Ever Tempted (17 page)

Allie sighed. “It’s not like you meant to be in bed with someone else. And you could have kept that a secret.”

“I’ll do anything to gain your forgiveness.” I needed her so badly.

Allie slipped her fingers up my neck to my chin. “To start, you could kiss me.”

Not sure exactly what she meant, I kissed her forehead and her cheek. Glad for even that small amount of comfort, I hugged her to me.

She pulled out of my grasp and hovered over me, her long, soft hair brushing my shoulders. Another flash of lightning revealed a look I’d longed for since we’d left our room at the island. “That’s not quite what I was thinking.”

As if lightning had lashed through my mind, she allowed visions of her wants and needs to assault my senses. I burned with anticipation, and hot flashes shocked through my body at intervals, landing deep in my stomach. “I don’t think we have time for all that, but I’ll damn sure try.” I jerked her down to me.

The next morning, the sun shone in a powder blue sky as if a storm had never reached the grounds. The cottage was quiet and warm. The white sheets on the bed were gathered around Allie and me, leaving some of the mattress bare.

I cuddled closer to her.

Hopefully Allie wouldn’t wake and come to her senses.

I’d had nothing to do with capturing her and locking her in alone with me the evening before, but I hoped she wouldn’t wake and be resentful that she’d been tricked.

The twins were good at getting their way about as much as Grace had been back in the day.

“You forget I hear everything you think, and your thoughts aren’t as grateful as they should be. You should be thanking us.”
Shelby’s thoughts sank into my mind. Even from the house, she was a nosey busybody.

“Can’t I have a moment’s peace?”

“You don’t deserve peace. At least not from me. I am still pretty angry with you. You were going to kill yourself and leave us here to pick up the pieces when Allie found your cold, stiff remains. If you ever try to make some cockamamie plan like that again without telling us first, you won’t have to commit suicide. I’ll shove you into the pond and hold you under till you are blue.”
Shelby was still a little peeved.

I grinned.
“So, you do still care about me. I wasn’t sure there for a while. Now I know you’d miss me if I was gone.”

“Shut up and wake sleeping beauty. I have some exciting, but potentially troubling news, and I want you both in the room when we disclose it.”

“Bossy much?”

“Bossy a lot. Now get to hoppin’, Casanova.”

“I’m pretty sure I’m still the boss of you.”

“Are not.”

“Am too.”

“But you don’t have a secret so big that its gonna rock the world of everyone involved and possibly save your conniving ass.”
Shelby’s thoughts cut off from me, and she was silent no matter how much I called on her.

I hated it when people did that. I have something to tell you, but it’s going to have to wait until later. Why bother telling me?

Besides Grace, Shelby was the second biggest grudge holder I’d ever met, so it was probably revenge for my almost suicide attempt and calling her out on her fondness of me.

Allie moaned and turned toward me. In her sleep, she still loved me, so hopefully when she woke her senses wouldn’t come back to her and cause her to decide she’d prematurely forgiven me. She threw her leg over mine and nuzzled my chest. Her hand dipped under the wad of sheets and gripped my side.

I really, really, really didn’t want to get out of bed this early.

I scooped her closer and pressed my lips to hers.

With an inviting moan, she returned my kiss and melted into me.

Wood scraping against wood jarred us from our embrace.

The window slammed up as far as it would go. A stack of previously folded clothing floated through the window and landed in a pile on the floor. A bottle of hair product flew in after it.

It hovered in the air just above the clothes, then stopped in front of the mirror.

QUIT WASTING TIME. WE HAVE WORK TO DO
, sprayed onto the glass by phantom hands.

Allie gawked as I slapped the sheets off us and jerked the curtains to our room shut.

“What the hell?” Allie’s shocked expression and her tousled hair made her even more inviting than she’d been while she was asleep.

“Show off,” I mumbled as I jerked my clothes from the floor.

“She’s insistent. I hope that’s a sign that they’ve come up with some sort of plan to get us out of this mess with Grace.” Allie tugged the sheets up and went to the shower.

The words on the mirror slid down as gravity grabbed the foam.

What could they have discovered that was more important than me sealing the deal with Allie?

“If you ever call it that again, I’m liable to smack you with a piece of your own bedroom furniture.”
Kaitlyn’s disgusted voice pelted inside my head.

“You know what I meant. And stop that. You’re not supposed to respond to every thought I have. That’s just weird.”
I slipped on my boxers and found something to wipe the mirror with while Allie hummed in the shower.

“Well, stop being such a guy.”

“
I’ve never been accused of that, but guess what? That’s what I am. A guy. And guys have guy thoughts.”

“Well, you are blessed enough to have girls around who can’t help but hear you, so you have to be respectful when you’re thinking. Capisce?”
Kaitlyn had never sounded more like Shelby.

“You girls can’t say you don’t have girl thoughts. I’ve heard every one of you when you’ve encountered the opposite sex. ‘Look at his butt. Oh my gosh. Why doesn’t he smile more? It makes me hot in the nether regions.’ I cleaned that part up so I wouldn’t sound so much like a guy, but you get my point.”

Kaitlyn didn’t respond.

“I love you, nonetheless.”
I grinned as silence finally gave me some peace.

“I’m starving. I’m going to catch a bite of breakfast while you shower.” Allie stepped out of the bathroom. She dropped her towel and slipped on her underwear as I stood at the end of the bed with my mouth dropped open like a fool.

“So you’re just going to saunter around the room naked.” I gripped the footboard to hold me where I was. It took all I had not to attack her.

She turned to me and giggled as she pulled her shirt over a hot pink bra that accentuated the tanned artwork God had made when he created her upper torso. “If you could see the look on your face right now.”

I shook my head. “You make it hard to focus.”

“Good. Then I haven’t lost my touch.” She jerked her jeans up and tossed a towel at me. “I worry sometimes that after a hundred or so years you’d grow immune to my charms.”

“We really don’t have to go back to the house so soon.” I started toward her and scooped her into my arms.

Her mouth tasted of its familiar vanilla with a splash of toothpaste.

She shoved me back, slipped out of my grasp, and scurried to the door. “I’m still sort of upset with you, so think of ways to make it up to me when we get rid of your stalker ex-girlfriend.”

“She wasn’t my girlfriend,” I said.

She snickered. The screen door slammed behind her.

At least she didn’t hate me.

I didn’t know how well I’d have taken the news of her being naked in the bed with another man. I was still clueless why she bothered with me. Then or now.

* * * *

The girls sat around the service table in the kitchen where the staff normally took their meals. Half-finished plates of food sat before them as they sipped coffee.

“You shower longer than a girl,” Shelby said.

Allie grinned and cupped her steaming coffee in both hands. She took another sip to hide a smile, but her thoughts came through loud and clear.
“He’s so sexy when his hair is wet.”

I shot her a look and tried to hide my detection by going to the double stove.

Pots and pans of food were covered and waiting.

My appetite hadn’t plunged since my ability to shift had disappeared. Now I just wanted whatever smelled like breakfast meats and maple syrup on the stove. I unmasked the food and took a helping of everything. “So, from the way you locked the doors on us last night and that cute little show this morning, I take it you’ve gotten a bit stronger over the last few weeks.”

Shelby stared at her coffee mug. Absently, she spun it around and around on the table with her hand, not her mind. “Um, yeah. About that.”

“All jokes aside, we need to talk.” Kaitlyn regarded Allie and me as I took a seat beside my new wife. Kaitlyn paused and then shook her head. She looked beside her to Shelby. “You tell it. I’m too nervous.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake. What are they gonna do? Fire us? We’re the only chance they have at being rid of Grace for good,” Shelby said.

Kaitlyn had trouble making eye contact with us.

Shelby turned to me. “We may be able to do better than just imprison Grace.”

“How do you figure?” I took a bite of maple syrup-covered pancakes.

“We’re not just witches,” Shelby said.

“Just shush and let me tell them. We don’t need shock value at a time like this.” Kaitlyn leaned closer. “We’ve always sort of joked about the fact that Ava Rollins never made an uninformed decision. And honestly, I’ve heard it so much that I can’t believe I didn’t put two and two together. Probably because I would have come up with two hundred and sixty-seven. Which begs the point, did you ever wonder why Ava chose my sister and me to help you two? I mean, she could have hired older, more experienced clairvoyants.”

“She could have, but they wouldn’t have been nearly as smart as you, and face it, nowhere near as sexy as me.” Shelby considered her nails as if we were talking over the weather.

Irritated, Kaitlyn turned to her sister and crossed her arms. “We look just alike.”

“Yeah, but there’s always an uglier twin. Just sayin’.”

“And she probably could have hired more mature people to help. Just sayin’.” Kaitlyn turned from her sister and rolled her eyes. “Anyway, just when Shelby and I thought we’d found one newspaper clipping that didn’t have Colby’s dad’s name in it, there was one that gave Eliza’s last name as it detailed her family’s social standing and how much her father’s money would help the community when he built a new church. The new church was going to be bigger and more majestic than any around because Eliza’s father was building it to house his daughter’s wedding to your dad. And after its construction, it was dedicated to him. Zebidiah Moss. We share the same last name. We’re related.”

Allie dropped her fork.

I almost choked.

Allie handed me a glass of milk, then turned back to the girls. She slipped to the edge of her wooden seat, her eyes wide and a giddy expression on her face. “Have you researched to see if you’re from the same Moss family?”

The twins’ chins bobbed off their chests.

“Zeb was a great, great, great something or another to us,” Kaitlyn said with unveiled pride.

Almost too soon to talk after being strangled, I added, “This explains so much.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Shelby shot me a look.

“You two are not to be within a hundred feet of Allie until you’ve undergone a full psychological evaluation.” I slapped the table. This was too much. I couldn’t subject Allie to any more variables. “I’ve loved Allie for over a hundred years and lost her to death more times than I could count. I’ll be damned if you two end up flipping out and going all
American Horror Story Asylum
on us just when we need you most.”

“Like she said and you’ve heard a gazillion times, Ava never made an uninformed decision. I’ve never answered so many questions and seen so many different kinds of therapists in my life as when Ava hired us. Not that we needed them before.” Shelby pointed at me. “I see that look. Our parents thought since we were gifted and different from other children that we needed to see specialists to work through our issues, so we’re very familiar with Freud, penis envy, and all that Oprah soul-cleansing group therapy.”

I leaned back in my chair and regarded both the girls with their sandy blond hair, green eyes, and their so-help-me-God-if-you-call-me-crazy threatening stares. “You’d better be glad I still trust Ava.”

“You’re missing the point.” Allie touched my arm. “They might be able to kill Grace. Or at least put her malicious soul to rest.”

“She’s right Mr. National Security.” Shelby did a little sassy head bob.

“So have you made any sense out of those spell books and journals she kept?” Allie said.

“Some. It’s going to take some help from outside sources. Most of the spells are written in another language. And the one I think she used on you guys is going to be a mess to figure out. I only know of one person who’s familiar with magic. Anna Marie might be able to translate it or tell us who could. I’ve already called her, and she’s on her way.” Kaitlyn gathered her dishes.

“What. Are we trying to form a coven? The only experience I have with witches are bad ones. Now you want to bring in another on? Nobody told me she was a witch. I thought she was just a chick that liked stones.” I was losing it.

“Really? Cole. We’ve been practicing witchcraft for quite a while. We just didn’t realize it. Now you’re freaking out because we put a name on it? It’s not witches you’re uncomfortable with. It’s the uncertainty that comes with losing control of a situation. Now stop being bitchy. It’s insulting,” Shelby said.

I hadn’t figured out Eliza had been the one that had made the curse until I’d seen Allie’s flashbacks. Her cloaked figure in the vision was the stalker who’d traumatized my first mother and father for most of their lives. Now her ancestors were sitting in the same room with me, sharing coffee and war stories.

“It’s just extremely hard to swallow when your great aunt or whatever she was helped kill Allie.”

“Yes, but we’ve saved her life more than once. I’m pretty sure we’ve earned our keep.” Shelby’s nostrils flared. “How dare you accuse us of anything less than being honorable.”

“That’s not what…” I stared at the floor, then caught her gaze. “That’s exactly what I’m scared of. I’m not saying you would ever mean to put Allie in danger, but who knows what that crazy witch is still capable of. What if she had some way of coming back and using you?”