Chapter Ten

Fifty Shades of Witch

RILEY

Riley’s night had been a hell-pit show from the start and now, after hours of conducting interviews with all those who had been present at the recital, it was clearer than ever that this was a case of ordinary human poisoning.

The Department of Magical Justice wouldn’t even have been involved if it weren’t for Miss Mila Bennet and her wayward love potion.

But wizardly attempted murder or not, now that the DMJ had claimed jurisdiction, the hot potato was his to deal with. They couldn’t just drop the case back into the hands of the Salem Police Department.

Regular cops thought the DMJ was a federal agency that commandeered certain cases of special interest to national security—the best possible excuse not to have too many questions asked. To keep the existence of the wizarding world concealed while still maintaining the magical order was a delicate balance, and bouncing a case back and forth between human and wizarding law enforcement agencies was a huge no-no.

So here he was, stuck with this case to solve and stuck with Nancy Drew to babysit.

Speaking of the devil, he spotted Mila emerging from the room where she’d been administering antidotes all night. She looked tired, with a hint of bags under her eyes and her hair falling down to her waist in messy wisps.

But the weariness somehow worked in her favor, adding even more appeal to her natural beauty.

She caught sight of him and smiled, crossing the gym to join him. And it wasn’t an especially bright smile or a suggestive one, but it still twisted something deep inside Riley’s stomach. He wasn’t sure if it was irritation or attraction, but he pushed the thought away before it could fully form—and before she could hear it.

She was almost by his side when the most disturbing image popped into his head. He saw Mila naked—as if he needed another reminder of how perfectly smooth and soft her body looked sans clothes—handcuffed to a bed while Riley was about to… he didn’t get to see what he was about to do to naked, handcuffed Mila before the image was yanked from his brain rather violently.

Riley frowned. That was weird. Had he just freaked himself out of his own thoughts?

Then another, even more disturbing possibility sneaked into the back of his mind. Had those even been his thoughts?

He took one look at Mila, at the furious blush spreading on her cheeks and at how studiously she was avoiding his gaze, and he smirked.

“Miss Bennet,” he said. “A word, if you don’t mind.”

He gently grabbed her by the elbow and dragged her out of the gym, down the hall, and then into an empty classroom where they could talk with some privacy. Not that they needed it, since this was a conversation they were about to have mind to mind.

“Gargoyles, you really have a kink for handcuffs.” Riley exploded the thought down their mental bond. “Is it just me? Or did you read too many cop romances growing up?”

He felt a twinge of satisfaction at throwing her taunting words from earlier in the car about him having a thing for mermaids back at her.

Mila’s eyes widened, and she spoke in actual words. “I’m sorry, that was inappropriate. But it’s not my fault my brain went there.”

Riley raised his brows. “So, it’s mine?”

“You were standing there looking impossibly hot and stormy and mean, and then your expression changed to… something else.” Mila trailed off, her cheeks still flushed.

Riley couldn’t help the smirk that played on his lips. “Something else?”

Mila rolled her eyes. “Fine. It was a mix of desire and aggression, and it just threw me off. I thought you were playing bad cop again and then my brain just…”

“Moved the playfield to the bedroom?” Riley suggested, still smirking.

Mila groaned. “Can we just forget about this? It was a weird moment, nothing more. I’m tired.”

Riley couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped him. “Sure thing, Miss Bennet. We can forget about your preferences for bondage.” But even as he spoke, his thoughts were far from forgetting about it.

She didn’t respond. Not even a little comeback, a witty quip?

Riley cocked his head, studying her. Her exhaustion was palpable, and he couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt. He had been teasing her a bit too relentlessly in the car earlier, and it seemed like it had taken its toll on her.

“I’m sorry,” he said honestly. “That was a low blow.”

Mila waved it off, but he saw the way the corners of her lips twitched upward briefly before she returned to looking worn-out.

“I get it,” she said, with a small shrug. “We’re stuck together on this case, and we’re going to be spending a lot of time in close proximity in the next few days. Something I’m sure we’d both rather avoid.”

“Yeah, but your shift for tonight is over. Come on.” He tilted his head toward the door. “I’m driving you home.”

Mila rubbed her eyes and yawned. “What time is it?”

“Four a.m.”

“Oh gargoyles, do you think the spatio-temporal team could spare a few time-stretching pills?”

They had, in fact, given Riley a four-hour pill that would stretch time and gain him a few extra hours of sleep. Gargoyles knew he needed to rest to get his brain straight in the morning and solve the case. But Mila looked truly bone tired. She probably needed the extra hours of sleep more than he did. “Yeah, I have a few hours’ pill I can give you.”

She stopped walking and looked up at him with wide, impossibly green eyes and the weirdest expression. It was part stupor, part admiration, and part something else his gut told him he’d better not explore. “You’re very kind,” she said. “But we can split the four-hour pill. Two extra hours of sleep will be plenty to make my brain right again.”

And she could still hear every little thing he thought.

“Don’t worry, you’ll learn how to control what I can hear.” The unspoken words were a gentle caress against his brain.

Riley swallowed hard as his eyes flicked to Mila’s lips, the sudden urge to kiss her almost overwhelming his senses. He so needed to pull himself together and control his instincts. He’d already crossed too many lines with her today, ones that he couldn’t afford to cross again. Not when they were stuck together for the foreseeable future on this case.

“After the Fifty Shades of Inappropriate image I just sent to your brain, you’re fretting about wanting a kiss?” she silently asked as they navigated the almost empty school corridors toward the exit.

Riley chuckled, trying to diffuse the tension that was building between them. “It’s not just a kiss, Miss Bennet. It’s the consequences of a kiss between us.”

Mila looked up at him, her eyes heavy with exhaustion but still searching his face for something he couldn’t quite place. “The consequences?”

“The complications,” Riley clarified, running a hand through his hair. “We’re partners on this case. We can’t afford… distractions.”

What a load of dragon droppings, he thought.

Mila smirked. “I agree on the dragon droppings. But I get what you’re saying. Let’s keep things simple. We can solve the case as fast as possible and then go our separate ways.”

Her words made total sense but somehow still brought a sense of displeasure to his chest.

“About the case,” Mila continued. “I made a few interesting discoveries tonight. I have at least three suspects.”

Three? He’d barely found one, and Nancy Drew here had three ?

Riley held the school door open for her. Mila made to scoot past him, but paused midway, looking up at him with twinkly eyes. “So, I’m Nancy Drew now?”

Riley rolled his eyes and groaned.

“I prefer Veronica Mars,” he retorted with a smirk.

Mila laughed tiredly, but the sound was music to Riley’s ears. “Fair enough.”

He nodded in agreement, and they made their way to his car.

“Do you want to hear my theories now or tomorrow?” she asked once they were both strapped in the car.

“Tomorrow might be best.” He put the car into gear and pulled onto the dark road. “Listen, I know tomorrow is Christmas and you probably have some big celebration planned—”

“Why, you don’t?”

“I don’t have a big family. It’s just going to be my mother and me and her annoying-as-hell raccoon.”

“Okay.” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mila nod. “So?”

“I’d still rather work a few hours on the case, possibly go see if Mrs. Blackwell has awakened to ask her a few questions.”

Riley felt a wave of shame that wasn’t his, just as Mila said, “I didn’t even ask how she was doing.”

“She’s being kept sedated at the moment while her body works through the effects of the poison, but the doctors are positive she’ll have a full recovery. And I’ve put a couple of undercover agents at the hospital to guard her, should the killer decide to finish the job while she’s unconscious.”

“That’s good, I guess.”

“So, I can’t work on the case unless—”

“Unless I’m with you?”

Riley nodded. Binding magical sentences were total bitches.

Mila laughed. “I know, trust me. And it’s okay. I can sneak out early from the celebrations. Gargoyles know I’ll have to eat so much crow about the love potion thing tomorrow. I’ll probably be eager to get away.”

“I’m sorry I teased you about that earlier.” He sent the thought telepathically. Somehow, apologizing without actually saying the words was easier.

“It’s okay,” she said out loud. “It was a stupid idea, and you’re right, a bit desperate, too.”

Riley gritted his teeth at the word “desperate.” He shouldn’t have used it.

Silence descended on the car, and as they drove back to Mila’s house, Riley couldn’t help but steal glances at her from the corner of his eye. She had fallen asleep with her head resting against the window, and he felt a pang of protectiveness toward her.

He shook his head, trying to dispel those thoughts. This was not the time or place for any kind of attachment.

As they reached Mila’s house, Riley parked the car and turned toward her, that unwanted need to protect her resurfacing with a vengeance. He didn’t feel like waking her, so instead, he unbuckled her seatbelt and, circling to the other side of the car, scooped her up into his arms. Riley carried Mila up the driveway and used his skeleton key to let himself into her house, walking straight toward the bedroom he’d found on his earlier bust.

He gently deposited the sleeping witch on the bed, covering her with a fuzzy quilt. Then he went to the kitchen and filled a glass with water. He brought it back to the bedroom and helped Mila into a half-sitting position, holding her against himself and trying hard to ignore how good her weight on his chest felt.

He took the time-stretch pill and pushed it between her lips, lifting the glass of water to her mouth next.

“Drink this,” he whispered, adding a little incantation to the words to make sure she would comply even while sleeping.

She drank.

Riley made sure Mila had swallowed the pill and then tenderly lowered her onto the pillows. Before leaving, he had to battle every instinct in his body not to stamp a soft kiss on her forehead.

Instead, Chief Inquisitor Riley King quietly left the room and walked down the hallway to wash the glass of water in the kitchen, leaving it to dry next to the sink. Then he exited Mila’s house, his heart pounding wildly in his chest, and drove himself home, hoping that he would be able to forget the feeling of holding Mila Bennet in his arms twice in a single night.