The prompt this week is a picture prompt (*points left   <—).

Because the picture is clearly a fall picture and Deep Fried Sweethearts is set in Jan/Feb…I sort of had to skip WAY ahead to fall in Lake Point and my October 2014 release, Witch Way.

Felicity grew up in an…unusual family.  She’s now an adult and a reporter, itching to become a news reporter on TV.

Craig is a fireman (yeah, right? Sexay)…once upon a time he was best friends with Sean, Felicity’s cousin, and used to pick on her incessantly along with Sean.  He grew up and moved away…recently came back to town and got a job with the local fire dept. He and Felicity have been hooking up since his return…but they’re about to take things a step further…

As always this is un-edited mostly, so forgive any errors:

Craig hadn’t ever been on this side of the gates, much less all the way up the hill standing in front of the, “Witch House.”

Felicity whipped around fast, her black hair splaying out like rays of night interrupting the day. Her blue eyes flashed with perhaps a hint of anger, but her lips curved into a smirk.

“I said that aloud didn’t I?”

“Mm-hm.” The hum was low and sexy, reminding him of the pleasures one of her hums had given him just the night before.

“Sorry.”

“You’ve said worse to me in my lifetime. I can handle you calling my home the witch house. Just don’t let Patty hear you, or you’ll get a lesson far less enjoyable than the one I’m about to give you.”

She didn’t have to tell him twice, her aunt had always scared him. When he’d grown up as best friends to Patty’s son, Sean, he’d been scared of the woman the whole town called a witch. Even Sean himself. “So what exactly are you planning to teach me?”

“You’re the one that asked about me going to church. Since you insist on turning this into more than sex, I’m taking you to see my church.” Her long fingers grasped his hand and pulled him along behind her. They circled the house only to come upon the woman herself, Patty. “Hello, Poddy!”

Patty rose up from the ground where she’d been on her knees working in a large garden. A bright smile broke up the features of the woman Craig could only call stunning, despite her age. No sign of a wart anywhere. Childhood stories really had gotten out of hand in his imagination.

“Hello, my dear.” Patty hugged Felicity before she cast her own blue eyes on him. “Well, I’ll be. Craig? You’ve grown quite a bit, young man.”

“I’m taking him to the valley, Poddy.” Felicity ducked her head with a hint of pink on her cheeks. It was the first time he’d seen her blush since they were kids. “If you don’t mind, of course.”

“The valley, you say?” Patty’s brow rose and she nodded. “A development I didn’t expect, but so long as he has proper respect, I’m fine with it. I think maybe while you do that, I’ll go in to my cards.”

“No, Poddy. I don’t want to know.” Felicity’s smile returned, and she began to tug on his hand again. “I’d like to keep this one a surprise.”

“Good to see you again, Craig,” Patty called after them.

“You call her Poddy?” Craig couldn’t keep the question to himself any longer.

Felicity giggled. “When I was probably two years old I couldn’t form the word Patty, it came out Poddy.”

“She’s your aunt, though. Right?”

“Technically, I suppose. Mom died in childbirth, so I’ve always lived with Poddy.” Felicity had reached the edge of the yard, but she kept on through the stone wall and into the woods beyond.

“Wait.” Craig grabbed her arm as they stepped into the shade of the colorful trees. “Didn’t we just leave your property?”

“You have so much to learn. This is my property. The wall is only to provide a proper yard, the rest goes to the earth, as it should. Poddy and I don’t like to take more than we need. You’ll see.”

Her mysterious smile disappeared when she turned and started down a well-worn path, this time without dragging him along. He had so many questions, but she seemed determined to only answer them piecemeal.

“You’ll never get them answered standing here like a jack-hat,” he mumbled to himself. The past few weeks with her had been something else, passionate moments caught when he wasn’t on a run, and she wasn’t off finding the next big story. He’d been the one to push for more, she’d been more hesitant.

Something told him if he followed he’d get more than he’d bargained for.

He was pretty damn sure she’d be worth it.

Of course, he’d have to find her first. All his musings meant she’d left him in the dust. He jogged down the path, the woods grew deeper and the temperature seemed to shift the further down he went. When the trees started to thin, he caught a glimpse of water, and heard a quiet rush of water along with it.

He stepped out at the edge of a wide, shallow pond.  To his left a small waterfall poured out the remnants of rain storms. A wood-planked path wove through the water to the other side.

Everything felt different there, quieter, warmer, even the trees were greener with only hints of autumn creeping in with a few fallen leaves and an occasional splash of color. Like in this spot time was different.

Almost like, “Magic.”

“Are you coming?” Felicity called back, though she remained out of sight.

“Yeah.” He crossed the wooden path and stepped back into a tree line.  For several yards he saw nothing else, until the trees began to thin again and there she was in the middle of a small field of grass.

Her eyes closed and tilted toward the light breeze, she looked the calmest he’d ever seen her. Peaceful, and damn beautiful.

“What is this place? It feels…different.”

“This is my church. Your childhood teasing, and name calling of my home and my aunt, and eventually myself, were not entirely wrong.” She turned to face him. “I am a wiccan, or a witch in layman’s terms, as is my aunt.”

“Magic?”

Despite the tense crease in her brow, a smile tugged at one corner of her mouth. “Not in the Hollywood or a paranormal novel’s sense. I view magic a bit differently than that.”

“I see.”

“No you don’t.”

“No. I really don’t.” He chuckled, and was relieved that she did the same. This was her most guarded part of herself, and this could make or break everything.

“Can you accept this? If you can’t, then we go back to sex.”

“Can we go back to sex if I can?”

“More often and better than before.” She walked closer, her hands clasped behind her back. “So what do you say?”

“I don’t see how the sex can be better.”

“Craig.”

“I can’t say for sure until I know more.” He held out his hand. “And I want to know more. Like why you don’t have warts.”

“Keep it up and I might give you some in a most uncomfortable place.”

“Um, ouch.”

“Do you really want to know more” She set her hand in his and pressed her body into his. “Do you really mean it? I haven’t scared you off?”

“Not yet. You make good on the wart threat and you might.”

She grinned. “It would hurt me worse than it would hurt you.”

“I doubt it.”

“Oh, trust me. I’m very grumpy without a hot body nearby…and you’re just the hottest body ever.”

“Flattery.”

“Truth.”

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