Jinxed (3 page)

“Take one guess how I like it.” As she poured liquid creamer in her cup, she smirked. She added an equal amount of the rich white cream to his cup and handed it to him.

Chuckling, he took a small sip. “Perfect.”

“You know, this has got to be some kind of cosmic thing.” She pulled her knees up under her on the chair. “It’s unreal how similar we are.”

“Well there are some important differences,” he pointed out, hiding a smile behind his coffee cup. “I don’t have three romance novels tucked underneath my thong panties.”

“You went through my suitcase!” The accusation in her voice should have made him feel guilty. Instead, he just laughed, arching that devil-black left eyebrow.

“Tell me you didn’t do the same.”

Since she couldn’t, Frannie wisely stayed silent and sipped her coffee. A panicky thought burst through her brain. Had she packed anything embarrassing? No. Her vibrator was still in her nightstand drawer and she hadn’t needed the acne cream so far this month, so she was covered. But just knowing his fingers had touched her underwear made her blush. Peering over the rim of her cup, she caught him studying her with intense eyes. The crackle of mutual attraction electrified the air.

Before she could think of a response, Hocus and Pocus wandered into the kitchen. Idly, Jinx reached down and stroked one silky cat as it twined through his feet. A love-starved Pocus pushed his broad head against Jinx’s calf. With a deep chuckle, he reached lower to pet the animal. A second sneaky black paw darted out from behind his chair. Suddenly, he jerked his arm up, hissing in surprise and pain.

“Hocus! Pocus! Out!” Frannie scolded, sending both cats scurrying into the living room at breakneck speed. Flirtation fled as mortification barreled into the room. Three long scratches just above Jinx’s right wrist oozed blood. He took a paper napkin and dabbed at it as she ran water on a clean dishcloth.

“I’m so sorry. Hocus doesn’t like men but he’s never drawn blood before.” Face burning, she handed him the cloth.

“It’s okay, it’s just a scratch, but it stings like hell.”

My luck he’ll get some weird cat fungus and sue me.
“Come in here. Let me wash it out and put something on it.”

Frannie led him to a small half bath off the hallway. She poured peroxide on the thin red lines and tried to ignore the way he seemed to take up all the space in the tiny room. There was barely enough room to turn around with him standing beside the sink, and she fumbled with the bottle lid. He was too close, too male, too delicious. The scent of pure masculine essence intoxicated her. She couldn’t think straight.

It’s not fair. No one should be capable of making a bathroom a sexy place.

But he did, just by being there. Gone was the easy friendly presence and harmless flirtations which had developed in the kitchen. Here in the tiled closet, he oozed sex appeal.
And I like the ooze, damn it!
He stepped even closer. Concentrating on drying the foaming bubbles from his arm, she tried to ignore the jerk in her heart. His quiet voice fanned the hair at her temple.

“So, no husband, but is there a boyfriend I need to worry about?”

“What?”
Why do I always turn into an idiot around this man?

“If I kiss you, is there a boyfriend somewhere who’s going to clean my clock?”

Frannie raised her head and stared directly into the deep pools of his eyes. Thick lashes framed his searing gaze, rekindling the smoldering fire he had sparked on the plane.
He’s a snake charmer
and I’m dancing to his tune
. Mesmerized, she couldn’t speak and simply shook her head. He took the damp cloth from her hands and tilted her chin fractionally upward with his knuckle. Her eyes closed as her mouth parted in anticipation. Since the encounter on the plane, she’d been dying to taste his kiss. Soft as a snowflake’s landing, his lips settled across hers.

Like met like and the electric surge shocked them both. In the same instant, their eyes flew open and locked. A battery charge, the sexual tension sparked with a blue-hot sizzle. Chemistry collided and exploded into immediate and frantic lust. The kiss rocketed from a timid first taste to frenzied longing.

Frannie moaned as the drum deep inside began pounding. Passion sang through her veins. He nipped her mouth and, without thought, she nipped back, sliding her tongue across his bottom lip. Jinx knew how to kiss—or at least how she liked to kiss—and gave as much as she took, took just what she could give. It was perfect—not too wet, not too dry and just enough oh-my-Gawd-do-that-again. With a half-muttered groan, Jinx pulled her to him, her arms already seeking his shoulders. Like water on satin, her fingers weaved through his hair.

Good Gawd, if this is heaven, take me now.
She met and challenged each thrust and parry of his tongue until they were both breathing harshly. He tasted of creamy coffee and rich cheesecake, two of her weaknesses. A strong suspicion grew that he could easily become a third weakness. She swayed against him, her skin aching to be closer.

Jinx hefted her up until her butt met the cold marble of the sink vanity. Caught between her widespread knees, he framed her face in large hot hands while he drank his fill from the well of her lips. The increased height perfectly positioned her dampening crotch against his straining zipper and he pulled her hips closer. Her feet met behind his legs as she arched to him. The rough fabric of his fly ground into her flimsily covered slick center. The tightening bud nestled there hardened and throbbed, and she let her head fall back, giving full access of her throat to his heated mouth. He found a spot just below her ear that turned her bones to jelly.

So maybe this flavor-of-the-month thing had benefits
.

Consumed with the need to feel his skin, Frannie tugged at his shirt collar and he raised her tee shirt hem. Both tops landed on the floor with a soft
thwap
. Heat engulfed them as passion arced higher. Flesh on flesh, the sparse hair on his chest pricking her nipples, she gasped into his mouth. Jinx seemed as hungry as she was. He cupped a small breast and lightly pinched the tip, swallowing her cry of pleasure. She arched her hips into his groin and felt through thin cotton how hard he was, how hard she’d made him in so short a time. Power surged through her. Clamping her thighs around his hips, she pressed herself harder against the hidden steel. A deep masculine moan sounded low. The rumble deep in his chest vibrated against her swelling breasts, thrilling her. He grabbed her hips once again, pulled her hard against him and rocked his hips forward, lips never leaving hers.

This is going to be good. It’s like he’s reading my mind. Let’s hear it for similar brain patterns! Wahoooo!

His maddening mouth slid down her jaw. With her head back against the mirror, she whimpered. Her neck beckoned for his tongue and he skimmed her throat as he tasted and caressed down to her swollen breasts. At last, his lips captured one aching peak. An internal spotlight shone on her, intensifying every zing of pleasure Jinx plucked from her sizzling flesh. Hot and teasing, his tongue provoked each bud to stinging awareness before drawing them into the warmth of his mouth. A soft hum buzzed the pebbled crests.

Every nerve ending in her body sat up and screamed his name. The soft brush of his hair in her hands was more noticeable than the bite of the faucet in her lower back. The feel of his hot skin against hers created a firestorm, baking her in its heat. Her core turned to molten lava, she pulled his head back to hers and kissed him.
Gawd, hurry!

“Where’s my shaving kit?” he asked between nips of her lips.

Why does he want to shave now? Oh, wait…shaving kit…condoms. Hallelujah!
“Upstairs on my bed.”

At her last word, he groaned into her mouth. Wanting him more than imaginable, Frannie was reluctant to leave the warmth of his embrace. The bed could wait one minute longer. With lusty patience, Jinx made no move to unseat her, but allowed her tongue and lips to trace a blazing trail down his neck to his shoulder, where she nipped him with sharp teeth. The untamed savagery brought a shiver which spiked her desire another notch.

He caught her lips once more before whispering, “Let’s go upstairs.” She nodded into his kiss. “I love you, Frannie.”

Like a bucket of cold water, his words ripped Frannie from her sexual haze and she shoved him away. He stepped back against the wall and her ass slid into the sink basin. The washcloth soaked her ass, cold seeping into her skin.

“What did you say?”

“I said I love you.” Wide devil-dark eyes gaped at her.

The stunned expression on his face might have made her laugh if she hadn’t gone from incredibly horny to incredibly pissed-off in two-point-two seconds. Struggling to pluck her rear end from the sink, she flailed her legs until her thighs, still feeling his body’s crush, caught on the edge and pulled her free. She hopped off the vanity, grabbed her shirt and threw his at him. It hit him squarely in the face as he followed her out of the small bathroom. Her hair poofed with the force of her cotton tee being snapped over her head.

“You have no idea how royally you just screwed up. Two minutes ago, you were pretty much guaranteed a piece of ass. Now you can get the hell out of my house and stay out!”

Frannie grabbed her coffee mug, pitched the cold milky liquid down the sink and poured herself another cup she really didn’t want. She refused to think about how her hands were shaking and sloshing the hot brew around. Damn him! She’d really wanted an orgasm.

“I mean it, Frannie. It just hit me.” Still holding his shirt, he reached to cup her arm. She fixed him with a glare she hoped was colder than a witch’s tit in February but he was still gawking at her in amazement. “When I saw you, something smacked me in the gut. I knew it was…damn, Frannie, this is real.”

Frannie slammed the cup down on the table with a loud crack. Only the fact it was her favorite extra-heavy ceramic mug prevented it from cracking like an egg.

“I don’t know whether to be insulted or amused. There’s no way in hell you have any real emotion for me except maybe lust. There’s no such thing as love at first sight. You were horny. Great, so was I. That should have been enough. But no, you thought the only way you’d see any action was by saying those oh-so-coveted words to the mousey little woman. Wrong move. You blew it. Now get out of my house.”

Face burning with shame, angrier at herself than him, she drew a hand across her mouth, wiping his passion away.
I never learn.
She had forgotten for one brief moment she didn’t belong in his circle, in his arms or in his life. Any man would drink from an available well but they never bought the property unless it was prime acreage.

“Think about it, Frannie,” he pleaded. “It’s like destiny is throwing us together, showing us how much alike we are, how special we can be together. I know what I feel. This is real.”

“
This
is nuts and so are you. Out!” She thundered toward him, a bundle of raw, aching fury. Grabbing his coat, she flung it at him as he walked backwards up her hallway. “Out! Out! Out!”

She wrenched the doorknob so hard it flew out of her hand and hit the wall behind her. Jinx pulled her against him for a firm, deep kiss.
Gawd, he knows how to kiss like a sailor knows how to tie knots.
She faltered for just one second and leaned into his mouth before pushing him away.

“I knew it!” In excitement, his brows arched to form perfect horizontal parentheses above his dancing eyes. “You feel it, too. I see it in your eyes.”

“That isn’t love. That’s contempt. Out! Before I call the police.”

He stroked her cheek with the back of his hand and bent toward her. Frozen in place, Frannie swallowed, her mouth longing for his once more.
I am so weak
. A fraction of an inch from her face, he whispered, “We both know if I just pick you up and carry you upstairs, the only calling will be you screaming my name when you come.”

Her jaw dropped and she stared at him in speechless shock. She flashed on all those affronted face slaps in black-and-white movies and her palm itched to make a rerun. If her vision was red tinged before, it erupted in crimson edges when he smirked at her.

“Who in the hell do you think you are with that arrogant, high-handed, sexually dominant crap? You know what? Never mind. I don’t care. Just leave, now!”

Jinx leaned on the doorframe and chuckled, which sent her volcanic ire skyrocketing. “Damn, you’re feisty. I’m going to marry you, know that?”

“And I’m going to commit you. Now, out of my house, fruit loop!”

With a confident smile like the cat that ate the canary, the magpie and the bluebird all in one bite, he took two steps to stand on the threshold before turning. “I’ll go. But I’ll see you tomorrow, Frannie. We’re meant to be. I’m going to prove it to you.”

Frannie slammed the door in his face, her lips twisted in an ugly sneer of rejection. Two seconds later, she re-opened the door and pitched his boots at him.
Missed, damn
. Bare chested in the frosty moonlight, he grinned at her like a lovesick fool. She banged the door closed, snapped off the porch light and threw the lock with a loud click. His laughter sounded through the leaded glass.

Seething with sexual frustration and irrational irritability, Frannie shoved the cheesecake and leftover pizza in the refrigerator, turned off the coffee pot and slapped the light switch to plunge the kitchen into darkness. She pounded up the stairs, making as much noise as possible just because she could.

The sight of Jinx’s forgotten suitcase on her bed made her temples throb. Collapsed facedown beside it, she groaned into her pillow. Muscles releasing her anger, she slumped into the mattress like a deflated balloon. Hocus jumped up beside her. She ruffled his fuzzy head and tried not to compare it to another head of silky black hair.

“He’s crazy, Hocus—certifiable, one-hundred-percent straitjacket club. There’s no way he loves me and I certainly don’t love him. But da-yum, he sure can kiss.”

Her front door had beveled frosted glass in an oval. Jinx stared, his mind whipping with a million thoughts, each one more thrilling than the next.
She’s the one.
His belly warmed with a laugh though his shoulders shivered. Inside, everything went dark and the sound of angry heels pounding the stairs rang out.
She has spunk to spare.
He dropped his jacket to the porch floor and pulled his shirt right side out, never taking his eyes from the flecked and pieced glass.
That’s my future wife in there. Holy shit, I found her
.