Chapter 3 You Can Touch It
Juniper
He was so tall, I had to tip my head back as I blinked up at the stranger. A goofy smile warmed his pale face. Freckles decorated his cheeks, making him seem younger. Soft gray eyes bore into mine, and my insides turned to goo.
It was the stranger from the bar the night before.
He had to be magical. If the height wasn’t enough of a clue, silver hair fell in waves around his face, long enough to curl at the nape of his neck.
His hand brushed over mine where I gripped the door, and my magic sparked violently in my blood. My inhale turned to a gasp. I could have controlled an entire tsunami as his magic swirled with mine.
I jerked my hand back, my breath coming in ragged pants .
What the hell is this guy?
He didn’t look like a witch, not with the muscles visibly defined under his t-shirt. It was too easy to use spells for everything, so witches rarely got ripped like that. He looked like he spent all day in the gym. Either that or he was a shifter, but he didn’t look like a wolf to me.
“Okay, well, I can just get your coat for you,” I said awkwardly.
“Actually, we need to talk.”
His long lashes fluttered as his gaze flicked up and down my body. It should have made me uneasy to be appraised by a stranger, but my instincts whispered that he was safe.
Inviting a strange man into my rental was a momentously bad idea, but I needed to be near him. My magic had retreated once his touch left mine, and I was desperate for a reason to touch him again.
Besides, if he ended up being a creep, one of the decorative blue-and-white striped paddles leaning against the wall of the entryway was always an option as a weapon. Or maybe I would have cracked one of the Mason jars decoupaged with starfish over his head…
“Yeah, come in.” I left the door open and padded back across the living room. The silvery brown coat lay draped across the sofa where I’d dumped it last night. My fingers slipped over its silky texture.
The man let out a low noise in his throat that made me twist around suddenly. His gaze was fixed on where my hand touched his coat. Flinching, I withdrew my touch.
“Sorry. Here it is, safe and sound.”
He nodded, his tongue pressing into his cheek. “What’s your name?”
“What’s yours?” I quipped, bristling at his blunt question.
“Caspian Rafferty.” He answered without hesitation, and I relaxed a fraction.
“I’m Juniper Beck.” The last name still tasted strange. The week before, it’d been Mallory…
He didn’t move from his spot in the middle of the room, like his feet were glued down.
“Juniper,” he murmured, rolling the sound around his tongue. Another slow smile spread across his features, sending my stomach swooping.
It’s unfair how pretty he is.
“So what did we need to talk about? I mean, you can just take your coat and go.”
His throat bobbed as he swallowed. “I’m a selkie, Juniper.”
“Oh? Oh!” I said, jumping back another step and pressing my hand against my chest. “Oh! So this coat is your coat . So you can shift. Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry I touched it.”
My cheeks flushed, the color spreading up to my ears. I’d been petting the coat thinking it was just a fashion item, not that it was someone’s actual skin.
So freaking embarrassing .
He stepped closer. “You can touch it if you want.”
The tone of his voice was so suggestive, all my words fell out of my brain. My body had an immediate response, the hair on my arms prickling, my nipples peaking under my thin shirt. My blush deepened as I crossed my arms over my chest.
His smile melted into a smirk.
“Are you familiar with selkie magic, Juniper?”
I shook my head, still mute. He took another stride forward until he was close enough to touch.
I wish he would.
I ached for that rush of magic, yet I felt like I’d dissolve if our skin came into contact again.
“If someone finds a selkie’s coat and takes it, the selkie is beholden to them.”
That sounded so dirty coming from his lips. I fought the urge to cross my legs and squeeze my thighs together.
Why am I having such a reaction to him?
It took a moment of floundering to string words together. “What does that actually mean?”
“Traditionally, marriage.” His grin turned feral. “So you could say I’m your husband now.”
Husband ?
That shook me out of my stupor.
Did he really say husband? Hecate’s shades, this is not happening.
“I literally just got rid of a husband like a week ago. I’m not looking for a replacement,” I snapped, propping my hands on my hips.
He shrugged. “I don’t decide how our magic works.”
“Well, how do we undo it?” Irritation hissed like steam under my skin. “Because I’m not really into magically forcing men to marry me. Seems unethical to me.”
His grin widened. “I’m not mad about it. But if you really don’t want me, you’ll have to lose my coat.”
“Lose it?” I repeated, scowling.
“Accidentally.”
Now he’s definitely fucking with me.
“How am I supposed to accidentally lose something like this?” I waved at the gorgeous pelt.
Caspian shrugged again, and I wanted to grab him by the shoulders and shake him. The urge to touch him was so strong, I took a step back.
I needed distance, or I needed a sedative.
My cellphone buzzed on the table, and I dove for it—anything to get away from the sexy selkie man staring at me. Hand shaking, I held up my phone. My boss’s name lit up the screen.
“Look, I’ll figure this out so you’re not stuck with me, but I have to take this,” I said, waving the backlit screen at him.
Caspian nodded, his rainstorm eyes tracking me as I answered the call and started pacing the blue and white kitchen.
His gaze heated my skin during the entire conversation as my boss chewed me out for not completing a project that was actually someone else’s responsibility.
There was no use in arguing with him, it would just make things worse, so instead I counted the number of lobster decorations filling the small space.
“Of course, sir. I’ll have that to you in a couple of hours,” I said when he finally stopped talking. He hung up on me.
Twisting, I took in Caspian’s intense expression.
“Look, Caspian, I’ll figure out the whole lose your coat thing as soon as I can, but right now I’ve got a really pissed off boss. I need to log into work for a few hours. Can you come back later?”
His pewter eyebrows shot up. “You want me to leave?”
I eyed his coat and rolled my lip through my teeth. He probably didn’t want to leave it. “Okay, why don’t you just sit and watch TV or something?”
My phone pinged with a text message from my bosshole asking why I wasn’t logged into work remotely yet. Sighing, I grabbed my mug and poured the cold coffee into the sink before setting the mug down with a clink.
“Goodbye, breakfast,” I muttered sadly.
His second angry text message had me tugging at my bun, trying to tighten it as I raced to the spare room where I’d set up my work laptop on the writing desk.
Hopefully, Mr. Selkie will be okay waiting.
As long as he left me alone, it wouldn’t bother me to have him there. It was a vacation rental, so there weren’ t any valuables he could steal, just kitschy coastal decor and cheap furniture. And if he got bored, maybe he would leave.
As my work laptop started up, I tried to shove thoughts of Caspian out of my head. He’d be gone as soon as I figured out how to “lose” his coat.
I very decidedly did not think about the way my magic flooded my system when our skin touched. Maybe that was the sign we were magically linked—“beholden,” as he put it.
I’d have to think about the implications of that link later, too.
Until then, I had a half-assed project to throw together to appease my irrational boss.