Page 57 of Of Magic and Murder

I shouldn’t be as happy as I am that this might give the Beta a reason not to chase after the woman who doesn’t see what an awesome male he is. Beaming up at him, I tell him, “You’re amazing!”

Riordan goes predatorily still.

I laugh again, partly because I’m more relieved than I want to admit, and partly because the expression on his face to hear me call him amazing is priceless.

He looks so taken aback—but it only lasts a few seconds before it changes. His eyes flash, and his jaw tightens. His gaze roves all over my face, drinking me in, before it drops to my mouth.

I’ve never seen a male look at me like that before. I remember thinking, once, that I wanted what Roxy and Ash had. He looks at her as if she hangs the moon in the sky just for him, and he’s the lucky bastard that gets to lay her down beneath it. He’s intoxicated by his mate.

And that’s exactly how Riordan is looking at me the instant before he lowers his mouth to mine.

He’s careful. He moves slowly, giving me more than enough time to duck out of his reach if this isn’t what I want. But on the high of seeing him so happy to defeat his curse for only the moment… I’m sorry, but this is exactly what I want.

For once, I don’t overthink what I should do, why I shouldn’t, or all of the other reasons why this is a bad, bad idea. Instead, I rise up on my tiptoes, parting my lips in time for his to touch mine.

And when Riordan kisses me, I don’t just let him. I’m a willing participant until my brain comes back online and I realize that I’m kissing a male who is obviously hoping his fated mate will one day choose him—and that mate is not me.

CHAPTER 16

COOKIE DOUGH SOLVES ALL PROBLEMS

Have they figured it out now?

— gus

The first thing I do after kissing Riordan Lobo is apologize.

And, okay, that’s probably not the normal response when an extremely attractive man kisses you against the side of his cruiser after using the curse that has tormented him for fifteen years to make sure he can never accidentally take your choice away again. When I kissed him, he had to know that I was all in… until I remembered he has a mate.

I don’t profess to know everything about a shifter’s mating habits. As a witch, I’ve had lovers from time to time, but I also wasn’t raised in the belief that Hecate would grant me one soul to be my fated mate the way that shifters get given theirs by the Luna. From what I’ve heard, some shifters play around, but once they find their mate, that’s it. Whether they’re bonded or not, even looking at another person is akin to cheating—and shifters? They’re supposed to be hardwired to the point that cheating is impossible.

You’re the bonded mate of a shifter? Especially a predator? You have his bite on your skin? Yeah. There’s no divorce. It’s a ’til death do you part kind of situation, and though a kiss doesn’t really mean anything in the grand scheme of things, when Riordan realizes he let his relief carry him away and that he cheated on his fated mate with me… he’s going to go back to the guarded, stoic chief deputy he’d been when I first met him all those months ago.

I don’t regret kissing him, but I’ll feel terrible if I put a wedge in whatever relationship there might eventually be between Riordan and some unknown female that I’m, once again, super fucking jealous of.

Somehow, during the kiss, I clenched my fists in his silk shirt. I hurriedly release him. “Oh, Goddess.” When my first instinct is to surge forward again and resume our kiss, I have to back away so that I don’t. “I’m sorry.”

The softness that was in his expression disappears in a heartbeat. “For what?”

How can he ask that? “For what? For kissing you!”

His face closes off. “If we’re being technical, I kissed you, Pen. So if anyone is at fault here, then it’s me. Maybe I should be the one to apologize.”

“You know what? Maybe you should! Riordan, you have a mate! You have a mate that you’re in love with, and you just kissed me. What were you thinking?”

To my surprise, his lips curve upward in that half-smile I’ve grown to adore.

Me? I take another step back, horrified that he looks more amused than guilty. “Did you forget about her? Oh, my Goddess. I’m a home-wrecker!”

“Pen—”

I point at him. “You seduced me!”

His almost-smile becomes a full smile. “Guilty as charged.”

“This isn’t funny, Riordan! One day, I might actually get to meet her. If I’m still in Moonburrow”—here, his smile dips a little, but I forge on, determined—“I might have to talk to her. And while she’s standing there, showing off your mate mark when she finally realizes that no one could ask for a better male, I’m going to be so guilty, I’ll throw up on her shoes! Do you know how embarrassing that’ll be?”

He stifles his burst of laughter. “Pen… sweetheart. That sounds like something you have firsthand experience with.”