Tem tried to convince herself to move away from Gray. She didn’t need psychic abilities to know continuing down this road was a bad idea. His midnight blue eyes pulled at her like overwhelming tide pools. Try as she might she couldn’t look away. He’d said magic didn’t exist. Sure, it didn’t. He wielded it over her right now with nothing more than the indecipherable emotion in his gaze.

Forcing herself to take several huge steps backward she corked the vial of ruined potion and set it on the counter. She’d have to try again tomorrow morning but first, she needed to ground herself and settle her nerves. That wasn’t going to happen with Gray following her every move.

Sighing, she turned around. “Gray I really need you to leave. I’ve got a lot of work to do before tomorrow morning and I can’t concentrate when you’re hovering around and I really think it would be better if—”

“Temper?”

“Yes?”

“Shut up.”

Before Temperance could speak, Gray slipped his arm around her waist and tugged her against his chest. She took a deep breath only realizing her mistake when her sensitized breasts brushed across his shirt front. The candles around the room suddenly flared higher in tandem with her need.

Half-fearful of what she’d find, she raised her eyes to his and caught her breath. Searing intensity filled his expression as he stroked her neck with his work-calloused hand. Without warning, he lowered his head and claimed her mouth. This was no softly searching kiss, this was soul claiming greed. His arms tightened as he pressed her to his body, deepening the kiss, sweeping inside her mouth, stroking every inch of her.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she drew him closer, pushing against the hard planes of his glorious body. The moisture she’d successfully battled earlier, flooded back with a vengeance, readying her body for more. For him. He tunneled his fingers through her hair, tilting her head to give him better access. He dragged his lips from hers, along her jaw and over her neck leaving trails of desperate need in his wake. He inhaled deeply, as if he could pull her within him. “You smell so damn good.”

His words prodded some semblance of sanity to surface within her. “Shit!” Pushing at his chest, she shoved until he lifted his head.

“Hmm…” he rumbled. “That’s not the usual response to my kiss.” He lowered his face and began nipping at her collarbone. “Apparently, I need to work on it.”

“You don’t need to work on anything.” She shoved at his chest again. “It’s the spell, you idiot! You’d never want me if you weren’t under the influence of an enchantment.”

That got his attention. He frowned. “There’s no such thing as magic.” Undeterred, he resumed kissing her neck, sliding his hand from her waist up inside her loose top. His hands were so big and warm, stroking her back igniting a firestorm of want spiraling through her. He felt so good. She considered letting him continue, but the thought of the disappointment she’d see in his eyes when the spell wore off was the dose of reality she needed.

She tried to ignore the bliss of his mouth on her neck and his hard body pressing against her. “Gray—listen to me,” she choked out. “You interrupted the culmination of the spell. Instead of acting on Beth, it acted on me when it spilled.”

A slow, sexy smile curved his lips. “The only thing that was interrupted was us.”

Her knees turned to Jell-O and her stomach fluttered wildly. She was in so much trouble. Shaking her head, she tried to pull away from him, but he held her fast, his erection making itself known. Her traitorous body responded. It wanted Gray. A fresh rush of moisture damped her core and she squirmed in his arms, every nerve ending on high alert.

Expertly, he turned so her back was flat against the wall next to the couch and he pressed against her length. His hand slid over her hip to her waist and up higher to skim the outer curve of her breast. She shivered in response to the subtle caress.

“Gray, please…”

“I plan to Temper.” He flashed a wicked grin. “I promise, you’ll be very pleased.”

She needed to ground herself, to release the energy that bounded through her body and find a counter spell before something more than a kiss happened. Maybe if she reasoned with Gray. “You don’t want me.”

His eyes narrowed in provocation and she swallowed thickly.

“The hell I don’t,” he snapped.

“It’s just the effects of the spell. It should wear off soon.”

He continued to scowl at her but didn’t release her.

“Everything will be back to normal then,” she insisted.

“No.”

“Excuse me?”

“Fuck normal,” he growled.

She caught her breath at the anger in his tone.

“I’ve had a constant hard-on for you since high school and never could do a damned thing about it. He laid his forehead against hers, holding her gaze steady. “I think it’s about time to fix that.” His hand moved constantly under the back of her shirt, caressing her skin as if he craved the feel of her.

“When I jacked off, you were the star of every fantasy.” He punctuated his statement by thrusting his rock hard arousal against her mound. When she whimpered at the sensation, he did it again.

Closing her eyes, she imagined him wrapping his hand around his cock and stroking upward. While he was thinking of her. Although she highly doubted his daydreams included his sister’s pudgy friend, it was nice to hear.

“Are you picturing it?” he murmured against her lips. “Are you imagining what it was like? Every time I got myself off thinking about you?”