An incessant ringing wouldn’t let me go back to sleep. I had been dreaming about ice cream, cherries, and very naked wizards covered in whipped cream. I’d been just about to find a banana when the ringing started.

“Hello?” I grumbled my eyes still closed as I answered the phone.

“What are you still doing in bed at this hour?” my grandmother’s voice admonished me, and even though it was through the phone, I could just see her disapproving frown in my head. “It’s already past ten o’clock. Any proper witch would be up by now.”

“Well, I guess I’m not a proper witch,” I sassed into the phone, rubbing my eyes as I sat up. “Did you want something?”

Grandmother huffed and, thank all that was good and decent, let my sleeping habits go. “I was calling to see if you had taken any consideration into letting us sponsor your booth for the fair? It’s only a few weeks away, and it does take quite a bit of preparation to have everything arranged on time.”

Scratching my head, I tried to process her words. I hadn’t really thought much about my booth, not since before Paul had given me a lesson on the magical government. I had kind of found myself at a standstill. I knew what I wanted to use as my main theme for my booth, but not really how to go about it. Also, the sponsor part had me stuck.

“I have thought about it, and I don’t think you are the right person to help me with this.” I could practically hear her head exploding on the other side even as her voice came out calm and put together.

“I understand your hesitation. You don’t know me, and I haven’t given you a very good impression of us so far, but I want to make it up to. Please, allow me to help.”

The genuine tone of her words caused a wave of guilt to rush through me. I hadn’t really given her much of a chance, not that anyone could blame me with the way she had reacted over several issues. However, if I was going to be in the magical community, I had to figure out some kind of middle ground. What better way than to join together for a cause?

“If I say yes, what do you want in return?” My experience told me I shouldn't expect her just to help for no reason.

“Why, nothing of course. You're my granddaughter, I want nothing more than to help you succeed.”

“I see.”

“But since you were offering,” which I wasn't, “you could see our sponsorship as a sort of payment for letting me provide you with a coming out party this summer.”

And there it was.

I slipped out of my bed, my eyes going to Trina’s bed. It was empty. Not surprising, she usually went for a run early in the morning. Another one of her traits I just didn’t get, but as long as she didn’t try to make me go with her, we didn’t have a problem.

“And that's it? I let you throw me a coming out party, and you’ll sponsor my booth?” I couldn’t help the suspicion creeping into my voice.

“Yes, that's all.”

I sighed in utter defeat. I just hoped my mom never hears about this.

“Fine. It's a deal.”

“Excellent,” my grandmother exclaimed on the other line, drawing my attention back to the conversation at hand. “Now, you said you were going to major in political science, have you figured out your platform?”

“Yes,” I smiled, anticipating her reaction when I told her. “I want to discuss the need for a better transition method for human-raised witches and wizards. Those like me.”

There was silence on the other line for a moment, and I thought I might have caused her to have a heart attack.

“Grandmother? Are you there?”

“Yes, yes, I’m here. My apologies.” She cleared her throat, and I could just see her trying to control her face and not tell me how she really felt about human-raised children. “I think that is a wonderful idea, my dear.”

“You do?”

“Yes, we have needed new regulations for quite a while now, what better way to push those who refuse to change than this?” There was quiet again for a moment before a fluttering of paper could be heard on the other line. “You will need some kind of slogan, something that will really catch the eye of the community. And of course, we’ll need to create merchandise, buttons, t-shirts, mugs, the works. I hope I can count on you to create the booth and gather all the information you need to present your argument for this?”

I gaped at the phone, surprised she had gotten on board so easily. Gathering my wits, I quickly nodded my head. “Yes, I’ve got that part down, though I might need a bit help on the exact language to use.”

“Not a problem. Just let us know how much you need for the booth and any other questions you might have. Maybe we could get together for dinner sometime? Go over all of the details?”

“Okay, that sounds good.”

“Wonderful. I’ll have my assistant look at my and your grandfather’s schedule and get back to you. Have a good day.”

“Uh, yeah. You too.” My brows furrowed as I hung up the phone. Well, that had been an odd conversation.

Now fully awake, I had no choice but to get up. I had planned on sleeping the majority of my Spring Break away, at least until Callie got here. She wouldn’t let me hide away like the hobbit I longed to be. She would be here sometime today, and would no doubt start her interrogation process, nagging me until I gave her every detail of what has happened between the guys and me. I wondered what she’d think of my date with the brothers.

The date on Valentine’s Day with Paul and Ian had been an eye-opener into the magical community. It really showed me what it could be like with us out in public. While it had its downs – nosy witches and wizards – it did have its perks.

Thankfully since then, Paul and Ian had buried whatever hatchet they had going on and even had plans to throw a party together tonight. Of course, I was invited, and that meant I’d have to bring Callie along. Maybe I could find her some wizard hottie to distract her from my love life. God knew she needed another hobby besides me.

Gathering my toiletries and clothes, I headed to the co-ed shower down the hall. The school was mostly deserted with most of the students had gone home for the week-long holiday. Trina and I had both decided to stay back. For me, it was because my parents weren’t even home. Dad had to fly to California for some speech and mom had tagged along. Trina had told me she’d rather not have to share a bathroom with her siblings if she could help it, not that I blamed her. The co-ed shower was bigger, and even though you had to share them with other students, it had to be easier than having your little brother or sister barging in on you all the time.

When I entered the bathroom, I was happy to find it empty. I got the whole place to myself which meant I got to pick whatever shower I wanted. That included the much-coveted shower on the end.

Unlike the other showers, this one had a wall as a barrier for two sides while the rest of them had curtains. It was a far cry more private than the one-sided showers, plus it had the best water pressure. No one wanted to wash their hair with barely a spritz.

Stripping quickly, I jumped into the shower, turning the heat up to volcanic levels. Sighing as the water poured over me, I found myself humming a popular song I’d heard on the radio. I wasn’t that great of a singer, I’d never have my own record deal or anything, but the soap bunnies have never complained about my singing.

Halfway through my shower, the curtain pulled back, and a waft of cold air hit me. I clutched my washrag to my girly bits while my arm shot up to cover my breasts. When my eyes hit Dale’s amused grin, I scowled.

“Warn a girl, geez! I could have broken my neck.” I threw the rag at him, hitting him right in the face.

Shutting the curtain behind him, Dale chuckled. “But what a lovely corpse you’d be.” His eyes trailed down my naked form, and it was then that I realized he was lacking in clothing as well. My eyes dipped down over his lean but chiseled chest and lingered on the red puff of hair surrounding his hard length.

Licking my lips, I gulped. The carpet did match the drapes.

“Did you have any doubt?” Dale guffawed, coming closer to me until I had to lift my gaze.

“Did I say that out loud?”

“Yes, you did.” Dale reached out, and I prepared myself to be ravished, but he grabbed my shampoo I had hanging in the basket on the wall.

A bit put off at him being in the shower with me all naked and wet but not even interested in doing anything naughty, I tried to snatch it back from him. “Hey, now that’s mine.”

“But I didn’t bring mine.”

“So not my problem.” I wrinkled my nose at him as I strained to get it. “Maybe you should have thought of that before invading my quiet time.” I nudged him with my elbow and turned away from him, pretending like he wasn’t there. Not like that was possible. Even not looking at him, I could feel the heat coming off of him and then, as he stepped just an inch closer, the tip of him brushed against my butt.

“I heard a dying kitten and had to come to investigate. I had no idea that thing being tortured was you singing.”

Face screwed up in annoyance, I whipped around to give him a piece of my mind but ended up backed up against the shower wall. A shiver raced through me as the cold tile wall touched my back while my front turned to molten lava from the press of Dale’s body against mine.

“I thought we might finish what we started on Valentine’s Day?” Dale’s words caressed my lips, but not going the final inch to kiss me. “We never did get together afterward, not how I wanted anyway.” His hand on my waist dipped down between us as he rubbed the washcloth I had thrown at him against my center in a long, languid movement. My mouth fell open, and my head bumped against the tiles behind me.

“What do you think?” Dale asked, his fingers pressing against me through the washcloth.

What did I think? I thought I wanted that washcloth off and his hands really on me. That’s what I thought.

I didn’t say that, however. Instead, I took the initiative and found the hard, pulsating flesh bumping against my thigh. This time, Dale let out a long-strangled moan as my hand moved up and down him in a rhythmic motion. The washcloth dropped, and Dale’s hands braced on either side of me, his hips jerking into my grasp.

The door to the showers opened loudly, and voices echoed in the bathroom. I paused my hand movement for a moment, listening to the group of females that had come in.

“So, I head the Broomsteins are having a party tonight. Are you going?” one of the females asked.

Dale’s hooded gaze met mine and I grinned coyly, starting my hand up again. The females continued talking, not knowing what was currently going on in the last stall.

“Of course, Paul is so hot,” a different one said this time. My hand stuttered.

“No way. Ian is the sexy one. He had that dark and broody bad boy thing going for him.” There was a giggle and a slap of hands.

One of them snorted. “Good luck getting anywhere with either of them. They’re so wrapped around that Mancaster girl’s fingers.”

“Yeah, what a slut.”

“You know, I heard ...”

My hand had all but stopped moving at this point, and Dale let me know not by making it move but by dropping one of his down between my thighs.

I gasped and then stifled it quickly. My eyes locked on his as I moved my hand once more. Each tug earned me a delicious circular movement from Dale, and soon, I wasn’t paying any attention to what the females were saying. It took all I had to control my breathing and not make any kind of noise while Dale and I drove each other to our peaks.

The showers next to us turned on just as I came, a small squeak coming out of me. Dale’s hand quickly covered my mouth, but it was too late.

“Hello? Are you okay in there?” the first female asked in the stall next to me.

Removing Dale’s hand, I lowered my voice a pitch and said, “I’m fine. Water got cold.”

“Ugh, man that sucks. I always use the temperature control charm to keep my water at just the right heat.”

“Thanks, I’ll do that next time.” I turned off the water and grabbed my towel, pushing Dale away so that I could look outside the stall. No one was out there, so I wrapped myself in my towel, grabbed my things, and hurried out of the bathroom like hell itself was chasing me.

I barely made it to my room before I ran into someone. A group of students came around the corner just as I shoved my way into my bedroom. Slamming the door behind me, I sagged against it.

Trina sat on her bed with her tongue down Libby’s throat, just adding to my embarrassment. Pulling away from her, Trina took in my half-drowned rat look and lifted a brow. “Bad shower?”

I shook my head and breathed deeply. “Don’t want to talk about it.”

“Well,” Trina stood up, pulling Libby up with her. “I’ll let you get dressed. Meet me downstairs for lunch?”

“Sure, sounds good.” I set my things on my bed and watched as they left. Libby only gave me a cursory glance before leaving, and I had only just dropped the towel on the ground when the bedroom door opened again, revealing Dale. His hair was still wet, but he had put his clothes back on. He must have used a spell of some kind because he wasn’t wet anywhere else on his body and trust me, I was looking very closely.

His eyes swept my form, and a devilish grin curled up his face. Pulling his glasses off his face, he came toward me. “Now, where were we?”

Squealing as he came toward me, my scream turned into a giggle as he tackled me to the bed. Our mouths came back together in a rush of tongues and hands. I dragged Dale’s shirt over his head as he pulled loose my towel. Releasing his mouth reluctantly, I gasped my eyes, rolling back in my head from the hand cupping my breast.

“You’re perfect,” Dale growled into my skin his mouth trailing down my neck. “How is that possible?” He cupped both of my breasts, bringing them together in the middle and laying a kiss on each one of them.

I chuckled at his actions. “Believe me, I’m far from perfect.”

“Watch your tongue,” Dale quipped as he gave me a warning look. “I’ve never seen a more exquisite pair of breasts.”

“And you’ve seen many?”

Dale’s face flushed, and he stuttered over his words. “No, I mean, I didn’t mean to imply I’ve been with a lot of women. I just—”

I giggled and brushed his hair away from his face. “Calm down, I was just messing with you. Now, you, on the other hand ...” I trailed my fingers down his chest to the band of his pants. “... have plenty to be proud of.” I jerked on his belt and unbuttoned his pants. I had just got my hand down his pants when there was a knock on the door. I didn’t have a chance to tell them to hold on before the door burst open.

“I’m here, I’m fabulous, and I’m ready to find myself a magical hottie,” Callie sang as she barged into the room. Her eyes widened so much I thought they would pop out of her skull as she took in the scene.

“Callie,” I growled as she continued to stare. “Callie!”

“Right, sorry.” She slapped her hand over her eyes and turned her back. “You know you should really lock the door.”

I looked up at Dale, giving him an apologetic smile. Eventually, we’ll get all the way there, but it wasn’t going to be today.