Free Bewitched on Bourbon Street by Deanna Chase Page B

his fingers squeezing my nipple beneath the silk nightie I’d changed into before sliding into bed. He chuckled at my reaction, his chest reverberating against my side. “What was that you were saying?”
    “Uh…I think—” I sucked in a breath as he ran his hand between my breasts to my abdomen and down to the edge of my matching silk panties “—that you might have expelled too much power.”
    “Could be,” he said, his voice low and full of desire.
    We’d been together the night before…or what was actually two weeks ago on New Year’s Eve. And since Kane was an incubus, he gained magic through sex…meaning me. For us, time had stood still, so that shouldn’t have been a factor in his depleted power, but the amount of magic he’d dispelled certainly could’ve contributed to his hunger.
    Kane’s demanding hands slid the nightgown up, exposing my bare breasts to the cool air. He suckled one nipple while kneading the other. Desire and need shot through me and coiled deep in my gut. With each movement, his touch became more and more impatient, demanding.
    I arched into him, moaning. “I don’t think I can wait.”
    He crushed his lips to mine, his tongue invading my mouth with a demand I knew all too well. His familiar weight resting on top of me heightened my need for him. He was mine. Tasted of mint and man and desire. Both of us were on the edge of losing control. My hands found his boxers, and a second later, he was bared, his muscles rippling under my touch. I wiggled out of my panties and was opening to him when a thought slammed into my brain so hard, I stiffened and pushed him away, scrambling to sit up.
    Kane froze. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
    “The curse,” I whispered, my voice trembling. “We can’t do this.”
    He frowned.
    “If I get pregnant…” I couldn’t complete the thought. I didn’t want to think about what could happen.
    Kane propped himself up beside me, pulling the covers over us. “But you’re on birth control still, right?”
    I nodded and shifted away from him, the mood completely broken. The realization of our situation had zapped all my pent-up desire. “I don’t know if the curse affects it…or God, the fact that we were in the room where time stands still. What if I’m two weeks behind on my pills? I’m probably not, but we can’t take any chances. As much as I want your child, we just can’t.”
    Kane stared at me for a moment, then he cupped my cheek with his palm and leaned in. “It’s all right, Jade. We don’t have to do this now. After we break the curse, we’ll revisit the idea of starting a family.”
    Tears filled my eyes, and I was powerless to hold them back. Just a few days ago we had been all but ready to give the baby-making thing a try, and now we were sitting naked in the bed, with me too terrified to get intimate. “I’m sorry. I know there are other ways to replenish your power, but—”
    He pressed his fingers to my lips. “Shhh. We can wait. I’m not in any rush.”
    “I love you,” I whispered.
    He kissed me gently. “I know, pretty witch.”
    ***
    I stood in my bathroom, towel drying my hair, trying my best to work past the sleep haze clouding my brain. I’d slept like the dead the night before and had woken up twenty minutes before eight. Twenty minutes before Lucien and Kat were supposed to arrive.
    A knock sounded on the door, followed by a hand snaking in that held a paper cup from the Grind. I recognized the agate and silver ring on the hand’s middle finger. Pulling the door open, I smiled at Kat and took the cup.
    “Chai tea for my missing friend.” She smiled and blinked back the moisture forming in her eyes. Her bright-red curly hair fell in haphazard waves around her face, softening her angular features. She usually spent more time taming her curls, but it was obvious she hadn’t put much effort into getting ready either. Only while she looked adorable, I was fairly certain I resembled a zombie bride