Chase 'n' Ana (7 page)

“Absolutely.” She looked up at him with eyes that beckoned like a siren to a

doomed sailor.

Her eyes brought him a step closer to her. “Like you breaking down in Arizona and

me running over you? You think there’s some reason for that?”

“Yes.”

“Then why don’t you fill me in, Fancy?” His voice dropped to a low sexy growl that

sent a shiver racing through her.

“You can call me Ana.” She slid closer, so close that she could feel the wave of heat

coming off his body.

“Does that mean we’re friends now?” He moved in, placing one hand on her bare

hip to pull her against him.

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“No.” She traced one hand up from his chest to his neck then on up to push his hat

off his head and rake her fingers through his thick hair. “But we will be.”

With that she pulled his head down. Her eyes remained locked with his and for the

space of several heartbeats they remained frozen, eyes searching and breath mingling.

Then her lips touched his, soft and gentle, a butterfly’s wings brush of the skin.

“Careful, Fancy. Play with fire and you’re liable to get burned.” Chance’s hand

tightened on her hip, feeling the smooth soft skin and firm muscle beneath.

Ana heard the warning as clear as the need in his voice, and she agreed. Chance

was not a man to play with. As many women has he’d had in the past, and as sure as he

was that he would not be a victim to love, he was as vulnerable as she in many respects.

The smart thing to do would be to back down, not push it. But that would go against

her nature. She smiled and brushed her lips against his again, this time flicking her

tongue out to run it over his bottom lip. “I like it hot,” she whispered.

“Then you’re going to love this,” he murmured just before he seized her lips in a

kiss that had her vibrating like a plucked guitar string. Chase was not gentle or shy in

his approach. His tongue plundered her mouth, as hot and hard as the hands that

gripped her hips and pulled her more firmly against him, sandwiching his stiff cock

between them.

Ana gave in to the kiss, matching his passion, their tongues battling for dominance

as she undulated against him, her belly pressing against his cock in a sinuous fluid

grind that had his hands moving to cup her firm ass and pull her even tighter against

him.

When they finally came up for air, her eyes were a dark molten gold, her face

flushed. She wanted more, wanted him to press for more, but knew instinctively that

this was not their time.

“If you’ll excuse me, I need to change.” She backed away from him.

Chase reached out and grabbed her arm as she turned away. “I like what you have

on.”

His passion-induced compliment delighted her. She chuckled, a low throaty laugh

that had his hormones doing a fast two-step and something completely unfamiliar swell

in his chest.

“What was that about playing with fire?” she teased.

“You think you could burn me, Ana?” He drew in close, his maleness

overwhelming and compelling.

She smiled up at him coyly. “Believe me, Chase. When the time comes, you’ll need

to bring a fire hose.”

And then she turned and walked away, her enticing little ass swaying

provocatively down the hall.

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Chase groaned and reached down to adjust the bulge in his pants. A witch. That’s

what she was. A damn sexy, little beautiful seductress. If he didn’t have her soon, he

just might have to leave home.

With a muttered curse, Chase snatched up his hat off the floor and stomped to the

bathroom for a long, cold shower.

* * * * *

Chase looked down at the charred mass of meat on his plate then at Ana who sat

across the table from him. “What is it?”

“Meat?” she asked rather than answered.

“You sure?” Chase poked at it with the knife.

“Yes. What’s wrong?”

Chase stabbed down hard into the tough slab and raised the knife with the

boardlike charred meat skewered on its tip. “How long did you cook this?”

“Half an hour?”

“How hot?”

“Five hundred?”

He plopped the knife back down on his plate. “And you purposely cooked it like

that? Surely you don’t eat—” That’s when he noticed there wasn’t any meat on her

plate. Just a neatly cut-up potato, some green beans and a few carrot strips. “You don’t

eat meat?”

“Oh, no.” She shook her head with an expression of revulsion on her face.

“Oh, crap. You’re not one of those ‘But it used to be a living thing’ freaks, are you?”

“Well, it did used to be a living thing,” she pointed out. “But I don’t make a habit of

saying that to people who are carnivorous.”

“But you disapprove.”

“Well…” She really didn’t want to get into a discussion on her ideas about eating

meat and using animal products and all that. She wasn’t stupid. She knew that the

majority of people didn’t share her views and she was not the sort to challenge people

about their lifestyles or eating habits. She believed in the “live and let live” way. But

that did also include animals. “Let’s just say it isn’t right for me and let it go at that.”

“Fine,” he agreed. “But that being the case, we’re going to have to change the

rules.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean you don’t do the cooking.”

“Well, there’s nothing wrong with the vegetables,” she pointed out.

“A man can’t live on just vegetables,” he argued.

The way he said it struck her as funny and she laughed. “What?” he demanded.

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“Sorry. It’s just…well, it’s funny. I mean, technically, man can live just fine without

meat. Probably with a lot less health issues into the bargain.”

“Oh, no, here we go.” He leaned his chair back on two legs, prepared for the

sermon.

“Nope,” she disagreed. “Tell you what. Since I messed up your meat, then I’ll make

it up to you. You eat your veggies and after dinner I’ll give you a massage.”

Chase jerked so hard he nearly turned over his chair. “You’ll what?”

“Give you a massage.” She picked up a green bean with her fingers and bit off the

end of it. “I used to work in a massage place.”

“A massage parlor?” he blurted. Ana was an ex-hooker?

She laughed at his expression. “Not that kind. Get your mind out of your pants,

Chase. As a masseuse. You know, rub down, and work the kinks out?”

Chase let his chair settle back on all four legs, intrigued not only at the idea of Ana’s

hands on him, but that she did that as a living. “So how long have you been in that line

of work?”

“Oh, I don’t do it anymore,” she replied, turning her attention to her meal. “That

was way back.”

“What do you do now?” He picked up his fork and started eating.

Her hand stilled in motion to her mouth. “Well, I…I…actually, right now I’m in

between jobs.”

Chase knew sure as he lived and breathed that there was more and since she didn’t

want to tell it, he wanted to hear it even more. “Yeah, well, that’s a given. But what kind

of work do you normally do?”

“This and that.” She resumed eating. “I teach yoga and belly dancing and tai chi

and…” She looked up at him, gauging whether to just go ahead and blurt out the truth.

Chase’s eyes were glued to her. She saw curiosity dancing in their dark depths, and

something more. She decided she might as well take a chance. “And I read the cards

and make potions and cast spells.”

Chase choked and she jumped up. He waved her back down to her seat and gulped

down some tea. “Cast spells?” he croaked.

“Umm-hmmm,” she murmured, carefully slicing her potato into thin slivers.

“As in cauldrons and bat wings and…whatever the hell wicked witches use?”

Ana laughed at the absurdity of it. “No, nothing like that.”

“But you’re saying that you’re…that you’re a witch.”

“Yes.” She smiled. “Is that a problem?”

Chase stared at her in amazement. Either she was crazy as a bedbug, or was trying

to jerk his chain. “You can’t honestly believe that you’re a witch.”

“Why not?”

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Chase ‘n’ Ana

“Because there’s no such thing. I mean there are probably pseudo-wannabe-pretend

witches. But there’s no such thing as a real, magical powers, turn-you-into-a-toad

witch.”

Ana smiled. “Well, you’re right. I definitely have never turned anyone into a toad.”

“But you still think you’re a witch.”

“Yes.”

“Okay then. Do something.”

She looked up at him curiously. “What do you mean?”

“Do something—witchy.”

She put her fork and knife down and folded her hands in her lap. “The Craft isn’t a

game, Chase, or parlor tricks to entertain.”

“Well, excuse me for being ignorant about all that, but I say if you’re really a witch

then you should be able to prove it.”

Ana considered it for a long time. Exposing herself was not something that came

easy. It was the fact that he was a minechicudet, a Sardinian male witch, that had

originally attracted her to her husband, Giovanni. His powers were very weak, having

been corrupted over the years by an overindulgence in drugs and alcohol, but at least

he didn’t get freaked by the fact that she was a witch.

“Chase, it’s not something you do for entertainment. Powers are sacred and should

only be used when necessary, and for the right reason.”

“So what you’re saying is that you’re full of it and no more a witch than I am.” He

could not help goading her. “That you’re telling me this load of horseshit because you

think I’m some ignorant cowboy who will fall for it and—”

Ana’s eyes flashed and suddenly the door blew open. Chase jumped in his seat and

jerked around to look at the door banging against the wall. He looked back at Ana.

“You don’t expect me to believe that you did that.”

“I don’t expect anything from you, Chase Hawks.” Ana was annoyed and she knew

that was dangerous. Needing to put space between them she jumped up and ran out

the door, across the porch and down the steps. She was climbing the fence to the

pasture by the time he bounded off the porch after her.

Ana ran to the middle of the pasture and suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. How

magnificent it was there. The sun was beginning to set, streaking the sky with strokes of

gold and red, mixed with varying hues of blue. The mountains were tinged with red

like glowing tongues of fire had licked them into ignition.

She forgot her anger, forgot about Chase and all that had led her there and gave

herself up to the moment. Throwing her arms wide, she turned, her head tilted back

and her long hair blowing in the breeze, golden eyes taking in the beauty.

Chase stopped as Ana spread her arms as if to embrace the world and began a slow

pirouette, turning gracefully, her long skirt swirling out around her and her face

wearing an expression that seemed to him as if she were in a trance. He could not recall

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ever seeing anything quite so beautiful as her standing there with the mountains

reaching up behind her to touch the fire of the sky. He felt enchanted. There was no

other word to describe it. As if he was standing in the presence of something that

belonged in myth or legend.

Ana felt Chase watching her and stopped, turning to face him. Her golden eyes

seemed lit, as if by an inner fire. God how he wanted her at that moment. To slowly

peel away her clothes, touch her, taste her, feel himself buried in her wet core.

She felt it, too. Chase was aware he was attractive and wore it well, casual and

confident in his sex appeal. What he could not know was the raw sexual energy he

broadcast, so strong that it nearly took her breath away. He was a man that a woman

would never get enough of, and it made her nervous that she wanted him so badly.

How could she ever have one drink of him and be denied quenching the returning

thirst it would inspire?

She had to turn her mind from the thoughts or they would overwhelm her, cause

her to do something foolish. “It’s so beautiful here,” she gestured around them. “So

much energy. So many whispers from the past. As if there are people here with

us…whispering their tales of joy and sorrow, offering wisdom. It’s so strong…so vital

and primal. It makes me want to…” An impish smile took shape on her face. “Run like

the wind.” She ran over and poked him in the arm. “Tag, you’re it!”

With that she took off running across the pasture. Chase blinked, considered it for

half a second and took off after her, his long legs eating up the distance between them.

Ana did not see him closing in on her and when he grabbed her arm, she went

white as a ghost and froze. “Hey, you okay?” He tried to pull her toward him but she

would not budge.

Ana could not see the concern in his dark eyes, or the gentle way in which he

touched her. All she could see was Giovanni, reaching to hold her still so he could hit

her again, and again. She couldn’t take more of the pain. It was too much. He was going

to kill her.

But she could not fight back, couldn’t use her ability to harm. She felt herself

starting to slide away into a dark, cold place and that scared her more than anything.

She couldn’t let herself be sucked into that darkness where only pain existed. She