He led her back to his bed, stood facing her as she sat on the edge. Taking hold of his cock, she stared up at him, her eyes smoky with desire. She pressed soft kisses along his shaft. Pleasure coiled tightly inside him.
Then she took him into her mouth, flicking her tongue over his length, swirling it around him. His cock pulsed against her tongue. His balls constricted with raw need. He clenched his jaw, hanging onto his control by a thread.
He longed to come inside her as he drowned in the depths of her brown eyes. Hell, it was his dream. He could do this however he liked.
Pulling out of her mouth, he cupped her cheek in his palm. “Lie back on the bed, love.”
She did as he instructed. He hesitated a moment, took a beat to admire her beauty head to toe. Her nipples were ruby red and glossy from his attention. The plane of her stomach rose and fell erratically with her ragged breaths.
“Touch yourself,” he commanded. “Make yourself come.”
She blinked up at him as she moved her hand over the tuft of brown curls that shielded her sex. Closing her eyes, she let out a soft moan and rubbed her glistening red folds.
She lifted her hips, pushed two fingers inside and gyrated her pelvis. Her rhythm sped up as did her desperate whimpers. She stretched her legs taut and stilled a moment before exploding in her climax like a lit firecracker.
It was the sexiest thing he’d ever witnessed. She reached out her arms to him. His desire torched higher as he climbed over her and spread her legs wider with his knee. He pushed inside her one blissful inch at a time.
Her intimate muscles contracted, massaged him as he went deeper. He started thrusting, slow and deep and she made incoherent gasping sounds. Every stroke was heaven. He braced himself on his forearms and watched the delight play on her features.
His blood roared as his pace quickened. She lifted her hips to meet his every stroke. The erotic friction shredded his control. He exploded in euphoria as he emptied himself inside her sweet sheath.
She clenched her innermost muscles, milking every last drop of pleasure from him.
He woke with a start, drenched in sweat, clenching his cock. That was more real than any dream he’d ever had. All he could think was that he had to have her. He wanted Jilly in his bed more than ever.
* * * * *
Jilly handed Eloise the envelope containing her weekly rent for the back room the next day at Mind’s Eye. “I’ll be gone the rest of the afternoon but if anyone wants a reading, Taryn’s working next door. You can send them over to her.”
“I love Taryn dearly, you know that. Her mother was one of my best friends. But she doesn’t have a tenth the gift you do.” Eloise stashed the money in the receipts drawer behind the counter. “Going out with that policeman? Is it work or just a date?”
Jilly thought about the odd conversation she’d had with him that morning. He was suddenly onboard with her working on the case with him. Her dream spell must have convinced him. She just hoped she was able to glean some information at Hannah’s house later to prove to Zander that she could help him bring the girl home.
She tried for nonchalance in answering her boss. “Yes, I am going out with him.” No way was she going to volunteer that they were headed to the Saxon home, but she hadn’t lied to Eloise. Not really. She just hadn’t answered the question completely.
“You’ll be at Beltane practice tonight, right?”
“Of course.” She hadn’t yet memorized her invocations for the ritual but she’d deal with Eloise’s consternation about that later. She had to focus all her energies on Hannah now. Glancing out the window, she caught a glimpse of Zander’s car. The tension in her neck eased a little but that uncomfortable ache low in her belly resumed. “There he is. Bye.”
She hurried outside before Eloise had a chance to say anything else.
Zander was stepping out of his car when she approached. “I’m ready.”
“Well hello to you too.” He circled the vehicle to let her in and she couldn’t help but catch a whiff of his scent. Damn, he smelled good.
As he slid into the driver’s seat she looked back at Mind’s Eye and saw the curtain in the front window move. She wasn’t thrilled that Eloise was unhappy with her for associating with Zander but with Hannah’s life at stake, her boss would just have to deal with it.
He backed out of the parking space then turned onto the road. “I spoke with Joanne Saxon, Hannah’s mother. All I told her was that I’d have…an associate with me and we’d like to take a look at Hannah’s room.”
She bit her lip. Maybe being present when Zander explained to Mrs. Saxon that she was a psychic would be better. At least she’d be able to answer any questions or concerns the woman had. “I feel so awful for her. I can’t imagine what she must be going through.”
“It’s pretty rough.” He merged onto the main road.
She tried to hone in on his thoughts. So much was going through his mind that she couldn’t get a line on his mood. “Are you nervous?”
He chuckled and gave her a sideways glance. “No. But you are.”
“Are you psychic now?”
Another laugh. “Don’t need to be. You’ve been tapping your fingers on the armrest since we left your store.”
She clasped her hands in her lap. “I’ve never felt so much pressure to pick up impressions. The stakes are awfully high.”
His expression grew serious. “Yes they are. We have to keep that in mind and remind Mrs. Saxon of it if she doesn’t want to let you in.”
She gulped. “Right.”
He steered into a circular drive in front of a gigantic colonial style home with a perfectly manicured yard. The sort of place she used to wish she lived when she was a kid rather than the one-bedroom walk-ups she’d shared with her mother that came complete with cockroaches and peeling paint.
“This is beautiful.” White flowers filled several window boxes and two rockers sat waiting on the long white porch. How could anything bad touch anyone who lived in such perfection? She unsnapped her seatbelt and drew a deep breath for confidence. Then she shut her eyes a moment, tried to get herself into her magic zone.
“Okay?” Zander asked.
She opened her eyes and nodded.
He kept his hand on the small of her back as they climbed the steps to the porch. Giving her a reassuring wink, he rang the bell.
A blond as thin as a corn stalk who appeared to be in her early forties opened the door. She gave Jilly a cursory glance then shifted her gaze to Zander. “Hello, Detective.”
“Mrs. Saxon. This is Jilly Livingston, a psychic from over at Freedom Moon Camp. We’re hoping she might be able to help.”
A spark of apprehension shone in the woman’s sunken eyes. “Oh my. I never would have even considered…” She brightened a little. “I’m willing to try anything. Have you assisted other families in this situation?”
Jilly searched her brain for an answer that would reassure the woman but before she could answer, Zander spoke. “She’s an experienced psychic, Mrs. Saxon. May we come in?”
Mrs. Saxon stepped aside. “Of course.” She led them into a pristine room filled with expensive looking antique furniture and an oriental rug Jilly was afraid to step on. A grandfather clock chimed the half hour.
Jilly studied the woman, searched for an aura, but it was difficult to find.
“Can I get either of you a drink? I have ice tea or soda.”
Zander shook his head.
“Nothing for me, thanks.” Jilly finally caught a glimpse of a murky blue haze around Mrs. Saxon. The mother was afraid. A natural reaction.
“Would it be possible for me to see Hannah’s room, to look at her things?” she asked gently.
“I suppose that would be okay.” Mrs. Saxon took them upstairs and down a short hallway lined with framed portraits of the girl and a young boy who resembled her.
Jilly stopped in front of a recent photo of Hannah and touched the glass over the girl’s face. She felt nothing but cold
stillness. Was Hannah already gone? A lump caught in her throat. No, she refused to go there.
They continued to a spacious bedroom that was strangely neat to belong to a teenage girl, but then again, Hannah lived in a perfect home. A collection of frilly pillows and assorted stuffed animals sat atop a white canopy bed with pink floral linens. The matching dresser and desk held the usual perfume bottles, textbooks and trinkets.
Mrs. Saxon stood at the doorway as if crossing the threshold would destroy her. “I’ll…be in the hall.”
“Thanks.” Zander closed the door, his eyes never moving off Jilly. “Any impressions?”
“Give me a minute.” She took in the crisp white walls. A whitewashed wood shadowbox hung on one wall. Inside were several antique looking beaded purses. The adjacent wall had a set of old fashioned black and white silhouetted women’s profiles.
Jilly thought of the bedrooms she’d had as a child. They never stayed long enough for her to properly decorate her room. Not that they had the money for such things. She used to hang up pages she’d cut from magazines, flowers, landscapes, anything to cover the cracks and blemishes.
She swept her gaze over the room again. “I’d like to touch something of hers, something personal.” She shook off her inhibitions then pulled open the top dresser drawer. Underwear on one side, plastic bins filled with makeup and costume jewelry on the other. She lifted out a pink beaded bracelet and pressed it to her solar plexus as she shut her eyes. Images of the girl flooded her mind.
She was alone, crying. Terrified. He wasn’t who she thought.
The image disintegrated as quickly as it had come. She tried with several other pieces of jewelry but the moment was apparently gone.
“You’re shivering.” Zander’s voice pulled her back to the present. “Are you okay?”
She nodded. “I saw her. She was scared.”
“But alive?” He stepped closer, his eyes shining with hope.
She hated to let him down. “I can’t be sure. But…”
He grasped her shoulders. “What. Tell me what just happened.”
She recalled the vision. “She has to be alive.”
“Is that wishful thinking or are you basing it on something.” He released her but held her stare.
“I’m not a medium, Zander. Never have been.”
He shrugged. “What does that mean?”
“Mediums channel spirits, dead people. I’ve never been able to communicate with the dead. So Hannah must be alive.” She sank onto the vanity stool and glanced out the window at the bay. A sailboat in the distance skimmed the water. “No, that’s not proof of anything. I can’t be positive my visions are happening in real time or even recently.”
His shoulders sank. “Tell me what you saw.”
“Hannah was hiding from someone she was afraid of, a man.” She thought about Jamal, how she’d cowered in corners, made the Goddess all sorts of promises if only she’d stop him from hitting her. Shaking her head, she forced the memories away and tried to concentrate on Hannah.
“A kidnapper maybe?” An edge of impatience tinged his voice.
She wished she could give him solid answers. But in truth, her vision could have happened moments ago, or years back. She had no real connection with Hannah Saxon since she’d never met her. And their lives were obviously galaxies apart, judging from the upscale home.
Jilly wasn’t only from the wrong side of the tracks, but from the wrong side of the blanket, rather than the perfect home Hannah had grown up in.
She spent a few more minutes touching Hannah’s personal belongings, sitting on her bed and desk chair but nothing seemed to spark any more impressions. Grabbing the bracelet, she faced Zander. “Maybe Mrs. Saxon will let me borrow this. It bears the strongest trace of Hannah’s…essence. She must have worn it often.”
“I’ll ask.” He took the jewelry from her then stepped into the hallway for a minute and he and Mrs. Saxon spoke in hushed tones, nothing Jilly was able to hear clearly.
“What’s going on?” The male voice was louder than the others and definitely didn’t belong to Zander.
“They’ve brought in a psychic,” Mrs. Saxon said. “She’s inside.”
The door pushed open and a tall, thin man with a receding hairline and piercing green eyes looked her over, frowned then shut her inside.
Goddess, please let him accept my help.
“Freedom Moon? Those people are of the devil.” Mr. Saxon’s pronouncement made her shudder. Why did people always associate things they didn’t know with a demonic force?
She held herself back from charging out of the room to set him straight. Most witches practiced white magic. The devil was a purely Christian concoction.
Mr. Saxon had been steeped in his own values and beliefs and they’d never see eye to eye. Her hopes sank with the knowledge that he’d probably insist she not work on the case.
But the image of the girl in danger, frightened and alone was seared on her brain and Jilly knew she’d already crossed a line. She cared what happened to the teenager. With a glance at the closed door, she decided she’d cast a protection spell for Hannah. Later, when she had everything she’d need for it.
Zander came inside with the Saxons in tow. Jilly immediately introduced herself to Hannah’s father but his reception was less than warm.
“I’ll tell you right off that I don’t believe in psychics.” His scowl relaxed slightly. “But we’ll take any help we can to get our little girl back.”
Jilly took his hand and said a silent thank you to the goddess. “I’ll do whatever I can to make that happen as soon as possible. I promise I’ll never lie to you, sir.”
He pulled his hand away then gave her a firm nod and left the room. Jilly’s throat thickened.
“I’m not sure what you hope to find, Miss Livingston. My daughter is a good girl. An A student who goes to church with us every Sunday.”
Jilly swallowed hard. “I’m just trying to get a sense of her, to see if maybe there’s something here that’ll spark a vision for me.”
“We’re God fearing people. It’s hard for us to believe in this…supernatural thing. I think it’s best if you leave now.” Mrs. Saxon pinned her with a pointed stare.
Zander tipped his chin toward the door.
Jilly gave the room a final look, then closed the distance between her and Mrs. Saxon. “I’m just trying to help, ma’am. I hope I haven’t upset you or your husband.”
The older woman’s expression remained guarded and stiff.
Jilly brushed past her and crossed the threshold into the hallway. She thought she heard Mrs. Saxon sniffle and her chest tightened.
Zander stuck close behind her as they headed downstairs. “Thanks for your time, Mrs. Saxon.”
He didn’t say another word until they were back in his car. Leaning his head on the steering wheel, he exhaled loudly. “That went well.”
His sarcasm hit her like a slap if icy morning air. “I’m sorry. You know I didn’t mean to upset them.”
“I know. It’s not you. This case is really getting to me.”
“Maybe if you share some of what you know about it I can help.” She covered his hand with hers hoping to impart some comfort but instead she felt that zing of arousal again. She withdrew her hand.
“We don’t have much but I’ll tell you what I can. Her mother reported her missing a little after two am on April seventh. According the her parents Hannah said she was going to the library to meet a friend. They had some sort of group project.”
“Did she show up at the library?”
“Yes, but she wasn’t there long. She told her friend she was headed to grab a bite but she didn’t say where. The security tapes from the library show her leaving there at seven-thirty-five. That’s the last anyone saw or spoke to her.”
She looked back at the house. The beach was barely visible from the front but Hannah’s room had a perfect view of the waterfront. “There’s a boathouse around back. Do you think we could t
ake a look at it?”
He shrugged then opened his car door. “Why not?”
They took the stepping stone-lined path around the back of the house to the dock. Jilly’s heels clacked along the wood planks. She glanced over her shoulder at the second story of the house and identified Hannah’s room from the pink curtains. Had she imagined someone in the window watching them?
Zander set his hand on the small of her back as they went inside the boathouse. A rowboat bobbed in the middle, flanked by narrow benches on two sides. Jilly rubbed goose bumps from her arms.
“Cold? I was just thinking how stifling it is in here.” Zander brushed aside a spider web.
She touched a life jacket hanging on the wall. “I feel her presence in here. This place means something to her.”
“She and her father used the boat to fish, according to him.”
“Maybe that’s it.” But something left her uneasy. The stagnant air turned her stomach. She crossed the threshold to the dock and sucked in a deep breath. They didn’t speak all the way to Zander’s car.
He let her in then got behind the wheel.
“Is it possible she just ran away?” Jilly asked.
He turned out of the Saxon’s driveway. “We checked out that angle. She didn’t go by bus, plane or train. And we found her car in a lake a few miles outside of town last week. If she did run away, she’d have had to go on foot. Highly unlikely.”
“Where’s her car now?”
He glanced at her then returned his eyes to the road. “One of the state’s crime labs, in Tallahassee. Why?”
“Maybe I could get an impression from the car since that was the last place we know she was.”
He didn’t say anything for better than a minute but she sensed him considering her request. “We’d have to run your fingerprints through AFIS first. Plus, Tallahassee’s almost three hours from here. I’d need a damn solid reason for spending more than six hours of the taxpayers’ money.”
Hidden Magic Page 6