard and almost did him in, then her
body went limp against him. He removed one hand and put his arm around her,
caressing the long hank of hair down her back while his other thumb continued
to massage the tender spot.

Gradually,
her hands released his tunic, but she didn’t move from his embrace. After a few
moments, she cleared her throat.

“I-I’m
sorry, I don’t know what—”

“Shhh, don’t be sorry,” he said
soothingly. “I only wanted to make you feel good.”

She
laughed, but it was a small sound and almost ended on a sob. She did pull away
from him, then, wiping her eyes, but not meeting his. “It did feel good,
Myghal. But I don’t know why I let you do that. Especially here, in the middle
of the day. Oh, my God, anybody could have walked in.”

“But
they didn’t,” he said and brushed strands of hair from her face. He placed a
finger under her chin, compelling her to look at him. Her blue eyes were
luminous with tears and her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. He was relieved
to find no regret in her warm gaze.

She drew away from his touch and
stood, a hand on her desk until she was steady. He was still kneeling and his
face was now in an interesting location. If she were naked, he could have
buried his tongue in her pussy easily. She seemed to suddenly become aware of
this and her eyes grew wide. She stepped around and away from him.

He
pushed himself to his feet with difficulty. His stiff cock made maneuvering a
challenge if he didn’t want to hurt himself. His weakened knees threatened to
buckle, and, like Kerry, he used the desk for support until he was sure he
could stand and walk.

“I have
to go…” She waved in the general direction of the restroom. “I—” Then she
kissed him, quickly, but with meaning. “I owe you one.”

Then
she was gone. He was almost in pain from the hard-on, but he grinned. He had
Kerry’s promise to take care of that problem. He just didn’t know when.

Chapter Six

Out of embarrassment, Kerry spent
the rest of the day putting as much distance between Myghal and herself as she
could. He seemed to understand because he spent most of the afternoon outside,
rearranging the plants out there. Every once in a while he caught her watching
him, but he only smiled that incredibly sexy smile, all-knowing but not
arrogant, as if they shared a secret no one else in the world could share.

She supposed that was true. No
one else could know about what he’d done to her that afternoon in her office
chair, that he’d given her the most intense orgasm she’d ever felt. Or perhaps
it just seemed that way because it was him. Didn’t sex seem better when it was
with someone you felt an incredible connection to?

Not if
you’d just met that someone a few hours ago.

But she
had just met Myghal that morning, and she did feel an inexplicable connection
to him, as if he were the missing piece in the jigsaw puzzle she called life.

All
afternoon, she tried to reason with herself. She didn’t really believe in love
at first sight. That worked in old movies, fairy-tales, and romance novels, not
in the real world. In the real world, there was so much to
consider—backgrounds, religion, whether children were wanted, and a million
other things she couldn’t think of off-hand. Properly taking the time to get to
know one another would reveal them.

Then
she would look at Myghal and her heart would race. Every rational thought would
dissolve in the heat of her desire for him. More than desire was impossible
right now, but desire was enough.

Kerry
had put up another sign announcing seventy-five percent off everything and
business had picked up. There was a sporadic stream of customers in and out all
afternoon and many of them actually bought something. She remained open until
long after Sir Plantsalot had closed, hoping to catch people on their way home
from work.

It was
well past sunset and there hadn’t been a customer for half an hour when she
decided to call it a night. She asked Myghal to make sure all the lights were
off in the front building and the greenhouse while she made sure everything was
secured outside. When she finished, they could leave.

As she covered the grounds, she
thought about Myghal. She hadn’t thought much about anything else except him
all day. A customer might distract her for a few moments, but as soon as she
saw him across the lot, she would go all tingly and warm. It had been difficult
to concentrate on selling plants. And became even more difficult when Kerry got
the impression that Myghal expected to go home with her.

Well,
she had practically promised him a hand-job.

She felt her face heat up in
embarrassment…but her body heated up as well. By the size of the bulge in his
britches when the tunic lay tight across his lap, she wouldn’t be disappointed.
As long as he knew how to use it.

She
suspected he knew how to use it very well.

Kerry grinned at the prospect of
experiencing mind-blowing sex later that night.

She’d come full circle and was
standing in front of the toolshed when she remembered about the blown bulb. The
grin faded away. She’d just have to do it tomorrow…in the light of day. So she
could see how to screw it in. Yeah, that excuse worked every time.

She had started up the walkway
toward the greenhouse where Myghal waited when she heard the noise. It sounded
like a pitiful mewing coming from inside the shed. How could a kitten have
gotten in there? She’d only been to the shed twice that day, when she’d changed
the signs, and she hadn’t seen a stray cat all day. She hesitated. The shed had
its back to the nearest outside light, and she only had a penlight with her.
The small beam of light would do little to dispel the darkness within the shed.

Kerry couldn’t leave the kitten
in the shed all night. It was probably cold and hungry. She could call Myghal
to help her, but then she’d have to explain why she needed him to get a tiny
kitten out of her own shed. Well, chances were, when she opened the door the
kitten would run out and streak off into the night. Maybe she didn’t need to
get Myghal at all.

Turning on the penlight, she
approached the shed. Her palms were already slick with sweat, even though the
night air was chill enough for a heavy jacket. She put her hand on the
doorknob, but her fingers just slid around it. She wiped her palm on her jeans
and tried again. This time the knob turned.

She released it and gave the door
a little push to open it wide. She waited, but no tiny ball of fluff shot out
through the door. Then she heard the mewing again. It came from the back of the
shed. The poor thing was probably too frightened to come out.