The Entanglement of Rival Wizards (Magic and Romance, #1)

by Sara Raasch

It would be so easy to make each and every one of his piercings turn molten and sizzle right through his face.

Elethior rolls his chair closer to my screen. It puts him right next to me, his rich, earthy cologne nebulous in the air. His thigh touches mine. Warmth blazes from the base of my neck down to my lower back and I rip my leg away.

I’d ordinarily put it in a document on my laptop, but we’re collaborating, and I’m vehemently pretending I’m not now overly aware of Elethior in the lab. Gods-damned brain had to go and fuck up my already fragile truce with him by realizing, shit, he does have nice arms.

“They’re, uh—” Elethior rubs the back of his neck, flexing that gods-damned bicep. “They’re for Nick.”

“I’m leaving your snake business alone, so you don’t get to mock me for Nick’s name. Besides, I was drunk, and it seemed fitting.” Elethior chuckles one more time but waves his hand in surrender. “Fine. It’s added to our truce.” His smile is too soft.

He smiles at me. Smiles. Not smirks, not grimaces. “Good. Okay. Thanks. Perfect.” Too many monotone words in a row but my hands can’t burrow any deeper into Orok’s sleeves, and running out of the room isn’t an option.

We hop-skip-jumped right over professional and into camaraderie, and no part of me is okay with that. He was only supposed to be another greedy, power-hungry Tourael. He wasn’t supposed to buy treats for my fox. I drop my phone, pull out one of my own books, and research nothing that sticks in my brain.

Kissing Elethior Tourael should be as catastrophic as the worst thing I’ve done. And it is. But it’s not a bad catastrophe, and I never knew, never fucking knew that calamities could be wondrous, too.

Fine. He wants time? He gets exactly—I do some quick math—twenty-two hours and seventeen minutes. After that, he’s mine, for the rest of our miserable lives, and he’s just going to have to deal with it.