Willow: June Read Free Page A

childhood. Maybe it was because he didn’t know how else to get a response from her at this point in their relationship. The woman drove him nuts, and not in the crazy I want to tear my hair out way. No, he’d realized over the past few weeks that she drove his libido wild. Had him constantly on edge and craving her attention, especially when she held it back.
    He wanted to press her on her bed, or up against a wall or door…any place he could ravish her would do, really. He hungered to feel her magic slide across him as it blended with his. Her hands caressing every inch of him. Her lips and teeth tasting and nibbling. He wanted to see her head thrown back in ecstasy, and hear his name tumble from her sweet lips like a prayer.
    It wasn’t all about conquering her sexually. Even though he could admit he’d wanted to do that for a very long time. There was more to it than that. There was a drive in the core of him pushing to be near her just for the sake of spending time with her. A basic need to get to know her without the jokes and jabs, the sneers and witty comebacks. He ached to see her smile at him genuinely. Be happy to see him.
    Fuck! He wanted to be her damn friend.
    “Whatcha got there?” He asked, nodding at the necklace. Needing to know the meaning behind it, and afraid of what he might hear.
    She dropped the stone like it was on fire, letting it bounce off her breastbone; a cool mask fell into place on her face. The one with the dead eyes and thinned lips. He fucking hated that look.
    “It’s nothing. What do you want, Cedric?”
    He reached out and took hold of the stone. It heated between his fingers, and snaps of electricity arced down them. “It doesn’t feel like nothing.” As a matter of fact, it felt like something pretty damned important. Something magical. Something enchanted. Had she put a spell on it? Was she really trying to find love?
    Willow didn’t need the help, regardless of what her family and friends said or thought. If she’d open her eyes, she’d see it standing right in front of her. He was ready to make her his one and only. He had a feeling she wouldn’t believe him though.
    It had taken him a long time to sort out how he felt about her. The day he jokingly told Reid to go out with her, then witnessed the devastation on her face when she found out why he’d asked her out, Cedric felt like he’d been hit in the head with a two-by-four. It gutted him that he was the reason for her distress. She refused to talk to him when he had jogged after her. In fact, this was the first time they’d spoken since that day. She had ignored all of his phone calls and texts.
    She batted his hand away and closed her hand around the stone. “What. Do. You. Want?”
    “You aren’t still mad at me, are you?”
    “What do you think?” She glared at him, and he wondered for half a second if she was silently hexing him.
    Nah, Willow would never do that. I would feel it if she did anyway. Nothing like having a magical early warning system to tip a person off. “I didn’t know Reid would take me seriously about the spell thing. He never has before when I said stupid shit.”
    “Then why did you show up and watch the entire time with a huge smile on your face?”
    Cedric grimaced and shrugged. He didn’t have an answer for her. At least not one he wanted to give her. Reid told him he’d taken his advice and asked her out. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Cedric demanded the details. He only showed up to make sure they didn’t hit it off. The smile—well, at first, he’d been pleased to hear Reid say he wasn’t interested in her. He had grinned like an idiot knowing he didn’t have to worry about his friend flirting with her and being successful. He hadn’t been smiling by the end of the faux date, though, but she probably hadn’t seen. There was no way he could miss the tears shimmering in her big eyes as Reid told her he’d never be interested in a woman like her. Cedric