by Calinda B
Daniel spluttered with laughter. “Ms. Engles, you’re a bundle of nerves. I’m really not that scary.” He reached out to grab a white cloth napkin and managed to dab it along her neck without spilling his own wine.
Inches away from her face, her breath quickened. He’s close enough…close enough to…to…Her eyes closed, her lips parted.
She breathed in his smell, a heady mixture of something earthy, subtle perspiration, and a slight fragrance of some kind. He moved closer…his warm breath puffed rhythmically along her neck…his face radiated heat along her cheek…and then he moved away. Her eyes sprang open in surprise.
“Take it slow, Ms. Engles. We haven’t even had the pleasure of a toast yet,” he said, another mischievous smile playing along his face. “And I like to savor beautiful things, not rush them.”
“I’m not a thing.”
“Point taken. Forgive me.” He touched the tip of his tongue to the corner of his mouth and lifted his crystal glass. “To nerves and their quelling.”
She tapped her glass to his and sipped the wine. “Mmm, this is good.” She took another sip. “It’s really good, in fact. What is it?”
“It’s a 1999 Sine Qua Non Tarantella. A very good wine.” He took some into his mouth and relished it, rolling it over his tongue.
Marissa took a larger swallow. She rarely drank, and she’d never tasted wine this good.
That same puckish smile played along Daniel’s face. “I’d ease up a notch, if I were you. This beauty needs to be appreciated.”
“Oh, you’re right. It’s just that it tastes so good. But then, I’m really hungry. I haven’t eaten all day. In fact,” she said, swaying slightly. “This wine is already going to my head.” She touched her pulsing third eye with her fingertips. The crack in the sidewalk flashed in her memory.
“Here, I have just the thing.” Daniel leaned out of their cozy surroundings and retrieved a tray of fruit, cheese, and crackers. He plucked a butter knife from the tray, peeled back the wrap, and spread some gooey, creamy cheese, along the side of a halved strawberry. “Try these. Just picked today. They’re delicious.” He popped the succulent fruit into her open mouth.
The sweet red juices of the berry exploded in her mouth, colliding with the sharp, tangy cheese. “Mmm,” she uttered, closing her eyes. She rolled the fruit and velvety cheese back and forth in her mouth before allowing it to slide down her throat. “More, please.”
“You looked like you enjoyed that.” He reached for another berry.
“I did.”
“You have quite an appetite,” he said. “Open wide.”
Her mouth fell open, and he placed another berry at her lips. “Eat.”
She nibbled the tip of the fruit, taking a small, sweet bite.
“The whole thing, Ms. Engles.” Daniel smiled.
She closed her mouth around the berry and sucked. Plump red flesh, gooey cream, and warm fingers slid inside.
He watched her intently. “I’ll need these.” He slowly pulled his fingers from her lips. He reached for a napkin and wiped his fingers clean, smiling at her, his eyelids lowered.
She shivered. “So. What do you do for a living?”
“I live,” he said simply.
“I mean for money,” she continued. “You know – work.”
“I’m a collector.” He said, spreading the creamy cheese on the next strawberry. He extended it to her waiting mouth. “Open.”
“You collect statues, right?” Marissa licked a drop of strawberry juice from her chin.
“Not really,” he answered. “I collect beautiful things. Beautiful things beckon to me.”
Her face creased at that statement. She sat back and studied him. You’re the one who’s beautiful. “Thank you for the berries and wine. They’ve restored me a little bit.”
“You’re very welcome.” His tongue darted to the edge of his mouth.
She took a quick, sharp breath. The lines of his face were strong, his lips were full, and the sexy stubble on his chin and cheeks was….well, it was just a rock solid bonus as far as she was concerned. Broad shoulders, muscular arms…and those blue eyes…those eyes are simply hypnotic.
“See something that pleases you?” he asked, as he had done in the grocery store.
“Yes,” she replied simply.
“Is it as pleasing as what I’m looking at?”
Pinned to the window again, she thought. A burst of squirmy flutters filled her belly, like small, delicate birds beating their wings against their enclosure to free themselves. The opening they wanted to exit through was at her core. She blushed as a wash of silky liquid seeped out onto her panties. Want. There was that word again. “I can’t answer that.”
“Well,” he said, a slow, sexy smile forming upon his face, “If I were you, I’d say the answer is a definite yes.”
A wave of embarrassment rolled through her gut. She shook her head over so slightly, eyes still locked with his.
He nodded his head in affirmation in response.
She bit her lip. “So why aren’t you dating anyone?” she blurted again.
“Do you wish that I were?” He cocked his head and looked at her quizzically.
“No. It’s just that…it’s just that…oh, I don’t know. Guys like you always have a lot of beautiful women to date.”
“Do they? Guys like me? I’ll make a note of that.” He scribbled on an imaginary notebook, dropping eye contact.
Her shoulders fell from her ears.
“What else do guys like me do?”
She stared at her lap. “They definitely don’t date women like me.”
“Are you evil?”
She shook her head.
“Do you have a dark past? A criminal record?”
“No,” she whispered.
“Are you a man who has had a sex change? Or a cross-dresser who’s managed to make himself look very, very appealing?”
She laughed. “No.”
“Then why shouldn’t a guy like me date a woman like you?”
“I don’t know. They just shouldn’t.”
“Do guys like me ever wish for someone unique?”
“Maybe.”
“Do they ever settle down with just one woman?”
“I don’t know about the one woman part, but they should never settle for anyone. Settling is what you do on the couch.”
“Good point.” He paused, wiggling his hand above his imaginary paper. “Do they wish they could find someone who matched them?”
“In their dreams, yes.” She twisted her hands round and round.
“And what if they think they might have found her?”
Marissa’s head whipped up to meet his gaze. “They’d be wrong,” she breathed. “She just broke it off with a boyfriend-like guy.”
“Does she love him?”
“She’s pretty sure she doesn’t.”
“Well, then,” he replied, putting his hands palm up by his face. “What, me worry?”
She laughed.
Daniel leaned forward and placed his fingertips under her chin. A tiny spark flared, but she did not pull away. “I was captivated when I met you, Marissa. I’m seldom captivated the way I was today. In fact, I’d have to search my memory to find a moment such as this one.”
“Oh, that’s a classic line,” she muttered, averting her eyes.
His eyebrows shot up. “For guys like me?”
She nodded, her chin brushing against his fingertips.
“Would you believe me if I said I’ve never used it before?”
She bit her lip. “I’d hope it was true.”
He leaned back. “So guys like me never date women like you. What kind do they date? I should take more notes.” He poised his imaginary pen over his imaginary notebook.
“For one, they only date very beautiful women.”
“On the inside or out?”
“Out. If they have beauty on the inside, that’s considered a bonus.”
“I see.” He nodde
d thoughtfully. “I’ll put a star next to that one.” He scribbled his hand back and forth then tapped it, as if he were adding punctuation. “Are these women ever unique?”
“More like exotic. Guys like you prefer exotic women.”
His hand wiggled back and forth, writing invisible script. “Exotic,” he repeated. “Not necessarily unique.” He paused and studied her. “Does someone around 5’6”, with hazel eyes that seem to invite me to melt, and long, lustrous brown hair that my hands want to explore qualify as exotic?”
Marissa reddened and shook her head.
“What about a beguiling face, a shapely body, and a no-nonsense kind of attitude about her? Does that qualify?”
Again Marissa shook her head.
“What about eyes that look like they’ve seen sorrow beyond their years? A woman who’s serious and seriously kind and appears to hold secrets inside. A woman who’s probably stronger than she lets on. Will that qualify her as exotic?”
Marissa stilled and said nothing, looking intently at him.
“We’ll put a question mark next to that one.Do they ever have unexplainable abilities?”
Marissa frowned. “Such as?”
“Not sure.”
“What are you saying?”
“Just answer the question, please. You’re the expert in guys like me.” He smiled, flashing a mouthful of white teeth.
What does he know about me? Is he referring to the crystal ball mind fuck abilities? Nothing terribly unique there. That’s more of a pain in the ass. “That remains to be seen,” she offered.
“Remains to be seen,” he said, scribbling furiously. “Thank you for cluing me in to this fascinating insight into guys like me.” He placed the fictitious writing elements to the side. “Now, would you like to hear my thoughts about women like you?”
As before, his gaze captured her. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“And why is that?”
“Because I might not be able to hear it.”
“What if it’s quite positive?”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
“I wouldn’t want to scare you way. Not a gorgeous, exotic, beguiling woman like you,” he said, grinning broadly. “Come,” he said, climbing out of their intimate nest. “Let’s find out if dinner is ready.”
Chapter 4
“I’m stuffed. That was fantastic.” Marissa carefully folded her napkin and placed it next to her plate. Karin was a creative cook, serving up a salad of fresh greens, drizzled with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and fresh herbs, followed by Dungeness crab and scallop ceviche, fried prawns with cotija grits and guajillo-chile honey vinaigrette, and side dishes of roasted potatoes and wild mushrooms.
“More wine?”
“I don’t think so. I’d probably slither under the table and pool around your feet.”
“As long as you slithered up into my lap that wouldn’t be so bad.” Daniel laughed “Let’s take our dessert out on the deck, shall we?” he said, tossing his napkin on the table. His eyes danced as he looked at her. “I have heat lamps out there if you get cold.”
“Guys like you think of everything,” Marissa said.
“We do think of everything. I need to use the boy’s room first. Would you like to wait here or out on the deck?”
“I’ll wander outside, if you don’t mind.”
“Not at all. It will give me a chance to see if I can find you in the dark.” He winked at her.
“You have heat lamps out there. You just said.”
“They might go out.” He shrugged his left shoulder and winked at her.
After Daniel left, Marissa pushed away from the table, and stood up. She stacked the plates one on top of the other.
Karin came bustling out. “I’ll get that,” she snapped.
“Oh! You surprised me. I was only trying to help.”
“Well, you can help the most if you don’t break his heart,” she hissed in Marissa’s ear. “He had a horrible ending to his last relationship, and I don’t want a repeat of that one.”
“What makes you think I have any thoughts of breaking his heart?”
“I’ve seen the way he looks at you. He’s already tossed his heart in the ring.”
“No searing love stories have been written here yet. He’s a big boy, Karin. I think he can take care of his heart.”
“That’s what his last girlfriend said. Only she was no Numen – she didn’t have the gift. She had no power other than her power over him.”
Numen? Marissa’s forehead creased deeply. “I don’t have a clue what you are talking about.”
“Wrong answer,” Karin said, dropping silverware onto the plate with a clatter. “You’ve got the gift. I can feel it. Don’t pretend to be naïve. I’ll be watching you.” She hustled out of the room.
Gift? The levity Marissa had been feeling ran for cover. Glaring toward the kitchen, she stalked outside. She crawled onto the day bed and curled into a tight ball. Gift?, she thought again.
“Is everything alright?” Daniel asked her a few minutes later. “Karin’s in a snit. And where did that beautiful, capricious woman I was dining with go? What happened? Did Karin offend you in any way? She can be a bit brusque.” He crawled in beside her, much closer than before.
“She hissed at me to not break your heart.”
Daniel nodded. “I see. She’s pretty protective of me. She’s like a mother to me, in a way.”
“Where does your mom live?”
“Far, far away.” He appeared pensive for a moment. “You do look like the heartbreaker type,” he teased. “Such a beautiful heartbreaker.” He reached out to push her hair from her eyes.
“She seemed pretty insistent, saying you had a horrible breakup last time.”
“It was horrid, but it wasn’t a breakup. She died.”
Marissa’s hand flew to her face. “Oh! I’m so sorry!”
“It’s over, Marissa. It was a long time ago.”
“How long?”
“Oh, 11 years, I’d say.”
“Eleven years! And you haven’t dated since?”
He shook his head sadly, side to side. “Not really. Random dates, here and there. Never any long-term things. Guys like me sometimes give their heart away and get wounded in the end. Then guys like me retreat.”
“What happened?”
He stared at her long and hard, as if considering what to say. “You might find this hard to believe, but she was killed by sorcery. It was dark, dark magic.”
He said this as if he were speaking in ordinary conversation like, “The weather’s cool tonight” or “Dinner was excellent.” The sentence hung in the air like a lit fuse.
A deep chill wrapped around Marissa. She hugged her knees to her chest. Her third eye burst open as if the fuse at the end of the sentence had reached its mark and exploded. She pressed her fingertips to her head and rubbed hard, scrunching up her face. Uhh. There’s that woman again. The green goddess. Who are you, and what do you want?
“Are you alright?” Daniel said, his voice laced with concern.
“I feel like you detonated a bomb in here. ‘Oh, Marissa, my last girlfriend got killed by sorcery.’ Let’s see how you do.”
“Are you my girlfriend now?”
She quickly looked up. “No, I just meant that…”
“It’s alright. I was just teasing. Or maybe hoping. I’m enjoying our date a lot.” He smiled kindly at her, his eyes almost sad. “Is your headache back? Can I get you anything?”
“No, it’s just an…it’s alright. It’s nothing.” She dropped her hand to her lap. “Why did Karin indicate that your girlfriend told you she wouldn’t break your heart and that she wasn’t a Numen? Doesn’t that have to do with divine power?”
“Yes, that’s correct, querido.”
“What did you just call me? My Spanish is a bit rusty.”
“I called you dear one. I thought it was a little too soon to call you mi corazón, even though that’s what I want
ed to say.”
“My heart…” Marissa’s voice fell away. “Yes, probably too soon for that phrase.” He called me his heart. I already feel the same way. “Tell me more…about the sorcery, I mean.”
“Are you sure you want to hear?”
Marissa nodded.
“Karin has been with my family for many years. She came to work for me when my father moved back to Brazil.”
“Are you from Brazil?”
“No, that’s where my father was born. My mother was born in Guatemala. I was born here, in the States.”
“So why the talk of Numen? What did Karin mean by that?”
“Karin and several others in my family thought if Josephina had been a Numen, she wouldn’t have befallen the fate that she suffered. Everyone thought Josephina – that was my girlfriend’s name – everyone thought she and I were soul-crossed lovers. The assumption was that we’d be together throughout time, and Josephina used to say that to me all the time. There was one man who thought differently – he was a powerful brujo – that’s a sorcerer. He wanted her for himself. He made mistakes, I made mistakes – in the end, he killed her.”
“No way!” Marissa gasped. “It’s still the 21st century, right? What happened?”
“He couldn’t control his magic – or he couldn’t control her. He sought to bewitch her to fall in love with him. Instead, she threw herself off the edge of a cliff like a stupid lemming. She told me she was going for a walk, and then we found her at the bottom of the rocks floating in a tide pool. We’ll never know why she did that.”
“Where did this happen?”
“We were vacationing at the Sea of Cortez near Isla Santa Margarita. It was kind of a ‘let’s get away from the madness before we get married’ kind of thing.” He ran his hands back and forth across his taut abdomen. “Instead, the madness followed us there.”
“The Sea of Cortez…” Marissa repeated.
“Have you been? It’s very beautiful.”
“Er, only as a child. Before…before I grew up.” More like before my life descended into dark sorrow, and I hid in a box of paints. “Is the man still alive?”
“Yes.” Daniel’s face twisted into a mask of derision. “Still alive. He’s my mortal enemy. At this point, he’s grown in my heart like a gnarled branch.” He cocked his head and examined her. Again sadness emanated from his eyes. “You’re taking this well. You haven’t run from the house yet.”