Breaking the Rules (9 page)

“That’s because you rushed out and acted on incomplete information.”

“And whose fault was that?”

“I admit I share some blame.” She held his gaze.

“And how will you atone for your sins?” A wicked thought snuck into his head as heat crept into his loins.

“I could say I’m sorry?”

“I have a better idea.”

“Oh?”

“I’ll let you do a reading. By whichever method you choose.”

“Good.”

“But there’s one condition.”

She lifted a slim black brow.

“You have to do it naked.”

Merely saying it aloud sent blood rushing to his extremities. Susana’s eyes and mouth gaped open at the same time.

“No way.” She rose to her feet, chair rasping on the floor. She picked up their plates and carried them to the sink, then started scraping leftovers vigorously into the garbage.

“Aren’t you curious to see what your future holds?”

“It’s really not a good idea to read one’s own future. The messages can become mixed, distorted.” She glanced up at him from behind the heavy curtain of hair that concealed her face while she bent over the garbage.

“Aren’t you curious about my future then?”

“I have patience. The future will unfold in its own time.” She dropped the lid on the garbage pail with a decisive slam.

“Come on, Susana.” He spoke low, chin resting on his hands, surveying her in the dim florescent light of the tiny kitchen. His voice crept through the incense still hanging in the air. “Live dangerously for once.”

She glanced at him. Curious.

“You’ve always done what your grandma said. You’ve been a good girl all these years. Aren’t you in the least bit tempted to do something a little crazy?”

She turned and faced him. Placed her hands on her hips. A gesture that snugged her blouse against her breasts. Joe shifted in his chair.

“I bet you’ve never done a reading naked.”

“Of course I haven’t.” She tossed her hair.

“Then maybe it’s about time you did.” He lifted one eyebrow very slightly.

She raised one of hers. “No touching?”

“If that’s the way you want it.” Excitement rippled through his muscles as he watched her contemplate the possibility. He leaned forward.

“And you…” She regarded him steadily beneath her black lashes. “Will you be naked too?”

“If you like.”

He could swear he saw heat simmering behind the reflective black surface of her eyes. She was interested. She wanted to see him naked.

He ached to unzip the jeans pressing uncomfortably on the part of him that swelled with each passing second.
Easy does it, Joe
. Stealth and silence can gain more ground than heavy firepower.

“The seeing globe would be best, but it’s at the shop. The palm doesn’t give enough detailed information for our purposes.”

“I guess that leaves the cards.”

“Yes. Follow me.”

Joe squeezed out from behind the table. If he had a tail it would be wagging furiously. Susana tossed her black mane again as she walked out of the room with him panting at her heels.

In the living room she opened a drawer in the bureau beneath her grandmother’s hostile stare. She removed a small black box. Joe saw her hand tremble as she opened it.

His heart trembled a little, too.

Was she really going to read his future? He didn’t want to know about that. He just wanted to see her naked. Was that too much to ask? Of course it was but that hadn’t stopped him.

The future was going to happen anyway. He’d just as soon not know in advance what kind of crap was going to rain down on him.

He tugged his fingers through his hair. Tangled. He was still a mess. Not even dressed up for a hot date with a beautiful woman. The thought hadn’t crossed his mind. In his excitement about seeing Susana again all other thoughts had shriveled temporarily out of existence.

He’d forgotten that he wasn’t really a man any more. Not really human. Certainly not someone who should be staring his future in the face.
Naked
.

“You’re scared, aren’t you?” She spoke softly.

“Yeah,” he replied honestly.

“That’s okay. I’m a little scared, too.”

“We can do it with clothes on if you like.”

She shook her head. A flash of fierce energy filled her black stare and for a split second she reminded him of her grandmother’s picture. “We’ll do it naked.”

Those words were enough to snap him out of a funk. “Not in here, though.” He glanced up at Milos, who surprisingly had his head tucked coyly under a wing. “We don’t want to shock your parrot.”

“We’ll do it in…in the room you slept in last night.” She swept out of the room with a determined stride.

They sat opposite each other on the bed. Still fully clothed. A single candle guttered on the windowsill.

“You first.” Her serious expression should have wilted any strength left in him. Instead it only poured fuel on the flames licking around his crotch.

“Sure.”

He tugged his T-shirt over his head.

She gasped and he looked up. Her mouth was round with surprise, her eyes fixed on his exposed chest.

“What are you staring at, the scar or the tattoo?” He felt oddly vulnerable with her midnight gaze burning over his torso.

“What’s that scar from?”

Joe glanced down at the long white line over his belly, decorated with dots that commemorated nearly eighty stitches. “Shrapnel wound. Not too pretty, huh?”

“Does it hurt?”

“No, it’s old.”

“And the tattoo, it’s…”

“Huge, I know. Never mix alcohol and body art.”

“It’s beautiful.”

He looked down the eagle spreading its wings across his chest, covering his pectorals with its intricate veil of blue lines. “I had a layover in Okinawa one time. Drank a bit too much sake.”

“It suits you.”

“It suited who I used to be when I thought the world was my oyster.”

She looked up at his face, her expression inscrutable. No doubt all those readings she did for a living gave her lots of practice at hiding her feelings. Her impersonal demeanor should have dampened his desire.

But it didn’t.

“Take off your jeans.” Her voice was cool, measured.

His response was equal and opposite. Heat flared inside his pants as he unbuttoned and unzipped them, an action that brought instant relief.

But the relief was only temporary. As he tugged down his shorts, exposing his erection, the heat crept up his body to heat his face.

He glanced warily at Susana. His very obvious arousal had captured her attention. She looked up, eyes wide and gleaming.

“It’s big.”

Joe released a quick burst of laughter. The way she stared you’d think she’d never seen one before.

Which, now that he thought about it, was a distinct possibility.

An intriguing possibility.

He settled into a comfortable position, suddenly feeling that for once he might have the upper hand here.

“Your turn.”

Her chest heaved as she sucked in a breath. In just a few seconds he’d get a glimpse of that chest up close and personal. The thought was so pleasing he didn’t even mind that she’d instantly see the effect it had on him.

“C’mon. Fair’s fair.”

She licked her lips. “Okay.” She unbuttoned the neck of her blouse. Slowly, watching her hands, she slid the hem of her shirt from the waistband of her skirt.

Breathe, Joe, breathe
.

Their eyes met for a split second before she lifted the shirt up over her head, pulled her arms out of the sleeves, and tossed it to the floor.

Sweet Jesus
.

Full, heavy and creamy golden, her breasts shoved all other thoughts from his mind. Blushing nipples peeked out behind shiny black hair as she leaned forward and reached her arms back to unfasten the waist of her skirt. She slid the voluminous garment down the length of her legs, revealing them slowly. Long, lean, pale from a lifetime’s concealment, yet muscled and shapely. Joe squashed a primitive howl that threatened to rip from his throat.

As her skirt slid to the floor, only her underwear remained. Dark briefs that rose to her impossibly slim waist. She snuck a slender finger in the waistband, then glanced up at him shyly.

He nodded.

Her hair fell to cover her face as she lifted herself and slipped the final piece of clothing down past her rosy knees, her pink-soled feet.

Naked.

Joe’s body throbbed with anticipation. Of what? He couldn’t touch her. He knew she wouldn’t touch him.

Or would she?

She shifted awkwardly, tucking her legs under her, and Joe fought to avert his eyes from the mysterious triangle of black hair below her belly button. Struggled to keep his dignity.

She picked up the box she’d brought in from the living room and opened the lid again. Lifted out a black silk-wrapped parcel.

“The cards,” she murmured, glancing up.

A pinprick of anxiety pierced Joe’s fog of arousal.

Carefully, she lifted the corners of the black silk, peeling them back to reveal a deck of ordinary playing cards.

“We’ll do a very simple reading.” Her voice was low, calm. Two spots of color high on her cheeks the only sign this was not an ordinary day’s work for Susana.

“We’ll ask about only one subject.”

Joe swallowed, the muscles of his gut suddenly tight.

She raised her eyes, black and unreadable. “Love.”

CHAPTER 6

S
usana cut the cards and shuffled them gently, taking care not to disturb the energy in them. They’d been her grandmother’s favorite set. The memory of her grandmother suddenly clung around her, almost pushing the breath from her lungs. What on earth would Granna think about her sitting here naked with a strange man?

Her fingers trembled and she struggled not to drop the cards. This was all a big mistake. Joe had offered for them to keep their clothes on. Her demand had stripped them both bare. What kind of girl actually
wanted
to see a man’s naked body?

The kind of girl she’d always turned up her nose at. Who she’d felt sorry for, even as she felt sorry for herself for being different.

She blew out a soft breath, keeping her eyes low, away from the awesome spectacle of Joe’s naked body.

A glorious body, beautiful and masculine. Everything about it big—broad shoulders, powerful limbs thick with muscle, the magnificent eagle tattoo spreading its wings across his chest. The long white scar slashing across his hard, flat belly.

And his…

Better not to think about that. She drew in a surreptitious breath, trying to keep her cool.

Or what was left of it.

The cards. That’s why you’re here. Focus on the cards
.

Odd how being naked in front of this man didn’t make her feel ashamed. He sat there quietly, patiently—anxious, she could tell. Anxious because he believed in her powers. She knew whether someone sat ready to listen, or whether they itched to dismiss her as a fake.

She sneaked a glance up at Joe as she prepared to spread the cards. He forced a quick smile, trying to put her at ease. She could tell he was a kind man, or had been once. Like he said, neither of them knew who he’d become.

But that was beside the point.

Her business was the reading at hand. Love.

Her fingers tingled with anticipation and apprehension. She had something at stake here too. She wanted to know the future of Joe’s love life.

Because she wondered…
It’s not your place to speculate
. No good came of trying to predict your own destiny, any decent seer knew that.

She laid three cards face-up between them on the white bedspread, announcing as she did, “Past, present, future.”

Uh-oh
.

As her mind quickly calculated the meanings she was tempted to gather them up and make an excuse and start again. Sometimes stray vibrations produced a reading that didn’t accurately reflect the question at hand. It was perfectly acceptable to scratch a reading and start over.

She looked at Joe, who glanced up at her, eager, nervous. And she couldn’t lie to him.

“The first card is the queen of clubs.”

“I can see that.”

“It stands for a woman.”

“Aha.” He shifted and she could almost hear the tension crackling through his body. He expected her to talk about his past, about the woman who’d… Well, she had no idea what that woman had done to him.

But the cards spoke of a different woman.

“The card signifies fire and art. Power and passion.” She looked up at him.

“Not sure that describes my ex too well. Greed and deceit would be more accurate.” She could see him relaxing. Because he’d dismissed the reading out of hand. He no longer believed her.

And maybe that was for the best.

She paused, tore her eyes from his and placed her hand lightly over the card. The vibrations hummed in her fingertips. The power. “This is the card my grandmother used in readings to signify…” The word caught in her throat.

Power and passion, the force of her gift
.

“What?” Joe looked curious. No longer nervous now he didn’t take the process seriously. His eyes drifted to her breasts, and her nipples tightened.

How much of herself should she bare? “She used it to signify me.”

Joe’s eyes snapped back to her face. “You?”

She nodded. “Fire and art, the fire of the life force, and the art to read and interpret it.”

“But why would it show you in my past? We don’t have a past. Unless you count that one reading.” His forehead creased in perplexity.

“Perhaps it refers to that night. To the reading that set you on a course.”

“The wrong course.” His eyes narrowed and she could hear the edge in his voice. He hadn’t quite forgiven her.

“Again you’re jumping to conclusions.”

“Oh?” He cocked an eyebrow.

“Perhaps it was the right course.”

“Yeah, right. I guess I was supposed to get my heart ripped out of my chest and tossed in the trash.” He looked away into the darkened room, the candlelight flickering over his hard, handsome features.