Mystic Tides

by Kate Allenton

  “Well,” Sydney said with a smile, “we can always make a few minor exceptions. You have your own games to play. But try compromising first. Give them something they want, and maybe they’ll give you something you want.”

  Tawny thought about that for a minute. “Like candy?”

  Sydney laughed. “Candy never hurts.”

  “But what about when they come into my room and take my stuff?”

  “In that case,” Sydney said, “a little push might not hurt. It is your room after all.”

  “Sweet,” Tawny said.

  The bell over the door jangled, and Sydney looked up to see her own personal Thor strolling into the shop.

  “Uncle Nick!”

  Tawny raced across the wood floor and threw herself into Nick’s open arms. She hugged him around the neck and whispered something in his ear.

  “She said that? Huh, I guess those boys better watch themselves then.”

  He set Tawny on the floor, and she skipped toward the back of the shop. “I’m going to get out those Tarot cards and put them on the shelf. I’ll do it real pretty, okay, Sydney?”

  “Sure, honey.”

  “Come on, Glimmer. Come help!”

  The Yorkie yipped, hopped from the doggie bed, and scampered behind the counter. The two disappeared behind the curtain.

  Nick moved toward Sydney with a fluid grace that made her heart race and her face flush with a comforting warmth. If she didn’t get this man into bed soon she thought she might spontaneously combust. Her friends would have to peel bits of her carcass from the ceiling. He’d been so recalcitrant on that issue, denying every seduction she’d tossed his way. What was a girl to do? Maybe she needed to go shopping…

  He gathered her into his arms and gave her a searing kiss. Sydney’s toes curled in her fashionable boots.

  “We have something to discuss,” he said against her lips.

  “My shelves?” she asked.

  “The shelves will be ready for installation in about a week. We’re almost done. This is something else.”

  She pressed her body against his. “I’m willing to listen to any proposition you want to make.” She gave him her best sultry smile. “I have an excellent bottle of wine back at my place and—”

  “I’m not sleeping with you, Syd.”

  “Damn you, Spencer.” She pushed against his chest and took a step back. “What’s the problem? I look great today. How can you turn all this down?” She gestured down her body, and his gaze followed her movement, lingering on the soft cleavage that spilled from her mauve wrap dress.

  “You look great every day, but I’m looking for more.”

  “More!” She winced at the sound of her own voice. Talk about a witch cackle. “I’ve practically thrown myself at you these last few weeks.”

  His look sparked another blast of heat through her body. “And I nearly caught you several times. You’re pretty hard to resist.”

  “You could have fooled me.” She folded her arms across her chest, hiding her cleavage from his roaming gaze, and tapped her boot on the floor.

  “We had a deal,” Nick said.

  Sydney pinched the bridge of her nose. “I don’t remember any deal.”

  He sauntered around the nearest display case, touching a few objects as he went. He smiled when his hand grazed a packet of rune stones. The pouch shimmered slightly at his touch. “Trying to unload these?”

  “Yes, I ordered too many and— Stop changing the subject. What deal?”

  “A certain undercover operation. You needed my help and…”

  She gazed toward the ceiling and pursed her lips. “I don’t know what I was thinking. That was a stupid promise.”

  “Not to me it wasn’t.” His soft voice drew her gaze back to him. Those steady blue eyes pinned her like a captured butterfly. “I was dead serious.”

  Sydney’s breath caught.

  “I thought you were a woman of your word,” Nick said, moving closer, enveloping her in his scent, his power. He fingered the golden curls framing her face, those few wayward strands that had escaped from her messy up-do. “You promised to marry me.”

  She tried desperately to find her voice, but it seemed to be buried so deeply inside her that all she could do was stare.

  He cupped her face in strong, rough hands, and his breath ghosted over her lips. “So what do you say? Will you marry me?”

  “You’d be better careful, Spencer,” she whispered. “I just might call your bluff.”

  “Then do it, honey. Call my bluff. Say you’ll marry me.”

  His gaze swept her face, her lips, her hair, and finally settled on her eyes.

  “Okay, Nick…” She paused, and Nick held his breath. “I’ll marry you.”

  “This is awesome. You’ve made my day, honey.”

  “Just your day?” She threw her lip out in a pout. “Well, in that case, I’ve changed my mind.”

  “Oh no you don’t.” He lifted her off her feet and twirled her in a circle. “You’ve made my day, my week, my year...” He set her down and studied her face with such serious eyes she felt bad for teasing him. “You’ve made my life, Sydney Janzen. I mean that.”

  That little pang in her heart couldn’t be anything but true love, but she still had her mind set on one thing.

  “You don’t have to sweet talk me to get me into bed. Now”—she took his hand and pulled him toward the counter—“we’ll just get Tawny, find a sitter, and—”

  Nick came to a dead stop. “Nope. Not gonna happen until you’re Mrs. Nick Spencer, but I’ll take a kiss on account.” Nick swooped in for that kiss, but Sydney pushed gently against his chest.

  “In that case, I’m not finished, Mr. Spencer.”

  “Still negotiating?”

  “Always.”

  Sydney ran her hands over his broad shoulders, thinking that she could have everything under her fingertips—the strength, the muscles, the hard, sexy body, the silky hair, the whole of this wonderful man—right now if she planned this right. Her dad would be upset, not to mention how Marta would feel. And the cousins… well, she might have some very unusual curses cast her way, but she’d risk it. They could have a huge celebration when they returned, and everyone would be happy.

  She wound her arms around his neck and pressed close. “I don’t want to wait. Get us two tickets to Vegas, and we’ll jump the broom tonight.”

  Nick slid his hand into his pocket and withdrew his phone. He held it up to show her an online travel site. “Already taken care of.”

  “Just like magic?”

  He gave her a slow smile filled with promise and love. “In this town, is there any other way?”

  He enveloped her in his arms, and Sydney’s world exploded in a shower of beautiful fireworks as love pushed through her body. She pulled it inside like life-giving air and buried it deep in her heart, where it wrapped around her soul and held tight.

  “I love you, Syd.”

  “Say it again,” she murmured.

  “I love you,” he said with a smile. “Do you love me?”

  “I love you with every magical bone in my body, with every magical breath in my lungs, and with every magical beat of my heart.”

  “Ditto,” Nick said before he swooped in for a kiss.

  Behind them, Tawny clapped and then skipped across the room. She wrapped her arms around Sydney’s waist, and Sydney was surprised to see tears glistening in the little girl’s eyes.

  “What’s the matter, sweetie?” she asked.

  Tawny gave a tremulous, but beautiful, smile. “I got what I wanted, and I didn’t even have to push. I love this town.”

  Nick gave Sydney a beautiful smile of his own. “Me too, honey. Me too.”

  The End

  Song and Sea

  Laurie Keck

  Copyright © 2015 Coastal Escape Publishing, LLC

  All rights reserved.

  The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copy
right infringement (including infringement without monetary gain) is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  Please purchase only authorize electronic editions and do not participate in, or encourage, the electronic piracy of Copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, character, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or use fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locals or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work, in whole or in part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  Published by Coastal Escape Publishing

  DEDICATION

  To the three amazing authors on this anthology, for providing me such a unique and humbling experience.

  acknowledgement

  A special thank you goes out to our wonderful editor, Devin Govaere.

  A special thank you as well to both Doni and Larry, for their support and encouragement, as well as to Ben for his constant guidance.

  And I send a wink and a nod to Roch, for his continued, unknowing inspiration.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  DEDICATION

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  Chapter 1

  Blansett, North Carolina

  A Sunday in October

  As she wiped down the vase with a dry cloth, Halona didn’t have to concentrate on the history of the gleaming amber piece. She already knew it. The day she’d bought it was such a memorable day. Her mother had taken her to visit a small glass-making company, where they could watch the glass being blown. She had loved watching the warm ambers fly, the constant swirling. She knew this vase, of all the ones made that afternoon, would be the one that she would purchase.

  As she gently wrapped the vase to place in a box, she noticed the journal, recently acquired from an estate sale, seemed to beckon her, as it did every day. She picked it up and lay across the sofa as she opened the cover. She felt the coldness of the leather, and dampness soon followed. She was able to sense the book had once belonged to a young man. And it was already clear someone was going off somewhere and that this was a parting gift. She flipped through the pages. The pages were all blank, all but one, the first one. There was a written message for the recipient to record their days. She felt warmth on the written page, and as she leafed through the remaining pages, looking for something, anything, she felt only coldness, sadness.

  I don’t know if this feeling is someone’s heartbreak or someone’s guilt. Perhaps it is both.

  She softly read it aloud.

  “This is for you to write down your every movement, every thought, every day. I don’t want to miss a thing.”

  They never did, but why?

  She flipped through once more but, still, felt nothing new, saw nothing new Feeling her own chill, she closed the book.

  It really is a sweet sentiment.

  Normally Halona had no trouble reading the history of an object. It was an ability that she’d inherited from her mother. And this object, this book, should be one of the easiest. She glanced down at her pup.

  “I still prefer the items we find at sea.”

  Halona had loved going out to sea with her parents ever since she was young. She loved being the first to discover an interesting piece that could be placed in her parents’ shop. This was her hobby, her passion, and when she was a child, it had been a game. A game that, fortunately, brought great results.

  Halona spoke with enthusiasm. “Ready to go out, boy?”

  Scamp made a twirl. She placed the leash on her small Papillion, a white fluff ball with black butterfly ears and a distinctive black circle around his right eye. She always loved the way he appeared to be in formalwear, with the little black bow on his collar. She ran her fingers through her hair and smiled as she thought how often she’d been told they were a perfect match, he with his long white fur and she with her long, layered, ash-blonde mane.

  She grabbed her Burberry tote and a bottle of water from the fridge. Scamp did a twirl when she reached for the water, knowing anytime the water came it was a trip to the park or another fun destination. She then grabbed the journal to take to her shop on their way out.

  Halona had been living just above her antique store for about a decade. A lovely apartment had been carved out of the upper floor of the store. This had been an ideal arrangement; it had been all she needed and allowed her to keep an eye on the shop.

  As they walked down Main Street, Scamp pranced along with great purpose. He knew he was going to the park, so he didn’t stop to sniff the bushes or small trees. The town of Blansett was a pet-friendly town. The mayor felt these members of the community brought as much to the town as any of its citizens.

  As usual, Halona noticed she’d caught the stares of several tourists. She’d been told she had a certain “look” and “vitality” about her. At five feet and five inches, she was petite with a small frame. She had a look of wholesomeness and femininity, yet she was also somewhat athletic and strong, strong in that if someone were to push her, she could, and probably would, push back.

  She never understood why others found her to be so beautiful. She felt ordinary. She felt her face, with the dimple on her chin, was too square, her smile too broad. She preferred her own look when she didn’t smile. However, she couldn’t help but smile; it was in her nature, or had been. As they turned the corner and came upon the park, she saw there were many others with the same idea on this beautiful day. The park was a lovely setting. Large trees created natural canopies, which provided shade. Off in the distance, a small, sloped beach made way to a fenced shallow lake. It provided a refreshing swim and metamorphosed in the winter to provide a skating rink for the town.

  Halona shielded her eyes with her hand, as the sunlight was directly upon them. With the dry warmth of the new-day sun on her face, a breeze blew her hair, and the feathered layers now framed her face. She opened the wide wrought iron gate, and as they entered, she brushed her hair aside and focused on her friend Jim.

  The two of them had been partners in crime since they were children. They would often have expeditions and explorations, a healthy and competitive rivalry. He was a stereotypical surfer who managed to keep his sun-bleached hair and perpetual tan all year long.

  She smiled. “Hi, Jim, doesn’t the sun feel wonderful as always?”

  “How are you doing, Halona?” Jim inquired as he wrapped his arm around her and kissed her on the cheek.

  Halona bent down to pet Sandy, Jim’s Labrador pup. “Wow, he is getting so big. He is so beautiful. We’ll be right here, guys. Go play.”

  Jim peered at her, and she realized she hadn’t answered his question.

  She ran her fingers through her hair. “I’m doing okay. I have my cousins; they have always been my rock. At some point, I plan to move back into my parents’ house.”

  Jim spoke as he motioned to a seat on the bench. “I want to tell you again how really sorry I am about your parents, but then you know that.”

  “Thanks, Jim. I’m just glad they were together when the time came.”

  “They were good people. Hell, your mom never had an unkind word to say about anyone.”

  Not able to hold back her laughter, Halona chuckled. “That’s true, but she wasn’t naïve by any stretch of the imagination. She often knew the bad; she just chose to see only the good.”

  “So have you been able to process everything yet?”

  “Funny isn’t it that I
have empathy for others, yet I know I’m not feeling what I should for myself. I miss them terribly, I really do. I think of them all the time.”

  She glanced around the park and then focused on the pups. “Hey, Scamp…Sandy, don’t go too far.”

  They watched as the pups jumped and rolled around. It was a welcome distraction for her. She took a moment to notice the greenery that filled the park. Many azaleas had been planted to bring color to this square in the town. It created the perfect backdrop for two rambunctious pups.

  As she returned her gaze to him, Halona felt his apprehension. He wanted to help, but he had no idea how. She lowered her head as she stared at her hands.

  “Maybe it would be different if it hadn’t been for Rickie.”

  “It’ll come back someday. He was a great guy, but he’s not here anymore. You are, so you should be out there, back on the horse as they say.”

  Halona raised an eyebrow, her lips parted. “I’ve been out there; I’ve dated. I haven’t just sat around for ten years.”

  “You may have been out, but your heart hasn’t,” Jim said.

  Halona sat up straight and folded her arms across her chest. She looked out over the park again, though this time, she stared blankly, seeing none of the beauty she knew to be there.

  She faced Jim once again. “Everyone has been very patient with me. I know it hurt my parents that I wasn’t the same after Rickie. I just wasn’t.”

  Jim smiled at the mere thought of what he was about to say. She felt the hope radiating through him.

  “There must be someone in this town who can relieve you of your sorrow.”

  “You would think, in a town full of witches and magic, someone would have the key, wouldn’t you?”

  Scamp and Sandy came running over. Scamp, with a smudge of dirt on his face, looked so pleased with himself.