Resting Witch Face (Stay a Spell, #5)

by Juliette Cross

Heaven help me. We’d crossed the line to lovers on Tuesday. I could hardly imagine my mental state after weeks, months…years of falling deeper under his spell.

I wasn’t the witch here; he was. He didn’t know how far I’d fallen because I refused to tell him. I was out-of-my-mind obsessed, and the realization was both immensely wonderful and intensely terrifying.

he wouldn’t bite me. I’d forbidden him to do it. Still…that less-than-lucid part of me wished he would. Wished he’d take the choice away and give me his ultimate pleasure.

“Let me see those eyes,” he murmured against my mouth, his own shining pure silver in the semi-dark. A frenzied predator intent on his prey, his powerful magic electrified the air. “Yes, my darling,” he rumbled deep and beastly.

Laying on top of me, he cupped my cheeks, fingers edging into my hair, holding my gaze with that intense expression that made me nervous and giddy at the same time.

No one had ever looked at me the way Ruben Dubois did. He saw past my solemn mask and cool exterior to the warmest, brightest heart of me. When he looked at me like this, I was left feeling raw and vulnerable, and lost. I think he knew it, which was why he also seemed to know when to lighten the mood.

“Don’t move.” “If I don’t, I might make a mess on your sofa.” He rolled his eyes. “I’ll buy another one.”

The desperate longing I glimpsed in Beverly’s eyes today had nearly eaten me alive with jealousy but now only made me sick with pity. I recognized that longing within myself.

This frenzied yearning I had for Ruben hadn’t been quenched by finally giving in to our desires. It was growing stronger, rolling like an avalanche, and I was afraid I’d be crushed beneath its powerful force before this was over.

During sex, he liked to scrape his canines but he never broke the skin. He wanted to bite me. I’ve seen it in the rolling silver of his eyes. And I wanted him to bite me too. The compulsion was frighteningly potent, demanding that I bend my neck back and let him drink his fi...

I’d noticed that the boundaries I’d set years ago were starting to erode. Not only that, they were being crossed, not specifically by him. He wasn’t doing anything but being...Ruben. It was me. And the devastatingly powerful pull he still had on me had me gulping nervously.

The walls I’d erected and the distance I’d kept over the years had been enough to contain my fixation and keep those feelings at bay. But now, as he stood merely a foot behind me, definitely watching me, my entire body shook with a tremor of warning.

My sweet family. Being the eldest always felt so hard—and came with sacrifices they’d never know, sacrifices I didn’t want to burden them with—but I was more than willing to make them. To take the weight of responsibility, so we had moments like this. So they found the joy they deserved.

Still, it didn’t mean I couldn’t find happiness of my own. A partner of my own. I’d tried, but no one compared to the vampire overlord dripping with power and charisma, who I’d endeavored not to notice staring at me across the canopy.

Maybe I should try again. Seeing the utter joy between Isadora and Devraj made me want to find my someone. One who wouldn’t erase my will altoget...

I did too, laughing with a lump in my throat until my attention slipped, and I looked at Ruben. Big mistake. I’d been so intent on not looking at him that it was only then that I realized his long-embroidered jacket matched my champagne-colored one.

or future boyfriend for Clara because you’d have to be blind not to see where things were headed with Henry Blackwater—stunned

Then again, the way he was looking at me right now didn’t feel very ex. He hadn’t looked at me quite like that in years.

How was I to go on this long business trip abroad and resist him at every turn?

Except for Clara, who was facing Henry and whispering something up to his scowling face. Whatever she had said made his frown disappear, and she turned to stand in front of him to line up perfectly with the rest of the wedding party.

This wasn’t fucking funny. I just hadn’t prepared myself for all of the emotions today. And to be bombarded with that grim’s aura while Ruben was practically on top of me…

“Sal should know better.” “What does that mean?” Okay, the small frown morphed into a death glare. “Are you being serious?” “We aren’t dating, Ruben. We haven’t dated for many years now. What does it matter? Sal can ask if there’s a chance.”

“Wait a minute. Are you saying you’d give him a chance?” There was a menacing threat in that question that gave me a moment’s hesitation.

“You can’t tell your employees who they can and can’t date.” “The hell I can. When it comes to you.” His gaze glinted silver then skated over my throat and bodice before returning to my face. His voice was a dark rumble when he said, “I’d bury him in a shallow grave if he even tried.”

For a second, I simply blinked. I’d never heard him sound so possessive, not even when we were actually together. Something was shifting. Time to lighten the mood.

“What? You wonder what, Juliana?” he snapped impatiently. He was suddenly too close, but I didn’t back away. I wasn’t going to be cowed by Ruben, no matter what state of dampness my panties were currently in.

“And have you always kept it?” He crowded me against the bar. “Except when I dated my boss once upon a time. I’d break every rule for her.” Oh, hell. That wasn’t where I was going with this. And where had that come from?

I wonder if you finally ended up letting her have what she wanted. After all, we stopped dating years ago, and you’ve kept her around. Surely, you let her scratch that itch she’d wanted so badly.”

I’d all but admitted I still had jealous feelings about Beverly. Even if I’d tried to keep my voice light and playful, it was so obvious. And you can only be jealous over something, or in this case someone, you covet.

I expected him to laugh or for that wicked smile to spread wider across his beautiful face, but the exact opposite occurred. His eyes widened in shock—and hurt. He looked as if I’d slapped him, and I found myself wanting to apologize. But I wasn’t even sure what for. I’d only asked a simple question. Then he gave me the answer.

Tipping his head down to me, piercing me with a razor-sharp gaze, he whispered, “If that’s what you believe, then you know nothing at all. You don’t know me at all.” I swallowed hard while he continued to torture me with ...

For twelve years, Jules has been remote, professional, and impersonal in all of our conversations.

She actually believed that I’d drink from her or fuck her after I knew the mere idea of it had hurt her when we were together?

The first time I’d also considered finding a cold, dark crypt in the ground to while away a few decades.

I was forced to lock my knees so they wouldn’t buckle or I wouldn’t do something suicidal like snatch her and trace away to my bedroom with her.

Obsessed, stupefied, besotted. None of them quite measured up to the truth, to the emotion that had wrapped an iron fist around my heart at the sight of her tonight. I wasn’t sure there had been a word yet created that could define what I felt for Juliana. The worst part of all is she had no idea.

But it meant more to me because it was an excuse to hold the woman who belonged to me and who’d rejected me twelve years ago.

As my best friend for centuries, he was the one I’d confessed to the moment I had met Jules. He understood her significance in my life, and he’d also been the only one to understand the depth of her loss when she had ended it.

Sal. What the ever-loving fuck was he thinking by hitting on Jules? The man truly wished to die before his hundredth birthday.

If he thought because I hadn’t shown any outright interest in Juliana for over a decade that I’d given up and had moved on, I’d have to set things fucking straight.

I relished the idea that pretty damn soon, she wouldn’t be able to run away from me at all.

“She needed space.” More than space. I can’t trust you.

Being near her has been enough.” “Is it still enough?” Devraj turned to face me, but my gaze wouldn’t leave Juliana. “You can’t let it go any longer,” he murmured, an edge of pity in his tone.

I wanted nothing more than to soak in the dawning awareness sliding across her delicate facial features that something had changed between us.

I was no longer going to play nice and give her space. I was done waiting for her to realize she could trust me. As her only lover. As her partner in life. As her devoted mate.

It was time to erase the space between us and hunt her, woo her, worship her the way she was mea...

I wanted her aware and ready for what was coming. She didn’t ask me what I meant because she knew.

It was finally time to make Juliana Savoie mine.

Right now, there was only one thing on my mind. Or rather, one vampire.

I didn’t even try to pretend that I wasn’t cooking my favorite comfort food because I did, indeed, need comfort. Time’s up, Juliana. Ruben’s deep, velvet-smooth voice rang in my mind like it had a thousand times since he’d said those words to me last night at the reception.