Holding Out For A Hero: SEALs, Soldiers, Spies, Cops, FBI Agents and Rangers

by Piñeiro, Caridad

  And here he was, in a room full of people who looked to him for support. Hiding from a bitchy ex-wife and her probably long-forgotten curse.

  And he’d been calling Reggie a wimp?

  Despite all the stares, Gideon brushed a kiss over the top of Miki’s silky hair. Perhaps it was time to consider actually running in the next election.

  “So ya gonna ask her now?” Gene asked over the gasps and whispers.

  “Ask who what?”

  “Ask your girly, there, about the road. Oh, I know you said the weather could be a problem and all that, but I’m thinking we’ve had enough problems, lately. Parading past those lunatics would only invite more of the same.”

  Gideon struggled to rein in his patience. Before he could blast Fred for being a pansy-ass pain in his butt, Miki stepped away from him.

  “I take it I’m the girly?” At Gene’s nod, she looked at Gideon. “What road? I’m confused.”

  Ignoring the mutters, he explained Gene’s idea to run a road through her land to the lake.

  “This would help?” she asked, her brows drawn together. She looked first at him, then at the sea of faces in the room. Gideon looked at them too, and huffed out a breath. Damned if he’d want to help a bunch of people if they were giving him the nasty, suspicious looks Miki was getting.

  “Gene thinks it would help,” Gideon said. “I think we’ll be fine without it.”

  She slid a glance to Gene. All it took was the raise of her brows to send the old man into a rambling explanation of why he felt it’d make a difference.

  When he finally wound down, Miki looked a little shell-shocked. Then she shrugged and sucked in a breath.

  “Well, I can’t say as I understand why you want to avoid those people, since it sounds like most of them are friends or relatives of yours. But if that’s an important component of this venture being a success, you’re welcome to run a road through my property.”

  The whoops and hollers echoed loudly through the room. Gideon still thought it was ridiculous that they were so afraid of a few kooks, but he didn’t say so. After all, that fear and those kooks apparently were Miki’s ticket to acceptance.

  His heart warmed as he watched the people surround her, welcoming her into their circle. All of a sudden she was being asked her opinion, her favorite food and invited to cook at the Lodge. Not by his mother, of course. Deloris was looking like she’d sucked a lemon. But Reba, who it seemed had been drooling for another taste of Miki’s cooking, had great plans for her.

  He leaned back in his chair and gave his imagination free rein. Images flashed of the town, healed and whole, prospering under his guidance after Reggie’s term was up. Of Miki, happy to settle in Rossdale, accepted by his friends, and thrilled to cook at the Lodge. Of the two of them, building a life, a future, here in the town that meant everything to him.

  Satisfaction and pleasure melded in a deep sigh.

  Gideon paused in his happy musings to look over at the mayor. Worthless as Gideon might think him, he should be involved in the town’s decisions. In making this tournament happen.

  “There you go, Reggie. This should get the tournament going. Maybe even as soon as next month. Hopefully that’ll give you enough time to rebuild, get the factory back up and running.”

  “No,” Reggie mumbled.

  “What?”

  “No. I’m going to take whatever money I can get and retire.”

  “You can’t do that,” Reba exclaimed.

  “I can, actually. I have family in Kansas. I think I’ll go live there.” He looked around at the murderous faces in the room and turned a little pale. “I think I’ll go ahead and make plans to move immediately. The insurance company can send me my money there.”

  “You’d abandon Rossdale? Abandon the town, your commitment to the office of mayor?” Deloris’s stunned tone was reflected in everyone’s slack-jawed looks.

  Reggie stood, sidled to the door with his lower lip still jutting out. Hand on the knob, he took a deep breath and nodded.

  “You all obviously don’t need me. I’m not in charge here, anyway. Don’t think I haven’t heard the whispers and plans for my impeachment. Hell, someone even plastered one of Gideon’s campaign posters outside my office.” He looked around, then shrugged. “Consider this my resignation. Effective immediately. It’ll be easier than your impeachment plans.”

  A few sputters and mumbles broke the stunned silence. Gideon stepped forward.

  “Reggie, don’t do this. Look, whatever plans some people made, they aren’t my plans. You’re mayor and I respect that office. There isn’t any reason to run off like this. To leave your home and, hell, leave the state, even.”

  “You’d be surprised at the reasons I’ve got, Gideon.” Reggie swung through the door, then hesitated. He glanced back over his shoulder. The look on his face, a combination of fear and pity, made Gideon’s stomach clench.

  “Good luck, man. You’re going to need it.”

  There’s a New Witch in Town: Chapter Fourteen

  Floating on a cloud of happiness, Miki stretched in bed. Her muscles, limber after a long night of love making, lengthened easily. She opened her eyes to gaze at the mountain view out her window and sighed.

  Somehow, in the midst of a tragedy, she’d gained the approval and tentative acceptance of Rossdale’s residents. She’d received a loosely worded compliment from Fish-Face. And she’d become an integral part of the plan to not only host these fishing tournaments, but use them to re-launch the town’s tourism.

  They wanted her to cook. They’d asked her opinion. All it had taken was the use of a chunk of her land, albeit temporarily, since she didn’t know quite what to do about her original plans to sell the property once the house was done.

  And, best of all? She realized as she remembered the sight of Gideon rallying the people’s spirits, focusing their energies.

  She was in love.

  Oh. My. Goddess.

  Miki gasped as the realization spun through her head. In love. Oh baby, this was it. The real thing. Heart pounding, palm sweating, his-bad-habits-aren’t-cute-but-I-could-live-with-them, really in love. Hot sex, sweet support, he loved her cooking and made her insides turn to goo, really in love.

  In love with the man who was so attached to this small town, if she hadn’t already licked every inch of it, she’d have bet money he had Property of Rossdale tattooed somewhere on his body. And her? She was a California girl, through and through. She missed the theater, the restaurants, the rush of people and energy.

  More importantly, he was mortal and she was a witch.

  Tears clogged Miki’s throat. Could they be more opposite, more ill suited? As the emotions threatened to overwhelm her, she tried not to freak out.

  With a deep calming breath, she told herself she had plenty of time to get used to it, to accept it. To make decisions and, now that the town was a little more friendly, maybe see if she could make a place for herself here.

  And better yet, to figure out how to break it best to Gideon. The panic surging through her mellowed, her heart rate returned to normal.

  She was in love. The real thing. And she’d be damned if she’d run away from this feeling. No more hiding or side-stepping for Mikaela Lansing. She was in love, and was going to get her man. She squared her shoulders, focused on confident energy and felt the surge of happiness again.

  Besides, telling him she loved him was going to be a cakewalk compared to telling him she was a witch.

  And tell him she would. No pansy-ass abdicating for her. Never again. She might have a karmic curse hanging over her head. She might be just an average witch, instead of a super-witch. She might still be hiding from her momma and avoiding the twice-a-day emails from Dr. Cunningham inviting her to take his latest self-discovery course. But, dammit, she was a witch and she was embracing her powers.

  Miki gave a light-hearted giggle and hugged herself close. Great Goddess, it felt good. She felt good. Like she could do anything. Face any dem
on and win.

  With that in mind, she sat up. The cool cotton sheet slid from her naked body as she reached for the cell phone on her nightstand.

  The punch of a few keys, and she snuggled back under the covers while she waited.

  “Yes,” came the snooty reply on the other end of the line.

  “Perry? I need a favor.”

  “Mikaela? What could you possibly need from me? The new furnishings I finally had to purchase when you wouldn’t return mine?”

  “You’re still harping on that? Let it go already,” she advised.

  “You took those furnishings from the house before I ever had a chance to... say goodbye,” he claimed. Miki could tell there was something going on, even through his defensive tone.

  “You wanted to say goodbye to the furniture?”

  “I chose it, it was only fair that I keep it. Instead, you and that Neanderthal brother of yours hauled it away before I even got home from court.”

  Actually, the minute the divorce decree had been settled, Ryan had zapped the furniture out of the house and into a waiting moving van.

  “Perry, this is a ridiculous conversation.” Miki rolled her eyes, then heaved a sigh. She was supposed to be making nice. “But look, I have a few pieces left. I can, maybe, sell them to you. Or at least let you visit them to say goodbye.”

  She couldn’t imagine a more ridiculous offer. But apparently, it suited her ex-husband. His excited agreement was so loud, she had to hold the phone away from her ear.

  “You still have the couch, right?” he asked. Miki squinted as an odd suspicion flashed through her head.

  “Nope. No couch.” She rattled off the furniture that hadn’t been listed on eBay yet. But his response was considerably less excited. “What’s the problem? I thought you wanted to say goodbye”

  “To the couch.”

  “The couch? Why the couch?”

  “I can’t believe you sold that, Mikaela. Can’t you track it down? I’ll match whatever you got for it if you can return it to me.”

  The flashing suspicions solidified. The fact that Perry was offering to pay to say goodbye to a piece of overstuffed, rock-hard, ugly-ass furniture proved there was something going on.

  Miki sat up, cradling the sheet to her chest. Didn’t matter that he was on the phone and couldn’t see her, old habits died hard. And Perry hadn’t ever been one for daylight displays of nudity.

  “I’ll look into it,” she said. And she would. Because she wanted to know just exactly what dirty trick he’d pulled. She was positive he’d pulled one, she just didn’t know what it was.

  Yet.

  “That’s not what I called for, though.”

  “What? Did you need a pat on the head over the food? Breakfast this morning was quite nice, thank you. I’d have preferred to go to the Café for bagels and lox, but I’ve been banned.”

  She winced.

  “Look, I’m really sorry about that. More sorry than you could know, actually. But, that’s not why I called.”

  “Why, then?” His tone was as short as his word.

  “I need some advice.”

  “I beg your pardon?” His shocked tone wasn’t even faked. Miki could tell because he’d dropped that snotty inflection he’d taken to using a few years back.

  “I need your advice,” she repeated slowly. It was all she could do to resist the condescending tone that she’d have normally added. “You know, some help.”

  Silence.

  “Perry?” Miki grimaced, then realizing how stupid it was to hide her body from the telephone, she slid from bed to pace. The cool morning air wrapped around her nude skin like a soft blanket, making her feel both decadent and sexy. “Look, I’d really like to know what you think about something.”

  “Since when have you cared what I think about anything?”

  Miki stopped pacing so fast, her hair whipped around to smack her in the face.

  “I used to care a lot. Then you decided to divorce me and I had to learn not to care.”

  “You stopped caring long before the divorce, Mikaela.”

  For the first time, she heard regret and hurt in his tone. Tears rushed to her eyes and her breath caught at the pain clenched around her heart.

  “That’s not true. I always cared. I cared so much I buried myself trying to be what I thought you wanted.”

  He gave a derisive laugh.

  “It’s true,” she insisted. “You have no idea what I gave up for you. What lengths I went to so I could try and be what you wanted. Why the hell would I do that if not because I cared?”

  “Maybe because you were afraid to fail.”

  His words, soft, and for once, non-accusatory, hit her in the gut. Miki sank down on the bed and gasped. She clenched her teeth against the onslaught of tears. Suddenly feeling very exposed, she snapped her fingers, and was enveloped in her favorite, thick chenille robe and nubby socks.

  “I wanted our marriage to work,” she insisted through the pain.

  “Maybe you did. But why? We didn’t want the same things. We’d grown so far apart we couldn’t even agree on what to have for dinner, let alone anything else.”

  “But I...” let him have what he wanted. Miki’s breath shuddered in as she realized Perry knew it, too.

  “Giving in isn’t love, Mikaela. And the last few years, that’s all we did. Gave in to each other.”

  Miki was silent. She couldn’t find any words. Was he right?

  “Look, it doesn’t matter. We’re divorced and you’re going to find me my couch. Talking about what ifs and who did what is a waste of time.” And just like that, Miki remembered why they’d had so much trouble ever working out any issues. Perry was the master at avoidance. “What did you call for?”

  “Call for?” She frowned. “Oh. I need your advice on something. The town, Rossdale, they’re looking to increase their tourism. What kind of advertising should they focus on? I know it’s not your field, but you’re so good at knowing how to catch the right eye, how to bring in the right publicity.”

  “You think I’m good at that?” His shock was clear.

  “Yeah. I think you’re good at a lot of things, Perry. We may not have made it together, but that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate your better qualities.” All two or three of them. “I really do wish the best for you.”

  And just like that, a chime rang out, followed by the sound of chains breaking away. Miki looked around for the source, but there was none.

  “Did you hear that?” Perry asked.

  “Um, yeah.” Miki bit her lip, then smiled. “You know, maybe after you help me with this, you should try eating out again. I’ll bet things are a lot better for you now.”

  No wonder she hadn’t been able to remove the curse. It’d taken not only her forgiveness, but owning responsibility for her part in the divorce. No spell could compare to honesty.

  Forty minutes later Miki went downstairs with a notebook full of ideas and a frown on her face. Even though she’d finally had a good, healing conversation with her ex-husband, she couldn’t get Perry’s accusation out of her head.

  Was she afraid to fail? His words, while irritating, had a ring of truth to them.

  Waiting for the coffee to perk, she grabbed a box of Cap’n Crunch from the pantry and reached in for a handful. The cat, still unnamed, jumped up on the counter and Miki tossed a couple Crunch Berries her way.

  “Failure sucks,” she told the cat. “It’s not something anyone aspires to, right? So given that, why is it such a bad thing to be afraid to fail?”

  The cat meowed and Miki tossed her a couple more pieces.

  “It’s not like I’ve gone through life avoiding things,” she insisted, pacing now with her box of cereal. “I’ve followed my dreams. I studied and became a chef. I started my own business. I married a friggin’ mortal, for Goddess’s sake. Every one of those carries a pretty high failure rating.”

  The cat meowed again. Miki rolled her eyes and set the box of cereal on the counter
. The cat reached out one paw, pulled the box down and watched as cereal spilled out over the countertop. The golden squares and colored ‘berries’ stood in contrast to the bright white tiles. Then the cat, with her usual finickiness, swatted the squares out of her way.

  Some help she was. Too into her own needs to even give Miki a cuddle for comfort.

  So Miki took her comfort in the form of a huge cup of coffee and made her way back to the buffet.

  “It’s not that I’m afraid,” she mumbled, eyes closed and her head leaning against the wall while she let the caffeine zing through her system. She felt a thump on her lap, then the warm, furry body of the cat as she butted her head against Miki’s chin.

  “I just hedge my bets, sometimes. Like, when I married Perry, I knew he would be anti-witch. So instead of losing him, I abdicated. I ask you, is that fear of failure?”

  The cat, now seated on the table, wrapped her tail around her body and gave Miki a long, intense stare.

  Miki groaned and dropped her head back to the wall with a thud. “Fine. So maybe I am a little wary of losing at some things. At things that really matter. Maybe it was easier to lose my parents’ respect by abdicating than them finding out how dismal I really was at real magic.”

  The cat meowed.

  “Real magic. The life changing kind. Not this,” she waved her hand and the cereal still spread across the counter all flew with a whoosh back into the box, “kind of thing. But the kind that matters. The stuff that makes a difference in people’s lives. Like my father does. Or Lena and Ryan. Even Mother, when she’s not getting another divorce, works amazing magic. Me? I can tidy up.”

  “What a bunch of bullshit.”

  Miki screamed, then flew from the buffet. Hands pressed to her chest to try and keep her heart from jumping out, she glared.

  “Dammit, Mother!”

  In the place of the cat, her mother now sat on the buffet table, her legs elegantly curled under her. She raised one hand to run it through her hair, the same pitch black as her children’s. Then she grinned.