Penny & Her Heru Ch 6

Rent-A-Witch: Whynot Coven

6 - A Kiss To End All Kisses

Heru and I stopped on the sidewalk in front of a light pink Victorian with soft cream trim. It seemed like forever since I left it earlier this afternoon for the ceremony. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do. In Darla's short appearance she didn't say if the wards would let Heru in or not. Judging by the way he studied the gate told me he was thinking the same thing.

"I suppose we should say goodnight here. I can see the wards shimmering and they don't look friendly." I gestured toward the waist-high wrought iron gate in front of us. "I'm not the strongest with wards but I'm pretty sure they want to hurt you if you can see them."

His wings twitched against my back. "After Venn burst through her door Darla had a witch do some high-level protection magic around the whole place."

"Makes sense." I bent and picked up a stick from the ground and tugged on his hand until he backed up a step. A spray of sparks and the smell of singed wood reached my nose as the stick burned the moment it came in contact with the ward. Darla was not messing around.

One thick eyebrow raised as we watched the ashes fall to the ground. "I'll say goodbye over here."

Before words were out of his mouth, he dropped the bags full of clothes and bathroom things that I picked up on the way (that he insisted on paying for) on the ground and tugged me into his side causing the butterflies in my belly to go from excited flutters to a full-on caffeine riddled pit fight. The way his mouth tipped up at the side let me know he liked my reaction.

I bit my lip when his wings flared around us creating a cocoon. I hadn't noticed anyone peeking through the blinds but in a small town like Whynot, the chances were good someone was watching. Since it was a town of witches and Others the chances were good they had better ways to spy on the neighbors than twitching their curtains.

I couldn't help myself from tracing a finger along the strap holding his sword to his back. His pecs were smooth and firm; nothing about him felt like cold stone.

"How often do you work out to look like this?" My finger circled his belly button before I realized what I was doing and pulled it back. "Sorry. I don't normally just … pet someone's chest like that."

A soft chuckle caused the pecs in front of my face to jump. He caressed my hips and pulled me closer. "A perk of being my mate is you can pet me whenever you want."

The idea of petting him whenever I wanted made more than the butterflies in my stomach sit up and pay attention. "That's a perk?"

His hands flexed on my hips before sliding down to cup my bottom. "Oh, I know it is. Because I plan to touch you whenever I want."

To prove his point, he lowered his head and pressed his lips to mine. A soft little kiss, just a tease. I rocked up on my toes and teasingly bit his bottom lip. Heru took control of the kiss teasing my lips with his tongue until I let him in. He was everywhere at once. His hands roamed my body, while his tail stroked the back of my thigh. Everything ceased to exist outside the cocoon of his wings. I would have done anything he asked right then - anything.

He dragged in a deep breath when he finally broke the kiss, "There are things I want to do, but I'm not going to do them in the middle of Maple Street."

I fought to control the urge to climb him like a tree. It was tempting. It would be easy. But he was right. I didn't want to give the kids on Maple Street an education they weren’t ready for.

"You're right. I should go inside, and you know … do something … inside."

He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and pressed a kiss against my forehead. "I'll see you in the morning."

I nodded and patted his chest. "Till the morning."

He watched as gathered my bags, traced the sigil in the air over the gate, recited the password for the porch, then the sigil needed to get in the front door.

I blew him a kiss before I shut the door. Somehow, I knew he was still standing in the same spot. Chances were good he would probably stand there for a while before flying home. I needed to stay strong and not give in to the need to let him in the house. If I looked outside and saw him standing there being all quiet and broody chances were good I’d do something rash.

That was a problem for tomorrow. Tonight's problems were finding my room, getting out of the bridesmaid dress, and most importantly I needed to get the underwire bra off as soon as possible because the wire had been digging into my armpit since we left the cafe.

I loved the room Darla told me to use. It was decorated in shades of chocolate and raspberry. Dark wood furniture was softened by soft fabrics like silk and velvet. I kicked my flats into the corner of the room and squished my toes into the carpet while I wiggled out of the dress and horrible bra. If I hadn't paid nearly a hundred bucks for the torture device, it would’ve gone straight into the trash. Instead, I hung it over the edge of the footboard and lined up all the clothes from the boutique to clean them with a laundry spell.

Luckily, I was smart enough to pay attention when my mom taught us the different spells for keeping a clean house. My personal favorite was great aunt Annie's laundry spell. I never had to wait for clothes to go through the wash and dry unless I had a huge pile waiting. A bra, some pjs, and the outfit for tomorrow took all of three minutes, and a pouch of herbs from my purse. Thankfully I kept a nice selection of herbs in the third section of my magic bag. If I’d thought about it, I would have packed clothes in the compartment I kept books in. Lesson learned for the next wedding I was invited to.

I settled into the wing chair in the corner of the room to flip through my email while I waited for the laundry spell to work, the problem was nothing was interesting enough to keep my mind off the kiss. My entire life was going to be divided into Before Kiss and After Kiss. No man had ever kissed me with that level of passion or want. I thought I'd dated a couple of good kissers in the past, but I was wrong. So very wrong.

It kept replaying over and over in my mind. The way he held me, how our bodies fit together so perfectly, and the pure electricity that arced between us. Most of all I felt the pull in my chest. It started in the courtyard. It strengthened while we ate in the cafe, and was almost visible when he made his vow, and I promised to give him a chance. Now that we were separated for the night something was pulling me to go find him. I knew If I left the house, I would be able to follow the 'pull' to him across the street.

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