Page 34 of Not Your Ex's Hexes
“Alright. Out. Now.” He touched her ankle, prepared to yank her loose if need be.
She slowly reverse-shimmied her way into view and came out grinning from ear to ear. “We did it!”
Damian’s fingers wrapped around the back of her head and with a low growl, he dragged her into a searing hot kiss. She leaned intohim, dirty fingers fisted in his shirt as she held him until both their heads went slightly fuzzy from a lack of oxygen.
“That was a huge fucking risk,” Damian admonished, dropping his forehead onto hers. Fuck. He hadn’t meant to kiss her. And didn’t mean to keep touching her, and yet…
She glanced to the carrier of puppies. “Thatwas fucking awesome, but we need to get them back to the clinic.”
“Yeah, we do. And quick.”
He took her hand as they hustled back to the truck. Rose climbed into the passenger seat. By the time he took his spot behind the wheel, she already had the heat vents on full blast and tilted toward the carrier sitting on her lap.
They bumped and swerved their way out of the junkyard and onto the main street.
Nibbling her bottom lip, Rose peered worriedly into the carrier to watch the puppies. “They’re not moving around as much… especially the little one.”
“They need more warmth.” He racked his brain, contemplating pulling over but that wouldn’t help. They needed an incubator and meds and definitely hydration.
Movement from the other side of the truck pulled his attention off the road. Rose tucked the carrier at her feet and grabbed a horse blanket from the back bench seat… and then her wet coat and shirt were off, and she sat there in a lacy pink bra.
“What the hell are you doing?”
One by one, she brought out each of the pups, tucking them against her chest. “Body heat… skin to fur. It works in the movies, so I figured…” She shot him a questioning look. “Will it not work? Between the body heat and the actual heater, I assumed…”
“That’s a great idea.” Damian barely masked a mystified chuckle. The witch was damn incredible. “Get them situated and then angle the vents straight at you.”
Rose did exactly that as he drove.
She hadn’t thought twice about diving into mud, or stripping in a car, or about burrowing those six little—and filthy—furry creatures right into her cleavage. Once the pups were in position, she turned the heat on high and pulled the horse blanket over them for good measure.
Finally, five minutes out from the clinic, one of the pups whimpered.
And then another.
Damian and Rose shared a look, both of them releasing relieved chuckles.
He always knew Rose Maxwell was one hot witch. Now he had the evidence to prove it.
8
Garbage Day
Rose couldn’t remember the last time she’d smiled so large, but it felt good. It felt right. Vi had practically glowed as she glanced up at her perfectly fated other half, and if Vi was happy, Rose was, too—and more than a little relieved that it hadn’t been her who’d stepped into that Bonding Circle.
Her sister had practically glided toward her soul mate to the tune of an instrumental Bruno Mars song. If she had been in the same position, Rose would’ve feet-dragged her way toward the Circle to the tune of Darth Vader’s “Imperial March.” Thankfully, stepping down as Edie’s successor meant voiding the Bonding Agreement between her and her fleabag tiger shifter ex whose name will never again fall from her lips.
Never again would she allow someone to pull the wool over her eyes the way Pepé Le Pee-Yew had done to her. Eyes wide open and heart uninvolved—that was her life’s new motto. Not that the jerk had broken it.
Thank Goddess.
But now she could make certain it never would be. From this moment forward, she did what—and who—she wanted, and what she wanted right then was to have fun with her friends and family,eat nachos, and later, sneak back to the sanctuary to check on the puppies.
They’d all been holding strong that morning when she’d left the clinic to prep for the ceremony, but it had been hard leaving them even with Miguel watching them closely.
Excitement and cheers filled the air as Linc and Violet danced their way into Roxy’s Glo-Bowl. While Rose first thought Vi had chosen the untraditional bowling alley for the postnuptial party spot to watch Christina—their mother—break into hives, she realized now that Roxy’s held special meaning for the couple.
Olive’s arm linked through hers as they made their way to the refreshment table and the Leaning Tower of Nachos on which Rose couldn’t wait to get her handsandher lips.
