Magical Midlife Love (Leveling Up 4)

She shrugged. “Okay, then. Let’s go back to Ivy House. I’m starving. I would’ve liked to try the food there. It’s a nice restaurant.”

“We’ll come back when the company is better.” He closed the door, and Sebastian appeared five feet away, putting an empty vial into his pocket.

“Any intelligent mage would pack it in and head out after that scene inside,” Sebastian said. “She gave him a show of her true power, and a smart mage would know when he was beaten. This mage is a moron, and Cyra is right: he has a fragile ego and will not think kindly on Jessie’s”—he shook with laughter, having a hard time getting the words out—“response.” He laughed harder and wiped his eyes. “Her response was so brazen it was comical. Mages and power players are usually subtle and sly to their enemy’s faces and then cunning and lethal behind their backs. Jessie just made him look like a chump!” He held his stomach and guffawed. “In front of all his people!”

“Is there a point?” Austin asked.

“Yes, sorry.” Sebastian wiped his eyes again. “Sorry! Yes. The point is…” He straightened up. “The point is that this mage will want to get even. You haven’t seen the last of him. If—when—they engage, make sure your shifters make your response a spectacle. The more brutal, the better. Most mages I know think like he does. Even I had no idea of your power. Of your types of power. To best protect Miss Ironheart, you should make a display my kind will think twice about before deciding to engage.”

Thirty-One

“What an absolute…” I huffed out a breath, trying to think of a swear big enough for Kinsella, and pushed back in my seat as Austin hit the gas and the car lurched forward. “Drive fast. I’m still really angry about the things that mage said about you. Lap dog…” My jaw ached from clenching it so hard. “He was clearly afraid of you. Who was he trying to fool? He was spitting in my eye, that’s what he was doing.”

Lust filtered through the link. Delight. Austin was responding to my possessiveness. He probably thought it was funny, like Sebastian did, but my God, when that idiot mage was so dismissive of Austin, it had set something off in me that I couldn’t hope to control. It was like a tidal wave of black rage had wiped out all my logical thinking and ability to reason. All I’d wanted to do was kill. If Sebastian hadn’t talked me around, I would’ve. It had been a very close call.

I looked at my incredibly handsome boyfriend in his slick suit, the red dash lights highlighting his cheekbones and shapely lips. Maybe it was time to ask the guys about mating as a female gargoyle. Ulric would know the scoop, and if he didn’t, he’d find out. I needed to know what was coming my way. This thing between Austin and me might blow over in a couple of days maybe, but…

I stopped that thought even as my heart surged, expanding until it filled my whole chest. My whole being. No one had ever supported me like Austin did. He’d always bent over backwards to accommodate me, to change his life to make mine easier, and he’d ignored that awful man’s slights tonight so I could keep the meeting peaceful if I wanted to. At one point, he would’ve even allowed that disgusting human being to wave him away from the table like he had that woman. Austin would’ve endured the treatment…for me.

The feeling swelled until I could barely stand it. Until I had to reach out and touch him, placing my hand on his thigh, the urge to straddle his lap overwhelming.

“Thank you,” I said softly. “For everything.”

He sped onto the highway before covering my hand with his. “I’m at your service.”

This wasn’t going to blow over. Maybe some would call this a rebound—the divorce had only gone down a year ago—but it felt like I’d finally found my home. Finally found the person who both grounded me and lifted me up. There weren’t one in a million guys like Austin Steele, and having met his brother, I knew he came from a family of good, solid people. This wasn’t an act. Why keep looking when I’d found someone who was perfect for me?

I let my head fall back against the headrest and looked out the window, taking a deep breath.

“I really like you,” I whispered.

“I really like you too,” he replied, just as quietly, his words almost inaudible over the roar of the engine. “I’ve always really liked you, since the first moment you walked into my bar.”

I felt the warmth of his thigh through my palm, and I increased the sensitivity of the link so he could feel the aching for him in my core. He sucked in a breath, and I smiled.