Always Practice Safe Hex (Stay a Spell, #4)

by Juliette Cross

“Cheers, darling. You’re stuck with me now.”

“You’re defending my womanhood?”

It was the blood of our Varangian ancestry that gave us our sharp-edged bone structure as she called it. The Eastern Romans called them Varangians, the Vikings descending out of what was now Norway in the ninth century. It was one of these ancestors who settled in the medieval state of Kievan Rus’—a territory which was now Ukraine and part of Russia—and who became a Byzantine Varangian Guard. There, he met our ancestral foremother. When he took her by force as his wife, she had no idea she would be the first mother of a grim reaper.

“Why don’t you let me borrow yours, Blackwater?” she asked sweetly, her gaze dropping to my crotch conspicuously. “But only if it’s big enough. I wonder if it would meet my standards.” “Why don’t you come on over and find out.” The words flew out of my mouth without me thinking twice.

Gareth was a mystery wrapped in mystery.

“Are you the spiderman?” I asked, our breaths mingling, mouths inches apart. “No, Lavinia.” He shook his head then dipped closer to me. I was sure he would kiss me, but he skimmed his nose along my jaw until his lips brushed my ear. “You are,” he grated, biting my lobe. “And I’m so fucking caught in your web.”

“You are the goddess,” I rumbled against her skin, scraping my jaw against the silken softness, then I captured her gaze, “And I am your slave.”

“You wore this swimsuit for me.” I made it for you. “Maybe.” He smiled, and my world tilted.

I can’t touch you the way I want when I’m in this state.

“You know that she’s kind, funny, smart, and beautiful. But more than that, your heart is talking when you speak of her. Your soul too. I can feel it down to my bones.”

When a grim finds that special companion, their own lifeblood in another, the darkness won’t ever let them go.”

Sean moved behind the counter and leaned on both forearms. “You guys want to, uh, use the supply closet?”

“What’s this?” I raised our laced hands. His onyx eyes flickered to me and held. “You can let go if you want.” After a few seconds, I whispered, “I don’t want to.”

Maybe the Goddess of Magic and Earth meant him just for me. Because one tiny word kept repeating inside my head. Yes.

“I’ll put it in the prenup,” I teased him. “I won’t take your millions of dollars, and you will shave my pussy with tenderness and affection twice a month.” He sat up straight, setting the razor aside. “Deal, Lavinia.”

You’d have to be a complete idiot not to see how badly Ruben wanted Jules Savoie. How he seemed to surround himself with visions of getting her.

Clara turned a few shades of pink but then she lifted her head and said matter-of-factly, “That’s true. And since I plan to eventually kiss Henry Blackwater, quite often, I want to be sure the experience will give us both pleasure.”

“That sounds like you’re asking me to be your girlfriend, Gareth.” “I’m demanding it.” “Or what?” I laughed. He lifted his head to look down at me. “Or you’ll break my heart.”

I’d break the whole world to be with you.”

“We’ve all got a monster inside us, Gareth. That’s nothing new. It’s just how you use it that matters.”