“Why, Mr Wells, I had no idea you couldn’t tell with your amazing deductive powers.” The sweetness of her smile turned to pure sin. “Let me give you some hints.”
With that, she kissed him.
Kissed him hot enough to make his blood thunder in his veins.
Kissed him with a hunger that scoured through him, her tongue delving deep, sweeping through his mouth, flooding him with honeyed sweetness, leaving him hungering for more, so much more.
In a heartbeat he took control, met her kiss for kiss, following her as she withdrew to plunder the depths of her mouth in turn, stamping his taste into her, leaving his unique essence to stay.
Her hand tightened on his arm, one generous breast pressing against his bicep as she pushed close.
Need burned through him, desire such as he’d never before felt surging through his body, the stirring in his loins spreading a hot blanket from his crotch into the pit of his stomach and down again, hot tendrils of lust prickling through the sensitive nerve-endings that roiled down into his very maleness.
Finally they drew apart, both a little breathless.
“Come home with me.” The words left his mouth before he’d even realised he’d said them.
But he sure as hell meant it.
Taking a shaky breath, she closed her eyes briefly, opened them again to shake her head. “Cole.”
Of course. A teenager home alone. Aaron wouldn’t have done it either, and he wasn’t surprised that she refused. He knew things about her, but one that stood out starkly was her love and protectiveness of her young brother. That he understood, he’d been the same with his own young brothers when his father had had to work and Aaron had cared for them.
“Okay.” Leaning forward, he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I understand.”
“You’d be the first.” Her smile was little wistful, a little relieved.
“This isn’t finished, though.”
“Is that a threat? Or a promise?” That spark of mischief was back in her eyes, along with a whole lot of still-hot passion.
“It’s whatever turns you on.”
“I think I’m turned on enough.”
He laughed softly.
Straightening, she blew out a gust of air. “Speaking of brothers, I need to get back to Cole. It’s really late.”
As she readied herself to shift from the table, Aaron smoothly slid off and turned around, placing his hands on her waist as she stood up.
Almost immediately she realised his intention. “Wait. No, I’m too heav-”
He lifted her off the table, brought her right against him before sliding her down the length of his body, stopping her when her face drew level. Taking in the blush on her cheeks, he smiled slightly.
“Aaron…” Her hands clutched his shoulders convulsively.
“You are by no means too heavy for me.”
“I’m not a lightweight.”
Nor as heavy as she obviously thought, her body was sweetly plump hour-glass. “You’re a delightful handful.”
That made her cheeks darken even more.
Aaron chuckled, a sound that didn’t escape him often but slipped out so easily now.
“Shut up,” she mumbled.
“Delightful.” He kissed the tip of her nose before letting her slide down to stand on her feet.
Clearing her throat, she straightened her clothes before meeting his gaze with a defiant tilt of her chin. “Just so you know, you’re an arse.”
“Okay,” he agreed easily. “And just so you know, I like yours.”
“It’s a pretty big one.”
“Is it?” Placing his hands on her upper arms, he pulled her against him to peer over her shoulder at the plump rear. “It is pretty.”
She gave him a shove.
Laughing, he let her go.
“You know,” she eyed him suspiciously, “I’ve never seen you in this mood.”
“What mood?”
She waved her hand around. “This.”
“Look what you have to look forward to.”
“Huh.” Picking up the little purse from the table, Shea extracted the car keys. “Fun as this interrogation has been, I have to go.”
“I’ll call you.”
Her expression was a little uncertain.
“I’m taking you to dinner when I get back.” Reaching out, he tucked a curl behind her ear. “Anywhere in particul- why did you just flinch back?”
“No reason.” Those whiskey eyes were wide and innocent. “Oh boy, look at the time, I really need to go and - ah geez,” she added as he caught her arm and firmly reeled her close in front of him.
Tucking her hair behind her other ear, Aaron checked both ears. Ah. Straightening, he looked down at her with an arched eyebrow.
“Fine.” Defeated, she plucked out an ear bud from her left ear and held it up.
They both looked at it.
“Back up?” Aaron asked, amused.
Her hand curled around it.
“You are so busted,” he said.
“Still want to date me?”
“Sure. I like to live dangerously.” He paused. “Cole won’t be listening in, will he?”
She snorted. “I don’t take him on dates.”
“Good to know. I’d be afraid he was feeding you lines to give to me.”
“I can handle you without help.” She sniffed haughtily.
A lick of delicious danger stroked through him, uncaring that the danger slid through his tone. “Is that right, Shea?”
The woman hid it well, but he didn’t miss the way her fingers tightened a fraction on that dainty little purse. Had to admire the way she tossed those thick curls over her shoulder in deceiving confidence. “Absolutely.”
“Well, we’ll see, won’t we?” He smiled.
Apparently it was a little wolfish if her expression was anything to go by. He for sure felt predatory. Watching her get a little flustered had him wanting to throw her over his shoulder, cart her back home and have his wicked way with her.
Ride that sass right out of her.
No, not ride it out. He didn’t want to tame that spirit, would never dream of breaking it, but knowing he held all that hot sass and defiancy, that teasing and wickedness in his hands, was a little heady.
He wanted all of that for himself alone.
God, he felt like a wolf as he watched her retreat to the car, his gaze fastened on her as she unlocked the door and gave him a brief wave as she started the engine. He didn’t hide what he felt, knew she saw it by the way she bit her lip, was glad she knew.
Would be even gladder when she was beneath him, all that delicious plumpness his to touch and trace with his hands and lips, her heat surrounding him.
He watched until the taillights of her car disappeared into the traffic.
Crossing to the SUV, he sat inside to gaze unseeingly at the service station. Now she was gone he was able to analyse his actions, reactions, and his feelings.
Feelings he’d never had for any other woman. Shea stirred things in him he’d never felt, never experienced, never really thought about.
He wanted to bring her home into his bed, make hot love to her and wake up with her in his arms.
He’d never wanted that with the women he’d dated in the past, never brought them to his home, his sanctuary. That he wanted to with Shea after such a short time of knowing her let him know one thing for certain.
Shea Winters was his.
There were obstacles, yes, but none of them was going to prevent him from claiming her.
Chapter 7
Sunday was relaxing, both Shea and Cole sleeping in after a late night. Cole snatched a fast shower, dragged on old jeans with ripped knees and a tatty t-shirt, and announced his intention to meet his new school friends at the local hangout.
“I’m guessing that’s code for ‘eat junk food’?” Shea asked dryly.
“And lots of it,” he cheerfully replied, pulling his push bike out of the garage.
Relieved that he’
d gotten over his snit of the previous evening, Shea waved him off, leaning against the door frame to watch him disappear down the street and around the corner.
Checking the pot plants, she found the soil a little dry and went inside for some water. Lugging out two watering cans, she poured water over the plants, enjoying the morning free of a lot of traffic. Sure, it was an insignificant side street, but the Sunday peace of the city could still be felt. Given a choice she’d have liked to putter in the back garden, but the shop was open for business at ten so she went back inside to have breakfast.
Ginger sat on the edge of the table watching her butter a slice of toast and smear a thin scraping of Vegemite over it.
“I know, I know.” Putting a dob of Vegemite on her finger, she held it out to him.
He licked it with enjoyment, his purr breaking out into the room. Giving him a scratch behind his ears, she watched Red and Carrot wander in and investigate the contents of the food bowls.
“I’m sorry, Your Highnesses,” she said when they looked at the bowls and sat in disgust. “Is the tuna not to your liking this morning? The biscuits?”
Red yawned.
“Yesterday you couldn’t get enough of that brand.”
Slowly stretching out his front paws, Red arched his back and sank to the floor.
Carrot simply lifted a leg in the air and started cleaning his manly bits.
“Don’t hold back on telling me how you really feel.”
The phone rang and giving Ginger one last scratch behind the ear, she crossed to the phone and placed the receiver to her ear. “The Mystic Shop, Stella speaking.”
There was silence on the other end.
Intrigued more than alarmed, Shea waited, deciding to give the speaker time to gather their courage and finally tell her what they wanted or hang up.
The silence continued.
Reaching out to the plate, she managed to hook the piece of toast and took a bite, chewing and swallowing before saying, “I can wait for a few more minutes then I have to go and get ready. Can I help you?”
There was the sound of someone moving on the other end of the line but no answer.
“I can help you,” Shea said softly, all the while eyeing Carrot who was interestedly watching Red’s tail lazily flick up and down.
“You think?” The answer was hoarse, sudden.
Not really expecting a reply she jumped, the toast falling from her hand to land on the floor. Before she could grab it Carrot pranced forward and started licking the Vegemite off the top.
Giving up, she turned her attention to the speaker. “Of course I can. Are you uncertain about something in your life?”
The laugh that greeted this was harsh. “I’m as certain as I can be.”
Odd. “So how can I help you?”
“I think you’ve already done enough.”
Shea’s eyebrows rose. “Ah…you do realise that I’m a clairvoyant? You haven’t got the wrong number by any chance?”
“Oh no, Stella.” There was a mocking tone to the hoarse voice. “You’re the one.” The caller hung up in her ear.
This was getting just a wee bit creepy. Replacing the receiver on the wall, Shea glanced outside the window, reassured by the solid, blank building of Wells Security. Surely if a weirdo turned up at her door and she yelled for help, the guards would come.
If they could hear her.
Shea squinted up at the heavily-tinted first floor window. Should she tell Aaron? But then he’d launch a full-scale investigation or something, have someone tailing her, and that would freak her customers out. No, she to stand on her own feet and not freak. Security was right next door, she had good locks on her doors, security screens on the windows. No way was she going to let a crank caller mess with her head.
With a determined nod she swung around, took a step and slid, nearly falling arse over tit. Grabbing onto the kitchen bench, she looked down to see squashed toast under her shoe. A very annoyed Carrot stood nearby with his tail lashing from side-to-side.
“Geez, sorry.” Shea shook her head. “What am I apologising for? That was my toast you were licking.”
Carrot’s eyes half closed.
“I know it was on the floor. I’m just saying.”
Putting the mangled toast in the bin, she cleaned the floor while still pondering the caller.
Okay, he knew her fake name so he’d meant to ring the shop. No doubt it was the same caller that had phoned almost every day, sometimes several times, saying nothing and leaving blank messages on the answering machine. Probably just a crank caller getting their jollies by trying to give her the willies. It had happened back in NSW when she’d first started doing the ‘readings’, and Clare, her mentor, had assured her it wasn’t unusual.
Catching sight of the time she quickly drank the cup of tea, rinsed out the mug and set it on the draining board before hurrying into the bedroom and changing into her Stella persona.
As she fixed the false eyelashes on, she found herself wishing she had the day off. While doing readings enabled her to set her own times and set up her own business without too many questions, she found it draining at times.
“Never quite satisfied, are you?” she murmured, studying her reflection as she layered on the red lipstick.
Giving her clothes a last brush into place, she walked back down the hallway to the door dividing the front of the shop from the back. Ginger wandered down the hallway with her and she let him into the shop, closing the door between it and the rest of the house.
Having a cat appear now and again in the shop delighted the customers, made many of them feel more at home when they settled for a reading, and customers in general were amused to see Ginger lying on the counter or sitting on one of the chairs.
In fact, Ginger was the only cat she allowed in the shop during opening hours because he was the one she could count on to behave himself. His two brothers, however, were a whole other ball game. Carrot was too busy investigating everyone’s bags, Red lolled around and tried to lazily grab people’s ankles as they passed. Someone tripping over one of them was a very real possibility so she kept the two boys back in the house. Ginger, however, kept his distance from everyone, and having the haughty cat giving them the evil eye intrigued customers. The dour-looking cat was good for business. Plus he enjoyed the privilege of being the only cat in the shop and admired from afar.
“Fake-o,” Shea told him fondly. “Pretending you don’t like the attention while sitting and preening under the accolades.”
Tail curled around his paws, Ginger sat on the counter purring.
Flipping the sign to ‘open’, Shea surveyed the room. Having her own business was something she liked, being her own boss, but she’d never in a million years ever envisaged that the business would be this. Then again, she’d never envisaged having her own business full stop.
“Guess something good came out of something so bad,” she muttered, straightening a box of assorted crystals.
The door opened and Shea turned with a smile to greet the first customer of the day.
By the time four o’clock came and she shut the door and flipped the ‘closed’ sign back around, she admitted she’d be glad to get out of her ‘Stella’ clothes, as she privately referred to the make-up and dresses, and go for a walk to stretch her legs.
Cole was immersed in a movie when she left, still immersed in it when she returned, though the scent of roast lamb filling the air was testament to the fact that her younger brother had done a good deed.
“Now that’s why I keep you around,” she teased, ruffling his hair as she passed.
“Yeah, you owe me.”
An uneventful Sunday, but she was looking forward to Monday, a whole day off to herself.
Up at eight the next morning, she slid on her dressing gown and wandered into the kitchen to find Cole having breakfast, the cats eating tinned fish, and the radio switched onto some awful music channel.
“Seriously?” Crossing to the sink, she fille
d a glass with water and downed it in several swallows. “This time of the morning?”
“Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.”
“Tried it. Knocked my brains out on the wall trying to get it out of my head.”
Grinning, he slid the laptop into his bag along with several books and pocketed his mobile.
Shea caught sight of it. “Oh, by the way, I met Aaron on Saturday night.”
“Yeah?”
“He busted us.”
Cole stilled. “Busted us?”
She wondered at his sudden wary expression. “Has he spoken to you?”
“Aaron? Spoken to me?” He zipped up the backpack. “About what?”
Curiously, Shea watched him. Cole knew something she didn’t, but what? “He found out something you’d done.”
Okay, it was a dirty trick to throw that statement at her brother, but she knew Cole. If he wanted to keep a secret he’d keep it. He was showing some uneasiness, she wanted to know why. Especially in regards to Aaron.
A dirty trick but it worked. He went white and swung around to face her.
“Shit.” His eyes widened. “Shit, Shea, I’m so sorry!”
This could not be good. “Are you?”
“I didn’t think - I only did it once!”
“Only once?” She played the line, hooked him.
“I just wanted to know if I could bypass his security wall. You know-”
“Jesus, Cole!” Shea snapped straight. “You tried to hack into Aaron’s computers? You actually hacked into Wells Security?”
Mouth falling open, he stared at her then swore. “Bloody hell, Shea! You didn’t know? He didn’t mention it?”
“No, he didn’t. He sprung the ear bud on me and knew you fed me lines.” She thrust a hand through her hair. “Do you know how much trouble you could get into if he found out about the hacking?”
Cole cleared his throat, picked up his backpack.
“Cole!”
“I need to get to school.”
He started out the back door, she grabbed his arm. “What aren’t you telling me? Does he know?” A sudden memory stopped her in her tracks.
Seeing as Cole’s arm was in her hand, he stopped, too.
“Um…”
“Oh God. He knows, doesn’t he?” Shea searched Cole’s face anxiously. “That day…”
The Wells Brothers: Aaron Page 16