Sexy to Go Volume 3

by Unknown

  “Bastard.” And she was gone.

  He stood, in the middle of his living room with his pants undone and gapping open, completely alone.

  Late afternoon sun, filtered through the green and rose colored stained glass framing the display window of Keller’s Flower Shop, cast warm light across the wooden floor. Audra, a broom in her hands, paused to take another quick glance around the place.

  Her mother had done a fantastic job with the shop.

  Even as tired as Audra was, she appreciated the beauty of the place. But tired didn’t begin to describe how she felt. Between the flight in, the installation dinner and whatever the hell that had been afterwords with Trigg, she was exhausted and not at her best by a long shot.

  But right now, much as she wanted to dwell on tall, handsome and how the hell had he managed to pull her into his dream, her first priority was her mother. And if the woman didn’t get off her feet she might just have to strangle her.

  “Mom.”

  “I know, darling. I know.” Her mother hobbled, crutches under her arms, over to a stand holding dozens of plants and, with practiced ease, pulled dried leaves from the back of several.

  “That’s what you’ve told me the last several hundreds times. You need to get off your feet.”

  “I —”

  “Mom.” Audra leaned the broom handle against the counter and took the dead leaves from her mother’s hands. “Why did you have me come all the way out here if you weren’t going to let me help?”

  “You are helping.”

  Right. Spoken only as a mother could. “I’m sweeping. I’m taking the trash out. Big help there.”

  “I don’t want to be a burden.” Her mother wrapped her hands around the crutches but her shoulders sagged. She squirmed under Audra’s gaze. Then she sighed. “Sometimes I forget who’s the mother and who’s the daughter.”

  The bell above the shop tinkled and soft chimes echoed through the shop.

  “Saved by the bell.” Her mother’s whispered words caught Audra and she spun towards her.

  “Good afternoon, ladies.” Trigg’s deep voice danced over every single one of her nerve endings. And she hadn’t even turned to greet him.

  Stupid memories. His mouth, warm on hers. Damn him.

  “Trigg.” Pleasure filled her mom’s voice. Lit up her eyes.

  Audra wrapped her frazzled composure tight, lifted her chin and took her time facing him. “Hello again.”

  “I’m so happy you two met last night. Although Audra’s been kind of closed mouth about the event.”

  Really? “I answered all your questions, Mom. How is that being closed mouth?”

  Her mother’s eyebrow shot up. Oh, how she’d hated seeing that when she’d been a teenager.

  “Ignore her, Trigg.” Her mother eased forward on her crutches to stand by Trigg. She patted his arm. “As exhausted as Audra was, I’d have thought she’d have slept better. But with it being her first night home, I think she needs adjustment time.”

  Audra’s mouth dropped. Closed. Dammit, Mom. Let’s just share every little damn thing.

  “Not a problem, Gayle.” He glanced at Audra over her mother’s head. Those blue eyes, so warm last night, were almost cool today. Wary. He touched her mother’s arm. “Gayle, shouldn’t you be at home, with your feet up?”

  “There’s so much to do and —”

  He frowned and his gaze flicked to Audra’s. “Isn’t that why your daughter is here?”

  Go ahead. Make me feel inadequate. Although that probably wasn’t fair. She doubted he could move her mother once she made a decision. And that decision was to stay here in the middle of everything.

  “Maybe I will put my feet up.” Weariness coated her voice. Real or fake? “A twenty minute nap back in my office would be nice.”

  Audra looked at her mother. Hard. What the hell was she up to? “Let me help —”

  “No. No.” Mom waved her off. “I’m not an invalid. Not yet. You two stay here and talk. I’ll be fine.”

  She watched her mother as she made her way behind the curtain separating the retail side of the shop from where all the work on the arrangements were done. “She’s doing so well. I’m not sure why I’m here.”

  “The fall scared her. She reached out.”

  Or she’s matchmaking. “She’s always been strong. A rock. For as long as I remember, it’s been her and me —”

  “And now, its just her.”

  Audra’s gaze snapped to his. “No, it’s not.”

  “I didn’t mean that in a negative sense.

  “Really? Could’ve fooled me.” And maybe she was feeling just a little bit guilty. For not coming home often enough? For not providing that perfect son-in-law?

  “You have your life. She doesn’t begrudge that.”

  With a frown, Audra turned to face him. “You’ve gotten really chummy with my mother.”

  “Yes, I have.” Simple. Direct.

  Hard to argue with.

  “But, Audra, your relationship with her isn’t something I’ve figured out how to approach —”

  “You said something like that last night. About approaching.”

  “I did?” Caution, heavy in his gaze, returned.

  “Yes.” What was it he’d said? Figuring out how to approach her. “I asked you last night, who are you?”

  That wariness slid over his face. His posture stiffened. “I answered you.”

  She waved a hand. Being on the offense felt so much better than the opposite. “Yeah. Yeah. Trigg Maddix. President of Maddix Construction and the local business association. But who are you and how the hell did you manage to yank me into your dream last night.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Don’t be coy, Maddix. We were both there. “

  “Still not following you.”

  “You. Me. Your house.” She flicked a glance towards his groin. “Your pants open. You said you’d been thinking about me.”

  Shock registered on his face.

  That was almost worth the price of admission.

  Almost.

  His eyes, widened for a mere second, narrowed. “You were wearing pink shortie pajamas.”

  Sudden and unexpected heat filled her cheeks. She loved those pj's. “So.”

  “They’re cute on you.” His gaze flicked to her chest then back to her eyes. “They’d be cuter off.”

  “Maddix —” No. She wasn’t letting him bait her. Wasn’t letting him hi-jack the conversation. “How did you pull me into your dream?”

  “You really were there?” Wonder filled his voice.

  She frowned.

  “I held you? Kissed you.” His gaze touched her lips. Lingered.

  Electric heat sparked over her skin. Her breasts, suddenly heavy, tightened as his gaze lowered.

  He reached out. Touched a strand of her hair.

  She turned her head, stepped back. Away from temptation.

  “All of that happened?” He met her gaze again. “How is that remotely possible?”

  “That’s what I asked you.”

  His head back, he stared at the ceiling. “Okay. I’d opened a beer and was relaxing before heading to bed. You were on my mind. That whole not interested when it was obvious you were attracted.”

  “Attraction doesn’t matter.”

  He lowered his gaze to hers. “Doesn’t it?”

  No debating. She motioned for him to continue.

  “I was thinking about you and must have fallen asleep.”

  Holding your cock. But she wasn’t going there.

  “I opened my eyes and there you were.”

  “That’s the part I don’t get. If it was just you and your dream, I could go with lucid dreaming. But I hadn’t even turned out my light. I wasn’t asleep.”

  “So we couldn’t have shared a dream?”

  She shook her head. “I’m an anchor. I don’t Dreamwalk.”

  “What?”

  “My job.” Shaky groun
d here. How did she explain without sounding like a nut case? But then, she wasn’t the one pulling people into her dreams.

  “Your mom said you’re some kind of special agent with a psychic unit.”

  Close enough to the truth. “I’m part of a special team.”

  “That involves Dreamwalking?”

  “Yes.”

  “Which is what?”

  “Exactly what it sounds like.”

  “And you, what? Dreamwalked into my house?”

  “No. I don’t Dreamwalk. Ever.”

  He frowned and she sighed.

  “I’m an anchor. I keep my partner, who is a Dreamwalker, tethered.”

  “That makes an interesting kind of sense.” Trigg nodded. “Do other anchors ever Dreamwalk?”

  “Some have. I don’t.”

  “Maybe you did. Maybe you’d fallen asleep and were having a lucid dream and were so overcome with desire, you found yourself at my house.”

  “Right. What do you know about lucid dreaming?”

  “I know that’s pretty much what I do.”

  She studied his face. “Walk me through your process.”

  He leaned against the counter. One side of his mouth lifted. “I use it to work through problems. I settle myself, bring up the issue in my mind and start sorting through different scenarios. Real time.”

  “How do you know you’re lucid dreaming and not, I don’t know, simply running things through your mind?”

  “Like the episode with you, it feels real.”

  “So if the issue is a person, that person is there with you?”

  “Well, it feels as if they are.”

  “Like Mr. Jones?” She tilted her head. “You handled him extremely well at the dinner last night. You end gamed him. He had no idea he’d been manipulated.”

  “Manipulated is kind of harsh.”

  “You go through these scenarios in your head. Figure out all the possible responses another person might have and then you have answers that give you your desired outcome. That’s not manipulation?”

  “That’s being prepared.”

  “Is that what you were doing with me? Figuring out all my possible responses to your desire for sex?”

  His eyes narrowed. He held up a hand. “I didn’t invite you to my house, Audra. You showed up.”

  “I showed up in your scenario.”

  “And you slapped me.”

  She curled her fingers over her palm. Phantom tingles still pulsed from the slap she’d laid across his cheek.

  Are you always such a tease.

  No.

  But forgive her, that was the first time she’d ever physically been in someone else’s dream. That close to forgetting herself. The closest she’d ever come to losing complete control. “You deserved it.”

  “Probably.” He rubbed a hand over his jaw. “I'm not normally that insensitive.”

  “That was special. Just for me?”

  “I didn’t realize you were actually there. I thought —”

  “It was all in your head?”

  “Yes.”

  “Have any of your other experiences been as real?”

  “Not even close.”

  “But you were trying to figure out how to get me to say yes to sex.”

  “I was fantasizing about you. Happy? Getting into your pants? Hell yes. Manipulating you? No. That’s not who I am.”

  “Isn't it?”

  “Dammit, Audra. I found a book on the laws of attraction. Power of attraction. Whatever the hell you want to call it. The basics? Visualize what you want. Visualize how to deal with problems. Visualize positive outcomes. I don’t like being caught flat-footed. I do like being prepared. For any contingency. How is that manipulation?”

  “When you effectively take another person’s choice away, whether they realize there was a choice or not, that’s manipulating.”

  “I haven’t taken anyone’s damn choice from them.”

  “You really don’t think so?”

  “You don’t think much of me, do you?”

  She held his gaze. “You pulled me into your dream, Trigg. I don’t know why or how that happened. I do know it wasn’t my choice to be there.”

  Trigg stared out his French doors, fists on his hips and legs shoulder width apart. Night had fallen, but the view of the valley mocked him with each little sparkling light superimposed on his reflection.

  Audra was wrong. Plain and simple. Wrong.

  So why the hell were her words eating at him?

  He hadn’t manipulated anyone.

  Jones still acted like the asshole he was and Audra had still said no to sex. How the hell had he taken any kind of choice away from either one of them?

  But Audra had shared his dream. She’d been there.

  Somehow.

  No damn sense at all.

  He pressed two fingers to the spot between his brows and rubbed at the ache centered there.

  The front doorbell pealed.

  With a last glance at himself in the glass, he twisted his head side to side then headed for the door and yanked it open.

  Audra Keller stood there, chin up and defiance bright in her eyes.

  Hell. And there was his devil.

  “Come in.” He swept his arm out and stepped back.

  She nodded once and something else crossed her expression. Uncertainty? Whatever the look was, it was gone now. But the thought of her being unsure hung there, as subtle as the light spiciness of her perfume as she passed him and entered his home.

  He followed her down the three steps to the lower level of his living room.

  “This looks exactly as it did last night.” With a frown, she stopped in the middle of the room.

  “You expected different?”

  She flicked a quick glance his way, not really making eye contact. “I kind of hoped.”

  “Why?”

  “Then it would be nothing more than a weird aberration.”

  “Why isn’t it?”

  “Details. They’re too accurate.”

  He nodded. Details were important, could make or break a deal. Made the difference between working through an issue or having it blow up in his face.

  Audra let out a deep breath then turned to meet his gaze. “I was too harsh on you earlier.”

  Knock him over with a feather. “What?”

  Exasperation pulled at her mouth, at her narrowed eyes. “You heard me.”

  One side of his mouth lifted in a half smile. “Maybe I wanted to hear you say that again.”

  “I bet you did.”

  “Why are you —”

  “I was assigning intention to your actions that might, possibly, not have been there.” She angled her head and towards the French doors.

  “You were reacting to something else, not to me?”

  With a sideways glance at him, she headed for those doors then stood staring out over the valley.

  He followed.

  “Awesome view.”

  “Yes.”

  She met his gaze in the reflection. “People are funny creatures. So many of us go to extreme lengths not to face our own inner demons. It’s easier to project our insecurities, our issues onto others rather than face ourselves.”

  “Are you always this direct? This honest?”

  “I try to be. I don’t always succeed.”

  “Do you mind if I ask —”

  “Yeah, I mind.” She dropped his gaze but her words were mild. No heat.

  So he waited.

  “I still believe there’s a fine line between intention and manipulation.” Her eyes closed for a brief moment. “Somehow, in a way we’re going to have to figure out, you brought me here last night. But you didn’t take away my choice. I was wrong to blame you.”

  And she hadn’t answered his question. So he continued to wait. To watch her in the glass reflection as he stood next to her.

  She sighed. “I’ve always hated this town. This place leaves me feeling inadequate. Less than everyone
else. Hell, anyone else.”

  “Clyde Jones.”

  The edges of her mouth tilted upwards. “He was a big part of it. My mom and I moved here my freshman year. Brand new kid in town. No father. No other family. And, to top it all off, I saw things. Knew things. In science class, early that year, I made the huge mistake of sharing something. I don’t even remember what it was. I do, however, remember Mr. Jones’ ridicule. Merciless.”

  “The man’s a bastard.”

  “I know that. But I hate this place.” She shrugged. “It’s home because Mom is here. But being here brings up all those inadequacies. Everything takes on too much significance. Becomes blown out of proportion.”

  “Like last night?”

  “Good try.” This time her smile was real. “Again, that fine line between intent and manipulation.”

  “But you overreacted?”

  “Mom thinks you’re perfect for me.”

  God, he adored Gayle. “What do you think?”

  Instead of answering, she reached over and took his hand. Squeezed. He tugged on hers and pulled her into his arms. The way she snuggled right against him and rubbed her cheek on his chest caught his breath.

  To be that young girl and be treated the way she had been. He wrapped his arms tight around her.

  “You’re not from here, but you’ve fast become a fixture. You’re even the damn business association president. You’re a part of this place.”

  He rubbed a hand over her back.

  “Inside, I panicked. Part of me was like hell yes, I want that man. The other part was screaming to run far away because you’re too ingrained in this place.”

  “Go back to the hell, yes part.”

  She leaned back, not quite out of his arms, and met his gaze.

  At least she wasn’t running. Not yet.

  He lowered his head, touched her lips with his in the lightest of kisses. A soft sigh slipped from her.

  “Audra.” He brushed his mouth across her temple. “You’re here for at least a month. Maybe two, you said.”

  “Yes.

  “Why don’t we take this a day at a time?”

  “Are you manipulating me?”

  “That depends. Are you going to slap me?”

  “I might.”

  “Then I might as well go for broke.” He tightened his arms and pressed his mouth to hers.

  She nipped his bottom lip then sucked it into her mouth.