Midas Touch (The Hollows Book 1)

by Penny Cavan

  “I’m pretty sure you could also bribe her with monkey bread. Or chocolate chip cookies.” She laughed, pushing the green onions in with the carrots.

  “She does have a sweet tooth,” she said warmly. I laughed and grabbed a carrot, letting her smack me on the back of the hand. I was confident that this problem, at least, had been solved. It was now between the women to repair their relationship. I headed back to my office to work for a while.

  “I’ve named the cat,” Harlow announced over dinner. My spoon paused on the way to my mouth, dripping the broth for the soup. She looked down at my spoon and back at my face, grinning. “Don’t worry. I decided that Miss Pussy was probably a bad name.” I rolled my eyes and got another spoonful of soup.

  “So, what did you go with then?” I asked, taking a sip of water.

  “Well I started by thinking about all the heroines of books that I’ve read, and I thought about a few options, but none seemed to fit her. She didn’t even flick an ear at some of them.” She took a bite of soup and I smiled a little bit, picturing her sitting and suggesting names to the cat. “So, then I tried some names of goddesses, like Artemis, Athena and Ishtar, and she apparently thought those were a bit better, because she actually yawned, then went about licking her leg. They still didn’t quite fit though. Then I thought of the perfect name.”

  “Which is?” I said when she paused.

  “Delphina,” she said. “It means ‘little girl’, and she is just a little girl.”

  “She’s had kittens,” I said. “Doesn’t that make her more than just a little girl?

  She stared at me in exasperation. “She’s maybe ten pounds and most of her is fur. She’s a little girl.”

  I laughed and raised my hands in surrender. “Okay. Delphina it is. What does she think of it?”

  “Well, she stopped licking her ass and came over to purr in lap when I suggested it, so I think that she likes it.” I nodded. Probably. But then again, she loved purring in laps. She’d snuck into my office a few times and hopped up in my lap. “Oh, and she also likes your pillow.”

  “What do you mean, likes my pillow?” I asked, suddenly nervous.

  “Sleeping on it. And clawing it. And she might have shredded it a little bit,” Harlow said innocently, taking another spoonful of soup.

  “Shredded it?”

  “The feathers are all picked up.”

  I groaned. It had taken me years to get that pillow to the point where it was comfortable no matter what. “That cat is going to be a menace.”

  “But she’s so cute!”

  “Cute,” I grumbled, eyeing the cat sleeping on the end of the bed. I took my shirt off and tossed it in the hamper. Harlow was across the room brushing out her hair. I leaned over and looked at the cat, who opened her eyes. “We’re going to come to an agreement. You don’t destroy my house and I won’t turn you into a rug, okay Delphina?” She yawned in my face. “And maybe we need to get you a toothbrush.”

  “Are you threatening my cat?” Harlow asked, pulling her shirt off.

  “No,” I said, quickly standing. “Just having a discussion.” Harlow turned to me, and my eyes dropped to her chest. She laughed and pushed off her pants, and my gaze moved down to see her pussy covered by dark blue lace.

  “I know, I know,” she said, striking a pose. “You got amazingly lucky with how amazing I am.” I laughed and grabbed her around the waist.

  “I am lucky,” I said, kissing her. “Now, I want to lay back on that bed and watch your hair bounce over your tits while you ride my cock.”

  “Someone’s been reading,” she said with a giggle, and pushed away from me. “Take your pants off and lay down.” I bounced on the bed, disturbing Delphia. She stalked away in disgust.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Harlow

  I woke up the next morning and smiled as I watched Midas talking to Delphina. She was sitting on his dresser while he was buttoning his shirt. “She’s the one who likes you,” he said, nodding at the cat. Delphina licked her paw and wiped it over her ears. “I’m serious, Delly. I tolerate you. I’d put you back out on the streets, but you’d find a way back into my vault.” I chuckled, and Midas half turned to me. “She’s awake. Go see her and let her pet you,” he told the cat. Delly reached out with a paw and caught his shirt. Midas shook her free and quickly pulled his gloves on. He scooped the cat up and plopped her on the bed next to me. She stalked to Midas’s pillow and curled up in a ball.

  “You’re up early,” I said sleepily, reaching out to pet Delly.

  “There’s a meeting at my office that I can’t get out of,” he said sitting next to me. He brushes some of my hair behind my ear. “Go back to sleep and rest. I kept you up late last night.” He grinned widely.

  “You kept me up? I’m pretty sure that I kept you up,” I yawned, but I pulled him down for a kiss then settled back into the blankets. Delly moved so that she could reach out and touch my head with her paw.

  I woke up a couple of hours later and showered, leaving Delly on the bed. I yawned, working a cream into my hair to keep it somewhat neat. I needed to start doing something. I was used to being out and about, walking and dancing with Meg, and just being active. I’d been with Midas for less than a week and I was feeling lost in a fog.

  “Maybe I can dance for a while,” I told Delly. She didn’t answer, but I didn’t expect her to. I dressed in something that I could move in and headed down to the kitchen for breakfast.

  “Good morning!” Ameliya said cheerily as I walked it. “How did you sleep?”

  “According to my body, not long enough. But I need to get up and move before I laze the day away.” I settled on a stool at the counter. “What about you? I feel like you’re in this kitchen no matter the hour I walk in.”

  “Oh, I have apartments down here,” she said, pointing towards a door I hadn’t noticed before. “I spend some time in there, but I prefer to be in here. If I’m not cooking or in the garden, I sit and read.” She smiled and passed me a plate of cut fruit with a small bowl of oatmeal. “It’s not a fancy breakfast today, but I have to get to the markets and do the shopping. Is there anything in particular that you want or that you can’t have?”

  “This is my favorite thing to have for breakfast,” I told her. I wasn’t lying. It was fresh and filling and made me feel like I’d made one good choice for the day. “And I’m not a fan of fish, but don’t cook specifically for me.”

  “Dear, it doesn’t bother me one bit. I’d rather ask than have you not eat. What are you going to do today?” She sat next to me with a mug of tea.

  “I thought I might dance or go for a run,” I said, picking up a piece of grapefruit. “I feel like I’m losing my edge.”

  “Well, there’s the ballroom, but if you run outside, be careful. I’d feel better if you waited until I got back. If you got hurt, no one would know.”

  I smiled. Ameliya really was like a grandmother. I couldn’t be angry at her for caring about Midas, and I supposed, me. “I’ll wait until you get back to go for a run. Oh, good morning,” I said, turning to the small meow behind me.

  “There you are, you little devil,” Ameliya said in a high voice. “Are you looking for your breakfast?” Delly meowed again, rubbing against my ankles before following Amelia to a small mat. Ameliya got a small bowl of pulled chicken from the fridge and set it down. “I’ll have to get some more food for her,” she said in a normal voice, “but I’m glad she’s here. She’s a little lovebug.”

  “She is sweet. Do you need any help with the shopping?” I asked.

  “Oh, no, dear. I’ll stop and talk, and I wouldn’t want you to get bored.” I thought about asking how she thought about me being bored in this massive house by myself, but I bit my tongue. We were getting along so well this morning and I didn’t want to upset her. Instead, I finished my breakfast and wandered off towards the ballroom.

  It was a giant room, with the main floor five steps lower than the rest of the building. A wide, open ar
ea ringed the room at the same height as the entrance, and tall glass doors opened onto another terrace. In the back left of the room was a slightly raised area where I could picture an orchestra. I couldn’t dance here. This room wasn’t meant for one person, but for a party. I sighed and left, heading for the library. Maybe I’d talk to Midas about clearing out one of the smaller rooms.

  Staying cooped up like this was not an option for me. I was used to people everywhere, but most of the time, it was Midas, Ameliya and me wandering around this mausoleum. I walked through the library, pausing only long enough to grab one of the blankets from a chair, and to a swing on the terrace. I wrapped myself up tightly in the blanket and stared rocking, ignoring the tears on my cheeks.

  I woke up to warm arms lifting me from the swing. I blinked my eyes opened and found Midas smiling down at me. “You’re back already?”

  “I’ve been gone for almost five hours. It’s after lunch. How long have you been out here, love?” he asked, setting me in a chair in the shade. I shrugged. He gently touched my shoulder and I hissed. Looking down, I saw that it was bright red. “Sunburn,” he said, sympathetically. “I’m not surprised with that hair of yours.” He ruffled my hair, and I rolled my eyes. “Ameliya has a burn cream that will make it feel better.”

  I yawned and stood. “Is she back, then? She was going shopping this morning.” I looked down and realized the blanket must have fallen off my shoulders because the only part of my that was red was the tops of my shoulders and breasts. I imagined my face was a rather nice shade as well, but I couldn’t see my own face.

  “She’s back,” he confirmed, “and she has lunch ready if you’re hungry.”

  “I could eat, I guess,” I said, stretching upward. “How was your meeting?”

  He rolled his eyes. “It’s always so much fun meeting with the accountants and lawyers,” he said dryly. “The finances are doing well, we haven’t been sued this quarter, and they don’t want me to donate as much to charities as I do.”

  “You donate to charities?” I asked. He grabbed my hand to walk with me.

  “Of course I do. Just because I live in isolation doesn’t mean that I’m completely impervious to the needs of others. They’re particularly mad at me because I insisted on starting some new charity work.” He smiled down at me and squeezed my hand. “What should we do this afternoon?”

  I handed Midas a huge drum. “You had to pick this room to clean out so you can dance?” he grumbled.

  “It has the best light,” I said, grinning. He rolled his eyes, setting the drum in the ballroom. At one point, this was the music room. It had instruments and music stands which we were moving to the ballroom so that I had room. The best feature about this room was that it shared the same tall windows that lined the ballroom. It was big enough to be able to move across the room without feeling like I was drowning in space. “Hey, what’s this?” I asked, pulling a cover off a set of electric boxes.

  “It looks like an old CD player,” he said, coming up behind me. “They were basically defunct by the time of the Fall, but they played music.”

  “Do you think it still works?” I asked. I unearthed a box of plastic cases with round disks in them.

  “Let’s find out.” He plugged the machine in and hit the power button. It lit up, much to my surprise. It was easily seventy or more years old. “Hand me one of those disks?” I peeked through the box and picked one, handing it to him. He pushed a button and a tray slid out, where he placed the disk. It slid back in and after a moment, fast paced music came out of the speakers. I smiled excitedly, and he grinned down at me.

  “That’s amazing,” I breathed.

  “You can have music to dance to,” Midas said. I laughed as a man started spitting words out faster than I could hear them.

  “I’m not exactly sure this is the music I want to dance through,” I said through giggles. “But it does look like I have a lot of choices.” I picked another disk. “Try this one?” This time the music was upbeat and easy to shake your hips to as we returned to cleaning.

  “What is this,” Midas asked. I looked over and he was smiling, bouncing his head to the music.

  “The case said Disney, but I don’t know what that is. It’s fun though.” I danced my way over and kissed him. “Admit it, you like it.”

  “It’s fun,” he admitted, grabbing my waist, and hauling me closer to kiss me deeply. I giggled and pushed him away.

  “Let’s finish cleaning and then we can go take a shower together,” I told him.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Midas

  I watched Harlow sleep. I knew it was pathetic, but she looked so peaceful. Her long hair was loose across the pillow and one hand was curled up by her face. The blanket wrapped around her waist and she held the end wrapped in an arm, leaving her hips and legs free. One of her feet constantly twitched in her sleep. Some days I couldn’t believe that I was lucky enough to have her in my bed. I just needed to keep her there and I wasn’t sure how to do that.

  “Go to sleep, Midas,” she said sleepily, and I huffed a lap. “I know you’re watching me. But this is time to sleep.” She opened one eye blearily and stared at me.

  “Alright,” I said, sliding under the covers and wrapping an arm around her waist. She wiggled against me. “If you keep that up, neither of us will be sleeping.” She snorted and settled in to sleep.

  Harlow was awake before me the next morning, but she was still eating breakfast when I came down, chatting with Nigel and Ameliya. I leaned against the door frame for a minute. Harlow looked so animated. She needed some more company in this house. “Don’t tell me you’re plotting my downfall,” I said, and all three turned to look at me innocently.

  “No downfall, but maybe a small prison break,” Harlow said. I raised an eyebrow.

  “We were discussing another trip to the pleasure district,” Nigel clarified, pushing his glasses up on his nose.

  “And what might you need in the pleasure district?” I asked Nigel. He blushed and stuttered. Harlow grinned proudly at me.

  “He does learn!” she exclaimed, and Nigel looked at her, gaping like a fish. Ameliya finally let her laughter go.

  “They’re teasing me, Nigel.” I grabbed a slice of watermelon from Harlow’s plate and said good morning to Ameliya. “Do you happen to have any bacon?” I asked.

  “Of course. Would you like some eggs as well?” Ameliya said, bustling to the stove.

  “Please,” I said, then turned back to Nigel and Harlow. “Now for the two of you. Harlow, please stop trying to corrupt my assistant. He works so well how he is now.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Harlow answered primly. “I am perfectly innocent. How could I corrupt anyone?” I looked at her with eyes raised, and then the three of us burst out laughing. “Okay, okay,” she gave in, laughing. “Maybe I am a corrupting influence but at least I’m fun!”

  “You are,” I said, kissing her. Ameliya set my plate down and smiled at the two of us. I nodded, grateful she didn’t say anything. “What can I do for you this morning, Nigel?” I asked.

  “I have more news on the Hollow situation,” he said.

  “It can wait until after breakfast,” Harlow said calmly, taking a spoonful of oatmeal.

  “The boss has spoken,” I said. Nigel nodded with a grin and we all turned back to our breakfasts and idle chatter.

  “Library or office?” I asked as we left the kitchen.

  “Library,” Harlow said. “It’s more of a team space.”

  “Are we a team?” Nigel asked.

  “Of course we’re a team, Nigel. Why would you think that we aren’t?” she asked curiously.

  “She’s changing everything, Nigel,” I told him mournfully, heading up the stairs. “Soon the workers will band together and insist on things like at work childcare or loosening the dress code.”

  “You don’t have childcare for your workers?” she asked. “Oh, that is changing right off. What do they do if a
child is sick?”

  “Generally, they stay home, but they’re compensated for the day anyway,” Nigel said, pushing up his glasses. “I have heard some of the secretaries discussing how much appropriate childcare is.”

  “Don’t help her, Nigel,” I groaned. Harlow was enough of a firecracker. “Let’s get the Hollow issue figured out first.” I could hear them talking quietly to each other behind me and I rolled my eyes.

  “Okay, Nigel, what have you got for us?” Harlow asked, sitting in a chair by the table. He pulled out his table and a folder.

  “I’ve been doing a lot of this work on paper, so it can’t be traced,” he told us, handing each of us a collection of papers. “There’s still some things that I can’t quite trace. It seems like the trend of disappearing Hollows began about fifty years ago, with laws going into effect about twenty-five years ago about the status of Hollows. Look at page two,” he said, and Harlow and I flipped to that page. “These six councilors were rising in their careers at the same time as the political sentiment was turning against Hollows.” My eyes raised looking at the names. One was the High Councilor, and four others were the four I would consider to be the most powerful. The sixth was the odd man out.

  “Harlan Frasier?” Harlow asked, confused by the same name that I was. “Doesn’t he normally fight against the tightening laws on Hollows?”

  “He does,” Nigel conceded. “However, I would have been remiss not to include him as his career matched the Hollow’s story. I think he is an unlikely candidate. Another interesting thing I noticed, if you’ll turn to page six,” he said, and we obliged, “is the wording of the Hollow specific laws. Nothing states outright genocide, but there’s no allowances for adult Hollows.” I skimmed the laws over the next few pages, noting that Nigel was right.

  “We all know that there are no adult Hollows,” I said thoughtfully, “but there is nothing stating that a Hollow can’t be allowed to live.”