“Hey, listen here, doll,” she sassed back. “I get that you’re angry, you have every right to be, but don’t you start questioning the potions that I brew. Many of them have saved lives, including Byron’s. And besides, I’ve known Byron a lot longer than I’ve known you and he’s never given me the impression that he was that stupid. Am I sorry he used one of my potions on you, absolutely, but am I sorry for supplying him with the items he’d need to protect himself against superior creatures, absolutely not. So, don’t you go mounting your high horse, mister.”
“Sorry,” he mumbled sheepishly.
“And you,” she barked, rounding that fire on me. “How dare you use one of my potions on someone innocent? I should throw you out of my shop and remove you from my customer base.”
“But you won’t,” I replied. I knew how much my monetary contributions helped to keep this place afloat. The Whispering Willow had been going for a while, and it was a potion store that catered to both humans and supernaturals. Humans came in for love potions and lucky charms and crystals, but the real clientele were catered for in one of Astrid’s little black books.
People like me.
And there weren’t many people like me.
She folded her arms across her ample chest and scowled at me. “No, I won’t. You’re too valuable. And you always ask forinteresting things.ButI will be going back to asking for more pertinent information on the use of my potions from now on and if there is any hint of wrongdoing, then I will refuse to sell it to you.”
“That seems fair.”
“Fuck me,” Wilder muttered under his breath as he pressed the heels of his palms into his eye sockets. “Will life ever return to some semblance of normality?”
“Probably not.” Astrid snorted and smiled ruefully. “Especially with this one around.”
I pulled his hands away from his face and squeezed them. “I promise I won’t use any of Astrid’s potions on you. Unless you ask me to, of course.”
Wilder scoffed, but there was a hint of a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “I dread to think what you’d actually use on me.”
“Well, I was thinking about asking for a sleeping drug because I want to fuck you while—”
“Whoa!” Astrid shouted as she slammed her hands over her ears. “That’s way too much information. I’ll go and get your box of supplies, Wilder. Do not fuck in my shop. If I find cum stains on my floor, I’ll charge you double.”
“No promises,” I said with a chuckle as she disappeared into the back of her shop.
Wilder hit me with a flat stare. “I’m not fucking you in the shop.”
I took a step towards him, and he instinctively took one backward until he hit the counter. His eyes widened and his breath hitched as I crowded into his personal space. “Are you sure about that? How much are you willing to bet?”
“Byron,” he said, his voice full of desperate need. “Don’t.”
“Don’t what, Wilder? Don’t stop? Don’t let go?” I wrapped my hands around his hips and slipped my fingers under the hem of his jumper.
He let out a sharp exhale as I touched his skin and his legs widened, giving me space to lock my hips against his.
“Byron…,” he said, my name sounding like a desperate plea.
Our gazes were locked together, both unyielding and full of desire. The air hummed with the vibration of the tension between us, pulling tighter and tighter until one of us would finally snap.
I leaned in and scraped my teeth along his jaw. Wilder let his head roll backwards, a soft moan leaving his mouth as I traced my lips down his neck and over his pulse point.
He gasped sharply as I sank my teeth into the bruise that was already on his neck. Fuck, I needed to find a way to make that mark permanent. Maybe I’d ask Quill to tattoo that for me too.
Wilder’s hands fisted in my jacket as I rocked forward, slotting my hard cock against his.
“We shouldn’t be doing this,” he hummed as I rolled my hips against his.
I pulled back and gripped his chin in one of my hands, my fingers sinking into the hollow of his cheeks. “Then tell me to stop, baby.”
He swallowed and licked his lips. “I…can’t.”
“I know,” I said ruefully before crushing my mouth to his. He responded instantly, giving over the control and letting me take what I wanted. It was dirty, and wet and fuck, kissing Wilder was like nothing I’d ever experienced. It was everything. Heat and fire and something raw and meaningful. I could taste his desperation, feel his moans vibrate across my tongue and I wanted to drown in them. Drown in him.
I’d never get tired of this. Never get enough of him.