Magical Tendencies (2 page)

"The lady said she had someone waiting on her. Here I am." He waved his hand at the thug like he was saying 'hello' to a little kid. "Leave now or suffer for it."

Mr. Slimy took a quick look at me, and then back at the stranger, and then back to me. He shook his head and headed out of the back parking area before anyone could say a thing, mumbling something under his breath that was impossible to hear.

Taking a deep breath, I began to shake from the lingering adrenaline in my system. I looked at the stranger in fear as I began to slide down to my knees. I had to stay up, I couldn't faint!
What a loser!

The stranger swept to my side and propped me up by wrapping his arm around my waist and leaning my weight against him. "You will be fine. You are just shaken. I fear that your adrenaline levels are high and your blood sugar levels are low, that is a bad combination." He looked down at me with concern.

I sighed as I looked into his eyes. His eyes were the most gorgeous eyes I had ever seen in my life. They were as blue-green as the ocean on a deep and glorious day. I loved the ocean more than anything and now those eyes searched me and saw something that he liked, or so it seemed.

He smiled down at me with what appeared to be… adoration. Even though that didn't make sense I was sure that was what I saw. My vision began to black out as I questioned my own interpretation.

2

When I opened my eyes I was sitting on a park bench, looking over a beautiful fountain with a mermaid lying languidly on a rock. She was playing with her hair and looking out at no one in particular. Hmmm, I wonder what she used for her hair. I tended to use Suave because it fit my budget perfectly.

When I began to straighten myself up I felt the arm wrapped around me move. My body jumped at the unexpected contact partially because I didn't know exactly where I was but also because I just remembered being attacked by a sleazeball in a parking lot. I was still in fight-or-flight mode.

Hearing a deep chuckle, I turned to the sound of the noise as my head slowly angled up from the broad chest, dimpled chin, strong jawline, perfect nose, glorious cheekbones and then to those amazing blue-green eyes. Who in the world deserved to have such glorious eyes? I could swear that I heard the 'Hallelujah Chorus' in the back of my head when I saw those eyes.

"Umm," I straightened myself up to my full height and pulled away from him a little as I heard him clear his throat.

"Uh, yes, I apologize. You fainted and I couldn't leave you alone in the parking lot in the cold. I wanted to make sure that you were okay." He cocked his head over to the side as he lifted his arm from around me to lean over against his knees. Clapping his hands together lightly, he looked like he was searching for something to say as he scanned the water fountain.

"Oh, I'm sorry." I shook my head. I was such a silly woman," Thank you so much for helping me with that bum. I didn't know what I was going to do. He just showed up out of nowhere."
Huh, so did this guy. Where did he come from?

"Yes, I can imagine." He continued to look at the fountain intensely.

I noticed that there was a slight accent to my protector's voice. Something exotic. I filed that back in my mind for later. Now was not the time to give the third-degree.

"By the way, my name is Celeste Woods. Thank you very much for your help." I smiled at him, possibly a little too timidly. Sometimes I feel like a timid little girl.

"Celeste," he paused on my name, closing his eyes as if pulling on a memory. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes to look at me again. His eyes were distinctly lighter when he looked at me this time. I shrugged it off as being a trick of the moonlight.
Was the moon even out still?

"Yes, Celeste Woods. Thank you again for your help. You were my knight in shining armor it seems." I chided myself about how silly that sounded. So very silly.

He tilted his head a bit as he thought about it," Yes, I like that. Your knight in shining armor. And that would make you my lady." He smiled down at me, making my stomach churn and burn like I needed some serious antacid. Every part of me wanted to just grab him and plant a wet kiss on his manly lips. He was absolutely yummy!

"My name is Solomon, Solomon Ryker. I am very glad to make your acquaintance." He offered his hand to me as I nodded and took it awkwardly.

As our hands touched, though, there was a sudden feel of calm and wonder spreading from my core to every extremity of my body. My fingertips began to tingle and my head began to spin.

Solomon released his grip on my hand and replaced his arm around my shoulder, "No, no, no, we will not have any fainting again." There was a brief chuckle as I felt myself being lifted to a standing position, "You need food and you need it now."

"What are we going to eat?" I asked through clenched teeth. My body was not happy about leaving the warm cocoon next to Solomon.

"Pie."

3

Before I knew it we were both sitting in a booth at the very diner that I had been attacked behind. It made sense because that was where my truck was.

With a piece of pecan pie and a big scoop of vanilla ice cream on it, I felt two hundred times better. Taking a sip of my creamed coffee, I shoveled a piece of
pecan love
into my mouth and closed my eyes with a moan.

"Oh great
goodness
this is delicious!" I moaned as I allowed my shoulders to go limp in mock ecstasy. I absolutely LOVE pie! Really, it was bordering on orgasmic. I sighed because my life was just that simple—pies were my source of love.
How depressing.

Solomon cleared his throat as if the whole exhibition had bothered him in some way. "Yes, I see, you enjoy your pie very much." He looked down into his lap and seemed to be fidgeting a little.

I nodded and took another sip of my coffee as I looked him over. He was sharply dressed in a black pinstripe suit and red power tie. His hair, clothing, skin, everything was just perfect. So why did I get the feeling that something was wrong? It nagged at me like a little voice trying to scream the winning numbers for the lottery.
What is up with this guy?

"So what do you do?" I asked as I leaned back with another piece of pie on my spoon. I smiled as I put it in my mouth, unable to keep my eyes from rolling back in my head again. A tiny moan escaped my lips before I gained full control.

"Uhhhh… "he was distracted by my show. I was actually enjoying his distraction until he snapped himself out of it, "Yes, I'm actually an angel investor for worthwhile organizations. I have inherited a sizable fortune and I spend my time finding worthwhile organizations and places in which to invest support." He had a faraway look in his eyes as he spoke.
Wonder what that is about.

"Wow!" I smiled at him. "That is so noble of you." I smiled widely at him. Non-profit organizations was a weakness of mine. I enjoyed people that liked to make a difference and didn't just scoff at things that needed to be done. Too much work meant too little support. Blah!

"Yes," he looked away quickly out the window. It looked like he was definitely trying not to make eye contact.

"So what organizations have you invested in?" I leaned forward.

"Water for Africa, Orphanages in Ecuador, Educational endeavors in third world countries." He waved his hand in a couple of circles as if to infer the list went on and on.

"What were you doing here, at this diner?" I looked around to accentuate my point.

"Waiting for you, of course. I told the thug in the parking lot as much." He tilted his head and motioned his fingers up like he was tilting a hat to a lady. He then smiled broadly, showing all of his beautifully white teeth. Geesh his teeth were straight… and perfectly white, and my befuddled mind was just so descriptive.

"Oh, right." I laughed as I looked down at the pie, scooping another amazing bite up. "So why are you still here? I mean, not to be rude, but you were obviously not here for me to begin with." I popped the pie in my mouth. More ecstasy. Who needs men when there was pie, right?

"Of course I was waiting for you." Solomon spoke matter-of-factly, "I've been waiting for you all my life."

"Guh!" I was choking on my pie.
What did he just say?
WOW he was smooth. "Is that a line you use on the women in your life?" I shook my head as I tried to remove the vision of him saying this to a gorgeous blond heiress. Yeah, it just seemed right.

"No, of course not. I have much better lines for the woman in my life." He said in an offended tone as he crossed his arms across his broad chest.

I suppressed the desire to reach across the table to feel those biceps of his since they were just crying to be tweaked. They were straining against the quality fabric of his suit jacket. Was it silk? Gosh, I wanted to touch him to find out.

"
Woman
in your life?" My interest was piqued, "So you don't make the rounds? You know, playboy of the year and all?" I couldn't help myself from imagining him on a yacht with a crew-load of gorgeous women
helping
him spend his inheritance.

"Yes, there is only one woman in the world for me." He looked directly back to me as if he had been talking about me the whole time. At least that was what my mind wanted to believe. There were instantly butterflies in my stomach bashing against the lining, trying to escape through my navel.

"Umm, huh, that is just so romantic." I sighed as I looked down at my pie, the only true love in my life. How depressing. I looked back up at him to find him smiling warmly at me with those gorgeous blue-green eyes. The ocean within them seemed to swell and I felt a warmth grow within me. "Your
lady
must be very happy to have you in her life. Are you married?"

"No," he breathed out softly, as if it were a secret, "But I will not take no for an answer where she is concerned." He leaned back in the booth, propping both of his upper arms and elbows on the back of the booth. His chest spread out far and wide when he did that.

Hmmm, that was one lucky woman.
Just then I glanced up enough to know he had caught me eyeing his chest. The beginning of a blush warmed my cheeks—I hate getting caught peeking.

"Does she know how you feel about her?" I was having a
Breakfast At Tiffany's
moment and I enjoyed talking about love. Hey, if you can't take the trip yourself you may as well live vicariously through other people.

"I suspect not." He looked outside the window again as if he was waiting for someone to appear, "She is above me and she is out of my league, as some may say."

"Whoah, buddy, I don't think you see yourself clearly," I shook my head in absolute disbelief. This rich, considerate, strong, generous, gorgeous, amazing man just said that some woman, whoever she may be, was out of his league. "What position could this woman possibly hold that would be out of your league?" I was flabbergasted.

"She's the queen."

My chin dropped open so quickly that I heard a distinctive pop sound. I shook my head and lowered my eyes. "You have a crush on the QUEEN of England?!" I knew I placed the slight hint of his accent. "You must really either be very dedicated to the crown or into the cougars more than anyone else I know. She's married you know. Well, whatever floats your boat, buddy." I began to laugh at how incredibly insane it seemed.

"The Queen of England?" His eyebrows knitted in the middle as if I was playing a huge joke on him, "What are you talking about, Celeste?"

Immediately my instincts kicked in and my back went straight as a board. How did he know my name? A sense of dread washed over me.
Am I in danger? What have I done?
My mind quickly caught up with the situation. It was safe.
Oh yeah, I told him my name
. Geesh I was cracking up.

I shifted in my seat enough to make my leather jacket creek loudly. "Well then what queen are you talking about? I'm not very good with geography, or politics, or math for that matter."

He shook his head as he smirked at me, "That is probably going to change." Clearing his throat he lowered his elbows to the table and steepled his fingers to tap against his mouth.

"The country is so far away that you wouldn't recognize it. My queen is humble, beautiful, caring, generous, and just." He looked at me longingly as he said, "She is the most breathtaking woman in the world and she is who I aspire to be deserving of." His hands began to reflect the light from the moon, an almost shimmering white glow.

It turned out that I had been holding my breath so I released it with a soft phhhhhhh. "You speak so eloquently about her. Oh my gosh, I think I just felt the room get hotter." I fanned my hand in front of my face—an old habit of mine that made people smile.

Solomon's shoulders shook with laughter. His threw his head back as his eyes closed with a loud chuckle. The sound of his laughter was so sexy that I was concerned about being rude.

"Is she married?"

Solomon instantly stopped laughing and his eyes popped open and zeroed in on me. "She is married to her job." He continued to stare at me.

Hmmm, that did not answer the question
. "So… is there a king?" I really was beginning to get interested.

"No, there are no kings when it comes to our kingdom. There is only the queen and her court."

"So you could go after her if you wanted? Do you have to go through anything special to be able to court her?" I was really beginning to get interested here—it sounded like something out of a romance novel.
Did I really just say 'court her'?

Solomon's eyes seemed to grow a shade darker as he considered my queries, "Yes, I am able to court her… now that I have made the final journey" I was becoming uncomfortable underneath his scrutiny.

"What journey?"

"A very long and arduous one. One with many challenges, pitfalls, dangers and heartaches." His voice grew stronger with each descriptive word. He sat up a little straighter and his eyes became more intense as he spoke.

"Come on, Solomon, this is the 21st Century. Beyond the thug on the corner and the problem of global warming, there really aren't as many obstacles as you're making out." I leaned forward in the booth and placed my elbows on the table, leaning my chin into my hands. Raising my eyebrows I quipped, "It sounds to me like you have read a few too many adventure novels."