Betty’s eyes widened, gaping at Ava’s hand gripping her forearm, before the shadow fell over her again, and she yanked herself free. “Isn’t it obvious?”

  Laith didn’t speak—didn’t breathe—while he waited for her to continue.

  “It was the only way he could keep me to himself. The only way to keep Laith from getting the love and attention he so rightly deserved.” She cupped his cheek again, speaking directly to his heart. “I’ve made many mistakes over many lifetimes, seeking out a witch perhaps being the worst, but I will never regret choosing your happiness over my own. You have always owned my heart, Laith. Never doubt that. I would gladly suffer a thousand deaths at your brother’s hand if it meant keeping you safe for even one day.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  With the sun just barely rising over the horizon, Sam looked like every other college girl wandering out of an all-night keg party as she stumbled her way down my driveway and practically fell into the driver’s seat of her Mini. Of course, she wasn’t just any college girl, and we definitely hadn’t spent the night partying. But after three weeks trapped more than seventy years in the past, it wasn’t surprising to see everything catching up to her. Jet lag didn’t come close to covering it.

  Struggling to keep her eyes open, Sam shoved the key in the ignition, then with a low groan ran her hands over the leather steering wheel. “Have I mentioned how much I’ve missed my car?”

  With a snicker, I rested my hip against the doorframe, welcoming the first moment of levity we’d had since landing in my bedroom less than an hour earlier. “I thought you missed Starbucks and your cell phone?”

  “Oh, I missed those too. And jeans.” Sam closed her eyes, blissed out as she rubbed her hands over her denim-clad legs. Like me, Sam hadn’t wasted any time changing back into her own clothes the minute we got back. “I think I’ve missed these most of all.”

  Guilt nagged at me again as I thought of what she’d gone through because of me. And how much worse it could’ve been. I leaned into the car and placed my hand on her shoulder. “You’re taking this too well. Are you gonna be okay?”

  “Sure.” She shrugged as if it was nothing, but we both knew she was lying. I gave her one of Joanie Flynn’s patented bitch brows, and she exhaled a noisy breath. “I know I put on a good act, but I really didn’t think I’d ever make it home. I spent weeks dreaming up every scenario that would keep you from coming back. Freak electrical storms. A tidal wave. Mono.” She chuckled then quickly sobered. “And what about my mom and dad? Would they think I’d been kidnapped? Or killed? Like, how long would they search for me before giving up?”

  My eyes burned with the threat of tears, but I knew if I let them fall, we’d both end up crying. I glanced at Laith, sitting on the front porch steps with my brother, still wearing his dirty uniform. He tried to pretend he wasn’t watching us, but I caught him looking up every few minutes, and even from where I stood, I could see the concern in his eyes. He would’ve never stopped searching for me, I was certain of that.

  “And I’m not proud of it,”—Sam choked back a laugh—“but I even stressed over not having tampons when I’d eventually need one. Thank God it never came to that.”

  “I’m so sorry, Sam. I should’ve tied you up in my bathroom and refused to take you with me.”

  “Pfft.” She snorted and wiped away a stray tear streaking down her face. “Like that would’ve happened. I’m tougher than I look, you know. I could’ve totally taken you. And it all worked out in the end, right? What’s three weeks in the grand scheme of things? I’m home safe and sound, and I guess no one even knew I was gone. Three weeks there ended up being what, a little over a day here? I don’t know how you do it.”

  I lowered my lashes. “Time travel isn’t for sissies.”

  “Yeah, no shit. I do have one question though.”

  “Fire away.”

  “Not for you.” She cupped her hands around her mouth. “Hey, Laith!”

  He jogged over from where he’d been talking to Josh, curiosity shining in his dark eyes. “Yes?”

  “Exactly how is it you guys can jump back and forth between different times and places? You don’t see Marty McFly taking his DeLorean from Hill Valley to Honolulu.”

  Grinning, Laith folded his arms across the top of her car. “That’s because Marty didn’t have a magic rock.”

  “Magic. Right. How could I forget?” Sam threw back her head and laughed until tears rolled down her cheeks. Once she’d gotten herself under control, she yawned.

  “Go home,” I said, covering my own yawn. “Get some sleep.”

  “Sleep,” she mouthed the word like a prayer. “I almost forgot about my bed. Okay, you’ve convinced me. I’m going home and taking a shower till the hot water runs cold, then I’m sleeping until next week. I’ll call you when I wake up.”

  I nudged Laith out of the way to give her a bone-crushing hug. “Drive safely.”

  “I will.” With her eyes locked on Laith’s, she jutted her chin toward me. “Take care of my girl.”

  He flushed. “That’s a promise.”

  Once Sam’s taillights had disappeared around the corner, Laith slowly turned to me. “You look tired.”

  “I am.”

  “I’m sorry. About before, I mean. I shouldn’t have lost my temper.”

  “You’re right.” I folded my arms across my chest, his reminder stirring the pot I’d let go cold. “You shouldn’t have.”

  His eyebrows jumped up his forehead, but his lips twitched with the hint of a smile. “I was completely taken by surprise, and I didn’t take it well.”

  “I know.” I let out a breath and let my arms fall to my sides. The last thing I wanted was to be mad at Laith, especially when I wasn’t entirely blameless. “I should’ve warned you. And I would have, if I’d had any idea we’d run into Betty before I had the chance. And you’re right, I did know how badly you’d been hurt when your mother sent you away, and that’s exactly why I didn’t want to blurt it out along with everything else I’d told you. I was afraid I’d overwhelm you with information. Then between Maddox... and Sam... and Kendrick, it just never seemed like the right time.”

  Laith took my hand, sliding his fingers between mine. “I’m an idiot.”

  I nodded, slowly relaxing into him.

  He laughed. “You don’t have to agree with me.”

  “From now on, no secrets.”

  “Deal.” He pulled me closer, wrapping his arms around me from behind and kissing the top of my head. “And in the interest of being truthful, I think I’ve figured out what made me fall in love with you the first time.”

  “Oh?”

  “Mmhm,” he purred, rubbing his stubbled cheek against mine, and the low rumble turned my knees to jelly. “You said I pissed you off a lot when we first met.”

  “Without a doubt.” I laughed. From the moment he’d shown up in Port Michael, he’d gotten under my skin like no one else, between pretending to be his brother and trying to steal me away from him. “I wanted to strangle you most of the time.” When I wasn’t fighting the urge to kiss him.

  “Well, I’ve got news for you.” His lips brushed my ear, sending shivers down my spine. “You’re fierce when you’re angry.”

  My stomach dipped and swirled. I opened my mouth to respond, but a jaw-cracking yawn took over.

  “You’re tired.” It wasn’t a question. Neither of us had slept more than a few minutes in the past twenty-four hours, and it was catching up with me. “I should let you get some sleep.”

  “No.” I folded my arms over his, pulling them tighter around me. The prospect of him leaving me again, even for a little while, left me cold. “Don’t go.”

  “Then come with me.”

  I turned my head just far enough to gaze into his eyes. “Anywhere.”

  HOME.

  I didn’t know when I’d started thinking of Laith’s house as mine too, but standing in the middle of his living room in a yet-to-be-determined decade, I couldn’t help but feel as though I belonged there. As if I was just as much a part of the fabric of the place as the warm tobacco-brown leather sofa, the worn olive-and-charcoal Persian rug, and the polished walnut baby grand. And unless I was reading him wrong, Laith agreed.

  Gravitating toward me in the amber glow of lamplight, he peeled off his ruined jacket and tie and dropped both at his feet before unbuttoning the top two buttons of the wrinkled blue shirt beneath. He hooked an arm around my waist, dragging me with him as he flopped into the sofa with a grunt. With his hand clutching mine to his chest, he rested his head against the back cushion, and his eyes drifted shut.

  “You should change into something more comfortable.”

  His eyes fluttered open, his eyebrows slowly rising at my unintended innuendo.

  “Something you can sleep in,” I added quickly, my cheeks burning as his gaze traveled from my faded Ziggy concert tee to my cropped jeans. Why am I nervous? This is Laith. We’d been through more in the short time we’d known each other than most people after decades together.

  He nodded then kissed me lightly and pushed to his feet. “Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be right back.”

  “Where would I go? I don’t even know when this is.”

  A lazy grin curled the corners of his lips as he turned for the stairs. “1928.”

  Velvet wings swooped around my stomach. Did he realize he’d brought me to the same place as last time? Maybe we’d always been meant to end up there. To fall in love. Was it coincidence or fate?

  Since we’d come back from the forties, I’d noticed a fundamental shift from awkward tension to nervous excitement. The air between us practically buzzed with something new, yet familiar. Every glance, every innocent touch we shared sent electricity sparking through my veins until I was nothing but one big live wire. There was no question in my mind. If... when the two of us finally connected, it would be explosive.

  My imagination ran wild with visions of Laith undressing just one floor above me, and I shifted my weight nervously. “You’ve already seen him naked,” I reminded myself. And he’d seen me. But he doesn’t remember any of that. In fact, my body wouldn’t remember, since our first time had happened before the spell. The realization gave me a wicked case of the jitters. Unable to sit still for another second, I hopped off the sofa and wandered to the piano for a distraction.

  Laith had played for me the first time he’d brought me there, the moment permanently etched in my memory. I flipped back the lid and ran a finger over the keys, barely touching the cool ivory. It had been the first time I’d allowed myself to feel something more than contempt for him. The first time he’d managed to break down the towering wall I’d built between us. And it was the beginning of the end of my feelings for Maddox.

  Evening shadows stretched across the walls as the sun slipped below the horizon, bathing the room in a warm glow. And like the first time I’d visited, his house was deathly silent. No ticking clocks. No disembodied voices playing on a nearby TV. No kids laughing or cars rumbling down the street outside to distract me from the rhythmic pounding of my own heart. But unlike last time, I welcomed the silence like an old friend.

  “Are you still mad at me?” Laith came up behind me, startling me as he swept my hair aside and pressed his lips to the spot where my neck and shoulder met. His warm mouth set off an explosion of butterflies in my stomach, and my hand slipped, banging the keys in a discordant tune.

  “Should I be?”

  He chuckled against my skin, the deep rumble vibrating all the way to my bones. “Just wondering if I should expect a thrashing any time soon.”

  “No.” I let out a breathy laugh while he kissed his way to my chin. “But why do I feel like you might be disappointed by that?”

  He paused with his lips whispering across the shell of my ear. “I told you, I rather like your ferocious side.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.” A jaw-cracking yawn put an end to the flirty banter.

  “Come on.” With a gentle tug, he towed me to the stairs. He’d changed into a pair of jeans and a dark-blue T-shirt, and he must’ve showered, because his hair was damp. “Time for bed.”

  A flash of hope lit me from the inside, sending a hot flush rushing up my neck where it flooded my face with heat.

  Laith pushed back a loose curl that had flopped across his forehead and winked, as if he knew where my thoughts had taken me. “To sleep.”

  “Or not,” I muttered to myself. For a second, I’d let myself believe we were back in the days before my walk through fire, when Laith taking me to bed meant something completely different.

  Tamping down my disappointment, I followed him to his bedroom, pushing back a flood of memories before they could overwhelm me. I stood frozen in the doorway, staring at the bed, while Laith fidgeted with the blankets. If I closed my eyes, I could almost feel his hands exploring me, his delicious weight pressing me into the mattress while our lips collided. The sensory images ignited a thousand tiny flames across my skin. A desperate sound rolled up my throat, and I slapped a hand over my mouth, horrified.

  His eyes darted between me and the bed. “Is everything okay? I promise the sheets are clean.”

  “No.” I shook my head, scattering the visions to the wind. “I mean, yes, everything’s fine. I just...” My attention shot to the bed again, and I bit my lip to keep my thoughts to myself.

  Laith massaged the back of his neck. “We, uh, we’ll get there. We have time.”

  I let out a shaky laugh. If he only knew how close I was to cracking. More time was the last thing I needed. I’d already waited too long for him to catch up.

  “Get some rest. We’ll sort out everything else in the morning.” He kissed me softly and turned to leave.

  “Wait!” My heart fluttered wildly as I reached for him and grabbed a fistful of his T-shirt, twisting it in my hand. “Where are you going?”

  “To sleep on the couch.” He said it as if it was the most obvious solution, and I wanted to shake some sense into him. What does a girl have to do to get a little attention?

  “No.” The word came out on a breath. Shoving my pride aside, I reeled him in further, gripping the dark-blue cotton to anchor him to me. “You don’t have to do that.”

  Dropping his gaze to where my hand mangled the front of his shirt, he carefully peeled my fingers away, one at a time. “I don’t mind.”

  I do. “Stay.”

  His eyes snapped to mine, and his throat worked as he swallowed thickly. “A-Are you sure?”

  I rested both hands on his chest, my fingers twitching against the hard planes beneath my palms, and lowered my voice to a sultry whisper. “Stay.”

  Laith locked his gaze on mine, his hazel eyes probing my soul as if trying to decode my invitation or translate some hidden meaning in my words. When he seemed satisfied with what he found—or didn’t find—he nodded.

  I let out a silent cheer as butterflies the size of crows swooped and dipped around my insides.

  “We should get some sleep.”

  My face fell, and all at once, the butterflies stopped flapping and dropped like stones. “I guess we should.”

  Oblivious to the conflict raging inside me, Laith crossed the room, switching off lights and bathing us in darkness as he went. While his back was turned, I slid my bra straps down my arms one at a time before dragging the whole thing through one sleeve, all without removing my shirt. I let the white lace fall to the floor and kicked off my jeans before quickly crawling between the sheets.

  My heart worked its way into my throat as, across the bed, the quiet buzz of a zipper skating down and the swish of dark jeans sliding over his muscled thighs whispered in the darkness. Then the mattress dipped as he climbed in beside me. He fluffed his pillow and adjusted the blankets, sending his clean scent into the air as he settled in. Then he stilled, staying as far from me as possible, every inch of him radiating tension. And warmth. My fingers twitched with the urge to touch him, and I had to sit on my hands to keep from reaching out. Sleeping with Laith without sleeping with Laith was pure torture.

  I lay in the dark, listening to his shallow breathing, while the sexual tension between us grew into a living, breathing organism. It wrapped its greedy little tentacles around me and held me hostage while I waited for him to say something. Or to slide closer. But he never did.

  Finally, I got tired of the silent treatment and rolled toward him.

  He wordlessly opened his arms, fitting me into the crook of his shoulder before kissing my temple. “Good night, Ava.”

  “’Night.” With a sigh, I lay my cheek on his chest, and contemplated making the first move.

  After a few minutes of indecision, I wriggled closer, shifting my weight so my hips rested against his side and hooked my ankle around his, effectively locking our bare legs together. His breath hitched, but if he got the hint, he didn’t act on it. Disappointment quickly dissolved into exhaustion, and I drifted off to sleep.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Laith’s hand was under my shirt, caressing my stomach with featherlight strokes. Maybe in some alternate universe, where my skin was immune to his touch, the gesture would’ve soothed me... lulled me into a peaceful sleep... but in my world, where even the thought of him electrified every inch of me, it had the opposite effect, especially with his face buried in my hair and his nose nuzzling my ear. His warm breath sent tingles up and down my spine. And the proverbial nail on the proverbial coffin? His lips. Those were nibbling my neck.

  Best. Dream. Ever.

  Because I had to be dreaming. Despite my best efforts, the real Laith would most definitely not be making the first move. He’d proven that time and again over the past several days. If I hadn’t seen the raw desire plainly written on his face with my own eyes, I would’ve thought he wasn’t interested. And he clearly was, but for whatever reason, he refused to act on it. If we were ever going to make it past first base—and I was determined to explore all the bases with him—I would have to be the instigator. And that was exactly what I planned to do. After I wake up.