Page 36 of Spring L.A.W.
“Okaaay… I used to think love was just a chemical imbalance. Like, brain soup going bad. But lately, I’m starting to wonder if maybe it’s just another kind of magic. One we don’t get to control. I’ve seen it happen with fellow witches. Your turn.”
Payne didn’t speak right away. When he did, his voice was softer than she’d ever heard it.
“I used to thinkIhad to be the weapon. Always. No rest. No choice. But lately…” He met her eyes. “I think I want to be more than what they trained me to be.”
Silence settled between them. Heavy, but not uncomfortable. The kind of silence that meant something.
Rayna reached across the table and squeezed his hand. Just enough to mark the philosophical moment without making it weird. “You know,” she said, “for a guy named Major Payne, you’re not as inconvenient and emotionally suppressed as I thought.”
He smirked. “I’ve been working on it. You’re a bad influence.”
She grinned. “That’s what they all say. Right before they fall in love or die dramatically.”
Payne raised his glass. “Here’s hoping for the first one.”
Rayna clinked her glass against his. “You better not die on me, Payne. Ijuststarted to like you.”
After dinner, the two of them decided to take a walk, despite the chilly spring evening.
The air was a bit crisp and sharp, but not enough to send them indoors. Rayna tugged her coat tighter as they strolled, her heels clicking lightly on the sidewalk. Brooklyn was quieter than usual, as if even the city was giving them a moment.
Payne walked beside her with his hands in his pockets, silent but not brooding. Just thoughtful. It was unnerving.
“I keep waiting for you to pull a grenade out of your coat,” she said. “Or at least start monologuing about state secrets.”
He smirked. “Disappointed?”
“A little. I was promised danger and brooding. Instead, I get linen shirts and emotional growth.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“It is. Very bad. I have a brand to maintain.”
They reached her brownstone, all red brick with an eighteenth-century door that looked solid and several inches thick. Payne paused at the bottom step while she climbed halfway up, keys dangling from her hand.
She turned and looked down at him. “Well. This is where the rom-com music swells.”
He tilted his head. “You gonna invite me in?”
Rayna considered. “Nah. I’ve read that script. Knowing us, it ends in blood or bad decisions.”
He nodded slowly. “Fair.”
“But…” She stepped down one stair, then another, until they were nearly eye to eye. “Iamgonna kiss you, because I want to. And because I’m pretty sure it’ll mess with your whole tortured-soldier aesthetic.”
“I’m okay with that,” he said.
She kissed him. Soft at first. Testing him. Then fuller, surer. Like letting go of something she hadn’t realized she’d been holding back.
Payne’s warm hand found her waist and held her steady. And for a guy built like a human cannon, he kissed like he was afraid of breaking something fragile.
When they pulled apart, she lingered, then rested her forehead against his.
“I’m still not sleeping with you tonight,” she murmured. “But Iamgoing to think about this kiss while I eat leftover risotto in bed.”
He grinned. “Then my mission is complete.”
Rayna pulled back, one eyebrow raised. “Iknewthis was a mission.”
