Salvage: Book 3 of the Magic Mutations Series

1: Olivia

March, 2019

Specks of dust floated in the sunstream peering through the window; we had forgotten to close the curtains last night in all our amorous excitement. A warm body hugged my back, pulling me into every crevice of their being.

But as I watched the little flecks slowly drifting around the air in no hurry at all, my mind was racing far too quickly for this early in the morning.

Mary... No, that can't be it.

Maggie... Also doesn't sound right.

Mave?

Melissa?

It definitely starts with an M... It—

"May," he said, blue eyes bored as he took a spot at her desk chair, gaze looking anywhere but me.

"Thank you," I mouthed before rolling over.

Her long lashes still brushed at her high cheekbones, curly brown locks resting against her olive skin. Freckles speckled over the bridge of her prominent nose, and I couldn't stop the smile from stealing my face—she was certainly the most exquisite woman I had slept with in all my months of forced forgetting.

May, May, May, my mind chanted as I raised a hand to trail a finger across her skin.

Ever so slowly, her eyelids fluttered open, a warm depth of hazel in her doe-shaped gaze meeting mine. Corners of her lips turning up as she squinted in the light of the morning, she mumbled a tired, "Morning."

"Good morning, May," I said back, feeling proud that I was able to say her name.

Her eyes suddenly went wide.

Shit... I said the wrong name, didn't I? I resisted every ounce of my being that begged me to turn around to glare at him.

But then she said, "I'm so sorry... but I don't remember your name."

A laugh barked behind me, and, again, I held back from looking at him. "That's okay," I breathed back, my body relaxing in her hold as the reality sank in—she wasn't going to be sad when I didn't call later.

"But you knew mine—"

"I was thinking long and hard to remember it before you woke up," I responded sheepishly, rousing a relieved smile on her own face.

"So... are you going to tell me your name?"

Though I started shuffling out of her hold, edging off the bed and searching the floor for my clothes. "Olivia," I said back as I spotted my shirt halfway across the room.

"Olivia... It's a lovely name." The sheets shuffled behind me before two legs draped either side of my body, arms winding around my torso. "You don't have to go."

Leaning out of her grip, I pulled my shirt over my body and got to my feet. As I turned to face her, May was pouting.

"I... Look, this was fun, but we didn't even remember each other's names," I said to her.

One side of her mouth pulled up, causing her nose to scrunch slightly in the most cutest half smile I've potentially ever seen. I was certainly leaving with difficulty this time. "I'm not asking for a relationship, Olivia..." She rose to her feet, blanket falling from her as her arms enveloped my shoulders. "I just want more good times. You're so... I don't know how to describe it... intoxicating?"

"If only she knew it was a magical spell," he yawned from that same spot in the room before getting to his feet. "Can we go yet?"

Not wanting to seem crazy for talking to someone she couldn't see, I moved my hand in the slightest gesture that would signal to him to piss off before I wrapped my arms around her waist. "Hmm... Well, how about I take your number and we can see?"