Skin on skin, frenzied kissing. Then his frame went taut, signaling a struggle for control. No, I wouldn’t let him hold back now. I took hold of his face, kissing him more deeply, my heart pounding as hard as my core.

“No, wait,” he said, out of breath. “Wait.” He leaned his forehead against mine. “Are you still…” He licked his lips. “Will I be your first?”

“Yes.” I stroked the side of his cheek.

He shuddered softly. “I love you.” He captured my lips before backing off again, his body tensing. “I need to be completely in control for your first time. I’m scared I’m going to hurt you.”

“That’s kind of how it goes, isn’t it?” I said, my voice breathy. “You can’t really get around that.”

“I know, but…”

I felt his heat against me. Yearning made me reach out for him.

And then my mother’s obnoxious voice sounded in my ear.

“Hold on,” I said, and he practically jumped off me.

“It’s okay. We can wait. I know this is a huge decision—”

“Would you relax?” I laughed, letting out a little pent-up nervousness, and dug through my nightstand drawer. I checked the date on the foil packet before handing it over with a burning face. “I thought you’d be back sooner. But they last a while, so we’re good.”

His eyes, so deep, so full of emotion, watched me settle back onto the bed. He ran a hand up my thigh, over my belly, beside my breast, and up to my chin before lowering himself over me. Softly, he touched his lips to mine.

“You are a dream come true in a life full of nightmares.” His lips traced my jaw. “You’re my savior, Penny, and I’m honored you have chosen me. That you had enough faith in us—in me—to wait for me. I am completely undeserving, but I know how lucky I am to have found you.”

He drifted down my body then, stalling in various places before gliding his lips to my apex. I arched and gasped, relishing in the tremors the warm pressure of his mouth sent through my body. My knees drifted wider and I clutched at the pillow, soaking it in. My loud moan saw him headed back up, his kisses soft but urgent. Needy.

“Here we go,” he said under his breath, and I heard the foil crinkle.

His body was shaking, and it wasn’t from pent-up need.

I smiled as he took my hands and lifted them above my head, entwining our fingers. Crinkles of skin folded at the corners of his eyes.

When I smiled, he shuddered out a laugh. “I’m really nervous,” he said.

“I’m not.” My smile melted away as a strong, deep feeling took over me. “I’m not even remotely nervous. I’ve been waiting for this moment. For you. For this life. I was always going to end up here. My path was full of zigzags, but there’s no one else I could’ve ended up with. Or you. The proof is all around us.” I let my head fall to the side, and his gaze followed.

Magic jumped and danced within the room, all different colors and patterns. Swirls and mini-explosions, it was beauty in movement. I felt his body against mine, the silk at my back, the heated air between us and the chill beyond. I felt connected, utterly. Balanced, completely. At one with him and my surroundings.

“Look at me, Penny,” he commanded softly.

Our eyes met, and he thrust.

41

A bang sounded at the door and Emery awoke immediately, lifting his hand to weave a spell.

“No, no, no,” Penny said sleepily, pulling down his hand and wrapping it back around her.

“What the hell?” Reagan shouted through the door. “You get a boyfriend and suddenly I can’t kick open your door without breaking shit? That ain’t right, Penny. That ain’t right. Wake up! It’s time to kick some ass.”

A glance at the clock said it was ten a.m. Light glowed around the curtains in the room.

Emery dropped his hand to Penny’s bare shoulder and turned his head so he could breathe in the fragrance of her hair. His heart swelled and he closed his eyes, soaking in the feeling of her body curled around his and her leg splayed across his thigh.

A fierce protectiveness surged through him, followed by a sense of humbled honor.

How the hell had he gotten so lucky? What trick of the universe had landed him here, with her? Lying with her like this, after the experience he’d shared with her last night…he never wanted to leave her ever again. Not for a moment. She was his, and every fiber of his being was absolutely hers.

But then, he always had been hers. He knew that now. He’d just been fighting it.

She stirred and pulled back enough to peel open a blue eye before offering him a sleepy smile and settling back onto his chest. “Morning.”

Another thud on the door. “Get up,” Reagan called. “They have to repair the front door anyway. What’s one more door? That’s a warning. Heed it.”

“She’s not kidding. She will come in here.” Penny rolled to her back, grimacing. “Ow.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Sore. It sucks that women have all this drama with losing our virginity. Kind of a dick move on the creator’s part. No pun intended.”

He turned and propped up on an elbow, watching her slowly wake up. “Regrets?”

She rubbed her eyes, blinked another few times, and met his gaze. Her eyes sparkled with emotion and a smile tugged at her lips. “Obviously no regrets, but with all the hubbub the world makes about losing your virginity, you’d think there would be balloons and dancing monkeys or something. But nope, just some pain, eventually followed by soreness.”

“So I was terrible?”

She laughed and snuggled into him. “I think you know better. Those sounds weren’t made by a bored or unhappy woman.”

He kissed her shoulder. “I’d say you could’ve been faking it, but I do know better. If you hadn’t been into it, you probably would have told me.”

“Last warning, you filthy buggers,” Reagan called through the door. “I imagine by now that the Guild has gotten a tip about what we’re doing today. I told Callie to mention it to her people in passing. Someone is bound to have leaked it. The Guild is surely readying for an attack as we speak.”

The moment faded away as reality seeped into Emery. He softly rubbed her back. “I only have a vague knowledge of what Reagan’s magic should be able to do. Very vague. This sounds like a suicide mission.”

“Yes, it does.” Penny sighed, patted his side, and rolled away. “But that’s kind of how she rolls. Besides, my mother said this was the way. We know to listen to my mother. Man, did you just hear what I said? And to think, I thought one day I wouldn’t have to. Congratulations, universe, you win.”

He laughed and pulled the sheets away, climbing from the bed. His clothes lay on the floor where he’d left them, dirty from the day before. “I don’t suppose we can go to the Bankses and get another change of clothing before we storm the castle?”

“Doubtful. Reagan’s will probably be dirty—”

“Five, four…”

“Hurry up,” Penny said, pulling on her shirt.

“Three, two…”

“Go, go, go—” Penny reached the door, threw the lock, and opened it in harried, panic-stricken movements.

Reagan paused with her foot in the air and her hands balanced to the sides, ready to kick. A smile graced her face and she lowered her foot. “Barely. Just barely.”

Penny huffed at her and turned back to finish getting dressed.

“Hurry up,” Reagan said. “I want to get the show on the road.”

“Have you told Darius about this?” Penny asked.

“No.” Reagan filled the doorway, wearing her standard uniform of leather pants, a tank top, and her hair in a ponytail. “Let’s see how he likes secrets. And it’s day, so when the shenanigans wake him up, he’ll be half panicked, knowing I did something stupid.”

“You two have such a strange relationship.” Penny pulled on a sweater before bending to her utility belt. She slowed, then cocked her head. A moment later, she stood up slowly, her eyes on me and her brow furrowed. “We do need to go to the Bankses’ house. There is something there we need.”