Silver at Midnight: A Paranormal Romance Urban Fantasy (The Keepers of Knowledge Series Book 5) Bridgette O'Hare (ebook offline .txt) 📖

in frustration. “Ask him t’ send me what he found, no matter how weird or obscure. I’ll pan through it. Maybe I’ll find a nugget.”

“Okay. We will talk tomorrow. I’m going to wanna know more. You know that, right?” Kara insisted.

“I know.”

“Okay, don’t do anything I would do.”

“Yes, Mom.”

“And stop calling me that.”

“Stop acting like it and I’ll think about it,” I laughed. “I’ll talk t’ ya tomorrow. Love ya! G’night.”

“Fine. Goodnight.”

I tossed the phone on a towel and proceeded to the shower.

When I walked back into my bedroom to get dressed, I heard a commotion coming from downstairs. I rummaged through the suitcase I had yet to unpack and chose the first thing that matched—a black tank top and a pair of gray PJ pants with black and pink unicorns. Then I grabbed a black sweater and headed downstairs to see what was going on. When the kitchen came into view, Cian was standing at the stove in a gray, fitted V-neck t-shirt and plaid flannel pants, stirring something in a pot.

“Umm . . . whatcha doin’ there, Cian?”

“It’s a surprise,” he warned as he glanced over and shot me a bemused smirk. “Ya jus’ keep your nosey lit’l self in your adorable pajamas over there.”

The fireplace was going, which meant I might not need the sweater, but I put it on anyway to keep from feeling so exposed. Our research books had already been set out on the coffee table and there were two large mugs on the counter waiting to be filled. My guess was they soon would be.

“Are those unicorns?” Cian asked, suppressing a grin.

I looked down and back up at him. “They are. Ya got somethin’ against unicorns?”

“No ma’am. They are, after all, magical creatures.”

“Exactly.”

“Go get comfy,” he said like a suggestion. “I’ll bring this over when it’s done. It’ll be a minute or two.”

The aroma was beginning to waft through the kitchen. Something chocolate and it smelled heavenly. I eased over to the dark corner of the living room, where only the light from the fireplace danced on the panes of the window laden wall. I was all but hidden, but I had the best view of the waves crashing on the sand. I stood close enough to feel the chill radiate through the glass, and I watched the moonlight meander a line over the ocean and past the horizon, skirting a path to the lighthouse just beyond the jetty.

I lost my thoughts in the rise and fall of the ocean, breathing in its rhythmic ease. So much so, that I didn’t hear Cian approach, but I felt his presence the moment he was close enough for our magic to reach out to one another. The warmth of his chest pressed against my back for a moment as he stretched a mug-filled hand around and in front of me.

“For you, m’lady,” he offered, his voice low and affable.

“Why, thank ye, kind sir,” I replied in a very proper tone and wrapped both hands around the mug, unable to avoid contact. His fingers brushed mine as he slid his hand away. I glanced up, just over my shoulder, to meet a deep gaze holding me in place for just a few seconds too long. I whipped my focus to the heat nestled in my palms, mirroring the sparks in my core. I needed to add some distance, but a step forward meant face planting into the windows. A step backward meant full contact with the man I was trying to distance myself from to maintain my own sanity. Talk about a rock and a hard place. Wait. No. Probably accurate.

I stole a sip from the mug, and my taste buds exploded. Thankfully distracting me, at least a fraction, from the gravitational pull I was fighting. “Holy hades! This is amazing!” I praised the sweltering liquid chocolate in my mug. “What is in this?”

“You know, the usual.”

“I do not know what the usual is. But it’s delicious.”

“Glad ya like it.”

“You know what would go great with this?”

He chuckled. “The antidote?”

“No . . . wait, what?” I whipped around to face him. “Funny. Real funny.”

At this point, he’d found himself quite amusing and was laughing harder. I smacked him on the shoulder.

“I told you I’m hilarious,” he managed to spit out between fits of snickering.

“You are so lucky you’re hot,” I blurted without thinking.

His expression perked up. The laughter morphed into a sensual crooked grin. He took a step in my direction, closing the already miniscule gap between us. “Is that why this window is fogging up?”

I felt my back press against the chill of the glass. It was a welcome sensation, a profound contrast to the heat in my veins and the warmth of Cian pressed close to me. I knew I should look away, but I didn’t want to. His eyes were so different in that moment, softer. Softer than I knew eyes could be. And I was drawn in. I had one last ditch effort to regain control of the situation.

“I . . . I was going to say marshmallows,” I breathed out raggedly.

“Funny,” he inched his lips closer to mine. “That’s not what I was going to say at all.”

I closed my eyes, fully expecting that I had already lost the battle of wills, until the alarm sounded. My eyes flew open and met his. For a split second, neither of us flinched. Then Cian’s stare snapped up and began to survey the darkness outside. From our position in the shadowy corner of the room, we’d be nearly invisible from outside. And that was our advantage.

Movement caught my eye near the opposite corner of the cottage where the steps spread over the entire end of the deck. I touched Cian’s arm to get his attention, ignoring the heat, and pointed.

“I need you to let the ward down just long enough to let me out, then put it back immediately. A’ight?” Cian directed.

That wasn’t my first choice. My first choice would have been to