Page 25 of Little Witch

She backed up half a step until a tree stopped her, and I followed without hesitation, one hand braced against the bark beside her head, near enough that the whole forest around us seemed to hold still and wait.

"Claim your prize, then," she said, breathless, chin tipped up toward me. "If I wanted to say no, I would. And clearly I haven't so..."

I didn't kiss her. Not yet. I wanted to say something first, something I'd been sitting on for longer than either of us had probably realized.

"Can I tell you something first?"

She nodded, eyes wide, waiting.

"I've been in love with you for a very long time, Amber. Since we were kids sharing a desk in Ms. Pemberly's class. Long before our mums ever found each other, long before any of this got complicated." I kept my voice steady, though it cost me more than I let show. "I never said anything, because it never felt like the right time, and then there was never enough time left to wait for a better one."

"Why now?" she asked, quiet, searching my face. "Why tell me now?"

"Because the whispers are getting louder every day, and none of us know how long we've got before they stop being background noise and start being something you can't ignore anymore." I brushed a strand of pink hair back from her face, letting my hand linger against her jaw. "I didn't want to run out of time and never have told you. Not after everything else this town's already taken from people I love."

Her breath hitched, something raw moving across her expression, and then she closed the last inch of distance herself, her mouth finding mine before I'd fully finished the thought.

It wasn't careful. Whatever restraint either of us had been holding onto snapped the second our lips met, her hands fisting in the front of my jacket, pulling me in like she'd been waiting exactly as long as I had. I kissed her back like it was the only thing I'd ever properly wanted to do with my mouth, one hand sliding into her hair, the other pressing flat against the small of her back, drawing her fully against me until there wasn't a scrap of daylight left between us.

She made a soft, wrecked sound against my mouth when my thigh slid between hers, and I swallowed it greedily, already addicted to the shape of every noise she made.

"Orias." My name, breathless, her hips already rocking shallow and instinctive against my leg. "Please—"

"Please what, little witch?" I pulled back just far enough to watch her face properly, thumb tracing along her kiss-swollen bottom lip. "Tell me exactly what you want. I'll give you anything."

"Touch me." Her cheeks flushed darker, but she didn't look away. "Please."

I didn't need telling twice. I got her jeans open with hands that weren't nearly as steady as I wanted them to be, sliding beneath the waistband of her underwear until I found her slick and aching, and the sound she made when my fingers finally pressed against her went straight through me like a live wire.

"Good girl," I murmured against her throat, working her slow at first, savoring every hitch of breath and helpless little roll of her hips. "That's it. Let me hear you."

She didn't hold back. Every soft moan, every desperate press of her nails into my shoulder, every time she gasped my name into the cold autumn air — she gave me all of it, and I took every second of it like the gift it was.

Over her shoulder, past the treeline toward the river, I caught sight of Rowan standing at the water's edge, close enough to have clearly heard every sound she'd made, his gaze locked on us with an intensity that would've felt like an intrusion from anyone else. He didn't look away. Didn't pretend not to watch.

Amber's eyes flickered open at some point, catching the direction of my gaze, and I felt the exact moment she noticed him too — the way her breath caught differently, the way her hips rocked harder against my hand the second she realized he was watching, unhurried and unashamed, like he had every right to exactly this view.

She liked it. I felt it in the way she clenched around my fingers a heartbeat later, felt the shudder that rolled through her entire body as she came apart against the tree, gasping both our names in a way that told me more than words ever could have about exactly how deep this bond ran between the three of us.

I held her through it, pressing slow kisses along her jaw as she came back down, and glanced toward Rowan one more time. He held my gaze steady, something unreadable and heavy behind his eyes, and inclined his head just slightly — an acknowledgment, maybe even permission, though we hadn't spoken a single word about any of this out loud yet.

"You alright?" I asked, tucking her hair back, watching the last of the flush fade slow across her cheeks.

"More than." She laughed, a little unsteady, glancing past me toward the river before meeting my eyes again, cheeks going pink for an entirely different reason this time. "Rowan was watching."

"He was." I grinned, unbothered, brushing my thumb along her cheekbone. "Bothered by that?"

"No." Her smile turned slow, a little wicked, more confident than I'd seen her look all day. "Not even a little."

"Good," I said, pressing one more kiss to her temple. "Because I don't think either of us plans on stopping just because he's watching."

She laughed again, brighter this time, and did up her jeans with hands that were only slightly steadier than mine had been, glancing toward Rowan once more as she straightened her jumper.

"So," she said, tucking her hair back into some semblance of order, "does this mean I officially won the conker contest? Since you got distracted before we finished."

"Absolutely not. I still have the bigger conker."

"You cheated. You distracted me with feelings." She huffed.