Sorcery Loves Company
As a special treat for my guests I’m going to give you a peek into the next book of The Convergence series, Sorcery Loves Company. This is a super-raw first chunk of the next book, literally the first complete section I’ve written. I’ve edited it to prevent it from ruining any surprises from the first book!
The day was chilly but the coffee was warm. We hunched over our laptops in the cozy coffee shop, but we pressed together the right side of my body and the left side of his body. When we could spare our near-side hands from typing, those hands went right to PDA mode; messing with hair, rubbing a shoulder. We stole kisses between paragraphs.
Excerpt:
The day was chilly but the coffee was warm. We hunched over our laptops in the cozy coffee shop, but we pressed together the right side of my body and the left side of his body. When we could spare our near-side hands from typing, those hands went right to PDA mode; messing with hair, rubbing a shoulder. We stole kisses between paragraphs.
I was with my gorgeous new fiancée, previously my gorgeous new boyfriend. I was completely baffled why such a hot, angelic guy was interested in someone like me, but I certainly wasn’t going to pick it apart.
His phone made a “pew-pew” sound that meant he got a text. He snatched the phone, scowled at it in an adorable manner, and put it down. A few minutes later it pew-pew-ed again and he poked in an irritated reply. Pew-pew! When he looked again I noticed the sender of that message and the previous two: ######. What was that all about? Why was ###### texting him? He hadn’t mentioned that they were in any classes together. They weren’t following the same major either.
After two more texts, I had to ask. “Sweetie, why is he texting you so much?”
For a fraction of a second, his adorable scowl turned into an expression of panic. Even his panic was hot! But something was really wrong.
“It’s just…###### wants something. He wants to take…something from me. I won’t let him.”
The intensity of his eyes scared me a little. He looked ferocious. But that was also incredibly hot and my poor brain was confused between fear and attraction.
“You can tell me,” I said, my pulse pounding.
He replied by looking into my eyes as if he could read my thoughts. My pulse pounded in…certain areas and my heart did a half-gainer. My legs liquefied and I’m sure I was beet-red.
“You shouldn’t worry. I’ll take care of it. There’s nothing for you to bother about.” He said those words but his expression was the same as if he was telling me words of love. Whatever his problem with ###### was, he was protecting me from it. So hot! I decided to let him. Also I was now stupid with adoration, so I couldn’t argue much.
I turned again to my laptop to help stress away the stupor.
“Is this the right way to say this?” I asked, pointing to a tricky sentence in my paper. I was changing the subject and telling him without saying it that I trusted him. He smiled his angelic smile and read the sentence, brushing his cheek on my shoulder as he bent closer to read. He smelled so good! I restrained myself from moaning indecently at his utter deliciousness.
Something about my expression told him what I was thinking, and that it wasn’t about grammar or punctuation. His eyes sparkled and his gorgeous mouth quirked up in a half-grin. Then he kissed me, of course, because I couldn’t have begged for it more if I had whined like a hungry dog. This was no way to get a paper done. But it was a great way to warm me up all the way to my toes. Mmmmm!
I was putty in his hands, but I knew that I could trust him not to be inappropriate, at least not in public. I had two brothers and I knew that you didn’t tempt a guy no matter how polite he was. So our together time was always in public. As much as I wanted to give in to all these steamy feelings for him, I also wanted to stick to my morals. I was going to wait until I was legally married to “go all the way”, and he said he agreed. Sure, it was a strange choice for an American girl to make these days, but it wasn’t so unusual in The Convergence. Being engaged meant something different here, though I wasn’t solid on exactly what. I wasn’t going to sabotage a relationship that was so new and in such a different culture from what I was used to.
Somebody cleared their throat loudly at us. I dragged my lips from his to view the scowl of a barista who wasn’t amused. After she had thoroughly sliced me with her sharp gaze, she morphed into flirt mode to mac on my man. Rude!
“Did you order the half-caf mochachino with three pumps of hazelnut?” she asked in a tone that clearly invited him to sample all her womanly pleasures. Eew! She was definitely hotter than me and probably felt she deserved to switch places with me. I seemed to get variations on this kind of attack frequently, especially off-campus. Skupdyn girls just couldn’t stand to see a shlub like me with a heavenly hottie like him. They felt the need to intervene on his behalf and save him from a death by boredom. I couldn’t really blame them.
He slipped his hand to the back of my neck and kneaded it in a gesture that left no doubt that we were together by his choice.
He looked at the barista without a hint of attraction and said, “I’m terribly sorry, but I have my coffee right here. It must belong to someone else.” Just as her coffee-related sexual invitation meant something other than the words spoken, so did his reply. I was his coffee and the coffee she was offering wasn’t to his tastes. The barista blushed so hard I was afraid something would burst. Then she slunk away in defeat. I rewarded him with a smile and a caress.
How did such a regular chick like me land such a delectable dude and his enormous diamond engagement ring? Magic!
Kate Policani 