Anat’s laughter floated through the shop, tinkling gently like the bells at the door. Player loved the carefree sound.
“He did. He was such a brilliant man, and yet at his heart, he was a poet. An artist.” There was such love in Anat’s voice.
“Did he work for the government?” Player asked. “Zyah tells me he was a renowned physicist.”
“He worked for them at first, but then he had a falling-out with them and quit his job. I was a little scared. In those days, it could get frightening to oppose the government, particularly if you were in the kind of position he was in. Thankfully, we were left alone. They came around occasionally to ask him back to work, but he always refused. He had friends who thought as he did, that the president was moving too far away from the needs of all the people. It was a time of conflict in my country, and he didn’t want me involved. It was one of the few times when we didn’t share everything.”
Player didn’t look at Zyah. Anat’s husband had wanted to protect her—at least he hoped that was what he was doing. Player didn’t want Horus’s silence to be a betrayal.
“How wonderful that he gave you a charcoal drawing for your anniversary,” Anya said. “That he even remembered you had an anniversary.”
The women laughed, and Player made a mental note to remember the date he’d first laid eyes on Zyah. Anniversaries were important to women. If that was the case, he would have to get good at remembering them. He’d pass that information on to Reaper as well. Anya had laughed, but there was a little note in her voice that suggested she needed a little more care now and then. This shop was a gold mine for his Torpedo Ink brethren, whether they knew it or not. Preacher had recognized the genuine wisdom in Hannah.
A couple of years back, Torpedo Ink had worked with the Drake sisters and the women on the farm to end the stranglehold the Swords’ international president had on human trafficking. The man was a billionaire and had a few very lethal psychic gifts of his own. With a club as big as the Swords at his disposal, he hadn’t been easy to defeat, but with the combined efforts of the Drakes, Torpedo Ink and the women living on the farm with Blythe, and their psychic gifts, they had done it. Player had a great deal of respect for all of them. He knew the others in his club did as well. He hoped, like Preacher, they might avail themselves of some of Hannah’s wisdom.
“Horus—that was my husband’s name—always remembered every anniversary. He made me things.” Anat’s voice was soft with love.
“Was there something he had to look through to view the drawing?” Zyah asked casually. “Player says when he looks at it from different angles, he sees different things.” She frowned. “What kind of drawing did you call it?”
“Anamorphic,” he replied just as casually. Sabelia put a mug of coffee in front of him, and he looked up at her and smiled his thanks. “If you look at the picture through a special device, you see something different in the picture that no one can see just viewing it through the naked eye. Only a very brilliant artist could draw that kind of art.”
“I’ve heard of that,” Blythe said. “It isn’t exactly the same as the 3D images, is it?”
“Not exactly.”
Anat shook her head. “Horus didn’t ever have me look through anything to view the picture. I could see it just fine, but he had to. His eyesight wasn’t the best. He had to wear his monocle.” She laughed merrily, that soft little trilling sound at the end. Her hands went around the hat teacup, warming themselves.
“You still have his monocle, don’t you, Mama Anat?” Zyah asked. “It’s one of your treasures, like mama’s shawl.”
Anat nodded. “I thought he looked so handsome whenever he would put that monocle on his eye. He always had it on a fine gold chain. I teased him about it all the time. Ken, Zyah’s father, got him that chain. Ken was a marvelous man.” She smiled at her granddaughter. “Quite brilliant as well. A renowned astronomer. They got on quite well. The two of them were always together. Ken made the frame for my Horus’s anniversary gift to me, so of course, it means all the more.”
Player’s gut tightened. He couldn’t look at Zyah. He knew Anat’s sweet, guileless chatter about her beloved Horus and Zyah’s father, Ken, would be heartbreaking to her. No doubt that monocle was the device needed to display the bomb. And her father with his background in astronomy . . . Player hadn’t told Zyah his theory on how the man had entered their bedroom. He didn’t want to tell her.
The small bells in the shapes of hats tinkled merrily, inviting others inside. He looked up to see Breezy, wife of the vice president of Torpedo Ink, entering along with Soleil, Ice’s wife, and Scarlet, Absinthe’s wife. They came straight over to the table. No hesitation. He stood, making the introductions, knowing Anat was in her element. He wanted this for Zyah, but being surrounded by that many women was just a bit too much for him.
Alena and Lana sauntered in moments later, and Player started sweating. He glanced around the room. Sabelia was already adding tables and chairs to accommodate everyone. He helped her and then backed off when he spotted Hannah as she came out of the back room. She sent him a cheerful smile.
“Player. I was hoping you’d come back. I have another lotion I thought would be good for you to try.” She waved to Blythe. “Ladies. Thank you all for coming. I’ll be over in a few minutes. Is this your Zyah?”
“Yes.” Player was pleased but not surprised that Hannah would be able to pick her out among all the women. “And this is Anat Gamal, her grandmother. This is Hannah Drake Harrington. She owns the shop.”
“You made the lotion and cream Player brought home,” Zyah said. “I swear it was heaven after a long day on my feet. Thank you.”
“He was the one who thought of it,” Hannah said. “I was just happy to help. I hope you don’t mind if I borrow him for a few minutes. I have something else to show him while you ladies visit. The peach scones turned out particularly excellent.”
Zyah looked up at him, her eyes sparkling. In spite of the sadness she had to be feeling over the revelations about her grandfather, Hannah’s shop was a good place to learn the truth. There was magic there, a feeling of well-being. Combined with the company of the women extending their friendship to her and Anat, it seemed impossible to feel anything but good.
“Thanks for the rescue,” Player whispered as they made their way to the table in the corner on the other side of the room.
Hannah gave him her genuine smile. He knew the difference now. “You looked like you were having an excellent time, but you didn’t feel that way. Although you seem genuinely happy for Zyah.”
“She’s new here and doesn’t know too many people. Anat was robbed and beaten very severely. At the time, Zyah was in Europe, working there. She gave up her job and came home right away to stay with her grandmother and make her home permanently here. I want her to make friends. She’s managing the store in Caspar and wants to take a second job at Crow 287.”
“Alena’s restaurant. I hear the food is amazing. Jonas has been promising to take me there, forever. I’m going to have to twist his arm. Joley and Ilya are back, and she’ll go with me if Jonas persists in being a stick-in-the-mud. He loves to stay home at night. He says after working all day he just likes to put his feet up. Make that he doesn’t want me to go out because I might do something rash.”
Player tried not to laugh. “Do you do rash things?”
“Joley does rash things. Elle does them. I, however, do not.” She handed him the bottle of lotion she’d brought out from the back room and waved her hand at the little teapot sitting on the table. At once it began to sing.
Player tried not to notice when the teapot floated in the air and poured tea into her cup. A spoon whirled madly, stirring in honey. “You’re not just a little annoyed with him right now, are you?” He wasn’t mentioning anything at all to do with the tea.
“Now that you mention it, I might be.” Her hair flew in every d
irection, blond spiral curls springing around her face.
She waved her hand toward something behind him. Player took a whiff of the lotion to keep from turning in his chair. Had he mentioned that Zyah had such a special fragrance? Could Hannah have even managed to get that hint of cassis-raspberry facet? The blend of green floral mimosa. He was distracted until a plate of cookies floated to the table and landed beside her teacup. His coffee mug followed it.
“Why is it that men want their own way in all things?” she asked, her tone exquisitely mild, but her blue eyes turbulently stormy.
Player hoped this was one of those moments when a woman didn’t really want an answer. She wanted someone to listen. He did his best to look very interested in all she had to say. Any woman who floated teapots in the air commanded his respect. Jonas Harrington, whether he carried a gun or not, was crazy to annoy this woman on any level.
The silence stretched between them until Player realized it was very possible Hannah required an answer. He cleared his throat. “You do realize I came to you because I totally fucked up my relationship with my woman, right? I don’t have a clue why men do half the bullshit things we do, Hannah. I came here to learn from you, not to advise you. I’m trying to get the brothers to ask a few questions so they don’t ruin what they have.”
“You so deserve a cookie. They’re really good too. Take two.” Hannah beamed at him.
“You can’t really turn Jonas into a toad, can you? I think Sabelia threatened Preacher with turning him into one the other day.”
Hannah inspected her fingernails. “I have considered it. It would certainly serve him right. He doesn’t like toads, especially in his house or around his precious cars. He might just be having a bad day.”
Player couldn’t help grinning. “You really are a badass, aren’t you?”
“Yep.” She said it smugly.
“And a troublemaker.”
“Sometimes. When it’s called for. And it’s called for. Do you like that scent? Do you think she will? It will really work well for massaging her body. And it’s edible. When you massage this into her skin, you use a slightly different technique. Let me show you.”
Player extended his arm to her, and Hannah poured some lotion from a small cup she had set aside on the table into her palms. “You have to rub it to activate it. Here, smell it now.” She held her palm under his nose.
The fragrance reminded him of Zyah, but set off his addiction for her. He could taste her in his mouth. He had to work very hard to keep his body from reacting. The tea shop was filled with women, his lady included, and her grandmother, and he was having lustful thoughts triggered by the scent of lotion. Great. Just great. “That’s amazing, Hannah. It smells just like Zyah. How did you manage to do that when you’d never met her?”
Hannah brought the lotion back to her nose and used her hand to send the scent to her. “I got it right? I’m so glad. I made one for her to massage you with as well. Actually, I’ll confess, it was a collaboration between Preacher and me. He really is talented. His gift is so strong. Sea Haven attracts many with various talents of different strengths, but truly, his is quite rare.”
“You said Sabelia was apprenticing under you. Is she like Preacher?”
Hannah glanced up to look at Sabelia, who was waiting on two ladies at a table close to the large one where Zyah was. One of the two women was the physical therapist from out of town. She was having an animated conversation with a woman who looked to be about fifty. The two were laughing and seemed very relaxed. The older woman clearly knew Sabelia and had been in the shop often.
A shadow crossed Hannah’s face. “No, Sabelia is more like me. Everyone has to choose their own path. We can’t choose for them. I grew up in a loving environment. I don’t know what I would have been like with the kinds of powers I had if I hadn’t had a moral compass. Life has not been as kind to Sabelia. She has yet to choose her way. I can only hope that my genuine caring will influence her toward a better path.”
She reached for his arm. “Let me show you the pressure you’ll want to use on her back and down her body when you start. This has a cinnamic-honey background, and it will begin to heat, which, trust me, is what you want. You really will like the taste.”
He already knew that. He had it in his mouth without bringing his arm up to his lips. The temptation was strong.
The bells jangled loudly, a burst of sound, and Player instinctively jerked his head up. Hannah stayed very relaxed, not turning around. Lana and Alena went on alert. Blythe put her hand over her mouth, hiding a smile. Player took the entire room in with one look. He didn’t jerk his arm away from Hannah, but that was only because he was so disciplined. Jonas stalked across the room, fire in his eyes.
Jonas stood a foot from the table, fists on his hips, glaring at them. His gaze encompassed his wife and her delicate hands as they continued massaging Player’s arm, Player sitting with his mug of coffee and the plate of cookies close to him, and then those fiery blue eyes swept back to his wife.
“This again, Hannah? What exactly is going on here?”
“What does it look like is going on, Jonas?”
Player winced at that tone. So very low and sweet. There was one tiny little note that should have been a warning to any male with half a brain to put the brakes on. Even though Jonas was the sheriff and technically it wasn’t a bad thing for him to get taken down, Player wanted to warn the man. Hannah was no one to mess with. Jonas should know that.
“It looks to me like you’re holding hands with that man, that’s what it looks like.”
“You’ll need to turn that firearm in immediately. Clearly, you’re going blind. I’ll make an appointment for you with the eye doctor when I’m on my next break.”
Her hands never stopped moving on Player’s arm, her fingers working their way down his forearm and, honestly, it felt more than good, so he just relaxed and took a bite of cookie, beginning to enjoy himself.
Jonas glared at him. “I believe you’ve got your hands on my wife.”
“She’s right about your need for glasses, Jonas,” Player said, waving the cookie around, making certain Jonas got a good whiff of the awesome aroma. “My hands are on the coffee mug and this really excellent cookie. Did you bake it, Hannah?”
“I did, Player.”
Jonas made a sound of pure exasperation. “There are toads in my car, Hannah.”
Player nearly spewed coffee across the table.
Hannah raised a casual eyebrow. “How is that my problem?”
“Woman, you know damn well you had something to do with putting them in my car. Get them out.”
“I’m working, Jonas. I don’t have time to catch toads and put them in your car. I believe you’ve had problems with them in the past. It seems to me that you attract the toads to you.”
Jonas leaned over her shoulder and reached for a cookie. The plate slid out of his reach, and sparks hit the ends of his fingers, zapping him. Player decided he needed to be back with the women at the large table, where it was safe. He stayed very still. There hadn’t even been a surge of power, but the hair on the back of his neck stood up.
“Hannah. Princess. You’re upset with me.” Jonas’s tone changed immediately. Gentled. Was conciliatory. “This is about last night, isn’t it?”
She kept her face averted, but her fingers on Player’s arm dug deeper. He wanted to find a way to gracefully remind both of them he was there so he could leave, but suddenly the two of them were locked into a tight intimate bubble where it was only the two of them.
“Hannah, I was out of line, but you know I lose my mind when I think you’re in any kind of danger. That’s the one thing I can’t handle. That’s no excuse for the way I acted.” Jonas ran both hands through his hair. “I think better when I’m eating cookies, baby, you know I do.”
Player was impressed. He was all about learning from
the pros, and clearly Jonas was a pro. The plate of cookies floated straight to Jonas. He scooped up half the contents on the plate, smart enough to know if he blew it, he wouldn’t get a second chance.
“I want this for us, Hannah, but not at the expense of your life. We have to be safe.”
Hannah’s fingers dug so hard into Player’s muscle he was grateful he’d learned at a young age not to react.
“I’m not letting someone who wanted to hack me to pieces dictate whether or not I can have children, Jonas.”
The pain in her voice alarmed Player. The sorrow. It went so deep he was afraid if she let it loose, everyone in that shop would drown in it.
“No one will dictate to us, Hannah,” Jonas assured. “We just have to find a better way than last time. A safer way.”
Player cleared his throat to remind them both that he was there. “Jonas, if she cries, I’m going to pull that gun out of the holster and shoot you right in front of all these women here. So better I just go over to the table where some of my crew is leaving. I can say good-bye and you can grovel like you should without a witness.”
The love between the two of them was right out there where anyone could see. Unashamed. Strong. The way Czar and Blythe were. That was what Player wanted with Zyah.
Hannah let go of his arm immediately. “I’m so sorry, Player, you didn’t need to get caught up in our drama.”
“Anything to do with toads is always fascinating, Hannah,” Player said lamely as he slid off the chair. He nailed the last remaining cookies for himself, figuring he’d earned them. “We’ll be here for a while. Anat wanted to sample your luncheon special, so after the others leave, we’ll be eating.”
Hannah nodded. “That’s good. I can show you after and maybe work a little with Zyah.”
Player made his escape just as Soleil, Anya, Breezy and Scarlet left. Blythe and Zyah took Anat to the ladies’ room, leaving him to join Alena and Lana. As he did, Terrie Frankle, the physical therapist, waved them over to her table.
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