Chapter 8 #2
Malcolm bent over the bathtub and scrubbed Hades’s fur with a gentle baby shampoo safe for animals until it bubbled up.
Hades licked the air as a few big bubbles danced around his nose.
Next, Malcolm poured a cup of warm water on the kitten, who mewled in protest. Her little pink tongue curled in disgust and her whiskers trembled with her tiny fury.
“Sorry, munchkin,” he murmured as he soaked the kitten and then scrubbed her into a little ball of lavender scented foam.
Then he washed both animals clean. Hades danced around under the big towel as Malcolm dried him off.
Malcolm picked up a small towel and removed the drenched, crying kitten away from the tub and wrapped her up in the cloth.
He rubbed her gently with the towel until she was a dry little ball of fur again and her little body vibrated with a happy purr.
Malcolm held her body against his chest.
“Do you know how much you mean to her?” he asked the kitten.
Persephone paused in her purring to lick his hand with her sandpaper-rough tongue in acknowledgement.
“You’ve got to take care of Calli, look out for her, just like she does with you.” He massaged behind the kitten’s ears. Persephone’s eyes closed in pleasure.
Hades pawed at Malcolm’s leg.
“Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about you, buddy.
” The bond he and Hades had was as deep as his soul.
In a very real way, Hades was a part of him.
Even after he’d abandoned magic, he’d never felt alone because of him.
Now Calli would know that feeling of having a companion for the rest of her life.
Hades stared up at him and ruffed a question.
“I do like her,” Malcolm replied. It was crazy to think that in such a short period of time, but it was true.
She was beautiful, funny, kind, and confident.
He chuckled at the memory of her hex breaking his arm.
And strong. But he wanted her to trust him enough to let those barriers down so he could see all of her.
He could never enter into a witch lock unless he was sure he knew the real her.
And he knew she was still keeping a part of herself from him.
She’d lost her parents when she was so young, and she seemed to be so alone.
It would take time for her to trust him, just as it was taking time for him to trust his magic.
He finished cleaning up the bathroom and came down to the kitchen to find Calli removing the cookies from the oven. She looked like a Halloween dream wearing an orange colored pleated skirt and a loose fitting purple blouse with billowy sleeves.
“That was fast,” he mused as she set the tray down to cool.
“Snickerdoodles only take twelve minutes.” She used a spatula to slide the cookies onto a cooling rack. She raised a finger, showing him a faint glow in her finger. “Plus, I gave the oven a bit of help pre-heating.”
Malcolm took a moment to take in the sight of her in her element. Magic spells draped around the room like lace, touching and connecting all the blooming plants from their various pots around the kitchen.
Let me see your truth, he thought with a sudden desperation that surprised him. Let me know you.
He wanted to know everything about her, to feel as if she’d been in his life forever and not just a day.
Before he could stop it, a nearly invisible web of a spell covered the cookies. He’d just bewitched the cookies, but what was the spell?
Calli picked up a cookie and put it in her mouth before he had a chance to stop her.
Oh crap. “Calli, wait I—”
“Damn, I am good.” She grinned at him.
Well hell… “Calli, I… I accidentally hexed the cookies.”
Calli stopped mid-chew. “You what?”
“It just happened. I’m sorry.”
“What did you do?” She seemed to be studying the spell but it was hard to see what he’d done.
“I… er… wanted to know everything about you… It might be some sort of truth spell?”
She looked down at the tray of cookies, then up at him. She picked one up. “All right. Open up.”
“What?”
“If I’m going down, I’m taking you with me,” she said, then chuckled.
“Fair enough.” She held a cookie up to him, and Malcolm opened his mouth. Tonight was about to get interesting.
The cookie’s flavors of sugar and cinnamon exploded on his tongue.
In the sudden free feeling of wanting to open up, and something more interesting…
the need to lower his inhibitions hit him alongside the subtle notes of vanilla and nutmeg.
His lips brushed her fingers as she pulled her hand away. Their gazes locked.
“You are good,” he said. “These cookies taste almost as good as sex.”
“Better,” she argued.
“Think so?” he challenged. “I can prove to you otherwise.”
She laughed, but he wasn’t laughing. He had every intention of showing her. She had worn that cute, short, orange skirt, and he intended to take advantage of that fact. He pushed her back against the counter and then knelt before her.
“Lift your skirt up,” he said, his voice low and husky.
“Malcolm, we don’t have to—”
“Oh, I want to. You make me crazy, my little hedge witch.” He knew he should be holding back, but he no longer wanted to. “I need to taste you again.”
With a sensual shyness, she lifted her ruffled orange skirt and let him see her adorable panties with jack-o’-lanterns on them.
“Go away,” he whispered to the scrap of fabric, and her panties vanished.
“I want those back… later!” She gasped on the last word as he lifted one of her legs up to rest on his shoulder to keep her open as he kissed his way up her inner thigh to mound.
She groaned helplessly as she steadied herself against the counter.
He dragged his tongue through her slit, tasting the honey of her arousal, and she let out a squeal as he sucked on the bud of her clit.
“Oh my…” Her words dissolved into a choked sound as he continued to sweetly torture her with his mouth.
Even as Calli came apart on his tongue, he continued to lick her until her legs trembled just trying to keep her upright. Then he stood and scooped her up into his arms, carrying her from the kitchen to the den, where he sat on the couch with her in his lap.
“I just need to hold you,” he confessed. She buried her face in his neck, still breathing hard.
“How many women have you been with?” she asked.
“You really want to know?” He felt strangely embarrassed by the question.
“Yeah,” she replied.
“Too many. Too many… when I could have been right here with you, the one who really matters.” He hadn’t meant to say that, it had just come out as he thought it.
She lifted her head and met his gaze. He stroked a lock of her chestnut hair behind her tears and watched her eyes turn to gold with a hint of magic in their depths.
The moonstone pendant at her neck glowed with a soft, milky light and hummed with a kind of enchantment that was still a mystery to him.
“How many men have you been with? It doesn’t really matter, I’m just curious,” he said.
She peeped up at him with those magic-eyes of hers filled with afterglow. “Um… I’ve dated a few men, but I’ve never… Oh God, this is mortifying.”
“What is?”
“Why am I telling you this…?” she muttered adorably.
“Telling me what.”
She looked like she was about to die of mortification, then blurted out, “I’ve never been with a man.”
“You just said that you dated—”
“Dated, yes. But I’m a virgin, Malcolm.” She turned her head away. “No one felt special enough. I didn’t want to share myself with anyone… until you.”
She ducked her head as he held her closer, a deep sense of protectiveness surging through him.
“You seemed so confident the other times we got out of control…l ike in the bookshop, and the meadow. And you sounded like you believed those cookies were better than sex.”
A blush the color of spring roses tinted her cheeks.
“It was easy to feel confident when it was you I was kissing. You make me feel bold… beautiful… And I couldn’t imagine sex being better than those cookies…
but you’re making me rethink my assumptions, given that I actually haven’t had sex.
I didn’t want you to know that I was a virgin. I didn’t want you to think less of me…”
He trailed his fingertips over her collarbone, taking in the feel of her skin and the autumnal scents that drifted off her.
“You are beautiful, and I want you to feel bold whenever you want to be.” He leaned in to nuzzle her cheek. “We’ll take our time. We don’t have to rush anything,” he said. “When you want to go all the way, we’ll go.”
“Really?”
He wanted to die at how earnest she looked. It made him wonder if anyone had pressured her before.
“Really,” he said. “It kills me to wait, but it will be so worth it with you.” And that was the ultimate truth. She was worth waiting for; she was everything. It was scary as hell to admit that. “And we should have the talk.”
“The talk?” her brows arched upward.
He chuckled. “The safe sex talk. I got carried away before, but we should talk about it.”
Her face blushed but then she responded back with a cheeky grin. “You must do the talk a lot with all those women you charm.”
He rolled his eyes. Yes, he’d had the talk with every woman and there had been a lot. But now there was only Calli.
“I’m serious. We do need to talk about it.
“All right. I have an IUD, it keeps things easy.”
“IUDs work on witches?” he couldn’t hide his curiosity.
“They do,” she confirmed. “Pills are less effective, but IUDs work.”
“I’m clean,” he volunteered. “I haven’t had a partner in about four months and I got tested two months ago.” He knew she was clean so he didn’t wait for her to answer. “Thank God, the talk’s over.”
She laughed softly, then her face turned serious. “For some strange reason… I want to tell you anything you ask,” she mused.
“That’s probably my fault,” he admitted. “I think that spell lowered our inhibitions or something. Well, more than usual.”