by Ashley Ladd
“We have to change to be stable. This is the secret of life mortals need to accept in order to evolve. Unfortunately, change is not a human favorite.”
Mortals? Would she ever get used to his strange manner of thought and speech? Sometimes she found it charming, but this rubbed her the wrong way and she bristled.
He looked her squarely in the eye. “You are fighting change. You must change in order to survive, to thrive. You must learn new things and endure the trials sent your way. You must learn to be flexible as the pine tree and strong as the rock. A Scorpio’s work is to release yourself from stagnant relationships.”
Did he mean Richard? If so, he must know that was long dead and buried. Or did he mean her dance career which had come to a blinding, excruciating halt?
He placed the card face up on the lounge between them and clasped her hands in his. “You must reflect on what needs to be changed in your life. You must find the strength to implement the change if you wish to be happy. Perhaps it will help if you remember that death is a vital, inescapable part of life.”
He picked up the full deck and shuffled it. He held the cards for a few moments and then shuffled them again. “I can feel power emanating from them. I draw from it and it from me. Readings bring comfort and provides clarity when I am clouded with confusion.”
In awe, she stared at his hands, at the roughly curling golden hair on his fingers, at how gently he cradled the cards. Tarot cards shouldn’t look so at home in such masculine hands, but they did.
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He looked up at her with eyes such a clear amber she felt as if she gazed into the noonday sun. “Through meditation the ability to access the guiding voice of your intuition becomes stronger and the constant flow of messages and images becomes clearer and easier to understand. As you work more and more with the cards, you will develop your own special relationship with them.”
“Uh-huh.” She regarded the cards with suspicion. “Is this fortune-telling?”
“No. It’s an ancient form of counseling. Readings capture the essence of the moment as experienced by the client. It picks up on influences—lessons from their past—showing possibilities for the future. Tarot reading must be treated with respect and absolute humility.”
He gazed up at the heavens and sadness misted his eyes. “The majority of people consult the cards in times of confusion or distress which puts great responsibility on a reader’s shoulders. Right now, I can feel the pain and anguish of all my charges. They’re calling out to me for help, but other than the few I can touch through your shop, I find myself helpless to ease their suffering.”
She moved closer, and folded her hand over his with a gentle squeeze. She tried to ignore the frisson of awareness that shot up her arm this time, and every time, they chanced to touch.
“Let me explain a few basics you will need to know before you begin your journey of interpreting the tarot.” He proceeded to go into a lengthy, involved explanation.
Her head spun with the information dump. She gazed at him with glazed eyes. “I don’t know if I can remember all this.”
“Okay. That’s a lot to remember for the first lesson. The best way to learn is to watch a couple of times and then just jump in and do it. But let me show you a more powerful spread than the three card layout you were using. It’s called the Celtic Cross.”
“Okay…” Clestie felt as if she needed a tape recorder. She’d check the internet, and if all else failed, she’d visit the public library to check out more instruction books on the tarot.
“To get a good reading, you will need to gather information similar to that needed for an astrological reading—sex, date of birth, astrological sign, favorite color and favorite season.”
Perplexed, Clestie screwed up her nose and then wished she hadn’t when his gaze intensified on her movement. “What do color and season have to do with it?”
“First, tell me your favorite color, before I cloud your judgment with their meanings.” He flexed his magnificent shoulders.
Hardly able to breathe when he moved with such grace and power, she peered up at the beautiful nighttime sky, midnight blue with lighter shades of aqua and violet streaming through it. “Violet.”
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“Color’s very important.” He smiled softly. “Violet indicates artistic talent, creativity, hypersensitivity, alienation and the highest wisdom. Violet also means love and kindness.”
The sexy way he emphasized love made her pussy tingle and she tried to suppress her squirming. She cursed the full moon’s brightness for showing her every tiny movement and also probably highlighting her mortified expression.
“Okay, let me do a reading for you.” He turned toward her and crossed his legs Indian style on the end of the lounge. His powerful thighs brushed hers.
Tingling from the contact, she scooted back to give him room to lay out the cards. Then she tucked her own legs beneath her and rested her arms on her knees as the night breeze provided a bit of relief from her sudden rise in temperature.
He saucily winked at her and ran a gentle finger along the length of her jaw. “Take a few moments to reflect on the issues you want to explore before I perform your reading. Frame questions in a clear, simple and unambiguous way. If you have two questions, such as two different paths to follow, ask two separate questions and I’ll do two individual readings. Then we’ll compare the results.”
Shivering now, and not from any cool night breeze, Clestie gulped. She’d been trying to get back on a professional footing with him, but he was making it impossible.
“Remember, it’s counterproductive to address the same issue or question with more than one reading. In actual fact it is always your first reading for any issue that will be the most accurate.”
Okay, so that would save time with the customers.
“You’re at a crucial crossroads,” Leo whispered huskily, as he leaned forward and teased her lips in a light, breathy kiss. Then he lay on top of her on the lounger, scattering the cards.
She could barely move, her breath escaping in tiny puffs. His hair fanned out about her as if ensnaring her in his web. It gleamed silver under the nighttime sky as if spun by the moon.
His musky scent filled her, made her dizzy, and despite his weight on top her, she felt as if she was floating among the wispy clouds meandering overhead.
A card dug into her back, keeping her from fully slipping off the edge of reality. She squirmed and tried to lift her hips enough to remove it. “Isn’t it bad luck to lie on the cards?” They were probably bent and wrinkled by now.
Leo nibbled her lower lip and sucked it into his mouth. Then he murmured huskily as his cock flexed against her stomach, “Oh, I don’t know. I feel pretty lucky right now. I’m here with you…like this.”
But he rolled off and knelt beside her. When she sat up, he gathered the cards, and reverently returned them to their case. Then he rose before her, his shadow sliding over her, enveloping her as if he was consuming her soul.
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She shivered, but it was a warm and welcome shudder. When he held out a hand to her, she slipped hers into it without reservation. It felt so small, yet so vibrant and alive in his. Energy crackled and sizzled in their touch, and skipped up her arm, to her heart and down into her pussy.
He cupped her face between his hands and tilted it up. He gazed down into her eyes with a burning intensity as the rugged pads of his thumbs traced her jawline and then the curve of her lips. Lowering his lips until they were a hairsbreadth away, he murmured, “You’re so very breathtaking. So sweet.” He pulled her to him and tucked her against his heart. “Addictive.”
She parted her lips and sucked in his breath, savoring it, memorizing his taste. She leaned closer and closed the gap between them. Pressing her lips to his, she licked and teased. She swayed with him as if part of the sultry breeze and when his tongue met hers, she opened wide.
Softly, sensually, they moved together, their
tongues mating and their hips grinding to the distant music of the crashing surf. The city lights twinkled like candlelight.
When he loosened the belt of her robe she stretched her arms high and let him push the thick covering to the ground. Their kiss deepened and she rubbed provocatively against his cock. Moaning into his mouth, she wound her fingers through his glorious hair. Against his moist lips, she murmured, “What have you done to me, Leo? Did you and Aunt Petunia conspire to turn my life upside down?”
Leo’s large hands kneaded her waist, leaving a hot trail of desire in their wake. Her silky gown crinkled in his hands as he stepped back and grabbed a fistful of material and pulled the filmy garment over her head, freeing her breasts to his ravenous gaze.
Her nipples beaded into little buds and he caught her about her waist. When he lowered his mouth and nipped one, it became a conduit of exquisite energy. She arched back and pushed her breast deeper into his mouth.
He pulled back and bathed her breast with long, languorous sweeps of his tongue under the heavy globe, then up and around her nipple, but avoiding the most pleasurable point.
He cupped her pussy and kneaded, ripping a gasp from her. The earth rumbled and she writhed against his hand. She pulled his head closer and held it captive.
Off balance in so many ways, she easily tipped back onto the lounger when he leaned into her. Eager to be one with him body and soul, she pushed down his pajama bottoms and was gratified when his cock sprung out and nestled into her pussy, pushing insistently against her clit.
Wonderful sensations shot through her.
She slid her fingers around his cock and ran the pad of her thumb over the large head.
His seed seeped out and she massaged it into his already silky flesh. She rubbed the loose velvety folds between her fingers as his wiry curls tickled her wrist.
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Leo feathered kisses on her forehead, down to the tip of her nose and then teased her lips. “Are you sure you’re not a goddess?”
She was no longer sure of anything. Wrapped in the ecstasy of his arms, she felt like a celestial being. She soared past the clouds, into the heavens and beyond. Against his lips she murmured, “I don’t know anything anymore.”
“If not a goddess, then a nymph. Most assuredly a siren.” He pushed himself up from her, his powerful arms straining. The tip of his cock just grazed her pussy. His searching gaze probed her eyes. “What exactly don’t you know?”
It was impossible to think straight when her entire body had morphed into one gigantic hormone, when she quaked with ragged desire.
A hard, driving beat permeated the night and surrounded them, the same beat that shook her walls from early morning ‘til late evening, but never before so late at night. It was much lower in volume and yet the vibrations were just as insidious. She doubted her neighbor was holding midnight class…unless it was a very private class. A grin curving her lips, she chuckled. “I don’t think we’re the only ones enjoying the night.”
Leo flashed a dazzling, knowing smile toward the source of the sound. “I hope not. ‘Tis a night for love and lovers. We’re in a house of romance.”
When she frowned, he continued, “Leo is full of romance.”
And she would have blamed it on the gorgeous, almost full summer moon. Her skepticism rolled off her tongue, “Do Leos have a monopoly on love?”
“We embrace love, cherish it and never take it for granted. To us, it is far more than mere passion.” He lowered himself onto her and his cock nestled against her pussy, stroking her clit once again.
“Since I’m a passionate Scorpio, I have no romance in my soul? I’m not a match for a Leo? Sexually maybe, but nothing deeper?”
The thought poured over her like ice water. Then she chided herself. She didn’t believe in this zodiac or tarot nonsense. Leo wasn’t her star-crossed soul mate. Leo didn’t mean anything to her.
Liar!
The angel on her shoulder shook a shameful finger at her.
Suddenly not a big fan of angels, Clestie grimaced. Shush! So she didn’t want Leo to mean anything to her. By his own admission, he’d soon be just a sweet, steamy memory. That didn’t mean her feelings were real.
Leo wrapped his arms tighter about her and rocked with her gently. “Ah, but you are not pure Scorpio. True, Scorpio ‘tis your sun sign, but you have Leo in your moon. Be assured, romance burns in your soul. It just needs to be awakened.” He punctuated his final words with kisses.
Writhing, she stretched her legs wider. She tilted her hips and hugged his cock between her thighs. She moved to the music, willing him to join her.
“My passionate little Scorpio is eager.”
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Ravenous—verging on desperate—she ground her hips against his in unmistakable invitation. A primitive growl rumbled in her throat. “We might only have tonight. Let’s not ruin it arguing over our signs.”
“Ah, but we are our signs—and so very much more.”
With a powerful thrust of his hips, he drove so deeply into her she cried out and clung to him. They fell into rhythm with the hard pounding beat next door and she was truly transported to another world.
She clawed at his shoulders, her fingers sliding against his sweat-slicked flesh. Her hips pounded the lounge.
She buried her face against his furry chest and surfed the crashing waves of desire. They slammed against her ribs, swelled in her heart and threatened to drown her in their tumultuous fury. Quaking, on the brink of crashing over the edge of oblivion, she pushed harder, gasping and moaning.
He began to stroke faster than the beat, and the tidal wave consumed her. Her scream of pure ecstasy ripped through the night, ignored by the placid moon.
Out of breath, panting, wave after wave of glorious pleasure rippled through her pussy, making it clench and unclench hungrily around his cock.
Leo plundered her lips and drank deeply as he pounded furiously into her.
He thrust deeper and deeper until she was sure their souls were one and their hearts united. Then with one final plunge, he erupted and clung to her, shivering. He cradled her to his chest, his breathing as raw and ragged as hers.
Soft raindrops splattered on Clestie’s arm and she opened her eyes wide to find the moon obscured by cloudy, threatening skies. More drops of water plopped on them and she let out a mew of protest, not wishing to leave Leo’s warm arms.
She nudged him. “We’re about to get drenched. It’s time to go inside.”
Leo lifted a brow and chuckled. “Are you scared of a little rain?”
“We have to get up early. We have another big day ahead of us.”
He rolled to his side, forcing her to do the same on the small space. He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her gently. “I can face anything with you by my side.”
Her heart melted and a sugar rush went to her head. Shoot! He was much too sweet and charming for her good. Why was he making her fall in love with him when he knew he couldn’t stay?
It was a recipe for heartbreak. No wonder she’d never liked to cook.
* * * * *
Each day brought a new group of clients seeking Leo’s guidance. Clestie and Elizabeth started secretly rating them as if they were on a reality TV show, grading them on originality, sincerity and the “crazy factor”. With each new day, the insanity level increased.
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Clestie awoke in fits and spurts beside Leo and rubbed the sleep from her eyes and her day-old mascara onto her fists. She frowned at the makeup she’d forgotten to remove when Leo had taken her so forcefully to his bed. She couldn’t help but smile at the luscious memory.
He snoozed so peacefully, she hated to wake him, so she rolled out of bed as quietly as possible. She tiptoed to the shower down the hall off her bedroom and forced herself awake with a cold shower.
Daily, Leo taught Clestie more about the science of astrology and the art of interpreting the tarot. She sat close by his side when he anal
yzed star charts and soaked in as much knowledge as her brain would hold. She found it difficult not to feather kisses across his shoulders, up his neck and over his face in the many hours patrons filled the shop. Sometimes she rubbed her leg against his under the table or slipped off her shoes and played footsie with him.
Today, when Elizabeth opened the door the crowd smashed in. She stumbled against the counter, rattling several of the glass jars lining the shelves above her.
A jar toppled off the high shelf over Elizabeth’s head and with her heart in her throat, Clestie pointed at the deadly missile and yelled, “Watch out! Incoming!”
Elizabeth ducked and closed her eyes. She covered her head and then winced when the jar shattered. She shook her head and muttered, “I swear I’m going to glue the suckers down.”
The swell of humanity almost suffocated Clestie, but she tried to focus on the individuals and how she could help them. As she got to know them, they seemed like family. She honestly began to care for them.
She was most intrigued by a svelte professionally dressed woman who called herself Deborah, who held her head regally and smiled with calm reassurance. They’d assigned her a nine and a half, their highest rating yet. Only a small tic by Deborah’s right eye belied her agitation.
This morning Deborah stood patiently, second in line. She frowned down at her watch and shifted her weight on her high-heeled feet several times as she always did when she was afraid she’d be late to work.
Clestie whispered in Leo’s ear, allowing herself a little nip of his lobe with a little grin, “Deborah’s in a hurry. Can you rush?”
Leo turned a stern gaze on her and whispered back. “Every person deserves my undivided attention. Deborah will get her turn as soon as I’ve finished helping Mr. Borsh.”
Okay, so Leo was right, but she also knew Mr. Borsh was happily retired and could wait ‘til later in the day for his daily advice. His pay didn’t depend on the nine-to-five world, but came in a fat pension check. So she tossed a rueful smile at the working woman.