The tension broke,
and he pulled me into his embrace once again. I could hear the rumbling in his
chest while he continued to chuckle.
“I’ve never
experienced anything like that in my life,” he said, stroking his hands softly
up and down my back.
“Neither have I. Are
you sure this is just a dream?” I tilted my head up to smile at him.
“Yes, but we’ll
need to be careful. When I kiss you I don’t ever want to stop, and that could
end up being dangerous.” I could see the fire was still lit in his eyes. “But I
won’t ever try to do anything that would harm you. You know that, right?”
“I trust you with
everything I am.” I hugged him tightly.
“I’ll do my best
to earn that trust,” he said, brushing my forehead with his lips. He suddenly
cocked his head as if listening for something.
“Your mom is
coming to wake you up for school,” he said, starting to back away from me. “It’s
time for me to go.”
Instantly, I was
standing alone in the meadow of flowers, and I could acutely feel his absence.
“Portia, wake up,
sweetheart,” my mom’s voice called softly.
I opened my eyes,
turning to automatically search for Vance, but he was already gone. I thought
maybe the whole thing had been some really amazing dream. But then I noticed
the indentation still left in the pillow next to mine, and I knew he had really
been there.
Chapter 10
I wasn’t surprised
to find Vance waiting for me on his motorcycle when I walked out the door to go
to school. I gave him a happy smile when he handed me a spare helmet he had
with him. I placed it on with ease this time and climbed on behind him. He
kicked into gear, and we raced off down the road.
We parked when we
arrived, and he helped me off the bike. “Sleep well?” he asked.
“The best ever!” I
replied, laughing. He grabbed my hand, and we started walking toward the school.
“Was it real?”
“Every second of
it,” he said, giving my hand a squeeze.
He walked me to my
first hour again, dropping me off at the door with a kiss goodbye on my
forehead.
“Catch you later,
baby,” he said with a wink.
I went and slung
myself into the desk and reached into my backpack for my books.
“Hey. You want to
go out tonight?” Vance’s voice caught me off guard, and I sat up abruptly,
looking around before hearing his laughter in my head.
“This is weird,” I
said back to him mentally. “It’s definitely going to take some getting used
to.”
“I like it,” he
replied, and I could almost hear the smile in his voice. “Just think of it as a
phone call but without the phone.”
“Yeah, but a phone
rings to let someone know when they’re calling,” I said wryly.
Instantly I heard
a ringing sound in my head, and I jumped at the harsh noise, tempted to cover
my ears with my hands but knowing it wouldn’t help.
“Is that better?”
he asked with a chuckle.
“No,” I said,
amused. “Your way is much better. Let’s stick with that.”
“You didn’t answer
my question.”
“Yes. I’d love to
go out with you tonight, or any night for that matter. What do you want to do?”
“It’ll be a
surprise,” he said, turning suddenly mysterious on me. “It’s my turn to treat
you with something.”
“That sounds
great.”
“Cool,” he
answered. “Now listen to your teacher. I believe he’s about to call your name.”
“Portia Mullins?”
Mr. Shanks called out.
“Present,” I said,
and he flicked his pencil to check me on the role card.
I was surprised
when Vance agreed to go to lunch with Shelly and Brad. I didn’t think that
would be his type of scene. We all ordered a burger and fries, then sat at a
table together while we waited. Brad kept asking Vance questions about his
motorcycle and telling him how he had always wanted to get one, and Vance told
him how he had restored this motorcycle and customized it to his taste. The two
of them launched into all this mechanics stuff, and soon Shelly and I were
completely lost from the conversation.
“So do you want to
go out and do something tonight?” Shelly asked me while the boys continued
their own discussion, after we got our food.
“I’d love to, but Vance
has some surprise planned for this evening,” I replied with a smile, but Shelly
made a pout-lipped face at my remark.
“We never do
anything together anymore,” she complained, dipping a French fry into some
ketchup.
“I’m sorry. How
about going tomorrow night?”
“Yeah,” Vance
said, suddenly breaking into our conversation. “Why don’t the four of us catch
a movie or something?”
“Sounds good to
me,” Brad said with a nod. “What do you think, Shelly?”
“Only if the girls
get to pick the movie,” she said quickly, and Vance and Brad eyed each other.
“Chick flick,”
they both said in unison, and Shelly and I laughed.
“So we’ll pick you
girls up at seven. Would that be okay?” Brad asked.
“That’ll be
great,” I replied, while Shelly nodded sipping on her straw. The four of us
left the restaurant and headed back toward the school.
The rest of the
day passed quickly. I silently laughed over the few mental conversations I was
able to have with Vance as we passed the boring times in class. I had to cover
myself after laughing out loud a couple of times over things he said to me,
pretending to have a little coughing fit until two of my teachers had asked me
if I needed to go and see the nurse.
Vance, of course,
found all this quite entertaining, and I was almost certain he’d made it his
secret mission to see how often he could trip me up. He was all innocent smiles
when he met me at my locker after last period. I sent him a scathing glare but
couldn’t hold it, and we both started laughing again.
I enjoyed the ride
back to my house, my body tucked tightly up against the back of his, but as
usual it was over too soon. I got off the motorcycle and handed Vance his spare
helmet, which he secured to the seat behind him.
“So can I come
pick you up at seven tonight?”
“I’ll count the
minutes until then,” I said with a somewhat cheesy smile.
“Good,” he
replied, before leaning over to give me a quick kiss on the lips. “See you
then.”
As it turned out I
did count the minutes until his arrival. I didn’t realize how excited I was to
see what his surprise was going to be. I even tried to sneak a mental peek into
his mind here and there—finding nothing but a solid wall to greet me. I did get
enough of a connection to him at least once to get a small chuckle out of him. He
made some comment about patience being a virtue, so I busied myself getting
ready for our date, wanting to look really special for him.
I found that being
magical did wonders with my unruly hair. I managed to twist it up into a
slightly messy up-do that had soft wispy tendrils falling around the sides of
my face and neck. I had to basically command the hairs to cooperate, but they
did.
After my hair was
done I carefully applied my makeup. I used very soft pastel colors in my
attempt to avoid looking like a call girl, but I was a little bit brazen by
adding soft, black eyeliner around my eyes with black mascara. It looked all
right though, with the pale pink lip-gloss and blush.
I went to my
closet and pulled out a purple V-neck shirt that had a short vest over the top
of it, which tied in the back. I put it on with leggings, a cute black denim mini-skirt,
and a pair of flats. Then I checked my jewelry in the mirror.
The purple shirt
brought out the beautiful color of my amulet. I touched it as it shimmered in
the light from my dressing table, admiring it before deciding to also add a
small black ribbon like a choker at my neck.
I stepped over to
my full-length mirror to get the full effect, and I was surprised to see myself.
Shelly would be so proud of me. I actually felt pretty.
I heard Vance’s
motorcycle coming down the street, so I turned the light out and headed down
the stairs. My parents were both gone again, so I was the one who answered his
knock at the door.
“Hi,” I said with
a soft smile when he came into view.
He didn’t say
anything. He just stared at me and let his eyes run up and down me, and I felt
a flaming flush arising in my cheeks.
“You look great!”
he said, reaching out his hand toward me, and I placed my hand in his. He
pulled me toward him to kiss me thoroughly, and soon we were both breathless
once again. He stepped back from me then, looking a little uncomfortable all of
a sudden.
“Sorry,” he said,
raking his fingers through his hair.
“No apology
needed,” I replied with a smile. “I enjoyed it.”
“Me too,” he said.
“A little too much I think. Kissing you is like a drug to me. One I can’t get
enough of,” he added seriously. “Sometimes it scares me,” he added, surprising
me.
“Why?” I asked,
trying to understand.
He took a step
closer to me, lifting a hand to my face.
“Because I could
allow myself to lose control with you so easily.”
We stood staring
at each other for a moment. The weight of his words sinking in between us, he
turned and briskly walked to his motorcycle, towing me along behind him.
He handed me a helmet
questioningly, and I shook my head in denial.
“It’ll mess up my
hair,” I complained.
“Better messy
hair than a broken head,” he replied, pushing the helmet toward me again.
I grumbled while I
complied with his request, before I climbed onto the back of his motorcycle,
wrapping my arms tightly around him.
I soon realized,
after we had been driving for a few minutes, that he must be taking me to his
favorite spot in Oak Creek Canyon again. I relaxed and enjoyed the ride as he
smoothly made his way through the bends and curves, until we turned off on the
small dirt road. Shortly after, we stopped and parked the bike.
Vance helped me
off the motorcycle and to remove my helmet. A quick glance in the rearview
mirror revealed that, amazingly, the helmet hadn’t done much damage to my
hairdo.
“Let’s go,” Vance
said, grabbing my hand impatiently.
We made our little
trek through the dense foliage without much difficulty. When we arrived at the
smooth rock, I found that the entire area had been transformed.
Pillar candles, of
all sizes and varieties, were lit in a large circle, surrounding a small table.
Some of the candles were actually floating at different heights in the air,
while others rested on the ground. There were several magical items on the
small table in the middle.
“This is
beautiful!” I said, feeling a little breathless at this surprise, wondering
what he could possibly have in store for me.
“I need to ask you
something important,” Vance said, turning toward me, his handsome face aglow in
the candlelight.
“Okay.” I was a
little nervous now, and suddenly he seemed very nervous also.
He took both of my
hands in his. “Portia, I love you,” he said solemnly, his eyes searching mine,
and my heart soared at his verbal declaration of it.
I nodded. “I know
you do.” I lay my hand on his chest, over his heart. “I can feel it.”
“I’ve loved you
for a long time, even though you didn’t know it. During that time I’ve become
very good at reading you and your emotions, so I’m aware of your feelings
toward me also,” he stated.
I nodded once
again. “You know I love you with every fiber of my being,” I said quietly.
“Yes, I do.” He
ran his cupped hand down the side of my cheek. “And I can’t stop being awed by
it.”
I leaned my head
into it, closing my eyes for a moment, savoring his touch.
“This is happening
really fast,” he said, and my eyes popped opened, my mouth ready to protest.
“Not too fast for
me. I may be new to all of this, but it doesn’t mean my feelings are any less
real.” I wanted to reassure him, and he chuckled before placing one of his
fingers over my lips to stop me.
“Don’t worry, baby.
I’m not asking you to slow things down. I’m asking you to speed things up.”
“Speed things up?”
“Portia, I know
all these things are new to you—magic, covens, and even me—but I’ve been
waiting for you for a long time. Two years to be exact. I’ve known from the
beginning, since the first day I connected with your feelings, you were the one
for me. I started viewing you as my friend, my partner, even my soul mate, for
lack of a better term. It may seem strange for me to say that I loved you
before you knew me. I understand how crazy all this must seem to you, but I
need to know… do you feel the same way?”
“I do,” I replied
honestly, a little awed I didn’t even need to think about my answer. “There’s
something that feels complete when I’m with you.”
He smiled at me.
“I know, huh?” He caressed my lips with his fingers. “It’s amazing, and it’s
what brings me to this moment. My desire is to be with you for—well, forever. Under
normal circumstances two people would just get married. However, as you’re just
sixteen and I’m eighteen already, I think most of society, including your
parents, would probably frown on such a union between the two of us right now.”
“I agree,” I said,
although I took a dreamy moment just to think about how wonderful it would be
to be married to him.
“I guess I thought
this would be the next best thing.” He gestured to the candlelit scene behind
him. “It’s a binding ceremony, which is a very special ritual that’ll seal two
souls together.”
I was shocked into
silence. I couldn’t comprehend that this wonderful Adonis-like creature before
me could possibly want to be with me forever. I didn’t know what to say.
“If I’m misreading
you or moving too fast just tell me, we can table this discussion for later.” I
saw doubt creep into his expression as he misread my hesitation. “I’m more than
a little neurotic when it comes to loved ones, I’m afraid. Having lost my
family, it tends to make me feel a little desperate about wanting to tie you to
me. Having you in my life is the closest thing I’ve had to real family in a
long time. I want you to be my family.”