Bewitching You (13 page)

Stop it, Sofe
. She gulped and attempted to gain control.
Stop
.
It
. The only reason he was here was because he’d lost everything else. He hadn’t intended to come here. To him, Sofia Good was the last resort. A substitute. A replacement to buffer his hurt pride, his busted ego. The dreaded rebound girl.

Too bad. Because she refused to be anything but someone’s top choice.

To break his stare, she thrust the bottle of whiskey into his gut. “Here.”

He didn’t falter as he slowly took the bottle from her grasp, then finally poured himself another round. “Thanks.” His dimple showed. “You know, this stuff isn’t too bad.”

“Glad you approve.” She tried to avert her gaze but he was too close. And she just couldn’t bring herself to tell him to move away. Not yet. Not when he smelled like the man from her dreams.

She sniffed again, rubbing her nose to cover her actions. The faint hint of musk aftershave and the night air. Despite the grease on his shirt, he smelled clean and…manly. Strong and welcoming.

Damn. Too much like the dreams. Yet the man before her had yet to prove to be anything like
her
Gray.

He set the bottle on the table, then turned toward her again, not giving her enough space to breathe steadily. The look in his heavy-lidded eyes made her wonder if he might lean in and kiss her…or maybe do more than that. But instead of ravaging her, he simply swiveled and stood beside her, leaning against the butcher block.

He sighed softly and looked down at his glass, swirling the liquid around, thinking about something. Up close, Sofia was even more convinced the man was way too attractive for his own good. For her own good, actually. She wrapped her arms around her belly to keep from reaching out and touching him.

Although she knew exactly how she wanted to run her fingers over his jaw to his chin, up to his powerful lips. Into his hair, ruffling it a bit more to make him look less like an uptight businessman and more like her sexy, kind, happy-go-lucky fantasy man.

The two couldn’t be more opposite…which confused her on a number of levels.

“So,” he said, breaking the silence and startling her. He looked at her from the corner of his eye. “You said you dream of the future? What’s that about?”

Right. That. “Oh, well, yes. Sort of.” She wasn’t exactly prepared for that question. Having hidden that fact from most of the people who came into her life in the past for obvious reasons, she was used to avoiding the subject.

“Sort of?” He turned toward her with a look of interest. The hand that held his glass brushed against her thigh.

Focus, Sofe
.
Stay strong.
“Not sort of. I do dream of the future, but I can change it. Prevent certain things from happening.”

“Things like me?”

“Like murders, accidents, and horrible attacks on innocent people. And yes, I can prevent you from happening.” She dared meet his gaze. His coffee-brown eyes were soft. The dimple on his cheek deepened as he grinned with apparent amusement.

“Have I been so awful that you’ve grouped me with your nightmares?”

“They’re not nightmares. They’re real, and they’re going to happen if I don’t stop them.”

His grin faded to a frown as he brought the glass up to his lips and drank. The remoteness in his eyes returned.

“It’s all right if you don’t believe me. It doesn’t matter what you think of me, now or ever, since I’m going to do you a huge favor and stop those dreams for you. All we need to do is say good-bye right here, right now.”

He set the glass down behind her. “Maybe I should go if you’re done with me, then,” he said, but didn’t budge. His dark gaze searched hers, waiting.

“Maybe you should.” Sofia shot back at him, feeling proud of herself. If only for a moment. “Isn’t that why you’re here? To get rid of me once and for all?”

He chuckled uneasily and shook his head.

“Is something funny?”

“Funny. Ironic. Insane. All of the above.” In a quick move, he was in front of her again, leaning forward and bracing a hand on each side of her.

“What are…” She couldn’t finish the question. His face was so close to hers…his lips just a tongue-lick away. If she were a bolder woman, she’d do just that—stick her tongue out and outline the ridge of his sexy, fierce lips. Yep, a bolder woman might want to do that.

She swallowed. Time literally ticked by as the grandfather clock tick-tocked in the corner. The sound was usually soothing. Now it only emphasized the rapid beating of her heart.

“Do you want the truth, Sofia?” His eyes glistened in the lamplight as if he couldn’t hold his secret back for another second.

She squelched her curiosity as best she could, then jerked a shoulder up and resumed breathing. “Sure. Go for it.”

“Those dreams”—a fresh grin slowly curved his lips—“are all I have to look forward to. I don’t want them to stop.” He gave a short laugh. “And you know what?”

“You’ve lost your mind?”

“Possibly. Because I have no desire to leave here tonight.” He brought a hand up and ran his knuckles across her cheek. “I don’t want to leave here. Can I stay? I promise to behave myself.”

Her skin sizzled under his touch. Geez, was he going to kiss her? No, he couldn’t. Not tonight. Not ever. It just wasn’t going to happen. She’d already come to terms with it, and now he needed to. Right?

“No,” was all she managed to say.

“Please. I’ll sleep on the couch. I’ll keep my hands to myself.”

“I’m still angry with you. You treated me awful.”

“I know.” His fingers traced her jaw, her neck. “I was an asshole. I don’t deserve your kindness.”

“You blew it.” She shivered. Her head swirled.

“An unforgivable asshole. If you punched me in the face and told me to go to hell, I wouldn’t be surprised.” His voice lowered as he spoke, his gaze dropped and focused on her lips. “But you won’t. Because you
are
kind. Because you’ll take pity on me…and the bad day I’m having. My car’s broken down. I don’t have anywhere to go.” He met her eyes again. “Please, Sofia.”

The room did another complete spin, but she tried to blink it away.

“We should go to bed.” She blurted out the words and instantly felt the heat reach her cheeks. “Um…I meant
I
should go to bed.”

And get away from you before I do something stupid.

Sofia stretched her arms out in front of her, simultaneously pushing Gray away from her. A safe distance. That was what she needed. “I’m exhausted.”

“And a little tipsy,” he added.

“No, I’m fine. I’m super fine. But you…” She dropped to the floor and felt the room spin around a few more times. Maybe she wasn’t so fine.

She gripped the butcher block to keep steady. How was she going to get rid of this guy without feeling guilty for throwing him out into the darkness without a vehicle? Dang it. Why did she care? “You can sleep in the guest bedroom if you want.”

“That would be great. Thank you.” He stuffed his hands in his jeans pockets and smiled mischievously.

“But you’ll have to leave first thing in the morning, understood?”

“No problem.”

“Because I don’t think—”

He put his hand up to stop her. “I know. I blew it.”

~ * ~

Gray had to admit, Sofia’s backside was starting to become his favorite part of her body, with the way her ass filled out those shorts. She led him up the narrow, dark wooden stairway, with two lamps hanging from her fingertips.
Sweet Dreams
stretched out with each step.

“I think Nana has a fresh toothbrush stored in the medicine cabinet. And I’ll have to make sure there are fresh linens on the guest bed.”

An orange cat zipped past at warp speed, nearly tripping Sofia on the top step.

Gray didn’t have enough viable brain cells left in his head to react in time. His leg curved into hers and his pelvis pushed against her bottom before he could stop.

“Sorry,” he said, and took a step back. Just in time. One second more, and she’d have felt his erection hardening in his jeans.

“My fault. I shouldn’t have stopped short.” She continued down the hallway. “Sam scared the bejeezus out of me. I really hate coming up here when it’s dark. It’s creepy, the way the old wooden floors creak.”

Rapid thoughts of how he could comfort her ran through Gray’s mind. Holding her in his arms, kissing her lips, making her forget about anything but him inside of her.

Keep your head together, Gray
.

“It’s funny, but I think I had more courage spending the night here when I was a little girl. I guess I was naïve to what horrible things can happen in the world.” After a couple of steps, she spun around and pointed into one of the open door rooms. “This is the only bathroom. There are towels and whatnot in the small closet in there. Like I said, the toothbrush is in the medicine cabinet. And if you want to use the bathroom tonight for whatever reason, then take your lamp with you.”

“Running water?”

“Yes. Fortunately, that doesn’t give my Nana migraines.” She continued a couple steps to the next open door on the opposite side of the confining hallway. “This is my Nana’s room. I’ll sleep in here.”

Curious, Gray stuck his head in the room. The window was open, letting the moonlight in and the breeze whip the white curtains about. The room was a fair size, big enough for a large dresser and the queen-sized bed covered with a checkered quilt. The walls were bare and white, like the rest of the house. The smell of burning kerosene filled the air.

None of it seemed familiar. He hadn’t dreamed of this place. With Sofia. Actually, he hadn’t recognized the setting in the dreams at all that he could remember. He’d spent so much time trying to forget them. Erase them from his memory.

Not that he believed in any of them—that somehow they were visions of the future. Gray considered himself open-minded, but some things were a little too hard to believe.

Sofia cleared her throat from across the hallway as she pointed to the last door on the left. “This is where you’ll sleep. For tonight.”

Gray followed her inside, encouraged with where things could lead.
Just one kiss
. It blew his mind that he hadn’t had one dismal thought since he’d walked into her house. Not one recollection of all the pointless energy he’d put into his relationship with Rachel, or of how Hayes had betrayed him. No, his mind was captivated by the woman standing in front of him.

“Looks like the sheets are fresh.” She ran her hands across the top quilt. It was identical to the other one. In fact, the rooms were mostly indistinguishable, except this bed was wedged up against the window. Not that Gray gave a shit about the furniture arrangement, when Sofia was crawling across the mattress on her hands and knees with her rounded bottom emerging from those damn shorts.

“Getting comfy?” He hoped.

“No. Geez. This probably doesn’t look too good, does it?”

“Good doesn’t even begin to describe it.”

“The window’s closed,” she said, ignoring his flirtation. “I’m opening it so you won’t be stuffy.” She released the latch and began pushing up the window inch by inch.

Absentmindedly, Gray began getting ready for sleep, shrugging off his dress shirt and kicking off his loafers. It wasn’t until then that he noticed the black mark on his shirt. No way was he going to ruin
Nana’s
sheets with his filth. He slipped it over his head, ready to climb into bed and dream.

Hot, sensual dreams of Sofia. He’d get entirely undressed when she left the room. No point in wrinkling the only clothes he had to wear.

But it seemed Sofia was having trouble getting the window up to where she wanted it. She struggled, grunting and yanking.

“Wait.” Gray crawled across the bed, feeling like an ass for not offering to help sooner.

“What are you doing?” Perspiration dampened her sweet face as she eyed his shirtless chest.

Holding back a laugh, Gray knelt beside her and grasped the bottom of the windowpane. “Helping,” he said, and forced it up.