Not Your Ex's Hexes (Supernatural Singles, #2)(54)

Her eyes darted nervously away from his, breaking contact.

“Hey.” Catching her chin, he gently eased her attention back to him. “What did I say that sent you running away just now? I was kidding about the audience thing … for the most part.”

“I’m not running. I’m standing in the same spot.”

He frowned. “Rose…”

She sighed, looking pained. “I don’t know what things turn me on … other than a select few.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“I may have given you the wrong idea about my sexual dance card with my whole fuck me now spiel.” Rose nibbled her bottom lip before he saved it with a gentle brush of his thumb. “My experiences could be called lackluster at best. Monotonous at worst. Present orgasm-donor excluded, of course.”

He considered his words carefully, and not like he wanted details, but … “Your ex…”

“Was a narcissist in every way and in every context imaginable. Mr. Wiggles has been my best friend ever since I lost my virginity to David Hahn.”

Damian’s anger dragged his inner demon closer to the surface.

With a firm tug, he pulled her snugly into his raging hard-on. “Well, I can guaran-damn-tee that the only reason you’ll be using Mr. Wiggles while you’re with me is if we want to bring him out of your drawer for a little experimenting. It’s now my personal mission to make you come at least twice before I even think about getting my own rocks off … and that’ll happen with your third.”

Her eyebrows lifted, as did her smirking mouth. “Three times? That’s ambitious.”

“Three times is nothing, little witch. More than likely, it’ll be double that amount by the time we’re both unable to keep going. Should I tell Miguel and Terry to take off for the day so I can give you a personal demonstration of my ambition level?”

“While I’m tempted to say yes and take you up on that offer, I have someplace to be and I can’t reschedule.”

“You’re passing up six orgasms for…?”

“Dinner with my sisters, and some long-overdue sister talk … and then there are a few other things I need to do.” Her gaze drifted away again.

He studied her carefully. She wasn’t telling him everything. “You sure that’s all it is?”

“Just have a lot of different thoughts occupying my headspace right now. It’s what usually happens after surviving one of my mother’s dinner parties.” She smiled, but this time it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “My mom’s been taken over by a pod person and that pod decided she wants grandchildren.”

Damian chuckled, playing with a strand of her hair. “Grandchildren, huh?”

“She even invited the perfect son-in-law. Handsome. Smart. Connected. And your brother.”

His fingers froze on her cheek as a heavy knot swelled in his stomach. “Your mother set you up with Julius?”

“Tried and failed, miserably.”

“Did he spend the entire night talking about himself and all his accomplishments?”

“We actually spent most of it talking about you.” She nibbled her bottom lip again, looking hesitant. “You didn’t tell me about the hex.”

He froze.

All thoughts. All movement. It wasn’t until Rose spoke again that he remembered he could do either. He released his hold on her and stepped back, creating much-needed physical distance. The hurt on her face when she registered it was impossible to miss, and damn if he didn’t want to take it away.

Instead, he stayed put. “I didn’t, and for a reason. It has no bearing on anything we’re doing.”

“No bearing?”

He shook his head. “This FBA means no attachments, right? No attachment means no involved feelings. No feelings means I’m not obligated to talk about what happened a million years ago.”

“To talk about the fact that some witch hexed you…” She looked at him as if he had two heads. “And you’re okay with that? With never experiencing more?”

Damian tugged a frustrated hand through his hair before tossing the remaining fencing supplies into the back of the truck in hopes of escaping this conversation. “It’s not like I have any other choice. It was a Soul Hex. There’s no going back from that even if the witch who performed it wanted to, which I can assure you she doesn’t.”

He’d asked multiple times before Cal made it clear she wasn’t about to make his life easier until he learned his lesson … whatever that lesson was. He’d even sought out other witches in the hopes that they’d be able to remove it, but if there was one thing his ex was, besides magically talented, it was thorough.

No one had the power to break it. It was something with which he’d had to come to grips.

Rose followed him to the truck, obviously not giving up. “That doesn’t make it right, Damian.”

“Nope.” He slammed the tailgate closed before turning to see her hands propped on her hips, fury lighting up her eyes. “But it is what it is. There’s nothing to do but accept it and move on with my life. If that’s something you can’t do, then we don’t have to go any further here.”

She blinked, startled by his suggestion. “You want to end our arrangement?”