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He led me away from the sidewalk, toward the woods. Disappointment replaced the warm sense of satisfaction I’d had only moments before. Maybe he didn’t want me to touch him like that, or worse, maybe he’d just been doing me a favor. Letting me blow off a little steam. What if it had been no different to him than helping an old lady cross the street? My cheeks burned at the thought of getting a pity fingerbang.

“Stop it.” He pulled me under a leafy oak, out of the worst of the leftover rain that had ebbed to just a few sprinkles. “I can feel you thinking beside me, and I promise, you’re wrong about whatever wild conclusions you’re leaping to right now.”

I stuck out my bottom lip. “I’m not leaping to conclusions.”

“You’re a shitty liar, baby.” He grinned and I wanted to smack him. “You think I don’t want your soft hand wrapped around my cock? Or that I don’t want to spread you out and lick that sweet pussy until my tongue goes numb before I slide into you and fuck you so good you won’t be able to walk straight for three days? Think again.”

Wow. Okay. Since he put it like that…I pressed a hand to my stomach, hoping to calm the out-of-control butterflies. “Then why don’t you want me to touch you?”

“I want to take this slow.” When I raised an eyebrow, he laughed. “That may sound like a direct contradiction to what we just did, but if you want to come, and it’s not because your magic is steering your ship, then there is no way in hell I’m turning down the opportunity to make you feel good. But I’m not interested in just fooling around. I want to dance with you in the rain, and take you to dinner, and kiss you at your door.”

“Oh.” That sounded a lot like relationship-type stuff. I didn’t know what to do with that. I didn’t even know what I wanted from him at this point. We’d come a long way since the earthquake, but we had this enormous past looming over us and a lot of hurt that wouldn’t go away on its own. “I’m not sure what you want me to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything.”

He took my hand, threading his fingers with mine. It felt nice. Emerald and gold light twined together. My magic hummed within me, content to let me guide the flow of energy. Gentle snow followed us into the forest, the flakes melting as soon as they hit the warm summer ground. Sparks of light from Wes flickered around us like fireflies.

We reached the clearing where my hot spring was hidden. Behind the thick foliage, Wes had laid out a hunter-green blanket and scattered lit candles on various rocks and fallen logs. A bottle of my favorite white wine chilled in a silver bucket next to another bouquet of snapdragons. Quite the romantic scene for an alleged not-date.

I picked up the snapdragons and pinched their ends to make them bite. “So fancy.”

“What, this?” He nodded at the elaborate setup. “This is how I do dinner every night.”

I let out a laugh. “I’m sure.”

He poured me a glass of wine, then began to bring out the plates from his picnic basket. Roast chicken from the deli, red potatoes, quartered, seasoned, and baked, and bacon-wrapped asparagus. He also managed to get two of Gretchen’s lemon poppy seed cupcakes for dessert, a near impossibility on the weekends. We talked about Donovan and Violet’s magic match while we ate. I hadn’t been prepared for the gills. Neither had Donovan. It freaked him out so bad, he took off before we could go down to the beach to test her powers.

“He knows what he has to do,” Wes said. “It’s just going to be awkward.”

“Violet hates the side effects, but if they can get past that part, they should be okay. At least they’re friends. That’s more than we ever were, and we’re managing okay.”

He hesitated, like he wanted to deny what I said about us not ever being friends, but there was no denying what he plainly stated years ago. “You’re right. We haven’t ever been friends and we figured it out. They’ll be fine.”

After what I’d gone through yesterday with the curse, it hurt to hear him say it again, but I was glad he didn’t lie to me. I needed the reminder. The mind-blowing orgasm followed by a romantic candlelight dinner almost made me forget all the reasons why I’d shut Wes out in the first place.

I’d promised myself I’d move forward, and I would. But while I trusted him as far as my magic went, I couldn’t, and flat out would not, trust him with my heart. He must’ve seen a piece of me close off again. He opened his mouth as if he intended to speak, then closed it again. Probably because he knew anything he’d have to say would only make it worse.

We needed to get out of the murky waters of our past and back on the topic of magic if we had any hope of salvaging this evening. “Tell me why you think Thora caused the earthquake. I’m assuming you think she’s the other half of Finn’s battery?”

Wes frowned as though he’d lost his train of thought, but he quickly recovered. “I do. She’s an Aries and Finn’s a Libra.”

“Okay.” I popped a potato in my mouth and chewed while I considered the possible connection between Finn and Thora. “What else have you got? It takes a lot more than opposite signs and a past to make a magic match.”

“I’m aware.” He gave me a smug look. Looked like Arrogant Wes had decided to join us for dinner. I guess I wasn’t the only one who’d put a shield back up. “But by my estimate, and after talking to Hank, who said the ferry docked just after midnight, I’m pretty sure she stepped foot on the island right when the earthquake happened.”

“I’ll admit that’s suspect, but it still doesn’t prove she caused it.” I wrinkled my nose. “Ew. When did I become the practical one? Take it back, I don’t want it.”

He chuckled. “Not so fun, is it? And I don’t think she caused it, but I believe her presence set it in motion because it’s the first time the descendants of all the original twelve have been on the island since the first descendants left. Which leads to my next theory. I think there are some holes in the legend.”

“Undoubtedly.” I thought the same. We were missing too much information; too many things had been happening that we didn’t expect.

“I don’t think the majority of the twelve left because they were heartbroken over losing their magic. I think they left to keep it locked away. And those who stayed behind did so to keep an eye on the cave, to make sure the binding stayed in place.”

“Hold on.” I put my palm out. “Are you saying the curse didn’t use time and pressure to break the stones? Thatwewere the ones who did it by being here?”

“It’s just a theory.” He shrugged. “The timing is what solidifies it for me, though.”

God, that made so much sense. I needed to lie down for a minute.

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