Ashar crossed his arms. “Blair,”
“I’m just horny, and possibly cursed like, spiritually. Or genetically. Maybe because my whole family has terrible taste in men, statistically, this was bound to happen.”
“Blair.”
She didn’t stop.
Her heart was doing that annoying thing again, tight, sharp, like it was prepping for loss before it even happened. So she did what she always did: over-explained. Rationalized. Threw words like armor.
“In fact, if we’re being honest, this is probably a trauma response. Have you ever heard of oxytocin manipulation? Look it up. I’m basically a cautionary tale with a hair bun.”
He stepped closer. “You’re not catching feelings?”
“Nope.”
“Not even a little?”
She glared at him. “My vibrator has a stronger emotional hold on me than you do.”
Ashar blinked. Once. “That is tragic.”
“And accurate.”
He moved into her space anyway, close enough that the heat of him replaced her coffee like a drug. His voice dropped. “Then you wouldn’t care if I left.”
Her breath caught.
It was stupid. It was irrational.
But it was there.
“I mean, I’d notice,” she said quickly, backpedaling. “Because of the magic, obviously. And because you cooked. And because you still owe me answers about how you levitated me during orgasm, which, by the way, is a hell of a feature for a hallucination,”
“I wasn’t born. I was conjured,” he said. “In the in-between. The Before. Where unmet needs echo like prayers, and old magic answers in flesh.”
“So you’re like a wish?”
“No.” His voice dropped. “I’m a reckoning. The kind you only call by accident. When the ache gets too loud to ignore.”
He leaned in, brushing her cheek with the back of his fingers, soft, burning. As if he were memorizing the shape of her disbelief.
“But why me? Why did you show up for me?”
“You called. Loudly.” A glint of amusement flickered in his eyes, tempered by something deeper. “Your need hit magical levels, and with Halloween around the corner, the veil between worlds was paper-thin. I also wouldn’t be surprised to find witches in your family tree.”
“So because I couldn’t get laid properly by a human, the universe sent a literal pleasure demon?”
Ashar’s smile faded. He studied her, like he could see something she didn’t want to name.
“You’re allowed to want more than just sex, Blair.”
“I don’t,” she whispered.
His hand slid to her waist; they were firm, gentle, and undeniable.
“Liar.”
“I don’t.”
