Chick with a Charm Read online

  “For goddesss’s sake, don’t do it!”

  Lily felt as if she’d been paraded in front of a display of chocolate truffles and then told she couldn’t have any. It wasn’t fair to have a man like Griffin panting for her and have to turn him down. But Anica had made some potent arguments.

  Lily didn’t want to be a pariah in the wizard world because of this. Griffin’s response to the elixir was exciting but might be difficult to control if she let things go any further.

  The thought of not having sex with him tonight was killing her. But she had to remember that doing magic always clouded her better judgment. Anica was watching out for her. Anica probably knew what was best.

  “Okay,” Lily said. “I’ll shut him down.”

  “And you’re not just saying that because you’re high on magic, right? You know how you tend to be more agreeable when you have a magic buzz going.”

  “I mean it, Anica.”

  “Just remember that in another nine hours, he’ll be back to normal. Then you can ask him to the engagement party and find out if there’s any real connection between the two of you.”

  Lily had the most horrible feeling that Griffin wouldn’t accept an invitation to Anica and Jasper’s engagement party once the spell wore off. If she let him go now, that would be the end of her chances with him.

  “Lily? You’re with me on this plan, right?”

  “Sure.” Lily glanced back at Griffin and her heart thumped in triple time. It would be so sweet if only—but no, she wouldn’t go through with it. “You bet.”

  “Good,” Anica said. “And remember, he’ll try to talk you into going to bed with him, and you have that tendency to be agreeable when you’re like this, so watch out.”

  “Okay.”

  “I just wish I knew whether you’ll agree with me now and turn around and agree with him later.” Anica sighed. “Anyway, I’ll talk to you tomorrow. If we’re going to have the engagement party at the Bubbling Cauldron, we have plans to make.”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Be strong, Lil.”

  “I will. Talk to you tomorrow.” Lily closed the phone and tucked it into her backpack.

  “Your sister?”

  Lily turned, enchanted by the sexy resonance in his voice. She would love listening to him murmur sweet words in her ear while they were making . . . no, she wasn’t going to do that tonight. “Yes, that was Anica.”

  “I met her and her fiancé here.”

  “That’s right.” She could ask him to the engagement party now and he’d say yes. He’d say anything to gain his objective of luring her into his bed. The invitation to the party was on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn’t ask him to the party and then refuse his advances tonight. That would seem weird.

  Sherman came over with money and credit cards to settle the last of the bar bills.

  “Let me pay for my beer now, too.” Griffin pulled some bills out of a hidden pocket in his sweats.

  Lily waved away the money. “It’s on the house.” Paying for his beer was the least she could do considering that she planned to deny him satisfaction when she’d created the craving in the first place.

  “Thanks.” Griffin put the money away.

  Sherman glanced at Griffin, then back at Lily. “If you two have plans, I’ll close up tonight. All I need you to do is take care of the register.”

  Lily sighed with regret. “That’s okay, Sherman. I can do it.”

  Griffin lifted his eyebrows in a silent question.

  “Suit yourself,” Sherman said. “I’ll start stacking chairs. Let me know if you change your mind.”

  After Sherman walked away, Lily gazed at the man she had lusted after for weeks and said what needed to be said. “Griffin, I can’t go home with you.” How she hated saying that!

  “Sure you can.” He leaned toward her and his hazel eyes coaxed her to agree. “You know we’d have a great time.”

  “I’m sure we would, but I have . . . responsibilities.” For one thing, she had responsibilities to the wizard community, which wouldn’t appreciate the spell she’d cast on him, but she couldn’t tell him that.

  “Such as?”

  She resisted the temptation of his heated gaze as she moved to the cash register to close it out for the night. “My dog. I can’t go off and leave Daisy. She has to be walked and then fed in the morning.”

  “No problem. I’ll go home with you and help with the dog. We could stay at your place if you’d rather.”

  “That’s not a good idea.” It sounded like a wonderful idea, but she dared not tell him so. Picking up his glass, she washed it, being very, very careful. Now was not the time to break another glass.

  “Why isn’t it a good idea?”

  “Daisy isn’t used to strangers.” It could be true. Lily hadn’t had her long, and no strangers had visited the apartment since Daisy had arrived.

  “That’s okay. I’m good with dogs. I had a golden retriever when I was a kid.”

  “Daisy’s a golden.” Lily said it before she’d stopped to think that the information would only encourage Griffin. “But she’s really not very sociable.”

  “That’s hard to believe. golden retrievers usually love people.”

  Belatedly she remembered what he did for a living. A lawyer would be very good at arguing his case. She was matching words with someone who was far more skilled at wordplay than she was. “Sorry. I can’t take the chance. She might bite you.” More likely Lily would be the one biting him during a passionate, very naked moment. Love bites could be a lot of fun.

  “Then I’ll wait outside your apartment for you until you’ve taken care of your dog.”

  “No, I can’t have you doing that.” Lily took a deep breath and faced him. Anica would be so proud of her right now. “I’m not spending the night with you, Griffin.”

  He took the ultimatum without blinking. “All right. Then we’ll just have coffee.”

  She was totally confused. “But . . . but I thought you wanted to . . .”

  “I did. I do. But if that won’t work for you, then we’ll walk your dog and then we’ll go get coffee and talk.”

  Lily could see advantages in that. She’d finally have a chance to get to know Griffin, and as long as they didn’t have sex, the relationship might build naturally, carrying over after the spell had disappeared. Anica had made Lily promise not to have sex with Griffin, but she hadn’t made her promise not to have coffee with him.

  “I guess that would be okay,” she said. “Let me go tell Sherman.” Lifting the hinged part of the bar top, she walked over to where Sherman was stacking chairs on top of tables. “If you wouldn’t mind closing up, then—”

  “Be happy to.” Sherman grinned at her. “I noticed a long time ago that you’d taken a shine to that guy. I think it’s cool that he finally grabbed a clue.”

  “We’re just going for coffee.”

  Sherman’s grin widened. “Yeah, that’s what they all say.”

  “No, really. Just coffee.”

  “You trying to convince me or yourself?”

  “I’m not trying to convince anyone. I just—”

  “All I’m saying is that you’re sounding a little out of breath, which usually means there’s more at stake than coffee.”

  Lily deliberately slowed her breathing as she met Sherman’s gaze. “Nope. Just coffee. Thanks for locking up.” With a wave, she walked back to the bar and retrieved her purse.

  Griffin slid off his bar stool. “All set?”

  “Yep.” She tried to sound nonchalant. “By the way, I usually take the bus home. The bus stop’s only about half a block from here.”

  “We can take a cab this time.”

  “That’s not necessary.” Plus a cab ride had more potential for hanky-panky. How ironic that she was in the crazy position of holding him at bay.

  “A cab will actually be easier for me. I don’t have any tokens and the bus won’t take cash at this hour.”

  She used a
bus pass, so she didn’t have tokens to give him, either. Apparently they had no choice but to ride together in the back of a cozy, intimate cab. At least they couldn’t have sex there. Well, technically they probably could, but Lily wasn’t a fan of backseat sex. She couldn’t imagine Griffin would like it, either.

  “Okay, we’ll take a cab,” she said.

  His hand closed over her arm in a warm, possessive grip. “Then let’s go.”

  His heat penetrated her sleeve and made a quick journey through the rest of her body, finally settling smack-dab between her thighs. Well, so what? She was a twenty-six-year-old woman who didn’t have to act on every arousing thought that passed through her mind. She could handle this. She hoped.

  As they stepped out of the bar, a chilly wind whipped down the deserted street.

  Griffin yelped. “Jesus, it’s cold out here!”

  “Then let’s go back inside and call a cab from there.”

  “Nah.” He grabbed her hand. “We’ll run down to the corner where there’s more traffic.”

  “I’m not exactly dressed for a run.” She lifted one foot to display her high-heeled boot.

  His gaze traveled slowly from her boot up the length of her tight black pants. He seemed to have forgotten all about the cold breeze, the cab, even their surroundings. His grip on her fingers tightened. “I see what you mean.”

  Whew. That was some elixir she’d brewed. The look in his eyes was hot enough to scorch the material right off her body. “We could jog up to the corner,” she said.

  He cleared his throat. “Not now.”

  That’s when she noticed the sizable bulge easily detected under the soft fleece of his sweats. She quickly looked away, but it was too late. She was already turned on.

  “Let’s walk.” His voice was low and rough.

  “Can you?”

  “Barely. But if we don’t move out, I’m liable to shove you and your do-me boots up against the nearest wall.”

  Chapter 4

  The cab ride was torture as Griffin fought the urge to take Lily right there on the worn upholstery. The exotic spice of her perfume drove him crazy in the close confines of the cab’s backseat. He hugged the side door, afraid that if he touched her at all he’d soon be ripping at her clothes. At his current level of desire, the presence of the cabdriver made no difference to him.

  In fact, all social restraints were falling away, while his senses had sharpened considerably. Underlying the tang of her perfume, he breathed in the unmistakable scent of her arousal. He wanted his nose right there, right between her thighs. He wanted his tongue there, too. Moisture pooled in his mouth at the thought.

  He recorded the pace of her breathing, which he guessed she was unsuccessfully trying to control. He was in the same boat. If not for the thin veneer of civilization, he’d be panting like a damned dog.

  He wanted her with a ferocity that alarmed him. His lust was an immediate thing, a craving that he needed to satisfy tonight. He couldn’t plan beyond that, because taking her to bed didn’t fit in with any of his long-range goals.

  Worse yet, he didn’t believe in one-night stands. Yet that’s exactly what he had in mind. She’d balked at the idea and he could hardly blame her. He wasn’t wild about the concept, either.

  But for some reason his libido had taken charge tonight, and he had to have her. He wasn’t proud of his single-minded pursuit of one night in her bed. He’d never thought of himself as a selfish bastard, but he was acting like one now.

  He’d coaxed her into taking him home with her by promising a coffee date. The truth was he had no intention of leaving her tonight without having sex. He would be willing to have it right now in the back of this cab, but he had no condoms and a small part of his brain was still operational, thank God. He was counting on her to have condoms in her apartment.

  From inside her trendy backpack lying on the floor of the cab, Lily’s cell phone played the opening bars of “Witchy Woman.” She leaned down to pull out the phone, which made her scent swirl in the backseat.

  Griffin clenched his teeth as a surge of desire made him long to grab her. It was amazing to him that he’d never kissed those full lips.

  She flipped open the phone. “Hi, Anica.”

  He had to look away, because the sight of her mouth moving as she talked to her sister made him long to grab the phone away and thrust his tongue in deep. And that would only be the beginning. He had plans for that mouth she loved to decorate in lipstick the color of ripe cherries. Before the night was through, he wanted cherry-red lipstick marks all over himself.

  “Yes, everything’s cool,” Lily said. “I’m on my way home.”

  Nothing on Griffin was cool. He’d waged a constant and often unsuccessful battle during the cab ride to keep his penis calm.

  “Never mind,” Lily said. “It’s all under control.”

  Griffin had the oddest feeling they were talking about him, but that made no sense. How would Lily’s sister know about this sudden fixation of his?

  “Yeah, I promise I won’t do anything you wouldn’t do. Talk to you tomorrow. Bye.” She closed the phone and reached over to tuck it into her backpack.

  Then she glanced over at Griffin. “Anica worries about me. She knows I’m . . . uh . . . interested in you.”

  “It sounded as if she might be warning you away from me.”

  “She just doesn’t want me to do anything I’d regret. She’s my big sister, after all. But I can’t see how she’d object to us going out for coffee.”

  “Then why didn’t you tell her we were doing that?”

  Lily looked away. “Let’s just say I have a history of flying in the face of good sense. It’s better that she doesn’t know we’re together. She wouldn’t believe I could keep it to a coffee date.” She faced him again, her expression resolute. “But that’s what we’re going to do.”

  Like hell. He waited for his conscience to kick in, but nothing happened. It seemed that he was determined to seduce this woman whether she wanted him to or not. Funny thing, his instincts told him she did want him to, no matter what she said to the contrary.

  After what seemed like the longest cab ride in history but had taken less than ten minutes, they pulled up in front of a four-story brick apartment building that resembled many others that were sprinkled throughout the city.

  Griffin dug in the inside pocket of his sweats and came up with the fare. If they actually went for coffee, which he doubted, he could cover that, too. He followed Lily out of the cab and up the cement steps to the front door.

  His heart was going crazy with anticipation, but he’d have to keep his cool until the issue of the dog had been settled. They couldn’t get naked until the dog—was her name Daisy?—had been allowed out to do her business. Griffin liked dogs a lot and he didn’t want to put this one through misery.

  Lily paused in the small hallway where the mailboxes took up one wall. “I’m on the third floor, and there’s no elevator. You can wait down here if you want, while I go get Daisy.”

  “That’s okay. I’ll go up with you.” But as he followed her up the stairs, he regretted the decision. He’d wanted to see her apartment, sort of get the lay of the land where this seduction would take place later on, but doing so meant having the chance to ogle her shapely rear all the way.

  It meant following the trail of her scent, both her spicy perfume and her pheromone-laden woman’s aroma. The exertion of climbing made him breathe all the more deeply, until his impulse control began to dwindle. Much more of this, and he might—

  “You don’t have to go all the way up.” She paused on the second landing and glanced back at him.

  He was partway up, in more ways than one. “I’m fine.”

  “Seriously, you can wait here. I’m used to this climb.”

  “I’m okay, really.”

  “No, you’re not. You’re panting worse than Daisy does.”

  Terrific. He could tell her the truth, that he was panting out of sexual frustration,
or he could end up looking like a wimp incapable of handling two flights of stairs. Or he could lie.

  “I’m training for a marathon,” he said. “Mounting . . . I mean climbing the stairs is good for me.” Damn, even his vocabulary was skewed toward sex.

  She shrugged. “If you say so.” She started up again, her heels tapping seductively on the wooden staircase.

  Watching her fanny sway from side to side as she climbed was heaven. Dealing with the painful condition of his cock was hell. He shouldn’t look at her. He should simply put his head down and make the trek up the stairs like a blind man.

  Of course he could no more look away than fly to the moon. Instead he created scenarios in which he caught up with her and they had doggie-style sex on the stairs. Or he joined her on the next landing, backed her up against the wall and took her standing up.

  Apparently weeks of denying the attraction he felt for her had built up a hunger of monumental proportions. He couldn’t remember ever being this focused on sex with a woman, not even as a teenager. Besides that, his obsession was specific to Lily. He didn’t just need to have sex with someone ASAP, he needed to have it with her, and only her.

  “Almost there,” she called over her shoulder.

  Because he was worried about the telltale bulge under his fleece sweats, he forced himself to look at the stair treads instead of her backside for the last few steps.

  “This is it.” She put her key in the lock of apartment 333. “I can hear Daisy whining.”

  Too bad it was socially unacceptable for him to whine or he’d be doing it. God, how he wanted her. But the dog had to go out first. He got that.

  As he stood hesitantly at the door to the apartment, mindful that the dog might not take to him right away, he wondered if she had a fireplace. There was a smoky scent in the air. Then, across a room that was filled with eye-popping primary colors, he spied the incense burner on the coffee table. That must be what had generated the smell.

  Daisy was obviously ecstatic to see Lily. Lily dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around the wiggling, whining dog. “I missed you, too, sweetheart,” she murmured. “Now, I’d like you to meet my friend Griffin.”