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“So, you wouldn’t be sad if I died—”
“Fuck that!” Sky snapped. “Of course I would. Where would you get a crazy idea that I wouldn’t hurt?” Sky huffed and rolled his eyes at Nolan. “Crazy man. Yes, I’d hurt, but it’s a selfish pain. I’d miss you. I want you here with me, having fun. But I wouldn’t be upset that you got to move on to your next adventure.”
“Mn.”
Sky swallowed a sigh. “Nolan, no one is expecting you to just roll with all of this. You got dropped into the deep end and found it infested with sharks and piranhas. No one could stay afloatandprotect their junk at the same time.”
Nolan made a choking noise, his face turning red as he regarded Sky. “Are you offering to keep me afloat or to protect my junk?”
Sky winked at his too-sexy neighbor. “I’ll protect anything you want me to, baby.”
That smirk fell away when Nolan rose to his feet and crossed to the sofa. He sat heavily on the cushion next to Sky. Leaning his head against Sky’s, Nolan wrapped an arm around his waist, pulling him in close. “The Sandor Clan makes me want to chuck all magic and creatures into the trash bin. Walk away from it all. But all I have to do is look up and see you standing right next to me, smiling. You’ve had no reason to help me, but you’ve been there every step of the way.”
Help! Call a doctor! Call the police!
Nolan was melting him into useless goo. Sky was a racing heart and whimpering libido.
“It wasn’t for no reason. You’re totally hot.” Sky had to make a joke, or he’d be in danger of blurting out a marriage proposal.
“I’m not that hot, Sky.” Nolan sounded as though he were about to laugh.
“You aresooooohot. You’re that rare, slightly grungy, grumpy, feral hot.”
“Like a stray cat you find in a dumpster?”
Sky dissolved into wild cackles, falling over so that he was now lying across Nolan’s lap. “No! I don’t have an insane need to feed and fuck stray cats.”
His new bed shook with muffled chuckles, and he blinked up at Nolan to find him smiling at last. “That’s good to know.”
Nolan reached down and caught a few strands of Sky’s hair, pushing them from his forehead. “While I appreciate all you’ve done for me, my biggest fear is becoming dependent on you. If I walked into a grocery store, I’d freak out over every person, wondering if they’re a witch or vampire. How do I learn to not live in fear? How do I protect myself? I don’t want to keep running to you.”
It was on the tip of Sky’s tongue to say that he was happy to protect Nolan for the rest of their days, but that wasn’t what Nolan wanted. He didn’t want someone acting as his magical bodyguard. The man was an author and ran his own publishing business. He was accustomed to being independent and self-reliant. The best way Sky could help him was to get him comfortably on his feet.
Sky lay on his back, feeling pretty catlike as he enjoyed Nolan playing with his hair. “You’ll get there. Remember, you’ve been walking past shifters, vampires, and witches all your life, and they never bothered you before. You’ll get to that point again. Right now, you’re still stuck in the shock and horror phase.”
“How many phases are there?”
Sky shrugged. “No clue. I’m totally making this up as I go. But there’s probably an anger phase and a hiding phase. Then acceptance where all the stuff that frightened you slips into the mundane.”
Nolan stared at him without speaking for a couple of seconds, his expression thoughtful as his lips thinned. “What about you?”
Sky jolted in Nolan’s lap and blinked at him. “What about me?”
“Don’t regular humans scare you? Don’t you worry about them finding out that you’re a witch?”
Goo.
He would never be able to return to his non-goo form. From now on, he was going to be a puddle of human pudding. How could this man go from being worried about his forever-changed life to worried about Sky’s well-being in barely the span of a heartbeat?
“I’m thinking you should just marry me.”
“Sky,” Nolan chided, but Sky pushed on.
“I’m serious. If you’re going to keep delivering these sweet shocks to my system, I’m not going to ever recover. Take responsibility.” Nolan lightly flicked him in the middle of his forehead. “Okay, okay. I’ll be serious. I don’t worry about it much. If I’d walked over to your house a year ago, knocked on the door, and said, ‘Hi, I’m your neighbor Sky Wallace and I’m a witch,’ you would have rolled your eyes and closed the door in my face. Most people don’t believe witches exist. A high percentage of people who pay me for my help don’t actually believe magic exists. And they’repayingme.” He paused in his story, pointed at the spot Nolan thumped, and stuck his bottom lip out in a pouty expression.
With a soft smile, Nolan kissed the tip of his finger and touched the place where he’d flicked Sky. That was a good start. They’d move on to better kisses later. Hopefully.
“Still, you aren’t exactly forthcoming about it. I didn’t know you were a witch until you told me.”
