Or not. The truth was that a tiny, miniscule part of me wished I’d never met Ben, had never seen that damn drawing or the three others. Because as much as I wanted to be with him now, the whole kit and caboodle surrounding that want was just too damn hard. I barely knew him, yet felt as if I’d known him forever. Which was crazy. And yes, without the knowledge I currently held, staying with Kyle would for the most part have been enough for me.
But I had met Ben. I had seen those drawings.
“Fuck,” I murmured again, as a light knock sounded on the door to the back room, followed by the door creaking open.
“What’s up, Paige?” My voice came out muffled, because my forehead remained pressed against the desk. “Need help with something?”
A rumble of deep laughter met my ears. “If that’s an example of your psychic powers, I’m not impressed.”
Ben! Just that quickly, the wish to have never met him vanished. Lifting my head, I tried not to smile too hard as he approached. Today he wore a dark gray suit, white shirt and a black tie. He appeared formidable, larger than life and totally hot.
“I’ve never claimed to be psychic.” While I far preferred the jeans and cowboy boots look, this wasn’t so bad. “Calling you Paige was more of an assumption.”
“I met her out front. When I gave her my name, she said I could come on back.” He leaned one delicious hip against the side of my desk. “Hope you don’t mind.”
“No! Of course not! I’m…uh…happy to see you. Surprised, though.”
“I was in the area for a meeting. Thought I’d stop in and thank you again for Sunday.” His gaze zeroed in on me, and the corners of his mouth twitched. “Do you realize you have a paperclip stuck to your forehead? It’s quite fetching. Almost sexy.”
My hand shot to my forehead. “Great. Just great.” I sighed and peeled it off.
Bright sparks of humor glittered in his eyes. “Now you have the imprint of a paperclip on your forehead. Catching a nap while Paige works the front?”
“Not napping. Thinking about you. About our date.” The admission slipped out before I could squelch it. “Wondering again if you had fun or not. I didn’t know the park held bad memories for you,” I said softly. “I’m…uh…sorry. I should have checked it out with you before going there.”
“The park doesn’t hold bad memories for me. Good ones, actually. It was just…difficult to be there.” He cleared his throat. “But I had fun, and I’m glad you chose that particular destination.” Drumming his fingers against the desk, mere inches from the folded up drawing of us together, he said, “Glad I was there with you.”
“Yeah? Really? Even with whatever was bothering you?”
“Of course. You’re fun to be around, Chloe,” he said, neatly avoiding my reference to his moody behavior. “I have a question for you. I hope you’ll say yes.”
“Yes,” I said immediately, not caring at all what the question was. I was quite content just staring at his face.
He gave me his sexy-as-sin smile and I melted. It was, at once, that simple and that complex, that thrilling and that scary. “You don’t even know what I’m going to ask. Maybe I want to take you skydiving this weekend. Feel like jumping out of a plane?”
Ha! I resisted sticking my tongue out. “You made your point. What’s the real question?”
“There’s a charity event happening next Friday night. My firm is hosting it, and I was wondering if you’d like to go with me. As my date.”
I tilted my head to the side, pretending to give his offer serious consideration. “Hm. A week from this Friday? I’ll have to check to see if I have plans.” A date—a real, honest-to-goodness, go-out-and-have-fun date with my someday groom that was totally his idea! Okay, maybe totally his idea. But still…a date! I sent a silent prayer of thanks to Miranda. “Let me see.” I grabbed my datebook and flipped to the appropriate page.
He leaned forward. “Seems you’re free.”
“So it does. So, yeah, I should be able to make it work. What kind of event is this?”
“Like I said, it’s a charity thing. It might be boring through dinner,” he warned. “But afterward, it should be fun. Casino theme, including roulette, craps, poker and blackjack. You like to gamble?”
Remember that happy little bubble from the other day? It was back. In force. “Love it. What time? And where is the event being held?”
“Oh no, Red. I let you drive on our first date. I’ll do the driving for this one, so you’ll have to cough up your address.”
Grabbing the Post-it pad near my computer, I scrawled my address and phone number down. I slapped the note on his suit jacket. “There, all coughed up. But I still need to know a time, and is the dress formal?”
A wicked gleam gathered in his baby blues. “I can’t hear you, Chloe. You’ll have to speak up…or come closer.”
Delicious shivers of anticipation danced over me. “Oh, I will?”
He cupped his ear with one hand. “What?” Patting the desktop, the gleam brightened. “Can’t hear you.”
Stifling a laugh, more than happy to oblige, I pushed a sheaf of papers to the side, including the oh-so-incriminating drawing, and slid onto the desk, mere inches from where he leaned. “Okay, so…what time, and is the dress formal?” I asked again in a lower and, hopefully, sultrier voice.
“Dinner is at eight.” He touched my lips, the feel of his finger surprisingly gentle and erotic at the same time. In a slow, sure, sensual glide, he began tracing my mouth’s outline.
“So…” I gulped. “You’ll pick me up around seven-thirty?”
“Let’s say seven.” Oh so slowly, he swept his thumb over my bottom lip. My mouth trembled, opening slightly. He continued brushing the lower line of my lip, his thumb dipping down and then up around the contours of my mouth, until it reached the opposite corner. “And yes, the dress is formal.”
“Sounds…wonderful,” I breathed.
“I’ve been thinking about you,” he admitted.
Just kiss me already, I thought. “Good stuff, I hope.”
“Good…? Yes, you could say that.”
Kiss me, Ben. Lean over, pull me to you and kiss me.
His entire body surged forward. He wove all ten fingers into my hair, dragging my head toward him. Fathomless, bluer-than-blue eyes met mine, searing in their intensity as he came closer…closer…closer, until his lips found mine in a hard, ravaging kiss. My mouth parted easily when his tongue thrust inside, eliciting one shudder after another of heavy want from me.
I moaned and moved my hands to his chest, wishing we were somewhere else, somewhere exquisitely private, so I could rip his shirt off. So I could run my fingers over his skin, feel his muscles as they tensed against me, rub my hands over his bare back. Need and desire were making me wet, making me ready for him. I pushed my tongue into his mouth, tasting coffee and something else, something sweet.
His hands swept to the base of my neck, his thumbs pressing lightly at the nape, his fingers curving around and brushing lightly over my collarbone. A swirl of sensations, of longing, rushed up from between my legs, spreading through my limbs and turning my skin to fire. I wanted him now, right where we were.
“We…Paige,” I murmured against his mouth as a dose of cold reality, of common sense, clicked in. “Not…here.” With great difficulty I pressed on Ben’s chest, pushing myself back, my lips swollen, my body vibrating with need. I buried my head in his shoulder, focused on breathing slowly and tried to cool the inferno of my senses.
“What are you doing to me, Red?” he asked, his breathing ragged. “I don’t ravage women in the backs of stores. Or at an amusement park, for that matter. I feel like a horny sixteen-year-old.”
“We have chemistry. It’s…magical.” I spoke the truth, if not all of it. “And we’re both consenting adults. Relax and go with the flow.” And while you’re at it, I thought, fall head over heels in love with me. Please.
He grasped my hips with both hands, tugging me so that my botto
m slid a few more inches along the desk. “Where the hell were you when I was sixteen?”
“I don’t know. But when I was sixteen, I was stealing cigarettes from my aunt and barely passing algebra. You wouldn’t have liked me then.”
He kissed the top of my head. “Why not?”
No magic, that’s why not. But I couldn’t say that, so I went with the other truth. “I was a total cliché: the girl in the shadows reading poetry and daydreaming about the future. Other than a few friends and my sister, I was fairly invisible.”
Speaking with absolute assurance, he said, “I would have seen you.”
Tears pricked my eyes, because that one little statement softened the calloused heart of the sixteen-year-old girl who still lived inside of me. She’d been sad, that girl. But then, several months later, Kyle had come along and made me happy. The happiest I’d been in years. Shoving the memories out of my mind, I shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not. But you see me now. That’s what counts.”
We stayed that way for a few minutes. “I should go,” he murmured, his lips on my hair. “I have to get to the office for another meeting.”
Regret simmered in his voice, and I smiled. “I want you to come to dinner before next Friday. So we can have some privacy.” Looking up, I lightly touched his lips. “So we can be alone.”
Hunger and desire roared to life in his eyes. “How about this Friday?”
“Sounds perfect.” I stood from the desk and tugged the Post-it that was still amazingly stuck to his suit jacket. “Don’t lose this.” I folded the paper into a little square and tucked it in his hand.
“I won’t. Mind if I wait a few minutes before leaving? I’m…ah”—he lowered his chin—“not fit to be seen in public.”
My eyes drifted downward. “Wh—? Oh! Yes, of course.”
“You’re all red again, Red. And today you can’t blame it on the sun,” Ben teased. “I think I’m going to like being your rebound guy.”
My heart fell in two all over again, but before I could come up with a response appropriately flirtatious yet noncommittal, a loud knock pulled my attention. “Come on in, Paige,” I called, knowing she probably needed to leave.
She stepped into the room with a saucy-ass grin. “Sorry to interrupt, but I gotta get out of here or I’ll be late for class. And I’m parked a couple of blocks away.”
“I can give you a ride to your car if you want,” Ben offered. “I’m right out front.”
“Cool! That would rock.” Dashing to the cupboard, she grabbed her backpack. “I’ll just wait…um…out there for you.” She slipped out of the room as quickly as she’d appeared.
“That’s really nice of you, offering her a ride. Thank you.”
“It’s my fault she’s running late. But…do you have a book or something I can use for…er…camouflage?” It was his turn to blush. My smile returned.
“Just take your jacket off and carry it in front of you. It’s probably pretty warm out.”
“Smart as well as beautiful.” Doffing his jacket, he folded it over one arm. “Come here.”
I stepped forward, and he leaned in, giving me one more kiss, albeit a short and fast one. “I’ll see you on Friday,” I said when we separated. “Say, around seven?”
He agreed and took off. As for me, I collapsed in my chair and closed my eyes, listening for the bell on the door. Paige would’ve told me if any customers were in the shop, so I felt safe giving myself a few minutes to calm down, to find my balance. I touched my lips, reveling in the sensual hum Ben’s kisses had brought to life inside of me. Why my physical reaction to him still stunned me, I didn’t know. I wondered if I’d ever get used to such a strong, visceral response.
I hoped not. How awesome would it be to marry a man who could do that to you for the rest of your lives together? A man who could make you hotter than hot with just a kiss? That little thought piqued my desire again, so I inhaled a breath deep into my lungs and then pushed it out. “This is
not the way to calm down,” I whispered.
“Chloe? I waited out front—”
I jumped from the chair so fast that I banged my knee on the desk. It hurt like hell. Very likely, I’d have a bruise there within the hour. Turning toward my unexpected guest, I worked hard to keep my voice even. “I really wish you’d have knocked on the door, Mari. You scared the crap out of me.”
“I—I’m sorry. I waited out front but you weren’t there. I…” She hovered near the door, dressed in the same clothes she’d worn the last time. I felt like a heel. Again.
“Hey, it’s okay. You just surprised me! Was Paige helping you with anything before she left?”
“Paige? The girl with the dark hair? No…I don’t think so. She d-didn’t see me.”
Annoyance blistered over me. It wasn’t like Paige not to pay attention to customers. But then I realized that Mari had likely walked in as Ben and Paige were leaving. Which was why I’d only heard the bell once. “Okay, that’s fine. What…um…what can I do for you?”
Eyes filled with pain and confusion settled on me. “I don’t know. I…I think I need your help.”
I told myself to proceed carefully. “I’ll be happy to help if I can. How old are you, Mari?”
Her chin trembled. She shook her head slightly, as if in a daze. Again, I wondered if drugs were involved, but her eyes looked clear and she appeared healthy. Physically, anyway. “Sixteen?” she murmured. “I think I’m sixteen.”
“You don’t know how old you are?” Maybe the girl suffered from some type of mental illness. That thought brought a tremor of apprehension, because I was, after all, completely alone in the shop.
“I’m sixteen. I’m sure of it,” she said with more decisiveness.
Then she should be in school. But I didn’t mention that, because if she were in trouble, the last thing I wanted to do was send her scurrying away. “Is there anyone I can call for you? Someone you trust?” She didn’t respond, so I pushed forward. “A teacher? Your mom or dad? Another relative? A neighbor, perhaps?”
Fear loomed in her sky blue eyes, in the hunched way she held her body. “There is no one I can talk to except for you. It has to be you.”
Okay, I was completely out of my league here. But the desire to help flooded in, drowning out all of the perfectly sound reasons why I should excuse myself and make a quick phone call to the authorities, to someone who might be able to get to the bottom of this, to someone who might be able to offer Mari real assistance. Instead, I said, “If I can help you, I will. What do you need?”
“I don’t know.” She said the words with despair, with a ring of finality that made zero sense. “I just know…I feel that you’re the only one who can help.”
“Is someone hurting you?”
She blinked, and a solo tear dripped down her cheek. “Please help me.”
Oh, God. “If someone is hurting you, we can get you help. But you have to tell me what’s happening. Is it your parents? A boyfriend?”
The barest shimmer of light grew, as if the sun shone through a window behind Mari, illuminating her. But there wasn’t a window, just a wall and the door. “My mother…She was sad and crying. I was mad and…” Mari broke off, overcome by emotion. By memories, by something I didn’t understand.
Perhaps she was a runaway. The desire to help her, to understand, curled in my belly in a pulsating wave of pure energy. Comprehension that my magic, my ability, might give me the answers I needed, the power to actually offer assistance to this girl, slammed into me. I grabbed onto it with everything I had, letting the magic rip through me, allowing the power to take control, feeding off of my emotions and off the emotions I felt emanating from Mari.
Without thought, without dissecting what I was doing, I reached for her, my magic strong and forceful, once again burning through my blood, glittering and glistening and glowing on my skin. She gasped and took a step backward. The light around her brightened to a clean, pristine white that nearly took my breath away. I focused in on the l
ight, the barest of images beginning to appear within it, startling me.
Pushing myself mentally, I fought to clear the haze that covered the image, fought to see what my magic was trying to show me. I imagined peeling back layers, like on an onion, one at a time, to reveal what the light hid. Only the harder I worked, the more my eyes watered. A rush of dizziness swooped in, making my vision swim, turning the room topsy-turvy.
I held on, intent on using my magic for good, intent on helping Mari. The faintest outline of the image began to come into focus, so I pushed myself harder. I saw darkness. I saw two streams of beaming light. I heard a scream, then another.
“Are you okay?” Mari’s concerned voice came through the fog.
I nodded but didn’t speak. Hurt, pain, loss and betrayal twisted in my mind. Anger. Lots of anger. Again, I tried to focus in, tried to see the rest of the image, tried to understand, but the sound of a bell broke my concentration. In an instant, the magic bled from my body, the light and the image around Mari dissipated, disappearing as if neither had ever existed.
My entire body shook. My skin was ice cold and covered in a light coat of perspiration. I attempted to breathe evenly, waiting for the effects to subside, not daring to talk. I heard a voice call out, “Excuse me? Is anyone here?” And then, all at once, I realized where I stood, what the sound of the bell signified.
“Someone’s in the shop, Mari. I—I have to get out there. Wait. Wait right here and I’ll be back as soon as I can.” I looked at her. “Do you understand? I’ll be right back.”
She tilted her head, and her sky-blue eyes searched my face before she nodded. “I understand.”
“Okay. Good. Just wait.” I stepped around her and tried to walk straight, but felt as if I’d just downed several glasses of wine in quick succession on an empty stomach.
The customer in the shop wanted advice on cleansing her pendulum, as well as information about how to use charts in conjunction with it. I answered her questions and showed her the charts we carried, pointed out a few books that dealt with dowsing, and finally rang her up. By then, two other customers were in the shop. I blew out a sigh of frustration. The pair had arrived together, were apparently friends, and their slow, methodical appraisal of one item after another showed they weren’t in a hurry.
A Breath of Magic Page 12