by Deanna Chase
“You better.”
The line went dead, and Carrie turned back around to Austin. “She’s on her way.” Carrie raised her hand and made a circle motion, indicating the apron Austin was wearing. “What is that?”
He glanced down at the pink-and-black polka-dotted apron, complete with a frilly ruffle on the hem and a large bow that would normally be just below a woman’s bustline. “I told you I only had the one my mother left here.”
“It’s… cute.” She walked over to him and placed her hand on his chest. “If you weren’t still bleeding, I’d rip if off and have my way with you.”
His dark eyes turned heated as he wrapped one arm around her waist. “I’m not bleeding that much.”
“Um, yeah, I think you are.” She eyed the blood-soaked shirt.
His gaze followed hers. All the heat left his eyes as he muttered, “Damn. That’s not good.”
“I’ll be right back with a fresh towel,” she said and disappeared into the back of his house. Less than a minute later, she found him leaning over the kitchen island, letting his ass hang out.
Damn, he has a fine ass. Even when he’s wounded, she thought.
“Stop staring,” he said.
“Why?”
“You’re making me self-conscious.”
“It’s turning me on,” she said as she moved to stand behind him, a wet wash cloth in hand. Someone had to clean him up. If Mystia found him covered in dirt, she’d probably make Carrie do it anyway.
He chuckled. “You’re a sick woman.”
“I know. Want me to leave?” she asked, her tone full of mirth.
“Not on your life.”
Chapter 7
Austin ground his teeth together while Mystia poked at his backside. He was still hunched over the kitchen island, his ass on full display for both women. It wasn’t his finest moment, but he could deal with it.
“Tell me again how this happened,” the healer said, tucking a lock of her dark curly hair behind one ear. Her face was round and inviting when she smiled, but when she had her serious healer face on, she was more intimidating than Austin’s ninety-eight-year-old, tough-as-nails grandmother.
“I already told you,” Carrie said. “We were checking the perimeter of the greenhouse after seeing a bobcat. It startled me, and I accidently fell, taking Austin with me. The hand rake just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“And you were naked at the time?” Mystia asked him.
“Yes,” he said, sounding more irritated than he’d intended. The situation was already awkward enough. They didn’t need to rehash the details. Besides, he didn’t care if Mystia and Carrie were friends or not. The details of his private life were off limits.
“I see. I assume you were naked because you and Carrie were…”
“Mystia!” Carrie admonished, glaring at her friend. “That’s none of your business.”
“Of course it is,” she insisted. “As the healer, it’s my job to make sure everyone is on board with informed consent. I just want to make sure Austin here is being honest with you.”
“What—?” Carrie started.
“Why don’t you just say whatever it is you’re trying to say, Mystia?” Austin said, tired of the mental gymnastics. “I don’t have anything to hide.”
“Okay. Fine.” She stopped prodding at his wound and took a step back. “Does Carrie know you’re carrying around a love spell?”
“Yes,” Carrie said before Austin could even answer. “He’s been very careful with me. So, before you ask, no, I’m not under any spell.”
He sent her a quiet smile, his heart swelling with the knowledge that she was fiercely defending him to the healer. Mystia was her one really good female friend on the island. For her to take his side… well, it was confirmation that she was just as into him as he was into her.
Mystia took another step back and crossed her arms over her chest. “Okay, that’s good. But I don’t get it,” she said, meeting Austin’s gaze. “Then why cast one at all if you were just going to tell her about it?”
He let out a bark of laughter. “The spell isn’t new,” he said. “It’s over a decade old.”
“A decade. But… what?” She pushed off the counter and returned to his side, placing both hands on his cheeks. Her face scrunched up in confusion as she studied him. After a moment, she let go and shook her head. “Love spells just don’t last that long.”
“That’s what I thought,” he said. “But apparently there’s a witch down in New Orleans with extraordinary skill, because this one seems to be sticking around.”
“New Orleans,” Mystia said, her brow creasing. “Are you sure it wasn’t a Voodoo curse?”
He shrugged. “As far as I know, she was a witch. She was in the business of selling love spells.”
“Okay. Mind telling me about yours?” She pulled a small notebook out of her pocket. “I can feel it, but I don’t know how it works.”
“Sure.” He launched into the story and filled her in on the details, ending with, “I’ve seen over a dozen healers. No one seems to know how to combat this. And the witch I saw in New Orleans isn’t there anymore. I went back three months later, and her shop was closed. It appears, for better or worse, my lips are just off-limits unless I want to be stalked for the rest of my life.”
“Goddess above. That’s awful,” Mystia said.
“Hell no, it isn’t,” Cooper, her vampire boyfriend, said as he strode into the room looking as if he’d just stepped off a surfboard. “If I carried a kissing curse, I’d form my own damned harem and have them travel with me while I ski all the best slopes.”
Cooper was a vampire who worked at Witchin’ Impossible as one of their vamps from down under. He was one of the strippers who entertained the brides at their bachelorette parties. When he wasn’t ripping his clothes off, he spent most of his time traveling. Recently he’d taken up skiing while on a trip with Bradley, the semiprofessional snowboarder who was also a dancer at the club.
“Really now,” Mystia said, one eyebrow raised as she covered her patient’s backside with a towel Carrie had found in the guest bathroom. “Is that what you’re looking for? A bunch of mindless women to kneel at your feet and do your bidding?”
“Sure, who wouldn’t?” He grinned at her, clearly trying to push her buttons, and hopped up to sit on the counter. He ran a hand through his too-long blond hair, looking every bit like the former California boy he used to be.
“You’re a pig.” She rolled her eyes and flipped up part of the towel so she could go back to work on Austin’s puncture wounds.
“You think I’m hot,” he said, completely unconcerned about her reaction.
“Yeah. Sure. So hot I want to pour an ice bucket over your head,” she muttered.
He let out a hearty laugh. “God you’re fun to fuck with. Can you imagine me with a harem?”
“Yes,” both Carrie and Mystia said at the same time.
“Na.” He shook his head. “My girl would never go for that nonsense.” He winked at Mystia then turned to Carrie and Austin. “But if you guys decide to try a threesome with one of his groupies, let me know how it goes.”
“You really are a pig,” Carrie said.
“Agreed,” Austin chimed in.
“He’s just messing with you both. The idea of a threesome actually freaks him out,” Mystia said, shaking her head. “He has a fear of STDs.”
“I thought vampires were immune to diseases,” Carrie said.
“They are… for the most part,” Mystia said. “That doesn’t stop him from being wigged-out about the possibility. He figures he’ll catch the one thing no one has identified yet, and he’ll spend the rest of his immortal days battling some incurable crotch rot.”
“Why you gotta out me like that, Mystia?” he asked, his eyes still sparkling with mischief.
She looked up at her boyfriend and asked, “Why do you say things like that?”
He chuckled. “Just to see what you’l
l say. It’s always entertaining.”
Austin just stared at them through the entire exchange, awed by their interaction. “As strange as it sounds,” he said, “I do believe you two might be the perfect match.” Then he glanced at Carrie and wondered if anyone would ever say that about them one day. It was then something warm and comfortable and completely foreign started to settle in his chest.
His lips spread into a slow smile as she stared back at him.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Just thinking that one day, that’s going to be us; me trying to get a rise out of you and you putting me in my place.”
“Hey, that isn’t what happened,” Cooper said, indignant.
“The hell it isn’t,” Austin said to him. “I bet you pretty much do whatever Mystia asks you to do.”
“No, I—”
“Yes, you do,” Mystia said, not bothering to hide her laugh. Then she cleared her throat and added, “Cooper, can you go get my backup healer kit from the car?”
“Sure.” He jumped down off the counter and headed for the door, only pausing when the other three started to crack up. He glanced back at Mystia. “Cute.”
She shrugged. “Just proving a point. But I really do need my other bag. Do you mind?”
He rolled his eyes and disappeared out the front door.
“He’s adorable,” Carrie said.
“He’s all right, I guess.” But the smile on Mystia’s face said he was a lot more than just ‘all right.’
“You love him,” Carrie added.
“Enough of that,” Mystia said, all business again. “Unless you want to tell me about what’s going on between you and Austin here.”
Carrie met Austin’s gaze. Something sparked between them, something more than just physical attraction. The world around them seemed to slip away, and the only thing Austin saw was the girl he’d been half in love with for the last five years.
“Never mind,” Mystia said. “I’ve seen everything I need to see.”
Austin just bet she had. As a healer, she not only tended to physical injuries but also could sense emotions and mental states. There was no doubt she was privy to the emotional firestorm burning in his chest. Hell, she’d picked up on the love spell without even trying. Chances were the healer knew what he was feeling better than he did.
Cooper returned with Mystia’s bag. She gave him a bright smile and kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks,” she said. Then she turned back to Austin and said, “I’m going to stitch you up. After I’m done, no physical activity for two weeks, got it?”
“None? At all?” he asked, glancing at Carrie. He knew he must be radiating disappointment, but he just didn’t care. He still wanted her just as much as he had when she’d been naked in his lap while he brought her to ecstasy.
Mystia glanced between the two of them, recognition dawning in her big brown eyes. “Oh. Well.” She cleared her throat. “Nothing too strenuous. You don’t want to rip your stitches out. Just take it easy.”
Carrie beamed at her. “Thanks.”
“I don’t want to be accused of cock blocking,” she whispered to Carrie.
Austin chuckled, and when Mystia turned a bright shade of red, he was quite sure those words hadn’t been meant for his ears. “Don’t worry about it. Pretend I didn’t hear a thing.”
“Right.” She opened the bag Cooper had brought in for her and pulled out the sutures. “Do you want a local anesthetic?”
“No!” Austin and Carrie both said at the same time.
She laughed. “That’s what I thought.”
Chapter 8
“So,” Carrie said, sipping a cup of hot cocoa. “What now?” Mystia had sutured up the inside of Austin’s wounds with dissolvable stitches and then used her healing touch to close the wound at the surface of his skin. In the end, she’d left his ass just as smooth as it had been before he’d fallen on the hand rake.
“I still have plans for you,” he said, taking a sip of his own cocoa. He’d managed to change into loose sweats and a T-shirt.
Honestly, she’d kind of gotten used to the apron. His knees peeking out from below the ruffle had been kind of sexy. Heat coiled in her belly, and she wondered if there was something wrong with her. Lusting after a man wearing a frilly apron wasn’t exactly normal, was it? But it didn’t matter. She still wanted him. There was no question. “Are you sure?” she asked. “Are you still in pain?”
He shook his head. “The only thing I want to do is take you to bed.”
Well, there it was. At least he wasn’t being shy about anything. She smiled at him and put her mug on the counter. “If you’re ready, then I’m ready.”
He dumped his drink into the sink, grabbed her by the hand, and pulled her down the hall. “As much fun as we had in the greenhouse, I think it’s best if we keep this to the bedroom.”
She giggled and let him pull her into his room. It was clear a man lived there. The walls were gray, the bedspread blue, and the area rug was black. Black and white photos of the island were hung on one wall, while a large window took up the other. She started to wonder when he’d last had a woman there, but then she mentally shook herself. Never. Hadn’t he told her he’d been celibate for over seven years? Seven freakin’ years. Good goddess, she thought. Well, at least the pressure was off. Pretty much anything she did was going to be fine by him.
“Come here,” he said, pulling her in close to him. He placed his hands on her waist and this time instead of taking his time, he just yanked her shirt right off her. She hadn’t bothered to put her bra back on after their time in the greenhouse, so she stood half naked in front of him while he ran one hand down her chest and the other over her hip. “Jesus, just looking at you turns me on.”
“You’re too far away,” she said, leaning into him. She wanted her lips on his skin. Wanted to taste him, make sure he knew just how much she wanted him, too. She tugged at his shirt. “This needs to come off.”
He reached behind his head and yanked the garment off in one swift motion. “Done.”
She gazed at him, marveling at how beautiful he was. He had sun-kissed skin and rippling muscles everywhere, both likely from working outside in his outdoor floral bed. She didn’t know if he spent some of his time actually working out in a gym or if he was so fit from all his labors working his land, but either way, her mouth watered as she continued to gaze at him. She’d never seen a man in person as good looking as he was, let alone been with one who looked like he belonged on a magazine cover.
“Carrie,” he said, his voice soft, but gruff. “If you keep looking at me like that, I’m going to end up defying my healer’s orders.”
“Is that right?” she asked, running her hands over his muscular chest. “If you get too crazy, Cooper’s going to get another look at your ass.”
“I’m sure it’s worth it.” He reached for the waistband of her jeans, but before he could get the button open, a huge crash came from the other room.
“What the hell is that?” Carrie cried, reaching down to grab her shirt from the floor. Son of a bitch. What else could go wrong that evening?
“It sounds like glass shattered,” he said with a sigh and took off for the door, clearly headed to inspect what had happened.
“Wait.” She yanked her shirt over her head and ran to catch up with him. Once she was by his side, she slipped her hand into his, feeling as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
He squeezed her fingers, and together they walked out into his living room. Austin rounded the corner from the hallway and came to a complete stop, his body suddenly stiff with clear agitation.
“Brinn?” Carrie said, disbelief coloring her tone as she took in the woman’s outfit. She was wearing a red bustier with black lace, fishnet stockings, and what appeared to be thigh-high boots with six-inch heels. If that wasn’t enough, she had a riding crop in one hand and whipped cream in the other. She looked like she’d just walked off a porno set. “What the hell did you do?”
&
nbsp; The bride glanced over her shoulder, eyeing the broken plate-glass window. “Sorry about that. Darwin got a little antsy, and his magic backfired.”
“Darwin’s here?” Austin asked.
She waved a hand, indicating someone should join her. “Come on out here, love bug. My friends want to meet you.”
Love bug? Carrie mouthed to Austin, but he just shook his head in obvious disbelief. The short man Carrie had spotted with Brinn just before they’d left Witchin’ Impossible earlier in the evening rounded the corner wearing skin-tight leather pants and a matching leather dog collar. There was a dragon tattooed on his bare chest with the tail disappearing into his pants right at his trail line.
He was handsome in a nerdy sort of way, but when he leered at Carrie she took a step back and changed her mind. Darwin was definitely toeing that line into creeper territory.
“Darwin was dying to get reacquainted with our new lover. We were all friends back in the day, but it’s been a while since we’ve all seen each other,” Brinn added. “I didn’t realize this was going to be a foursome, but you’re pretty sexy, Carrie. I think we can make this work.”
“What?” Carrie sputtered. “Foursome? I think there’s been a misunderstanding.”
“No there hasn’t. Didn’t Austin tell you that we’re soul mates?” she asked sweetly as if she wasn’t spouting complete and utter bullshit. “You see, the moment we met I knew we had a connection. And then when he kissed me…” She closed her eyes and pressed a hand to her chest right over her heart. “I knew we were meant to be in each other’s lives forever. Right Austin?” she asked, turning to him with a lovesick, idealistic expression her face. “I know you seem to think we can’t make it as a couple, but that’s fine. I have Darwin and you have… Carrie.” She gave Carrie a tight smile, and Carrie figured the other woman was imagining clawing her eyes out. “So, it’s better if we just accept things as they are and have an open relationship.”