Page 74 of The Nowhere Witch

“Then make me go away,” he said, walking in front of me, his toes brushing mine.

The hard look in his eyes started to switch to something else with a lot more heat. He moved his hand to my cheek, touching my face.

My heart began to pound, and I turned my face away.

“Stop touching me. All you do lately is touch me. People from Xest don’t touch. I shouldn’t have to be the one to tell you that.”

“Some people do,” he said.

Only people who were intimate, and we wouldn’t be that. He’d taken a bunch of boulders and blocked off that road completely.

I stepped back before I could stop myself, before I could convince myself that I didn’t do that anymore. That I didn’t retreat. That wasn’t who I was going to be, ever again. It was the first time I’d relinquished my space to him in a while, but it had to be done for my own sanity. He’d used me up every which way before I left, and I had nothing left to give. He’d take it all if he had his way. He’d lost Belinda, and now he wanted me to take her place in and out of bed, and that couldn’t happen.

“We aren’tthosepeople,” I said, trying to hold firm to my spot, refusing to retreat again, even in the face of his onslaught.

“What if we were?” he asked. As if he were sorting this out himself.

He didn’t even know what he wanted. There was that same confused look in his face, the one I’d seen after he kissed me the first time, like he couldn’t figure out why he wanted me.

It was the very thing I needed to shore up my resolve.

“I’m done for the day,” I said, my tone making it clear I was done in more ways than one.

“Pretend I’m your enemy and do your worst,” he said, leaning in closer.

“You kicked me out of Xest, you stopped me from getting a job and took my apartment. I don’t have topretendanything.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“I don’t want to practice with you.”

“Then don’t hold back.”

It was too good of an offer to turn down.

I nodded and took a couple of steps back. Without warning, I leapt at him, trying to get a good angle on him and land a blow to his side. He caught me in midair, dragging us both to the ground. It was one of my worst showings yet. No matter how angry I was, it wouldn’t translate into action.

He landed underneath me and then quickly rolled on top, the length of him pressing into me. My hands were pressed to his chest in between us as he reached down, cupping my face.

I’d touched enough people with magic at this point to realize a couple of things. The first was that Hawk was stronger than I’d initially realized. Much stronger. Second, something about our magic was compatible in a way that didn’t make me comfortable. Even now, as he was touching me, I could feel mine forming some sort of bond with his, like it wanted to be woven together.

Logically, everything screamed to stay away from him. But physically? It was like we gravitated to each other and nothing could stop the draw.

“Let me up,” I said, hoping he’d take the fluster on my skin and the huskiness of my voice for exertion and not the want I felt for him on the most basic level.

“When you insisted on staying in Xest, I let it go. I didn’t force the issue when I could’ve dragged you back to Salem. When you took a job at Zark’s, I let it go even though I detested the spectacle.”

He paused, dropping his head, but I could see his jaw shift. He seemed to realign himself and looked at me again.

“I’ve let many things go. But if you’re going to show up with fresh bruises every day and think I’m not going to get involved, you’re wrong.”

Stuck in the snow with Hawk leaning over me, pinning me to the ground. Our flesh tingling where it connected, and other parts warming when they shouldn’t.

My motto had been to never back down, never run. Considering I was literally stuck with my back on the ground, today was going to have to be considered a throw-out, or at least an exception to the rule. New mottos or not, I’d lost.

And how easily he’d beaten me riled me up like nothing else. Using my magic to try to dislodge him was a joke when all it wanted to do was wrap itself around him and purr like a kitten. If I tried to show him my teeth, with my luck, I’d probably give him a love bite.

“Well? What will it be?” he asked.