Ian’s voice was low, seductive. “Come with me.”
I willingly followed him to the checkout, where I paid for the fenugreek leaves. We walked out together, and on the sidewalk beside my car, he ran his hand down my arm.
“I don’t even know your name,” he said.
“Brynn,” I managed to whisper.
“Brynn. Such a lovely name. Such a lovely woman. I can’t help but think we were meant to bump into each other today.”
My hormones were singing. Whether it was fate or not, I was fighting an extremely impulsive decision to follow this man wherever he wanted to take me. I stifled a giggle, realizing I wanted to be “taken.” I’d never had such a physical response to a man.
“Would you like to take a walk with me?” He leaned down and kissed me again.
All reason disappeared with the tenderness of his lips, the taste of his mouth—a hunger that demanded to be fed. “Yes.”
He laced his hand with mine and I willingly followed him to the end of the strip mall.
Like most of Wisconsin, Woodrow had its share of wooded areas. The strip mall opened to a grassy field, bordered by neat rows of tall, pine trees. I followed Ian into the woods, the spongy scent of the earth and the tang of the trees in my nostrils. He stopped beside a log, sheltered from the road, and pulled his shirt over his head. I rested my palms on his bared chest, feeling the rapid beat of his heart. A glance southward showed what I already knew. He wanted me as badly as I wanted him. I initiated the kiss this time, and as he pressed my back against a tree trunk, I unfastened his pants.
We were doing this.
He had me out of my jeans in short order and as I wrapped my legs around his narrow hips, he eased me to the nest of clothes on the ground.
My pulse raced. My vision blurred, as if I’d been drugged. The world had narrowed to me and Ian and the pine trees and the way we all came together in what—ridiculously enough—formed a “more perfect union.” Thanks, history class.
I cried out as my world exploded in a sea of sensation, and soon became aware of Ian’s groans with his release. He collapsed on top of me, our hearts pounding. He kissed me again—my lips, my neck, my chest—his hands roaming my body.
“I’ve never been quite this impulsive.” His voice came out in gasps. “You seem to have bewitched me.”
“I think you’ve got that backward.” I laughed. “I can’t say I’ve ever gone off into the woods with a stranger before, either.”
“Brynn.” He said my name as if testing it. “We aren’t strangers. I feel as if I’ve always known you.”
Oddly enough, I felt that, too.
He nodded. “I’m afraid to let you go, afraid if I do, I’ll never see you again. I want to see you again.”
Under other circumstances, I might have been spooked, but I’d learned the magic did what it wanted. Clearly, we were at its mercy. I kissed Ian and he slid into me again, going more slowly this time, more in control.
A cool breeze raised gooseflesh on my skin and moments later I watched him convulse once more.
What was I doing?
When he pulled away, I sat awkwardly, reaching for my discarded clothes.
“I don’t know what to do with what just happened,” he said.
I cupped his cheek and gave him a soft kiss. “I don’t either.”
We fumbled to get dressed and left the woods for the parking lot.
“Do you need help with the recipe?” he asked.
I started to tell him how the spell had travelled from Daria to Kyle—Oh shit. Kyle. “Uhhh...”
“It’s an excuse, I know. I want to see you again.” Ian took my hand. “I’m going to give you my phone number. You can call me when you’re comfortable doing so. Something tells me we are destined to meet again. At least I hope we are.”
I nodded and handed him my phone. He added his number and as he returned my phone, this way-too-handsome man stared at me for a long time. “Don’t wait too long,” he said. “I want you again already.”
Right back atcha.
Ian unlocked a CRV parked two cars over, reached for the door handle and then laughed. “I didn’t get what I came for.”
I stood like a statue, watching him, aching for him. He kissed me once more before he walked inside Gupta’s Market.
Chapter 13
Had I imagined the interlude? I drove home utterly bemused—and shocked at my own behavior. Fenugreek was known to increase virility. Were the effects so powerful? Except I hadn’t smelled it, hadn’t tasted it.
As I turned onto my street, Lisa paced outside my house. She hoisted the garage door for me and I pulled my car inside.
“I’ve been trying to call you,” Lisa said. “I figured when Dylan told me Kyle had guy things to talk about, they involved you, so I thought I’d come over and keep you company.”
My afterglow evaporated. Lisa had come for a pity visit. Everyone knew things between Kyle and I had deteriorated. “And find out what secrets Kyle was sharing with Dylan?” I closed the garage and walked to the house.
She held her arms out. “We are still best friends, aren’t we?”
I unlocked the door and waved her inside. “Of course, we are.” Which didn’t mean I was about to tell her I’d just come from having the best sex of my life.
What had I done?
I leaned on the kitchen counter, overcome by the butterflies Ian had unleashed in my belly—and guilt. Ian must have bewitched me. Why else would I have followed him into the woods and thrown caution to the wind? Why else was I tingling for him still?
Was this what had happened to Kyle when he’d cheated on me? Except when Kyle had been bewitched, he’d had no recollection of his relationship with me.
“What’s going on?” Lisa asked.
I shook my
