by Ashlyn Chase
“So where are you kidnapping me to?”
He didn’t answer.
“I’m sorry. It’s just that I hate riding like this. I can’t see where I’m going and you won’t tell me where you’re taking me. I might as well be a sack of potatoes.”
Vic chuckled. “You’re definitely no sack of potatoes, Michele, but I get your point.”
He pulled up to Savern’s apartment building and she recognized the location by the balconies above her. “What are we doing here?”
“I want you to get the rest of your things and bring them to my house.”
She was so stunned she couldn’t speak for a moment. “Why?”
Vic pulled the parking brake and turned to face her, one arm still draped over the window. “I don’t know how long you might be staying, so you might as well get everything you own. That way we won’t have to keep popping back and forth.”
She pulled herself up but didn’t make any move to get out of the car. “What are you talking about? When have we popped back and forth?”
“Never. If you’ll listen to me, you never will.”
Michele shook her head. “I really don’t get you, Vic.”
He opened his door and ran around to the other side and opened hers. She stepped out hesitantly, ignoring the hand he offered.
“Do you still have your keys?” he asked.
She reached into her purse. “Of course.” She produced the key ring as they walked up to the door, then put them behind her back and said. “I think we need to talk about this.”
“We’ll talk on the way up to your apartment.”
“You’re maddening.” She opened the door.
He followed her through it and said, “Now, here’s the deal. We’re going to get all of your stuff out of here. If there’s anything that won’t fit in my house, we’ll put it in a storage locker.”
She stopped walking and put her hand on her hip. “I’m not taking one more step until you stop giving orders and we talk.”
Vic sat on the steps. “Okay. For lack of imagination, I’ll call this plan A. Do you have a plan B?”
“Do you?”
“Maybe.”
She stood with her hand on her hip and tapped her foot. “Gonna get around to telling me what it is sometime today?”
“Sure. Donovan will probably come back here looking for you, and when he does, your stuff will be gone. You’ll lay low at my place. Kip and Savern will run the shop and tell anyone who asks that you’ve moved away. He’ll think you’ve left town.”
She softened and sat next to him. “Good plan. One problem.”
“What’s that?”
“Locator spells.”
Vic’s eyes narrowed. “What?”
Michele let out a long sigh. “He can find me wherever I go with a locator spell. That’s how he found this apartment in the first place. He won’t leave Daytona Beach without doing another one and it will lead him right to you.”
“Crap.”
Michele held her hand out to him. “C’mon, Eagle Scout. Let me make you a cup of tea while we think of something else.”
He stood, put his hands in his pockets, and followed her the rest of the way to her apartment.
“I’m not saying it isn’t a worthwhile idea.” She slid her key in the door and it clicked open. “I just think it needs a bit of tweaking. I’ve been working on a way I can prevent . . .” She had only taken one step inside when something slithered up her leg. She jumped back and screamed.
Vic maneuvered in front of her. The snake was a small one. He plucked it off of her leg and took it to the sink.
Michele was frozen to the same spot.
“It’s okay, princess. You can come in now. It’s just a baby snake.”
She glanced around the apartment to make sure the snake didn’t have any friends squirming around. “How did it get in here?” Her voice trembled and sounded like it belonged to someone else.
“Probably through the drainage pipe. Hey, this is Florida. He shrugged. “We have snakes.”
She tiptoed in, hugging the opposite wall and checking every step before she put her foot on the carpet. “I’m petrified of snakes,” she said.
Amused, a slow smile crept over Vic’s face. “I can see that.”
“I . . . I think I’ll go get some things from my bedroom.” She hugged the opposite wall and disappeared around the corner. A second later, the bedroom door banged shut. Vic laughed. “Okay, little fella. Let’s get you back outside.”
He didn’t get far. The snake curled up and vanished. Vic bellowed, “What the hell?”
Then Donovan stepped out of the kitchen.
“I wondered what was taking her so long to come home.” He advanced on Vic as fast as Vic retreated. “She must have been spending a great deal of time away.” His voice became a growl. “Probably with you?”
Michele must have thrown open her bedroom door and banged it against the wall. The noise made Vic jump and Donovan laugh.
She strode around the corner, and in a loud commanding voice, ordered. “Don’t touch him. It’s me you want.”
Donovan’s smile lit up. “My love. So glad you could join us, but actually, I want both of you.” He tossed his long, stringy hair aside. An evil gleam settled in his muddy brown eyes as he blocked the only exit.
Michele glared at the son of a bitch and said, “You can’t hurt him. I have him protected.”
“So I see. I wonder why you’re so concerned about him.” Donovan sniffed the air in front of them. His eyes narrowed and glittered black. “Now I understand. You’ve got the stench of sex all over you.”
He leaned toward Michele but Vic threw himself between them.
“If she comes with me now, you might get to live.”
“Vic, don’t listen to him. He’s just playing mind games.”
“I don’t need to be told that.”
“This isn’t a game,” Donovan said. “Unless you like to play games with deadly consequences. Either she’s mine or no one’s!”
Vic felt himself shaking, but steeled his voice. “What are you saying? That if you can’t have her . . .”
Donovan’s eyes and lips became thin slits. “No one can!” The room filled with Donovan’s heated rage. He shrank and disappeared into thin air. Vic threw open the door and grabbed Michele’s hand. She clung to Vic as he ran but could barely keep up.
“What the hell was that?” Vic yelled. They jumped into his car, and he shifted into drive, the tires squealing as he roared out of the apartment building’s parking lot and turned onto the side street. As soon as he hit Route 1 his fast getaway was impeded by traffic.
Michele remained quiet and stared out the window. Vic looked over at her a couple of times expecting an answer. She took in a deep breath and let it out with a whoosh.
“Answer me, damn it!”
Michele folded her arms, but at least she made eye contact. “That, my Eagle Scout, was astral projection.”
“And what did the ass project?”
“Vic, we need to talk.”
He looked over at her again. Inwardly cringing, he had to ask. “Uh oh. Is this the old, ‘but we can still be friends’ speech?”
“No, but we need to find a place where we can talk, privately. Don’t go to your house. I don’t want him to find it, and he probably thinks that’s where you’ll go.”
Vic sighed. He had indeed been heading home and was just crossing the bridge over the Halifax River. “Okay, so where do we go?”
“Out of town.”
Vic nodded. “Fine, but can you tell me what we’re going to talk about?”
“Sure. If we can find a public place where we won’t be overheard, someplace with families and children so we won’t be tempted to jump each other’s bones, I’m going to talk about the things he can do—and you’re going to listen without rolling your eyes.”
“I don’t roll my eyes. You roll your eyes.”
Michele proved his point by rolling her eyes.<
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“Look, you’re right. We should have had this talk a long time ago, but we let ourselves get massively sidetracked. I was worried about that happening. I had meant to teach you about self-defense, maybe buy you a gun, and show you how to use it . . .”
She wrinkled her nose. “Why?”
Vic purposely passed the turn to his street and went straight down Route A1A.
“Because I’ve never been this attracted to . . .” He almost said ‘a client’. Damn. He had to be more careful, especially when freakin’ Donovan and his magic tricks distracted him.
Michele lifted one eyebrow. “To?”
Vic let out a long breath and decided to take a risk—not the big risk, though.
“Michele, there are some things I need to tell you too. But, I want to wait until we reach the park we’re going to.”
They traveled without further conversation until they came to Palm Point Park, south of Melbourne Beach. There were five cars in the parking lot, and that seemed sufficient for what they needed to do—and not do.
Vic took a beach blanket out of the trunk. They walked next to each other but not hand-in-hand. Three surfers in wet suits were in the water. A small family was throwing a Frisbee around. The weather was lovely. February in Florida could be cool and rainy, or temperatures could rise to the eighties. Today the sun was strong and warmed the beach. The blue sky and ocean seemed to affect Michele’s mood in a positive, calming way. She looked up, spread her arms wide, closed her eyes, and inhaled.
Vic spread the blanket and Michele kicked off her shoes. She sat on the edge of the blanket and dug her toes in the sand. Why was he not surprised?
“Vic, I need to know something.” She didn’t look at him. She seemed to be more interested in the sand she displaced with her feet.
“Sure, babe. What?”
“Do you believe in the power of magic now?”
Vic lowered himself to sit beside her and hugged his knees as he looked out to sea. “Yes. I’m afraid I do.”
“Do you still want to be involved with me?”
He hesitated. For the first time in their three-week relationship, Vic weighed the pros and cons of knowing this incredible woman and had to ask himself if she was really worth the possible consequences.
On one hand, he had found a woman so beautiful, both inside and out, that he could barely believe she existed. Of course he hadn’t believed witches and magicians existed either.
On the other hand there were threats of impending doom to both him and her. What had he just told Alex? He’d die for her? What in the world had he been thinking when he said that? “Michele, that’s . . . that’s a good question. I need time to think about it. Not for now, but for the long-term. Is that unreasonable?”
He glanced at her, and she nodded. A sad expression crossed her face. “Of course.”
“What else did you want to talk about?”
“Well,” she leaned forward and picked up a handful of sand and let it slip through her fingers as she let out a deep breath. “If you do believe in the power of magic, and you want to stick around, I think I should teach you some magical self-defense tactics.”
“Go ahead. I won’t be going anywhere.”
Michele turned, gazed into his eyes and said, “I thought you needed time to think about it.”
Vic shook his head. “I thought I did too, but the thought of leaving you to fend for yourself goes against my ethics. I’ve thought more about my beliefs since meeting you than I did in all the years before, combined.”
“I wish things were different for us.”
He nodded. “Me too.” He reached over and squeezed her shoulder. She dropped her head. A tear escaped and rolled down her soft pink cheek. Vic offered her his handkerchief and she wiped her eyes.
“It’s not fair,” she said.
“No, it isn’t.” He wanted to pull her into his arms, but he couldn’t. They had to have this talk, no matter how difficult it might be.
“All right. Let me tell you some of the things we’re—I mean, I’m up against.” She wiped her nose with the handkerchief and placed it between them.
“First of all,” she said. “I can do no harm with magic, even if Donovan tries to harm me. The Witch’s Rede of Chivalry is a code of honor. I practice the Wiccan faith. Anyone who chooses to follow the old ways, embraces the Rede.”
“So, you’re telling me that he can zap you with harmful magic, but you’re not allowed to zap him back?”
“Correct. I can’t. The short version of the Rede is, ‘An’ if it harm none, do what ye will.’ You may have seen the long version on the wall of the shop.”
Vic leaned back on his elbows and crossed his legs. “Talk about not fair.”
“I know. But, this is due to the spirituality of the Goddess and earth-based religions. It’s a beautiful way to live in peace with yourself and others.”
“Sounds like the golden rule.”
“It could be the original one. But running all the time, eating and sleeping sporadically, and sharing cheap motel rooms with cockroaches shoots my inner peace to hell.”
That was it. Vic couldn’t stand it anymore. He took her in his arms and held her tight. “You’ve been through enough. I’m not leaving your side.” Vic rose to his knees and faced her. The magnetic pull brought their lips and bodies intimately together. The kiss turned steamy. Their hands moved from embracing to intimate caresses.
They were barely aware of the parents hurrying their small children off the beach.
Vic’s desire became evident, and not only to himself. Michele rubbed his crotch and a muffled, “Mmm . . .” escaped her lips. Panting, Vic pulled back enough to breathe and scan the beach. They would be alone in a few moments. The surfers looked like they were getting ready to leave.
“If you can hang on for a little while . . .”
She smiled and nodded. She took some deep breaths and closed her eyes until the surfers left. Vic grabbed Michele’s hand and helped her up. As he folded the blanket he became aware of Michele tapping him on the shoulder. He looked up to see seduction dancing in her eyes.
“I don’t want to leave,” she said, and pointed to a grassy dune on the other side of a footbridge.
“I see.” Vic smiled, bunched the blanket under his arm and raced her to the semi-private spot. When he got there, he sat on the sand and glanced in all directions. It seemed they would be safe from every vantage point except the ocean itself. The idea of having sex in a public place usually made him squeamish, but making love to Michele in this romantic setting made his body thrill and his cock throb.
“Michele, can you be quiet when you come?”
She chuckled. “If I have to bite your shoulder, I promise not to draw blood and to orgasm quietly.”
They spread the blanket and stripped off their clothes. Vic removed his amulet and placed it on the corner of the blanket.
Lying naked in the sun, with the gulls and sand-pipers observing how the other half mates, was about the hottest thing Vic had ever done. The risk of being arrested for exposure was something he wouldn’t have chanced during his NFL career. But, hey, he was his own boss now. And if they got arrested, they might be safer in jail.
Foreplay was short and to the point. It was a good test of Michele’s ability to stifle her screams when he made her come with his fingers.
She kept her moans to a minimum and only whimpered his name once. She was wet and ready for action when Vic poised above her. As a final precaution, he grabbed the edge of the blanket and wrapped it around their torsos before he plunged inside her. She gasped and then sighed. Ah . . . how he loved her sounds of appreciation.
The blanket moved with them in slow, undulating, waves. She moaned softly and bit her lip.
“Are you all right, honey?”
“I’ve never been better,” she whispered.
Vic reveled in the cry of seagulls, the warmth of the sun on his back, and fooling around with beautiful Michele. No. They weren’t screwing thi
s time. He was making love to her. The shock of that self-admission would have to wait. He was coming in spasms more pleasurable than he could have imagined and couldn’t stop. God, this was beautiful. He’d have to remind himself to make love in public places more often.
She sounded like she was beginning to crest her own wave of fulfillment. She whimpered and bit her lip. At last she shuddered and blocked her scream with her arm. When she opened her eyes they shimmered.
* * * * *
On the way back to Daytona Beach, so many ambivalent thoughts and feelings swirled through Michele’s brain that she could barely concentrate. She was aware of Vic glancing her way a time or two, but for the most part they rode in silence.
As they entered the city limits, Vic asked a question. “What does Donovan mean when he says he can feel your protection around me? Is that some sort of spell?”
Michele fidgeted in her seat, and her uncertainty multiplied three-fold. Should she tell him what it meant?
Vic glanced over at her several times. His brows knit and he said, “You look uncomfortable. Why?”
Oh, Lord and Lady. Tell me what to say. She took in a deep breath. “Remember when you said there was something you couldn’t tell me yet?”
“Yeah.” Even though he was driving, he gazed at her steadily with a wary expression.
“It’s like that.” She just wasn’t ready to come out with the truth. What would she say? I cast a spell to protect all of my loved ones from Donovan Grant, therefore, I must love you?
Vic’s intense gaze remained focused on her eyes. “Don’t you trust me?”
“Of course I do but . . .” Michele let out a sigh and turned toward the windshield. Suddenly she braced herself hard against the dashboard and screamed.
Chapter 12
Vic jammed on the brakes so hard the airbags deployed. He had only a nanosecond to think before he reacted. A moment later, a major jolt rocked Vic’s body. With the sound of smashing and crunching, he knew instantly his Volvo C70 had been rear-ended.
“Michele! Are you all right?”
She sucked in air hard and fast. “I . . . I’m all right. Are you?”