Bewitching You(23)

“Um.” She brought her fingers to her mouth. “I washed them and hung them out on the clothesline.”

“You did that for me?”

“I had to. You were looking pretty hobo.” She smiled her sweet smile.

“Thanks, I think.” He stood. “Out front or back?”

“Side.”

The sun was going down when Gray headed outside in his towel. No neighbors anywhere in sight. Just lots of farmland. Hell, he could even dress out here. His clothes were hanging by clothespins from the single line that hung from the trunk of one large elm to another. He pulled on his t-shirt and inhaled the breezy, fresh scent of cotton. Then he quickly tugged on his underwear and jeans, which were still a little damp, but at least they didn’t stink or make him look…hobo.

His chances of having Sofia in his bed tonight increased tenfold. “Thank you, Sofia,” he said to himself.

He’d tried to get her there this afternoon, and she’d shied away. Which was a smart move on her part, because no way in hell had he only wanted that to be a nap session.

Not that he would’ve pushed her. Gray wasn’t a man who hard-pressed a woman when she wasn’t ready. Although the way she’d stared at him while he lay in bed led him to believe she’d considered joining him. It wouldn’t be very hard for him to get her to open those curvy little thighs for him. If those dreams and his instincts were right, she was still a virgin. And if that was the case, he’d need to be careful with her.

Oh, hell. He wasn’t doing anything with her if she didn’t have any protection. Why hadn’t that occurred to him until now? Probably because he hadn’t bought a box of condoms since before Rachel.

Damn. It had been way too long.

Gray headed back inside and into the kitchen, only to see her bent over in the refrigerator. Her little mini-skirt hiked up. One more inch, and he could see heaven.

God help him.

“Lunch, I could do,” she said. “Breakfast was a stretch. Supper will need a special visit from my guardian angel, I’m sure.” She turned and kicked the refrigerator shut with her heel.

“Why don’t I cook supper?”

“Huh. You cook?”

“Usually nuking leftovers in the microwave is my specialty, but I could probably throw something together. It couldn’t be that difficult.”

“Couldn’t be that difficult?” She glared up at him through thick, long lashes.

Oops. “Or I could just pour you a glass of wine and tell you how much I appreciate you making me breakfast, lunch and supper, you sexy goddess of the kitchen.”

She quirked up one side of those pink, glossy lips. “Wine would be great.”

Gray poured her a glass as promised and watched her throw a couple of chicken breasts into a frying pan after spraying it thoroughly with cooking spray. She put water to boil in a pot and pulled out a box of mac and cheese.

He stood out of her way, leaning against the butcher block as he poured himself a glass.

Anything to keep his mouth busy so he wouldn’t say something idiotic. He’d always been amazed by the way Hayes could charm women. Hell, he’d charmed the chastity belt right off Rachel.

Gray hadn’t even seen it coming. Little did Hayes know, he’d done Gray a favor.





Chapter Ten



Penny sat on the black leather chair, staring over the big walnut desk at her stubborn daughter. “If you don’t want to do it for me, then do it for Sofia,” she pleaded.

Laura strummed her plain bitten-down fingernails on the desk. She looked sleep-deprived and irritated all at once. Penny read mixed phrases of guilt, loneliness, and desperation pulsating from her daughter’s mind.

The woman needed to get herself a man.

Penny blocked Laura’s thoughts and concentrated on the task at hand. “You have the power. Hayes is there, watching them. Don’t you want to know how Sofia is doing?”

Laura huffed out a breath. “Fine. I’ll do it.” After blowing out an exasperated breath, she began whispering in such a low voice, it was difficult to decipher the words.

Her face grew pale, and her eyes rolled back in her head. The murmured words grew faster and louder. “Hayes Phillips, I call upon you,” she repeated over and over.

A blast of cold air shot through the room, and the young man appeared. He leaned against the bookshelf with his hands in the pockets of his holey jeans.

“This is what you look like?” Penny said. “Identical to your brother, are you?”

Hayes grinned. “He looks a little more respectable than I do.” His smile disappeared when he noticed Laura sitting on the other side of the desk. “What is she doing here?”

“She has the gift to call spirits. She’s the one that brought you.”

“I’ll speak to you only,” he said, dismissing Laura.

Laura stood. “Well, I guess my work is done here. I’ll leave you two alone.”

“Sit down,” Penny ordered. Enough of the childishness.

With an eye roll, Laura sat back down.

“You want to know how they’re doing?” Hayes asked Penny.

“Yes, that would be wonderful.”

“It’s happening slowly. They’re attracted to each other, but she’s wary of him, and Gray isn’t exactly a smooth talker.”

“Like you?” Penny raised her eyebrows at him for fun. He seemed like such an interesting fellow.

His thoughts were even more so. The name Rachel and her image vibrated passionately out into the room and into Penny’s head.

He shrugged and continued. “I stopped planting Sofia’s dreams in Gray’s head. I’m hoping it’ll make him miss her touch and force him to step up his game. He’s got a problem with that. If he doesn’t start laying on more moves, she might not think he’s genuinely attracted to her. Because you all know how insecure she is, right?”

“My daughter is not insecure,” Laura piped up.

“Of course she is, dear. Especially when it comes to men, since you’ve been feeding her bullshit that they can’t be trusted.”

“Well, they can’t. And you’re going to regret this, Mother. As soon as this Gray person comes out of his spell, he’s going to leave Sofia heartbroken.”

Penny ignored her daughter’s glare and spoke to Hayes. “I was hoping this would all happen more naturally, but do you think the spell needs to be stronger?”

“And move it along faster? Couldn’t hurt. I need to get this all done ASAP. My other project is getting a little overwhelming.”

“Other project?” Penny was intrigued.

“The love of my life needs a new love of her life.”

“Oh, well let me know if I can be of any help. And thank you for all of yours.”

“Absolutely.” He faded into nothing. “See ya.”

~ * ~

A glass and a half of wine later and Sofia was feeling pretty good. She wasn’t quite sure how Gray was doing though. He’d been quiet for most of supper and now he sat silently on the floor with his back leaning against Nana’s sofa.

He’d insisted he’d break the sofa if he tried to sit on it. Sofia wasn’t sure he was wrong. The man was big and the sofa was ancient and tiny. The two rocking chairs that stood in each corner of the room weren’t too solid, either.

Feeling guilty, Sofia sat on the floor in front of him, carefully crossing her legs together to avoid giving him a show. She leaned back on her hands and eyed him. The dim light in the room made him appear serious and somber. What was on the man’s mind? Maybe his ex? Maybe his brother? Had they been close? It was amazing that she’d loved him in her visions, yet she knew nothing about him in real life.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked, not being able to take the silence any longer.

“How much I want to kiss you again.” The words slipped out of his mouth easily, as if they had been at the tip of his tongue.

And yet they were potent enough to warm her body from her scalp to her curling toes. Her cheeks burned, undoubtedly revealing how he affected her.

Trying to joke away her powerful response to him, she made a fish face. “What? You want to kiss these lips?”

“Among other things.”

Change the subject fast, Sofe. She reached across the floor for the radio and pulled it in front of her. “Do you like music?” She switched it on to a station where Blondie sang The Tide Is High. As long as there wasn’t a crooning love song playing or anything with sex or kissing in the lyrics, she should be safe.

“Sure. What about you?”

“I like to listen to it while I’m painting. The genre sets the mood. Like, when I want to paint something sexy and smooth, I listen to jazz. When I want to paint something edgy and dark, I listen to hard rock.”