The image made him wince because he figured it was pretty accurate. “Yeah, I’ve been having some trouble getting it to behave lately.” Understatement of the century.
“Except now it looks pretty good. It’s all about the right length, and it’s not sticking out in every direction.”
He ran his hand through it, and sure enough, it felt normal. He shrugged. “Who knows what’s going on?” But he had an idea. The nerd herbs seemed to work differently depending on the time of day. Maybe sunlight had one effect and darkness another. What else could it be?
“Your hair reminds me of a doll I used to have. You could pull her hair out to make it longer, or you could push a button in her back and the hair would retract inside her head again.”
“I promise you my hair doesn’t retract into my head. That’s something a guy would be inclined to notice.”
She grinned. “Guess so.”
“Tell you what. Let’s take the food into the kitchen. I’ll show you where everything is and you can start reheating it while I finish the trap and set it up outside. Those skunks will start moving around any minute, and I want to be ready for them.”
“Then get busy on the trap.” She seemed more at ease than she had been since she’d arrived. “I can find my way into the kitchen, and I’ll bet I can even recognize a stove when I see one.”
He hesitated a fraction of a second only because he’d never had a woman in his house before, and it felt strange to just send her in there. “Sure. That’s fine.”
She must have caught that slight hesitation, because she immediately started backpedaling. “On second thought, you’d better show me where everything is. I’m sure you don’t want somebody poking through your cupboards.”
“I don’t mind.” The more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea of her in his house. After all his efforts to keep women out of it, he’d found one he’d love to have hang around.
“You’re sure? After all, you kept those skunks so you wouldn’t have to deal with women invading your privacy.”
“Who told you that?”
“Jeremy.”
He wondered what else Jeremy had told her. Over dinner he might ask. “Well, I used to feel that way, but things change.”
She pulled her glasses out of the hip pocket of her jeans and put them on. Then she walked over and picked up her coat. “So I’ll get started.” She shook out the coat and started to shove one arm into the sleeve.
His response was automatic. “Here, let me help you with—”
“That’s okay.” She stepped out of reach. “I’ve got it. The less touching, the better.”
“All right.” He backed off and let her put on her coat and pick up the bag holding their dinner.
“I’ll see you soon.” She went out the door.
He sucked in a breath. What had he gotten himself into? Not five minutes ago he’d promised he wouldn’t coax her into doing anything she would regret.
That might be easier said than done. His kitchen was so tiny that two adults would have a tough time moving around in it without bumping against each other. The next hour could get very interesting.
* * *
“There goes another chair.” Dorcas heard the tell-tale crack right after she and Ambrose had achieved simultaneous orgasms, one of their specialties. How irritating. She would love to slump against her husband and enjoy the glow of pre-dinner sex, but if they didn’t move the operation somewhere else, they could both end up in a heap on the floor.
“Don’t worry. I have you.” With amazing strength for a man his age, Ambrose cupped her bottom and lifted her at the same time as he rose from the damaged chair. It crashed sideways, one leg destroyed by their antics.
“I love you.” Dorcas wrapped her arms around his neck and nestled her cheek against his shoulder as he carried her to the bed.
“I love you, too.”
“Before I forget, we need to head for the Whispering Forest after dinner and pay George a visit.”
Ambrose deposited her gently on their feather bed and stretched out beside her. “What are you planning to say?”
“Just that SaveALot is coming, and we’re doing all we can to stop it.”
“So we masquerade as his savior.”
“It’s not a masquerade. We are saving him. Unless he transforms into the True Guardian of Whispering Forest and earns his gold scales, he’ll never be happy.” She molded herself against her husband and noted with satisfaction that his penis began to rise again. Ambrose had the sexual reactions of a seventeen-year-old, but then again, he should. She’d been lacing his coffee with yohimbine for years.
“And unless he earns his gold scales, we won’t be allowed to leave Big Knob,” Ambrose said.
“Exactly. But I do appreciate that he’s a little bit bored out there. I ordered him an iPod and it arrived in the mail today. He should like that.”
“Are you sure he deserves a present? Last I noticed he was blowing off his forest patrol chores so he could teach the raccoons to play Texas Hold ‘Em with those cards he stole.”
Dorcas sighed. “I know. Filching things from people who wander into Whispering Forest is a bad habit. But he’s done well to make them believe the place is haunted with that whispering trick, and his gun-jamming skills are excellent.”
“He’s whispering to people because he loves scaring the living daylights out of them, and he’s jamming guns because he doesn’t want to get shot. Sorry, I’m not impressed. He’s guarding the forest by accident, not design.”
“I guess.” Dorcas snuggled closer. “I was trying to look on the positive side. Can’t you think of one thing he’s doing right?”
“He makes awesome smoke rings, which is a talent good for…let me think…absolutely nothing. Face it, Dorcas, he’s a screw-off who isn’t taking the job seriously.”
“You’re right, you’re right. But I’m hoping an actual present will demonstrate that we value him as an individual and he should value himself and the forest more.”
“Or it will demonstrate that we’re condoning his bad behavior.”
“Maybe, but I think it’s worth a shot. Anyway, enough about George.” She curled her fingers around her own personal phallic symbol. “Have you noticed that Big Knob looks a lot like this?”
Ambrose lifted his head and looked down the length of his body. “Big Knob looks like my penis?”
“Not yours, specifically, but like a generic version.”
“That must be why there are all the rumors about this place. Somehow that granite outcropping radiates sexual potency.”
“That would explain Sean.” She stroked him gently and was encouraged by the firmness of his response.
“Sean could be the tip of the iceberg. I’m betting this is one lusty town.”
“Could be. Right now I’m only interested in one lusty wizard.” Satisfied that he was prepped for another adventure, she levered herself to a sitting position and climbed aboard. Ah, that was good.
Ambrose cupped her breasts in both hands. “Wish we had our sex bench.”
“Me, too.” She began to ride him slowly. At their age, they could afford to take their time. “But Sean has other things on his mind right now.”
* * *
Maggie closed the side door into the garage and started toward the small house. About that time something darted across her path. She noticed a streak of white, but the rest of the creature melted into the darkness.
Without being a wildlife expert, she could only guess, but she’d probably seen her first live skunk. It paused at the corner of the house, tail raised.
She didn’t think a raised tail was a good sign. “Nice skunk,” she said. “Good little skunk. I’m not going to hurt you, sweet little skunk.” Calling a skunk sweet might be going a bit far, but she wasn’t above flattery if it prevented being sprayed with some noxious liquid.
Keeping an eye on the mostly invisible creature, she edged toward the bungalow’s back door. What in hell was she doi
ng out here, anyway? She was a city girl, out of her element in the woods with skunks and a small-town lover boy who probably wouldn’t live up to his press.
Yeah, right. He was guaranteed to be good in bed, and she knew it. She’d never been kissed like that, even by sophisticated guys who drove Jags and flashed their no-limit American Express cards. Well, so she’d only dated one of those, and he’d been a self-important jerk. Sean could kiss rings around him.
As a result of Sean’s talented mouth, she was currently dodging a skunk and climbing the steps to Sean’s back door so she could set up a homey little meal for the two of them. It wasn’t quite the image she’d tried to project for the past six months at the corporate offices of SaveALot.
In spite of that, she was having a good time. Helping Sean rescue a family of skunks from being poisoned felt right to her, even though she’d never met a skunk in the flesh, or in the fur, until a minute ago. Maybe this experience in Big Knob would provide her with anecdotes she could tell at the SaveALot Christmas party.
Or not. She’d been in this town less than a day, and she was already feeling protective of its backward ways and colorful residents. Edith Mae Hoogstraten and her old Buick might make a good water-cooler story back in Houston, but Maggie didn’t think she’d be telling it.
When the SaveALot corporate machine moved in, they wouldn’t take any notice of people like Edith Mae, anyway. They’d be looking for cheap labor and cooperative building inspectors. Once the store was in place, the Edith Maes of the town would be categorized as potential customers, not individuals who had lived a lifetime in this area.
And that was as it should be. A company couldn’t offer the kind of bargains that SaveALot provided unless they dealt in volume sales. The people of Big Knob would have more choices at a lower cost. Most of them would be pleased about that.
Maggie opened the back door and stepped into Sean’s dark kitchen. After fumbling around on the wall beside the door, she located a light switch and flipped it on. Then she let out a sigh of pleasure.
The kitchen was small, but every nook and cranny had been lovingly utilized for storage. Maggie had never met a man who understood the need for storage, and here was one who not only understood it, he’d created it with his bare hands. Or his gloved hands, which was even sexier.
In any case, she was positive he’d built the handsome birch cabinets lining the kitchen walls. To her surprise, she liked knowing a guy was handy with tools. She’d had no clue that cabinetry could get her hot.
In her imagination she watched Sean building these cabinets, his gloved hands steady on the power saw, his eyes focused on the whirring blade. No doubt about it, he had a sexy job, far sexier than the corporate hotshots she’d spent the past six months with.
She wasn’t here to admire the cabinets, though. She’d offered to get dinner on the table, and even a kitchen klutz like her should be able to reheat food and serve it up on a plate. Taking off her coat, she draped it over one of the chairs surrounding the oak table. Then she pulled out all the Tupperware containers and got to work.
Ten minutes later, she had places set and food steaming. She’d never felt so domestic in her life. It wasn’t a realistic perception, because someone else had cooked the food and this wasn’t even her kitchen. If she was feeling all Little House on the Prairie, she needed to realize it was an illusion.
Everything about Big Knob seemed surreal, now that she thought about it. If she wasn’t careful, she’d fall in with their time-warp mentality and start imagining that closing up all businesses except the local tavern at six on a Friday night was perfectly normal.
The back door opened. “Sure smells good,” Sean said as he hung his coat on a peg by the door.
Maggie blinked. His comment was straight out of a suburban sitcom, ranking right up there with Honey, I’m home! Except no guy in any sitcom she’d ever watched kissed with Sean’s enthusiasm.
They didn’t do passionate lip-locks in family shows. No matter what illusion she was working with here, it was definitely R-rated, maybe even bordering on X. Instead of sitting down at the oak table with Sean, she wanted him to shove her onto its smooth surface and unzip her jeans.
“Your timing’s good.” She kept her tone light, as if she weren’t having thoughts of wild sex on the kitchen table. “Everything’s ready.” Me, too, in case you were wondering.
“Great.” He moved to the sink and turned on the water to wash his hands. “I set the trap. In an hour or so I’ll go check and see if it worked.”
“Good. By the way, I really love your cabinets.”
“Thanks. Me, too.” He lathered up.
Judging from their sedate conversation, they might as well be an old married couple who shared the evening meal every day of their lives. She prepared the food and he trapped the skunks and built the cabinets, a neat division of labor. She should be horrified to find herself in such a clichéd situation. Instead the pit of her stomach grew warm with happiness, and her sexual needs simmered below the surface, ready to burst into flame at the slightest provocation.
Maybe this was how life was for those who were well-matched. But other than the obvious sexual attraction, she and Sean were polar opposites. He would hate living in her world and she’d have to give up all her ambitious dreams to live in his. Giving up dreams was never a good idea.
But giving up the potential for great sex didn’t seem too brilliant, either. As Sean grabbed a towel and dried his hands, she found herself watching those hands and imagining them stroking her naked body.
He turned and caught her staring. “What’s up?”
“I want to make sure we understand each other.” She wondered how she’d ever thought he was homely. For some reason he’d left his glasses in the garage, and without them, he was looking super-hot.
“Understand each other about what?”
“I’m here to buy that property for SaveALot.” She thought of him naked and almost forgot to breathe. “Once I do, I’m heading back to my life in Houston.”
“Yeah, you keep saying that.”
“Because I mean it.” She tried not to look at the crotch of his jeans, but her glance kept straying there. “Sex between us would change nothing.” But discussing it made her quiver so much she could barely stand.
“Okay.” Holding her gaze, he reached behind him and laid the towel on the counter.
“So I don’t see what’s in it for you.”
He studied her, as if hesitant to say. Finally he took a deep breath. “Look, I haven’t had sex in almost a year. Until you showed up today, I had no interest in it. I was beginning to wonder if that was the end of my dream of having a wife and kids. If so, then I sure as hell wouldn’t need that big old house.”
“Whoa.” She backed up a step and clamped down on her libido. Going to bed with a guy who was wife-hunting would be cruel and unfair. “If you’re thinking that I might—”
“No way. I’m not a complete idiot. But if sex with you is good, then I’ll know I’m not dead inside.”
The blowtorch of lust fired up again and her panties grew damp. “So I’m like therapy?”
He smiled. “I think we’d have more fun than that. But I don’t want you feeling upset about it afterward.”
She began to tremble. “I won’t if we’re clear about our motivation.”
His voice softened. “I just gave you mine. What’s yours, Maggie?”
She knew it, but she wasn’t sure she could say it. She gathered her courage. “I want you. I’m going crazy from wanting you.”
His green eyes glowed with heat. “I like that motivation.”
“But we’re supposed to have dinner.”
He reached for her, pulling her tight against his hard body. Gently he took off her glasses and laid them behind him on the counter. “Dinner can wait.”
Chapter Sixteen
He could have her. Here, in the kitchen, exactly as he’d fantasized. And it was his fantasy for a change. In the hundreds of times he’d
had sex with a woman, he’d always been a part of her fantasy. Now Maggie was giving him a chance to act out his own.
Cradling her cheek in one hand, he gazed down at her, savoring the picture of what would happen between them very soon. The kitchen smelled of meatloaf now, but soon it would smell of meatloaf and sex. He couldn’t think of a better combination than that. Down-home cooking mingled with down-home loving.
Leaning toward her, he touched his mouth to hers, putting all his gratitude and anticipation into that kiss. Then he released her and stepped away. “Stay right there. Don’t move.” He hated to leave and take a chance on breaking the mood, but if he wanted condoms, he had no choice.
She gazed up at him, her blue eyes bright. “We’re not going to the bedroom, then?”
“Maybe next time.”
Her mouth curved in a secret smile. “Okay.”
“But I have to get something.” Hurrying down the hall, he ducked into the bathroom and wrenched open the cabinet. Ah. The box was where he’d remembered. He opened it, pocketed one foil packet and headed back down the hall.
God, he hoped she hadn’t changed her mind in that short time. When he walked into the kitchen and found her topless, he decided she hadn’t. If anything, her mind was completely made up.
But her mind wasn’t the focus of his attention right now. He gulped as she cupped her breasts in both hands.
“Earlier today you asked me if there was anything wrong with these,” she said.
His tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth. “Mmph.” He’d never seen such beautiful breasts in his life—so pale, so perfectly formed, so sweetly dusted with cinnamon freckles. Her rosy nipples puckered as if begging for a kiss.
“As you can see, there’s nothing wrong with them.”
He shook his head.
She let her hands fall to her sides as she walked toward him. “Touch me, Sean. I’ve been wanting you to ever since this afternoon.”
Over Hexed: The Hex Series Page 16
