Chapter Twenty-six

Aerials

MILA

They were stuck in his car, again. Only this time it looked like it was going to be ten thousand times worse because they’d be here a while.

They’d gone to Trent Blackwell’s house, but Mrs. Blackwell’s grandson wasn’t home, and now Mila and Riley were waiting for him, out parked on his street.

The car engine was turned off and so was the heating, but Riley had wrapped that warm air blanket around them to avoid them turning into popsicles.

The air blanket was cozy, perhaps too cozy. Mila felt it brush against her cheeks like a balmy caress. She felt it also at the back of her neck, tangling in her hair, massaging her scalp. She couldn’t shake the sensation that the air felt like deft fingers—Riley’s fingers—moving over her body, fondling her with gentle strokes.

But Mila couldn’t be sure. She couldn’t know if Riley was even aware he was doing it or if his air was simply misbehaving. What she knew for sure was that if the treatment continued—potion or no potion, right or wrong—she’d straddle Riley and kiss him until there’d be no more air left to breathe in this hexing car.

“Where do you think he’s gone?” Mila asked to distract herself.

Riley shrugged. “He could be everywhere, out with friends, to see another family member, with his girlfriend, or visiting the hospital even.”

Yeah, that didn’t help. Neither did the warm air now caressing her calves. Mila shifted in her seat, hoping Riley wouldn’t notice the flush that was creeping up her neck.

She cleared her throat. “Is there some background check we can do on him while we wait?”

Riley’s gaze flickered over to her, its intensity overwhelming. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. Check with your people at the hospital if he even went there to visit, and what their impression of him was?”

“You mean loving grandson worried sick for his gran or gold digger eager for the old fart to bite the dust?”

Mila chuckled, but the smile died on her lips as the warm air fingers moved up to the back of her knees, stroking the crease that joined her lower and upper legs. All Mila could do was nod in response, suppressing a whimper.

Seemingly unaware of her predicament, Riley nodded. “I can call Sarah Michelle. It’s her shift at the hospital.”

That’s when the air moved up her thighs, and Mila couldn’t take it any longer. “Can you please tell your air to stop?”

Riley turned to her with a puzzled look on his face. “What?”

The air had now reached her inner thighs and Mila was this close to coming undone right there, right now in Riley’s car. “Your air is…” Mila bit her lower lip, trying to find the right words, but there was no easy way to put it. “Sort of fondling me . Can you make it stop?”

Riley froze, and so did the car.

The warmth, the fingers made of breeze and magic, were both gone in an instant. Mila shivered in the sudden cold, while Riley simply shook his head and got out of the car, saying, “I’ll call Detective Callidora. You use your own warming spell.”

Then he slammed the car door shut and was out on the curb, one hand shoving through his hair under the beanie while he pinched in the number on his phone with the other.

Mila sagged back on the seat. Oh, hell, she only had to make it to tomorrow night. Then Judge Templeton would assign her to a different community service, and this nightmare of uncontrollable want that was pulling at every inch of her skin from the inside would be gone.

Outside the car, Riley had ended the call, but it looked like he had no intention of coming back in. So Mila got out.

“Found out anything?” she asked casually.

Riley stared at her for a long moment, his eyes on her almost harder to bear than his aerial hands. Then he nodded. “Apparently, Trent is a devoted grandson and has been Mrs. Blackwell’s most assiduous visitor.” He shoved that hand through his hair again, scratching himself under the beanie, and looked away from her as he kept talking. “My agents report that he’s been spending hours at Mrs. Blackwell’s bedside, reading a story to her.”

“Genuine love, or an act to cover his tracks?”

Riley shrugged. “I don’t know. But Sarah Michelle told me he just left a few minutes ago, saying he was headed home. So, we can expect him back any minute now.”

And just as well. If Riley and Mila had to spend another prolonged period alone together, she was afraid they’d explode from all the tension that had been boiling up non-stop for two days now.

Only one more day to go , Mila repeated to herself. You can do it.