Tarot Card Anthology: Synchronicity Volume 1

by Tina Bendoni, Michelle Hasker

  "All good I hope?"

  She bit her lip, as though keeping back laughter. “What else would your sister have to share?"

  Damn Julie and her big mouth. She'd probably told Dawn all about his love ‘em and leave ‘em attitude. Probably scared her off before he even got a chance. Well, he hadn't gotten ahead in business by giving up when all looked lost, he wasn't about to start in his personal life.

  "If it wasn't positive, then it was lies, I am sure.” He took her hand, tucked it into his arm as he turned to direct her attention to the balloon-covered material he'd tacked up to the ceiling. “Would a man that had any negative traits be willing to do this for his sister?"

  Still biting her lip, she extracted herself from his hold. “Of course not, and I'm sure she appreciates it more than she can say. But on that note, I'm afraid I'm going to have to drag her away from you for a couple minutes. We have some things to discuss."

  He raised an eyebrow as she turned away and took his sister arm in arm to a far corner of the room, toward the cake table.

  "Well, it looks like our local Lothario just got locked out."

  Chris turned and glared at his soon-to-be brother-in-law. “How long have you been waiting to use that line?"

  "Oh, probably since the day I met you.” Tommy scratched his head. “So that makes ten years, maybe?"

  "Shut up.” Chris still couldn't believe his baby sister found something redeeming in the vice president of his company. Even if he and Chris had been friends since college.

  "What can you tell me about her?” Chris nodded toward the women across the room. He still couldn't believe she was the wedding planner. He'd expected an older woman, someone who had been through a wedding herself, and maybe the weddings of a couple children. Someone staid and responsible looking. Not someone who screamed sex with every swish of her hips.

  Her hair pulled back in a ponytail that went all the way down to the delectable curve of her ass. An ass very nicely squeezed into a pair of old, worn jeans. Her legs looked surprisingly long for someone so short, with the whole package looking perfect. She would fit just right in his arms for a dance or something much more intimate.

  His cock stirred at the thought of getting those legs around him as he thrust into her hot pussy. He knew she would be all soft and giving without those sharp edges so many of his bed partners had. What he wouldn't give to get a chance to sample her body intimately.

  Shaking himself out of the highly inappropriate thoughts he couldn't believe he was having, he continued to watch the women on the other side of the room. Damn, it had been too long if the sight of a woman in tight jeans and a t-shirt got his cock so hard he could barely move. How long has it been since I've been with a woman?

  Just last week. Jane. The blonde from the coffee shop. The one who always made his coffee extra strong. He'd walked with her to her car after her shift ended that night, and she had invited him home. It had been one of those one-time wonders he seemed to excel in. She hadn't even asked him for his number. Or offered hers.

  "Well, besides the fact my fiancée just declared her off limits to you, she's a teacher and has been doing this wedding planning stuff on the side for a couple years. She doesn't charge much, and is very nice.” Tommy looked at his friend with narrowed eyes. “And I agree with your sister, she's too nice for you. She doesn't deserve to be hurt by you."

  "I don't hurt women, Tom."

  "Yes, Chris, you do. You try to assuage your conscience by convincing yourself they know the score.” He held up his hand, forestalling Chris's response. “Yeah, I know you state up front what you want and expect, but sometimes that doesn't matter. People mistake what they want from a situation, and sometimes get hurt."

  "That's not my fault."

  "Keep telling yourself that, maybe someday you'll believe it, bud.” With that parting shot, Tom walked to the women.

  Chris stood there for a few minutes, and watched the three of them talk and laugh. His sister was beautiful, and when she talked about her wedding, her love for Tommy literally shone on her face. God help the man if he ever hurt her, because Chris would strangle him with his bare hands. Although to be honest, ever since he'd introduced the two of them three years ago when she came out for a visit they'd been inseparable. If living together for the last two years hadn't separated them, maybe they had a chance after all.

  God, he must really need to get laid. Watching Tommy move up to put his arms around Julie, Chris decided to interrupt the three of them before they came up with more things for him to do.

  "Oh, Dawn, could you please? Maria just called and said the florist had a small fire in their storage area. She said they checked around at the rental places, but no one has any with this short of notice."

  Chris groaned as he approached the group. Another thing for them to do.

  "Don't worry about it. I can get them tonight. That way we can set them up tomorrow before the rehearsal, and the florist can decorate them as arranged. Let me call my dad and get his truck from him. I imagine it will be a couple hours, though."

  "Borrow your dad's truck? No, Chris has a full-size, he can help you, no problem. Right, Chris?"

  Plastering a smile on his face, he smiled. “Sure, sis. What do you need me to get?"

  Just then they heard a voice across the hall, “Oh, shit!” Tommy tapped Julie on the shoulder with a smile, and told her he would check it out.

  "Sorry, Chris, Dawn will explain. I gotta go see what happened over there.” Julie, the ever-present control freak ran off after Tommy to fix the newest tragedy besetting her wedding.

  "Why don't you tell me what to get, and I'll go get it by myself?” The last thing he needed was to spend any time alone with her in his truck. The way his body was vibrating, and his cock was jumping being near her in a crowded banquet hall, he would jump her bones after five minutes alone.

  "Candelabra for the church."

  "The church doesn't have any extra?"

  She put her hands on her hips and gave him an impatient glare. “In case it escaped your notice, your sister chose a small country chapel for her wedding. It doesn't specialize in frills. It's one of the reasons she chose it."

  He had, in fact, wondered what had made her choose the chapel in the middle of nowhere, but it was her wedding. “Fine, just tell me where to get them, and I'll bring them back."

  "Sorry, no go, bud. They're at my house, and that means you're stuck with me."

  "No problem then.” Chris smiled, and once again groaned inwardly, reminding himself he was a grown man.

  Following her outside, he led her to his truck, careful not to touch her. Unfortunately, he didn't take into account that she was so short and his truck was extra large. He didn't have a running board to step up on because he never thought he would need one, but once he opened the door for her, he realized she would never get in without his help.

  Putting his hands on her waist, he lifted her up to the seat. A shock jolted through him as her shirt parted and his skin touched hers. He felt her stomach contract as she inhaled quickly. Obviously she had felt it too.

  Reluctant to let her go, he held on to her long after she was seated. His thumbs stroked her now bare sides, sending sparks shooting through straight down to his cock. This close to her, he could smell her perfume, a light flowery smell, not too overpowering, mixed with a scent that must be purely her. Whatever it was, it inflamed his senses more as his nostrils flared in reaction.

  "Um, the candelabra?” Her voice was breathy, and came out sounding like a breeze as it teased across his skin. Quickly letting her go, he mumbled something before stepping back and closing the door.

  Damn. Maybe he wouldn't survive sitting beside her. Her house had better be real close, because any more than five minutes with her and they were both going to be in trouble.

  "So where is this house of yours?"

  "Warrensburg."

  "Damn, woman, that's forty-five minutes away."

  "I know. I usually don't take wed
dings out here, but Julie was so persuasive, and I really like her. I couldn't resist her."

  "Yeah, she can be persuasive when she puts her mind to it."

  "You're telling me. Even after I reminded her that I didn't know the area, and that I wasn't going to be here all the time she insisted on having me."

  "What makes you—” He stopped himself before he could insult her.

  She laughed at him. It sounded like the peal of bells on a summer morning. Oh God, listen to me now. I sounded like a romance novel even in my own head. What the fuck is the matter with me tonight?

  "What makes me so special that she'd insist I do it? Honestly, I don't know. I did her friend Barbara's wedding last year, and for some reason she was convinced I'd be the one to do hers."

  "So what exactly does a wedding organizer do?"

  "Well that depends. For your sister, like I said, very little. I went with her to look at places for the ceremony and reception, I helped her with the menu and a couple of other things, advising her here and there, but my real work will be the rehearsal dinner and the wedding day. That's when I make sure that nothing goes wrong."

  "And if it does?"

  "I fix it. No bride should be bothered by little things like the DJ didn't get served his plate of food, or the videographer needs the lights in the chapel to be just a bit brighter. If there's a problem, I make sure it goes away. Or at the very least, that the bride and guests never notice it."

  "And you get paid big bucks for this?"

  Again with her peal of laughter. It tightened parts of his body that hadn't been so hard in months.

  "Big bucks? Hardly. Maybe if I was stationed in the city instead of so far out, I could ask for more, but out here in the boonies, I do it for very little. More for the fun of it than anything else."

  "So are you independently wealthy?” Chris hadn't gotten where he was without paying attention to things, despite what his sister said. He remembered Julie had said she was a teacher, but anything to keep hearing her voice.

  "No, actually. I'm an instructor for home-schooled children."

  "I thought home-schooled meant they were exactly that, schooled at home? As in their parents teach them?"

  "It does, and they are. Unfortunately not all parents are able to help their children as much as they would like. I am there for those times. For things like special projects, questions that can't be answered through regular research, learning different ways to do things. I'm kind of a floating teacher for them."

  "So you can set your own hours?” He glanced sideways at her.

  "Exactly."

  "What school system do you work for?"

  "I don't.” She shook her head and her ponytail swung back and forth. “I'm a certified teacher who can teach from pre-k all the way through high school, with a masters in alternative learning. I work independently. Kind of like a tutor who would work for some of those learning centers. Only I go to the kids’ houses and work with them there. The parents hire me."

  "So why do you do this, too?” Chris followed her directions onto the highway as he quizzed her.

  "Honestly? Because I love it."

  Chris frowned. “So in addition to your full-time job, you have this that takes up your free time, doesn't give you much money, and probably stresses you out as much as the brides."

  "Exactly.” She turned and smiled at him, and his stomach dropped.

  "How did you get into it?"

  "A few years ago a friend was getting married. She didn't have any family to help her with any of the decisions or chores she had to do. Her bridal party was useless. I barely knew her, but I was there for her when she needed it. I was involved in everything, and I got hooked. I loved it.

  "Her wedding went off without a hitch and to this day she still credits me with it."

  "So you do it for..."

  "The pleasure of a job well done? The idea that I can help some woman have that perfect day they have dreamed of their entire lives? Everyone deserves that one perfect day. Whether they be rich or poor, they deserve to have their dreams come true on their wedding day if none other."

  Her voice had grown wistful, and Chris wondered what put that note into it. She suddenly seemed lost in thought, as though she knew what it was like to have that perfect day. Or maybe to not have that perfect day.

  "Who was he?"

  "Excuse me?"

  "Who was he, the man who put that tone in your voice?"

  "No one."

  Suddenly she was closed off. No longer open and willing to share with him, only giving him directions as needed.

  The promised rain started halfway to her house. She warned him that the only way to her place was over a low bridge and if it continued to rain like this, they wouldn't be able to get across. He assured her they would be fine, to which she just sighed and smiled slightly.

  "A bit too much?” He was aware he could be arrogant at times, hell, most times. And he also knew that if she said the only bridge might become impassable, she was probably right. He wasn't the one who lived there.

  "A bit."

  "You honestly think it'll be a problem?"

  "Probably not. It's coming down heavily, but we should be able to get there and back."

  "So if you can't get back later, where are you gonna stay?” She could stay with him, he wouldn't mind. Really he wouldn't. He only had one bedroom, but that was okay. It meant he only had one bed. And it was big enough for two.

  "With my parents. It won't be a problem. We'll pass their road about a mile before the bridge. I've done it before."

  They were quiet for the rest of the way to the cutoff that led to her house. He eased the truck over the narrow bridge, and they both looked over the side. The water was less than an inch from the top of the bridge, and it was rising quickly as they watched.

  "Um, so, what are the odds we'll be able to get back over that?"

  She turned and looked at him with a grimace. “Let's just say it's a good thing Julie's rehearsal dinner is tomorrow night, or she'd be pissed at both of us."

  "Hope your couch is extra long."

  Her smile lit up the interior of the truck. “Oh, I can do better than that."

  They pulled up to her place minutes later, Chris still wondering what her comment about doing better meant.

  "Stay there, I'll come around and get you.” Chris directed before climbing out of the truck. There was no way she was going to be able to make it down without his help, and even then he wondered about how slippery the ground was.

  As he got to the door, she opened it quickly. He put his arms on her waist to help her down. The shock was completely unexpected. He had decided it was static electricity earlier, but he couldn't have been more wrong. It shocked him so badly he nearly dropped her, and instead, lost his own balance. Both of them went tumbling onto the wet yard.

  "Oh, God, I'm sorry. Are you alright?” Her body was tight to his as she lay across his chest. Her soft, full breasts pressed against him, warming him despite the cold rain.

  Her laughter caught him completely off-guard, and dragged a similar response out of him. “Well, damn, I could have managed to fall into the mud all by myself. But thanks for the assist."

  He nodded, tipping an imaginary hat. “Anything for a lady."

  He could have sworn the look in her eyes changed, as her voice lowered. “Well if your plan all along was to get me wet, I have much better ways in mind for that."

  His body responded before he did with a growled, “You do, do you?"

  Her smile was seductive as she whispered, “Most definitely."

  Shocked, he wasn't sure how to answer her, and before he realized it, she was standing with her hand out to him. Afraid of pulling her down to him again, he passed on the hand as he pushed himself up. He followed her to the door, his hands itching to get around her again. Had she really meant what he thought she had? His cock twitched in anticipation.

  "Why don't you strip?"

  They were barely in the front door
when she uttered the words. His head snapped up at her question. Damn, she didn't beat around the bush, did she?

  "The bathroom is that way. Take a shower while I throw your clothes in the dryer.” She gestured toward a door as she walked past it down a hallway, toward what he could only assume was her bedroom.

  Realizing she had changed gears on him quicker than a race car, he watched her walk away as she removed her coat.

  Muttering to himself, he took his coat off and hung it up on a hook beside the door before walking to the room she had motioned toward.

  The bathroom was large for a guest bath, with the tub larger than standard size. There were towels hung on the bars, guest soap and supplies on the shelves. Suddenly he became very cold, eager for the hot shower it promised.

  When Chris climbed out of the shower a good fifteen minutes later, his clothes were gone, and a black robe hung next to the towels. It was too big for her and had to belong to a man. Damn, did she have a boyfriend? A husband?

  No, he hadn't seen any rings on her finger, but a boyfriend wasn't out of the question. Not knowing whose robe it was, he decided to forgo putting it on for now, and walked out the door.

  "In here!” He heard Dawn's voice call him toward the other end of the house, and he followed the scent of hot cocoa and something wonderful cooking.

  "I wasn't sure if you'd be hungry, so I heated up some sauce I had frozen, thought we could have some pasta—” She stopped short as she turned around and got her first look of him in the hallway.

  It hadn't occurred to him how he would look. He just hadn't wanted to wear another man's robe. But the red creeping up her cheeks seemed to imply that she wasn't immune to a half-naked man standing in her kitchen doorway.

  "Didn't you see the robe?"

  "Um, yeah, I did. But I wasn't comfortable wearing another man's clothing. Won't your boyfriend mind?"

  She smiled at him, a look that said she knew perfectly well what he was doing, and she wasn't going to let him get away with it. She turned off the simmering sauce and leaned her hip against the counter, arms crossed in front of her. “Boyfriend?"