Page 40 of Until the Stars Fall

I repeated the three intentions with the three mini bath bombs. The water was toasty and perfect, frothing with bubbles and colors. The moment I plunged my foot in, an exhilarating, overwhelmingly positive sensation effervesced out of the water and skipped across my skin. I settled under the surface like it was a warm blanket on a cold night, with only my face out of the water to breathe.

It was divine. I glanced at the clock on the wall to be sure I wouldn’t overstay, and I repeated the three intentions aloud three more times, tasting them on my tongue, trying to deeply live in and believe them: “I release all negative beliefs that have been holding me back. I attract only light and love into my life. I welcome new joys into my life with open arms and an open heart.”

I studied the pale rose quartz, touted for self-love and relationships. It was multifaceted, raw, and cool in my hands. Maybe it was okay for me to look for love. I’d been punishing myself for my parents for years, and it was hard to see anything redeeming in myself.

I set the rose quartz down and picked up the smooth, tomato-red carnelian stone, studying its orange-hued crackles and striations. Creativity, motivation, and a soulmate. I’d certainly need creativity and motivation to get by on Gaia without a job and probably blacklisted from my profession. As for a soulmate? Beck’s face flashed, unbidden, through my mind.

I finished with the clear quartz, which was supposed to amplify the effects of the other stones.

Even though my thirty minutes were up too soon, I was eager and excited to get out. I got dressed, gathered up my things, and padded to the elevator with my damp hair clipped on top of my head and all my dirty clothes wrapped in a towel in my arms. Adjusting the sash of my fuzzy robe over my favorite silky nightgown, I felt effervescent and excited, like my life had so much to offer that I couldn’t wait to dive into it.

I pressed the up button, and my thoughts turned to the nearest, most interesting good thing in my life. Beck. I let a smile overtake my face, gazing dreamily at the panel of little round lighted numbers as they lit the floors on the elevator’s way to me. Beck and I had done some quality flirting earlier, and it was monstrously unfair that I had no excuse to see him until tomorrow.

A chime, and the mandala on the doors before me parted, revealing Beck. Too-handsome Beck casually leaning against the back wall of the elevator, hands on the railing.

My breath hitched, and my face broke into probably the sappiest smile in history.

He looked up and smiled broadly when our eyes met. “Well if it isn’t Gemma, fresh from her ritual bath.”

My whole body reacted to him, and my face went hot. If he could read my mind, he’d see daydream Gemma throwing her arms around his neck. He was still in his white T-shirt and jeans, bare feet crossed on the rug. I was scanning his whole body when he spoke again, leaning forward to catch the doors before they closed.

“Are you coming in?”

“Yeah.” I giggled, ducking into the elevator. Giggling? Was I a teenager?

He held the door a moment more. “Heading home?”

I nodded, and he pressed the button for my floor and released the doors. They whirred and stuttered, taking a long time to close as usual.

He stood beside me, clasping his hands behind his back and turning slightly toward me, his eyes twinkling in the low light. “How was the bath? Damn,” he said, not waiting for my answer and leaning closer. “You smell even more amazing than usual.”

As the elevator lumbered to life, I looked up at him, and a thrill went through me to see his face so close to mine. “It was everything you said it would be.”

He grinned and straightened but didn’t move away. “So I was right about two things.”

“Two things? The bath and what else?” I challenged, lifting my face closer to his.

“The bath, and”—his gaze traveled down my body and back up—“that you’re the kind of woman who sleeps in beautiful night things.”

“You’ve only seen me in my nightgown twice,” I teased. “You don’t know that.” The elevator stopped, chimed, and the doors labored open. I leaned closer. “For all you know I could sleep naked.”

A muscle in his jaw twitched, and his smile got bigger, more mischievous, maybe a little...embarrassed? Was he blushing? Oh God, did I really just say that to him?

He reached a long arm out and held the door open for me, kept his eyes on me as I stepped past him. “You’re right. You could be just like me, and I wouldn’t know.”

He walked out beside me, and I could feel his body heat even through my own furious blushing. I tried not to picture Beck naked in my pink-flowered sheets but failed spectacularly. Daydream Gemma was about to get into mischief with a hot witch. My skin was hot and tingly all over, with more than my magic.

He shoved his hands in his front pockets as he walked beside me down the hall to my room. As I fumbled with the key in my door, he leaned in again.

“Do you smell like roses?” He pressed the bridge of his nose to my temple, and my insides turned to hot mush. “So much better than the candle,” he said gruffly before stepping away toward the stairwell door beside my suite. “Night, Gemma.”

“Did you get off on the wrong floor?”

He shrugged sheepishly with his hand on the stairwell doorknob. “Nah, most definitely the right one.”

He smiled at me for a heartbeat more, then disappeared through the door. I scraped myself off the floor and smiled all the way to sleep.

CHAPTER TEN

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