That Touch of Magic (25 page)

He raised his eyes to mine. “What’s the backup plan?”

I hesitated a moment, knowing this wasn’t going to go over well. “Me.”

Leo didn’t seem to react much. “What does that mean?”

“It means … the one thing we have over Desmond is that we know how the magic evolves. It’s the emotional supply—”

“No,” he said, his voice firm.

“—and if I can develop my power—”

“Out of the question. That’s what put your mother in the hospital, pushing that magic. And you only have enough vials to keep her going for a week. If both of you are pushing it—”

“What else am I going to do?” I said. “I can’t give him my mother. I’m certainly not going to give him Clementine, or Ms. Troudt. I made this mess. It’s my job to clean it up.”

“You think I’m going to let him just take you? Do you think there’s a universe in which that would ever,
ever
happen?”

“I don’t think it’s your call,” I said, keeping my voice as even as I could.

“Yeah, it is,” he said, slamming one hand on the table and pointing the other toward the door. “I’m your source. If I walk out that door—”

“If you walk out that door, that monster takes my mother,” I said quietly.

He opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it again. He ran his hands through his hair and said, “I hate this.”

“Me, too,” I said. “But right now, he’s how the four of us are going to stay alive, so let’s focus on that.”

“Okay,” Leo said. “You’ve got some vials. You think there’s any way you could reverse-engineer that formula? Maybe buy us some more time?”

I shook my head. “I’m nowhere near that level. There’s a friend of Liv’s, though, a guy named Cain. He’s a conjurer, the one who got me started. He’s smart, and he knows way more about this stuff than I do. He might be able to do that. Maybe.”

Leo stared at me for a long time, then said, “You’ve thought this through, then.”

“Yeah. But … that’s only a temporary solution. What we need is that cure.” I sighed and ran my hands through my hair. “Right now, I’ve got six vials left. I’ll have to give one to Cain to try to figure out what it is. If I push my magic, I’m going to end up needing to take some, too, and assuming we can keep Clementine and Ms. Troudt away from their sources, then we’ve got about three, maybe four days to figure out what we’re going to do before the Widow and I need more. And once we’re that desperate, the game is over. We’ve lost.”

Leo was frozen so still, for a moment I wondered if he was even breathing. “We can’t lose.”

I touched his arm. “We won’t.”

“Yeah? You can guarantee that?”

“No, Leo. Of course I can’t. We don’t know anything, and what we think we know could be wrong. But … fuck it. The world could get hit by an asteroid tomorrow. The super volcano could blow and make one big Pompeii out of North America. Aliens could land and destroy the White House.”

He shook his head, a warning look in his eyes. “Don’t make light of this. Please.” He picked up our coffee mugs, stood up, and dumped them in the sink.

I got up and leaned against the table, staring at his back. “I’m not making light of any of this. I’m just saying … this is what we have. We can bury our heads, or we can try something and see what happens.”

He was quiet for a long time, then said, “You can’t go with him.”

“I don’t want to go with him, but I need to work every angle to make sure that doesn’t happen, and I need your help to do that.” I moved forward and put my hand on his chest. “Besides, it could be fun.”

He gave me a pained look. “Stop.”

I trailed my hand up his chest, over his neck, sliding my fingers into his hair. “Desire’s the only thing left on the list, Leo.”

He took my hand in his and pulled it down, holding it away from him. “You want me to fuck you until you burst into flames? That it?”

“No,” I said, keeping my eyes on his. “I want you to make love to me because I love you.”

Our eyes met and I could see the conflict in his, the love and the caring and the connection we always had. I moved closer, twining our fingers together.

“I have loved you every day of my life, Leo North, and I will love you until the day I die. If that day is coming sooner than I originally thought it would, then I don’t have time to waste with this bullshit dance anymore.” I pressed my body against his, kissed his neck, and whispered in his ear. “I want you because I have always wanted you, only you.”

“Shit!” Leo dropped my hand and shook his own out. I looked at my hand; the ropes of red smoke were starting to form.

“Oh, God, I’m sorry,” I said.

Leo laughed. “Well, I guess we figured out what it is that gets you fired up.”

“Are you okay? Your hands…”

He shook his head. “Don’t worry about it.” He put his hands on either side of my face and pulled me to him for a kiss, then looked me in the eye. “I love you.”

Happiness mixed with fear and I started to shake. “I know.”

“I need you to know that,” he said. “This isn’t just about sex for me. It’s you, and you are everything to me. You have to know that.”

“I know.”

“Good.” And then his hands were on the buttons of my jeans. “Someone has to keep his head here,” he said quietly, tucking his thumbs inside my jeans and underwear. “I’m running this show, okay?” He slid my jeans off and lifted me, bare-assed, onto the table.

“Okay,” I said, breathless, holding my hands out and watching them as the ropes of smoke started to intensify and move faster. Leo put his leg between my knees, nudging them apart.

“What about you?” I asked, motioning toward him. “You’re still dressed.”

“Don’t worry about me,” he said, then took my face in his hands and kissed me, hard, his tongue demanding my mouth with power and certainty. He grabbed my ass and pressed me against him, allowing me to feel him hard under his jeans. I groaned into his mouth as the core of me melted into him.

“Oh, God,” I said when he pulled away. My eyes fluttered open, and I could see waves of heat distorting the air around my hands.

He touched my chin and turned me to face him. “If it becomes too much, you tell me to stop. If you start to feel weak or dizzy—”

“Stop talking,” I said, and kissed him. I could feel my heartbeat, warm and throbbing where we touched, and then he moved down my body, laying kisses on my collarbone, on my breasts through my T-shirt, and finally—

“Oh, my
God,
” I said as he shifted me under him, laying me on my back and pulling my thighs up to rest on his shoulders. I held my hands out in the air, careful to keep my eyes open, watching the heat radiating from me as his tongue gently opened me up. I swallowed and watched the ropes of smoke as they danced over my hands, starting down my arms.

“Leo,” I said, and he looked up. The cool air from his absence made my stomach tighten with desire, and the ropes moved up my forearm, toward my elbow.

“Control it,” he said, his breath warm on my stomach as he spoke. “Focus.”

I met his eyes and nodded. “Okay.” I looked at my hands, wrapped my mind around the power, and the ropes of smoke pulled back toward my wrist.

He kept his eyes on mine as he went down again, and I held the contact, watching him as he adored me with his mouth, and then I slowly pulled my eyes away, looking at my hands.

Focus.
The waves of heat intensified at my palms, and the air around my lower arms began to look normal again.

He slid one finger inside me and I groaned and closed my eyes.
Oh, God, yes.
I writhed under his touch, pushing myself against his tongue, and he withdrew.

“Stacy,” he said, his voice quiet but tense, and I opened my eyes again. The ropes of smoke were moving down my wrists again.

“I can’t,” I said, arching my back to slide closer to him. “I need you … I can’t…”

“You can,” he said, and slid one finger back inside. “Focus.”

He moved his finger lightly, curling it toward my stomach, and a bolt of heat shot through me, making me quiver.

“I want you,” I said, breathless. “I want all of you.”

“You’ll have me,” he said, letting the breath from his words dance over my wetness. “Control it.”

I let out a breath and looked at my hands.
Focus. Control.
He slid a second finger inside at the same time as he moved his tongue and a flame shot out from my left palm, just the palm. Leo raised his head, but I said, “Keep going,” and he did, moving faster with the rhythm of my hips. I held out my right hand and he used his teeth and I hollered and shot flame out of my right palm, dissipating into the air. The ropes were gone; this was just me, my power, under my control.

Mine.

Leo looked up at me. “Good girl. How are you feeling?”

“Like I’m going to kill you if you don’t take off your pants,” I said.

He grinned at me. “I thought I told you I was in charge here.” He moved his fingers inside me, making me tighten around his fingers as I fell farther, closer …

“Oh, fuck,” I said, and released a breath on the verge of climax, holding back, controlling. “I need you. Now.”

I heard the rip of a condom wrapper, and when I looked up, his pants were off.

“About damn time.” I let my head fall back, waiting, but there was nothing but cold air on me, and I lifted my head to see him stroking himself, watching me.

“How long is that going to take?”

“I’m ready,” he said, his face flushed. “But I need something from you first.”

“What?”

He put his hand on the flat of my stomach, and I could feel the hardness of him moving against me, not entering, just poised, making me insane with the need of him. He reached for my face, and with one finger gently angled my head to look at my right hand.

“You’re not ugly,” he said, and entered me, just a little. “Say the words.”

“Leo,” I said in breathless complaint as he teased me.

“Say it,” he said, his voice firm, “and mean it…”

“I’m not…,” I began, but the voice in my head said,
Yes, you are.

“Mean it,” Leo said, pushing a little farther into me, but still not near enough.

“I … I can’t … I’m … oh, God, this is cruel.”

He leaned his body over mine, still holding back, making me insane with need for him. He put his cheek against mine, angling both of our faces toward the flame coming from my hand, and then he turned his head and nibbled at my collarbone. I arched against him, dying for him, but he pulled back.

“I know you better than anyone in this world,” he said. “I’ve loved you, all of you, every day of my life. I’m inside you. I have looked at you more than anyone on this earth and I know. Trust me. You are not ugly.”

I looked at him, and our eyes met, and I saw all the love, the need, the honesty in him. He was telling the truth. All I had to do was trust him more than I trusted anyone else, even myself.

It was easy.

“I’m not ugly,” I whispered, and within a second Leo pushed fully inside me and I screamed with the pleasure of it as the flame in my open hand burst out. I angled it away from Leo, sending the flame into the air, where it dissipated harmlessly.

He pushed in again, a sound of pleasure coming deep from his throat, and I clenched around him.

“Oh, please,” I whispered, and he kissed me on my cheek, then turned his head to watch the flame with me as he slowly, so slowly, moved within me.

“Control it,” he whispered, and began to move faster.

I took in a deep breath, and closed my right hand, finger by finger, into a fist, pulling the heat in, making it mine. The fire curled into my hand and disappeared as my hand closed.

“What are you?” he asked, kissing my neck and pushing himself into me.

“Beautiful,” I said, and laughed. I could feel the power in my hand, but I had it locked down, locked within, ready to burst free only when I told it to.

He took one finger and angled my chin until my eyes locked on his. “True, but not the answer I was looking for.” He withdrew, almost to the point of leaving me, and I whined.

“No, finish me,” I begged, and he moved my chin until I was looking at my left hand.

“Tell me you’re not vicious,” he whispered, moving back into me so slowly, too slowly. I arched my back against him and he reached between us, where we connected, and moved his fingers against me as he pushed inside.

“Tell me,” he said.

“I’m not vicious,” I breathed, looking at my left hand. Leo pushed into me, working up the rhythm again, and I watched as flame began to shoot from my hand. I concentrated on the power, commanded it to be mine, as I slowly closed my left hand into a fist. I held the wave off, slowly closing my left hand, pulling the power into me, making it mine.

I dropped my head back against the table and laughed. “Ha! I did it!”

He cupped his hand under my head and lifted me until I looked at him. Between us, he pressed his other hand against me as he pushed the full length of himself inside and I gasped, allowing myself to feel it all, to hold nothing back.

“Now,” I whispered. “Finish me.”

He went still. “Tell me what you are.”

“Frustrated,” I said, and laughed a little as I writhed beneath him.

He smiled and used both hands to shift my hips beneath him, pushing into me. I cried out, and he leaned down, putting his lips next to my ear.

“You’re powerful,” he whispered. “Say it.”

“I’m powerful,” I said, feeling the words rush into me even as his rhythm picked up, as though each thrust sent the message home, into my core, where it could never be touched by anything anyone said to me, ever again.

“Say it again,” he said, his voice breathless as he moved inside me.

“I’m powerful,” I said.

“And mine,” he said through clenched teeth as he pushed harder and faster. “God, Stacy, please. Say you’re mine.”

“I’m yours,” I said. “I have always been yours.”

“Mine,” he said, moving faster, pushing harder, reaching places within me I hadn’t known were there.

“Yes!”
I screamed as colored light exploded behind my eyelids. My orgasm hit in waves and he held me tight and released himself into me, the slow bursts from him keeping my climax afloat in the air longer, making me cry out again and again until I fell back on the table, grateful for the cold linoleum against my steaming skin. He fell over me, using his elbows to hold himself up even as his head dropped between my breasts. I opened my hands; there was no red smoke, no distorted air. The heat was gone, controlled, and I wrapped my arms around him, holding him to me.