Part of her expected him to stop at any moment, but he didn’t hesitate for a second. Maybe it was the love potion he’d licked off her skin. She was happy to give it the credit as long as he didn’t stop.
They struggled out of their clothes, helping one another when their hands proved too clumsy or they found themselves distracted by the urgent need to steal another touch, another kiss.
“God, I’ve missed you,” he whispered against her shoulder as his fingers slipped down her body.
“Shut up.” She arched to his touch, not wanting any pretty words to disrupt the way she felt right now. She’d have to wonder if they were true and she didn’t want to think at all.
When his bare skin finally pressed against hers, Lara gasped at the sensation and the heady knowledge that they’d already come farther than they’d ever been. This was really happening. He wasn’t going to push her away with some moronic platitude about caring for her too much to rush things. They were rushing forward now.
Her urgency matched his. He fit himself against her, repeating her name like a mantra as he slipped on protection and slid into her. Lara wallowed in that long, slow stroke, digging her heels into the cushion beneath her and tilting her hips to seat him deeper.
How could it possibly be even better than her fantasies?
He twined his fingers with hers, pinning their interlocking fists above her head as his eyes bored into hers and his hips began to pulse against hers. Lara fought to keep her eyes open and on him, fought to keep them from rolling back in her head in pure bliss as he drove into her. The rhythm he set stirred the cocktail in her blood, calling to the potion, to her natural lust for him and to the traitorous corners of her heart that still loved him. She moaned out incoherent vows of adoration, punctuated by ragged, higher pitched cries as her body tightened and coiled, reaching for the orgasm building within. She came with a shout, her hands and thighs holding on tight as her world exploded. Connor followed her a heartbeat later, his own shout of completion overriding hers.
When he rolled his weight off of her moments later, carefully so as not to send them both crashing off the narrow couch, the reality of what they had just done landed around her heavily.
Lara groaned. “We just gave Emilio the show of his life.”
“Emilio was under strict instructions to lock the door behind him when he left.”
She shifted, suddenly uncomfortable mashed between Connor and the wall, where only moments ago she had been the picture of satisfaction. He had planned this, that much was obvious from the potion alone, but something about his words set her ill at ease. “Were you so sure of me?”
“No. Hopeful, maybe.” He caught her back against his chest when Lara tried to lever herself away. “Lara, please. This wasn’t exactly what I had planned.” He flung out one arm, the sweeping gesture encompassing their hastily discarded clothing and the couch on which he held her.
“You mean you weren’t hoping to get laid?” she asked, skepticism rife in her tone.
“Sex wasn’t the goal.”
“You could have fooled me.” He had fooled her. Again.
He grimaced. “Well, sex wasn’t the only goal. I’ve missed you, Lara.”
“That must be why you wouldn’t stop calling me,” she said, shoving the sarcasm between them like a shield.
“I was afraid to involve you. I love you, Lara.”
She stiffened, drawing in tight on herself. The words were exactly what she had always wanted to hear him say, but suddenly they sounded so wrong. How could she believe him? Especially when the memory of him licking the love potion off of her hand was so vivid. Could he have been affected by it too? She knew that she truly loved him, had fallen stupidly head-over-heels for him the first time they met, but what if he had been caught by his own potion? What if everything that had happened since that first drop of liquid had hit his lips had been artificial? Could she be with him, knowing it was a lie?
“What was in that love potion, Connor?”
He cringed and Lara’s stomach plummeted. This was it. He was conscious of the potion now. He would resist it. His love would evaporate like so much smoke and she would be left, naked and pathetic, without even the cold comfort of the words nothing really happened. He didn’t promise me anything. Because this time, something had happened. So much had happened. But it had all been magic, illusion. Just a chimera of love.
“It’s a special potion,” Connor repeated his earlier words, obviously stalling. “Secret recipe, and all…”
“Connor.”
“Well, there was juice. And some water. And, er, food coloring.”
Lara blinked, confusion and hope twining around one another in her thoughts. “What?”
Connor smiled sheepishly. “There was no magic in the potion. I just needed an excuse to get close to you.”
“You…” She trailed off, words abandoning her.
Connor spoke rapidly, filling the void with as many words as he could cram into it, sincerity ringing in his voice. “I love you, Lara. I knew that from the day we met. I always wanted to be with you, but my family isn’t exactly the kind you want to bring Miss Right home to. We don’t always fall on the right side of legal. When we met, I thought I could keep my life with you separate from all that. I thought I had left it behind. But when my grandfather was killed, things changed, and I knew I had to get completely free of that life before I could come back to you. It nearly killed me leaving you without a word, but I couldn’t make promises to you that I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep and I knew I wouldn’t be able to resist you if I saw you. I didn’t know when I would be back, or if I ever would be. I had to get some things sorted out with my family, make it clear to them that I really was going legit, so I could be free to be with you.”
Lara held herself perfectly still, listening with a sense of dizzy awe as Connor confessed to her, his arms still tight around her as if to keep her from slipping away.
“I knew when I came back I would need a miracle to get you back. Hell, it was a miracle you hadn’t found someone better than me in the time I’ve been gone. I thought the love potion would be a big romantic gesture. We would both drink it and then afterward I would tell you that there wasn’t anything in it. But then I saw you and I forgot everything but you, wanting you, loving you. I couldn’t remember my plan. I could barely remember my own name when you walked in tonight.”
“So you’re what? A mobster?”
“No, nothing like that. We’re more, ah, in the confidence business.” He blushed. “Fraud, forgeries, that kind of thing.”
“You’re a con artist.”
“Not anymore.” A tentative light gleamed in his eyes. “You’re smiling. I’m hoping that’s a good sign.”
“It’s a good thing.” She grinned. “Somehow it explains so much.” Then a thought dimmed her enthusiasm. “Were you conning me?”
“Never—well, except for the potion thing tonight. Last year was just… real.”
“I probably shouldn’t trust you.”
“Probably not,” he agreed.
But she did. The song changed overhead. An old Elvis ballad. Wise men say… “How do I know you’re not going to vanish on me again?”
“Actually, I have an idea for that.”
“Oh yeah?”
He looked her straight in the eye. “You could marry me.”
Lara groaned, dropping her head against his chest and shaking with silent laughter. “You had to do it, didn’t you? You had to propose on Valentine’s Day. How cliché can you get?”
“Is that a no?”
I can’t help falling…
“No. It isn’t a no.”
“So… yes?”
Some things are meant to be…
“I love you, Connor Flynn. Or whatever your name is. Of course, I’ll marry you. Right after I run a background check.”
He grinned. “Deal.” And he sealed it with a kiss.
Valentine’s Day, a romantic jazz club, and the love of
her life. Sometimes cliché wasn’t so bad.
About the Author
Author of over twenty paranormal romance novels and novellas, Vivi Andrews lives in Alaska where she uses the long winter nights to create more happily-ever-afters. If you enjoyed Love Potion No.9, don’t miss the rest of the Karmic Consultants series. You can also sign up for her newsletter to be notified of upcoming releases. Happy Valentine’s!
Karmic Consultants:
The Ghost Shrink, the Accidental Gigolo & the Poltergeist Accountant
The Ghost Exterminator
The Sexorcist
The Naked Detective
A Cop & A Feel
Finder’s Keeper
Naughty Karma
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