Page 94 of Hexed Up

“Sorry to disappoint you,” Horatio says. “I’m pretty vanilla.”

I’m halfway through a sip of my cocktail and I have to stop myself from choking.

Okay. He might not be kinky, but the things that man did between my legs were definitely not vanilla. Anything but.

“That is disappointing.” Damien flings himself back against the cushions. “Not even a little bit?”

“Nope.”

“Not even a teeny tiny bit?”

“Not even spanking?” Tiggie says, looking slightly outraged.

“I don’t know,” Horatio says, staring into his drink. “I’ve never tried it, but–”

“Haveyoutried it, Molly?” Damien says, making all the colour return straight up to my cheeks.

“You should,” Tiggie says, leaning in and attempting to whisper. However, in her drunken state her words are louder than her normal speaking voice. “It’s really good.”

“You’vetried that?” Prim asks our little sister, shocked and scandalised.

“Yes,” Tiggie sits up straight. “And so should you,” she says, pointing at Prim. “And you,” she says, pointing at me. “And you,” she says, pointing at Horatio.

“And that,” I say, placing my drink on the coffee table in front of me, “is probably our cue to leave.”

“Why are you being such a prude, Molly?” Tiggie asks. “Prim’s the prude, not you.”

“Hey,” Prim says. “I’m not a prude.”

“I bet you have sex with the lights off,” Tiggie mumbles.

I can see this is going to spiral into a sibling argument, so I stand up, tugging on Tiggie’s sleeve and forcing her to her feet too.

“Thank you for the nightcap,” I say to Horatio. Then I turn to Alex. “It was lovely to meet you.”

“You’re not really going, are you?” Alex asks.

“Yep. We’ve already created enough carnage tonight. Prim and Tiggie have a tendency to wrestle when they’re drunk and I don’t want to trash Horatio’s apartment.”

“All lies!” Tiggie insists.

“The party’s just getting started,” Damien moans, “and things were just getting interesting.”

I throw him one of my don’t-mess-with-me looks – the one Damien knows I only use in emergencies and when I am deadly serious. He doesn’t want to provoke me when I’m in one of those moods.

He jumps to his feet. “Okay, I’m coming too.”

All four of us march towards the door, Horatio following after us. The three of them head out into the hallway, but I linger in the doorway, turning to face the birthday boy himself.

“Again, I’m really, really sorry about tonight.”

“How sorry?” he asks teasingly.

“Very,” I say, unable to help smile when he has that glint in his eye.

His hand’s on the door handle. He leans forward so that his mouth is right by my ear.

“Then hopefully you’ll make it up to me.”