by Tawny Weber
“So? What’s the real deal? Are you a believer? Or are you just here to make a living?”
She narrowed her eyes, obviously sorting through his words. He liked watching her think. He’d just bet she had mental lists and a brain like one of those supercharged computers that’d calculate, analyze and summarize in seconds flat.
He gave in to temptation and reached out to rub a lock of her rich, thick hair between his fingers. It was as silky as it looked. He’d bet it’d feel even better sliding over his thighs.
“There’s bullshit out there, sure,” she acknowledged with the tiniest of nods. “There’s a group, the Psychic Scenery tour bus, that stops here twice a year. These people travel all over the West Coast, visiting metaphysical stores and psychics, readers and healers. You could say they are the experts on the subject. Believe me, they’ve seen it all. And they never visit anyone or anywhere more than once if they deem it bullshit.”
“How many times have they visited Moonspun Dreams?” he asked, both amused and impressed at how strongly she defended her store and her beliefs.
“Every spring and autumn for the last ten years,” she said with just a hint of triumph in her smile. “Our store is one of the highlights of their tour, a selling point they use in their brochure.”
“Because of the aphrodisiacs?” Tension he’d thought was gone returned to poke steely fingers in Caleb’s back at the idea of hordes of people swarming into town looking for a sex fix. It was the perfect cover for moving drugs, and it pissed him off that Pandora was ruining his comfortable assurance that she was innocent.
“Oh, no,” she told him. “I just opened the café two months ago, after the last tour. But I’m sure the regulars at Psychic Scenery are going to be over-the-moon excited when they visit in April.”
“Okay, so you’re popular with these people and they’re going to go crazy over your cookies when they visit. What does that have to do with whether or not you believe in all this?” he prodded.
He had no idea why he cared so much. Maybe it was the result of growing up the son of a clever con man. It’d taught him that people could sell a whole lot of things with a big fat smile on their face, even as they handed over a shopping bag filled with nothing but hot air.
That wasn’t criminal. Not like selling drugs. But it’d sure as hell ruin the sweet image he had of Pandora to find out she was happily invested in selling lies.
“What that does is prove that we’re time tested and cynic approved,” she said. “I think there’s a whole lot of stuff out there that we can’t explain. I think some people tap into it more easily than others. And I think that believing has a power of its own.”
“Isn’t that the same thing as gullibility?” Caleb asked.
“Do you think that all this-” she waved her hand to indicate the store filled with the promise of magic “-is based on the power of suggestion?”
Caleb’s brow shot up. She didn’t sound offended. More like… Satisfied. Wasn’t that interesting? Pandora was more intriguing by the second.
“Isn’t most everything based on the power of suggestion?” he mused. “For instance, if I suggested that I’d like to kiss you again, you’d think about it, wouldn’t you?”
Color washed from her cheeks, pouring down her slender throat and tinting the mouthwateringly showcased curves of her breasts with a pale pink glow. He wanted to touch and see if her skin was as warm as it looked.
“The brain is the most powerful erogenous zone,” he told her, his tone low. “Half of seduction takes place in the mind, first. Before I ever touch you, I could have you crazy with wanting me.”
She bit her lip, her eyes huge as they darted from him to the store filled with customers just a few beads away.
Caleb gave her a smug wink as he leaned against a table, his feet crossed at the ankles and hands tucked in the front pockets of his jeans.
He was having fun. It’d been so long, he hadn’t realized how good it could feel. At least for him. He wasn’t so sure Pandora was the teasing type.
“And one meal of my aphrodisiacs could make you so turned on, you’d almost forget your own name,” Pandora countered with a wicked smile at odds with the nerves dancing in her eyes. “You’d have the most delicious meal and the most memorable dessert you’ve ever dreamed of.”
Even though his expression was as smooth as glass, Caleb was mentally reeling. What the hell? He blew out a breath, wanting to tug at the collar of his T-shirt. Yeah, she was pretty damn good at the teasing. Had she just propositioned him?
“What do you say?” Pandora prompted, her smile a soft curve of those luscious lips as she leaned against the counter so her hip bumped against his.
“You realize I’m attracted to you, regardless of what you serve for dinner,” he said, trying to figure out what she thought a plate of oysters was going to do when he’d happily take her right then and there on the bistro table, in full view of her cats and anyone who walked by.
“Attraction is a necessary ingredient for an aphrodisiac to work,” she explained quietly. “Unlike pharmaceuticals that change a person’s will, aphrodisiacs are a natural enhancement. They make so-so sex fabulous. And great sex? Mind-blowing.”
This time Caleb did run his finger around the collar of his shirt, needing to release a little of the heat. It was either that or grab her in front of her customers.
As if they knew he was about to pounce, a giggling pair of women walked through the beaded doorway. They both carried overflowing wicker shopping baskets. Looked as if Pandora was about to score.
In more ways than one.
“Fifi asked me to get more cookies,” a guy said, sticking his shaggy head through the beaded curtain. “You have a few customers out here asking for them. You know the ones, the sexy cookies.”
Pandora’s gaze cut from him to Caleb, then back again. She looked torn, and just a little mischievous. He was afraid she’d drag the kid into this discussion to support her point.
“C’mon back, Russ,” she said, her smile widening.
Time for him to get the hell out of there. Caleb grabbed his jacket, then leaned in close to whisper in Pandora’s ear.
“Prove it to me.”
6
THIS WAS THE PROBLEM with wanting something as desperately as she wanted Caleb, Pandora mused. Once you got it, you had to figure out how the hell you were going to handle it.
“So what’s the plan?” Kathy asked from her perch in a chair by the glistening lights of the three-foot-high Christmas tree with its shimmering golden balls and little red bows. “Are you ready for tonight?”
Ready? Biting her lip, Pandora scanned the plethora of food spread over the counter of the tiny cottage she was renting. Walking distance from the store, she’d chosen it for its location. Asparagus and oysters, celery and ginseng and chocolate. A roast was marinating in red wine and mushroom caps were waiting to be stuffed. All the fixings for an aphrodisiac-rich dinner for two.
Completing the theme, she’d brought home a dozen red candles for passion and had frankincense incense waiting to light.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have him here,” she worried. “I mean, it’s like saying, ‘Hey, eat up fast. I’m horny and wanna do it.’”
“Well, it’s not like you could have him to dinner in the café. After all, you have a point to prove. And since it’s one of those naked kind of points, it’s better done in private, don’t you think?”
“Naked…” Pandora pressed her palm against her belly, trying to quiet the butterflies flinging themselves against the walls of her stomach as they attempted to escape. “What the hell was I thinking?”
“That Caleb Black would look mighty fine naked,” Kathy said with a wicked grin. Then her smile faded and she gave Pandora a searching look. “Are you sure you want to do this? You don’t have to go through with the evening if you don’t feel comfortable, you know. You can call it off, or just call it quits after dinner.”
A part of Pandora grabbed on to that exit optio
n like a life-line. It was one thing to challenge Caleb face-to-face, when she was in the throes of sexual overload. But the idea of following through, here and now, once she’d had plenty of time to worry? That was something else entirely.
“I don’t want to call the evening off,” she decided. “I want this. I really do.”
Sorta. She wanted the fantasy of having mind-blowing sex with Caleb. The man was obviously a sexual god. He was gorgeous. He was mouthwateringly sexy. He had that bad-boy, done-it-all and gone-back-for-seconds vibe going on.
And her? The naughtiest thing on her sexual résumé was wearing a see-through Santa nightie with black stiletto do-me boots.
“If you want him, and he wants you, then you’d be crazy to let nerves stop you. I mean, how many chances does a girl have for incredible sex?” Kathy challenged.
“Easy for you to say. You’ve already done one of the Black brothers,” Pandora retorted.
“Yes, I did,” Kathy said with a wicked smile, running her hand through the smooth curve of her hair. “Which is why I feel qualified to say do it, do it, do it.”
Pandora laughed. Living close to Kathy was her favorite benefit to being back in Black Oak. A girl needed her best friend when she was gathering up the nerve to get naked with a guy.
“Okay, let’s just say the night is great,” Pandora suggested, pacing over to the tree to rearrange the bows and balls on the crisp evergreen boughs. Can’t have the two gold balls next to each other, after all. It might ruin the ambience. “Say the sex is incredible. The best in my life. Maybe even one of his top ten. Multiple-orgasm, headboard-banging, seeing-stars incredible. Say it’s all that. What do I do then?”
After a long pause, Kathy got to her feet and headed for the tiny kitchen.
“What are you doing?” Pandora called after her.
“Getting a glass of ice water.”
“Seriously!”
“Seriously?” Kathy filled a cup with water from the pitcher in the fridge and gulped it down. “Seriously, then you’ll probably collapse in an exhausted, albeit very satisfied, heap.”
“But…” Pandora dropped onto the overstuffed chair, picking at the deep blue fabric with her fingernails. “But what if it’s so great I want more? How did you have the greatest sex of your life, then walk away?”
“It’s all about expectations,” Kathy said, setting her water aside and coming over to sit across from Pandora. She leaned forward, her pretty face serious. “You know going in that it’s special, that it’s just that once, and you ring every drop of pleasure from it possible. Like seeing Baryshnikov dance, or visiting Stonehenge or meeting Johnny Depp at Comic-Con last year. They were all amazing experiences, but you don’t expect to do them repeatedly, right?”
“What are the chances that sex with Caleb Black will be as good as Baryshnikov, Stonehenge and the amazing Johnny Depp all rolled into one experience?”
“I think the chances are pretty damn good.”
Pandora sank her head into the chair’s pillowed back and sighed. She thought so, too.
“Look, you deserve this. Every woman deserves this. One night of absolute pleasure, with no strings or worries or stress. Just wild and mindless sex, with no rules or expectations.”
“You think?”
“Don’t you?”
Pandora looked at the array of food covering the two short countertops. Her grandmother’s recipe book was there, too. Filled with recipes that had, so far, increased Moonspun Dreams’ coffers beyond her wildest dreams.
Despite her run-don’t-walk departure from all things associated with Black Oak and her mother, Pandora had been raised to believe certain things. And many of those tenets she still subscribed to wholeheartedly. Karma and the golden rule. Respecting nature and conserving resources. Prayer and faith. And as she’d told Caleb, she believed in what she did. In what the store offered.
Sure, she’d launched this aphrodisiac sideline as a desperate attempt to dig the store out of a financial pit. But obviously the aphrodisiacs worked. She saw proof five days a week between the hours of eleven and two, after all. All they required was a spark.
And even she had to admit, she’d definitely inspired a few sparks in Caleb.
“The bottom line is, do you want to do this?” Kathy prodded. “Or don’t you?”
A thousand arguments still running through her head, Pandora sighed. Yes, she wanted it. It being this night with Caleb. And more important, a chance to step out of the shadows and have a little excitement in her life. The kind she’d enjoy, not the kind that made her cringe.
Pandora bit her lip again, then squared her shoulders and headed for the kitchen to wash her hands.
“What are you doing?” Kathy asked.
“Getting dinner started.” She shot her friend a look of combined terror and excitement. “Who am I to deny myself the absolute pleasure I deserve?”
THREE HOURS LATER and that statement had become Pandora’s mantra.
“I deserve absolute pleasure,” she muttered to herself as she pulled a floaty black dress knitted of the softest cashmere over her shoulders and slipped the tiny mother-of-pearl buttons closed from cleavage to knee. The fabric molded gently over her breasts, showing just a hint of her red lace bra, and ended a few inches shy of her ankles, where she’d chosen to go barefoot except for a glistening ruby toe ring and gold anklet.
Not quite a see-through Santa nightie, she mused as she stared at her reflection, but it’d do. She fluffed her hair around her shoulders, added a smidge more mascara and took a deep breath.
“I do. I deserve absolute pleasure.” The reminder had turned into an affirmation about an hour ago, but like most law-of-attraction-type things, she knew it was basically useless without real belief behind the words.
So she’d fake it. A quick glance at the clock told her that Caleb was due in five minutes. Which meant that as appealing as hiding under the bed was, she’d better get the appetizers ready.
Pandora hurried from the room, checking to see that the fire was burning bright in the fireplace and that all the red candles-for passion-were lit around the room. The cottage smelled delicious. The subtle waft of incense, the appealing scent of smoky apple wood. And the food.
That was the only thing she had complete confidence in tonight. Her food rocked. The roast was done and resting, tender and juicy in a gravy of rosemary, celery seed and just a pinch of ginseng. There wasn’t really any aphrodisiac ingredients in the fresh rolls, but Pandora had filled in the menu with things that played to the theory that the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach. If the rolls could open that door, she figured the aphrodisiacs should reroute things southward.
“Absolute pleasure,” she murmured as she checked the chocolate-espresso mousse with whipped caramel crème in the fridge, then the wine that was breathing on the counter. Figuring it’d make her look less anxious, and might just help her chill out, she poured herself a glass.
“Yep, all ready for that pleasure. Absolutely.”
The doorbell rang.
Pandora started, slopping wine all over her hand.
Right that second, if the cottage had a back door, she would have taken absolute pleasure in sneaking out through it.
Deep breath and a quick rinse of her fingers under the tap, she then wiped nervously down her dress before almost tripping over her own bare feet on the way to the door.
Another deep breath and she pulled it open.
“Hi,” Caleb said.
Hubba da hubbada, her brain stuttered. Holy hunks, the man was pure eye candy. The moon at his back, his face was thrown into shadows. His black hair slicked down so it flowed like silk over his collar, he wore slacks, boots and a dark dress shirt. He smelled incredible. Male but with a hint of musk.
His smile was just this side of wicked as he gave her an appreciative look, those warm gold eyes tracing her curves, from collar to breast, down her waist and over her hips until he reached her naked toes.
One look from him a
nd she was ready to strip the rest of herself bare and see how many kinds of pleasure they could offer each other. Whether it was because he looked sexy enough to slurp with a spoon, because she was wearing her do-me undies, or if it was the day spent creating a meal meant for seduction, all Pandora could think about was how long she’d have to wait for dessert.
“Pandora?” he prompted, his smile tipping into a grin as he leaned his shoulder against the door frame. “You gonna let me in?”
Doh. They couldn’t do dessert until he was inside, could they?
“I’m sorry. It’s just… Wow.” She stepped aside for him to enter. “You look fabulous.”
Realizing how that’d probably sounded, color warmed Pandora’s cheeks. “Not that you didn’t look great before,” she said. She winced, then tried again. “I mean, I wouldn’t have thought you’d have dress clothes tucked away in your motorcycle saddlebags.”
“Always pays to be prepared,” he said as he dried his feet on the mat before entering the cottage. She shut the door behind him, its click echoing the beat of her heart in her chest.
“Do you have to dress up often?” she asked, suddenly realizing that she had no idea what Caleb did for a living. Gossip had run wild since his return to town last week, speculating on everything from career criminal to mechanic to construction. One person had thought he might even be a lawyer.
“It’s the holidays,” he said absently, looking around. “I figured I’d get roped into some Christmas fluff or other.”
He gave her a slow smile, making her tummy slide down to her toes. “But this is a much better option.”
Heat poured through Pandora’s body like molten lava, hungry and intense.
She had to say something before she wrapped herself around his body and begged him to let her lick him from head to toe.
“So what do you do for a living?” she blurted out.
His smile changed. It was a tiny change, one she doubted most people would notice. It got a little hard, like his eyes. “I’m in the middle of changing jobs right now,” he said.
