Page 10 of Magic and Matrimony

Her eyebrows lift. “Oh, I thought…” her brow creases, and she looks back at the chapel, as though there’s something she left inside.

“You thought?” I prompt, wondering what just went through her mind. Right before we got married, she dropped a bomb, and I’m not sure if I heard her correctly. Is that what she’s thinking about?

She tugs at the collar of her shirt, huffing as she drops her bag and pulls off her sweatshirt. She’s surprisingly delectable in a pair of loose pants and Odie’s Michigan t-shirt. Piper’s breasts press against the fabric in a way that Odie’s don’t. The woman is my friend, and she’s basically a sister to me, but I have eyes. Odie has never filled out a shirt the way Piper does.

Piper inhales, only making her chest heave, and I tear my gaze away. “I guess, after that kiss, or whatever, this was probably a mistake.”

Mistake. The word jabs at a part of me I don’t want to identify. I hate it. And want to scrub the word from her mouth, from her memory.

It dawns on me she has no idea what my curse is. Why would she? We don’t go around advertising that kind of information in Mystic Hollows.

I probably should have told her before we got married. Guess there’s no time like the present. “Piper. I don’t kiss.”

She frowns at me. “It’s none of my business.”

“As my wife, I think it is your business. I don’t kiss on the mouth,” I say simply, with a small shrug.

Piper blinks up at me, her blue eyes shrewd as she searches my face. “LikePretty Woman?”

“I’m not a prostitute, if that’s what you’re asking.” I chuckle. “Not that there’s anything wrong with being a sex worker.”

Piper blushes, her neck and face turning bright red. “That’s not what I meant.”

I clasp her chin in my fingers. I want to make sure she’s looking at me when I tell her what my curse is. “My kiss is my curse.”

“How?” Her eyes drop to my lips, like she’s even more tempted to kiss me now that she knows it’s off limits.

“When I kiss someone, they instantly become infatuated with me. They think it’s a love more powerful than sonnets, and stronger than a fated bond. They don’t realize it’s all because of magic. They’re desperate to see me, to touch me. It drives them insane.” I swallow thickly. My curse might not be considered the worst by the standards of what the others have had to go through, but I’ve seen the damage it’s wrought. It’s ruined lives and changed me irrevocably.

“Oh.”

I nod. What more is there to say?

I flag down a cab and open the door for Piper.

“Where to?” The cabbie, who is not nearly as friendly as Big Jim, asks.

“We just got married. Take us to the nicest hotel in town.”

The driver pulls up in front of The Palms and someone’s there to open our cab door before we’ve fully stopped.

“I’m underdressed.” Piper frowns down at her t-shirt.

“You look beautiful.” She tosses me an unhappy look, but I just grin. “Come on. Let’s get a room.”

The lobby is dark, with neon lighting providing illumination. It’s crowded with tourists and loud with music and the nearby clang of slot machines. I book a suite, marveling at our luck that there’s one available on such short notice. Piper is wilting the longer we stand in the lobby, but she’s still on high alert. Whatever set off this expedition is still bothering her.

“Thank you.” I take the key from the front desk clerk, and we make our way to the bank of elevators. “We can order some food when we get to the room.”

Piper nods, dragging her hand through her hair and wincing when it gets tangled.

The suite is on the top floor, and the elevator opens directly into the space. It’s modern and decorated loudly with purples and teal. There’s a wall of windows that looks out over the strip.

“This was not necessary.” Piper gapes at the massive room.

“It’s our wedding day.” I shrug, as though this is all a joke, but something tingles under my skin.

Piper drops her bag on the floor and turns to face me. She tangles her fingers together and twists them nervously. “There’s something else we need to do.”

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