She nearly choked. “Don’t you dare let her guilt you into this.” She turned and he only shook his head, still smiling.

“This has nothing to do with her. Well, that’s not entirely true but not in the way you think. You’ve given me such a gift and you don’t know it. I can’t tell you what it means that you never pushed. And that with her today you defended me.”

“Of course I did.”

He slid his thumb over her bottom lip. “I love when your bottom lip sticks out just a little when you’re arguing. What I meant was, I needed the space, I was reeling and fighting what I knew was true because it freaked me out. But I can’t deny this any more than I can stand here and look at you without wanting you again.”

“I don’t want you to think that desire is out of your control, or not your choice.”

“You told her the bond would be here in a month or a year. And it will. We do have time to get to know each other. The ascension will happen and I’ll still be learning you. They’re not mutually exclusive. I was hung up on something and the longer I think about it, the more I believe I was looking at it incorrectly.”

“How so?”

“It was sudden and I balked. You respected that and gave me some space to process something that in retrospect will probably still take the rest of my days to figure through it’s so huge. And I can. I can continue to examine it and find a way to make it make sense. Baby, the fact is, we are connected. You’re meant for me, and me for you. So I can accept that and enjoy it for all it brings to my life, or I can rail about it when I actually like it and who wins? Hm? We have this thing and it’s fucking awesome. Damn. Every time you get near my system revs up. My magick rises to meet yours. You say it’ll get even stronger after the ascension. Even your mother said that today. In the end, it underlines what I already know. It makes me a stronger and more powerful witch. It makes you one too. And it’s a way of telling you in no uncertain terms that I accept what we have.”

She blinked back tears rather unsuccessfully. He flustered her because it mattered what he thought. How he felt was important. He got it. She wanted to hug him and cry, but then she’d get tears and possibly snot all over him and that was not the memory she wanted to leave him associating with this moment.

“Don’t cry. I can’t stand to see you upset.” He looked so helpless it made her smile.

“Good tears.”

“Oh. Good. Okay then. When can we do this? The ascension I mean.”

“It depends on what you want. It only takes a spell. We could do it now. But it’s usually done with at least one witness each. A grounding if you like. You can have family there and do it at home or outside in a special place. Or, we can do a formal ceremony with a ritual. This would be in the presence of the entire seated full-council. You do know that even if you want to stay outclan, through me you have a seat on the governing council.”

“Would that help you? Politically.”

She liked that he got the politics of the situation without any prompting. So smart her man.

“Yes. I can’t deny that. The more people on the dais who back my perspective the better it is for me. The stronger my position. I have no intention of shoving my mother out the door. She’s good at what she does and that’s good for the clan.” She shrugged.

“I just realized I’m going to be bonded to the princess of witchlandia.” He said this totally deadpan.

Her laugh filled her up as she tiptoed, stretching to kiss him just for the sheer pleasure of it.

“Indeed. So you do know you’re like the first husband, right? I mean, you do accept that you’re mine and I’m not giving you back and that’s not just about the bond. It’s more. I’d want you even without this bond.”

She saw it come over his face and realized she’d been nervous too. She’d accepted the mechanics and science of the bond, but she’d thought long and hard about the rest. Could she be with him for the rest of her life and know it was because she loved him, plain and simple? Because of, part of, whatever relationship the bond played, she felt it and it was real and that counted.

They both let out a shaky breath. “Yes. I mean yes, I’d want you either way. I won’t remain outclan. I can’t play into any kind of feeling that I’m rejecting you or the clan. But I’m not like co-The Owen or whatever, am I?”

“Come on.” She tugged him back into the bedroom.

“Can I pick out what you wear?”

She shook her head, rolling her eyes. “You’re demented.”

“Damn right I am.”

“All right.”

He stepped into her closet and began to look through her clothes. She liked him in there with her. It felt intimate and sexy. He had excellent taste too, which was an added bonus.

“To answer your question, no, there’s one leader of the clan and that’s the female firstborn of the sitting clan leader. Or a sister — that works too — and cousins. I’m totally digressing. Anyway, that’s me. And before me it was Edwina. Etcetera. Not all clans do it this way.”

“But Owen does and that’s a big deal because Owen has a lot of power.”

She turned to face him. “Yes. Why do you say it like that though?”

“Trey. My friend and my accountant. You remember me talking about him?”

“The friend from Los Angeles. He’s a witch too. Clan Hayes.”

“Christ, I’m really going to have to step up my game. You never forget anything.”

She shrugged.

“Anyway, he said it when I told him about you. The others know I’m seriously involved with someone, but none of them are really going to get the witch stuff.”

“We’re a powerful force in our world. I don’t deny it and I’m not ashamed of it. When you have power, people either leave you the fuck alone, or you can crush them when they do something stupid.”

His smile made her tingly. “When you’re this way, all in charge and ruthless? It makes me want to lick you.”

She paused, flattered and flustered.

“I like that too.” He tucked her hair behind her ear. “You’re the genuine article, Meriel Owen.”

“You make me forget everything,” she whispered. “My words. Sometimes even that I have a voice. No one ever has made me like this.”

“Yeah? Good to know I’m not alone.” He kissed her and smoothed away that agitation.

She still felt the phantom of his touch when he finished and stepped back to look at her clothes again.

“What am I going to wear? I can’t pick the proper panties and bra if I don’t know what I’m wearing.”

“Ah, the mystery of woman.” He moved closer and her heartbeat sped again. Never, ever had any man rendered her to goo the way he did. She’d always considered herself a healthy sexual being, but if she could work a way to have sex with him four or five times a day, she’d do it.

She wanted it all the time. And he was so endlessly energetic and inventive. And really dominant. Whooo. She’d scoffed at the idea of getting off on a big alpha-male type and boy, was she wrong.

The way he shielded her with his body drove her to distraction. He was a door opener. A coat putter on-er. He gave her his total attention when they were out.

And in bed. Mother of pearl. He was hard and rough. Took what he wanted, but only after he’d gotten her there first a time or two.

“You’re thinking about me fucking you.”

She came back to herself, too late to blush or stop that one step that brought his arms around her. “It makes me so hot to know that.”

“I was just …” She considered lying, but then realized that would be stupid. “I was, yes.”

“Well, let’s see what I can do about making that into a reality then, shall I?”

She nodded because he’d made her witless. Again.

Chapter 15

REMARKABLY relaxed, he leaned back against the seat and looked her over. So. Fucking. Lovely. How he’d ended up with someone like her he’d never understand, but that didn’t matter because now that he’d found her, he wasn’t giving her back. So it worked nicely with her declaration of the same.