Hidden Magic (12 page)

She chewed at the corner of her mouth. Everything in her wanted to fall into his arms but as long as she was deceiving him about her identity, how could she?

“Is it the break-in? Are you still too keyed up?” Concern etched lines around his eyes.

She focused on some of the family photos on the wall. “There are things you don’t know…about me.” Telling him who she was, that she’d left behind her old self, was out of the question. She’d broken more than one law when she ditched her old identity and created her new one, something that could surely land her   in jail.

“Is this about the break-in? You have an idea who it was?”

She looked into those green eyes and almost believed she could trust him. But she’d made that mistake before. And it had nearly cost her life. If Jamal had found her—if he’d been the one who broken into
Mind’s Eye
—she’d have to leave Freedom Bay, start over somewhere far away.

How could she abandon Hannah?

And Zander.

Maybe she could tell him a little. Enough so if it had been Jamal who’d broken that window at the shop, Zander could find him and lock him away so he wouldn’t be able to hurt her or anyone else for a long time.

Her head spun with indecision.

Zander cupped her cheek and she leaned into his touch. “Talk to me.”

She didn’t have much choice. If she didn’t open up to him she’d have no options but to go on the run again, adopting yet another new identity. She deflated at the prospect. Taking Zander’s hand, she silently asked the Goddess for courage. “The person who broke into the store, well…it could have been…”

He shifted closer so their knees touched. “It’s okay.”

She yearned to tell him the truth, to put her faith in his strong hands but she’d kept her secrets for so long. Her mouth was too dry to go on. “Can I have some?” She gestured at his beer.

He handed her the bottle, waited as she took a sip, then another. She winced at the bitter taste. “It could be someone from my past. An old boyfriend.”

Zander sat up taller. “Go on.”

She swallowed, sensing distrust in his aura. He couldn’t help her if she didn’t tell him. “His name is Jamal Blanchard. He’s a fireman. Or he used to be. I have no idea if he still is.”

“Why do you think he’d break into
Mind’s Eye?
”

She hung her head. “He said he’d come after me, that…he’d hurt me. Again, but worse next time.”

“Next time. Oh, sweetheart.” Instead of shoving her away as she’d expected, he scooped her into his arms and pulled her onto his lap, rocking her gently and kissing the top of her head. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”

He tightened his arms around her, whispered soothing sounds.

“I’m not who you think I am. I changed my identity and I broke a few laws when I did.” Her throat closed up with a sob. She gulped for air.

He held her face against his. The stubble on his cheek scratched her skin but she found it comforting. “I know exactly who you are. You’re a beautiful woman, inside and out. A woman who protected herself by escaping from a son-of-a-bitch. You’re not the criminal, baby, he is.”

But he didn’t know what she’d done to Jamal before she left. She grabbed a fistful of his shirt. It was wet with tears she didn’t realize she’d cried.

Cuddled in his arms, listening to the steady thump of his heart, if felt as if nothing could hurt her.

Neither said a word for several minutes. He just rocked her. Finally, he got up with her in his arms. He knew what she’d done and he hadn’t shoved her away. His desire was plain to see, to feel.

She couldn’t deny what she’d wanted almost since she’d laid eyes on him. He was more of a man that anyone she’d known, someone who’d protect her rather than hurt her. “Make love to me, Zander.” She hooked her hands around his neck.

He widened his eyes for a moment, told her how much he wanted her, everything she needed to know without uttering a word. Her heart pounded. She’d always been the caretaker in every relationship, from her mother to her girlfriends to each of the men she’d been involved with. Allowing herself to depend on anyone was foreign to her, but her shoulders couldn’t take any more, not now. Part of her screamed
run and hide,
but another, stronger side told her it was okay to trust him, to lean on him.

She snuggled against him as he carried her down a hallway and into his bedroom. Yeah, she wanted this, craved it.

He set her on his bed. “I have to make a phone call. I’ll be back in a minute. Bathroom’s right through that door.” He tipped his chin toward it. Then he kissed her lips so softly, more gentle than she’d ever imagined such a big strong man could.

The door clicked shut as he left. She got up to wash her face and found a Florida Gators jersey hanging on a hook on the back of the door. Holding the fabric to her face, she breathed in his scent. It reminded her of something homey and comfortable yet irresistibly attractive. She glanced at the door then quickly stripped off her clothes and pulled on Zander’s shirt. Then she stretched out on top of the covers.

He knocked before coming inside. A wicked grin lifted one corner of his mouth. “I like your outfit. Very sexy.”

Kicking off his shoes, he started unbuttoning his shirt and she couldn’t bring herself to look away. He peeled it off to reveal tan, toned arms and six-pack abs. His shoulders and chest were broad and thickly roped with muscle.

Her temperature spiked. She longed to touch him, to feel every inch, every hard ridge and plane of his body.

He dropped his shirt in a wicker hamper then closed the distance to the bed and sat on the side of the mattress staring down at her. “If you want me to sleep on the couch, I will. I don’t want you to do something you’re not ready for. But if you are ready, I want to make love to you. Have since the moment I saw you.”

She couldn’t manage to choke out anything coherent so she just shook her head. He stood, took off his belt then shucked off the rest of his clothes. A clear red aura surrounded him, indicative of his raw, sexual power. Lush sensations stole through her.

His eyes sparked with arousal as she took her time drinking in the sight of him. Everything about him screamed male from his pine scent to his long, muscular legs. His erection curved up to his belly and confirmed that he wanted her as much as she did him. He came toward her, climbed onto the bed, naked and divinely masculine.

Every cell in her body hummed with high octane arousal. She felt the powerful desire he emitted and it chased all doubt from her mind.

He knew what she’d done, at least the worst of it, and he still wanted her. Yet she automatically flinched when he lay next to her and wrapped his arm around her waist. “I’m sorry. It’s been a while since…”

He shushed her with a finger to her lips. “Don’t you dare apologize for anything. How could you not be leery after suffering abuse? Men who put their hands on women are cowards, the lowest of the low. The only worse kind are those who hurt kids. No one would blame you for being afraid after an experience like that.”

Her throat thickened with emotion. Zander was nothing like Jamal or any other man who’d abused her. She was safe with him.

“We can take this as slow as you need. I’m a patient man.” The honesty in his eyes loosened up that part of her she always kept so tightly knotted.

She kissed him, molded her body to his and felt the hard length of him against her thigh. He groaned as she traced a line over his shoulder, down his arm then back up his side.

He reached for the hem of the shirt she wore. “Can we take this off?”

She thought about the jagged scar under her ribs from the time Jamal had shoved her into a glass table. She wasn’t ready for him to see the ugly parts of her. “Would you turn out the lights first?”

His frown was fleeting. “Okay.” He reached over her and shut off the lamp on the bedside table. Only a sliver of light spilled into the room from the hallway. “Better?”

She nodded then lifted the shirt over her head and tossed it aside. Zander pulled her closer so they were skin to skin. The heat of his body singed hers. He cupped her backside, held her against him as he trailed kisses over her collarbone and neck. Then he caught her breast in his hand, massaged and shaped it.

Her nipples tightened, aching for his touch. She let out a pleasured moan as his mouth found one peaked point. He swirled his tongue around it, sucked it until she cried out.

He suddenly backed off. “Did I hurt you?”

“No.” She shifted on the bed to give him better access.

He immediately took advantage of it and lowered his head to her nipple again as he plucked and rolled the other one between his fingers. Delicious quivers spread over her skin. Her core ached with long-forgotten need.

Running her hands over his back, she drank in the feel of his hard planes and sinewy muscle. Unbridled lust sizzled through her. She needed him inside her, part of her.

Zander trailed his tongue along the valley between her breasts, lower to her abdomen. She turned away a little when he neared her scar but rather than avoiding it, he slid his lips along the entire length of it. “What’s this?” he whispered.

“It’s nothing.” Her voice came out cheap as day-old bread.

“Obviously not.” He threaded his fingers through her hair and gave her a deep, tasting kiss. Backing away, he pinned her with a hard stare. “Did
he
do that to you?”

She dropped his gaze as she thought back to the moment Jamal had thrown her into the table, shattering it. The awful, sharp stab as a shard of glass pierced her side and knocked the wind right out of her lungs. She sucked in a ragged breath.

“I hate that bastard for hurting you.” The conviction in his tone touched her.

But she didn’t want Jamal in the bed with them. She ran her finger over her scar. “When I read tarot cards, I always look at those that represent the past as well as ones for the present and future. Jamal is just an ugly scar from my past, like a reminder of how much better my life can be.”

He touched his lips to her scar again then looked into her eyes. “It
will
be better. I promise I’ll never hurt you. And I’ll do my best to see no one else does. They’ll have to come through me.”

A flood of emotion tightened her chest, ratcheting up her desire for the beautiful man she could so easily fall for. She locked her hands behind his neck and kissed his lips. How could he be so strong yet so tender?

When she released him, he moved his hand between her thighs to cup her mound. She rocked against him, overcome with wanting.

He reached into the drawer of the bedside table and palmed a square packet. After he’d sheathed himself, he teased her legs apart and moved between them. He met her stare, silently asking one more time if this was okay.

She had to smile. “Yes. Please, I want this.” If he only knew how rare a gift he was giving her, rescuing her from the cold, lonely place she’d been for so long.

He moved over her, sliding his shaft along her entrance, tormenting and teasing her, setting off sparks inside her. She widened her thighs, lifted her hips toward him to coax him, let him know how much she needed him.

He eased into her, slowly, deliberately, inch by heavenly inch. Then he withdrew a little, pushed deeper with the next stroke and the next until he filled her completely. She clenched her innermost muscles, holding him deep. He started moving, gently thrusting, creating the most wonderful erotic friction.

She twined her legs around him, clutched his shoulders as he moved above her. He kissed her neck, her breasts in turn. Lush sensations swamped her. Her whole body was on fire.

Zander grazed her nipple with his teeth and the pleasure overwhelmed her. She arched against his driving thrusts and fell over the edge into a sea of delight. Waves of bliss wracked her body in a deluge of ecstasy that went on and on. She clawed at his back, moaning with joy. Slowly, she drifted back down to earth.

Zander picked up his rhythm, stroked faster, harder, deeper. He let out a primal growl then jerked into her a few more times before stilling, breathless and damp with sweat.

She clung to him, totally spent, but afraid to let go. He held her, their hearts beating in tandem. As long as she was in his arms, nothing would hurt her. He’d promised. And she believed him.

* * * * *

Zander inhaled the sweet scent of Jilly’s hair as she lay with her back to him. He weaved his fingers through the silky strands and she made an adorable soft noise in her sleep, like a purr.

Taking her to bed hadn’t been wise, but it had been so long since he’d connected with a woman. In truth, he’d steered clear of any emotional involvements since Nadine. She and Andrea had shattered his faith in all women. But something about Jilly made him want to believe again.

Why did she have to be a witch? The word conjured up so many negative images. But did it really matter? She was a beautiful woman who appealed to him on so many levels. He wanted to protect her, to make her feel safe again after whatever her bastard ex-boyfriend had done to her.

He kissed the back of her head. She shifted her naked body against him and he felt himself growing hard again. It had only been an hour or two since they’d made love but he wanted her again. He caressed her breast, grazed his thumb over the nipple until it tightened to a hard pebble.

She stirred, moved her backside so it nestled his erection. He tugged on her peaked point and kissed the back of her neck. Her breath caught and he knew she was awake now.

Desire pumped through his blood. He needed to touch her again, taste her, bury himself inside her heat.

Splaying his fingers over the flat plane of her belly, he felt her shudder. He caught her earlobe between his teeth and raked the soft flesh.

She turned a little toward him, giving him better access to all of her. Yeah, she was onboard a hundred percent.

Shifting his hand lower on her abdomen, he skimmed over the soft tuft of hair. She let out a quiet moan as he covered her sex. She lifted her hips, encouraging him to delve deeper.

He tested her groove. “You’re already wet,” he whispered in her ear.