by Misty Simon
I liked the promises I saw there in their depths. And the additional promise of more good food I didn’t have to cook, or order, was a serious turn on.
Before I had a chance to scoot off the couch to let him up, he scooped me closer and kissed my nose. “I know I have morning breath, so I won’t go after your mouth now, but I’m going to conquer when I get you fed.”
And didn’t that just send a set of quick chills up my back? I admit I didn’t want to be dominated in everything in my life, but kissing was one of those rare things in which I would definitely not mind having some mastering going on. Meow!
He gracefully climbed over me to get off the couch. I was very impressed that he didn’t drop me right off the side. I watched his long legs eat up the distance to the kitchen. I sighed back into the couch and wrapped my arms around myself. Wow. Wowwy, wowwy, wowzer. If this was all a big dream, I never wanted to wake up. But I pinched myself just to make sure I wasn’t sleeping.
Five minutes later, I smelled French toast cooking and coffee brewing. I could get used to this.
I wandered out to the kitchen, intent on seducing him at the stove. I’d come up behind him and fondle my way down to his spatula.
But before I could get a finger on him, I spotted a twelve-inch-tall statue sitting on the breakfast bar. Oh, crap. I took a couple of steps over to the bar and tried to think of a way to get Arrol off the surface of that bar without Toby seeing him. I was such a bad owner. I hadn’t even thought of him again last night after Toby had taken charge. At least I hadn’t left him outside again. But I did wonder how much the little horny gnome had seen before he’d gone to stone.
Ack!
“Oh, hey,” Toby said, turning to me, spatula in hand. He looked like breakfast to me. Forget the French toast. I didn’t need it.
“Hey!” I stuck my hand behind my back and tried not to look interested in the statue.
“I found that guy in the pantry. You should have him out. He’s great. He needs to be polished, though.” Toby turned back to the stove.
Arrol had been in the pantry. That was promising. What wasn’t promising was the fact that now I’d have to have him out on display if Toby came over. Wasn’t Arrol just going to love that?
“Get your discerning palette ready, my lady. This French toast is done.” He slid some of the egged toast onto a plate, and my stomach grumbled again.
I’d have to deal with Arrol later. Right now I needed to eat with a man, a man with intentions, sitting directly across from me. What a fantastic start to what I hoped would be a great day.
But then Depeche Mode’s “Somebody” began playing in the kitchen. Toby grabbed his cell from his waist and another part of my body melted. Depeche Mode! The perfection! I loved my ’80s hair bands, but Depeche Mode!
“Yeah.”
Even the way he answered the small phone was sex on the ear.
But then his face got a stormy look to it. Ooh, wouldn’t want that look leveled at me.
“Fine.” Pause, eyebrows V-ing together. “You’ve tried everything? Everything?” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll be there. Don’t touch anything.” He stabbed the phone off with a little more vehemence than I thought was warranted for the poor inoffensive phone.
“Everything okay?”
“I have to go. One of the other properties has a water leak and the basement is flooding. It can’t wait.” His eyes held an apology I didn’t want.
Should have thrown that freaking phone out the damn window. Stabbing it closed was too easy for it. Hammering it would have been better.
But my vicious thoughts were cut off when Toby swooped down on me and kissed my lips, tasting of syrup and French toast. Two of my favorite tastes.
“I have some plans for that syrup later, so don’t use it all.” He kissed me again, making my toes curl. “And hold that thought. I wouldn’t want you to go and forget where we were.”
I stepped closer into him and grabbed his delectable man parts in my itching hand. “I promise I won’t forget, and now neither will you.” Felt good to do a little mastering of my own.
He rested his forehead against mine. “Yeah, I can’t imagine forgetting that.”
I think he tried to jog out the door, but his gait was a little stiff. Tee-hee.
But he did leave me in a near puddle of goo on the floor. Was I ready for this? After a shower and a leg shaving and another trip to the mall for sexy lingerie, the answer was probably yes, I would be.
Phoebe walked out and burst my bubble of sexual haze. “Hey, what’s that for breakfast?”
“You can have some of my French toast, but you can’t use all the syrup.”
****
Two hours later, I was straightening up my apartment, in anticipation of lots of sin happening, when a knock sounded on the door. Phoebe was in the shower getting ready to go back to her old house for more clothes. Apparently it was okay to ignore Jared’s pleas for her to never darken his doorway if she had to wear the same pair of jeans in a week. She’d told me she was planning on staying a little longer than she’d originally thought. Yay.
But with her gone…
Could it be Toby already? Was he so hot for me he’d rushed through his repair and hurried back to my waiting arms?
I wished.
When I opened the door with a flourish and a saucy smile, I had to back myself up. A woman, dressed all in lavender, from her hair ribbon to her low-heeled shoes, stood on my door step. She carried a lavender leather satchel at her side and dragged a wheeled, lavender bag behind her. All of it barely fit on my welcome mat. Her face was perfectly made up and her discreet little name tag said Mary. Under that was the stylized Katie Cora Cosmetics name with the lotus blossom. All in lavender. Yeah, it was definitely overkill.
But that wasn’t what truly held my attention. No, what truly held my attention was the fact that her face glowed a soft green under all the foundation.
Chapter Twenty
“You know what?” I said before he/she/it could get a word out. “I’m tired of this game. I don’t know what you want, nor do I care.”
“How did you…” It interrupted itself. I didn’t feel comfortable saying he or she. “I’m here to help you become a beautiful new you.”
“And where are your nylons?” I glanced down at bare legs that were at least smooth. But everyone who was anyone knew a Katie Cora representative would rather lose a hand than go out in public without the requisite nylons.
“Oh.” She seemed to completely turn to stone. Not a muscle moved at all.
Too late, I realized my mistake and tensed my own muscles as my fight-or-flight instinct seemed to kick in, finally, letting me know this situation was not a good one at all. “I’ll just, uh…”
But I didn’t get the chance to finish because a snarl stopped me. A snarl that echoed through the small front room and came from Mary’s chest. Her faced blurred and morphed into something horrid right under the perfect skin. It was as if I were seeing two images super-imposed on each other. Green skin shone with something disturbingly slimy. A long bulbous nose replaced the perfect little one I’d envied for a second. The green, green eyes burned red like flames, and that was when I jumped, thoughts of running like hell entering my mind.
I didn’t have a chance, though. In the Katie Cora lady’s place stood a seven-foot-tall, oozing, slimy, green…thing. Oh, man, the ball was right. It was a thing. And I was in some serious danger here.
Without warning, a chill raced up my spine, and the face before me changed again. Beautiful, shiny black hair waved back from his forehead and shifted with a light breeze. He was mouthwateringly gorgeous, with long, lean muscles and washboard abs under a stretched white T-shirt. Wow!
I looked up and knew the eyes I’d see. They were the weird green of the librarian outside the bathroom in the mall. It was the thing from the ball, all right, whatever he was. But the whole face had changed. I didn’t know how he did it, but now he had blond hair, a surfer’
s tan, and still the green eyes that flashed silver.
“What do you want?” My voice was harsher than I’d meant it to be. No use pissing off the creature, whatever he was. I wasn’t safe here inside my house, and he was coming across the threshold. I also had Phoebe to think about.
Oh, God. Phoebe!
I beat back my terror with serious effort. She was still in the shower. I could barely hear the water running in the bathroom, over my pounding heart. And she’d probably be there for another fifteen minutes.
But I needed to get rid of this thing before testing that theory.
I was scared, but I also had enough functioning brain cells to know this might be a chance I shouldn’t pass up. Maybe if I found out why he was following me and what he wanted I could tell him I definitely didn’t have it and he should go away. Sounded like a good plan to me.
“Is that any way to talk to a stranger?” It was a much deeper voice, almost sexy to my ears if I didn’t know what he was underneath all that glossy hair and those bottomless eyes. It also sounded like he was trying to channel some gangster from the twenties.
“Let’s not be coy.” I didn’t know where I got the balls to be so forward, but I was going to ride it like the crest of the wave. I just hoped I didn’t crash before I got the answers I needed.
“Not coy, you say? Most dames love to be coy.” He flexed the one bag in his hands, popping his impressive biceps into stark reality, and stared at me from the corner of his eye.
Of course this wasn’t going to be easy. What had I been thinking? “I’m not like most women. I’ve seen you enough over the last few days and had the shit scared out of me enough times to not want to play games.” I gave him my straightest look and willed him to believe my every word even if I was shaking inside. I didn’t know if I could deal with this aberration in my world, but it appeared I wasn’t going to be given much chance to protest.
“No games, doll? How boring.”
“Mary, Igor, Huge Green Giant, Guido, whatever your name is, tell me what you want, and let’s get on with it. Are you looking for something and you think I have it?” It was the only thing that made sense.
His expression, which up to this point could have been called flirty by someone looking from a distance, became guarded and pinched. He must have had awesome muscle control, though, because it relaxed an instant later. “Something to be found. Yeah, actually I do need something found. And it’s at this house. I need you to let me in and make sure I can find it.”
His skin flashed faintly green under the healthy tan, and I chose to ignore it. I was having a hard enough time as it was. “How about you tell me what it is and I’ll look around for it?” No way was I letting this lunatic into my house. I’d just have to find a way to keep him out.
I stood in the doorway the same way he had and tried to make myself bigger. All I needed was for him to go away this one time. I could be more prepared the next time I saw him. Not that I wanted there to be a next time, but I assumed he wasn’t just going to give up and go away simply because I asked him to.
Maybe I’d have time to dig out one of my old fairytale creature books and figure out what kind of curse or hex I could use to keep the boogeyman away…
“I don’t even know you, and I can’t have you hanging around.” “Won’t have you” was more like it, but I wouldn’t tell him that. “Why don’t you tell me what you’re looking for? I promise I’ll find it for you, and then you can go on and do whatever it is that you do.”
“How do I know I can trust you, wise guy?”
Give it up with the gangster talk already. I thought it but didn’t say it because I didn’t want to anger him further. Self-preservation and all that. This from a man who changed appearances like some people changed underwear? Please. “I’m telling you that you can trust me. To be honest, I’d rather you weren’t popping up all over the place anymore. If there is anything I can do to hasten that along, I’m more than willing.”
“All right, mortal, I’m willing to give you three days to find the treasure I seek. If in that time you don’t find it, I will come looking for it again myself. Do we understand each other? I know you have it and want you to hand it over, capiche?” He shook the bag at me, punctuating the words by thrusting the tiny thing at me.
Great. Possible death by makeup bag. Not exactly the end of life I’d envisioned for myself. “Yes, I get it. And put that thing away. You might poke someone’s eye out.”
“I wouldn’t mind that so much,” he said with a leer. “Could make things a little more exciting, as far as I’m concerned.”
I rolled my eyes. “While it might not concern you, if you do want me to find this hidden treasure, I will most likely need both eyes.”
He waved his hand dismissively, coming perilously close to my eye. “Whatever.”
“Onward, then.” I decided not pursue it. I just wanted him gone asap. Toby would hopefully be home soon, and I didn’t want to try to explain this godlike-looking man on my door step to him or Phoebe. “What exactly is it that I’m looking for?”
“A book, one you will know when you see it. But I can’t give you its name.”
“This wouldn’t happen to be the leather-bound book everyone is talking about lately, would it?”
He crowed (seriously, like a chicken). “I knew you had it! My informational source is never wrong. Damn, I’m good.” He looked like he was about to high-five himself.
I stopped him before he started doing a jig that would break my poor floor. “I don’t have the book you’re looking for.”
His eyes flamed red again. So much for not making him mad. “You do have it. I can feel it here. Do not lie to me, mortal. I will be human. I will have the book. Do not try to turn my head with empty promises when my sources say you have the book.”
I really didn’t want him to start breathing fire to go along with his flaming eyes. I barely stopped myself from backing up, though. I could not let him in my house under any circumstances. “I don’t have it.”
“I paid good money to find out where it is. I know you have it. For the money I dropped, the information better not be wrong.”
I noticed the gangster talk faded as he got angry. Just a little observation while I shook in my shoes. “You keep saying that, but don’t you think I would know if I had something like that?”
He snarled, and it wasn’t pretty. “Find the book. I can feel it is here.”
“If you can feel it’s here, then tell me what it looks like.” I crossed my arms as I remembered something about these kinds of things not being able to come in unless invited. But maybe that was vampires.
He stood motionless, as if he’d turned into Arrol during the daylight.
“What’s wrong?”
“Don’t do that again.”
“Ask you to describe the book? What about the title?”
He froze again, with his mouth in the beginnings of a snarl.
I stared at him and tried to understand what was happening. “Why do you keep freezing?”
“I refuse to be treated like this. You know the magic you use, mortal. Do not deny it. But I will have the book in three days, or I will have your life.”
Well, that was to the point. My hand came up to my throat.
“You understand me, then, mortal.” He made the word “mortal” sound like “bitch.” “If you do not find the book for me within the next three days, I will take your life.” He put his face in close to mine. “I will kill you, dispose of your body, and then I will become you. I will have your life. If I cannot have the book and my human life, then I will replace it with yours.”
He dropped his gaze down to my chest, and I remembered the postmistress feeling herself up. Would everyone think I was crazy as I walked all over town massaging my boobs like they were new toys?
“You have nice breasts. I would not mind fondling them all the time. Being a woman twenty-four hours a day would not be the hardship of this current body.”
I closed my
eyes for a brief moment and swallowed. Then I snapped them open to tell him he was being ridiculous, but like smoke rising to the ceiling, he was gone in a flash.
Three days.
Shit.
Chapter Twenty-One
Toby came hauling ass up the stairs as the smoke that was the thing dissipated into the sunny sky. I saw the wrong placement of his foot on the tread. But before I could warn him, he fell.
I clattered down the steps after him, terrified that he’d knocked himself out. He rolled down in front of me all the way to the bottom. Oh, please don’t let him be badly hurt…
“Toby. Toby! Are you okay? Talk to me.” I lowered my head to listen and feel for his breathing. Nothing was happening in my ear or along my cheek. Caressing the side of his face, I said, “Please don’t leave me when I just found you. I couldn’t stand it. Please, Toby, please.”
And then he grabbed me by the ears and kissed the living daylights out of me while scaring the living hell out of me.
I smacked him in the arm and pushed away from him by leaning on his chest and straightening myself. I bet that wasn’t very comfortable. “Don’t you ever do that to me again. I can’t believe you tricked me.”
“I didn’t trick you,” he said, getting up and rubbing the back of his head. “I really do think I knocked myself out. But then I smelled you. I popped open my eyes and there you were. I couldn’t resist.”
I softened a little. I mean, wouldn’t you? If not, you’re made of sterner stuff than I am.
“You’re so beautiful.” He caressed the side of my face and slid his hand down to rest right over my heart.
I gooed like cheese in a skillet. “Are you hurt?” I felt his head and ran my hands down over his chest.
“I’ll feel much better if you keep touching me like that.” He smiled, but it quickly changed into a grimace. “I think I may have fallen harder than I originally thought. I’m hurting.”
I made soft cooing noises and helped him sit up. “Dizzy?”