Illicit Magic (22 page)

“Did you find him?” Kitty asked quietly, when the two of us were alone.

I shook my head and droplets of water shook out. “No, he’s gone. He’s just gone. No note. It seemed a very...,”
I struggled for the right word.
“Final. It seemed a very final thing to do.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s okay. Besides, I’m really pissed off with him for acting like such a jerk when he’s supposed to be my friend and I would have said that if he’d been there.” I towelled off and stood by the raging bonfire, still in my two-piece.

Skewers of meat had been produced from a cool bag and were being threaded over a rack. The scent of barbecue pulled in the stragglers from the sea who patted their stomachs and busied themselves handing out drinks.

Jared pulled out a guitar (clearly a hidden talent) and started strumming it as the sun set in streaks of orange and pink over the ocean until the only light that was left was the bonfire. Stakes with torches had been set out and lit so that there was light around the blankets too. Our little crowd stretched out on towels and dozed while the meat cooked. The atmosphere was altogether relaxing and joyful. I couldn’t have wished to be anywhere else and for the first time, I knew what it felt like to really be part of something. I didn’t feel at all awkward in their company anymore.

My bikini had dried off so I walked over to the remains of the volleyball pitch, my feet sinking in the cool sand. My dress was where I’d left it, still hanging over the pole so I shrugged it on and redid the buttons, leaving the last few of the skirt semi undone. As I turned back towards the bonfire, I scanned the people for the pair of eyes I could feel were watching me and smiled when I saw Evan. He raised his glass to me.

“What shall we do for entertainment?” Seren asked to a resounding “whoop”. “I already know the decision, of course, but I’m sure you would rather come up with it by yourselves than for me to just tell you.”

“Dancing,” came a shout from the back. I thought it was Jared.

“Gentleman, please. This is not a beach of ill repute,” snorted Kitty.

“Dance with us then?” came a low voice. David did a low bow in front of Seren and offered her his hand which she took with coy smile.
Yep, something definitely going on there.
His suggestion was met with approval from all sides, a CD player was produced from somewhere and music blared out across our enclave. There were some more “whoops” as Kitty and Clara immediately started jumping around, arms in the air. No one could fail to admire their enthusiastic dancing whilst still clad in bikinis. I laughed and turned as I felt a body close to mine.

Evan took my hand and pulled me to him. I had to stretch to put my hands around his neck as he slipped his hands about my waist. A single one of his hands almost covered the base of my back. We danced slowly, no more than a shuffle and every so often he spun me out and twirled me around before pulling me to him again. He had only pulled on jeans so I found myself – happily – very close to his bare chest. Dancing with Evan was pure pleasure but eventually I shivered as we drifted away from the gathering, confessed I felt a little cold, and we went back to the bonfire.

Evan gathered up one of the discarded shawls and wrapped it around my shoulders before swooping up his t-shirt and sweat jacket and pulling them over his head. He fell backwards onto a blanket and pulled me down with him, so that I was nestled between his legs, my back to his chest, using his powerful body to shield me from the breeze that had whipped up. It was strangely intimate, though at no time was he inappropriate and I felt comfortable snuggled into him. But even I had to admit that I wouldn’t be snuggled quite so close if there weren’t some serious attraction going on.

Whether it was because of his intense body heat, or because, frankly, just being near him was a turn-on, I didn’t want to move away from Evan so we stayed there for the rest of the night. Food was passed round and people came and went, sitting and chatting and then moving on again. By the time the moon was hanging full and bright over the ocean, my eyelids were giving sleepy tugs down and I feared I might dose off right there in Evan’s arms if I didn’t move soon.

I stretched my arms and felt Evan shift behind me as he tightened his arms around me. He seemed to be half asleep himself. A glance at my watch’s glowing hands told me it was past eleven.

“I think it’s time I went to bed,” I muttered and, in an instant, Evan was on his feet and helping me to mine.

“Seren looks like she’s heading up to the house, why don’t you walk up with her?” he suggested.

I looked over. Seren had gathered up her things and, I noticed gratefully, mine too.
She had probably already known that I would walk up with her.
“Yes, I think I will.”

Evan bent his head towards mine and I felt his hands brush my lower back. I tilted my head and wondered if he might kiss me under the moonlit sky; I certainly wanted him to. Instead, he dipped and I felt his warm lips brush across my cheek. I took a step back and his hands released me as I stumbled a step away. I paused for breath but couldn’t say anything. Evan nodded once, and smiled.

What was with the guys around here?
I thought as I caught up with Seren and offered to carry her surplus bag.
Was I misinterpreting everything? God! I was going to be so embarrassed in the morning.
We walked up the steps together, calling goodnight to the straggling partiers. “What a lovely day,” she said happily, David just a step behind her.

“The best,” I muttered, glowing hotly with the embarrassment of misinterpreting Evan’s intentions. In the next moment, I wondered how it was that so much of the world’s awfulness could have been pushed from our thoughts for this single day. It was a sobering thought that I could do without.

Seren kissed me on the cheek when we got to the house and wandered off to her room while I was saying goodnight to Christy and Clara who were looking a little worse for wear. David nodded to me as he passed and followed Seren upstairs.
It was fortunate that this sprawling house could accommodate us all so well
, I thought. It was nice to have a room of my own, instead of bunking down with several other girls like I had to do in one of my foster homes. Still, I did allow myself a second of speculation about which room David was heading to and I couldn’t help but smile to myself.

I took the stairs two at a time and dumped my bag on the chair. My discarded clothing went into the hamper and I went into the en suite bathroom, reaching into the shower to turn on the taps. I held my hand under the water until it turned warm, though, really, a cold shower would have probably been more appropriate given the way I was feeling right then.

I sluiced the sea water and sand from my body and hair, shampooed and conditioned, covering myself in the vanilla-scented body wash that I loved. I assumed Seren’s abilities came in handy here too what with the coordinated basket of toiletries that appealed perfectly to me. I wondered how often people had arrived here with absolutely nothing, like I did.

Standing under the water as a reminisced about the day, I thought how nice it was that we had laughed and played like normal people. Playing volleyball and swimming in the sea, telling stilly stories, eating until our bellies were full and dancing on the sand.

It occurred to me that not once had magic been used, not that I noticed anyway. No one had thought to click their fingers to light the fire, the volleyball had been hit by hands rather than minds manipulating its path, the sky had gone inky and studded with stars all by itself. Not once could I think of an occasion where magic had been used. It had been as normal as normal could be. We were just regular people enjoying ourselves.

We had managed without magic, and magic had managed without us. Everything we did was real. Everything we felt was real. And it dawned on me that the attraction I was feeling towards Evan was all of my own making. “Crap,” I said to the tiles.

I wondered if the others had come to the same conclusion as I and what they made of it, if they even thought about it at all.
Probably not,
I decided,
they’d all been on the magic bus long before me.

I rinsed and turned off the taps, wrapping myself up in a towel. I dried off, lotioned and put on a mauve silk dressing gown that contrasted prettily with my hair and pale skin. Before I could really think what I was doing, my hand was on the handle of my bedroom door and pulling the door open. I stepped outside at the very instant I heard another door open and froze.

Evan stood framed in the doorway of his room down the hall. He had changed from his jeans, tee and zip-up top into loose, linen, dark navy pants that hung the long, sumptuous length of his legs.

My heart thudded in my chest and I took one step forward, then another. Evan waited for me silently until I stood before him. He looked at me for a mere second before taking my hand and pulling me inside without a word, closing the door with a soft thud.

By now, I’d been inside most of the rooms in the house but not this one. Being the corner room, it was a little bigger than mine. Curtains on both walls were drawn already. His bed sat beneath the one that I guessed looked out over the ocean. It was made up in soft grey jersey sheets, masculine but not off-putting and the comforter was folded back like he’d just been about to climb in. On the bedside table, a lamp was switched on and a book lay open, face down.

A desk occupied one side of the long set of curtains; a small pile of books and a writing pad the only clutter. The walls were a much paler grey and everything was tidy. Two doors led off to what I assumed were his en suite and a closet. He smelled fresh and clean and I guessed he had showered as soon as he came in too.

“There was no magic today,” I said, not sure if I was stating the obvious or asking a question.

Evan shook his head. “None.”

“Everything was real.” Again, not a statement or a question.

Evan nodded his head.

“Huh.” I nodded, glad that he agreed.

“Kitty might have warmed the temperature up a little.”

“Figures.”

“Why are you here?” Evan asked softly. With a snap, I realised that I was standing in Evan’s room with barely a robe covering entirely nothing underneath and he was barely inches from me, fairly close to nakedness himself.
What was I doing here?

“I just got out of the shower and I was thinking about you, then ... I don’t know, I went to the door and you were standing at yours.” That seemed to surprise Evan. I wonder
if I’d stayed still, would he have come to me and would we be in my room now having the same soft conversation, but perhaps he would be doing the explaining?

“You were thinking about me while you were in the shower?”

“Um, yeah.”
And why was I admitting to that?

“Stella, I think you know that I want you – I’ve tried not to, but I do – and now you are in my room, wearing very, very little.” He stroked my neck above the collar of my gown, running my hair through his fingers. “Well, that suggests that you want me too, but I want to be sure that I’m not treading on any toes.”

I nearly looked at my toes before I realised he was being metaphorical. I gulped. “If you’re asking if Marc and I are together, then no, we are not. I’m a free woman and I can do as I please.” I used the same words Marc had thrown at me, but not for revenge, because it was true. I wanted Evan very, very much. “Am I treading on any toes?”

“No. There isn’t anyone,” said Evan, his voice still gentle but his fingers caressing my skin, just barely under the gown now. “I don’t want to be a rebound fuck.” I was a little taken aback as he swore.

“I’m not entirely sure what a rebound fuck is, but I can assure you that that is not why I am here. Besides, I’ve never slept with Marc. Actually, I’ve never slept with anyone.”

“And you are here because...?”

He seemed to really want me to spell it out. I looked up at him and held his eyes steady in my own, before I answered, “Because I want you.”

He smiled at last, a broad, happy smile, and his hand circled the back my neck, keeping my head tilted up as he bent to kiss me at last, his lips warm and sensual against my own.

A gasp of joy escaped me as his tongue entered my mouth and found mine. As I responded, the kiss intensified and I pressed my body against his, my arms wrapping around him as far as I could reach. I could feel his mounting excitement push against me through my thin gown.

It was Evan who broke off. “I’ve been wondering what it would be like to kiss you since the day I met you,” he said, his breathing ragged. His hands were tugging at the little knot of my robe and he slid it open, his touch light on my skin. Then his hands slid beneath the silk and travelled from my stomach, running across my breasts until he reached my shoulders. I stood there almost naked in the half light of his room. His gaze was admiring.

“I am much too tall for you.” He grinned suddenly as he swooped me up and lay me across his bed. “You would get an awful pain in your neck if we stayed like that.”

I laughed and forgot about being even slightly embarrassed at appearing at his room and being almost entirely unclothed in minutes. Evan lay down next to me and propped his head up on one arm. He used his other hand to trail across my body and I shivered at the pleasure of his touch. We kissed again and I wriggled so that I was on my side too, pressing against him once more. My hands caressed him and I could barely contain my glee at touching his muscular torso. I stayed the temptation to let my hands travel lower. I could feel how much he wanted me but...
oh hell
. I let my hands drift and slid my palm along his erection.

Evan groaned and kissed me harder and rolled so that he was on top of me, resting on his elbows either side of me. He was supporting his weight but not so much that I couldn’t feel him press his whole body against me as I pulled him ever closer. We stayed like this for a long time as my legs wrapped around him, the desperation to be part of him taking over, my baser instincts eager to take control.