The sun was going down when Gray headed outside in his towel. No neighbors anywhere in sight. Just lots of farmland. Hell, he could even dress out here. His clothes were hanging by clothespins from the single line that hung from the trunk of one large elm to another. He pulled on his t-shirt and inhaled the breezy, fresh scent of cotton. Then he quickly tugged on his underwear and jeans, which were still a little damp, but at least they didn’t stink or make him look…hobo.
His chances of having Sofia in his bed tonight increased tenfold. “Thank you, Sofia,” he said to himself.
He’d tried to get her there this afternoon, and she’d shied away. Which was a smart move on her part, because no way in hell had he only wanted that to be a nap session.
Not that he would’ve pushed her. Gray wasn’t a man who hard-pressed a woman when she wasn’t ready. Although the way she’d stared at him while he lay in bed led him to believe she’d considered joining him. It wouldn’t be very hard for him to get her to open those curvy little thighs for him. If those dreams and his instincts were right, she was still a virgin. And if that was the case, he’d need to be careful with her.
Oh, hell. He wasn’t doing anything with her if she didn’t have any protection. Why hadn’t that occurred to him until now? Probably because he hadn’t bought a box of condoms since before Rachel.
Damn. It had been way too long.
Gray headed back inside and into the kitchen, only to see her bent over in the refrigerator. Her little mini-skirt hiked up. One more inch, and he could see heaven.
God help him.
“Lunch, I could do,” she said. “Breakfast was a stretch. Supper will need a special visit from my guardian angel, I’m sure.” She turned and kicked the refrigerator shut with her heel.
“Why don’t I cook supper?”
“Huh. You cook?”
“Usually nuking leftovers in the microwave is my specialty, but I could probably throw something together. It couldn’t be that difficult.”
“Couldn’t be that difficult?” She glared up at him through thick, long lashes.
Oops. “Or I could just pour you a glass of wine and tell you how much I appreciate you making me breakfast, lunch and supper, you sexy goddess of the kitchen.”
She quirked up one side of those pink, glossy lips. “Wine would be great.”
Gray poured her a glass as promised and watched her throw a couple of chicken breasts into a frying pan after spraying it thoroughly with cooking spray. She put water to boil in a pot and pulled out a box of mac and cheese.
He stood out of her way, leaning against the butcher block as he poured himself a glass.
Anything to keep his mouth busy so he wouldn’t say something idiotic. He’d always been amazed by the way Hayes could charm women. Hell, he’d charmed the chastity belt right off Rachel.
Gray hadn’t even seen it coming. Little did Hayes know, he’d done Gray a favor.
Chapter Ten
Penny sat on the black leather chair, staring over the big walnut desk at her stubborn daughter. “If you don’t want to do it for me, then do it for Sofia,” she pleaded.
Laura strummed her plain bitten-down fingernails on the desk. She looked sleep-deprived and irritated all at once. Penny read mixed phrases of guilt, loneliness, and desperation pulsating from her daughter’s mind.
The woman needed to get herself a man.
Penny blocked Laura’s thoughts and concentrated on the task at hand. “You have the power. Hayes is there, watching them. Don’t you want to know how Sofia is doing?”
Laura huffed out a breath. “Fine. I’ll do it.” After blowing out an exasperated breath, she began whispering in such a low voice, it was difficult to decipher the words.
Her face grew pale, and her eyes rolled back in her head. The murmured words grew faster and louder. “Hayes Phillips, I call upon you,” she repeated over and over.
A blast of cold air shot through the room, and the young man appeared. He leaned against the bookshelf with his hands in the pockets of his holey jeans.
“This is what you look like?” Penny said. “Identical to your brother, are you?”
Hayes grinned. “He looks a little more respectable than I do.” His smile disappeared when he noticed Laura sitting on the other side of the desk. “What is she doing here?”
“She has the gift to call spirits. She’s the one that brought you.”
“I’ll speak to you only,” he said, dismissing Laura.
Laura stood. “Well, I guess my work is done here. I’ll leave you two alone.”
“Sit down,” Penny ordered. Enough of the childishness.
With an eye roll, Laura sat back down.
“You want to know how they’re doing?” Hayes asked Penny.
“Yes, that would be wonderful.”
“It’s happening slowly. They’re attracted to each other, but she’s wary of him, and Gray isn’t exactly a smooth talker.”
“Like you?” Penny raised her eyebrows at him for fun. He seemed like such an interesting fellow.
His thoughts were even more so. The name Rachel and her image vibrated passionately out into the room and into Penny’s head.
He shrugged and continued. “I stopped planting Sofia’s dreams in Gray’s head. I’m hoping it’ll make him miss her touch and force him to step up his game. He’s got a problem with that. If he doesn’t start laying on more moves, she might not think he’s genuinely attracted to her. Because you all know how insecure she is, right?”
“My daughter is not insecure,” Laura piped up.
“Of course she is, dear. Especially when it comes to men, since you’ve been feeding her bullshit that they can’t be trusted.”
“Well, they can’t. And you’re going to regret this, Mother. As soon as this Gray person comes out of his spell, he’s going to leave Sofia heartbroken.”
Penny ignored her daughter’s glare and spoke to Hayes. “I was hoping this would all happen more naturally, but do you think the spell needs to be stronger?”
“And move it along faster? Couldn’t hurt. I need to get this all done ASAP. My other project is getting a little overwhelming.”
“Other project?” Penny was intrigued.
“The love of my life needs a new love of her life.”
“Oh, well let me know if I can be of any help. And thank you for all of yours.”
“Absolutely.” He faded into nothing. “See ya.”
~ * ~
A glass and a half of wine later and Sofia was feeling pretty good. She wasn’t quite sure how Gray was doing though. He’d been quiet for most of supper and now he sat silently on the floor with his back leaning against Nana’s sofa.
He’d insisted he’d break the sofa if he tried to sit on it. Sofia wasn’t sure he was wrong. The man was big and the sofa was ancient and tiny. The two rocking chairs that stood in each corner of the room weren’t too solid, either.
Feeling guilty, Sofia sat on the floor in front of him, carefully crossing her legs together to avoid giving him a show. She leaned back on her hands and eyed him. The dim light in the room made him appear serious and somber. What was on the man’s mind? Maybe his ex? Maybe his brother? Had they been close? It was amazing that she’d loved him in her visions, yet she knew nothing about him in real life.
“What are you thinking about?” she asked, not being able to take the silence any longer.
“How much I want to kiss you again.” The words slipped out of his mouth easily, as if they had been at the tip of his tongue.
And yet they were potent enough to warm her body from her scalp to her curling toes. Her cheeks burned, undoubtedly revealing how he affected her.
Trying to joke away her powerful response to him, she made a fish face. “What? You want to kiss these lips?”
“Among other things.”
Change the subject fast, Sofe. She reached across the floor for the radio and pulled it in front of her. “Do you like music?” She switched it on to a station where Blondie sang The Tide Is
High. As long as there wasn’t a crooning love song playing or anything with sex or kissing in the lyrics, she should be safe.
“Sure. What about you?”
“I like to listen to it while I’m painting. The genre sets the mood. Like, when I want to paint something sexy and smooth, I listen to jazz. When I want to paint something edgy and dark, I listen to hard rock.”
“What do you paint?”
You. “Whatever’s on my mind. Things I’m passionate about.”
“Like what?” He pushed on. “What did you paint last?”
You. “It’s kind of personal.”
“Oh.” His forehead crinkled. “Will you show me sometime? I mean, if you decide you don’t want me out of your life forever.”
“I’d love to show you,” she said. Stupid honesty sneaked up on her way too much.
“Good.” He smiled, genuinely. Stunningly.
For a moment, Sofia wondered if it would be a horrible idea to forget her inhibitions. Just for one night…or forever. She controlled her destiny. The only problem was she couldn’t control him. What if she let herself fall in love with him, only to dream of him dumping her?
She sighed. Now that would suck.
The song changed to a hip-hop tune, and Gray chuckled lightly.
“What?”
“It’s embarrassing to admit this, but Hayes and I used to break dance to this song in high school.”
“You used to break dance?”
“Yeah. We’d practice like crazy on the weekends. We’d tear apart cardboard boxes and lay them out in the driveway. Smoother surface, you know? And we’d try all these crazy stunts until we finally got it right.”
“That is so cute.” Sofia tried to picture Gray spinning on his head. Hmm.
“You wouldn’t think it was cute if you knew the reason why we did it.”
“Which was?”
“To get laid. The girls loved it.”
“Really? Well, I have to see some moves.” She teased. “Maybe I’ll love it too.”
“Not gonna happen. It’s been over ten years since I’ve even attempted it.”
“Come on. Please?” She gave him her best pouty face.
“What do I get in return?”
“Um.” Sofia thought back to her high school years. “I’ll do the splits. Or try to, anyway.”
His eyebrows arched. “Deal.”
“Cool.” She stood up and helped him clear a space in the middle of the hardwood floor.
He stretched his arms and his legs. “If I pull something, you’ll have to nurse me back to health.”
“You got it.”
“Don’t laugh.”
“What if it’s funny?”
He gave her a stern look while kicking off his loafers.
“I’ll try not to laugh.”
“Okay, we had these routines that we made up. We had no idea what these moves were called; we just did them. First, we both did this.” He did a handstand and brought one hand up. “Holy shit.” He flipped over onto his feet. Barely.
Sofia clapped, mainly because of the way his biceps and shoulders flexed. And it was nice to see him having fun.
“I used to be able to hold myself up longer, but I’m a lot heavier now.”
“What did you do after that?”
He grinned. “Is this going to get me laid?”
“We already made the deal.”
“Oh, hell. Okay, then I’d lean over and Hayes would do the leapfrog thing over my back. Then we’d line up and do a couple moves.” He shuffled around, brought his knee up and jerked his arms around.
Sofia held her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing. He looked adorable.
“And then,” he said breathlessly, “we did a backspin.” He ran in a circle and fell into a spin on his back for about half a second, ending it by posing on his side, facing the other direction.
“Okay. Go ahead and laugh now.”
She let out a giggle. “Gray,” she said as he stood to face her with his arms crossed, “you are such a good sport.”
“Hell, no, I’m not. I feel old and I think I have bruises on my back now.”
“Oh, poor baby.”
“Don’t ‘poor baby’ me.” His gaze dipped to her chest and back up again. “We made a deal.”
~ * ~
Gray’s body ached, but he was certain the pain and humiliation would all be worth it. That was, if she ever followed through with her end of the bargain.
First, she had to get a drink of water. Then she had to use the bathroom. Then she had to change into some shorts, which happened to be the little pink ones. God help him.
On her last pass through, Gray grabbed her by the shoulders. “Get it over with, Sofia.”
“Oh, fine.” She glowered. “After I pour some more oil in that lamp. It’s running a little low.”
“Nope. You’ve procrastinated enough.”
She scrunched her nose. “I may not be able to do it anymore.”
“Try.”
“Oh, fine.” She got down on the floor and stretched out her legs in front her. With her hands, she hoisted forward and eased back, propping her body up. She was only a few inches from the ground. She bounced up and down a couple of times, stretching out her muscles and finally completing her splits.
A growing hard-on pressed against his jeans.
“I did it,” she screamed, and jumped to her feet and into his arms.
“Yes, you did.” He wrapped his arms around her, glad to have a reason to be close. Vanilla. She smelled like sweet vanilla… Or like the cupcakes his mom used to bake for his birthday every year. He’d almost forgotten that memory.
She backed away and clapped her hands, still excited, and Gray instantly missed her warmth. “Todd Beltman can eat his heart out,” she said. “I bet he can’t do the splits anymore. I bet he’s fat and bald now. I ought to look him up.”
“Who’s Todd Beltman?”
“Freshman year in high school, I tried out for the cheerleading squad and made it. Everything was going great until we started doing lifts. Coach Perry paired me with Todd, and Todd said right there in front of everyone in the squad that he didn’t think he could lift me. He thought I was too fat to be a cheerleader.”
“What? Were you a big girl back then?”
“Roughly the same as I am now, only about two inches shorter, five pounds lighter.” She looked like she was about to burst into tears at the mere memory. “I was so embarrassed, I quit and never tried out again.”
“Sugar,” he said, thinking the endearment suited her, “the guy was probably afraid to touch a hot girl.”
“No, he was right. I was too big. I would’ve crushed him. He was a tiny little guy, and I was this—” She blew up her cheeks and spread her arms out.
“You’re out of your mind.” Gray grabbed her hand and gathered her close. “And so was that fucker, Todd. We really should look him up. I’ll lift him up and throw him across the country for hurting your feelings.”
“I don’t know. I’ve always been a little overweight.”
The woman was insane. He let his gaze fall over her lush body. Curves in all the right places. No way in hell was she too heavy to pick up. To prove his point, he grabbed her by the waist and lifted her with ease.
She gasped slightly, grabbing at his shirt. “What are you doing?”
“Showing you that Todd what’s-his-face was a lying little bastard.” He lifted her until her head brushed the ceiling. Then, slowly, he lowered her, letting her slide against his body.
When he didn’t put her down right away, she wrapped her legs around him and held on tight. She clasped onto his neck, bringing them face-to-face.
Gray shifted his arms. One cradled her bottom, keeping her up, while the other curved around her back, crushing her soft breasts into his chest.
“You can put me down now,” she said, breathless. Her lips were within licking distance.
“Not until you kiss me.” He grinned at her.
“You have no idea how tempted I am. But I can’t. I—”
Gray covered her lips with his to shut her up. He didn’t want to hear any excuses. He wanted to be the man in her dreams, the one who could touch her anywhere and everywhere. Make love to her any way he wanted.
To keep her from shying away, he backed her into the wall. Then he slid his tongue into her mouth and flicked it across hers. Luckily, she accepted it eagerly, moaning softly and raking her fingers into his hair.
The heat from her sex pressed against him. Closer. He wanted to be closer.
Feel every part of her.
His free hand found the hem of her tank top and slipped up underneath until he found her breast. He pushed her lace bra up and massaged the plump and supple flesh. Her nipple budded at his touch.
She squirmed against him and began to slip down the wall. Gray lifted her back up, supporting her bottom. This couldn’t end yet. There was so much more he wanted to do with her.
He paused from kissing her to whisper, “Can I take you upstairs?”
Don’t ask, just do it, you fool. This had been his downfall with many girlfriends in the past. He never pushed them, never wanted to take advantage of them. In the end, they’d moved on to guys who did push them.
Sure, he didn’t have a condom, but he could think of about thousand other ways to please them both without protection.
“I’m not ready for that yet,” she whispered back and dropped her legs from his waist to the ground, fixing her bra and top in the process.
Damn it. “Right.” He fisted his hands at his sides, trying to ignore how his body burned with unspent desire and how his cock ached for release. But it was damned difficult, considering he’d gotten so close.
She stared up at him, the blue of her eyes only a thin ringlet around her pupil. “Thank you for making me feel better about the Todd incident.”
Ah hell. The woman was after his heart.
“Thank you for reminding me there are memories of Hayes that I love and cherish. Those have been kind of hard to come by lately.”
Her eyes welled up. “Oh my gosh. You must still be grieving over losing him. I’m so sorry. Were you two pretty close?”
“Yeah. He’s been my best friend since birth…and my worst enemy at times as well.”
Bewitching You Page 12