Making Magic (41 page)

“I suppose you gave it to her?”

“You suppose?”

“Okay… I take it you
didn’t
give it to her.”

He shook his head.

She pulled the flute out and laid it across her palms, holding it out to him, looking a bit embarrassed.

He took it and examined it. She had kept it up beautifully, removing and replacing the block and polishing it. She’d even replaced the straps with brand-new leather ones strung with silver beads and tiny feathers. It was clear that she had used it and loved it for a long time.

“The decorations on the straps are great. You’ve taken good care of it.” He laid the flute on his palms and handed it back to her. “I had planned to give it to you once I carved a better fetish.”

She ran her thumb down the back of the fetish mountain lion, making Jake shiver.

“I’ll keep
this
panther, thank you. His name is Tlvdatsi.”

Jake nodded. “Cherokee for panther. Good name.”

Thea looked pensive. “Becca gave it to me right before the festival. We were planning a couple of funny duets for my going-away party…that night.”

“Yeah, hers is…” He stopped, unable to say where it was.

“I know. It’s with her fiddle. With her.” Thea touched his hand. “Where it belongs.”

For a long moment the only sound in the glade was birdsong. Jake cleared his throat. “You know…Becca would be real happy to see the change in Mom. Now that she knows what she’s been seeing all this time is real—knows she isn’t going crazy. The difference is amazing.”

“I’m glad.”

“She’ll need counseling, I think, to deal with everything she’s done—all the guilt,” he said.

Thea glanced over at Bailey who had her nose up in the air sniffing around Thea’s tote. “You know, I could probably relieve her of the guilt, make her forget, but…in the long run, I don’t think that’s a good approach. You can’t heal scars by forgetting about the wound. Being able to talk about it with people who understand what she can see will help tremendously. And Mel can certainly smooth out the rough edges.”

“Yeah. She can’t exactly go to a regular therapist.” He smiled. “I think if the…the
foundation
keeps her busy that will be the best thing for her.”

Her smile was brilliant, and genuine. “Good.”

“And I want—” he began.

“I need—” she said at the same time.

“Ladies first,” he said.

Thea sighed. “I need to apologize for the way I spoke to you last night. I shouldn’t have acted that way. It was completely inappropriate.”

Jake shrugged. “I did feel like all my issues were hanging out for the world to see, but those aren’t your problem.”

Thea ran her fingers up his arm. A gentle touch, as if she was soothing some skittish animal. “Not true. They
are
my problem.”

Jake was so focused on what her fingers were doing that he had trouble forming words for a moment. “Wh…what do you mean?”

“I’m learning to appreciate this gift of mine, even though I don’t think I will ever be comfortable using it.” she said. “But if it can safeguard my loved ones, my family, my friends and perhaps—who knows—this planet of ours, I’ll live with it.”

“Yeah. That poem was pretty impressive.”

“Yes, and daunting.” Thea looked up at him with an intensity that almost made him take a step back. “And your gift is remarkable, and, if I may say, rather scary as well. Picking people up and throwing them around like that?”

He laughed and rotated his shoulder, remembering the pain he’d been in. “Well, it’s not without its drawbacks. Still takes a toll on my body. My gift can be dangerous and unpredictable too.”

Her expression was solemn. “You saved Lily. You saved all of us.” She threw her arms around his neck to kiss him. She tasted of honey and coffee and a spicy heat that was tempting as hell.

He ran his hands up her back, pulling her closer. “We…We saved Lily.” Damn, he loved the way she fit into his arms. Slender, but curved in all the right places. But what he really loved was what lay between her ears—that amazing mind of hers.

And it didn’t hurt that she wasn’t wearing a bra.

His brain stopped working. At least the one between
his
ears stopped working. The other one went into overdrive.

“Whoa. Wait a minute.” He gently pushed her back a bit. “I didn’t get my say. And you didn’t really finish yours.”

She looked mussed and her expression was a bit dazed. He swallowed with difficulty.

“Uh…”

Her mouth quirked a bit when he hesitated. “Mmm hmm?”

Jake shook his head. “You didn’t use your gift on me, but I’m really in a bad way here. I can’t remember my name right now.”

Instead of smiling, Thea was solemn. “And I promise I will never use my gift—”

He put his fingers over her mouth. “No. You won’t promise anything. You don’t need to.”

She frowned and nipped at his finger. Oddly, it was rather stimulating.

He pulled his hand away and studied his feet. He couldn’t look at her and think straight. “I really shouldn’t have walked out like that. Not… You needed their trust and I went and set a bad example for Mom, for the Croates.”

“I know your hang-ups pretty well, Jacob Moser. If I hadn’t been so tired, I would’ve—”

“What hang-ups? I don’t have any hang-ups,” he protested.

“Really?” She smiled. “This from the guy who won’t get on a roller coaster because ‘it needs a steering wheel’?” She made quotes with her fingers.

Shit. She remembered that. “Hell. I was a kid—”

“Yes, and I’ll bet you still haven’t gotten on a plane, have you?”

Jake gazed at his shoes.

She leaned over, trying to get into his field of vision. “You haven’t, have you?” she sing-songed.

“Haven’t had a reason to.”

She smirked. “Sure.”

“Dammit, Thea. What does any of that have to do with anything?”

“You—” she poked her finger into his chest, “—are a control freak. A control freak extraordinaire.”

She did have him pegged. “Well… So?”

The smirk was gone. “My gift is probably your worst nightmare.” She leaned over and put the flute on top of her case. “And I told Nick this morning that we will
never
do that kind of group thing with my gift again, unless it is a real imminent danger situation. I’m not one of those
Men In Black
flashing memory eraser doohickeys. I think we were all—”

“Shut up for a second,” he interrupted. Then he considered her words. “‘
We.
’
You’re talking like… So you’re going to stay then? On the mountain? Here?”

She narrowed her eyes and frowned. “You told me to shut up,” she said, sounding annoyed.

“Yeah. I did. But, you were worried about combining your temper with your power—”

“I still am. But we all have our hang-ups.” She smiled again. “I realized something this morning. I was
furious
with you last night. And I was tired. All my defenses were down.”

He nodded.

“But I didn’t use the voice to make you stay.”

She could have easily told him to sit down and shut up. He grinned at her. “No. You didn’t.”

“I think a lot of the problems I had with my temper go back to my father. I didn’t get a chance to learn how to control it because he had me on medication.”

“He had you on
what
?” Jake didn’t remember him very well, but he was rapidly approaching the top of Jake’s shit list—right under Greg.

“It’s complicated. Pops would take me off in the summer and my father would put me back on during school. The whole on and off routine probably made things worse until I figured out how to fake it.”

Jake remembered some amazing outbursts of Thea’s temper. They had always been right after Thea showed up on the mountain for the summer. “I’ll bet.”

“To be honest, I really didn’t lose my temper at your mom that night. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I was more embarrassed and frightened than angry. When I told her to leave, I was completely in control. I yelled at her because of all the noise. I think if I had really lost my temper, maybe—”

“No more maybes. No more living in the past, Matchstick.” Jake said.

She nodded. “Agreed. So, I did my apology. What else were
you
going to say?”

“You kind of took the wind out of my sails. I
was
going to say that I think I’m in love with you and if you still felt like you had to leave the mountain, I would go with you, temper and all,” he said.

Thea crossed her arms. “But now you’re
not
going to say it?”

“Well, you’re not… I mean I would, but…” He frowned. “Shit, Matchstick. I’m screwing this up.”

He saw her press her lips together. Those gray eyes were glittering and she looked as if she was either going to laugh or slap him. Or both.

“I’ll say it again. I think I’m in love with you.”

“That’s it?”

It was his turn to frown. Had he said it wrong? “Ye-ah.” He drew it out into two distinct syllables.

Thea uncrossed her arms and put her hands on her hips. She leaned toward him. “You
think
? You’re not sure?”

“Dammit, Thea!” Jake grasped her arms. “I love you. I do. I really love you.”

Watching Jake squirm was so much fun. Thea tried to keep the furious expression on her face, but it was hard. “It’s about time. Because I’ve loved you since I was six.” That was when she let the grin show. “I was getting a little tired of waiting
.
”

She couldn’t hide her delight at the change in his expression.

“You.” He picked her up and twirled her around. She was still laughing when he took her face in his hands.

But when his lips brushed hers, she stopped laughing.

“You taste like a warm summer morning on the mountain.” He kissed her again, as if he was going to make up for all the ones he’d missed. Possessive and intense, the kiss made her shudder.

Before she could get her balance, he slid his hands around her and started to dance with her, tugging her off the blanket.

“Whoa! Wait a minute!” She pulled her feet up and hung onto his shoulders. “I’ve been a city girl for too long. These toes are way too tender.”

“Put your feet on top of mine.” He held her by the waist.

She looked down and placed her toes gingerly on top of his and he began to dance her around their little glade, moving to some melody she couldn’t hear as he slanted his lips over hers again.

Thea closed her eyes and slid her arms around his neck. She knew the mountain was providing the rhythm, but all she could hear was her heart beating wildly out of sync with their gentle dance. All she could feel was his mouth on hers. He pressed his cheek to hers and groaned her name, then his lips moved to her neck and nuzzled beneath her ear.

“My Thea.” His words ruffled her hair as they twirled slowly around the glade. She thought she might melt.

Long ago, she and Becca had sat on the edge of the dance floor singing at Jake as he danced with some girl who kept stepping on his feet. “
Jake, Jake, Earthquake. Jake, Jake, Beefcake. Jake, Jake, Cupcake. Jake, Jake, Hotcake.
” All the while, Thea had secretly hoped he would sweep her into his arms and waltz her away. Now she was the one standing on his feet as they danced.

“Dreams do come true,” she whispered into his hair.

“Yes, they do. This is one of mine.”

She buried her face into his neck and inhaled. He was the one who smelled like the mountain—like raw wood and rich loam. His skin was hot beneath her lips as she kissed him there. She lifted her head to kiss beneath his ear and felt his smooth dance stutter a bit.

Thea opened her eyes, about to joke about his dancing skill, then she saw the flowers.

“Oh!” she exclaimed.

Lacy flower heads floated around them, twirling in the breeze. The paper towel flew above them like some magic carpet carrying its flowery burden. Bailey was dashing around trying to catch the flowers as they dropped one by one off the towel. Now and again, one would fly back up into the air, defying gravity and tormenting Bailey.

“It’s actually harder than it looks.” Jake gave a hoarse chuckle. “A bit…like juggling.”

“Oh, Jake. I can’t believe…” She looked around. “This is wonderful.”

“Bailey’s enjoying it,” he said.

Thea leaned in to capture his mouth and kiss him as fiercely as he had kissed her. The paper towel spun to the ground, throwing the remaining flower heads in all directions.

“You distracted me,” Jake said, smiling.