by Megan Hart
“Hi. I’m Jon, from 1-B.” He held aloft the package, discreetly wrapped but with the name of the company emblazoned all over it as bold as anything. “They left this at my door, but it’s really yours. I mean, if you’re Melissa Benjamin.”
She should be embarrassed only if he knew that Garden of Eden was a sex toy company, Mel told herself as she held out her hands. “Oh. Thanks. I am. But you can call me Mel.”
Their fingers brushed as he passed it to her. The zing was a total cliché, but she felt it anyway. All through her. He felt it too, because he jumped a little, eyes going wide. There was even a spark.
An actual spark.
“Ouch,” Mel said with a laugh. “Sorry about that. Static.”
“Yeah.” Jon looked at his hand, wiggling the fingers, then back at her. “That’s all it was.”
It seemed kind of a strange thing to say, but she was so taken by those gorgeous hazel eyes, that hesitantly quirking smile with a hint of straight white teeth, the broad shoulders and lean waist… She was staring. Gape-mouthed, no less. Like a freak.
“Um…you’re new,” she managed to say. “To the building. You moved into Mr. Henry’s place, right?”
Jon nodded and put the hand that had been shocked on her door frame. He leaned a little, one long leg cocked. “Yeah. Just moved in yesterday.”
“It’s a great building.” God. Those legs. He was so tall. She’d have to stand on her tiptoes to reach his mouth with hers… Mel gave herself a shake and found a smile. “You’ll like it here.”
“I like it already.” His smile warmed her, even though it didn’t quite reach his eyes.
Those eyes.
Damn it, there she went again, mooning like some horny schoolgirl with a crush. The package rattled as she tucked it closer to her. Was it possible to be addicted to a sex toy? Was she going through withdrawal? It had been only a week or so. Even for a woman who viewed orgasms as much a part of her daily routine as taking her vitamins and brushing her teeth, that hadn’t been long enough to turn her into some kind of sex-starved lunatic…had it?
“You should come inside.” The words popped out of her without warning, but Mel was already backing up and stepping aside to let him in.
Jon looked surprised. A second later, wariness flickered across his face, gone so fast she couldn’t be sure that was what she’d seen. His smile got a little bigger, and he moved past her into the living room, turning as he did so he could face her.
“Would you like something to drink?” Her package rattled again. Her hands were shaking a little, the way they did when she forgot to eat lunch. Except she hadn’t forgotten. She hardly ever forgot. She wasn’t even hungry, unless it was for a good old-fashioned rogering…Mel let out a squeak.
Jon tilted his head a little, looking her over. “You okay? You look a little flushed.”
“Oh. Hot in here.” She fanned her face. “I should open the windows.”
“The weather. It’s changing.”
It was a stupid, stilted conversation. They stared at each other. Mel made sure her mouth was closed this time, because the way she was feeling she wouldn’t be surprised if she drooled.
“A drink,” she said suddenly when a long minute had slipped past while they gazed at each other like long-lost lovers. “I have water, juice, cola. A beer. Could I get you a beer? Shot of whiskey? I think I have some tequila…”
God. He’d think she was a lush. Mel clamped her lips closed against the torrent of words, but more came out.
“Iced tea,” she blurted. “I brewed it yesterday. It’s good. Sweet. With lemon.”
“That sounds great.” Jon sounded relieved.
“Great!” Mel backed up toward the dining room, the kitchen just beyond. “Come with me. I’ll get it.”
She turned her back, the package still clutched in her hands, and swallowed hard. The scent of lilac suddenly seemed overpowering and didn’t help this weird light-headedness threatening to trip her up. In the tiny galley kitchen she put the package on the counter and pulled the jug of iced tea from the fridge. Then two glasses from the cupboard. She filled them both and handed one to Jon, then gulped her own. The sweet, cold liquid helped, but only a little.
He only sipped at his. “Have you lived here long?”
“A couple years.” The sweetness now seemed cloying. Mel licked her lips.
His gaze went to her mouth. It brightened. When her tongue swiped again, his lips parted.
“Do you like it here?”
“I love it,” she heard herself say in a low and throaty voice that sounded nothing like her own.
Jon backed up a step, but there wasn’t really anyplace to go. His hip nudged the kitchen cart holding her toaster oven and knife set hard enough to make the knives clatter in their holder. The tea sloshed in his glass.
“How much?” His voice was hoarse too.
Mel took a step forward. “So much. I love it so, so much…”
The scent of lilac filled her head, making the world spin. From far away she heard the music box jangle, just a note or two. She could’ve sworn Jon heard it too, because his head went up like a deer scenting a coyote. Mel shook her head, blinking away the faint haze.
What was she going to do? Mount him right here on the kitchen floor within minutes of meeting him? Mel shook her head harder. The smell of lilac faded.
Jon gulped back the entire contents of the glass, then handed it to her without a word. She looked at it. Then him. It seemed as if there should be words, but she couldn’t think of any. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d lost her wits around a guy this way. Maybe she never had. It was more than embarrassing—it was mortifying.
But when the package she’d put on the counter somehow fell off and hit the floor, opening and spilling out the brand-new seven-inch purple vibrator with flickering “bunny ear” clitoris-stimulating action, Mel discovered there were worse things than being unable to think of something to say.
* * *
The woman on her knees in front of him had triggered every single one of Jon’s buttons. Pale hair streaked with a few sexy strands of wild color, hot pink and blue. Soft, womanly curves that would fit just right under his hands. And a mouth built for kissing, lush and full, still glistening from when she’d licked her lips. Melissa Benjamin was sexy as hell.
She fumbled with the package he’d brought up. The return address on it had sounded familiar, but it wasn’t until he saw what had spilled out that Jon remembered why. He’d seen a few ads for the sex toy company while surfing the internet. The ads had promised a wide selection of items geared toward women’s pleasure, along with packaging that might’ve been discreet but sure as hell wasn’t too sturdy. The box had split right open when it fell off the counter. Jumped off, more like it. Jon had seen it shift and move and knew right away why it had found a life of its own.
It had something to do with the smell of lilac, and the music box tinkling he’d heard. Mel had heard it too. He saw it in her face just before she got that sultry, cat-in-heat look in her eyes. That look had faded, but looking down at her as she grabbed up the toy and tried without much success to shove it back in the broken box, Jon found himself wishing she was still looking at him like that.
Her shoulders shook. With her head bent and her hair spilling over her shoulders and her face, he couldn’t see her expression. The low, stuttering noise coming from her throat told him a lot though. Shit. She was crying.
Uncertainly, Jon touched her shoulder. The kitchen was so narrow that he couldn’t quite get down there on the floor with her…as appealing as that idea suddenly was. It would be cold and hard against his skin if he lay down on it, but her flesh would be hot when she climbed on top of him…
“Shit,” he muttered aloud. Stop thinking about that. Stop it. This isn’t you. And it’s not her.
He’d sensed the presence the second he came through the door. A woman, he thought. Like the guy in his place downstairs, she’d been here a long time. She stayed back
, and Jon didn’t reach for her because Mel looked up at him then with her bright blue eyes, rimmed with some kind of dark liner. Sparkles. She wore sparkles on her lids, and it slayed him. And she wasn’t crying. She was laughing.
Mel drew in a quick breath and let it out in a long stutter of giggles. Shaking her head, she got to her feet. There was obviously no use in trying to put the toy back in the package. Holding the box in one hand, the vibrator in the other, she shook her head.
“A girl’s got to take care of business, if you know what I mean.”
“Uh…yeah. Right.” It was a dumb thing to say, but it was the best he could do.
Mel’s laughter faded away. Now it was just awkward. Coughing a little, she tucked the vibrator behind her back and scuffed at the tile floor with a toe that he hadn’t noticed until just now was bare. She’d painted her toenails bright red.
The feminine presence stirred and shifted, moving closer. At the first whisper, Jon clenched his jaw. At the tickling touch of a fingertip along the back of his neck, his shoulders went stiff.
He had to get out of here.
* * *
“It was like someone had jabbed him with a pin. He ran out so fast I didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye. It was totally unreal.” Mel leaned on the counter while she waited for the barista to finish making her mocha. She’d ordered a double tall with extra whip—it had been that sort of week. Also a half dozen of the Morningstar Mocha’s featured cupcake, red velvet with cream cheese icing, because, hey, her rabbit didn’t care if her thighs were a little too jiggly.
“Maybe he’s like, religious or something.” Today Tesla wore her platinum blond hair in a series of pin curls, a few of them colored bright pink. She and Mel had first bonded over their hair color. She pushed Mel’s cup across the counter. “On the house.”
“I look that bad?” Mel took it. She wasn’t too proud to turn down free coffee.
Tesla laughed. “Yeah. You look that bad.”
“Thanks.” Mel rolled her eyes and sipped. “God. So good. Anyway, it’s not like I asked him to, I don’t know, help me test the batteries or anything like that. Not that I didn’t want to. My new neighbor is super F.I.N.E.”
“Better not to um…defecate…where you eat,” Tesla advised with a small jerk of her chin toward the guy wiping down the tables in the front of the coffee shop. “Look at what happened to Darek.”
Ooh. This was gossip. Mel leaned closer. “What happened to him?”
“You know Brandy?”
“Always chewing gum?” She’d waited on Mel a few times. Usually screwed up the orders in a way Tesla never did.
“Yeah. Well. She and Darek were totally gaga for each other, right? But she up and dumped him a week ago. Guy’s been nothing but a mess ever since.” Tesla’s expression darkened. “Can’t get a decent day’s work out of him. And when they work together, God. Totally sucks.”
“I wouldn’t have to work with him,” Mel reminded.
“No, you’d have to live with him in the same building, and that would be worse!” Tesla shook her head and wiped the counter with a damp cloth before tossing it under the sink. “You’d have to hope he moved out, or you’d have to. And your apartment’s pretty great. Except for that weird stuff. What’s been going on with that?”
The ghost in Mel’s apartment had become a running joke in her daily visits to the Morningstar Mocha, but Mel didn’t feel like laughing about it now. “Still weird. Now sort of extraweird.”
“Extraweird? Do tell.” Tesla grinned, but her smile faded when she saw Mel wasn’t joking. “What?”
Sometimes the Mocha overflowed with customers, which would’ve made this sort of conversation impossible, but today, just her luck, it was almost empty. Mel sighed and sipped at her mocha—perfectly prepared. “It’s going to sound crazy.”
“Hmm. Double chocolate raspberry swirl muffin-level crazy?” Tesla pulled one out of the case and put it on a plate. “Because I think it’s just about time for me to take a break. C’mon.”
Chuckling, Mel followed her to one of the tables near the front. In the bright sun things that went bump in the night seemed easier to talk about, even if she did still feel strange. She took one of the forks Tesla handed her and cut a bite off the muffin. “I told you about the smell and the music.”
“Yeah.” Tesla took her own bite of muffin. “Still happening?”
“Yes. But now…things move. I don’t mean things go flying across the room or anything like that. But I’ll put something down and when I go to pick it up, it’s not there. It’s someplace else, usually someplace I’d never have put it.”
“Shew.” Tesla shook her head. “Maybe you need a Ouija board or something.”
“Oh, sure. That’d be great. Open up the doors to hell or something.” Mel laughed, then stopped.
“Anyway, it used to just be something a little weird now and then. I kind of liked it, actually. Gave the place character. Made it unique. And I never felt threatened or anything. But ever since the new guy moved in…” Mel paused, thinking of how thick the air had felt when Jon Adams stood across from her in the kitchen. How it had felt to be on her knees in front of him. What she’d imagined doing there.
“You think he’s doing something to stir up the pot? So to speak?”
Startled, Mel realized she’d drifted into reverie only when Tesla spoke. She swallowed the flavor of chocolate and raspberry and followed it with a swig of cooling mocha. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
“You know,” Tesla said hesitantly, “there are people who invite more…contact, let’s say, than others.”
“You mean like a medium?”
“Hey, if you’re lucky, he’s an extra large.” Tesla tossed up her hands and shoved her chair back.
“Oh, hey. There’s my brother. I’ll catch you later, Mel. And listen…”
Mel had been contemplating the rest of the muffin, but looked up now.
Tesla looked concerned. “Really, Mel. If you think there’s something odd going on, something dangerous…”
“Oh, I don’t think it’s dangerous. Could it be dangerous? Definitely weird, but not dangerous.” Mel shook her head with a frown.
“Start watching Ghost Trackers or something. Get prepared,” Tesla advised as her brother moved toward them. “Hey, you.”
Mel had never met Tesla’s brother, but she returned the nod he gave her as he and his sister moved toward the back of the shop, leaving Mel alone with her now-cold drink and a muffin she couldn’t bring herself to eat. Dangerous, she thought as she wrapped it up in a paper napkin and tucked it into her bag.
Did she really think there was a spirit in her apartment? She’d joked about it, sure, but had she ever really, truly believed? Like clapping your hands to save Tinker Bell’s life, if she admitted it aloud, would that make the ghost more real?
Maybe Tesla was right, Mel mused as she walked the few blocks from the coffee shop back to The Valencia. What if Jon had somehow triggered something that had been only latent before? Maybe that was why he’d acted so strange. It had nothing to do with her at all, she thought triumphantly, already convincing herself as she walked up the brick path to the building’s front door. It was all because of him and whatever was in her apartment. Maybe he’d even be able to tell her what it was and what to do about it.
Chapter 3
With a box of delicious cupcakes in her hand there was hardly a better time to knock on her neighbor’s door. So Mel did. When he opened it, she put on her most charming smile.
“Hey,” she said.
Jon shut the door in her face.
That he opened it a second later while she stood there with her mouth open didn’t make it any better. Nor did his stuttering apology, a string of words that she was sure were meant to make sense but really just didn’t. Mel stared at him. She closed her mouth hard enough to click her teeth together.
“What the hell,” she said evenly, “is your damned problem?”
Jon opened the do
or wider, sticking his head out to look both ways as if someone might overhear them. “Maybe you should come inside.”
“You think so?” Mel’s eyes narrowed. “Maybe I should just take my cupcakes and go the hell home.”
They stared at each other. He didn’t say anything, but with those gorgeous eyes and that yummy mouth, did he really have to? The answer to that million-dollar question, kiddies, was an unequivocal no. Mel did not want to go home. Mel wanted to pass Go, collect two hundred dollars and take a ride on Railroad. More than once, if she were lucky.
All of these thoughts passed through her brain and straight between her legs in a matter of seconds, and before she could try to analyze what the hell kind of crazy cock-power this guy had over her, Jon had reached to take her by the elbow and pulled her inside. He closed the door behind her. Then he took a few steps back and blew out a breath as he scraped a hand through his cropped dark hair.
“Cupcakes.” Mel held out the box. “Don’t tell me you don’t like them.”
“I like them.”
She ventured a small smile. “Good. I thought maybe we could um…get to know each other. A little better. In a not so too-much-information sort of way.”
“About that?”
She waited, but he didn’t say anything else. She shifted the box of cupcakes in her hands. “It was a little embarrassing, huh?”
Jon sighed. “Yeah. A little.”
She waited again. “Look, Jon. Would you just like me to leave?”
“No!”
Startled at the vehemence of his outburst, Mel took a step back toward the door as she scanned the room for anything oddball. Like a jar of teeth or something. Baskets full of lotion, that sort of thing.
“No,” he said more softly. “I’m sorry, I was just getting up. I’m a little…not woken up yet.”
“Dude, it’s like four in the afternoon.”
“I work the night shift sometimes,” Jon said.
Mel scuffed at his carpet with the toe of her shoe. “Oh. Um…where do you work?”