by Alicia Banks
Josselin stopped reading. Her hands were trembling, and she heard the door to the front unlock. It had taken her some time to get used to all of the creaking and random sounds that the house had to offer. She also stopped considering it a castle. It was becoming closer to home every day and she knew the sound of the front door well. Antonio was the only one that she saw go through it, and though there were others that came and go, she couldn’t for the life of her figure out where they were going. She never saw any of them and was convinced that it all had to do with the Forbidden. Wing. There had to be a way to get out there.
Right then, though, after reading what she had, she moved faster than the speed of light to get the book put back up. It was the only way that something wouldn’t be discovered. She didn’t want to be like the screaming human in the book. That was 1925. What a scary time that was and again, how the hell was he still alive? They talk about humans like they are something different. Maybe that was what freaked her out the most. If he isn’t a human, then what is he?
“Hey, Josselin, there you are.”
She jumped and he chuckled. “I didn’t know that you were so jumpy still. I thought you had gotten out of that?”
“It was just so peaceful.”
He smiled. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to mess with your peace.”
She waved him off. “You’re home early.”
“Yeah, I had a few things to take care of at work, but this might be the closest I get to a day off.”
Josselin didn’t know how to act. After what she had read from him, she wasn’t sure how to think. She needed time to work it all out, and she couldn’t get that if he was looking at her the way that he was. He was too close.
“Are you okay?”
She said that she was, but he was looking a bit too hard at her now. It was clear that something was wrong, but what was she supposed to do about it? How could Josselin pretend like she hadn’t read such horrible things? She was scared, confused, and about the time she didn’t think she was going to be able to deal with everything going on, Ophelia was getting up and she moved toward the little girl’s room, relief running through her. Being close to Antonio was one of the hardest things she’d ever done.
He followed her in there and picked his daughter up. She left them to it and went to her room for a moment. She was breathing hard and she knew that it was because of everything going on. She was torn between never wanting to read that book again and wanting to read more. She wanted to know Antonio and she felt like she knew more now, understood more, though there were still a lot of questions.
The one question that kept coming back to her was this. If he wasn’t human, what was he? Who had she fallen so clearly for, without knowing anything about him? It was a mistake, but could she even take it back? It didn’t feel like something that could be taken back.
He called to her, saying that he was going to take his daughter out for a while. Josselin just nodded and smiled, noting that they went in the Forbidden Wing. Why would he tell her she couldn’t go there? What was there, that made it forbidden?
Josselin wanted to go see. They were gone, she was alone. It would be that simple. The only thing keeping her from it was not only losing her job, but her life as well. She’d read what happens when humans find out. What, she didn’t know. Maybe Josselin wasn’t safer now.
***
Josselin went to her room and tried to nap. She needed to keep herself away from the library and that damn book that was killing her mental wellbeing. Josselin didn’t sleep. She knew she wouldn’t. It was so hard to fight the urge to look and see. She heard them come back a while later and Josselin stayed in her room, even when she was called out for dinner. Josselin said that she wasn’t hungry and that she was just going to sleep. Her duties were over when he was home, so she spent her time thinking about everything that she’d learned and what she still didn’t know.
Later, she went downstairs when everyone sounded like they were asleep. She passed the library and Antonio was writing in his book. How badly did she want to know what he was putting in there? How hard would it be for her to refuse it now, knowing that it was the first time that he’d written anything since she got there?
She made it to the kitchen and started to make a sandwich when Antonio came out.
“You really don’t like making decisions, do you?”
Josselin shrugged. “Maybe I just like sandwiches. Did you need something?”
He agreed that he did. “I wanted to show you earlier, but you were laying down. You’re feeling better now?”
Josselin agreed that she was and asked him what it was he was going to show her.
“Come on, follow me.”
Josselin did as she was instructed, and they started to go out toward the atrium. She asked him what they were doing there and then she was silent. She didn’t need to ask. He had given her the one thing that she needed so badly. She exclaimed her happiness and Antonio just shook his head.
“I don’t think I’ve ever met someone that gets so excited about grass before.”
Josselin felt like she was going to cry, so she turned away so he wouldn’t. She didn’t want to embarrass herself any further. “I can’t believe that you did this.”
“I just want you to be happy here. My daughter is happier than she’s ever been, and so am I. We want you to stay.”
Josselin had never felt so wanted and needed in all of her life. How many times had she heard that she wasn’t supposed to be where she was? Her uncle always made it a point to tell her that she didn’t belong. That was hard to handle hearing it. To hear otherwise from practical strangers was more than she could take with dry eyes.
Again, he asked her if she was okay and she took her shoes off and then sat cross-legged on the grass. She picked at it and asked him how he got it there. He stayed mysterious and said that he had his ways.
“I would have brought it sooner if I had known that I was going to get this sort of reaction. I should have brought more. I might have even gotten a kiss.”
Chapter 12
Antonio was surprised that she was crying over grass. He didn’t understand it, but if it made her happy, that’s all he was worried about. As much as he liked to believe that he was not going to get involved with the woman, he knew better. He was going to get involved. He couldn’t help himself. He wanted to see her face light up from something so simple.
What he really didn’t see coming was the reaction that he was getting from his words and comment about a kiss. Josselin got up out of the position she was in and went right up to him and kissed him.
Her lips and body melted against Antonio’s. It wasn’t some sweet and chaste kiss that he was not even expecting. It was something else and his first response was to pull her in tighter and push his tongue through her lips. In seconds, she was like hot wax against Antonio, molding her soft curves against his more unrelenting ones. She felt so damn good, he must have lost himself, because his hand was on her ass in no time.
Antonio thought that all of it together was just too much because she was immediately pushing back and breathing hard. She didn’t look at him for a moment, even after he bumbled his way through an apology.
“Sorry, Josselin. Really. I don’t know what came over me.”
She grinned finally and looked up at me. “I don’t know either, but you don’t get that from grass, Antonio. You said a kiss.”
Antonio was floored because he was never told no. No women denied him, even before he so long ago took the alpha position of his clan. None of that was known to her, but even just him as a man or a shifter had ever been turned away before. It was just another way she perplexed him. The whole time she was dragging him closer, she was at the same time holding him off and frustration was swift.
“Right, sorry.”
“I really do like it, Antonio. I think this will be my new reading spot.”
“What do you like to read?”
Josselin shrugged. “Anything really. It doesn’t much
matter what it is. I just like a good story.”
Antonio said the same. “There is plenty to read in the library. I’ve seen you in there a few times. I am glad that some of it is going to use. I never get to read much, anymore.”
“You should make time. I always find time spent reading is never wasted.”
The two were quiet for a time and it was a bit awkward between them. Josselin was barely meeting his gaze again and Antonio tried to figure out what was going on with them. He was getting mixed signals, or at least he was trying to make mixed ones, possibly reading into something that wasn’t there.
“I will do my best. I have more time now with Ophelia sleeping at night again. I don’t think you know what a triumph that is.”
“I’m glad that I can help. She really is the sweetest thing.”
“Are you anxious for your week off?”
Josselin was perplexed for a moment and then sighed. “You know, I’d actually forgotten all about it.”
“Really? I thought that you would be ready to get out of here and do something.”
Josselin shrugged. “I guess I’ve just enjoyed my time here so much, that I hadn’t thought about it.”
“So, what will you do?”
“I am sure I will do something.”
“Why do I get the feeling that you don’t want to go?”
“I know it sounds weird, but I feel at peace here. Your house is great, and it has everything a person could need. Even grass now. I don’t know why anyone would want to leave.”
“Most would miss their family.”
Josselin’s face darkened. “Yes, well, most would.”
“Tommy tells me that your family is rather rough.”
She chuckled bitterly. “I guess that is one way to describe it.”
“How would you describe it?”
“I wouldn’t. I don’t want to talk about it. I won’t be going back to visit them, if that is what you are asking. I don’t want to talk to them. I don’t want to see them. I will probably get a hotel room or something. Do some shopping. I think that’s about as far as I’ve gotten.”
“You don’t have to go.”
“I do if I want to go anywhere.”
Antonio remembered all of the rules that he’d imposed. They were there for a reason, of course, but it was still hard to imagine how he would explain any of it to her. He couldn’t explain she was floating in mid-air with the help of witch magic. Or that he turned into a dragon and could breathe fire. And that was just the beginning. Antonio knew that her mind would melt, and she would have a high chance of completely losing it. That’s how it worked. Not to mention, the other outside influences that could get in the way. Humans couldn’t know about shifters. It was just that simple. Anything in their power would be done to stop it, unless certain conditions were met to guarantee their silence and loyalty to the species.
“Why don’t I take you out tomorrow? Ophelia will be with her uncle, and I would be able to take you wherever you want to go.”
Josselin smiled like she liked the sound of it.
“There is a catch, though.”
“What’s the catch?”
“We have to fly down. There is a helipad on the west wing’s roof.”
“That’s the Forbidden Wing.”
He chuckled. “I know. I am saying that because I wonder how you feel about flying.”
Josselin didn’t have an answer. “Never have before.”
“Really, I get to be your first time?”
Her face got red and Antonio was amused that her mind went right to that. Could he ask for anything better? It was nice to know that he wasn’t the only one that was thinking about scenarios that he probably shouldn’t be.
“Yes, something like that.”
Antonio grinned and told her he would set it all up. Josselin was unsure by the expression on her face, but he wasn’t going to let that get to him. He was going to instead try to make it work. He was going to play it cool, knowing the whole time that he was taking a big risk. Was she not going to wonder why the castle wasn’t attached to land, or would she even notice in all of the fog that magically and perpetually surrounded it?
“Well, get some rest and in the morning, we will have a nice day out.”
Josselin thanked him for being understanding, but he told her not to worry about it. He secretly couldn’t wait to spend more time with her, away from the context of her being his employee and his kid’s nanny. Antonio wanted to think about Josselin in another way, and it would seem that it would be easier to do so if he wasn’t directly her boss for the day.
He was probably looking forward to it way more than he was supposed to.
***
The next morning his wife’s brother came to pick up Ophelia. She would spend time with most of his wife’s side that way and they always came early. He didn’t catch up with Mark much, just because he wanted him gone before Josselin came down. He didn’t want to have to get the looks that would come with them seeing Josselin. Nor did he want to have to explain himself. They might take issue to him having a human nanny, no matter how good she was with Ophelia.
Once they were gone, he made coffee and waited for Josselin to come down. She always made an appearance for coffee, long before she put herself together, and that was his favorite part of seeing her. It was when her hair was down, and she had the soft look of sleep still on her fresh face. She looked like an angel to him, and he couldn’t help but fall for her every time he saw her that way. It just made him want more, want her more and everything that she could offer.
“Good morning.”
She smiled shyly and told him that she was a little nervous.
“What for?”
“The flying, I guess. I don’t do well with heights.”
His spirits broke. Why did her not liking flying bother him so much?
“It will be fine. Trust me, after today, you will feel more comfortable in the skies.”
“You must fly a lot to have a helicopter and a way to land it on your house.”
“Well, for business I have to travel a lot and we are a ways out. We need something like that to leave.”
Josselin didn’t seem to understand, and Antonio didn’t have the luxury to go any further. She wouldn’t understand, unless she understood it all, and Antonio knew better than to put another human in that position again. He had learned his lesson the hard way a long time ago.
She was a good spirit and didn’t ask too many questions when they were going through the forbidden part of the house. She was rather quiet, and he told her a bit about the house and when it was built. She knew the year strangely enough, but couldn’t say where she knew that from.
“I’m sure I heard it said somewhere. I don’t know, the number just came to me.”
Antonio felt like Josselin knew things that she wasn’t supposed to know. It was just like when she called herself a human. It was just strange, and he wanted to know more. He wished that he could read minds like so many of his kind could do. It would have helped in business surely, but he would have asked for it for just then, if it was possible. The big deal didn’t matter, but getting into Josselin’s mind did.
“Well, that is a lucky guess.”
“So, your father built it? Are you named after him?”
He agreed with the father part, but said that they had different first names.
“My dad’s name is Richard, and he has been dead for a while.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be, it was a long time ago.”
“So, do you have any brothers or sisters?”
“One brother and one sister.”
“I would like to meet them one day.”
Antonio paused and then agreed, knowing that it could never be that way. No one in his family would understand or approve of her watching Ophelia, let alone becoming his mate.
Antonio didn’t know why his mind went there. They hadn’t even been together, only one kiss. Why was he acting like
he wanted to be with her for the rest of his life?
They got up to the roof and the helicopter was waiting for them. She tried to look around, saying how great the view was going to be because it was such a pretty day, but there was fog. There was always fog and it was the first time that he was so grateful for it. Antonio needed the cloak of mystery that it would lend him. He needed it badly.
“Wow, where is the pilot?”
“I’m the pilot.”
She was shocked and asked if they would even be able to fly with all of the fog.
“I didn’t even know it was foggy. It didn’t look like that out the window.”
“The fog will clear as soon as we get a little bit away. It will be fine, trust me.”
Josselin didn’t look so sure. She looked like she was going to be sick and he felt bad. He put his arm around her to comfort her and helped her into the chopper. She was practically shaking next to him and he pulled her closer, telling her that it was going to be okay.
“I could give you something to relax if you want.”
She shook her head and said that she would be fine. Josselin was obviously bothered, but she looked determined as well.
“You know. it’s weird. I don’t think I’ve seen the ground once since we’ve been up here. Or since I got here.”
“Are you not happy with your grass?”
Josselin stopped and smiled. “No, I really am. I just don’t know what to think about that. This castle is almost magical, isn’t it?”
He agreed and Antonio cast her a sidelong look. Why did everything she say mean something else to him now? Was he reading into it or did she know too much? Why couldn’t he tell the difference?
“It is. I have always loved it.”
The chopper started up and Josselin clutched his shirt. “Are you sure you know how to fly?”
He chuckled because she had no idea what he could do. “Yes, I have been flying for a long time.”
“Well, I mean, it can’t be that long. You’re not that old.”
“I have been told that I age well.”