I smiled. Babel snarled. Lutjen grinned.
I grabbed a broom from the corner and started sweeping, and let me tell you, I don’t even like cleaning. That’s how desperate I felt. If the testosterone got any thicker, I’d be growing a full beard soon.
The mayor’s bright-green eyes twinkled, easy laugh lines creasing the outer edges. “Like I said, I’m just checking to see if you’re settling in okay.” His voice had a lyrical quality. Charming, very charming. I didn’t trust charming men. “I like to converse with the new business owners.” His gaze traveled to my breasts. “See if there’s anything I can do to help you adjust.”
I had the feeling he could “adjust” me just fine if I had been interested, but all I could think about was the possessive press of Babel’s lips on mine. The memory made me smile. I stared at Neville. “Oh, it’s all good.” Other than the fact that my best friend was missing, and no one seemed to care. Oh, and everyone seemed to want me out. Other than that, perfect. Although, I couldn’t help but feel a little warmer toward the town’s leader for offering to help. Even if his offer had slightly lecherous overtones.
“You know, I could use some help getting a certificate of occupancy and whatever other permits I need.” Chavvah and I had talked about that several weeks earlier. She’d said she’d been having trouble getting the permits. Maybe Neville’s weird need to suddenly “help” could come in handy. “I’d like to get the business open within the next month or so, once Chav turns up. Have you heard anything about where she might be?”
Inadvertently, I looked over at Babel. He was staring at Neville. His face unreadable.
Hmm.
“No.” He cleared his throat. “I barely know Chavvah. Why would I have heard anything?”
“Oh, I just meant with you being the mayor and all, you might get notes or something from the Sherriff’s department.”
“It doesn’t work that way, Ms. Haddock.” His sour face turned to an instantly bright and sincere-appearing smile. Politicians. Ick. “I’m sure she’ll show up. And, I’ll let Sheila Murphy know that you’ll be in sometime in the next week. She’s my assistant, and can help you get the paperwork started.”
No! Not Sheila. Well, at least the mayor thought I’d be around another week. How refreshing. I gave Neville a small yet triumphant smile, then turned a glare toward Babel to say, “hah!” But immediately softened, my mind and oh so many lower things in my body going back to the kiss.
Neville sniffed the air. Something I’d noticed more than one citizen of this fair town had a habit of doing. His smile became slightly lurid, much to my discomfort. Babel’s lip curled into a snarl again. Territorial much? Both men exchanged heated glances, and I thought I was going to have to start snapping my fingers to break the tension.
“Hello?” Startled, they turned their interest to me. “Thank you both for coming to check on my welfare. Mucho appreciated. But I’ve got some hatches to batten down and all that good stuff. So, unless you want to help…”
Neville cleared his throat. “I have a few appointments this afternoon, or I surely would, Ms. Haddock. I’m half-tempted to cancel, but it wouldn’t be good business.” He certainly knew how to sound sincere—a good politician, if not a bit indolent.
“I’ll stay,” Babel said tersely.
I wasn’t sure how good an idea that’d be, but I didn’t argue considering I wasn’t quite sure what battening entailed.
In short time, we’d gotten all the safety precautions taken care of with the exception of the windows above the door.
I breathed a heavy sigh and tried to find something high enough to stand on so I could reach the upper window on the wall. The shutters would need closing, just in case. I moved a chair over, got up on it, and reached for the latch.
Heat radiated from Babel’s body as he came up behind me and put his hands on my hips. “Sunny.” His voice was a hoarse whisper.
“Don’t.” I pushed away from his grip, my body turning awkwardly, and I fell from the chair.
Babel caught me in his arms, of course. Not that I wasn’t grateful, but come on! The only thing missing was the Barry White background music. He dipped his face toward mine. I fought the urge to meet his lips as he drew nearer. Not easy, let me tell you. He smelled so damn good.
“What are you wearing?”
He looked surprised. “A flannel shirt and jeans?”
“Not your clothes, dummy. That cologne.” I sniffed his neck—musk and…some kind of earthy herb like cumin and basil. It made me feel both hungry and horny.
Babel groaned softly, gooseflesh rising on his skin when I sniffed him again. His eyes rolled up, and he spoke through gritted teeth. “Please, stop.” Then he focused in on me with fierce determination. “Or don’t stop. Choose one or the other, Sunny.”
A dog barked. I turned slightly and could see the reddish-brown mutt crouched in the corner. I wet my lips and met Babel’s gaze. “Put me down.”
He obliged, watching me curiously as I walked to the dog. “It’s okay, boy,” I called soothingly, reaching out to pet his fur. He whined. “No, no. It’s okay.”
“Sunny?”
“Shh,” I told Babel, without looking back at him. “You’ll scare him off.”
“Scare who—”
I crouched next to the dog and stroked…
“—off?”
Nothing but air.
I jerked my chin in a confused tuck. Helplessly, I looked back to Babel, who watched me curiously.
“Don’t you see him? The dog. He’s right…”
I glanced back to the corner. The dog was gone. Disappeared. Vamoosed. Fucking hell.
“He was there.” I pointed. “Right there. You saw him, right? I’m not crazy.” Truth be told, I was feeling a little crazy.
“I didn’t see anything.” His tone was light, gentle. It really pissed me off.
“I’m not crazy!” I reiterated, less and less certain. I mean, holy crap, I’d been chasing a hallucination around for two freaking days. “Come on. Skinny dog, reddish brown, about yea high?” I gestured to right above my knee. “Surly disposition?” His eyebrows shifted upward, and he paled. “I swear I didn’t see any dog.”
“But?”
Babel’s expression told me there had to be a but. There was always a but. “But…” he said reluctantly. “Have you ever seen a coyote before?”
Coyote? “Uhm, maybe. I dunno. I might have seen one on television or something like that. I can’t really remember.” It couldn’t have been a coyote. How could I be having a delusion about an animal I couldn’t have identified if it walked up and bit me? A tingling sensation started in my lips. No. Not again.
“Sunny?”
“I feel…” Before I could finish, the world went black.
Chavvah was sitting at a counter. She was in a living room, but not the one above the diner. This one was modern, with black furniture and steel and glass accessories. It lacked the warmness of Chav. She was reading a journal and jotting numbers down on a piece of paper. She looked up, an expression of horror on her face. The fear in her voice chilled me to the bone when she said, “It can’t be. They killed him. They really killed him.”
When I came to, Babel was holding me in his arms and carrying me up the stairs.
“You should really go see a doctor.” He stroked my hair, perspiration causing it to cling to my neck.
Great, passing out was beginning to become my M.O. around Babel. The vision had made one thing clear. Babel and Chav’s older brother was no longer missing. He was dead. I don’t think Chavvah would have been that emotional about someone else, but then again, I hadn’t seen her in two years.
I wanted to wrap my arms around Babel and comfort him, but I wouldn’t be able to explain to him why I felt he needed it. Not in a way that wouldn’t earn me a trip to the funny farm.
Now more than ever, I had to find Chav. She’d discovered something horrible and terrible, and that something had caused her disappearance.
&nbs
p; I gazed at Babel, barely able to meet her eyes. “I’m fine, this happens all the time,” I said unconvincingly. “How long was I out?”
“Just a little while. I was going to call Doc Smith if you hadn’t come to by the time I got you to bed.”
“Trying to get me in bed, huh?” I smirked. Yes, I was flirting. It was hard not to while being held in his fantastically strong arms, and besides, he was grieving, even if he didn’t know it. I could afford to be kind.
He growled, a low rumble emanating from his chest. “Don’t tease, Sunny. I’m not a strong man.” His mouth quirked in a half-smile, but his blue eyes were deadly serious.
“Got it. Don’t tease the mountain man.” I patted his shoulder. “Okay, big fella. You can put me down.”
“You sure?”
“Don’t I look sure?”
My foot hit the landing wrong when he lowered me. I fell sideways with a “Yikes!” Babel caught me and yanked me close to his chest. As my fingers slipped inside the buttons of his flannel, a much softer “yikes” came out.
What was I doing?
Babel chose that moment to claim my lips.
The next thought: Why wasn’t I doing?
His tongue swept across mine, his mouth incredibly warm. I felt my knees give way beneath me, but Babel kept me upright. What harm could a little quicky bring? After all, the man had just lost his brother. Besides, he was young. Too young to be considered a serious suitor. Right? Just a little bit of fun. It could be a whole no-strings-attached kind of affair.
I leaned my head back. “I’m not looking for a relationship.”
“You want to talk about this now?”
“Look, I think you’re a nice guy and all.” Translation: Damn sexy mutha-friggin’ hot! “But I’m not emotionally available right now for, you know, more than something…Physical.” Translation: I want to boff you raw and have you leave before the lights go out.
His chewed his lower lip. His eyes narrowed. Then he shrugged. “No.”
“Yay!” I said with the expectation that he’d jump at a casual fling. Then followed with a, “What?”
He pushed me against the wall. Leaning forward, he grabbed my thigh with his big, meaty hand and pulled it up onto his hip. “I don’t want you no strings attached. I want you, Sunny, in a way that makes me ache like I’ve never felt before. I know it’s wrong. It has to be. But I don’t care. I don’t fucking care.” He pressed his entire body tightly against mine and claimed my mouth with his once again.
Have mercy! The way he kissed me made me think he wanted to enter my body through my tonsils. I vibrated against him as he ripped my shirt over my head. “Pink bra must go,” he said.
With one little click of his fingers, the bra snapped open, releasing the girls for his eager hands. I moaned as he lifted me off the floor. Instinctively, I wrapped my legs around his waist, grinding my sex against the growing bulge in his jeans. He tore away from the kiss, his mouth nibbling and nipping the skin along my jaw and neck until his lips found my right nipple. He worked the nub between his teeth, his tongue laving it until it stood tight and erect before he moved to my left side and gave it the same attention. I fisted his hair with both my hands, moaning as I ground myself against him. Wet heat blossomed between my thighs. Goddamn! I was going to have an orgasm without ever taking off my pants.
His hand cleverly rubbed over the middle seam of my jeans, finding just the right pressure to make me groan and tremble with pleasure. “Oh, hot damn. Hot damn,” I murmured, grabbing his flannel shirt and yanking the front apart. Plastic buttons hit the hardwood floors. I’d always wanted to do that, and damn if it wasn’t as sexy as I thought it would be.
“I think you need to be punished for that,” he said playfully.
My eyes widened. “Bring it on.”
He threw me over his shoulder and gave my ass a slap.
Kicking and giggling, I let Babel carry me through the apartment to the bedroom. He tossed me easily onto the bed. I landed with an unflattering bounce, but it didn’t matter at all. He stripped the damaged shirt off first, giving me the full-on benefit of his wide chest and ripped abs.
I whistled low and soft, “There ought to be a law.”
He snarled, not mean-like, but oh-so-mind-blowingly-hot. “There is.”
I laughed. Until his pants dropped to the floor, along with my jaw. Soft, he was big—hard, he was super-sized. And yes, I’d seen it the day before, but not in this context.
The context where he was planning on inserting it into me. “Holy schmoly.”
“It gets better.” He grinned.
“As long as it doesn’t get bigger.” As it was, I wasn’t sure if it was going to feel really, really good. Or really, really bad. “Don’t break me. I may need my shit at some later date.”
He retrieved his wallet from his pants and pulled out a condom. Funny enough, it didn’t bother me that he carried them around. I was actually glad the gorgeous slut practiced safe sex! I swallowed hard as he rolled the condom down the length of his shaft. It didn’t quite reach the base. I swallowed hard again.
“I’ll be gentle.” His low voice caused my belly button to feel like someone had tied a string to it from the inside and tugged. I was so wet and ready, gentle or otherwise.
He crawled up the bed with the confidence of a predator stalking its prey. His shoulder-length hair falling forward, giving him that primal something-something that made my thighs quiver with anticipation. He started at my ankles, tenderly licking and nipping, making the nerves in my body raw with excitement.
The farther up he went, the more my legs spread to accommodate his wide shoulders until his tongue met my…
“Ah,” I grunted as his mouth found the sweet spot. His hands reached up to my breasts, caressing and tweaking. The simultaneous stimulation made my back bow, raising my body to meet his every manipulation.
My sex slick with heat, my throat thick and heavy with desire, I muttered, “I want you in me.”
Babel growled his own eagerness as he raised his body over mine. He entered me slowly, inch by languid inch.
“Oh, God,” he rasped. “You’re so tight. I don’t want to hurt you.”
It felt too good and we’d gone too far to stop. I raised my hips to meet his, taking him all the way in. A moan fell from my lips unbidden. I could feel the pressure mounting inside me as his thick shaft slid deep and withdrew in a slow, easy rhythm.
He arched his back, taking my nipple into his mouth again, teasing it with his tongue. My hips thrust upward, driving him deeper inside me.
Babel’s growls and moans only heightened my excitement. His rhythm quickened. I rocked my lower body, meeting every hard thrust with the same enthusiasm. The musky scent of his skin added to the wild feeling growing inside me like a ticking time bomb. A burning rapture of ecstasy exploded through my body. I cried out, the intensity overwhelming all my senses.
Suddenly, I was on the street outside the restaurant. A large dog—again with reddish-brown fur, but not the one I’d been hallucinating—jumped on top me, its lips pulled back in a snarl as it growled and bared its teeth.
Screaming, I scrambled backward, its hot breath licking at my skin. I shut my eyes tight, waiting for it to tear into me.
The bite came, the teeth digging into the flesh of my shoulder. Searing pain ripped through me.
I screamed again, and didn’t stop until the vision ended and I was back in the bedroom, Babel shaking me as he shouted my name.
“Stop. I’m okay. I’m fine.” I was panting, breathless with fear. I was anything but fine. When he released my shoulders, I could feel the tears burning my eyes. I brought my hands up to cover them. “Oh, God. It was horrible.”
“Sunny, what happened?”
“I don’t know why. I don’t know when,” I managed through the shock. “But I’m going to be attacked soon.”
Chapter Six
“LET ME GET this straight,” Babel said for the sixth time. “You think you’re psychic?
”
“I don’t think I’m anything.” I was beginning to feel a little bit like Bruce Banner. He was making me angry, and he wasn’t going to like it if I got angry. “I know I’m a psychic.”
He made a “pah” noise. (Irritating.) Then shook his head. “Prove it.”
If it were possible at the moment, I would have turned green and started busting muscles out everywhere. “What about your clothes? How did I know that your clothes were in the walk-in freezer?”
“You could have stumbled on them when you were looking around.”
“Okay, I didn’t want to go here, but I know that skank Sheila made those scratch marks down your back.” Which, come to think, were remarkably healed for just one day.
He had the good sense to look embarrassed. “Lucky guess?”
Hands on my hips, I harrumphed. “Fine! How about the fact that she cold-cocked you with a bottle of cheap whiskey after you finished doing the nasty!”
His eyes widened then narrowed. “You talked to Sheila. Easy explanation.”
I blamed Babel completely for what came next. He’d left me no choice. “I saw your brother…You were much younger.”
Babel sat down on the bed, eyeing me wearily, the rawness of his pain nearly forcing me to stop. But I had to make him believe.
“He didn’t want to…integrate.”
Babel’s serious face grew hard. He grabbed my arms and pulled me close. He stared accusingly. “What do you know of integrating?”
“Nothing.” I consciously slowed down my breathing to belie the panic. “I only know what I see. He said something to you. Something about being what you are.”
“Stop, please, stop.” Babel could no longer look at me. “How? How can you know this?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to see your past. I can’t control the visions. If I could, I’d use them to find Chav. But they don’t work like that. They take me back, and they take me forward, but they don’t always make sense, and I can’t see things just because I want to. This curse of mine…I feel fucking useless. Chav knew. She understood and helped me. I wish I could control it, but I can’t. But the important thing is that my visions are always true. That’s why I know I’m going to be attacked by an animal. Right out in front of the diner.”
My Paranormal Valentine: A Paranormal Romance Box Set Page 64