Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
I slam my eyes shut in embarrassment, pleading with all the gods out there that the Magical Authority Officer who has just transported into the basement with us is not my eldest sister.
Again.
“Good evening?” a slightly bewildered voice says. One that isn’t my sister’s.
I exhale in relief and open my eyes. The woman standing in front of us in an ill-fitting suit, her badge pinned to her lapel, is young, obviously a new recruit – which makes sense for the night shift.
“Hi,” I say as Horatio runs his fingers through his dishevelled hair and swings his gaze from the new intruder to me and back again.
“Who is this?” he asks.
“I’m Magical Enforcement Officer Gertrude Merriweather,” the girl says, standing up straighter and tugging on her jacket. “We registered a sudden and large explosion of magic in the vicinity that I’m here to investigate.”
Horatio’s gaze swings back to me and his eyes narrow. “Did you cheat at table tennis?”
“No!” I say, slightly outraged at the accusation. “I think it was the …” My already flushed cheeks turn a little pinker.
“The …” Gertrude prompts.
“Sexual activity,” I murmur.
“She came,” Horatio says, that proud grin returning to his face. “Pretty spectacularly.”
Gertrude’s face turns as pink as mine must be.
“Oh,” she says, writing something down on her notepad.
Then she pauses mid-scribble, tilting her head to one side and crossing her arms over her chest. “Here?” she says with suspicion.
“In this games room?” She obviously finds that an unlikely explanation.
“On the table tennis table,” Horatio says helpfully, “I ate her out.”
I bury my face in my hands in mortification.
Gertrude hums and I hear her pen working across her notepad again.
“You’re not writing that down, are you?” I screech.
“I’m required by regulation 54, sub-clause 3C to make a note of all the details in the event of an irregular explosion of magic.”
“Dragon’s bollocks,” I mutter.
“Do you need any other details?” Horatio asks helpfully. “Did you need to know how I did it?”
Gertrude shuffles uncomfortably in her shiny shoes. “No, that’s all I need. Apologies for the interruption,” and then she pops right away.
“I can’t believe you told her that. You know she’s going to write it in some report.”
“Has that really never happened before?”
“What, being interrupted mid-hook up by an enforcement officer? No, thank god.”
“Well, that,” he says, “and the magical explosion when you came.”
I peer up at him through my eyelashes. “No, congratulations, sir, it has never happened to me before.” His grin stretches impossibly wide. “You don’t have to look so pleased about it.”
“I am pleased about it,” he says, “very pleased. Wanna see if I can make you do it again?”
Despite the mortifying interruption, that is a very tempting offer. Although, I’m not sure I can physically take any more.
However, I am aware that he’s taken me to heaven and back and I have given him nothing in return.
“Would you like me to see if I can do it to you?” I try to say seductively, smothering a yawn right afterwards.
“I think we’d better get to bed,” he tells me. “It’s 2.30am.”
“But you … and I haven’t …”
“Trust me, Molly, licking you out like that and having you come all over my face, was as enjoyable for me as it was obviously enjoyable for you.”
“Really?” I say chewing on my cheek and not feeling at all convinced.
“One hundred per cent. I’ve been wanting to bury my face in your pussy for months.”
Which is a bit of an exaggeration considering the potion has only been in effect for a handful of days but I’ll allow for the hyperbole given the fact he just made me magically explode.
“Are you sure?” I can’t remember the last time – in fact was there ever a time? – that a guy didn’t expect something in return.
“I’m sure, Molly. I didn’t do that with the expectation of anything at all, just the desire to do it.”
A warm glow spreads through my stomach and out to my fingertips. I really could get used to this feeling of being loved. If only it were real.
Horatio’s hand lingers on the small of my back all the way up the flights of stairs to our bedroom, and it’s still there as the door clicks open and we step inside.
Suddenly the humongous four-poster bed standing in the centre of our room feels like one hell of a big elephant and nerves settle in the pit of my stomach.
Not very long ago, I was kissing this man’s face off. Not so long ago, he had his tongue up my fandango. And yet …
And yet, despite how right this feels, I know that it isn’t. I know I’m a horny little so-and-so who is taking advantage of a nice man – like every naughty witch in every fairytale ever written. And I claimed to Horatio we weren’t like that.
And so I take a decided step away from him and make a dash for my suitcase, plucking out the oversized pair of pyjamas I’ve packed for the occasion.
“Do you mind if I use the bathroom first?”
“Go ahead,” he says.
In the bathroom, I try my best to make myself look as unattractive as I can.
The baggy pyjamas help, so does scrubbing off all the makeup and tying my hair up into a messy top-knot.
Unfortunately my skin is probably the clearest it’s ever been and my hair isn’t at all greasy but it’s the best I can do.
I consider not brushing my teeth in the hope my breath might be sour by now but that’s a step too far and once I’ve brushed, rinsed and gurgled, I realise I’m stalling and pluck up the courage to step back out there.
Horatio isn’t dressed in pyjamas like I hoped. In fact, he’s tied one of the hotel’s fluffy robes around his body, leaving me wondering if he’s wearing anything at all underneath.
He stands there staring at me and I wait for his lips to curl and for him to take a decided step away from me in horror. He doesn’t, he steps right towards me.
“You look so adorably cute. I want to eat you out all over again, Molly.”
“No!” I yelp, holding out my hand to stop him. “I … I’ve just completed a very complicated nighttime beauty routine and you cannot ruin it.” I place my bundle of clothes back in my suitcase and point towards the bathroom. “It’s all yours.”
He gives me a bemused look but picks up his stuff and heads for the bathroom.
Once he’s safely inside, I dive right back into the comfortable bed, building a pillow fort right down the middle, then turning onto my side and switching out the light.
When he emerges a few minutes later, I pretend I’m asleep, listening to him pad across the room and then climb into the bed beside me, the mattress shifting as he does.
It doesn’t take long for Horatio to fall asleep (which considering how hard he was working between my thighs, is unsurprising), leaving me lying there wide awake berating myself because I’m literally giving him the cold shoulder after he gave me the best orgasm of my life.
But it’s for the best right?
He’s not really my boyfriend and he certainly isn’t really in love with me.