The shop was long and narrow. A small round table sat to the right of the front door with a burning stick of incense perched in a silver tray surrounded by colorful gemstones. More small tables were scattered about the front of the store, each holding their share of containers loaded with rough gems, jars of incense sticks and cones, and bottles of oils. A door with the words Karma Café stenciled across the glass adjoined the shop with what was apparently the creation of the delicious-smelling food.
A counter stood on her left with an antique cash register in front of a wall lined with small candles, more incense, and a display of herbs in clear bags. The bookshelves spanned the length of the store from the end of the counter to the back and stretched from wall to wall. A cursory scan of the patrons gave her a pretty good guess as to how many people were in the store. None of them seemed to have even realized she’d stepped inside except for the woman behind the counter.
“Welcome to Pleasure Minds.” The older woman, Delilah guessed her to be in her late-fifties or early sixties, greeted her with an ear-to-ear grin. “My name is Elen. Can help you find anything in particular?”
Delilah flashed Elen a smile, intrigued by the woman’s appearance. Large silver pentacle earrings dangled amidst long, wavy locks of graying black hair that framed an aging, oval face with dark brown eyes. She wore a purple blouse with spaghetti straps and a thin sun-yellow shawl draped over her shoulders.
“Maybe.” Delilah reconsidered her answer. “Well, not necessarily anything in particular. I’m not really sure what I’m looking to find.”
“Natalie, take over the register for me, dear,” Elen said to a younger girl stocking books on a nearby shelf. The woman’s eyes narrowed slightly and her gaze slid down Delilah and up again as she moved from behind the counter and walked toward her.
Delilah realized the blouse the woman was wearing was actually the top part of a long, flowing dress that reached her ankles, leaving only the toes of a pair of sequined sandals visible.
“An escape from what troubles you.” Elen stopped at her side, hooked an arm through Delilah’s, and tugged. “That’s what you’re looking for.”
Intrigued, Delilah glanced at the arm the woman had laced with hers. An array of silver bracelets and various gems lined her wrist. Delilah’s creative mind kicked in as she let the woman drag her deeper into the bookstore. The double-strand tiger’s eye with cubes of jet she’d made just before her store had burned would make a fantastic addition to Elen’s bracelet collection. Or perhaps the woman would prefer the single strand of adventurine, sodalite, and quartz bracelet instead.
Wistfulness fisted around Delilah’s heart. Both items had burned in the fire and, even if they hadn’t, she couldn’t risk mentioning her business to strangers until she found out who had started the fire.
Pushing all thoughts of the arsonist aside, Delilah glanced right and left, quickly reading the signs above some of the sections and skimming the spines of the books they passed. Everything on the shelves reminded her of a normal bookstore, although the section labeled New Age and Spiritual seemed much larger than most.
“The right book can provide the greatest vacation from this stressful world. Even on an island such as this, where most come to get away from it all, there is still sometimes a need to go even further away, even if only for a little while.”
“I, um…” She didn’t know what to say. Was it so obvious her entire life was in a state of turmoil right now that this strange older woman could see it?
Elen steered her down an aisle, rounded the end, and shot her a knowing smile as she guided her down another row of books. “What you need right now is to feel safe.” She stopped in front of a section of books beneath a sign that read Ménage Romance and pulled one from the shelf. “That kind of security comes best being between a couple of men, but until you find the ones who are right for you, this should work.”
Delilah expelled an amused, slightly breathless giggle as Elen handed her the book. “I didn’t come to the island in hopes of finding a ménage relationship.”
She glanced down at the cover of the book and felt her girly parts stir at the sight of the shirtless dark-haired man gazing lovingly at a woman with long blonde hair with an even blonder, also shirtless hunk embracing her from behind. “Although”—she looked back at Elen and grinned—“if I found a couple of guys like that, I might have to change my reasons for being here.”
She was kidding, of course. It had been years since she’d had any kind of relationship at all and, even then, she hadn’t been able to keep one man happy. How in the world did a woman ever manage to hang onto two?
Elen threw back her head and laughed. “Feed your imagination tonight, my dear.” She held up a finger and gently pulled Delilah down the aisle once more, retracing the path back to the front of the store. She released Delilah’s arm, moved back to the counter, and pulled a few things off the shelf behind her. “These will help with that.”
Delilah peered down at the items the woman set by the register. One looked to be some kind of stuffed cloth ball that had been tied off with a purple string. Next to it lay a blue candle. She bit the insides of her lips together as she pulled her gaze up to meet Elen’s. “Thanks, but—”
“Oh, dear. I must apologize.” Elen snatched up the candle, turned swiftly back to the shelf behind her, and put a small bottle in the candle’s place. “Use this instead of the candle.”
Delilah stared at the woman, her pulse pounding loudly in her ears as her mind reeled. She knew. Delilah didn’t know how, but the woman knew.
Elen reached across the counter and covered Delilah’s hand with hers. “Your mind is open.”
Delilah blinked at the woman’s statement. “I, well, I like to think I have an open mind, but…” She thought about the largest section of books she’d seen, the candles and herbs and oils on tables and stretching behind the counter, and the eccentrically dressed woman standing before her. “Are you talking about Paganism, Wicca, magic?”
A soft smile unfolded on the woman’s lips. “Religion has nothing to do with it. The magic is inside you. All you have to do is believe in it.” She pulled her hand back and started putting the items in a bag along with the book Delilah had placed on the counter. “When you settle into your room tonight, run a bath of hot water. Put a dab of this oil beneath each ear and over your heart like you would a perfume.” Her smile widened. “You can even wear it as a perfume if you like. It smells great. Put the sachet in your bath, fix you a glass of wine, and kick back in the tub with your book.”
“Uh…” Delilah shrugged. “Okay.” What could it hurt? She’d already been planning to relax with a book and a glass of wine anyway. Why not add some kind of herbal sachet and good-smelling oil to the mix?
“The oil and sachet are my gift to you.” Elen punched a few keys on the register. “The book will cost you $6.43.”
“I would be happy to pay for all of it,” Delilah offered as she pulled her wallet from her purse and gave Elen a twenty.
Elen shook her head, counted out the change, and handed it to Delilah. “You can take what’s left to the Karma Café through that door over there and get you something to eat. My daughter, Arianrhod, and her employee, Siebel, are fabulous cooks. The café is hopping with business today, but I’m sure she can make room for one more.”
Delilah glanced over her shoulder at the door adjoining the bookstore to the café that she’d noticed when she’d walked in. She hadn’t had much of an appetite the last couple of months, but she’d been forcing herself to eat, knowing she needed to keep up her strength. She shoved the change from the twenty into her purse and decided now was as good a time as any to make herself eat a little something again.
* * * *
Kalvin Fitzpatrick painted his best charming smile on his lips as Arianrhod Evans took his order. “Let me buy you lunch.
Arianrhod met his smile with a dazzling one of her own. “This is my café, Kalvin. I eat free.”
“Char
ge me anyway. It’ll be good for your profits.”
Arianrhod tsked and patted Kalvin’s hand with her free one. “So pigheaded and, yet, you and Blaze really will be irresistible to your woman.”
Kalvin lifted his soda and took a sip to stifle the groan bubbling in his throat. He and Blaze Vardry had been chasing after Arianrhod for well over a year and hadn’t caught her yet. She insisted they never would. A Wiccan named after the Welsh goddess of fertility, rebirth, and fate, Arianrhod’s beauty was off the charts. Even if she wasn’t the woman meant for him and Blaze, a little threesome action with the flaming redhead would still be fun.
She pulled her hand back as she straightened. “I’ll give you a rain check, if for no other reason than to take your hard-earned dollars. Seriously though, in case you haven’t noticed, we’re packed today. I couldn’t take the time to sit down and eat even if I wanted to.”
“Sure you can. Tiffany is doing a bang-up job at keeping up with the customers. Siebel has the kitchen rocking and you’re working the counter. You can still do that even if you sitting on this side of it.” He patted the stool next to him. “There’s even an empty seat right here waiting for you.”
“Pardon me. Is this seat taken?”
Kalvin started to turn at the sound of the female voice to his left, but the smile that unfolded on Arianrhod’s lips coupled with the knowing look in her eyes stopped him.
“No,” she said, her gaze dancing from his to the woman. She rested her forearm on the counter and leaned close, dropping her voice to a decibel he barely heard over the chatter in the café. “That empty seat right there has been waiting for her.”
Kalvin turned and damn near swallowed his tongue as his gaze collided with a set of truly potent and mesmerizing blue eyes. Despite the dark lines beneath them and the immediate cloud of caution that shadowed their beauty, they were the kind of eyes a man could drown in and he felt himself going under with no hope of swimming back to the surface. Jet-black hair fell like a curtain around a face that obviously hadn’t seen a good night’s sleep in weeks and yet still managed to be angelic. The long, satiny strands draped over her slender shoulders, bare but for the thin spaghetti straps of her colorful tank top that clung to a pair of perfect breasts, a well-toned abdomen, and a flat stomach.
“Holy shit,” he whispered before he could stop himself and watched as apprehension and a flicker of attraction flashed through her amazing eyes. Her gaze dropped to his shirt, locked on the Maltese cross with Silver Island Fire Department printed beneath, and her beautiful face paled. She backed up a half-step and he reflexively shot a hand out, curling his fingers around her forearm to stop her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. I just…” He thought fast and went with the first thing that came to mind. “I wasn’t expecting to turn around and find a woman as breathtakingly beautiful as you standing behind me.”
Her gaze lifted to meet his and a bit of color returned to her cheeks. Her lips turned up in a hint of a smile and she gave a half-laugh. “I bet you say that to all the girls.”
Kalvin chuckled, watching in absolute fascination as she gathered her wits and masterfully tamped down the fear in her eyes. “I assure you, that was a first.” He stood and her gaze fell again, this time taking a leisurely stroll down his body that had his cock hardening to the consistency of stone. “Will you join me for lunch? Please?” he added as an afterthought.
She drew her bottom lip thoughtfully between her teeth and glanced at the empty stool. Her mouth was as absolutely perfect as the rest of her and he could easily picture how impeccable it would look wrapped around his pulsing cock.
She turned her head and shot a look around the café, giving him a tantalizing view of the slender column of her neck. His tongue tingled to lick its way down her smooth-looking flesh.
“There doesn’t seem to be any other open seats.” Her tone was laced with a hint of disappointment as she looked back at him. “I guess I don’t really have a choice. That is, if you don’t mind.”
“Of course not.” He eased aside to allow her room to move between the stools and take a seat, noting the bookstore bag she placed on her lap beneath her small purse. “Kalvin Fitzpatrick,” he introduced himself, extending his right hand for her to shake.
“De—Faith. Faith Randal.”
Her slight stammer prevented him from feeling the full effect of her delicate hand in his for all of a half-second. Then he forgot about his suspicion that she’d just lied about her name as the sensation of the skin-to-skin contact traveled up his arm and rained fiery embers of desire through his body that set off a true inferno in his cock.
“What can I get you to drink, Faith?” Arianrhod asked and then let out a half-giggle. “Forgive me for eavesdropping. I’m Arianrhod. I run the Karma Café.”
Faith smiled. “It’s nice to meet you. I met your mother in the bookstore. She’s a…very interesting woman.”
Arianrhod threw her head back and laughed. “That she is. So what would you like to drink?”
“Just a water with lemon, please.”
Arianrhod lightly slapped the countertop. “Water with lemon coming up.”
“The special today is some kind of funky chicken wrap,” Kalvin told Faith. “I ordered a loaded double cheeseburger and fries.”
She lifted an amused brow. “Not much for wraps, are you?”
“The cheeseburgers here are the best on the island.” It was the truth, even if he’d settled on that answer because it was far less suggestive than the first response that had entered his mind. He thoroughly enjoyed the right kind of wraps. In particular, the kind that would put him with her in a place where she would wrap her sexy stems around his waist as he settled between her legs and positioned his cock to enter her sodden pussy.
“Here you are, Faith,” Arianrhod said brightly as she returned with the glass of water. “And what can I get you to eat?”
Faith glanced down at the menu she hadn’t bothered to open and her bottom lip disappeared between her teeth again. Kalvin shifted on his stool, his balls drawing up painfully at the sight. Christ, just watching the woman was going to make him blow his wad in his pants.
“Kalvin said there’s a chicken wrap on the lunch special, but he’s recommending the loaded double cheeseburger.” She clucked her tongue, flattened her hands on the counter, and made a humph sound. “I’ll have the cheeseburger, no pickles, and fries, please.”
“I’ll have it out shortly.” Arianrhod turned briskly and hurried to the kitchen to turn in the order.
Kalvin noted the lack of a wedding band on Faith’s hand as he propped his elbow on the counter and turned slightly to face her. Come to think of it, she wasn’t wearing any jewelry at all. No makeup either, save for the light pink lip gloss glistening on her mouth. He preferred his women that way, naturally beautiful without any of the manmade garbage that covered it. “No pickles?”
“Let’s just say I’ve had enough sour stuff lately,” she said without meeting his gaze.
The woman for you isn’t on the island yet. She’s got dyed jet black hair and frightened blue eyes. She’s running from something or someone and, when she gets here, there’s going to be trouble.
Words Arianrhod had said to him and Blaze on more than one occasion echoed through Kalvin’s mind as he studied Faith. It was her. Even if he’d never heard the prediction Arianrhod had gotten from reading her tea leaves or tarot cards or whatever the hell she did, he’d known it the instant he’d turned and saw her standing here. The realization had been like a fist squeezing at his heart. He’d never believed in love at first sight. Hell, he still didn’t. What he couldn’t deny no matter what he believed was the intense, magnetic attraction he was feeling right now. This woman was the one he and Blaze had been waiting for, the one who would complete them, and the one they would have to go keep safe from whatever demon was chasing her.
“You’re not likely to find a lot of sour stuff on this island,” he said, hoping to comfort her. “We’re just
a bunch of laidback islanders who welcome visitors with open minds to our alternative world.”
That brought a more genuine smile to her luscious lips. “Alternative world. That’s a good description. I read about the island last night in my suite at the resort, about how it was purchased and developed for the sole purpose of giving people who live alternative lifestyles a place where they can feel like they belong.”
“Is that why you came to the island?” Would she tell him the truth or would she make up another lie like she’d done with her name?
She held his gaze and the look in her eyes was so serious he knew whatever she was about to say was going to be the truth.
“I’m here for a vacation, to get away from it all, and enjoy life for a little while. Things at home have been…rough.” She shrugged. “I could use some downtime, if you know what I mean.”
Okay, so it was the truth, but he was pretty sure it wasn’t all of it. “Well, if you read the brochures, you know the island has a lot to offer in the ways of downtime.”
“Including eccentric women who believe they can see through my skin.”
Kalvin barked a laugh. If she only knew…“You must mean Elen. She’s a fabulous woman. Eccentric, yes. Arianrhod is, too. But, they’re good people.”
“Elen was very sweet. Her assumptions made me a little uncomfortable, but I took an instant liking to her.”
Did you take an instant liking to me, because I damn sure have to you?
Son of a bitch, he hadn’t expected this. He’d known the woman barely five minutes and he already wanted to find out what kind of trouble she was in so he could fix it and they could move on with their lives together.
He made a mental note to ask Elen about those assumptions. He’d never really believed in magic and prophecies and all that jazz, but he damn sure couldn’t deny Arianrhod had been right so far about what she’d told him and Blaze.
Arianrhod returned to the counter with their orders, made sure they didn’t need anything else, and quickly scurried away.
Safe and Burning with Ecstasy [The Heroes of Silver Island 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 2
