Chasing Power (Hidden Talents) (27 page)

“Look at you,” Al said, “What put the swing in your step?”

Sam cracked her knuckles, situating herself in between the two and adopting their pose: “Let’s just say the car’s no longer going to be a problem.”  Waving the part in the air, she grinned.

“Really?” Al crowed, “That’s great!”  He picked Samantha up by the waist, swinging her in a circle.  “That’s wonderful!  Amazing!”

“Uh, yes.”  Sam cleared her throat, “Put me down please.”

Al let her drop to the ground, but left his hands on her hips.  Harry tapped him on the shoulder, “She said you could let her go.”

“Oh.  Oh, right.”  Releasing her, Al stepped back, blushing.

“Hey, Al,” the redhead said, “You never told me what your favorite movie was.”

“Movie?”  Al said, “That’s a good question.  What’s your favorite movie, Sam?”

“Oh, please, Al,” Harry said, “she doesn’t want your tepid conversation.  She’s a woman of intellect.  Aren’t you, Samantha?”

Uh oh.  There was something very off here.  The redhead sensed it as well.  Her expression as she looked from Al to Harry to Sam was one of utter bafflement.  Her low-rise jeans and C cup had suddenly lost their power over the opposite sex, to this mouse-brown... creature?  How had that happened?

Join the club
, Samantha thought. 
I’m as confused as you are. 
She
didn’t remember the guys being this interested in her before.  Ever.  It was disconcerting.

So distracted was she that she hardly protested when Al took her by the elbow and lead her down an aisle, “Can I ask you something in private, Sam?”

“Certainly.”  Samantha wasn’t really paying attention.  It looked like a man who had come in with his toddler was following them through the store—but that couldn’t be possible, could it?

They were in the back of the store now, near the sodas and nacho machines.  Sam started to ask Al what he wanted, but before she could get the words out, she found herself locked in an embrace, Al leaning forward for a kiss.

“Hey!”  Sam put both her hands against Al’s chest and pushed.  “What do you think you’re doing?  You said you wanted to talk—”

“I do, I do!  I wanted to tell you, I think I have feelings for you Sam.  I can’t explain it, but I think you and I—we have this destiny.  Like, we conflict, but we complement each other, and so we’re like two opposing poles with sparks between us—”  Sam listened to Al with growing horror.  She didn’t know how or why, but forget a little off, Lane had thrown the whole town into love with her. 

Chapter
24

The flirtation thing, how could Lane have overdone it?  Hadn’t he only messed with the mechanic?  Was it possible he’d done something to
her
, not Tops?

It must be true, because there was that father, staring at them through the cereal boxes.  How creepy was that?

“How can you say that, Al?”

Al and Sam turned to Harry.  He stood next to the potato chips, a stricken look on his face.  “How can you say those things when you know how I feel?”

“How
you
feel?”  Sam was almost afraid to ask.

“About you,” Harry said, “Samantha, I can’t believe Al would go and try to steal you without talking with me first, because it’s clear that you and I were the ones who were meant to be together.”

“DUDE.”  Al took a step towards Harry, “You know that’s not true.”

“DUDE,” Harry said, trying to puff himself up to Al’s height, “I’m better for her, and you know it.”  Sam’s mouth hung open and she couldn’t seem to close it.  Horrific as the implications were, she couldn’t help but be captivated with how quickly this train wreck had careened out of control.  Were they going to start fighting?

A pair of arms came from behind to wrap around her waist, and hot, heavy breath rasped on the back of her neck.

“Nice try, guys,” Tops said, “But you know she’s going home with me.”

“Eeeew!  Where did you come from?”  Sam drove her elbow back and into Tops’ solar plexus.  He grunted, letting her go.  Breathing deeply, Sam took a few steps back, waiting to see what Harry’s and Al’s reactions would be.  But they seemed to be torn, captivated by Sam but thrown off by Tops’ aggression.  In this case, Sam decided, leaving is probably my best option.

Tops took a step forward, holding his arms out, tone wheedling, “Wanna go get dinner?”

Gross.  Dinner with the Neanderthal.  That was at the top of her list.  Sam smiled, conciliatory, and continued walking backwards.  “I’m busy right now,” she said, “How about I meet you, uh, around eight?”

Bypassing the dubious aid of Al and Harry, Sam slipped down the other side of the aisle, first walking quickly and then running towards the front of the store.  Tops, unfortunately, was only steps behind her, shouting something along the lines of, “Hey baby where you goin’?”

“Samantha?  What’s going on here?”  Lane stood at the counter, looking at her curiously.  Oh yes, Sam thought, just the idiot I’m looking for.  Placing herself strategically behind him, she pointed over at Tops and the other men: “You screwed up.  Fix it!”

 “Lane, she doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” Al said, “We were meant for each other, Samantha, you know that!”

“Sam, you know he wouldn’t treat you right, not like I would,” Harry said.

“No, baby, you want to come home with me,” Tops advanced on the two of them, pulling the wrench out of his pocket.

“OK.  I don’t know what’s going on here, but it’s going too far.”  Lane put his hand on Tops’ chest, stopping him with the gesture.  “You need to
go home
. 
Now
.”  Sam could almost see the power that Lane put behind those three words.  Tops blinked and shook his head.  His gray eyes latched on Sam, “Don’t tell me you’d pick this loser over me, sweetie.”  The words held an undercurrent of threat.

Sam started to move forward in protest, but Lane held her firmly in place, “It doesn’t matter if she picks this loser or not.  She hasn’t picked you.  Go home.”

“Listen, buddy.”  Tops drove his finger into Lane’s chest.  It suddenly occurred to Sam that Tops, while not seeming that prepossessing at first, was actually a rather large man.  A couple inches taller than Lane, even, and bulkier.  The kind of man who knew how to throw his weight around when he wanted to. 

If he hurts Lane
, a wayward thought popped into Sam’s head,
I’m going to kill him.
 

“No, you listen, buddy.”  Lane grabbed the finger, slowly bending it back towards Tops’ chest, “
Go home
.”  Lane released the finger and Tops took his hand back.  For a second, Sam thought the bigger man was going to punch Lane, but Lane remained firm, staring him down.  Tops broke first.  Giving them the bird, he turned and stormed out of the store.

Lane turned to Al, Harry, and the lurker.  “That goes for the rest of you, too,” he said, “We discussed this, remember?  Sam is off-limits.  Non-territory.  Comprende?”

“You mean
your
territory,” Al said, tilting his chin up in an attempt to stare Lane down.  “And you don’t want us poaching.  You’re afraid of the competition.”

“No,” Lane said with a chilly smile, “I’m afraid of what I might
do
to the competition.”

Al and Harry tried to stare him down, but like Tops, they broke first.  They left, following Tops out the store.  All Lane had to do was stare at the lurker father and he followed them sheepishly, holding his son by the hand.  But they didn’t get far.  In front of the store, a crowd of men had gathered.  Al and Harry joined them, staring through the glass front of the store with mournful puppy eyes.  The rest were men from the town, ranging from a lanky twelve year old to a man pushing his fifties.  Sam could even see Tops still hovering in the background.  They looked at her through the glass like she was the last lollipop in the candy store.

“Thanks, Lane,” Sam said, turning away from the store front, heading towards the back of the store, “But you have to fix this, right now.”

“OK,” Lane said, “But you’re not going to like it...”

Grabbing her arm, Lane pulled Sam back and kissed her, deeply.

When he finally came up for air, he grinned at the men standing outside of the store wolfishly.  “Mine,” he said.

Sam blinked at him.  She wanted to say something, but for once in her life was at a total and utter loss for words.  Not Lane, too?!

Then he looked down at her and winked. 

He’d just faked that?  He’d just faked that!  Bastard!  Sam wanted to kick him in the shin.

“Before you kick me,” Lane said, “Let me explain that that’s the only way I can get them to back off for good.  Call it a heavy dose of suggestion.  And alpha pheromones.”

“Alpha.  Like a dog.  Yes, that’s exactly what I would call it.  Especially after a sloppy kiss like that.” 

Lane shrugged and pointed towards the window.  Sure enough, some of the guys had backed off.  A few had even left.  Lane’s trick seemed to be working.  Still, they left out the back of the building, passing the redhead on their way out.  The girl watched Samantha go with a mixture of fear and admiration.

“Whatever she has,” she said, “I don’t think I want it.”

#

Taking her hand, Lane led Sam down alleys and deserted streets, ducking behind cars whenever they saw a man.  The route he pulled her was circuitous, but within a few minutes they were within sight of the Land Cruiser, hiding behind a discount shoe store.  Sam started for the car, but Lane tugged her wrist.  “One more thing, Sam.” 

Turning back to him, Sam found herself pressed gently against the wall.

This time the kiss was different.  Slow, gentle, testing.  She found herself responding, melting into Lane as desire warmed through her.  Sam knew she should stop, but she didn’t want to.

Sam had kissed other guys before, of course.  But it felt nothing like this.  For one thing, Lane seemed to actually care if she enjoyed it.  For another thing, she actually did enjoy it. 

Lane came up for air.  Panting slightly, he held her gaze.  “I happen to resent being called a sloppy kisser.”   

Sam couldn’t help but laugh, until she saw a teenage boy, about sixteen, standing at the end of the alley, watching them with a moonstruck look on his face.  Uh oh.

#

“Let’s get in the car,” Sam said.  Lane didn’t argue. 

By the time they’d crossed the parking lot and safely locked themselves in the SUV, Sam had acquired another small crowd of males.  They circled the car like lost souls. 

“What happened, anyways?  I thought we’d figured this whole power transfer thing out.”

“Maybe it’s the power of suggestion?  We’re all mammals at heart.  If a bunch of guys see that another guy wants something, they want it, too.”

“Really?  That doesn’t make any sense.”

“OK.”  Wrinkling his nose, Lane hesitated, embarrassed.  “All right.  I didn’t do anything to Tops.  I did it to you.  I made you feel sexy.  And you know how I said thoughts and actions follow feelings?  Well, so do pheromones.”

“Asshole!”  Sam said, “You told me you weren’t going to mess with me anymore!”
“I did ask you first!”

“I didn’t think you were making me into, into, some cat in heat.  I mean, gross, Lane!”

“It wasn’t supposed to be that severe.  I may have been a tad bit sloppy when I got the power boost.  I didn’t really think your power would increase the effect so, exponentially.”

“I thought you were the pro here.  You should have known better.”

“Sam, your talent’s an unknown!  Besides, in my defense, I was distracted.”

“By Tess.”  The precise way Sam cut the words betrayed her annoyance with the unseen woman.

“Jealous?”  Lane raised an eyebrow, “Why Samantha, be careful, I might think you’re growing to like me.”

“Think?   You kissed me and you still have all of your vital male organs intact.  That should tell you right there.”

Lane glanced at Sam and was glad to see the glint of amusement in her eyes.  She was a hard card to read, but he allowed himself to think he was getting a little better at it.  In fact, he was pretty sure that what he was reading was that she wanted him to kiss her again.

“Lane!”

“Hunh?”

“I asked when you thought it might wear off.  Or if maybe you could try to cool them off.”  Sam leaned forward, “All of this infatuation is really starting to creep me out.”

Right.  Of course.  So much for getting better at reading her.  He probably shouldn’t have kissed her the first time.  Or the second.  But, the first time he had to think of some way to get the other guys to back off and the second—

Oh, who the hell was he kidding?  He’d been waiting for an excuse to kiss Sam since he’d first locked eyes with her in the library.  That smile, that damn elusive smile, is what had dragged him into this in the first place.

“I’m not sure I’m ready to mess around with your powers again,” Lane said, “But I think the infatuation might be wearing off on its own.”

It was true.  The men who had found their way to the car were dispersing.  Now even the last one—the sixteen year old, who looked to be genuinely smitten with Samantha—had turned and wandered away, though he still turned to cast the occasional moony glance back their way.  Lane could sympathize.  It was hard to understand that draw Sam had, but even harder to deny it.  The worst part was, trying to bring her closer was the surest way to make her pull away.  Damn catch-22s.