Witch's Wrath (Blood And Magick #3)(27)

Jared looked over his shoulder and smiled fondly. “He likes it here, and I like the company.”

The imp beamed, its rat tail swishing happily from side to side. “I leaves you now,” he said, “But I sees you again soon, monkey witch.”

“He hasn’t gotten bored of calling me that, has he?” I asked after the imp left.

“Don’t worry about it. He means it affectionately.”

“What time is it?”

Jared checked his watch. “A little after five.”

“Five!” I sat up. “We slept in until five?”

“You slept in until five. I got us beignets.”

I wasn’t sure I would have smelled them had he not mentioned them, but I caught a whiff of the delicious pastries now, and my stomach grumbled. “Oh, that does smell good.”

Jared brought the paper bag to the bed and let it sit on the side. He smiled, a little at first, and then widely. He didn’t have to tell me what the smile was about. One peek beneath the sheets, at my nakedness, and the sweet memories of what we had done—what we had spent all night and much of the morning doing—came flooding up.

“Could you pass me my dress?” I asked, a little more sheepishly than I would have liked.

He got up, walked over to the armchair in the corner of the room, and brought my dress to me. I slipped into it beneath the sheets, then emerged feeling a little more decent. I immediately started biting into a beignet, savoring the doughy, sugary goodness and letting nothing but the present moment exist around me. No vampires, no Tamara, no Remy—just Jared and beignets.

“Have you been up for long?” I asked, licking the excess powdered sugar off my lips.

“About an hour or so,” he said, “You looked so peaceful I didn’t have the heart to wake you. And we slept right through lunch, so getting you something to eat seemed like the right thing to do.”

“Seconded. I didn’t know how hungry I was until you said beignet.”

“Can’t blame you.” There was that smile again; the smile I couldn’t look at directly, but also couldn’t look away from. “Listen, we don’t have to talk about what happened if it’ll make things weird.”

I shook my head. “It’s not weird. I knew what I was doing.”

“And how do you feel?”

I thought about it, because I didn’t want to answer him half-heartedly, or disingenuously. I really thought about what had happened, how it had happened, and how many times it had happened, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized it was exactly what I had wanted for a long time. A long time. Ever since the first kiss we shared, I had wanted this, only I had been too… what, afraid? Looking at him now, at the way the sunlight framed his face, left me wondering what in the hell I was afraid of. Jared was a good guy, and this, sitting here with him, didn’t just feel good, it felt right.

“I feel better than I’ve felt in a long time,” I said, reaching for his hand.

Jared took it. “You mean that?”

“I do. Do you think I’d lie to you?”

“No. I don’t. It’s just…” He held my gaze, and in that instant, it was as if the whole world had taken a breath and held it. The birds stopped chirping, the wind stopped whispering, and the heat lost its power over me. “I’m all in, Madison,” he said. “All in.”

“You… are?”

“I am, and I know it’s a lot to ask so soon, but I need to know if you are too.”

The world kept waiting to breathe, and with every second that passed, every second that went by where I didn’t reply to him, I felt like I was killing the world; depriving it of the air it needed to breathe. Jared too. And I didn’t want that. I wanted him, and it was time he knew it.

“I’m all in too,” I said. “I’m sorry it took me so long to—”

“No,” he said, “No apologies. I’m just glad we’re here. You’re the most important thing in my life right now. You have been ever since we met.”

My heart was starting to swell. “You really feel that way?”

“I do. I never had anyone growing up; no one who was good to me, anyway. I thought that would continue for the rest of my life… because of what I am.”

I reached for his face, now, and ran my thumb across his lip before cupping his cheek. “What you are doesn’t mean anything. You’re you, and you’re here with me, and that’s all that matters.”

Jared took my hand and kissed it, then he brushed my hair out of my face and kissed my forehead. “I got you a cup of coffee, too,” he said, “Do you want it?”

“Oh, yes please, I could really do with the pick-me-up.”

He smiled and stood up, then went to fetch me my coffee from the living room. For a short while after that, we just ate beignets and talked about random, mundane things. He told me about work, I told him about my next book and how I hadn’t been very good at keeping up with the writing. I told him I had thought about what he said last night, and thought that maybe we could go somewhere after all—somewhere with a beach and a hammock, where I could write and he could finally read my books. I hadn’t had a vacation in years. Jared hadn’t had a vacation his entire life.

When six thirty rolled around, Jared came back into the bedroom wearing his leather jacket. I had gotten out of bed once or twice, but had always run right back to it—and not just because I couldn’t find my underwear. His bed was more comfortable than mine and… I guess it smelled like us, and I didn’t want that to stop. The moment that stopped, real life would happen again, and real life sucked right now.