Page 129 of Happily Ever Witch
He cut her off. “I willalwayshelp you, whether I want to or not. You shouldknowthat.”
She rolled her eyes at his outraged tone. “How could I possibly know that?”
“How could younot?”
“Because you seemed pretty against the idea of coming to the Club Kingdom. In fact, you specifically told me…”
“I don’t care what I told you, before! I’m telling you somethingtrue, right now.”
She blinked, because neither of them screwed around with the Tell Me Something True Game. “You are?”
“Yes.” His voice was certain. “I don’t have much to offer you, but I am loyal. One thousand fucking percent.” Green eyes burned into hers. “And all my loyalty is yours. Every bit of it. So, if you find that doing Good magic is too abhorrent for you… Fine.” He still looked aggravated by her resistance, but he waved it aside. “You can stay right behind me and be safe, instead.”
Esmeralda was mesmerized. “You want to keep me safe?”
“Iwillkeep you safe.” Trevelyan’s hand cupped her face, again. “Your enemies will break against me, like waves hitting the shore. I will stand between you and them, and I will killthem all.” He made it sound simple and certain. “But in order to do that, I need to bewithyou.”
“If it makes you feel any better, you kept me safe with that waterproofing spell.”
That didn’t make him feel any better. It just upset him more. “You nearly got wet? How the fuck didthathappen? You were gone a few hours and nearly died ten different ways.”
“But Ididn’tdie.” She kissed him more gently than before. “Thanks to my True Love.”
His sighed against her lips, like she was the one who cast the spell on him. “Protecting you is all that matters.” He murmured.
“I appreciate you taking care of me. Really. But, you should not have cast something that big, before your powers healed. You could have seriously hurt yourself.”
“And you could have melted.” He wasn’t the least bit repentant. “It seems like you almostdid.”
“The geysers didn’t melt me and I even killed one of the yetis, as a matter of fact. It was a big one, too.”
“The corpse in the other room was your doing?” He promptly answered his own question. “Obviously it was. No one else would murder a yeti with an old television set.”
“The TV was an accident.” Esmeralda didn’t really want to discuss that part, so of course he wanted to discuss it. She resisted the urge to pout. Mostly. “Damn frog spell never works right.”
Trevelyan paused thinking it over, but he still didn’t get the connection. “Log, hog, grog, smog…?” He trailed off questioningly, his head canting to one side.
“Analog.” She muttered. “The TV is analog.”
His slow grin was breathtaking. “You areneverboring, Ez.”
“I’m glad you’re so entertained by my misfiring powers.”
“I’m entertained by you, just beingyou. Do noteverleave me, again.” Trevelyan refocused on getting her naked, lust hot in his eyes. “What the hell were youthinking?”
Esmeralda helped him strip off her pants. “Can we argue later? I want you inside me, now.”
“I can multitask.” He assured her, fully invested in both undressing her and ranting. “I amreallygoddamn irritated that I woke up and you were gone.”
“I left a note.”
“What the hell difference does that make?”
None, but Esmeralda felt the need to defend herself somehow. “I also discussed all the ‘separate lives’ rules with you. You said we didn’t have to share everything…”
“The rules are changing.” Trevelyan interrupted, angry and gorgeous.
“Why do you get to change the rules? I hate followinganyrules and I’m sick of you trying to switch things all around, just as I get a handle on how to bend them.”
