“And in the summers you’ll only do it with me.”
Carly let out an exaggerated sigh. “Okay. I promise that, too.”
“Good. Now get your homework or whatever done. Didn’t you say you had an English paper due?”
“History. And I already did it. You read it Friday night, remember.” Carly gave her classic roll of the eyes.
“So you did. Okay.” Leena stood and stretched. “Well, I have to go look through the books and figure out how to reverse these spells.”
“I’ll come with you.” Carly scrambled off the bed. “I promise I won’t do anything. I’ll just watch.”
Leena hesitated.
“Please?” Carly added. “What’s the harm?”
“Oh, okay.” The harm had to do with the fact that she hadn’t used her powers in over three years. And here she was doing it twice in one day. At least Carly had forgotten about the kitchen door incident.
Carly trailed her to the room that had been their mother’s workroom. Leena dusted off the Spell Work Book and the Book of Powers. She instructed Carly to find the spell she had cast while she sat down to refresh her memory about using her powers. Calling forth her witch-side negated any chance of a normal relationship with Vince. They were worlds apart. The dark, cursive writing blurred as tears filled her eyes and she swiped at them in irritation. Had she ever had a chance with him? It was just one sexual interlude.
“Lee?” Carly’s hesitant voice pulled her back from the abyss of self-pity she was about to enter. “If you’re upset that you don’t know how to do it, I know someone who can help.”
All thoughts of Vince and his sexy hands flew out of her mind. “Who? And how do you know someone like this anyway?” Panic threatened to take over. Who had Carly been talking to? There were all sorts of insane witches and warlocks and demons out there.
“Gina.”
“Who’s Gina? Wait, Gina? As in next door? What the hell did you do now, Carly?”
“Okay, before you blow up, just hear me out. I talked to Gina. They’re witches, too. Her whole family. She said she could help but that you needed to talk to her first.”
Leena slumped back in her chair. “And why were you talking to her about this?”
“I sensed it, that she knew magic, I mean. And Puff ‘n Stuff agreed. So I just asked her about it.”
“You mean you just marched up to our nice neighbor and asked her if she was a witch?”
“Duh, no! I talked about magic and witches and finally Gina asked if there was something specific I wanted to know. And that’s how it happened. And she was much nicer about it than you,” finished Carly, her posture defiant.
“Sorry.” Leena knew she’d been very irritable with Carly recently. “What kind of witch is she?”
“I don’t really know. She said something about Tier One?”
Leena whistled. Tier One witches were very powerful and usually born into the line. Their mother had been a Tier Three and Leena herself had progressed enough to enter Tier Two, but never had.
“What exactly did she say?”
“She asked me to bring you over tonight. That’s what I was trying to tell you when you locked me out of the kitchen.” Carly’s dark eyes flashed in triumph.
While she may not entirely trust Carly’s intuition just yet, the cats she did trust. Leena shook her head. “Fine, let’s go then.” How wonderful if someone could extricate them from this mess.
Leena traced her sister’s footsteps to Gina’s house next door, lagging as doubts assailed her. There was no sign of Vince though the lights were on in his room. She heard him go out and back in. Must have checked on his car. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, she consoled herself.
Gina opened the door looking beautiful as always. Her green sweater, the neckline dipping low in front should have clashed with her red hair but didn’t.
“Hi, you two. I’m so glad you came. I was worried when I didn’t hear back from Carly.” Her husky voice ended in a laugh.
“We had to sort some things out.” Leena hesitated, her innate cautious nature not letting her trust completely.
“Of course, of course. Come in.”
“If it isn’t too late—”
“God, no! It’s Sunday night. I’m at home and bored out of my wits. Besides it’s only nine.”
She led them through the living room. Leena caught glimpses of an attractive arrangement of a futon and chairs and a gleaming coffee table before they walked into what was obviously a study.
“I thought this might be more comfortable.” Gina waved them to a brown leather sofa. “Please sit.”
Carly and she sat side-by-side, with Gina on a loveseat opposite them. “Tell me how I can help.”
Leena crept into the house trying not to wake the cats or anyone else. Exhausted after the bout at Gina’s house, she had one more thing to take care of before she crawled into bed. Carly had been sent to bed a while back. Once Gina confirmed the story with Leena, she suggested Carly leave them alone. When Carly protested, Gina firmly informed the teenager there were real and serious consequences to using magic negatively. And that she thought Carly should take some time to think about those consequences.
Leena wished she could deal with Carly as effectively. Of course it helped that her stubborn sister stood in some awe of Gina, who did turn out to be a Tier One witch from a long line of powerful witches. Carly had left and Gina helped Leena reverse the spells. At least she watched as Gina did most of the work. But she’d been called on to use her rusty powers and concentrate, add her energies to Gina’s as they called the working spell back.
They first handled the spell Carly had cast on Leena. They made it turn back its course. That was easier because Carly had it so jumbled it had no real coherent force. Gina directed its energy pattern to a rabbit haunting the tiny vegetable garden in her backyard. Then they focused on the joining spell. This once was much harder. It seemed like something held it back, not releasing it.
Gina said it could be Vince’s own feelings were now so entangled that it made it harder to call the spell. Or that something else was involved. Because it didn’t send any malevolent signals back, Gina decided to ignore it. She thought they were successful but there really was no way to tell until she met Vince and observed his reactions. And Leena wanted to see him like she wanted Carly to cast another spell!
She wrote her car insurance information on a piece of paper and scribbled a note with it:
I’ll have the insurance company contact you tomorrow. But just in case, here’s the information. Sorry—Leena.
She debated about adding the apology then figured he deserved it. A light shone from the space under his door. She bent and slid the white envelope through. She waited by the door. First, the creak of a chair, followed by footsteps toward her. He must have moved to pick it up. No further sound followed, no opening of the door, no opportunity to see him again.
She swallowed a sob and fled up the stairs. Once under the covers, the tears came hot and hard and for a long, long time.
Cupid stood in the shadows, watching the girl sleep, the stain of tears still on her cheek. He tried to keep that damn spell with Vince, but they’d been strong and he knew they would just keep trying, so he let it go. So they were as different as … as night and day. But his arrows had found them. By Jove, why couldn’t humans just do as they should?
Five
The incessant beep penetrated his sleep-fogged mind. Vince slapped at the alarm clock and opened on eye. Damn! It couldn’t be six already. He groaned, dragging himself through his morning ablutions. He eyed the door leading into the house. Even though he couldn’t hear anyone stirring in the house, he didn’t take the chance of running into the sisters. He left by the outside entrance.
In the morning light he examined his car again. It really wasn’t that bad—scraped bumper and a broken taillight. He fingered the paper he’d stuck in his pocket. Such a forlorn note. Her footsteps paused outside his door as if she expected him to come out. But he’d be
en in no mood to deal with her last night. Refusing to feel guilty, he drove to the nearest coffee shop and ordered a double espresso.
Vince was the first one at work. He got an hour of solid work done before a couple of the assistants filed in. Glancing at the clock, he wondered if Leena would show up. She had fifteen minutes. At five to the hour, he heard someone in the outer office and guessed it was her. After a half-hour of straining to hear what she was doing and trying to ignore her presence outside, he gave up the fight and strode out of his office.
There she was, hair tied back in a neat bundle, although wayward curls were already escaping to gather around her forehead and nape. He cursed that now familiar tug in his groin.
“Good…” she cleared her throat. “Good morning. I started on the research into their previous ads. Unless there’s something else…”
He hated how tentative she sounded. But he had no one to blame but himself. Why did just being around her make him forget he was the wronged one?
Sounding brusquer than he meant to, he replied, “That’s fine. Bring it to me when you’re done.”
He caught the flash of hurt in her eyes before she nodded, bending her head to the computer screen. She should set that thing at eye level. And what did he care if she got an aching neck? Besides, he still had a headache.
Vince got practically nothing done in the next two hours—beyond a few doodles. The events of the previous night filled his thoughts. Not the least of which was the delicious interlude in the kitchen. At one time he even found himself wishing Carly had arrived a half-hour later. Hell, even fifteen minutes later and he could’ve experienced what he knew would have been a damn hot ride. He adjusted his crotch and forced away the images of Leena on his lap, sated and dreamy. Instead he focused on the news he got later. Witches? Witches!
With a humph of disbelief he turned back to the drawing board—and found himself sketching a woman with wild curly hair entering a car. He balled the sheet of paper and threw it in the wastebasket.
Dammit! If they had put some sort of spell on him, he wished to hell they’d take it off. He just couldn’t operate this way. When she knocked, he was still staring at a blank sheet.
“Yeah?” He swiveled to face her.
“I put those ads together. Do you want to see them now?”
He sighed. “Yeah, sure.”
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to tack these up on the wall. Or maybe your whiteboard?”
He waved his assent, watching her lean up to tape legal sized sheets at about his eye level. Her soft, blue linen pants outlined her behind when she reached up. The white top molded the side of her breast just like he wanted to. He curled his hand around the arm of his chair. Damn, damn, damn!
Oversexed, Vince! Stop acting like a teenager.
When she began pasting printed words beneath each picture, he leaned forward. After taping the last one, she turned and waved him closer. Vince rolled his chair to the whiteboard and raised an eyebrow. “Well?”
She flushed. “These are stills of the ads for the car manufacturer for the last 3 years. Beneath each one are my impressions of the image being conveyed and the quarter’s earnings for the company.”
“That’s more than I asked for.”
“I know,” she twisted the side of her pants into a pleat. “I just thought this might give you a better picture of their sales. I can take the extra stuff down.”
“No, let it stay. I didn’t say it wasn’t good.” He studied the wall. Her impressions were on the mark, concise words conveying the overall image of the ad—American Dream, Mid-life Crisis. Yup, they certainly did market segmentation in the last year.
“Where did you get the earnings?” He could guess, but he wanted to know.
“Annual reports. Stock market archives.” She continued that nervous pleating of her pants. Feeling sorry for her—she was so obviously tense—he waved her to a chair. “Why don’t you sit down and take notes?”
He elaborated on her impressions, noting when sales went up or down, what images were associated with better figures. Of course there were other factors to consider, but this was a great start. Already he could see a couple of images in his head.
He outlined one for her and they tossed ideas back and forth. She picked up on subtleties he would normally have seen faster. Granted her opinion was mostly uninformed from an ad man’s perspective, but she brought the layman’s viewpoint to the table rather well. They continued until a loud rumble from her stomach reminded him it was past lunchtime.
“Sorry.” she looked so embarrassed and so damn cute it took all his control not to haul her into his lap and kiss away her concern.
“Don’t apologize. Want to go to lunch and continue this?”
She looked uncertain. “Actually, I have errands to run and I brought a sandwich with me.”
Aware of an unsettling disappointment, he gave a short nod. “Fine, I’ll see you in about an hour, then. I’ll need to get some letters out.”
“Okay, thanks.” She bit her lower lip looking like she wanted to say something more. Then she gave a slight shake of her head.
Sitting down to lunch at the bistro around the corner, he caught himself running a thumb over his lower lip.
Leena collapsed into her chair, willing herself to calm down. Now that he’d left, she had the shakes. After holding herself in all morning, she probably owed herself this mini meltdown.
Sitting with him, talking to him today had been one of the hardest things she’d done. Each time he waved his hand she saw him touching her. Every time he smiled she felt his lips on hers.
She practically inhaled her peanut butter sandwich and settled in to make some calls. First the insurance agent. She gave him the details and begged them to call Vince as soon as they could. Then the bank. Finding a way around the mortgage payments was not as easy, but at least now she had an appointment with someone for Friday.
To take her mind off the events of the previous day, she quickly typed up the notes from their morning discussion and emailed it to Vince. Phyllis stopped by and commented on the dark circles under Leena’s eyes. Waving it away to allergies, she tried to anticipate what Vince might need. She made notes about some letters the previous assistant had in her IN tray, then redid her budget on her yellow writing pad. No matter how she looked at it, they were in trouble. Even with Vince’s rent payment. Besides, who knew how long he would stay.
Funny how she still wanted him. She made a mental note to ask Gina how long the residual effects of the spell took to dissipate.
He came back in exactly one hour and she spent the afternoon jumping every time the phone rang or he walked by. By evening she had a raging headache.
Thank goodness Carly was with a study group tonight. She raced home, made herself a plain omelet and escaped to her room. Carly came home about nine. Leena was still awake when Vince came in—way past midnight.
The rest of the week was pretty much the same. The only difference was that he ate some cereal in the kitchen and made some coffee before leaving the house. She stayed in her room until he left. By Friday afternoon, her headache was permanent and her body throbbed with tension.
Vince leaned back in his chair, letting his shoulders relax. She left early, mumbling about an appointment. Thank goodness! Anymore of this and he had two options—fire her or shut the door and make love to her on the floor.
They hadn’t discussed her claim of being a witch, the spells, nothing. Her insurance guys had called and he got them to agree that he would get the car fixed at his dealer. He didn’t bother to tell her when the agent came to appraise the damage.
Grimacing at his cowardice, he tried to put her out of his mind. They’d come up with a list of keywords to add to the presentation. Where were they? Not in his email inbox. Leena must not have had time to type it up.
Stretching, he made for her desk and rummaged about until he located the yellow pad she took notes in. Flipping through, he smiled at her doodles of palm trees and what
looked like boats on the water. The next page made him pause. It looked like a budget and before he realized it was personal he skimmed the numbers. Must be her personal budget and judging by the columns, things didn’t look good for her. Underneath the four figures with the minus sign she’d written—sell house?
Quickly, he moved a few pages down and found the keywords. Taking the pad back to his desk, he typed them into a document then replaced the notebook.
Feeling guilty for looking over her personal accounts, he still couldn’t get it out of his mind. He remembered his deal with Carly. He should have given her a check for the deposit. It wouldn’t solve Leena’s problem but it might help in the short term. Better yet, he should just give her cash. Before he could analyze this urge to help Leena, he copied his presentation onto his flash drive, stuffed the papers he needed into his briefcase and left. He had to make it to the bank—he couldn’t withdraw that much from an ATM. Maybe, just maybe this might ease his lust, too. The desire he experienced around her was eating him alive.
Back at Leena’s house, he left the money in an envelope on the kitchen table with her name on it. Next he ordered a pizza and settled down to work, leaving his front room door open half way.
Sure enough, Carly stopped by. “Hi. You’re back.”
He grinned at her. “Yeah. How was your week?”
“Not bad. Not bad at all. Met this guy.”
Uh-oh. He didn’t think he could handle teenage confidences. He just wanted information about Leena from her. “Cool. So did I.” He winked at her.
Carly rolled her eyes. “Okay, I get it. You don’t want to hear it.” She sidled into the room, hefting her backpack on one shoulder. “Whatcha doin?”
“Working on my presentation for next week.”
“Yeah, Lee told me about this big thing at work.”
Big thing. He supposed that was a good way to describe it as any.
“Hey, I ordered some pizza. Want to join me?”
“What’s on it?” She asked, cocking her head to one side.
He couldn’t help laughing. “Meat lovers. It should be here in the next ten minutes.”
Stupid Cupid Page 5