Toria

Cam lived in a condo downtown. Ask me how we got there, and I could barely tell you. I was so happy that I could swear we floated to the car, down the street, and into his building. He pressed the button for the elevator.

I looped my arm around his waist and looked him in the eye, so stupidly happy that it was ridiculous. "You cheated at the escape room."

"What makes you think I cheated?" His grin was lopsided and guilty.

"Love potion? A heart-shaped key?" I stuck my hand in his back pocket. "What would you have done if I'd said no?"

"Killed myself."

"Seriously."

"Died of a broken heart?"

"Stop it."

"I'm trying to come up with the right answer. What do you want?"

"The truth."

We stepped into the elevator. The door closed.

"The key was the key. If you'd broken my heart, someone would have arrived to mop up my tears and cart me away to donate what was left of it to someone who needed it."

"You're impossible."

"But hot."

"That too." I leaned my head against him.

"And FYI, I didn't cheat. Until the very end. I knew how to get the key once the caldron overturned. That was my signal. All the rest of the game was the game."

"Even the love potion?"

"Okay, you got me. It's a different type of potion for the general public."

The doors to the elevator opened onto a hallway.

"This is our stop." Cam led me out of the elevator to the door to his condo.

My pulse was rapid. My heart was full as he let us in.

"Welcome to my humble—"

I cut him off with a kiss.

He closed the door with his foot. "Damn. That love potion is doing its thing," he mumbled when I let his lips free for a fraction of a second. "Dessert first?" He stripped off his jacket.

"Dessert now." I set my purse down on a table and peeled off my coat, dropping it on a table next to my purse. I grabbed the hem of his shirt. "This has to go."

He helped me slide it up over his shoulders and head, shuddering with pleasure as I traced his hard muscles with my fingertips and kissed his erect nipples.

He grabbed me by my hips and pulled me hard against him. We kissed, grinding against each other. I relinquished myself to the full control of that love potion, letting my hands roam over him.

He was long, hard, lean muscle. Fine to stroke and fondle. Best of all, I loved him and he loved me. Falling in love is an elixir all its own. Powerful and potent in a way limited time way. The moment must be grabbed and satisfied, not wasted.

I had no intention of wasting an instant of this high. He backed me toward the bedroom as he kissed me. We bumped into an end table as he stripped off my blouse. I kicked off my shoes as we turned a corner into a bedroom.

The room was dimly lit with flickering electric candles. The bed was turned down and lightly strewn with rose petals. I was too focused on him to notice, or care about, any other details.

I kissed him as we shed the last of our clothes. I was still kissing him as he scooped me into his arms and laid me on my back on his soft, clean bed. The sheets were fresh and pressed and lightly perfumed with the scent of linen and lavender. I sank into them as he perched above me.

He scooped up some petals and dropped them on me, watching them fall between my breasts and over my stomach. "You're more beautiful than I ever imagined I deserve."

"It's the love potion. You made it too strong. It's blinding you to my faults."

"It's highlighting your attributes."

I moved his hand to my breast and closed my eyes to savor the pleasure of his touch. "How much science was in that love potion?"

He ran his thumb over my erect nipples. "What makes you think there was science?"

"I know you. I've known you forever." I moved his thumb over my heart. "In here."

He moved his hand between my legs and lowered his head to my breast to suck my nipple. His breath was hot on my skin, but I barely noticed the heat. I was already on fire for him. I let him warm me up anyway, sighing softly, trying to prolong the pleasure.

I reached for his dick and stroked him hard.

He gasped and caught my hand. "I'm too far gone for that."

"We're both ready. What are we waiting for?" I released my grip and arched up to meet him, knowing that once we began it would be over all too soon, but needing the release. And wanting this next step of intimacy with him more badly than I'd ever wanted anything.

He teased me with the tip of his dick. I grabbed his face between my hands and kissed him as I wrapped my legs around his waist.

He was tense and coiled, ready to spring. He thrust in hard and urgent, but slowly, into my wetness. Locked in a kiss, I moaned softly as he thrust, dragging himself in and out of me. From the very first thrust, I was changed. We were changed. We belonged to each other now.

His back was taut and tense as I held him tight inside and out. I squeezed him and moved with him, flying higher with each thrust, feeling the pleasure mount and mount until I thought I would explode with it.

I dug my heels into him and lost all restraint. I was coming, with or without him. I broke the kiss and gasped with the pleasure of being with him. Of knowing he was mine. Of having found my soul mate.

"Toria." He groaned. "I love you." I held him as he shuddered. He pressed his forehead against mine. "Wow."

"Wow is an understatement." I unwrapped my legs from around him.

He pulled out and held his weight off me, but held me close. "That was…"

"Magical?"

"Perfect." He brushed my hair back. "Think we overdid it with the love potion?"

I stroked his hair. "Never! Do you?"

He grinned. "I think the real magic is you and me together."

---

Cam

Toria spent the night. We slept curled in each other's arms, making love when the mood struck. Suffice it to say, there wasn't a whole lot of sleeping going on. Maybe we had overdone it with that potion. I wasn't taking any chances. I planned to keep that recipe on hand for the future, just in case.

I'd planned to take Toria out for breakfast at the Blackberry Café after a leisurely morning in bed. Feed her good. Give her energy and bring her back for another round of sex. But her phone rang, waking her. Which woke me when she sat and slid out of bed.

I reached for her. "Morning, beautiful."

She smiled softly and grabbed my hand, squeezing it.

"Where are you going?"

"My phone's ringing." She sighed. "I have to get it."

I strained, barely hearing it. "Wow. Remind me not to whisper about you behind your back. Hearing must be your superpower. That's barely audible. Where's it coming from?"

"My phone is in my purse on the table in my entryway." She slid her blouse on. "It's been ringing off and on for the last half-hour. I've been ignoring it because, you know, I'd like to stay and really wake you up." Her gaze flicked to my erect dick.

I grabbed her arm. "Then ignore it. At least for a few minutes."

"Hold the thought. I'll be right back." She kissed me lightly.

Which was nice. But it wasn't the full extent of what I was hoping for. I heard her pad into the entry. Then there was a clatter and cursing.

"You okay out there?" I shoved back the covers.

"I'm fine. Don't worry. In my rush to get the phone, I knocked my purse off the table. Stay where you are. I need to call them back."

I pulled the covers up and put my hands behind my head, waiting for her, daydreaming about all the ways I wanted to make love to her. I wondered if the Blackberry would deliver.

The tone of her voice changed. I couldn't make out the words, but her tone was angry and upset. Urgent.

Damn. I sat up and looked for my boxers.

I'd just slipped them on when she appeared in the doorway. "I have to run. Business emergency."

"Anything I can do to help?"

She shook her head. "Stay where you are. I want to remember you dewy eyed and bed-headed."

I ran my hand through my hair, finger-combing it. "That can't be a good look."

"It's hot, believe me." She came to the side of the bed and bent to kiss me.

I caught her wrist. "Sure you can't stay? I haven't fed you yet." I waggled my brow suggestively.

She shook her head and kissed me quickly. "I have to run. You don't know how much I regret this. It's horrible timing."

I dropped her wrist. "You can say that again."

She kissed me again and pulled the rest of her clothes on while I watched.

She turned over her shoulder to look at me. "Call me later?"

I nodded. "Absolutely."

She smiled and headed for the door.

"Good luck!" I called after her.

"Later!" The front door slammed shut.

I lay in bed in the afterglow of the night, thinking I could fall back to sleep. A few minutes later, I gave up and headed to the kitchen for coffee.

A business card on the floor in the entry, wedged up against the baseboards, caught my attention. I picked it up.

Victoria Williams.

The sight of her name on her business card made me smile. I realized she'd never told me the name of her company. We'd both been determined to enjoy ourselves and keep business out of our personal lives, at least in the beginning. That damned smile froze on my face as I read her business name, and, worse, saw the pink swing on the logo—swing for the stars—and read the address.

"Fuck." My heart stopped. I went cold.

That business address? Yeah, I recognized it. I damn well should. It was the address of the space I'd just won.

With horror, I realized I'd been competing with Toria for it. And…she'd probably just gotten the word this morning. That was what all those frantic calls were about. And she wasn't happy. That was an understatement designed to save my sanity and protect my heart from complete collapse.

She was pissed as hell. Angry at the bastard who'd used her swing against her. Furious and on the warpath.

And I was that very bastard. By accident.

My mouth went dry. All of the love potion in the world couldn't overcome this romantic misstep.

There has to be a way to fix this. Before she finds out who's behind it.

I grabbed my phone. Maybe I should just come clean? Yeah. That was the right thing to do. Come clean and beg her forgiveness like a man.

The phone shook in my hand. Without a plan? Asking forgiveness without action is just words. I needed a plan.

Who did I call first? Dave, the real estate agent? Or Ashley, my matchmaker, and tell her how I screwed up and ask her advice?