Good for him. Nothing sagged on him. In fact, she’d like to see something stiff.
“Gill.”
The voice behind her made her spin around.
Evan looked amused. She’d been dreamily staring off after the most unpleasant but extremely good looking man. “What, Evan?”
“I made plans. Don’t wait up.” He grabbed a coat, shrugging it on his bony shoulders.
“Shouldn’t I know who you’re going out with? Where you’ll be?” She cringed at how maternal that sounded. But she was his sister, not his mother. His mother provided little structure for Evan, no curfews or knowing where he was outside of school.
He snorted. “If I was sixteen, and you were my mother.”
She didn’t remind him that he was only a year over sixteen. And God forbid if she were his mother. He’d have driven her nuts long ago. Like at six when he’d taken apart his bicycle to see how it worked. “Fine. I’ll see you later. By eleven. Are you going hunting again tomorrow?”
He gulped. “Uh, yeah.” Something had happened in the woods today. She wasn’t sure what, but every time she mentioned it, he either blushed or gulped. With him, there was no telling. “Why don’t you go find the neighbor? Make up to him for me being on his land.” He snickered, opening the door.
“It’s not his land.” She smacked air, as he’d already walked on. “Don’t you start!”
“See you at eleven.” He waved as he sauntered to his car. Had she been that obvious?
Her hands came up and swept across her cheeks. Were they flushed? They felt hot. Her whole body felt hot.
His fingers had magnified the heat when they’d briefly touched her cheek. He’d been about to kiss her. Damn Evan for his timing.
Get a grip.
So he was good-looking. Her mind pictured him. She’d had to look up at him, making him well over six feet. His wide shoulders had looked as if they were a linebacker’s, with dark brown hair above them, short, but in need of a cut. Brown eyes had expressed everything he’d been thinking. They reminded her of a deer’s. Powerful, muscular arms had ended in rough hands. He looked so different from Gunnar’s pretty, beach-boy good looks.
He was overbearing and obnoxious.
Why didn’t her nether regions care about any of that?
“Damn hormones.” It was the only explanation for her reaction.
Time for relaxation in her darkroom.
Yes, that would calm her nerves. This weekend, she’d get the one set up at home so she didn’t have to go into the office.
Grabbing her keys, she headed for the door. Working in her studio would take away the stresses of dealing with the hunky grump.
* * * * *
Rupe stalked through his kitchen door, slamming it behind him. Browsing in his fridge for a beer, he wasn’t too surprised to hear a voice behind him.
“Looking for something? How come you weren’t here when I got here? Were you with Miss Blond?” Bos paused in the doorway between the living room and kitchen.
He turned, and Bos held the last bottle in his hand. Rupe rubbed a weary hand over his face. “I was arguing with Miss Blond. Her name is Gill. I caught her snot-nosed little brother on my land today.”
“Arguing isn’t good. You need to woo not argue. Hear the difference?”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“I asked around town.” Bos grinned smugly. “I already knew her name was Gill. Her brother bought buckshot at the local food mart.”
“He used some of that already.” That the local mart sold hunting supplies was a given.
“Did he shoot at you? If you got shot in the ass with buckshot would it stay in there as you turned to human?”
Rupe yanked the beer from Bos’s hand and his sick sense of humor. “Get out. Taking my last beer and talking about shit like that!”
Bos chuckled. He went around behind the wood-tiled bar counter, which ran along to separate the two rooms. “I knew you were low, so I got more. If I go, I take them with me.” He pulled out a six-pack of beer that had been shoved under a barstool. Two more had been tucked alongside the first.
“Fine.” Rupe handed Bos back the bottle and took a new one out of the pack. “Maybe I’ll keep you around, you keep bringing me beer.”
“The kid shot at you?” Bos’s face sobered up with a seriousness he didn’t usually have. “Not good.”
“He shot a branch.” Rupe powered down onto a red barstool.
“What did it do to him?” Bos settled in on the stool beside him. He tipped back his bottle.
“He dropped the gun.”
“Ah.” Bos pursed his lips and nodded. “So he’s not exactly hunter extraordinaire?”
“More as if he were a hunter menace, from what I saw today.”
“That’s a good thing. No mounting for you. Unless it’s with the sis.” Bos winked.
Rupe peered down into the brownish liquid. “Cut it out, man.”
Bos blinked at him, then broke out in a grin. “O.K.” He drew out the syllables on the word. “Don’t you be giving up now. You have a free and clear shot to Miss Blond.” Bos lightly punched his shoulder. “Go for it. You should go back over there. Especially if you made stupid comments, and I know you did.”
“I didn’t.” Well, except for the Mrs. Robinson shot. And the age thing. It must have shown on his face.
“Go back over there.” Bos nudged him again. “Get her under the stars. Use that charm that’s been building up since the curse started.”
Her mouth could do other things besides argue. Maybe Evan went to bed early. He sighed. “I’ll be back, I’m sure. We didn’t exactly hit it off tonight.”
“You do have that effect on people.” Rupe arched a brow at his friend. “Well, you do. At least, since the curse was installed.” Bos sloshed around the last remaining sip of his beer. “Go make nice with her. You don’t have much time.”
Time was short, and he found Gill gone. So he went home and drank beers with Bos, discovering hangovers were hard as hell on a ruminant. Nothing like stale beer cud to chew.
Chapter Six
Gill got home before sunset the next day. Evan had called her at work, was giving up his hunting early, going to dinner with their mom. She’d begged out due to being swamped. Truth was, she didn’t want their mother to drone on about how hard it could be for a single woman Gill’s age to find a new husband. If she’d wanted depression, she would have kept Gunnar and his new model girlfriend, who was almost half Gill’s age, on her mind constantly instead of focusing on her photography.
Time for a dip in the hot tub. Her steps quickened through the house.
As she undressed, her thoughts turned to Evan and his return. She had no desire to get caught by her brother.
But the whole fun of the hot tub was going in naked. Being so free. She’d lived her life by society’s rules for so long. This was about being herself. Something she’d not been since before Gunnar.
A fluffy white robe was the only concession that someone might come up on her. She stripped, leaving the robe where she could reach it, and dipped herself into the water.
“Ahhhh. This is the life.”
Gill leaned her head back, running a hand through the warm water. Nirvana was a hot tub out under the stars. Craning her neck, she looked up. No stars yet, but soon. The sun had created a vivid canvas of pinks, yellows, and purples across the sky. Clouds ran the length of the horizon as if they were glowing, pointed swords.
It’s so lovely.
Her camera crossed her mind.
Enjoy it.
A picture couldn’t begin to capture all the hues gracing the sky. She’d sit back and take this one without a lens. Take pictures of the next one. A wildlife magazine had already expressed interest in the white stag pictures.
Leaves rustled in the woods over the whir of the hot tub.
She sat up a little, peering. It was probably a squirrel. No neighbors would come around, would they?
Rupe could come around. Oh, yeah, h
e could come anytime. In her, on her.
A flash of white peeked out from beside the tree nearest the steps to the deck.
It was the deer. She sat up straighter, trying to get a better look at it, but it remained outside her line of sight except for a brief glimpse.
The sun beamed its last ray, disappearing behind the trees. Night fell, breezes blowing lightly, shaking the barren branches. The night sounds would start soon ‑‑ katydids, crickets, bob whites. Sometimes she even heard an owl or two.
Where had her deer gone? She peered into the coming blackness, trying to catch sight of it again. In the dark, surely she should be able to see its white coat.
A movement flashed before her eyes. They strained, trying to make it out, put it in clearer focus. More motions headed for the steps as footfalls crushed the leaves.
That sounded too big to be a deer.
Her heart pounded in her chest. The robe rested on the side. All that would do was cover her. She didn’t have any weapons or even a phone. Maybe this naked hot tub time wasn’t such a good idea. Who could this be? It wouldn’t be Evan arriving at the back of the house.
A figure appeared at the bottom of the steps. As it moved up them, she recognized who it was.
Rupert Donaldson.
Her breath swooshed out of her lungs.
He was naked.
Their eyes met. His lit her on fire. The hot tub had nothing on the temperature that flared between them.
“Hunk” did nothing to describe him. Adonis, maybe? His body was one long piece of sinewed muscle. Washboard stomach. Trim hips. And his large erection jutted up from his body, ready for action.
She pushed her bottom lip between her teeth.
He could be in Playgirl.
Maybe she should have retrieved her camera. The pictures could keep her warm on the frostiest night.
Wait, he’s obnoxious. And gorgeous. Overbearing. And gorgeous. Surly. And gorgeous. Mayday, mayday, all reasoning going out the window.
“What are you doing here?” She sounded as if she were a phone-sex operator recovering from simulating an orgasm. She cleared her throat. Her sex throbbed with anticipation. Forget the basics, it wanted copulation now. Her thighs clenched together in anticipation. Thankfully, under the water, he couldn’t see them. She lowered herself further down, hair floating up behind her.
She should be freaking, calling police, calling anyone about him showing up naked on her deck. Why had he shown up? She didn’t know. Worst of all, she didn’t care. The view was too damn enjoyable.
He had a knowing smile, but his voice hitched with frustration. “I don’t know.” He shrugged. “But, I’m here.”
“Oh.” Her head went quickly up and down like a bobble head. “Yeah, you are.”
He took two steps closer to the hot tub. Her eyes followed him. She couldn’t look anywhere else.
“Should I join you?” His face glimmered in the lights from the porch with hopeful anticipation.
Decision time.
She shouldn’t do this, coming so soon out of a divorce. Her only serious relationship had failed. But wasn’t her whole reason for being these days to be more true to herself? She’d only been with one man, Gunnar. Because back where she grew up, you were supposed to wait until marriage. She’d always done what society expected or dictated instead of what she wanted. The whole point of buying this house, expanding her business, was to do, for the first time in her life, what she wanted to do.
And what did she want?
Him.
There was no question that her body had stood up and begged when it came to Rupert Donaldson, even as they argued. Why not give into that? Find out what being with another man was like. It wasn’t a lifelong commitment. It was a night of sex that gave them both something they wanted.
She squared her shoulders, looking into those limpid pools of his eyes. “Join me.” Her voice came husky, from deep within her. She hardly recognized it.
“Are you sure?” He scanned her face before he took another step, about to mount the step up to the hot tub. Maybe later he’d mount her. Her sex quivered. One could hope.
She nodded, as he set one leg up onto the side and pulled himself into the warm water.
They sat in the calm ripples, listening to the night sounds she’d thought about earlier. Each moment of silence strung along her nerves, until they felt stretched like a piece of taffy.
How did she go about seducing a man? Gunnar had taken an Oriental fan and a bottle of saki. No fan. No saki. That limited working with her successful knowledge of seduction.
Talking might be good. Only she didn’t know what to say. So she blurted out the first errant thought that came into her head. “So do you go around naked to neighbors’ houses a lot?” Her face heated as she cringed. So much for elegant seduction.
Those brown eyes settled on her. “Not really.”
“So I should feel special, huh?” She reached a shaky hand to swirl around the hot tub, blew out a breath from her over-inflated lungs.
“Always.” And as if he were a shark, he pointed himself in the water, heading straight for her.
She gulped. Come and eat me. She’d be his chum anytime.
His fingers stroked along her collarbone. The touch flittered across her skin so lightly, it tickled. She lifted her head. The fingers skirted up to tangle in her hair at the base of her neck.
His mouth descended so slowly, she thought it would never arrive. But when it did, a match lit the kerosene in her blood. He didn’t just kiss her, he kissed her soulfully, dipping down deep into her being, bringing it all to the surface so she’d offer it up to him. And he took it, giving more back.
Without warning, his other hand came up to take her breast. He took the gasp she released into his mouth. The already sensitive flesh shuddered from the touch, ached from the sensations. The fingers drew slowly down to the nipple, making sure to touch every inch. They pinched, rolling the bud in strong fingertips.
This ... this was much more than she’d bargained for. She liked it. The sensations rolling around in her took over, swept her along on the raging river they’d become.
One hand clutched at his hard back, muscles rippling under her fingertips. He was such a strong man. Power emanated from him, his body and his presence. She wove the other hand into his short hair. The silky strands slid through her digits.
His mouth left hers to nip lazily along her jaw line. “I’m so glad you like to hot tub naked.”
Her head moved to the side to give him easier access. “How do you ... ooh ...” Moving up, he found a wonderful spot under her ear to nuzzle and nip. It was one of her favorites. “... know that?”
His hand stopped fondling her breast and skimmed across her tummy. “Because you’re naked in the hot tub.”
He stroked fingers across her lower stomach, wiggling them under her belly button. She wriggled her hips because of the tickles.
One finger dipped in under the hair to stroke on the top of her pelvis. She shivered as the finger found and circled the nub of nerve endings, her clitoris. Her clit. He wiggled it, moving it back and forth. Her thighs opened. She breathed heavily, almost panting. God, she wanted this. And he’d give it to her.
Turbulent heat moved throughout her whole sex. Her stomach clenched. Her heart pounded in time with the throbbing flesh. A moan escaped her lips.
“Like that, do you?” His eyes glittered in the low light as her head lifted to stare up at him.
“Uh-huh.”
His grin enlarged slowly. He took a deep breath, his chest expanding.
“What are you ...” But he’d already disappeared under the water. When his mouth attacked her sex, she almost shot out of the hot tub. He devoured her, nibbling, tongue slashing across her, igniting banked fires she didn’t even know existed inside of her.
He came up, gasping for air, a few seconds later.
Despite the fact he needed breath, disappointment filled her that that marvelous mouth was no longer on her.
“You’re a nut. Underwater?” Not that she minded his doing it. What he did to her made her senses hum and sing.
He nodded, took another deep breath, and dove under again. This time he blew the air out against her so that the water bubbled her. Afterwards, he attacked again, and all she could do was whimper. His tongue lapped, licked, and laved until the need for air drove him to the surface.
Several times, he did this, taking in air, then loving her as long as he could stay under. Each time, he pulled away, allowed her to back off of the orgasm that hovered out of her reach. If only he could stay down two more seconds, she’d achieve it. Her hands clenched the sides of the tub in frustration. Two more seconds, dammit.
He knew.
He knew what each pass of his tongue did. Knew how close she was. And he knew pulling away would put off her climax.
Bastard.
She gasped for air, lungs clamoring for more as blood rushed down to her sex, trying to push her into what her body craved.
When he shot back above the surface this time, he moved in to kiss her. His finger flicked across her clitoris. Her butt left the seat. “Ohhhh.” Another flick. Another moan. When both fingers pinched it between them, her orgasm ran across her. Everything clenched, bursting into a big ball of flame.
After the final shudders passed, she lay limply back against the side as his mouth released hers.
“Condom?” His voice sounded so hoarse and gravelly. He panted, too. What he’d done to her had affected him. May it have driven him as crazy as he had her.
She blinked, unable to understand his simple, one-word request. “Huh?”
“Condom.” His teeth gritted together as he spoke louder.
“Oh.” He wanted one. Immediate panic set in. Did she even have any? Then, she remembered Babs bringing over a few for emergency use. Now was a definite emergency. “They’re inside. I’ll go get one.” She’d hidden them once Evan had arrived. Somewhere he’d never think of looking, nor would he run into them accidentally.
“I’ll wait.” He helped her out of the tub, holding her hand tightly to make sure she didn’t fall. “Hurry.” Usually, she didn’t take orders from anyone. But this sounded as if it was a good one so she followed it.
Solstice Spell Page 3