Page 45 of Made to Be

There absolutely is a wrong way to use lube.

Or is there?

THEY DID NOT WORK.

After three consecutive failed attempts, even with the focus Jinx provided my magic, I was forced to accept defeat. It seemed that whatever curse or hex that was on these cuffs was a damn good one. Complicated too. Whoever created them was either highly skilled or a sadistic asshole. Probably both.

“Maybe it’s time to stop overthinking it and just go buy a rotary blade,” I mumbled to myself as I glared down at the offending metal. Unless... What if the magic wouldn’t let me cut through them. For once I could admit that I was thoroughly stumped.

“What if we tried to slip them off?” Cam asked. He was twisting the cuff on his wrist and wiggling it around. It was loose, as was mine, but still not loose enough to just slide them off over our fists. “They might come right off if we use lotion or something to squeeze our hands through.”

I eyed the fuzzy cuff around my wrist with suspicion.

“Mine maybe, but yours?” I grabbed his hand with both of mine, holding it out between us. “These things are weapons. You could cover my whole face with just one.”

Probably a whole ass cheek too, I didn’t add.

He chuckled, allowing me to play with his hand, his original hand. As I had taken note of in the theatre, his fingers were long and thick, his palm meaty and strong. I turned his hand to study the tattoos I had previously noticed on the backs of his fingers. He also appeared to have bands of lighter colored skin around a few of them, suggesting he used to wear rings.

I made a mental note to get him some. Or take him to a shop so he could pick out his own new ones. Definitely not Wicked Wares, though. If I got him rings from there, they would probably be cursed to turn his skin green or something. Shit, he would still look fine as hell with green skin, I just knew it.

“You’re thinking something dirty, aren’t you?” Cam teased, voice filled with mirth.

I flicked a brow at him. “My mind is pure as driven snow.”

Cam snorted, clearly not convinced.

“Let’s try it,” I told him, revealing nothing.

I wasn’t sure how Cam would feel if he knew just how many inappropriate thoughts plagued my mind in the span of a single day. All of them about him.

“I have some lotion around here somewhere. Thanks for your help buddy,” I told Jinx, who was nestled sleepily in Cam’s hair once again. “Go take a nap.”

With that tiny squeak of his, he disappeared as if swallowed up within the black of Cam’s hair.

Cam and I searched together for a few minutes before finding a bottle of lotion under the bathroom sink. And, after using a generous amount on each of our wrists, the only thing we accomplished was making our hands sore. And thoroughly moisturized.

But the cuffs wouldn’t budge.

“Maybe we need something slipperier. More slippery?” I mused.

“Do you have olive oil?” Cam asked.

I shook my head, “It’s on my grocery list.” Had been for weeks. Adulting was hard.

We both sat on the sofa in the living room for several long seconds in silence as we brainstormed our next moves. Then Cam suggested something that evenIhadn’t considered.

“What about lube?”

My jaw fell open before I could think of a response. But I quickly overcame my shock and exclaimed,

“That might just work!”

Grabbing his hand, I tugged him up and off the cushions toward my spell room where that lone bottleof lube sat within the side table drawer. Right next to the dildos I had put back.

“I like that you have these”Cam had said when he’d discovered my sex toys.“Do you use them?”

Not now, Victor!I mentally chided.