Not Your Ex's Hexes (Supernatural Singles, #2)(109)

“I love you, Rose Maxwell.” His admission made her knees knock together. “I never had a chance to do otherwise because you’re it for me. My match. My conscience. My beating heart and my next breath. I didn’t realize it until you weren’t there. When you walked out of that barn, you took my heart with you. Because you are my heart.”

Tears filled her eyes as she flicked a glance back at Callie. “I don’t understand. The hex…”

Callie smiled regretfully. “Not even the witch who casts a Soul Hex can break it.”

Rose whipped her head back to Damian, frantic. “Then you need to take it back. Now. I won’t be responsible for bringing you that kind of unhappiness.”

He shook his head, swallowing audibly. “I’ll never take it back, and Callie can’t break the hex because I was the only person who could do it.”

“I don’t understand.”

“The only thing that can break a Soul Hex is knowingly, and willingly, succumbing to it. Go all in. To put everything on the line, with no guarantee of a happy ending. To keep my heart, I had to risk my heart.”

Callie stage-whispered from the sidewalk, “He had to create a grand gesture.”

Tears clouded Rose’s vision. “You hate grand gestures. You don’t see the point of them, or what’s so great about them.”

She used his earlier words against him, and judging by his sly smirk, he realized it. “I didn’t then, but I do now. I realize so much more than I ever had before, and not only how wrong I was, but how empty my heart was until I met you. No way could I lose my heart and soul to a teenage hex … because they’re not mine to give away, little witch. They’re yours.”

Rose lost the war with her welling tears. One fell, and then a second. Fat rivulets dripped down her face, turning her into a soggy, snotty mess. She was not a pretty crier.

Damian’s hands cupped her face, thumbs gently rubbing all her fluids away as he dropped his forehead onto hers. “Every really cold inch of me is yours, Rose Maxwell. You’ll make me the happiest Dr. McGrumpy Pants in this realm and in every other if you say there’s even a chance we can have a future together.”

“There’s not a chance,” Rose whispered through her tears. Damian’s worried eyes searched hers, and she gifted him a watery smile. “There’s only one hundred percent certainty because I love you, Damian Adams. I love your grumpiness, and your dry humor. I love the way you care for those who can’t care for themselves. I’ll gladly own your heart if you accept mine in exchange.”

“Now that’s a deal I’ll happily make.”

Their mouths clashed in a kiss Rose felt right down to her soul. Her Magic flared bright, wrapping around them in swirls of pink and covering them like a warm blanket.

But it wasn’t the only thing linking them.

Rose chuckled as Damian’s gaze landed on the obvious golden link connecting their bodies … and their hearts. “Is that what I think it is?”

Rose nibbled her bottom lip nervously. “If you think it’s a soul mate link, then yes. Guess you were more right than you thought, doc. We really do hold each other’s hearts in our hands.”

And it was a gift that not even an ex’s hex could take away.





Epilogue

Bella and Cusack—named after the actor who took part in one of Rose’s favorite cinematic grand gestures—yipped excitedly as they bolted through the two-bedroom Harlem apartment, the mom-and-son duo chasing each other from room to room.

Rose laughed at their antics and tucked yet another box of Olive’s belongings into Bax’s spare bedroom—strike that.

Olive’s new bedroom.

As much as her little sis had delayed it, she hadn’t been able to hold Bax at bay for very long. It was finally moving day and everyone had shown up not only to provide physical labor, but to make sure the witch didn’t keep driving over the bridge and end up renting some place in Jersey.

“Here’s another box of books.” Damian tucked his box with all the others in the corner. “That makes like twelve boxes of books and I’ve yet to see anything else … like clothing.”

Olive stepped into the room with a medium-sized duffel and dropped it onto the unmade bed. “Here. Clothing. You happy?”

Rose and Damian chuckled as they watched her exit the room.

Taking Rose off guard, Damian hauled her into a hot, hard kiss that nearly melted her from the inside out.

She curled into him happily. “Not that I’m complaining, but what did I do to deserve that? I ask so that I can keep doing it again, and again.”

“Then keep being you, little witch.” Damian grinned mischievously. “Do you think we can sneak in a quickie if we close this door and pretend no one’s home? There’s a bed right here.”

“Like hell you will, Damian Adams!” Olive poof’d into appearance right next to them, a horrified look on her face. She glanced at her bed as if to make sure they hadn’t already started. “I’ve already accepted the fact I’ll have to listen to sexcapades, but I will not have them occur in my own freaking bedroom.”

“Sexcapades?” Bax came in with one of the last boxes. “Who’s having sexcapades?”

“You.” Olive glared at him. “And Damian and Rose.”