Pandora's Box (22 page)

Chapter Forty

One year, eight months later

Graham, Texas

“Amos beat you at pinball again?” Madison asked as Zen pulled the chair out across from her and sat. Petra and Amos were going at it now, and she knew Petra would give her son a run for the status of pinball champion.

Zen nodded. “As always, he showed no mercy.”

“Just as you show him no mercy in chess.”

He gave her a droll stare and glanced over her shoulder. “I don’t like to lose.”

She laughed. “Neither does Amos.”

Warm hands startled her as they pressed over her eyes. The stranger muttered against her ear, “This is my lucky day, a gorgeous woman sitting in my bar.”

Madison despised strangers touching her. She reached up, wrapped her fingers around the male wrist and twisted, bringing him crashing to his knees behind her with a loud oomph. Rolling out of her chair, she stood and faced her victim.

“Nix?” He knelt in front of her grimacing. Behind him stood a chuckling James, with smiles from Georgie, Gage, and Zoe. “What are you guys doing here?”

“Mads….” Nix groaned. “Could you please release me?”

Madison gawked at him, realizing she kept him pinned on his knees in front of her, her fingers digging into a pressure point. “Oh! Sorry, Nix.” She let him go. “Don’t sneak up on me,” she cautioned as he rose to his feet and enveloped her in a bear hug.

“Every time I see you, you make me thankful you’re on our side.” He rubbed her back as he embraced her. She thought he smelled her hair, and decided she must be wrong because sniffing her would be too weird.

“What are you guys doing here?” She hugged each Birmingham member—including Zoe, who was a Birmingham in her mind.

“A little birdie told us it was your birthday,” Nix said.

“Which birdie?” She sent quick glances at Zen and Amos—knowing Petra wouldn’t dream of calling them. Amos joined the fray, giving Nix a high-five and elbowing Gage. He suffered through a hug from Zoe, blushing at the attention. Zen remained seated, watching the byplay. Petra sidled up to Zen and pulled a seat out next to him.

“Zen told us,” Georgie said.

Surprised, she stared at the immortal. “I didn’t know you knew how to work a cell phone.”

“I don’t.” He shrugged. “Amos helped. I knew you needed some downtime. All you do is work.”

“We thought we’d surprise you,” Zoe added.

“Celebrate your…twentieth birthday?” James winked.

Madison laughed. “Thirty, James. And I’m proud of all thirty years.”

Her twenties hadn’t been great to her. She hoped the thirties would be better.

“Old woman,” Nix teased, pulling her against his side and wrapping an arm around her waist. “Not old enough to be my cougar though.”

Four years younger than her, maturity had come quickly to Nix with the hard knocks that Sherlocking brought.

“Just remember to respect your elders, Nix.” She poked him in the ribs.

With his usual flair for drama, he mouthed “Ow.”

“I get the first birthday dance,” James said.

“Deal!” She grabbed James’s hand and pulled him to the dance floor.

James turned out to be a smooth dancer, old school, just the way Micah always liked to dance. He spun her out and twirled her back into his body.

“Where’d you learn how to dance, honey?” James guided her on a wide path across the dance floor. They were the only ones dancing, and could take up the whole floor.

“Micah taught me. It’s the way he liked to dance.”

“Ah…the smarmy ex-husband of yours.”

“Smarmy?” She laughed. “James, I think he’s a little worse than smarmy.”

***

Nix watched Mads dance with Gage, a fluid, graceful dancer any way she went about it. Old fashioned with his uncle and raunchy with Gage. Raunchy enough—he wouldn’t be comfortable grinding extremities the way they were. Zoe seemed unfazed by their dirty dancing, Nix failed to embrace the emotion.

And she claimed not to like sex? What a conundrum, when she executed those sensual dance moves.

The demon bitch, Petra, knelt, leaned in against his ear. “Quit sexing her up with your eyes and just go for it, Birmingham. Madison needs a good fuck. Never met a woman as uptight as she is.”

Nix stiffened, but she walked off before he could comment. Gage and Mads exited the dance floor and made a beeline for the table. She fit comfortably in the common world and among the Sherlocks, exuding cultured charm to both facets of life. Nix worked best in the hunting community, often clumsy and unpolished among those they aided. Mads was very clearly out of his league. Joy shone on her face, making the two-day drive worth the trip to surprise her. She deserved more, someone better than him and the monster she’d already married.

“Happy birthday, Madison,” Gage said and kissed her temple.

“Thanks. You’re next.” She offered her hand to Nix.

He shook his head. “I don’t dance.”

She grabbed his hand and tugged. “Come on. I hear it’s a lot like making love.” The visual popped into his head, a naked dance with her would be his downfall if he stepped on the dance floor with her. “We all know you’ve had plenty of practice, which means you should be good at it.”

Zo snorted, and Nix shot her a warning glare.

“Nope, Mads, I wouldn’t be comfortable.”

“Ooo…good song,” she said as something slow came on, one he didn’t recognize. Her hips started a sexy roll to the languid beat. “It’s a slow dance.”

Even worse. He’d have to hold her without the privilege of fondling her.

“Don’t be such a girl, Nix,” Amos said with a leering grin.

Nix shot the boy a surprised glare. Whose side was he on?

“Hey!” Mads challenged Amos. “I’m a girl.”

“We have to watch her dance all the time at home.” Amos rolled his eyes.

“All the time,” Zen said.

“You can’t be any worse than she is,” the boy teased Nix.

“I take offense, Amos Wescott.” Mads sent Amos a mock glare and he grinned, clearly putting on for his mother. She turned back to Nix and implemented an adorable pout. “Pleeeease.” Her slow southern accent rendered him crazy with inappropriate fantasies. “You can’t tell me you drove all this way not to give the birthday girl her only birthday wish?”

Zo burst out laughing, and Gage knuckle-fived Mads.

“Witch,” Nix bitched as he failed to suppress a grin. Talk about layering the begging on thick.

Mads must have sensed his defeat, because she said, “Yes!” and moved in for the kill, yanking him out of his chair by his hand. Lacing her fingers with his, she led him to the center of the dance floor.

“Tell me what to do.” He glared at the customers glad to note none watched, except his family.

She faced him, tossed her hair over her shoulder. “You seriously don’t dance?”

“Not unless I’m shitfaced.”

“Nix, you’re such a wild child.” She flashed him a teasing grin. “Here.” She placed one of his hands on each hip, her palms remaining on his as if she thought he might move his away. The only time he’d ever thought about holding her hips, he’d fantasized about thrusting his cock deep inside her.

It would be a long, fucking night at the rate his libido amped up.

Without warning, her hands slid up his arms—feeling too much like a goddamn caress—and came to rest on the back of his neck. Her light touch scalded his desires to lucid awareness. Damn shifty libido couldn’t be trusted to behave itself. Executing a silent groan, he attempted to talk his dick back to sleep.

“Follow my lead.”

Nix might not know much about dancing, but he thought her comment a man’s line. “Isn’t this a little close?”

“For slow dancing, we’re a little too far apart.” Mads tugged on the short strands of his hair.

“Ow!”

“Big baby. Pay attention and cease your whining.” She rubbed away the sting where she’d pulled his hair. “Relax, Nix. I don’t bite.”

He wished she would. He’d be happy to point to the spot he wanted bitten.

Their bodies swayed to the music, his following her easy grace. Each subtle brush against her body was pure hell for him as his cock grew hard. Attempting to put a little distance between her and his idiot head below the belt, he stepped on her foot. Overcompensating to remove his weight from her, he set her off balance and would have sent them both tumbling to the floor if he hadn’t bumped into a table.

Madison clung to him, laughing.

Nix managed a contrite, “Sorry.”

“If you’d relax, you’d be okay.”

He glared over her shoulder at his family. Zoe grinned and Gage sent him a thumbs up.
Jackasses!
Who needed enemies with his family around?

“Mads, you said dancing was similar to sex and having you in my arms after the comment…awkward.”

Her gaze jackknifed to his, her eyes slightly rounding. “Okay, you made your point.” Quickly, she stepped out of his reach and shoved her hands in her back pockets.

He regretted the loss of her in his arms, but tried to shrug the feeling away. “Come on, let’s ditch the troublemakers and get a drink at the bar.”

Mads sent his family a glance. Zoe and Gage threw innocent expressions in their direction for Mads’s benefit. Saying nothing, she followed him and sat on one of the stools.

“Two beers.” Nix sat on the barstool next to Mads and motioned to the bartender with two fingers.

“So, what are you guys hunting?”

“I don’t want to talk business, Mads.”

“I’m not talking about your women and how you obviously suck at sex.” She winked.

“Witch,” Nix teased. “How’s it working out with your crystal genie?”

“He’s not my genie. I wish you wouldn’t call him that. He’s my friend, as valuable as all of you are to me.” She wrapped a lock of hair around a finger. “He’s taught me a lot, how to protect myself, weaknesses of various supernatural creatures. He’s a very useful paranormal encyclopedia. You wouldn’t believe the things the man has in his head.”

Nix grunted, uninterested in the things Zen harbored in his head.

Mads sipped her beer, watching him over the rim of the mug.

“Have you had any run-ins with Micah?”

Sitting her mug down, she asked, “Isn’t Micah considered business talk?”

“Yeah.” He grinned. “I guess so. Here.” He pulled a box out of his pant pocket.

“A present?” She took the wrapped box from him and ran her fingers over the wrinkled Happy Birthday paper. “You shouldn’t have, Nix.”

God, yes he should have, especially after witnessing the awed expression on her face at his simple gesture. He played it cool—or hoped he managed to play it cool—shrugged, and said, “Open it, Mads.”

She needed no further prodding, ripped the wrapping off, tossing the crumpled paper on the bar, and opened the box.

“Beautiful, Nix,” she said, running her finger over the shiny blade. She gripped the bone handle and slid the knife from its tissue paper nest. “A perfect fit for a woman’s grasp.”

His cock would be a better fit for her grasp. He swallowed hard, strangling his mischievous inner whore.

“I figured your crystal genie—” he winked “—had taught you how to handle a blade.” Fighting the succubus alone proved her skill.

“Thank you.” She leaned forward, kissed his cheek, and rubbed her thumb over his jaw. They were close enough he considered tilting his head slightly and kissing her properly. “You’re sweet.”

He chuckled low, amused by her perception of him, even if her words were as effective as cold water dashed in his crotch. Yeah, he rolled his eyes, call him regular ol’ Joe Schmo, boringly sweet. “I’ve been called many things. ‘Sweet’ has never been one of them.”

She grinned, an evil glint twinkling in her blue eyes as she sat straight, thrusting her breasts out. “Send them my way, and I’ll make sure they call you ‘sweet.’” The blade tumbled across her fingers, verifying she held more than enough skill to handle it.

Smiling, Nix nursed his beer as Mads set the dagger on the bar and spun it. A sad wistfulness disturbed the edges of her eyes and permeated her body language. It hadn’t been present the last time they saw each other. Something bothered her.

“How’ve you been?” He set his mug down, making sure to place it back in the wet ring on the napkin.

“Good.” She wouldn’t meet his gaze.

“But?”

Mads shook her head. “No buts, Nix.” She twisted on the barstool, facing him, their knees almost touching.

“You can’t bullshit a bullshitter, Mads.”

She whacked his thigh with the back of her hand, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Grabbing her beer, she took a couple of swallows. Nix watched the slight movement of her throat as she swallowed and resisted the urge to lean in to her and press kisses there. Maybe a few bites and licks, too.

“My answer would fall into off-limits conversation.” Beer in hand, she leaned closer and whispered with an impish grin, “Business talk.”

“Witch.”

“Your rules. I’m just following them.”

“You watched any good shows lately?”

“I couldn’t even tell you what’s on TV.”

“I hear there’s a kickass reality series about two brothers deep-sea diving for treasure off the Gulf Coast.”

Her eyebrows elevated. “Are they hot?”

“Who?”

“The brothers.” Groaning, he crossed his eyes at her, and she smiled. “If I watched it, I’d become irritated by the trivial aspects of it when people are dying in real life.” She shrugged. “Wouldn’t be worth it. Besides.” She tipped her beer to her lips before she finished her sentence. “I don’t think anyone is as hot and adorable as the real men in my life.”

“I’m telling Zen you think he’s adorable,” he said in a hushed whisper.

Strangling on a laugh, she warned, “Phoenix Birmingham, if you do, I will find you in bed on a cold and lonely night and hurt you while you sleep.”

He wished she would! In a sexual way, of course.

“Don’t forget, I know all the pressure points, and how to use them effectively.”

“Evil witch.”

“Don’t forget it.” Her taunting grin set his cock twitching and inappropriate fantasies tumbling through his head. What would those lovely lips look like wrapped around his dick? “I have an awesome CD in the car you might like.”