Stone Cold Fox

by Evangeline Anderson

  “Feeling better, darlin’?” he asked quietly.

  “Actually, I am.” Jo still couldn’t quite believe it. She’d been willing to think that the previous times the throbbing had left were simply coincidence. But this proved that Fiona was right.

  About everything, though? whispered a skeptical little voice in her head. Are you one hundred percent sure you’re a Shifter? And even if you are, do you think that all this lust you’re feeling is due to your new hormones? Because though the throbbing in her temples had disappeared, the ache between her thighs had most definitely not. She still felt wet and hot and ready in a way that scared her. Jo squeezed her thighs together tightly and bit her lip.

  Isn’t it more likely that some—or maybe even most—of the need you’re feeling is due to that damn spell you botched? asked the reasonable little voice.

  Yes—that had to be it, Jo told herself. What she needed to do was just reverse the spell and she’d be feeling much better and more comfortable about staying with the big Shifter. And she was going to be in a perfect position to do that—Fiona’s pharmacy was filled with rare ingredients. Surely what Jo needed to reverse the spell was here, somewhere in these piles and stacks and shelves.

  “All right,” she said at last, looking at Fiona. “I’ll stay with Reese.” She looked up at him. “If you, uh, really don’t mind.”

  “I don’t,” he said simply. “It’ll be nice to have a female around the house again—my last sister moved out over two years ago and it’s felt pretty empty since then.”

  Jo thought it was nice he was trying to put her more at ease by talking about his sisters, although she doubted he’d ever looked at any of them the way he was looking at her now. Those deep brown eyes of his would be so easy to fall into . . .

  Quickly, she looked away and drew her hand out of his.

  “Good—then that’s settled,” Fiona said. “Reese can drop you off here in the mornings when he comes to open his shop and take you home in the evening. And if your headaches get too painful to bear during the day, he’s only just across the road.”

  “I don’t know if Jo is going to want to be holding hands with me during the day,” Reese said dryly. “Since mine are usually covered in grease about a second after I get to work.”

  “We shall see.” Fiona gave both of them a sharp look and then focused on Jo. “Well—can you start today?”

  “I . . . I guess so. I don’t have anything else to do.” Jo shrugged.

  “Good. Well then, enough chatting—we all have work to do.” The older woman got up briskly and started clearing away the tea things. When she took them in the other room, Jo looked uncertainly at Reese.

  “Are you sure you’re really okay with this? With me staying with you for a while?”

  “More than okay,” Reese assured her. “But it’s not just me that wants you to stay.”

  “Well, I know Fiona does,” Jo said.

  “No, not her.” Reese shook his head. “Didn’t I tell you? My Fox is crazy about you.”

  Jo thought of the adorable fuzzy little animal with his sharp, pointed muzzle and big brown eyes and couldn’t help smiling. Though she knew cognitively that Reese and the sweet little fox were one and the same, it was really hard to make herself grasp that fact on a gut level.

  “I’m kind of crazy about him too,” she admitted. “Tell him . . .” She cleared her throat. “Tell him I’ll try to be a good roommate.”

  “I’m sure you will, darlin’,” Reese murmured. He reached out and seemed about to stroke her cheek. But then, at the last moment he drew back.

  Jo wasn’t sure if she was happy or sad about the almost-touch.

  “Well . . .” she said awkwardly.

  “Well . . .” Reese echoed and sighed. “I’d better go open my shop. I’m glad you’re going to stay and work with Fiona—I think you’re going to really like her. I can tell she likes you.”

  “Thank you.” Impulsively, Jo stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. She felt a little tingle as she did, though nothing like the electrical charge of pleasure she’d had when she’d deliberately taken his hand earlier.

  When she drew back, Reese was giving her a quizzical little smile.

  “What was that for?” he asked.

  “For everything,” Jo said softly. “For offering me a place to stay and making me feel safe there, for introducing me to Fiona, for believing me about the thing watching in the woods . . .” She shivered at the thought.

  “You’re welcome, darlin’,” Reese rumbled. “And listen, you don’t have to be afraid of that thing or of anything or anybody else. As long as you’re with me, I’ll be making your safety my first priority.” He grinned. “Although, with your juiced-up powers, you might not need me.”

  Jo thought again of the shadow creature and shook her head.

  “Whether I need your protection or not, it makes me feel better to have it.” She laughed. “I guess that’s not a very feminist thing to say. And after all these years of taking the hard line—‘A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle,’” she quoted dryly. “Maybe I’m going soft in my old age . . . or would it be my young age?” She shook her head.

  Reese gave her that easy, charming grin of his, his brown eyes sleepy with amusement.

  “Who says a fish doesn’t need a bicycle? How else is he gonna get to the store to buy fish food?”

  Jo found herself smiling back, almost against her will.

  “All right. Well, you’d better open your shop so you can look at that old lady’s alternator and all the other bad transmissions and flat tires in town.”

  “You got that right.” He nodded. “Enjoy working with Fiona. Her filing system is . . . kind of eccentric.”

  “I can see that.” Jo looked around at the crowded shelves. “But I like a challenge.”

  His eyes flashed. “So do I, darlin’.” He turned to go but then turned back again for a moment. “And listen, if your headache comes back, just give me a call—Fiona has my number.”

  “So you can come across the road and hold hands with me?” Jo asked, raising an eyebrow at him. “I thought you said you’d be covered in grease?”

  “Well, you can hold my elbow if you want—doesn’t really matter.” Reese shrugged. “Any kind of skin-to-skin contact will do it.”

  “Okay.” Jo nodded awkwardly although she secretly had no intention of asking him to drop his work and come across the street to hold hands or elbows or anything else with her. She might be staying with him, but until she got her lust and fidelity spell reversed, it was going to be advisable to keep some distance between them—a lot of distance.

  Which is why you shouldn’t have kissed him on the cheek, whispered a reproving little voice in her head. Jo knew it was right but she hadn’t been able to help herself. Even now, she felt herself drawn to the big Shifter, wanting to touch him again . . . to hold him and let him hold her . . . to taste those warm lips just one more time . . .

  She took a step back and looked down at her hands.

  “I’d, uh, better go see where Fiona wants me to start.”

  “Right.” Reese studied her face for a moment longer and then turned again. “If you need me, darlin’, I’m just across the street,” he reminded her. And then he was gone, weaving his way through the crowded shelves to the front of the pharmacy.

  Jo watched his broad back retreating and wished she could call him back for a kiss goodbye . . . and maybe much, much more. Then she did her best to squash the impulse and went to find Fiona.

  She had to get that spell reversed—and soon—or her living arrangements with Reese were going to get very awkward, very fast.

  Chapter Nine

  “So how are things going with you and the witch?”

  Reese looked up from the engine he was examining to see Keller leaning against the doorway to his shop, his arms crossed over his chest. There was a sardonic little grin on the other male’s face, but Reese thought he could detect just a hint of worry far back
in Keller’s leaf-green eyes.

  “Going great,” he said, wanting to put his best friend at ease. “Better that great, actually—Jo and I are getting along like a house on fire.”

  “Mmm-hmm.” Keller sounded skeptical. “And what about the spell she put on you? How did that turn out?”

  Reese felt his cheeks getting hot. Should he tell the other male what had happened during the incomplete binding spell? On one hand, it was pretty private but on the other, Keller could keep a secret. He decided an abbreviated version would be the best.

  “Well, actually . . . “ He cleared his throat. “The spell went a little . . . wrong.”

  “Wrong? Wrong, how?” Keller was instantly on the alert. “What did she do to you, Coop? Are you okay?”

  Reese laughed. “Take it easy, buddy—I’m fine. More than fine to be honest.” He told Keller briefly about how Jo had cast a binding spell and hadn’t been able to reverse the intent at the end as she’d meant to.

  Keller gave a long, low whistle.

  “So she basically cast a lust and fidelity spell on the two of you and now you’re living in the same house with her and trying to keep your hands to yourself?”

  “It’s not like that, Keller.” Reese frowned, trying to think how to explain. “I mean, it’s hard to be around her, wanting her so much, but I don’t really think the spell’s to blame. If anything, it only heightened what was already there. I mean, Jo’s a Juvie, so—”

  “What? Why didn’t you say so in the first place?” Keller demanded.

  Reese shrugged. “Figured you already knew. After what happened at the Friendly Bean—”

  “No, what did happen at the Friendly Bean?” Keller demanded. “I’ve been on a business trip, you know. Trying to wrap everything up before the babies come along. Just got back in an hour ago.”

  “Makes sense.” Reese nodded. “Okay, so we go into the shop . . . “

  After he related the incident, the Cougar Shifter shook his head.

  “So she’s a witch and a Shifter?”

  “So says Fiona.” Reese shrugged. “Got no reason to doubt her—Jo certainly shows both characteristics.”

  “Sounds like she does.” Reese nodded thoughtfully. “I’m glad she’s a Juvie, Coop.”

  “You are?” Reese frowned. “Why?”

  “It makes me feel better about this whole thing—about her staying with you.” Reese left the doorway and came over to clap Reese on the shoulder. “If your little witch is a Juvie, that means Lady Moon’s got a hand in this too. And we know the Goddess doesn’t make mistakes.”

  “Don’t believe she does.” Reese smiled at his friend wryly. “Although sometimes it’s hard to figure out what’s going on.”

  “You’ll work it out,” Keller said confidently. “Speaking of which, Samantha and I are having a get together with Mathis and Sadie later on this week. We’re going to throw some steaks on the grill and take it easy. Why don’t you bring Jo along?”

  “I’d love to, but are you sure? I mean, Sadie and Samantha don’t even know Jo.”

  “It’ll be a perfect time to introduce them to her. To introduce all of us,” Keller said firmly. “Just come, Coop—if you like Jo, I’m sure we will too.”

  “She’s a little shy,” Reese said. “Especially around males. But yeah, I think you’ll like her. She’s pretty great.” He smiled, thinking of her beautiful, fox-red hair and gorgeous amber eyes. Not to mention her laugh or the way her long fingers felt when they ruffled his fur . . .

  “More than great if that look in your eyes is anything to go by,” Keller said dryly. “You better bring he by so we can get to know her before the two of you start having babies of your own.”

  Reese frowned. “I think we’re a long way from that point, Keller. In fact after . . . what happened to her, we might never get there.”

  “Lady Moon will make a way,” Keller said confidently.

  Reese laughed. “Now you sound like Fiona.”

  Keller shrugged. “Why not? She’s usually right. Well . . . “ He clapped Reese on the shoulder again. “I’d better go. Samantha would skin me alive if she knew I came to talk to you instead of going straight home when I got back into town.”

  Reese raised an eyebrow. “She’s got you on a short leash, huh?”

  Keller laughed. “No, leashes are for Dogs and I’m a Cat—haven’t you heard? But I had to come talk to you first before I went home to Samantha. The pregnancy hormones make her, let’s say . . . amorous. The minute I get home to her, I won’t be going anywhere for the next few days.”

  “Well don’t let me keep you.” Reese grinned at his best friend. “Go have fun.”

  “Will do. You too.” He winked at Reese and was gone.

  Reese sighed and went back to his engine. Though he appreciated his friend’s vote of confidence, he wasn’t at all sure that he and Jo would ever be having the kind of “fun” that Keller was currently anticipating. Still, you never could tell—maybe Lady Moon did have a hand in all of this. Fiona certainly seemed to believe so.

  “If you’re listening, Lady Moon,” he muttered under his breath. “I’d be very grateful to have with Jo what Keller has with Samantha and Mathis has with Sadie. If you sent me Jo just to protect her, I’ll do that, no problem. But if you sent her for me to love her, well . . . “ He sighed deeply and looked up at the ceiling of his shop just for a minute. “I think I could do that too.”

  No one answered his prayer, but he felt a little better when he was finished. He went back to work on the engine humming, a feeling of hope and contentment in his heart.

  * * *

  The next week, life fell into a routine for Jo. She got up each morning and made breakfast for Reese and herself and then he drove her to Fiona’s pharmacy before opening his auto body shop where he worked until noon. Around that time he would usually come across the street and the two of them would have lunch together, sometimes in Fiona’s little shop or sometimes, on sunny days, they would get in Reese’s truck and go out on a picnic in a little secluded park on the far edge of town.

  Jo liked the picnic days the best—the air was bright and crisp and since she’d given in and accepted the clothing Reese offered her, she was warm enough to enjoy the Fall air unlike during her weary journey after leaving Avalon. They packed sandwiches, or sometimes Reese picked something up from the Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy Diner or the Cougar’s Den Bar and Grill. They sat on an old plaid blanket and talked of everything and nothing and generally got to know each other.

  During these lunches, Reese always found a way to touch her.

  His fingers would brush hers while passing a plate or a napkin, or he would see an eyelash on her cheek and brush it off, his big hand gentle on her face. Jo knew he was helping her the only way he could—touching her to take away the pain of the ever-looming headache that returned more and more frequently during her hours away from him. It was a kind gesture—even kinder because she couldn’t bring herself to ask for it.

  Jo liked the feel of the big Shifter’s hands on her and knew that Reese wished she would tell him when her temples throbbed and ask for what she needed . . . but she just couldn’t. Because she liked it too much—and even as the headache faded with his touch, she could feel the heat between her thighs growing more insistent.

  She often saw Reese’s nostrils flare and knew he was catching her scent. Sometimes he got restless and got up to walk around the park or Fiona’s small back room. At times like that, Jo often saw the thick ridge of his shaft pressed hard against his jeans and wondered if he was making space between them because he wanted her as badly as she wanted him. The thought both frightened and intrigued her . . . and then she felt ashamed that she was interested in something she’d sworn off so many years ago—and scared of the silent yearning that sometimes fell between herself and Reese when they were together.

  Jo tried to tell herself that the sexual tension between them was there because she hadn’t been able to find a way to reverse the spell
she’d cast. If she could just find a way to undo what she had done that first night in his back yard, she was certain the lust that rose inside her when she saw Reese and felt his gentle touch on her skin would fade. This whole Shifter thing was probably nonsense—it was the spell that was to blame.

  So she hoped.

  In the early evening, after another four or five hours working on the new ingredient and artifact filing system she was designing for Fiona, Reese drove her home again and Jo made supper.

  He had protested, at first, about letting her cook all the time but Jo told him she liked it—which was true.

  “But I thought you were a feminist,” he said, frowning. “And you’re already insisting on paying me rent, which is ridiculous. We should share the cooking.”

  “I’m a hearth witch—what some people call a ‘kitchen witch,’” she told him, as she stirred a big pot of her famous vegetable stew which was bubbling on the stove. A pan of homemade cornbread was baking in the oven to go with it. “That means I draw power and satisfaction from things to do with the home—cooking . . . mending . . . healing. Not cleaning though—you’re welcome to do the dishes if you want.”

  “I can handle that.” Reese had given her his warm, sleepy smile and she’d had to look away, biting her lip because she wanted so badly to put her arms around him and kiss his luscious-looking mouth and feel his hands all over her body.

  After supper one night, near the end of the week, they were in the den slash library and Jo was looking for something new to read when she found a whole stash of books she hadn’t seen before high in one corner of the shelf.

  “Oh,” she exclaimed. “Lest Darkness Fall . . . The Years of Rice and Salt . . . The Difference Engine—you like alternate history?”

  “Sure.” Reese nodded. “I like any kind of history. In fact, I’ve always wished I could teach it—you know, on the university level.”

  “Really?” She was instantly intrigued.

  “Yeah but I was the only son in a family full of daughters. Would have broken my old man’s heart if I’d left him alone with the auto body shop. So . . . “ He shrugged. “What could I do? I stayed while all my sisters went their separate ways. All of them got out of Cougarville, but here I am in this big house all alone. Well . . . “ He grinned at her. “Not quite so alone now, I guess.”