Scented Dreams ((A Dogon-Hunters Series Novel))

by Turner Banks, Jacqueline

  Dot looked at her daughter. “He never got it when they were flirting with him either.”

  Kingsley laughed. “Is that what that was?” He laughed again. “I keep forgetting I’m in the company of a young stud.”

  “I’ve got a taste for waffles. Does anybody else know what they’re having?” Ian asked.

  Dot laughed and Nesta smiled. Like Ian, the rest of them picked up their menus.

  “What are your plans for the rest of the day?” Ian asked Kingsley later, as they walked to the car without the women. Mother and daughter had gone to the restroom after their meal.

  “We’re checking out and heading home. Fox is coming in tonight.”

  “I know, Nesta told me.”

  “I hope he’s not about to ask her what I think.”

  “What?” Ian asked before he had a chance to censor himself.

  “That he’s going to call her into Service.”

  Ian stopped. “As a Hunter or Tracker?”

  Kingsley nodded.

  “Not a chance. She’s too old!”

  “Do you really think so?”

  He looked so hopeful. Ian realized it was something that had been troubling his new friend. The thought seemed preposterous to him, but he wasn’t a parent. He tried to think of something to offer him hope. “How old were you?”

  “About fourteen, when I knew. I was probably seventeen when I went into training.”

  “I was sixteen. Why would Fox let her go to college, finish, take the MCATs—all of that, if he knew he was going to make her serve? She calls him her uncle. He wouldn’t have let her believe she had the choice about medical school.”

  Kingsley leaned against the car and rotated his head in an attempt to crack his neck. “You’re right. You don’t know how this has been killing me. I loved my life, but it’s not what I want for her.”

  Ian knew Kingsley was humoring him. He was too smart not to have considered the points Ian made. “I understand. And Kingsley, if he loves your family as much as I believe he does, couldn’t you just ask him to spare Nesta?”

  “I could, but I wouldn’t. I believe that’s why we’re friends. I give Ogo his due and he gives me mine.”

  Ian nodded.

  “But that still begs the question, why does he want to see her?”

  Ian smiled. “It’s Fox. He might want to give her a flower or tell her what to expect in her next eighty years.”

  Kingsley laughed.

  “What’s so funny?” Nesta asked when they got to the car.

  “Grown folks’ business,” her father teased.

  “Daddy! You know I always hated that answer.”

  “That’s why I say it.”

  She stuck out her bottom lip in a playful pout, and Kingsley pulled her to him. “Come here, girl. Stick that lip in before somebody trips on it.”

  Dot looked at Ian. “This is a dance,” she whispered. “Now he’ll offer her something.”

  “Do you want to drive, Nesta?” Kingsley asked as if on cue.

  “That’s your thrill, not mine.”

  “Open the doors, Kingsley. It’s a little nippy out here,” Dot said.

  Ian’s cell rang before they’d exited the parking lot. He checked the caller ID; it was Rico, his assistant. “A little early for you,” Ian greeted. He listened for the next three minutes as Rico described an early morning call to Ian’s home in California. “I wonder why he didn’t call me?” He listened again. “That’s true, who knows. Hey while I’ve got you on the phone, I’m changing my plans to return. I’ll be here until at least this time next week. I’ll call you later with the details, but you can change the ticket to afternoon or later, a week from today. Thanks. No parties.”

  “Is everything okay?” Kingsley asked.

  “My boss wants me to stay another night in Valpo. He wants me to attend a play at the university tonight.” Ian looked at Nesta. “Fo. . . my boss told Rico to arrange for another driver for the extra day.”

  Dot heard that and nodded her head. Ian could see that something was confirmed in her mind, but he had too many thoughts of his own to bother listening to hers.

  “Why would you need a different driver?” Nesta asked.

  “Rico said that your contract expires at three this afternoon.”

  “What contract? They told me to take you to the airport at one and I was off the clock at three. Since that has changed, so has my quitting time. I’ll talk to my boss.” She smiled, counted aloud to five, and then said, “Daddy, can I stay on the job to drive Ian?”

  Kingsley looked in the mirror at his child. It took him a beat, but he figured Fox had gotten wind of Nesta’s attraction to the Hunter and he was trying to separate them. In the rear view mirror her eyes were pleading with him. He wasn’t crazy about the idea of her being around a man whose number of bed partners probably ran in the thousands. He knew Hunters who went celibate for decades and still had had over two thousand lovers. It was all about longevity. His own number before Dot was an embarrassment to him now, and he considered himself if not chaste, very selective.

  “Your uncle is coming to see you today.”

  “I know, and I’ll be there to see him, but I can still get back in time to drive my client if not to the play, then back to the motel after the play.”

  “Honey, call Kent. I’m not your supervisor.”

  “I figured you would call him after you tell me okay.”

  Although they couldn’t see her hand, Dot’s shoulder movement indicated that she nudged her husband’s knee. Kingsley looked at his wife’s face.

  Ian knew he could listen in to her mental message, but he didn’t.

  “Okay, honey. I’ll call Kent when I get back to the room. You need to be on the road by about noon today.”

  “I will. I’m eager to see him too.” She discreetly rubbed Ian’s thigh with the back of her hand.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Ian and Nesta stood in the motel driveway and waved goodbye to her parents. He expected the moment to be awkward, but it wasn’t at all. After the women joined them and he got the call from Rico, everybody became focused on matters that had nothing to do with his relationship with Nesta. Ian was sure Fox wasn’t going to like hearing that she was still driving for him, but that wasn’t his doing.

  “I really like them, Nesta.”

  “They like you too,” she said without her usual enthusiasm. She started walking.

  He could see in her posture that something was wrong. He listened in but couldn’t make sense from all that was bouncing around. He wrapped his long arm around her shoulders.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “I don’t know. Do you know that feeling when you walk in a room and everybody gets quiet?”

  “I think so.”

  They had almost reached the elevator, but she stopped short. “I feel like you’re in on it, Ian.

  Are you?”

  Ian thought hard about his next words. “Let’s go back to the room and we’ll talk.”

  “So you are in on it?”

  He pushed the button for their floor. “I’ll tell you everything I know.”

  She nodded. He could see a sadness in her eyes that broke his heart. He wondered how she would look later, after everything was out in the open. He’d decided if it made her too sad, he would wipe their lovemaking from her mind. He hadn’t done a lot of partial wipes, but he was confident in his ability.

  There was some controversy surrounding the partial wipes—some members of GAN thought they were more dishonest than total wipes. The mostly female collection believed it gave males the opportunity to molest without recourse. But there were members who believed all wipes were paramount to rape.

  Her phone rang as they walked to her room. She answered it, and her mood began to improve almost immediately. “Stop lying. Did he really ask that?” he heard her say after her greeting and a long pause. “I doubt it. He was adamant. No, it’s not going to happen. Okay, I’ll take that action. See you later.
Hey, thanks for the head’s up.”

  She was smiling when she stuck the key in the slot. It worked the first time.

  “I take it that was good news on the telephone?” he asked.

  She grinned. She sat on the bed and took off her shoes. “I wouldn’t call it good, but it was interesting. My girlfriend saw my ex-boyfriend at a party last night. She said one of his boys asked if it was all right for him to call me. Andre didn’t answer. Then Ann said a few of his boys got on his case and told him how stupid he was for letting me go. Ann said she could almost see the little wheels turning in Andre’s head. She bet me he would try to come back.”

  Ian took a deep breath. From the moment she said the word “ex-boyfriend,” the Dogon blood in his veins had begun heating. By the time she got to the end of her account, it was boiling to the point that his forehead was sweating.

  Like hell I’m going to tell her something that might make her hate me! Do you hear this? Can you hear me, Fox? I’m not sending her running back to that asshole!

  “I’m going to get out of my clothes.”

  “You have to leave in two hours! Wait a second—why am I trying to stop you from getting naked?”

  “Now you’re thinking.” She kissed him on his cheek before grabbing her robe and entering the bathroom.

  As soon as the bathroom door closed, Fox appeared. This time he was wearing tennis whites and he had a racket in his hands.

  “Doing a photo shoot, Fox?”

  “You really are a smart ass, Hunter. Why hadn’t I noticed that before? Anyway, I just wanted to tell you one thing—don’t tell her yet. Let me talk to her first.”

  “What should I tell her?”

  “You should always tell her the truth, but I want you to wait until later for this.”

  “Fox, what about this ex-boyfriend of hers? Is he better for her?”

  Fox looked at him with an odd expression that Ian couldn’t interpret. “See, that question bothers me. You should know if you’re better for her or not already.”

  “How does anybody ever know that kind of thing?”

  “Get a clue, Hunter!” And he was gone.

  Ian flipped the bird at the spot where Fox had stood.

  A glass of water on the nightstand floated through the air and dumped itself on his head.

  A few seconds later, Nesta returned to the room. She looked at him and laughed. “What happened?”

  “An accident.”

  She gave him a doubting look. “That’s an accident I wish I’d seen.”

  He didn’t know what to say. He began taking off his wet shirt. He wondered if Fox had foreseen that outcome. Ian suspected he hadn’t.

  When he was naked from the waist up, he said, “You’ve got just about two hours until you have leave to go to Winnetka. Do you want to spend the time talking? Keeping in mind we can always talk later.”

  “What are my other choices?” she asked, smiling as she flipped back the bedspread and cover.

  “I can either make love to you or I can fuck you.”

  “My body reacted to that second one. I think we should listen.” She turned to get in the bed, and he stopped her.

  “You make love in bed, little girl.”

  She smiled. “Okay, where does one get fucked?”

  He lifted her and carried her toward the bathroom. He stopped at the wall next to the door. “You can fuck anywhere,” he whispered as he forcefully turned her toward the wall. “Assume the position,” he whispered, his voice deep and breathy in her right ear.

  She inferred he meant palms against the wall. He slipped off her robe and let it drop to the floor.

  “I hope you’re ready for me,” he said in her ear, knowing the question would contribute to her readiness. He gripped her sex from behind and squeezed. She gasped, which caused him to let go. He leaned against her and lightly rubbed her round behind as he whispered obscenities about his intentions.

  As he was rubbing himself against her, she felt the pulse of his penis and moaned when their beats aligned.

  He walked his finger over the curve of her ass to separate her lips from behind. After lightly rubbing her clit in small circles until he could feel her wetness on his index finger, Ian entered her with first one, then two fingers. He rubbed his chest against her back. “I’m opening my zipper,” he told her, not that he needed to—she could feel the back of his hand.

  “You’re not even going to take off your pants?”

  “Nope, that’s lovemaking. I’m fucking you.”

  Had his fingers still been in her, he would have felt a new infusion. “Do you like playing slut, little girl? Is that why you’re so wet?”

  “I like playing with you.” She’d turned the tables on him.

  His whole body beat.

  He leaned in and moaned in her ear. “You make me so hot.”

  “Is that where you want to. . .”

  He stopped rubbing himself against her to hear her thoughts. “Is that what you want?” he asked.

  “I don’t know. I think it would hurt.”

  “I think so too. We’ll wait for that.” He lifted her, opened her, and entered her vaginally from behind. He began thrusting immediately. She tried to meet each thrust with equal enthusiasm.

  When she came, she allowed herself to let go in words, thoughts, and emotions.

  He pulled out and released hot torrents on her backside.

  “I take a lot of showers with you around,” she said as she sat on the bed brushing her wet hair. She was towel drying her hair while trying to tame the curls that returned after each stroke.

  He held out his hand. She looked at the brush, and he nodded. He climbed behind her and began brushing

  They sat quietly. Nesta was thinking about how safe she felt with him. She wouldn’t have thought there could be an improvement over the feeling she got in the company of her father or her uncle Ogo. Both men were tall and strong, and since the time she was a tall, gawky, tween, they alone could make her feel guarded against those things that attacked from the top. She was never quite sure what those things were, but she always felt they were coming.

  With Ian, he protected her from above, but his body also seemed to mold around her, protecting from the sides as well. It was a new level of security that she never wanted to relinquish. Ian was thinking how much he enjoyed the feel and smell of this woman. He wondered why it had never before occurred to him to brush a woman’s hair.

  After Ian returned to his room from walking Nesta to the parking lot, he began making arrangements to go to the play. He learned from going online that the play he would attend was The Pirates of Penzance. He couldn’t imagine there being a problem at such a venue, but Fox had surprised him before with unlikely, though ultimately valid, Sangsue intelligence. He knew he did himself a disservice if he didn’t treat each warning with respect.

  He was minutes from calling a taxi when his cell rang. He looked at the caller ID. He didn’t recognize the name, but the number was local. Intrigued, he answered it—and Ian was known for ignoring a number he didn’t recognize.

  “Hey, Hunter, it’s Kitty. Fox wants me to hang with you tonight. He whispered something about a play. Is he finally losing his damn mind?”

  Ian laughed. “No, he’s still sly as a. . . a fox. I’ll explain when I see you. I assume you are going to comply and go to the play?”

  “Oh hell yeah. The last thing I need is a crazy god mad at me. I’ll pick you up in twenty minutes.”

  She was on and off the telephone so fast, Ian figured she must be like every other Dogon-Hunter and Tracker he knew—no fan of technology.

  Some pantheons held technology conventions or required that their Hunters attend public forums. Demons loved technology, and the few true Roman gods, those who weren’t Greek born, were computer wizards. In many major cities they worked for the companies that send computer technicians to caller’s homes in those colorful little cars.

  The only pantheon that hated technology as much as the Dogo
ns were the Chinese gods Ian had met, and he’d heard the same was also true of some of the older Celtic gods like Morrigan and her mob.

  Fox was a techno-nerd and he tried to get his crew into it, but most still resisted.

  Ian wondered if having him work with Kitty was Fox’s last ditch effort to get the two of them together and him out of Nesta’s life.