Don't Hex and Drive (Stay a Spell #2) - Juliette Cross Page 0,38

fingers up her arm, over the slope of her bare shoulder, combing then fisting her hair until he firmly but gently tugged her head back, arching her beautiful neck. Then he was singing sensual words—all subtitled in English—against her lips before he ravished them. And they fell onto the blanket in a tangle of limbs and moans as the camera panned away.

“Holy fuck,” breathed Violet, grabbing at her chest like she might hyperventilate.

I understood because the close-up angle of Devraj hovering a hair’s breadth away from the woman’s mouth and the lust-hazed look in her eyes told me this wasn’t all acting. An unfamiliar spark of emotion shot through me like a poisoned dart. Jealousy? No way. And was that the same woman in the pictures of him on Instagram? Of course, there were quite a few other women in those pics, too.

“Oh, my God.” Tia finally caught her breath and glared at me accusingly. “Is this the neighbor vampire?! You didn’t tell me he was Devraj Kumar!”

“What?” I was hot and sweaty and totally confused by my own swirling emotions.

“The Bollywood superstar?” Tia’s hazel eyes were wide and shocked and furious. “Are you fucking kidding me, Isadora?”

“I told you he was an actor! Why are you getting all over me?”

Tia scoffed then growled, sounding more werewolf than witch. Then she zipped around the sofa and yanked the remote off the coffee table, stopping the movie.

“Hey!” shouted Livvy.

“What the hell?” Violet protested.

Clara had stopped dancing but her blue eyes were bright with humor and wickedness, an expression I didn’t see often on her.

“Shhht!” Tia held up a palm while she flicked through Netflix, searching out a particular movie. She found it, another Bollywood movie. “You’ll be thanking me in three seconds. Just you wait.”

She started the movie but fast-forwarded through the opening.

“Come on, Tia!” shouted Violet.

“Just…wait for it.” Then she stopped fast-forwarding and pressed play.

Devraj was standing in the moonlight, singing a slow, sad ballad about his lost love, while removing his white linen shirt. Left in loose, flowing white pants, he stepped into the shimmering pool, water soaking through the thin fabric.

“Daaaaaamn,” crooned Violet as the camera panned to his glorious back, muscles rippling under dark bronze skin a thing of fantasies. Some women’s fantasies, anyway. Not mine. Totally not mine.

“Nice camera angle,” admitted Livvy, crunching on popcorn.

I snapped to my sisters who were literally drooling over our next-door neighbor. Heat raced under my skin, furious with them and, I have to admit, turned on by him. Or his acting skills. That was it. Definitely just the acting skills, and the fantastic lighting and sensual music.

“He’s so pretty,” Clara said on a dreamy sigh.

Steam rose off the heated pool he walked into, the water sloshing around thick, muscular thighs, the transparent fabric clinging. Moonlight bathed him, dipping into the shadows carved by his chiseled abdomen as he turned to face the camera. There was a tattoo completely covering one shoulder. A mandala in black and blue ink, an intricate design, feminine in some of the floral loops and masculine in the sharp lines along the outer edges.

Then he settled into the water, bracing his arms along the pool edge, his gaze fixed into some distant place beyond the camera lens. The water lapped at his chest, steam misting his face, his hair dangling in the water, his voice so very sad, singing about bitter longing and never having the satisfaction his body, his heart, and his soul craved.

I was completely and utterly transfixed. So much so that I didn’t notice three people enter the room. It wasn’t until I heard a deep, familiar voice directly behind me that I was able to snap out of my trance.

“Sorry to interrupt, ladies.”

I felt the words brush against my bare neck, my hair twisted up in a bun. He was so close that when I spun around, I nearly fell forward right into Devraj. He caught me by the arms.

Oh, my God!

I pulled back out of his grip, practically panting. If I could’ve crawled into a hole and buried myself, I would have because the smile he wore right then was the most salacious and knowing smile I’d ever seen on a man, or supernatural.

Tia paused the screen, which happened to be right as on-screen Devraj was stepping out of the pool, a closeup of water dribbling down his sculpted chest.

Jesus, Tia. Seriously!?

Heat flushed up my neck and filled my cheeks. I was trying to find some sort of excuse as to