A Love Soul Deep (6 page)

Needing more, so much freaking more, I tilted my pelvis, trying to get contact. He pulled away, chuckling deep. “Payback,” he said.

I laughed too. “Bastard,” I teased.

“Guilty,” he teased back, returning his mouth to my hip.

Under me, his fingers grabbed at my panties. I gasped, the deep anticipation welling within me. I watched his face, so serious. He inched my panties down so that they made a line right at the coming off point. So close to naked, but not.

More!
my body demanded. But I held back, seeing the tension in his expression. He wanted to savor this. To stand in the rain and get drenched.

I feared he’d stop. I feared this miracle would end.

“Crew,” I whispered. “Please.” My body craved his.

“Please what, Sara?” He delved his tongue into the hollow at the topmost part of my thigh. His breath was like steam and I couldn’t resist wriggling closer. But he retreated. “Tell me first.”

“I love you,” I said.

“I love you. Now tell me.”

“I want you.”

“To?”

“Make love to me. Taste me. Make me forget everything else.”

“See? That wasn’t so hard,” he said, and yanked my panties down. His lips were chilly but his tongue was hot, and he laved it up my thighs, around my sex—and then drove down into me. “Oh, God!”

He eased back again. My body cried out. I was so close to climaxing. I wanted more. More than his mouth. I wanted all of him. I wanted nothing left unshared. I pulled at his shoulders until he hovered above me. A lock of hair fell over his forehead. Intensity burned in his gaze. Fire. For me. I let all my fears and all my hopes show in my eyes. “Crew,” I said, about to beg outright, but a loud knock on my door made us stop cold.

~~~

Chapter Seven

Oh, no. Was it Mrs. Devine? Was I not supposed to have guests? Was I being too loud? Silly as it might be, “busted” was all I could think of as I scrambled to get dressed, my belly knotting. “Who is it?” I called.

They only knocked again. Louder.

Crew winced and yanked on his shirt. I yanked on my pants, sending the locket to tangle in my hair. Somehow, it also swung around to my back.

With an uncertain glance at Crew, who shrugged and dug both fists into his pockets, I unlocked the door. “Please let it be Moira,” I mumbled, flipping my hair out of the shirt.

The locket thudded to the floor as I opened the door, ready for a severe scolding from Mrs. Devine about bringing home non-registered guests. It was Kim. “Hey, Sara,” she said. “Is this a bad time?”

I set my teeth. Yes, it was terrible timing. I guess she knew it, too. Either that, or she was drunk. Or drunk—and out to ruin my night. “Not at all,” I lied, feeling both cocky about having Crew here with me and nervous about revealing him. “You caught us in the middle of a … break.”

Her eyes widened, and she nodded. “Okay. Well, sorry for the interruption.” Nudging the door, she walked in. Probably dying to see if I’d sealed the deal, or whatever people called it these days.

“Did you need something, Kim?” My gaze darted around the floor. Involuntarily, my hand went to my neck, feeling for the missing chain. “Is Moira okay?”

“Oh, she’s fine.” She stumbled into a plate. “Oops. What’s all this?”

I looked up. “Where’d he go?”

“Uh, who?”

“What do you mean, who?” I searched the room. I went from where he’d been standing to the drapes, to the closet, and even checked under the bed. “Crew is who. Crew?” I looked out the window. No ledge. Bit of a death jump.

Besides, why would he jump? Why would he hide? Which meant he could be gone. A fever of dread flushed my skin. No. No, no, no.

I spun on Kim, hands on my hips. “What’d I do?” she asked.

“You scared him off, is what you did. He could be gone!” My voice rose to a crazed pitch. “Jesus, Kim! What are you even doing here?”

“Moira made me promise to check on you,” she yelled back. “Scared who off?”

“The guy from the bar!”
Idiot!
“Who else?”

Her brow knitted and she gave me a wary stare. “You left with that guy?”

I threw my hands up. “Get out. Get the hell out right now before I say or do something that will land me in prison!” By the end I was full-pitch screaming.

Another knock sounded as Moira burst in. “What’s going on in here? You’re waking the whole house. Mrs. Devine looks like she just caught the pope naked.”

My stomach beat acid upward. I sat on the edge of the bed, both hands to my forehead. Nooooo. Not hours. Please, tell me I had more than just hours. Tell me I hadn’t wasted it on making out. Tell me he would come back once they left, once I made a wish on the locket.
The locket!

I dropped to the floor and began feeling and looking over the surface of the carpet.

“Sara, what is it? Kim, what happened? Somebody freaking talk to me here.”

“I knocked. I came in, and she started flipping out. She said that guy was here. Crew? From the bar. Do you remember a guy from the bar?”

I wanted to kick Kim in the chin and from my crouch plus her sitting position on my bed again, I might be able to do it. But, more than anything, I had to find that locket. “Please be here. Please, please, please.”

Moira’s face filled my periphery. “Sara, honey. Are you looking for Crew in the carpet?”

I frowned at her. “What? No. I’m looking for the locket.”
Stupid.
“I’m fine.” I had to get them out of here. “I just need to sleep. Just tired. Drank too much. I won’t scream anymore. I’ll apologize to Mrs. Devine. I promise. I’ll tell her I thought Kim was an intruder.”
She was!
“I’ll tell her I had a nightmare.”
Still am!

Something distinctly metal, though soft met my touch. Every cell in my body seemed to sigh. I drew the trinket into my hand and pressed it to my heart. Thank God. I’d found the locket.

Which meant I could wish Crew back.

I hoped.

I stood up and forced my features into an easy smile. “I’m sorry, guys. I don’t know what got into me. Beer makes me a little weird, I guess.”

“Beer makes you weird?” Kim said, doubt blanketing her tone.

I gave a sort of circle nod, pressing my lips together in case I told on myself by saying the wrong thing. They eyed me, but finally left.

I put the chain around my neck and pressed the locket to my lips. “Crew, come back to me! I wish you to come back to me.”

Nothing.

“Please, Crew, I wish for you to return to me.”

I tried a thousand variations and at last, slumped down onto the floor and broke down in tears. I sobbed, the pain racking my chest, my fists to my mouth, fighting to get my sorrow under control.

I couldn’t believe it was over. Not yet. Not so soon. And yet, I felt shame for not thanking everything magical and holy that he’d actually made it back. I never knew losing him again would hurt so much. I wasn’t sure I would have wished it if I had known.

All his sweet words replayed in my mind. The images of his eyes, his hands, his mouth, followed. The evidence of our night together stared at me. The empty plates, the dirty glasses. Pie crumbs and pickle juice. I fell asleep there on the floor, clutching the locket.

When Moira came knocking the next morning, I didn’t want to move.

“Sara, it’s time to check out, honey.”

“I’m staying a couple of extra days,” I mumbled, letting Moira help me to a standing position. I immediately went to the bed and crawled under the untouched covers.

Moira sat next to me. “Hey, want to tell me what happened? Kim said you were talking about Crew, honey.”

My eyes stung. My chest squeezed the air from my lungs. I nodded weakly. What did it matter now if she knew?

“Oh, honey. I thought you’d gotten to a good place with Crew’s death.”

I laughed hollowly. “How can death be a good place?”

“You know what I meant. I thought you’d healed. What happened to trigger all this?”

“It was
him
, Moira. He was here again. It all came back to me. I fell in love with him all over again. Kim barged in, and he vanished. I know it sounds crazy. I thought it was, too. But, there’s evidence. The plates. The glasses. He was here.”

“Clearly, someone was here.”

I sat up. “No. Not someone. Him.”

“Okay, alright. If Crew was here and he’s gone again, maybe we should focus on how amazing that he was here … is.” Her voice had gone soft, that talking-to-a-child kind of tone.

It scratched at my nerves. “Never mind.” She’d never loved like that. How could she understand? “I’m staying.” At least a couple more days so that he could return if I wished hard enough.

“No. You’re not staying here, Sara.”

“Yeah. I am. Try to stop me.”

“Fine. Stay. Can you at least explain to me why?”

“Because he might come back.” I propped up and showed her the locket. What did I have to lose after losing him again? “This brought him here once. I can make it happen again.”

Moira’s gaze darted from my face to the locket. “From the antique store?”

“Yes.” I lay back down, pulling the covers up to my ear.

She sat there, quiet for long minutes. “Sara? Did you talk to Crew?”

Under the covers, I nodded. I had no tears.

Gently, she drew the covers back down to my shoulders. “That’s a good thing. Were you able to say the things you’ve wanted to? To ask the questions you said you had?”

“Don’t patronize me.”

She shook her head once. “I won’t. I’m not. I guess I just thought you might have gotten some ... thing out of whatever did happen last night.”

“Some closure? Is that what you were going to say?”

“No. Maybe. I don’t know. I do know I’m not leaving you here.”

I pulled the covers back up.

“Well, if the locket is what brought Crew here,” she said, in that irritatingly placating tone of hers, “then wouldn’t he come back wherever the locket is?”

I peeked out to scowl at her and opened my mouth to protest, but stopped. She had a point.

“I mean, wouldn’t the magic be even stronger where Crew actually once lived?”

Placating or not, and I saw she didn’t believe me about Crew one bit, her theory buoyed my hopes. I sat up. If I could wish him here, certainly I could wish him back home. I could go to every place we’d ever been and wish for him. Oh, wait. “What if the magic only works here? What if the locket is a local kind of magic?”

Moira chewed her lip. Panic showed in her eyes.

“Why is leaving me here so scary to you, anyway?”

She looked at her hands. “You don’t remember how bad it got when he died. There are days you don’t remember. Days I spent keeping you from slicing your wrists open. I almost had to call the hospital, Sara. In fact, threatening to call was the only thing that worked. I can’t see you like that again. I won’t let you grieve yourself into the grave.”

I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want to remember that. I couldn’t deny the risk existed. I felt it heavy on my heart. What was life without the happiness only Crew seemed to give? He made the world make sense. Where would I be without him?

“I know! We can ask the shopkeeper. She’ll know if the magic exists beyond Savannah.”

Again, I moved to protest, but realized the shopkeeper would know. All her vague, yet cryptic, statements that day made me realize she must have known what the locket could do. In fact, the entire store was probably filled with magical objects.

“Okay,” I said, and for the first time in hours, felt like I had purpose. “We’ll check with her, and if she says it stays with the locket, I’ll go back home. But, if not ….”

“Then we’ll deal with it. Agreed?”

“Agreed.”

I dressed, packed, and took one last yearning look around the room and clung to my new resolve. I
had
to get Crew back.

~~~

Chapter Eight

Part of me suspected that Moira called the shop in advance. I even considered the possibility that Moira bribed Twila, the clerk who sold me the locket to begin with, because the woman solemnly agreed that if there was magic in the locket, it would grow stronger wherever the soul called home. In the end, I wasn’t sure I wanted to stay and face these fears alone. I left Savannah feeling kinked and uncertain. The basic act of moving helped—dressing, packing, walking into the shop, and then through airport security. At my front door, I hugged Kim good-bye.

“I’m sorry for all the drama,” I said, the smell of her hair as much a comfort as seeing my own little lawn.

“Stop apologizing. We all get permission to go a little nuts sometimes.” She pulled back and looked at me. For a moment, I thought she might mean something else. “I had a little bit of magic over the weekend, too.”

I smiled, only half believing her. Even if it was true, I preferred to skip swapping stories.

I didn’t much care.

She and Kim had interrupted my dream come true. Sure, I’d get over it eventually.

Or not.

Depended on whether I got to see him again. If that made me greedy, so be it. I wanted more. I wanted forever. I wanted it now.

Forever. Days passed, and then weeks.

And then months.

I tried everything I could think of. I went to every spot I’d ever been with Crew. I held the locket and wished my heart out. Six months later, I began to accept that Crew might never come back. Numbness set in.

A spring morning greeted me on a Wednesday. Birds chirping. Sun shining. Little buds on the branch outside my window. I lay there and realized I hadn’t even dreamed of him in months. I opened the locket to see his face. The pictures had faded. His. The one he’d said looked like me.