Elemental Love

by L. M. Somerton

  “You mean soap operas and thrillers, don’t you?” Dominic knew full well that Agatha was addicted to some daily shows. He’d been forced to sit through a couple of them.

  Aggie cackled. “You know me too well.”

  “I’ve also detected a theme of gratuitous shirtlessness.”

  “I’m old, not dead. Besides, I didn’t see you looking away.”

  Dominic’s cheeks heated. He hoped the blushing could be put down to the warmth of the open fire.

  The light had faded completely and Dominic had started to think about the walk back to his truck. It was far enough to be unpleasant in the cold, and if it rained, it would be downright miserable. He was warm and comfortable so he wasn’t in any rush to venture out. A sharp knocking interrupted his procrastination. The door swung inward with some violence, banging against the wall. A stunning young man, not much older than Dominic, lugging two large paper sacks of groceries, collapsed through the door. Dominic stared in shock. He realized the newcomer must be Aggie’s grandson, Evrain. She’d talked about him a lot and Dominic almost felt like he knew him already, even though they had never met. Her description didn’t do Evrain justice—he was absolutely gorgeous. Dominic’s temperature rose even further. The fact that his cock was swelling rapidly didn’t help. He clamped his gaping mouth shut but couldn’t look away.

  “Some help would be nice, or are you just going to sit there and stare?” Evrain snapped.

  It took Dominic a few seconds to realize that Evrain had directed the comment at him, and was now glaring at him with the most beautiful dark green eyes Dominic had ever seen. Evrain elbowed the door shut behind him. Belatedly, Dominic pushed his chair back, crossed the kitchen with rapid strides and held out his arms for the bags. Evrain shoved them both into Dominic’s grasp with a sigh of relief.

  “That fucking lane gets longer every time I walk down it.” Evrain shrugged off his jacket, slung it around the back of Dominic’s recently vacated seat then sat heavily, claiming the spot for himself.

  “Language, Evrain.” Agatha handed him a mug of tea, then bent to receive a kiss on her cheek. “If you want coffee instead, you can grapple with that demonic machine yourself.” She gestured at the shiny chrome coffee maker.

  Evrain sipped from his mug. “This is fine, thanks. It’s a chilly evening. I need warming up.” He looked directly at Dominic as he spoke.

  “Dominic, allow me to introduce you to my impudent grandson, Evrain Brookes.”

  Dominic swallowed. He was dealing with the thoughts of what warming up Evrain might entail. He pushed the bulging shopping bags onto the kitchen counter.

  “Nice to meet you.” Dominic didn’t look at Evrain, just muttered the greeting under his breath and edged toward the door. In the presence of this charismatic man, Dominic’s fight or flight instincts lurched toward escape with the subtlety of a stampeding herd of wildebeest. There was no doubt in his mind that Evrain was a predator on the hunt.

  “Going so soon?” Evrain smirked and raised a dark eyebrow.

  “I should… I mean… I don’t…”

  “You’re very welcome to stay for some supper,” Aggie said, rescuing him from his tongue-tied misery and renewing her invitation. “There’s plenty to go round.”

  “Thanks, Aggie, but—” He took a steadying breath. “I should be going.” Dominic was halfway out of the door and pulling on his boots in the storm porch before she could stop him. Aggie stood by the stove, hands on hips, ladle in her hand. She glanced from Dominic to Evrain then back again.

  “Another time then.” She sounded amused rather than disappointed.

  Dominic peered past her and met a very intimidating gaze. Evrain’s strange eyes seemed to pierce his soul.

  “Yes, of course. Another time. That would be great.” He pulled the door closed behind him, cutting off Aggie’s response.

  “Evrain, you scared him!” Agatha latched the door, which had banged open again after Dominic’s hasty exit. She swiveled toward the table where Evrain was playing thoughtfully with his mug and didn’t seem to hear her. Agatha nodded. She grabbed a candle from the shelf above the stove and deposited it on the table in front of Evrain. “Light it,” she said quietly.

  Evrain moved his fingers automatically. The wick ignited with a soft pop and a delicate flame flickered happily.

  “I thought as much.” Agatha plopped down on another chair and smiled. “Tell me what you were thinking about when you did that.”

  Evrain blinked. “I don’t think that would be such a good idea, Grandma.”

  “Don’t be coy. Perhaps I should have asked who you were thinking about rather than what.”

  “I don’t know what you mean,” Evrain replied, his tone stubborn.

  “You were thinking about him, weren’t you?”

  “Who?”

  Agatha hissed. “You were thinking about Dominic. Your emotional energy was channeled toward him, allowing you to control your power and light the candle without the usual pyrotechnics. You’re attracted to him, aren’t you?”

  “Even if I was, Grandma, I’d hardly confess it to you! And we just met.” Evrain’s pale skin flushed slightly.

  “Why not? I know all your secrets. Who was it you first came out to?”

  “You, but that doesn’t count since you knew before I did that I was gay.”

  “That’s because there’s never been a warlock born who wasn’t.” Agatha rolled her eyes. “You were never going to be the exception to that rule.”

  Evrain grinned. “True. But can we get off the extremely uncomfortable topic of my sex life and eat? I’m starving.”

  Agatha ladled the stew into big, earthenware bowls. She put them on the table along with a crusty loaf and a carving knife. Evrain immediately sawed off a huge chunk of the bread.

  “You baked! I love you.” He slathered the bread with butter and took an enormous bite. He groaned. “So good!”

  Agatha took her seat and sampled a small mouthful of the stew. She hummed her appreciation. “This is delicious—flavored with herbs that Dominic grew in my garden.”

  “It’s excellent.” Evrain didn’t take the bait. “One of your best, in fact.”

  “He’s very shy you know. Painfully so. It’s taken me months to get him comfortable here and now you’ve frightened him away.”

  Clearly Evrain’s attempt to alter the course of the conversation had not succeeded. “Well, I’ll apologize next time I see him. Not that I did anything wrong. How was I to know he was more skittish than a newborn foal?”

  “You use your senses, boy. Or does a pretty face completely destroy your ability to read an expression, to interpret body language?”

  Evrain chewed his bread thoughtfully. “He is exceptionally pretty.”

  Agatha chuckled. “He’s one of the best-looking boys I’ve ever come across. I could imagine him smiling from the pages of one of those fashion magazines you read, or acting on the television.”

  “I don’t read fashions magazines, Grandma. Lifestyle ones occasionally. And if he is as shy as you say, he’d hate it. He probably wouldn’t be able to imagine anything worse than being in the spotlight that way. Celebrity is just shallow nonsense anyway.”

  “He is intensely private. He started working on the garden a year ago and I’ve still only managed to squeeze just a few small pieces of personal information out of him.”

  “How did you find him, Grandma? You’ve never said.” Evrain fetched the stew pan from the stove and served himself another helping.

  “Well, at the time I was looking to rescue the kitchen garden. It has become sadly neglected since your grandfather passed. It was always his thing more than mine. I asked at the plant center in town if they knew of anyone trustworthy, and the manager there gave me Dominic’s name. He started his business when he was just eighteen with a small grant and it flourished just like plants do under his hands. He’s a talented gardener but willing to take on any job, however small or menial, which gives him an advantage over
larger local firms. He works long hours, he works hard and he’s scrupulously honest—a rare combination. Once I asked around a few people, it became apparent that he had more work than he could cope with. I didn’t think he’d have time for me at all.”

  “So how did you acquire his services? He’s done a huge amount of work on your garden.”

  “You noticed!”

  “Of course I did. It was like The Day of the Triffids out there. I needed a machete to get up the path before he started working on it.”

  “Cheeky boy. I asked him to come over and take a look. He showed up one Sunday and fell in love with the place. We agreed a trade-off. I provide the land. He supplies hard labor and puts up with me lecturing him about herb-lore. Anything he grows he can use in his business, once he’s supplied my needs. The herb garden is almost finished and he’s already planted the vegetable patch he’s dug in. I’m hoping for flowers and fruit trees next.”

  “He had mud in his hair,” Evrain murmured. “That dark red is so unusual.”

  “It needs a cut. He’s been saying so for weeks. The longer it gets, the wavier it becomes. It flops into his eyes then he brushes it away with mucky hands while he’s working. It’s always full of dirt, stalks and leaves.”

  “I’ll bet his hands are rough.” Evrain examined his own soft palms. The only callous he had was from holding a pen. “But his skin was the color of fresh cream. How does he manage to avoid getting tan? He just had a light dusting of freckles across the bridge of his nose. I’d have thought the ravages of the weather would have been unavoidable in his job.”

  “With his coloring, he burns easily so he wears a hat and plenty of sunscreen. You noticed an awful lot about him from such a short meeting.”

  Evrain gave her a sharp look. “How long have you been trying to get us in the same place, Grandma?”

  “He has the prettiest blue eyes too. A perfect contrast to his lashes, which are just a shade darker than his hair.”

  “Grandma…” Evrain’s voice rumbled low with warning.

  “He’s intelligent too, and curious. He may not have had your expensive education, but Dominic has a sharp mind.”

  Evrain pushed his chair back and moved to stand behind Agatha. He massaged her shoulders gently, and she moaned with pleasure.

  “You’re incorrigible. My own grandmother trying to set me up. Still, I don’t think it’s going to happen. If I were his type, he would have stayed to eat. Is he even gay? Oh my God, you didn’t ask him that, did you?”

  “Yes, he’s gay, and how I know is none of your business. Dominic’s an innocent compared to you. I don’t think he knows what he wants yet. It’s up to you to show him what you have to offer.”

  Evrain walked across to the fire and stared into the flames. “And what’s that? I doubt a warlock is that high on his list of potential boyfriends.”

  “Oh, Evrain. Have a little faith. Court him gently.”

  “This is not the 1940s, Grandma.”

  “You could learn some manners. Curb that assertiveness. Wine and dine him some. He has an apartment above the diner in town. I promised him some ointment for his back but he left so quickly he forgot to take it. You can take it with you and call on him.”

  “Considering that there was barely repressed panic all over his face from one brief meeting, I’m not sure that showing up at his door is going to go down all that well.”

  Agatha pressed a small tin into his hand with a knowing smile. “You won’t know until you try, now, will you?”

  Chapter Five

  Hornbeam Cottage sat on the very edge of Hood River, clinging to the vestiges of civilization while reaching for the wilderness. Dominic could stand in the garden and feel like he had a foot in both camps. He fancied that the structure, built almost entirely from locally sourced natural materials, had its heart firmly fixed in the wild. He may have begun to tame the extensive gardens but around the borders nature constantly fought back. If he looked away, Gaia’s fingers went to work claiming back the fertile soil.

  Part of the reason the place felt so remote was the lack of access for vehicles. When he drove, Dominic had to park his van almost a quarter of a mile away where the tarmac ended, then follow the narrow track that led to Agatha’s rickety gate. Trees bent over the track, reaching for one another, forming a leafy tunnel. Dominic imagined himself as a character in a fairy tale as he walked its length, sunlight dappling the ground. When it rained, as it did often, the pleasant stroll became a muddy slog and the real world impinged on his daydreams.

  Tonight, he was thankful that the rain held off. After retreating from Agatha’s hospitality with unseemly haste, bordering on rudeness, he half jogged along the track. Part of the way back to civilization, he stopped and bent over, hands braced on his thighs, gasping for air. He’d been holding his breath without even realizing it. His heart was pounding and a sensation of mild panic urged him to run. Agatha was a little kooky and she definitely dabbled in things Dominic chose not to ask questions about, but she’d never given him cause to be afraid. Her cabin had an air of calm benevolence about it that he loved—but tonight that had changed.

  The wooded lane seemed unusually quiet. Around him the leaves rustled in the breeze, but that was it. No birdsong, no small mammals scurrying through the undergrowth, just an eerie silence and the wind ruffling his hair. Dominic took a couple of cleansing deep breaths. He closed his eyes and all he could see was Evrain Brookes’ handsome face. Dominic shook his head but the image didn’t shift. Glossy black hair, pale skin and those weirdly magnetic green eyes haunted him. Evrain’s looks were striking but there was something else about him that called to Dominic, a siren call of assertive confidence. Seeing him sat in Aggie’s kitchen chair, long legs outstretched, slender fingers gripping his mug, Dominic had felt the urge to drop to his knees at the man’s feet.

  “Shit, shit, shit, what the hell’s wrong with me?” He continued at a steadier pace and soon covered the remainder of the distance to his truck. It was a relief to reach the enclosed space of the cab. He clambered inside, locked the doors then rested his head on the steering wheel for a few minutes. He couldn’t recall ever being so struck by one man before. How could less than ten minutes in one person’s presence have affected him so dramatically? His dick ached. His hands shook. A small part of him wanted to head straight back to the cabin, the rest was far too scared.

  “Idiot.” A man like Evrain Brookes was hardly going to take the slightest bit of notice of his grandmother’s gardener.

  Dominic got his key into the ignition on the third attempt. He did a ropey three-point turn, narrowly avoiding the compact car parked behind him, which he guessed had to be Evrain’s. It was fortunate that he’d driven the same route many times before because when he reached home he couldn’t recall the journey at all. He parked in front of the diner in his usual spot, locked the truck then walked around the side of the building to the fire-escape steps. He had his own private entrance to the apartment on the first floor of the building. There was another staircase through the back of the diner but he didn’t feel like making small talk with the regulars, or with Annie, the owner and his landlord.

  Dominic’s apartment was more spacious than it appeared from the outside. It stretched the full length of the upper floor of the building and had originally been designed as a vacation let for tourists. Annie had done a lovely job of making the place homey with some small touches of luxury. The rugs, pictures and knick-knacks in the lounge-diner were all purchased from local craftspeople. The kitchen was modern and sleek while the single large bedroom had been decorated to attract young couples. There was even a four-poster bed that had come from a grand house sale somewhere in Colorado.

  Annie had gotten fed up of the constant round of cleaning and laundry that a rental property required. It was too much alongside her busy workload running the diner and she had decided that a longer term let would suit her better. Dominic was a regular customer and she’d overheard him talking about how his
lease was running out. She’d offered the apartment to him on the spot and traded part of the rent for gardening services. He provided and maintained all the hanging baskets and pots that decorated the front of the diner, which proved to be great promotion for both his business and Annie’s. It was a great deal all round, and Dominic took care of the place well. It was his sanctuary.

  He crossed the threshold, then pulled the door firmly closed behind him. The sense of calm that usually enveloped him inside his home was absent. He sighed, bending to unlace his work boots. He pulled them off and put them on the piece of newspaper laid next to the front door. He’d get round to cleaning them later, but for now, he needed a shower.

  Dominic emptied his pockets onto the kitchen counter. Keys, a few dollars in change, a small wad of tissue with some seeds snugly wrapped inside it and a clean handkerchief made a small pile. He padded into his bedroom, pausing to turn on a lamp that stood on his chest of drawers. He lowered the blinds, shutting out the darkness. Rolling his shoulders, he scanned the room. Something seemed off, but he couldn’t work out what it was. Everything was in the same place he’d left it early that morning. Feeling utterly childish, he bent to look under the bed. Apart from a few scary dust bunnies there was nothing there.

  “Jesus, Dom. Next you’ll be checking the closet for the bogeyman.” He laughed at his own nerves, trying to shake off the prickling sensation that had gooseflesh popping up on his arms. He pulled off his clothes, throwing the whole lot into the hamper just inside the door of his en-suite bathroom. He felt so hot—it was a relief to be naked in the cool room. Feeling a little giddy, he retreated to the bed, sat on the edge of the mattress and grimaced at the intense heat that enveloped his groin and painful erection.

  “Absinthe, adder’s tongue, agrimony, allspice, aloe…” he recited a long list of herbs. “Fennel, fenugreek, feverfew…” Dominic groaned. It wasn’t working. Normally, reciting alphabetical lists took his mind away from his body and softened his errant dick. In the privacy of his home, he could have taken advantage of his hand and jacked off some frustration, but he just didn’t fancy it. He shook his head. Since when is a bit of manual relief not an attractive option? He was already at ‘f’—usually he got to dock and boredom set in, but not today. Evrain Brookes haunted his thoughts.