Dry logs crackled as the fire tried to consume them. Once she felt the heat infiltrate her body, she shed her deep burgundy, velvet clock and watched as it fell to the ground like pouring wine. The compact inferno threw flickers of light that danced upon her skin. Turning, she lit the spicy incenses of cinnamon and sandalwood on her makeshift altar. Brianna ignited and then dropped scraps of paper into the cauldron at her bared feet. The meshing colors of the flames burgeoned around the words of that which she vowed to change in her life. She stayed as close to the warmth as she could trying to ignore the chill accosting her back. Lost in her rituals under the light of the Full Moon coming through the thin canopy of the winter treetops, she neglected to hear the approaching footsteps.
The final shift of the brush as a man came into her clearing startled her. She turned on her visitor. Forgetting she was standing there fully exposed, she stared into the eyes of Mitch, a friend from her apartment building two floors up and one door over. Despite the fact she had developed many quaint friendships, no one there knew that she was a witch.
"What are you doing here?" She asked reluctantly, as she followed his eyes down over the erect nipples of her breasts to the small patch of hair between her thighs. Unable to avoid turning to get her robe, she was forced to display her backside to him also.
"I saw a cloaked figure enter the woods and debated about checking it out until I saw the flicker of fire through the trees." She blushed as he had stumbled over the words. "I couldn't sleep. What are you doing here at three o'clock in the morning?"
Thoughts rushed through her mind as to if he would approve or disapprove of her Wiccan ways. He took a few steps towards her to get closer to the fire, and she momentarily felt like a trapped animal. His baggy, wrinkled sweatshirt didn't prevent her from being distracted by the images of him shirtless this summer.
"Listen, Brianna, you don't have to be afraid to tell me the truth. There is obviously more going on here than a sleepless night. I won't judge you. You know I'm not like that." He turned to face her then grabbing the front of her robe gently with his hands and fondling the crushed velvet between his fingers. "Will you feel better if I confess something first?"
"I don't know." Her voice sounded strange even to her as apprehension and excitement commingled making her insides tremble. The smell of him drifted over the short distance between them, and she closed her eyes as she took it in. She could never deny to herself the attraction she had to him, but he had never made any advances before to show her he felt the same.
"Then here goes." A sly grin relaxed his face a bit. He stepped in making his hands, still holding her robe, press up against her abs; and her hands, still holding her robe protectively closed, touch his hard chest. "I have wanted to be alone with you, since the first time I met you, so I could see how you would react if I did this..."
The warmth of his breath brushed over her face before the fullness of his lips surrounded hers. He brought his hands up into her hair, and the chill of his fingertips felt like pure magical energy.
Mitch kissed her cheek, and whispered in her ear, "Relax, Brianna. I won't do anything you don't want me to."
