Page 76 of Made to Be

I grinned as Cam’s blue eyes went comically wide as he looked around for the voice’s owner. I grabbed Cam’s chin and directed his gaze toward theoffice door. He stared at the lone black skull doorknocker on it, confused.

“Boo!” the object barked and Cam jumped again.

I chuckled, “This is Henry. It’s charmed to scare anyone who comes by.”

“Is it... sentient?” Cam asked, a little wary of the now silent skull.

I cocked my head at it. “I don’t... think so?” I then shrugged and gestured toward it, “Better knock if you ‘wanna go in.”

Cam looked honestly quite terrified that the little thing would chomp his fingers off.

“Go on, it won’t bite,” I told him, then muttered under my breath, “At least, I don’t think so.”

“You don’t seem all that confident in its manners,” he quipped. “Does it at least have its shots? Just in case.”

I snickered then Cam hesitantly knocked the metal ring twice. When the skull spoke once more, Cam’s jump was only half shocked.

“‘All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.’ Who am I?” it asked.

I scoffed, “Give me a harder one next ti-”

“Edgar Allen Poe,” Cam answered.

The door swung open, and I stared at him, pleasantly surprised. And... Fuck, maybe even a little turned on. He smirked down at me and asked,

“There aren’t any boobytraps meant to steal my pants or magically tie my shoelaces together, are there?”

I clicked my tongue and stepped into the room. “As if any traps I made would tie someone’s shoelaces together. Lame.”

“That didn’t answer my question.”

Flicking on the light, Cam stepped up beside me.

“Wow, it looks just like your spell room at home,” he mused as he took in every detail.

My heart warmed at the casual mention of home. Cam used the term so easily now and it told me just how comfortable he was living with me. It soothed that anxiety within me that wondered if Cam was really, truly happy being with me.

But he was right. My office herewasvery similar to my spell room. Whereas most professors and teachers here didn’t overtly personalize their offices, maybe a few plants and family photos, a couple framed achievements and awards of scholarly successes... Not me, though.

It wasn’t a very big space, no bigger than my personal spell room. The walls were a navy blue and the mahogany floor was worn but well cared for. Along the left wall was a large, heavy desk with piles of papers with colorful labels sticking out next to several stacks of books. My coffee tumbler I’d forgotten sat next to a large computer monitor, the screensaver a littlemini-Jinx flittering back and forth. A framed photo of me and Cam, the one we’d had taken at the pumpkin patch in front of that giant-ass pumpkin, rested next to the keyboard.

Cam’s eyes grew soft as he noticed the photo showing both of us candidly smiling at each other before we’d known the lady was taking pictures, but he didn’t comment. He merely walked further in and over to the set of bookshelves next to the window.

I obviously didn’t have the... variety of ingredients that I had at home. Namely the illegal ones. What I did have here, though, were all neatly labelledlegalspell ingredients in an assortment of jars, bottles, pouches, and boxes. There was also a matching jar of eyeballs being used as a bookend, and Cam snickered as he spotted it right away.

“What?” I asked, all doe-eyed innocence. “They were buy-one-get-one.”

His shoulders shook with silent laughter as I leaned a hip against my desk to watch Cam look around. In that moment he resembled a cat, its tail flicking curiously as he sniffed about and examined his new surroundings. Too fucking cute.

I straightened the photo of Cam and I and eyed the crooked pile of papers. For some reason, it felt like someone had been in here. But I brushed it off; it was likely just Charlie when he’d come looking for me. Even though he didn’t particularly like Henry, he did love his riddles. I didn’t keep my office locked, whichsome might frown upon, but I wasn’t worried about anything being stollen here.

I looked away from Cam to the frosted window that sat just next to the desk. I had gotten my own Venus Flytrap, mine much less animated, which was resting within the wide window frame overlooking a snow-covered courtyard.

I jumped when I realized that Cam had stopped perusing the shelves and was standing in front of me. Gazing up at him from where I leaned against my desk, I offered him a smile.

“Nothing too grand. I can show you the labs, there’s a lot more to see... there.” I trailed off as Cam’s palms found my sides underneath my unzipped coat.

A full-body shiver wracked me when his chilly fingers drifted downward to toy with the hem of my sweater. His touch sent electricity zapping over my sensitive skin.