“You need to hurry up, Piper. You’re going to miss your flight. Although—”
“Don’t say it,” she snapped. She was currently lying, belly down, across the top of her overstuffed suitcase in order to make the edges meet. “I think I’m going to be over the weight limit.”
“Take everything out but the sexy underwear,” advised her cousin and best friend, Liz Thorne-Xuereb. “Or let me cast a spell to lighten the case.”
“I don’t have any sexy underwear.” Piper willfully ignored the spell comment. She’d be damned if she would use magic for anything she didn’t classify as an emergency. To do otherwise would be an abuse of power as far as she was concerned. Of course, her attitude wasn’t popular among her family, who used magic with the speed of a ravenous chocoholic consuming bonbons.
Damn, she could really go for lemon-buttercream chocolates to temper her traveling anxiety right about now.
“At all?” Liz screeched, pulling Piper back into the conversation. Her cousin was clearly appalled that a single woman wouldn’t have the basics.
Heat crept up Piper’s neck. “Well, I do, but not packed. It’s Ireland, Liz. People dress in layers over there.”
“Sure, but eventually they have to strip down—if you know what I mean. And thermal long johns aren’t a turn-on. What happens when you meet a hot Irishman and take him back to your hotel?”
“It’s a B&B, and I won’t be bringing any men back to my room. In case you failed to remember, I’m on a dating hiatus for a while. It’s called vacation for a reason.”
“Need I remind you that I found Rafe while on vacation?”
“Rafe found you, and he was in Paris on business.”
Liz shrugged as she rummaged through Piper’s dresser, no doubt looking for sexy articles of clothing. “You say tomato, I say tomahto.”
“I’m pretty sure you stole that line from him. Regardless, I’ve sworn off men.”
“Irish women are hot, too. Really, anyone with an Irish accent would do.”
“You know what I mean. And while I’m open to just about anything, it’s doubtful I’ll switch sides this late in the game. Seriously, I just need a break from dating.” Piper snatched the underwear out of Liz’s hands as she tried to add it to the suitcase. “Stop, or you really will make me late.”
“Let’s compromise. Take four matching sets.”
“One.”
“Three.”
“Two and no thongs. I hate those things. They’re little more than ass floss.”
“Deal.” Liz grinned triumphantly. “But if things get hot and heavy, I want a sex tape.”
“Okay, eww, because you’re my damned cousin. You’re getting as bad as Mackenzie. Next thing you know, you’ll be telling me you’re into bondage.” When Liz flushed the color of a ripe beet, Piper laughed. “I didn’t know you had it in you!”
“It was only handcuffs,” Liz retorted.
Piper arched her freshly waxed brows.
“All right, a blindfold, too. But that’s all.”
“Who was sporting the cuffs and blindfold? You or Rafe?”
“Rafe.”
Tickled by the new carefree side of her cousin, Piper hugged Liz. “I’m so glad you found him. You deserved so much better than Franco.”
“I still can’t believe he stole my magic. Who does that?”
“Well, thankfully Rafe discovered his plan in
.” She rounded up the last of her toiletries.
Liz cleared her throat, and Piper suspected it still stung her cousin’s heart that her now-deceased boyfriend had tried to use her for nefarious purposes. “Enough with all the maudlin BS. Let’s get this show on the road. Promise you’ll FaceTime me from a pub while you’re sharing a drink with a local hottie.”
Struggling against a laugh, Piper said, “I’m telling Rafe that he’s not satisfying your urges if you’re thinking about my sex life and hot Irishmen.”
“Believe me, my woman’s urges are completely taken care of—on every level.” Rafe’s sexy, slightly accented drawl came from the doorway and startled both of them.
Again, Liz flushed, and Piper was positive he spoke the truth. She sighed with the smallest hint of envy. Hair so dark it looked black in this light, midnight-colored eyes, and six feet of sinewy body, Rafe was every woman’s walking fantasy. However, he’d only had eyes for Liz from the day they reconnected a handful of years after their Paris meeting.
Feeling a bit warm herself, Piper returned to the bathroom to retrieve the last of her travel necessities. Once her carry-on was packed, she allowed Rafe to take both cases to the car. When he was out of earshot, she turned to Liz.
“You have to be the luckiest woman on the planet. Promise me I get him in your will should anything happen to you.”
“Nope. I have a stipulation that he must mourn me forever. He’s not allowed to find comfort with another woman.”
“Now you’re just being selfish.”
They shared a laugh and headed out to join Rafe for the short ride to the airport.
After they arrived at the terminal, Rafe unloaded the cases from the truck and escorted Piper inside. “Remember, no taking candy from strangers. And any guy you’re interested in has to provide you with a full name, date of birth, and some form of ID so I can scry and check him out. That way, we can avoid an incident like the last one.”
Rafe was referring to Piper’s god-awful taste in men. Her radar was defective and had failed to pick up on the fact her ex-boyfriend—a mortal one at that—was engaged with a baby on the way.
“Got it,” Piper responded with a grin and a hug. “Thanks, Rafe.”
“Be safe and call us when you get settled. Liz and I want to know when you arrive, okay? Although, why you don’t teleport is beyond me.” He grinned when she groaned.
“Not you too!”
Rafe shrugged, glanced around, and lowered his voice to say, “Don’t use the name Thorne. Lie if you have to. It isn’t safe to bandy about that name when you’re on your own, even in this day and age.”
“I’ll be plain old Piper Kelly. I plan to vacation like a normal person. And I promise to let you both know when I arrive.”
Rafe shook his head. “This bizarre need of yours to be ‘normal’ baffles me. We’re magical beings. You should embrace your heritage.”
It was an old argument between her family and her. It seemed Rafe had taken their side. No one would ever understand. In a family full of the most powerful witches on the planet, Piper got lost. Not bothering to answer, she kissed his cheek and hugged Liz.
Two and a half hours later, Piper was boarded and on her way to Ireland for her much-needed dream vacation. Two weeks in the Emerald Isle with nothing to do but enjoy the countryside, eat fish and chips, and listen to Irish folk bands play in local pubs. No corporate headaches, no IT problems popping up from employees who could barely sign into their email accounts. Most importantly, no running into her ex-boyfriend at work or his pregnant wife at their hometown supermarket.
Piper would take the time to lick her wounds and formulate a new plan for a family of her own. Perhaps it was time to rule out a lifelong mate and go with artificial insemination. That way, she would be able to pick a sperm donor based on genetics and brains instead of waiting for Mr. Wrong to come along for what seemed like the millionth time. Goddess willing, by this time next year, she would be a mom. It didn’t get more normal than that, right?
The idea had a soft smile forming on her lips. The thought of holding her own newborn close and rocking him or her to sleep made Piper’s heart ache with longing. All she’d ever wanted was a family to love. At thirty-three, her biological clock wasn’t only ticking; it was setting off alarms on an hourly basis.
But first, she’d take one last vacation before her world would be forever altered by a baby. Afterwards, her life wouldn’t be her own, and she intended to live it up on this holiday while she still could.
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