Page 58 of Bewitchingly Hers
I thought about how Barrett answered the phone earlier. About how every time he called mebaby,and I wanted to melt. Or the way he clung to me like I was his lifeline sometimes. About how much joy he derived from feeding me. All of it was more than I’d ever experienced in any of my other relationships growing up.
I thought I knew what love was. But now that I was thinking about it, I wasn’t sure I’d ever really known at all.
Not until Barrett came crashing into my life, a wolf who needed me to nurse him back to life, and started showing me what I deserved, each and every day. I meant what I told Willow—it was too soon to love him.
That didn’t mean I wasn’t starting to.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
barrett
The Witches’ Brew was abuzz with customers, almost every single table full of witches chatting to each other, enjoying coffee and sweet treats. The place smelled like vanilla and coffee beans, a scent had me wishing for cozy mornings spent together on the back porch, curled up under a blanket.
Maybe after we saved the town we’d have time for that.
Without waiting for one of the baristas working out front to show me back to the office, I walked through the shop, following the pull to my mate. It was never very hard to find her thanks to that thread that tied us together—and the way I could pick her scent out of any crowd. Right now, the scent was slightly sour, and I hated the way her fear and anxiety changed it. I wanted her to be happy, always.
Opening the office, I found her sitting at the desk, chewing on her otherwise perfectly manicured nail, staring at the computer screen. She’d pulled on a dark green sweater dress, a color that I was absolutely obsessed with on her, and Iimmediately wanted to march over there and pull her into my arms.
Last night had beenamazing,but I wanted more. It was getting painful holding back. And I knew what that meant for us, but I was still trying to keep myself under control. To wait to bond to her until I was sure that she wanted that too. But it was painful, fighting the need. And soon, I knew I wouldn’t be able to.
Eryne looked up, and it was like her mask melted away, every trace of the business woman fading, turning her into the woman IknewI was developing feelings for.
“Come here,” I said, opening up my arms.
She didn’t even hesitate, standing from her desk and practically launching herself into them. I nuzzled my face into her neck, rubbing my scent into her skin. There was a deep, primal need inside of me to make her smell like me, and it was even harder to ignore after her phone call this morning.
“It’s okay,” I murmured as I rubbed her back. “I’m here.”
“I don’t know why I’m so freaked out,” she said, dropping her forehead against my chest as I stroked her hair. “It could have just been nothing. But it felt like he waswatchingme.”
“I’m here,” I repeated.
My mate relaxed, wrapping her arms around my back and hugging me tight before pulling back a fraction of an inch to look up at me. It was when we stood like this that I could really appreciate how much smaller than me she was, how I wanted to tuck her against me, to keep her safe. If I could always protect her from anything in the world that could possibly hurt her, I would.
“You’re so good at that,” she murmured as I brushed my thumb across her cheek.
“Good at what?” I whispered.
Eryne’s lips tilted up, and it felt like the sun was shining again after a week of rain. My heart beat faster in my chest. “Calming me down. Making sure I’m okay.”
“I always will,” I promised.
She nuzzled her face into my chest again. “I might hold you to that.”
I chuckled. “Good—I expect you to, sugar. You’re always keeping me in line, after all.”
Cupping her jaw with my hand, I bent down to kiss her, feeling her rise to her tiptoes as she threw her arms around my neck.
“Thank you,” she said, those beautiful blue eyes looking up at me through her lashes. Gods, she was beautiful.
I brushed her hair back behind her ear. “Anything.” Her eyes traced my face, like she was trying to memorize it, and I couldn’t help my smirk as they landed on my lips, her teeth burying themselves in her lower lip. Every time she did it, it made me want to bite her lip instead.
“You got a haircut,” she finally said, reaching up and running her fingers through my hair.
I nodded. “This morning. Needed it.” My wolf hadn’t liked it, but he wasn’t the one who needed a trim to his coat, so I told him to suck it up.
She hummed. “I like it.” I’d left it longer on the top, since she seemed to love running her fingers through the strands and tugging on it.
