Passion Of Sleepy Hollow

by Lexi Post

  “Jesus, Kat.” Braeden pulled away before she could react. “You make me so hot for you, I want to bury myself in your body.” Gently, he helped her to stand. “I’m not going to rush this. I swear.”

  She smirked at his need to say it aloud. That she could make this huge man lose control had her feeling rather powerful, until he scooped her up and dropped her on her bed.

  “Lord.” She exhaled as she settled onto the quilt, the chill in the air defeated by the fire Braeden ignited in her body. As he climbed onto the mattress, he raised the hem of her shift up her legs, caressing her as he went, though he ignored the inferno that built within her core.

  Sensually, he moved the soft material up her waist, over her breasts, forcing her to move her arms above her as he lifted the shift from her body and threw it across the room.

  “You’re totally mine.” His look was possessive, territorial. “No more ghosts.”

  She sobered. “No more ghosts.” Lifting her arms to him, she stared into his eyes.

  He accepted her invitation and covered her from toe to head, his lips touching hers in a gentle kiss. He pulled back and stroked hair from her face.

  “I love you, Braeden Van Brunt, current Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow.”

  His face tensed, more serious than she’d ever seen him be. “I love you, Katrina Van Tassel, proprietor of the Sleepy Hollow Inn. You were made for me.”

  She raised her brow. “Actually, you were created for me because I was born first and I am much older than—”

  Braeden’s lips cut off all verbal communication as his tongue invaded her mouth. She wrapped her arms around his neck and lifted her chest to press against his as he leaned on his elbows to keep from squashing her. She wanted him against her. She needed to touch every part of him, and she had to show him her words of love rang true.

  He must have sensed her need because he lowered himself to more fully cover her.

  She ran her fingers through his hair as his tongue commanded hers while her other hand stroked the deep grooves of his shoulder blades and back muscles and then wandered down to latch on to his tight ass.

  He broke off their kiss and raised a brow at her.

  She grinned. “I like your butt.”

  “You do? Well, all you had to do was say so.” He lifted himself off her and lay on his stomach.

  Surprised by his sudden change in position, she resituated herself to kneel next to him. The view was breathtaking in the lantern light. Small shadows fell in all the right places, wherever sinew met sinew. Could this beautiful man truly be hers? Could she keep him despite their difference in time? For how long?

  She ran her hands down his back, reveling in the movement beneath his skin as she touched him. His faced was turned toward her and he watched. She rubbed the large muscles around his spine before bringing her hands down over his rounded butt and onto his tight thighs.

  He groaned and she moved back to his butt and kneaded that perfectly shaped area, but it wasn’t enough. She needed more. With no warning she crawled on top of him and fit her body to his, her hips just below his ass. She pressed her abdomen against the lower curve of his butt, as if she could crawl inside and be loved forever.

  “Shit, woman, you’re such a tease.” He rolled over, easily trapping her beneath him once again. “I always plan to take my time with you and then you make me lose control.”

  She wrapped her arms around his neck, pleased to be exactly where she wanted to be. “It has been too long.” She opened her legs wider. “Take me now. We can always go slow later.”

  He raised his brow. “I like the way you think.” Lifting his hips, he positioned his cock at her opening. “Damn, you’re so wet.”

  “Just for you, Braeden.”

  He hesitated. “Promise?”

  Her heart crawled up into her throat and her sight blurred as she nodded.

  His eyes searched hers, but then the corner of his mouth quirked. “Good.” As the word escaped his lips, his cock plunged into her to the hilt.

  She gasped in pleasure, tensing her sheath to hold him inside, loving his invasion and never wanting him to go. But he did go as he pulled back, only to thrust forward again, pressing into her, sending exciting pulses racing from her core to the ends of her fingertips nestled in his hair.

  As he thrust, she lifted her hips and wrapped her legs around him, her heels resting on the backs of his upper thighs. The added tilt of her pelvis caused her clit to rub against the hair at his base, and his cock slid deeper, as far as it could go.

  “Oh yes.” Her hands found purchase in his shoulder muscles and she dug in, grinding herself against him.

  Braeden’s movements grew faster. One hand came up and grabbed her hair, turning her head so he could conquer her mouth as well as her pussy. He was everywhere—in her, against her, moving with her.

  Kat lost herself to the feel of Braeden’s body and the love she had for him as he pumped into her, holding tight, sending shocks of joy throughout her with every stroke.

  She pulled her feet tighter against his butt, to get him as deep as he could go, and his muscles tensed. Her breaths were mere gasps around his mouth as her body tightened in anticipation of his release. His mouth tore away from hers and he yelled, his hot cum filling every tiny crevice not yet taken by him and sending her over the edge into a mutual bliss. “Oh Braeden!”

  His movements continued, holding her to her delight a bit longer before he slowed and rolled them onto their sides. It gave her the ability to take deeper breaths, ones she needed after such strenuous lovemaking. She smiled inside. They had truly made love. Her with her whole heart. The sweat on both of their chests proved their need to be connected.

  He held her close even as his cock remained inside her, her leg on top of his, holding them together. This was what she wanted for the rest of her life, but how could that be with her village still cursed? What if there was another fight weeks later and Braeden aged ten years?

  “Kat, you’re frowning.” He pulled her closer. “What are you thinking?”

  “I’m thinking I don’t want this to end. Do you?”

  “No. Why would you think that?”

  “Because we are in different times. What if we can’t lift the curse and we argue and we don’t make love?”

  He grinned. “You mean have congress with each other?”

  “Yes.” She wrinkled her brow at the term. Already it seemed old-fashioned.

  He tucked her head beneath his chin. “Don’t worry, we will figure this out. I promise.”

  She lay listening to his heartbeat, which she found soothing when the clock in the hall struck twelve. It was Saturday night and they didn’t need to make love to stay in Newtime, but she was glad they had.

  “Hey.” He let her lean back a bit. “If we make love now, we can be sure to keep Sleepy Hollow in Newtime for Monday.”

  She pretended to ponder the thought. “Hmm, but what if that doesn’t work because the new ‘day’ hasn’t started yet?”

  “Then we can make love again in the morning just to make sure.”

  She stared into his warm eyes and smiled. “Fine.”

  * * * * *

  Kat squeezed Braeden’s hand as the door opened.

  “Oh Kat. I thought you said you don’t need me today.” Max stood in his breeches and shirt, his feet bare despite the colder air.

  “I don’t, but I—we came to see your grandmother.”

  “Oh right.” He stepped back, allowing them to come in before he closed the door again. The air in the main room wasn’t much warmer. No fire blazed in the fireplace.

  “Grandmother is in the kitchen.”

  She thanked him and watched in puzzlement as he disappeared into his room. Wouldn’t he be curious about why they were there?

  Braeden bent and whispered, “Stephen charged his book reader. I bet he’s reading.”

  Ah, that made sense. “The kitchen is right through that doorway.”

  “After you.”


  She hesitated. All morning she’d been anxious to come, pacing until Braeden had come back from his fruitless search for his latest pumpkin head. He really liked that one and had been so disappointed it was gone. But now that she faced having to convince the old woman…the witch, to tell her how to lift the curse, she couldn’t help but be nervous about the success of the venture.

  “Kat?”

  She looked at Braeden and found her backbone. He was worth whatever terrible event she might have to participate in to keep him. That Dame Vandend had divulged that much did give her some control. Straightening her shoulders, she led the way into the kitchen.

  As they entered, the change in temperature was immediate. The kitchen, warm and cozy, held Dame Vandend, who sat in a comfortable chair, her feet resting on a small bench. In fact, it was so warm, the window to the backyard had been opened a hand’s width to allow fresh, cool air in.

  Kat studied the woman for a moment. The old lady in front of her wasn’t her idea of a witch. Maybe she was wrong.

  “Yah, Kat and the Newtimer. To what do I owe the pleasure of this unannounced visit?”

  Braeden stepped forward and bowed, taking the woman’s hand. “Ah, madam, I do believe you already know the answer to that question.” He gave her old knuckles a squeeze before he moved to the side of the window and leaned his shoulder against the wall, folding his arms across his large chest. His stance told them he expected some answers.

  Dame Vandend twitched in her seat and turned her head to face Kat. “You have a handful in that man. Are you sure you can handle him?”

  “I handled Brom, didn’t I?”

  The old lady chuckled. “Yah, you did that, but you were supposed to stay a maiden.” She lapsed into an awkward silence.

  Kat pulled a chair out from the wooden table and made herself comfortable. So that was why Dame Vandend had called her a maiden. She thought Kat still was, so the chance of her making love to Braeden and keeping them in Newtime would be small. Thank the Lord she hadn’t waited until she and Brom had wed.

  She had one answer now but she didn’t plan on leaving until they had them all. It was the last day of the festival, and if the lovemaking session she and Braeden had engaged in this morning satisfied whatever curse had been leveled on the village for another day, then she wanted it to be a productive day. Not that she minded staying abed with him until noon, but since the curse hinged on her somehow, she planned to discover what she could do to lift it.

  She glanced at Braeden. He watched her, brow raised. Could he tell what she was thinking?

  He returned his gaze to the old woman, who wouldn’t look at either of them.

  “I didn’t know it would work,” Dame Vandend whispered, her voice hoarse, as she continued to avoid eye contact with either of them.

  When Braeden remained silent, Kat couldn’t wait any longer. “What do you mean?”

  The old woman finally looked at her, a bit of fear in her eyes. “The curse. I was visiting Sarah Prudett.” She shrugged. “I was just curious, with all the talk of witchcraft and such.”

  “So you learned how to curse the village from her?”

  “Yah. But I never would have thought of such a complicated curse with so many details and requirements.” The old woman’s eyes lit with excitement, her eyebrows twitching. “It was very smart. I just added my own touches, like making the Van Brunt descendants very, very strong to cause problems with courting.”

  Braeden’s eyes widened before he scowled. He was obviously trying to figure out what his family had to do with it.

  They were, however, making progress toward their goal. All Kat wanted to know was how to lift the curse, but since the old woman was at least talking, she didn’t want to stop her. “So you had help?”

  “Help?” She laughed. The truth be told, it sounded more like a cackle to Kat and she barely kept herself from putting her hand over her heart. She could suddenly believe Dame Vandend was a witch.

  The old woman continued. “No, he didn’t help except to tell me what he wanted and get me what I needed, like a lock of your hair.”

  Kat gasped and grabbed her braid where it lay on her left shoulder. “My hair? Who wanted a lock of my hair?”

  “Not who. What. For the curse he designed. I needed a lock of your hair because you are the pivot point.”

  Kat looked at Braeden with concern and he met her gaze, subtly shaking his head. Her panic calmed at his confidence. “So who designed the curse?”

  “Ichabod.”

  “Why would Ichabod curse me? We were friends. He even gave me singing lessons.”

  The old woman’s laughter this time was purely evil, and Kat shivered.

  “Friends? That isn’t what Ichabod felt. He thought you would marry him and your family’s farm would be his. He’d been biding his time, looking for the right moment to ask you. He had to be sure Brom wouldn’t influence you, but then Brom chased him off. Humiliated him. He wanted revenge.”

  “God in de Hemel.” Kat stared at Dame Vandend in shock. All these years they had been caught in Oldtime because Ichabod felt humiliated? “But Ichabod died years ago. Why are we still cursed?”

  The old woman smirked, turning her worn face into something resembling a frog. “Because he had children.”

  “What?”

  “I was paid for my curse. Ichabod did well for himself and continued to pay me. When he passed, he left instructions for the next generations and so I have grown as rich as King George.”

  Kat stared. Every villager’s life had been put on hold for revenge and greed? It was too much to stand. The curse needed to be lifted. Now. She started to rise but Braeden’s expression stilled her. Taking a deep breath, she sank back to her seat. Anger at the woman’s selfishness and being unable to express it had Kat digging her nails into the chair beneath her.

  Braeden looked at the run-down kitchen, and she saw what he saw. He spoke. “Then why don’t you use the money?”

  “Maxwell. It is for him to have so he can live in comfort when he finds a woman I can approve of. For now, this is enough. If we lived better, then people would talk.”

  Kat shook her head. The woman’s thinking baffled her. “But Max wants only to be in Newtime. He won’t even look at a woman in that way because his mind is on the progress and evolution America has come through.”

  Dame Vandend frowned. “Yah. I know. I must get his mind off Newtime.”

  “Don’t you see? You can’t. He belongs in Newtime. He is intelligent and already knows so much about it that he will never be satisfied with Oldtime. We must make it possible for him to live in Newtime, or you will never see him marry. If I can help make that happen then you must tell me what I can do.”

  Dame Vandend frowned and studied her hands. She remained silent a long time.

  Kat clasped her own hands together, despite how sweaty they were. When the old woman shook her head, Kat wanted to scream.

  “If the curse is lifted, I will not last very many more years.”

  “But if you do last a lot longer, what will happen when you die and you take the solution to the curse to your grave?” Kat barely kept herself from growling at the woman.

  “I can tell you before then.”

  “But how old will Max be then? Thirty? Forty? Alone?”

  The old woman’s face fell and Kat’s hope rose.

  The sly witch then looked toward Braeden, her expression shrewd. “I could tell if I was compensated for my words.”

  Braeden answered her directly, his gaze hard. “No. You will not gain more money with this immoral curse you have brought upon these people. Does your greed know no bounds? You will tell because you know it’s the right thing to do. Remember, if the curse involves Kat then she must also be young enough to fulfill her part of it.”

  “Oh.” The old woman was clearly startled, so focused on her own world she neglected to realize that despite being in Oldtime, her fate was still connected to others. “Very well.”

  Kat’s
heart pounded with anticipation and nervousness. What would she have to do? Swallow a toad? Jump in Cramer’s brook fully clothed and stay there all day? Catch a bat? Could she do whatever it was? She glanced at Braeden and despite his relaxed expression, she could feel his tension. “Thank you. Now what must I do?”

  “First, you must fall in love.”

  She gazed at Braeden and smiled. “Fine. What else?”

  The old woman smiled wickedly. “Then you must get the unanimous consent of the village to marry, and then marry.”

  That was it? She studied Dame Vandend. Why did she look so smug?

  Braeden’s stare at the witch was hostile. “And if we get the consent of the rest of the village to marry, you will also agree?”

  The old woman’s shoulders sagged. “Very well. I will agree.”

  The sound of reins hitting a horse outside startled all three of them. Braeden turned toward the window just as black forelegs rose before it and then a blur of black moved past. Braeden was out the back door and after the rider before Kat reached the opening, but he stopped at the old fence the rider had jumped over, the black horse galloping headlong into the forest.

  Braeden watched a moment longer before returning to the house.

  “Did you see who it was?” Kat studied his serious face.

  “No, the rider wore a black hood, but I noticed other things that clued me into the identity. We will talk about privately those.”

  She glanced over her shoulder to see Dame Vandend had risen from her chair and listened intently.

  Kat nodded once to show him she understood. She stood aside to allow him into the kitchen again. “Whoever it was, they heard what it would take to lift the curse.”

  “Yah.” The old woman cackled. “I may not be the only one unwilling to move into Newtime.”

  Gritting her teeth in frustration, Kat gave the woman a frown. “You keep forgetting this is in the best interest of Max. You do at least care for him, don’t you?”

  Braeden touched her shoulder and gave it a slight squeeze. “I think we are done here. Let’s go.” He turned toward the witch and nodded once. “Have a nice day.”

  As they strode home, Kat couldn’t help but ask Braeden about his final comment to Dame Vandend.