Sex, Lies and Mistletoe (12 page)

“Their history can be traced back centuries,” she pointed out. “My great-great-great-grandmother was a wisewoman who created aphrodisiacs for royalty. Those were the kind of people who beheaded fakers, you know.”

Caleb remembered Pandora’s mother. Flowing dresses, fuzzy headpieces and huge jewelry glinting through mounds of long red hair. Her granny was a little fuzzier. He wasn’t sure what the woman had looked like. His only impression was granola.

But Pandora looked… Well, normal. Not that that was saying much coming from a guy who spent most of his life around women who thought a G-string was ample coverage. Her hair fell in a smooth curtain, warm and sedate. She wore makeup, but nothing like the showgirl look he remembered her mother sporting. She wore a crystal on a chain around her neck, but her jeans and thick purple sweater seemed ordinary enough.

He looked around the café, noting the display of candles, pretty statues and chunks of rocks on the bistro tables. Circling the perimeter were bookcases, decks of cards and yes, a few crystal orbs and glittering things. He didn’t know what most of the stuff was, but it didn’t look that weird to him.

It looked pretty. Inviting, interesting and unthreatening. Word on the street, and his own impressions, said that was Pandora’s doing. From what he’d heard, the store had been sinking to its death before she’d come along. Which just proved that she was a smart businesswoman. Not that she was weird.

And yet, she believed in aphrodisiacs? Really?

“This is all an act, though, isn’t it?” he asked with a tilt of his head to indicate the most obvious New Agey thing he saw, a statue of a half-naked woman riding on the back of a flying dragon. “You’re not telling me you really buy into all that…” Crap? “…stuff? Psychics and aphrodisiacs and woo-woo? Isn’t it just a part of the show? Something to help sell a few candles and rocks?”

“Woo-woo?” she echoed, sounding as if the magical effects of his kiss had pretty well worn off. “Did you know the art of divination dates back to Greeks and Romans? Tarot cards to the Renaissance? Cleopatra used aphrodisiacs. This isn’t a New Agey sales scam to buy into or not. And while these methodologies might have cultural stigmas, it’s wrong to dismiss them as being part of a show.”

Caleb mentally grimaced. He was usually better at gauging his quarry before he opened his mouth. But Pandora had a way of short-circuiting his brain.

“I’m not saying it’s all bullshit. But you have to admit there’re a lot of scams associated with this type of thing. And you don’t come across as naive,” he prevaricated. “I mean, your granny danced naked around the old oak at the base of the mountain, and your mom… Didn’t your mom tell the future for dogs and cats?”

Her lips twitched, but she didn’t let him off the hook. “My grandmother only danced naked on the full moon, and that was for religious reasons. And as for my mom… What? You don’t think cats and dogs have futures?”

“Do you?”

“I do.” She nodded, her hazel eyes wide and sincere. Caleb sighed, disappointment pouring through him as he revised his seduction plan. Then Pandora grinned. “But I doubt their thoughts and feelings can be scryed in their water dishes.”

So used to being tense, he barely noticed himself relaxing under her smile. He did pay attention to the stirring interest his body felt, though, when he shifted a little closer so he could smell her sweet perfume again. It was a warm scent, making him think of a dark, mystical forest.

“So? What’s the real deal? Are you a believer? Or are you just here to make a living?”

She narrowed her eyes, obviously sorting through his words. He liked watching her think. He’d just bet she had mental lists and a brain like one of those supercharged computers that’d calculate, analyze and summarize in seconds flat.

He gave in to temptation and reached out to rub a lock of her rich, thick hair between his fingers. It was as silky as it looked. He’d bet it’d feel even better sliding over his thighs.

“There’s bullshit out there, sure,” she acknowledged with the tiniest of nods. “There’s a group, the Psychic Scenery tour bus, that stops here twice a year. These people travel all over the West Coast, visiting metaphysical stores and psychics, readers and healers. You could say they are the experts on the subject. Believe me, they’ve seen it all. And they never visit anyone or anywhere more than once if they deem it bullshit.”

“How many times have they visited Moonspun Dreams?” he asked, both amused and impressed at how strongly she defended her store and her beliefs.

“Every spring and autumn for the last ten years,” she said with just a hint of triumph in her smile. “Our store is one of the highlights of their tour, a selling point they use in their brochure.”

“Because of the aphrodisiacs?” Tension he’d thought was gone returned to poke steely fingers in Caleb’s back at the idea of hordes of people swarming into town looking for a sex fix. It was the perfect cover for moving drugs, and it pissed him off that Pandora was ruining his comfortable assurance that she was innocent.

“Oh, no,” she told him. “I just opened the café two months ago, after the last tour. But I’m sure the regulars at Psychic Scenery are going to be over-the-moon excited when they visit in April.”

“Okay, so you’re popular with these people and they’re going to go crazy over your cookies when they visit. What does that have to do with whether or not you believe in all this?” he prodded.

He had no idea why he cared so much. Maybe it was the result of growing up the son of a clever con man. It’d taught him that people could sell a whole lot of things with a big fat smile on their face, even as they handed over a shopping bag filled with nothing but hot air.

That wasn’t criminal. Not like selling drugs. But it’d sure as hell ruin the sweet image he had of Pandora to find out she was happily invested in selling lies.

“What that does is prove that we’re time tested and cynic approved,” she said. “I think there’s a whole lot of stuff out there that we can’t explain. I think some people tap into it more easily than others. And I think that believing has a power of its own.”

“Isn’t that the same thing as gullibility?” Caleb asked.

“Do you think that all this—” she waved her hand to indicate the store filled with the promise of magic “—is based on the power of suggestion?”

Caleb’s brow shot up. She didn’t sound offended. More like… Satisfied. Wasn’t that interesting? Pandora was more intriguing by the second.

“Isn’t most everything based on the power of suggestion?” he mused. “For instance, if I suggested that I’d like to kiss you again, you’d think about it, wouldn’t you?”

Color washed from her cheeks, pouring down her slender throat and tinting the mouthwateringly showcased curves of her breasts with a pale pink glow. He wanted to touch and see if her skin was as warm as it looked.

“The brain is the most powerful erogenous zone,” he told her, his tone low. “Half of seduction takes place in the mind, first. Before I ever touch you, I could have you crazy with wanting me.”

She bit her lip, her eyes huge as they darted from him to the store filled with customers just a few beads away.

Caleb gave her a smug wink as he leaned against a table, his feet crossed at the ankles and hands tucked in the front pockets of his jeans.

He was having fun. It’d been so long, he hadn’t realized how good it could feel. At least for him. He wasn’t so sure Pandora was the teasing type.

“And one meal of my aphrodisiacs could make you so turned on, you’d almost forget your own name,” Pandora countered with a wicked smile at odds with the nerves dancing in her eyes. “You’d have the most delicious meal and the most memorable dessert you’ve ever dreamed of.”

Even though his expression was as smooth as glass, Caleb was mentally reeling. What the hell? He blew out a breath, wanting to tug at the collar of his T-shirt. Yeah, she was pretty damn good at the teasing. Had she just propositioned him?

“What do you say?” Pandora prompted, her smile a soft curve of those luscious lips as she leaned against the counter so her hip bumped against his.

“You realize I’m attracted to you, regardless of what you serve for dinner,” he said, trying to figure out what she thought a plate of oysters was going to do when he’d happily take her right then and there on the bistro table, in full view of her cats and anyone who walked by.

“Attraction is a necessary ingredient for an aphrodisiac to work,” she explained quietly. “Unlike pharmaceuticals that change a person’s will, aphrodisiacs are a natural enhancement. They make so-so sex fabulous. And great sex? Mind-blowing.”

This time Caleb did run his finger around the collar of his shirt, needing to release a little of the heat. It was either that or grab her in front of her customers.

As if they knew he was about to pounce, a giggling pair of women walked through the beaded doorway. They both carried overflowing wicker shopping baskets. Looked as if Pandora was about to score.

In more ways than one.

“Fifi asked me to get more cookies,” a guy said, sticking his shaggy head through the beaded curtain. “You have a few customers out here asking for them. You know the ones, the sexy cookies.”

Pandora’s gaze cut from him to Caleb, then back again. She looked torn, and just a little mischievous. He was afraid she’d drag the kid into this discussion to support her point.

“C’mon back, Russ,” she said, her smile widening.

Time for him to get the hell out of there. Caleb grabbed his jacket, then leaned in close to whisper in Pandora’s ear.

“Prove it to me.”

6

THIS WAS THE PROBLEM with wanting something as desperately as she wanted Caleb, Pandora mused. Once you got it, you had to figure out how the hell you were going to handle it.

“So what’s the plan?” Kathy asked from her perch in a chair by the glistening lights of the three-foot-high Christmas tree with its shimmering golden balls and little red bows. “Are you ready for tonight?”

Ready? Biting her lip, Pandora scanned the plethora of food spread over the counter of the tiny cottage she was renting. Walking distance from the store, she’d chosen it for its location. Asparagus and oysters, celery and ginseng and chocolate. A roast was marinating in red wine and mushroom caps were waiting to be stuffed. All the fixings for an aphrodisiac-rich dinner for two.

Completing the theme, she’d brought home a dozen red candles for passion and had frankincense incense waiting to light.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have him here,” she worried. “I mean, it’s like saying, ‘Hey, eat up fast. I’m horny and wanna do it.’”

“Well, it’s not like you could have him to dinner in the café. After all, you have a point to prove. And since it’s one of those naked kind of points, it’s better done in private, don’t you think?”

“Naked…” Pandora pressed her palm against her belly, trying to quiet the butterflies flinging themselves against the walls of her stomach as they attempted to escape. “What the hell was I thinking?”

“That Caleb Black would look mighty fine naked,” Kathy said with a wicked grin. Then her smile faded and she gave Pandora a searching look. “Are you sure you want to do this? You don’t have to go through with the evening if you don’t feel comfortable, you know. You can call it off, or just call it quits after dinner.”

A part of Pandora grabbed on to that exit option like a life-line. It was one thing to challenge Caleb face-to-face, when she was in the throes of sexual overload. But the idea of following through, here and now, once she’d had plenty of time to worry? That was something else entirely.

“I don’t want to call the evening off,” she decided. “I want this. I really do.”

Sorta. She wanted the fantasy of having mind-blowing sex with Caleb. The man was obviously a sexual god. He was gorgeous. He was mouthwateringly sexy. He had that bad-boy, done-it-all and gone-back-for-seconds vibe going on.

And her? The naughtiest thing on her sexual résumé was wearing a see-through Santa nightie with black stiletto do-me boots.

“If you want him, and he wants you, then you’d be crazy to let nerves stop you. I mean, how many chances does a girl have for incredible sex?” Kathy challenged.

“Easy for you to say. You’ve already done one of the Black brothers,” Pandora retorted.

“Yes, I did,” Kathy said with a wicked smile, running her hand through the smooth curve of her hair. “Which is why I feel qualified to say do it, do it, do it.”

Pandora laughed. Living close to Kathy was her favorite benefit to being back in Black Oak. A girl needed her best friend when she was gathering up the nerve to get naked with a guy.

“Okay, let’s just say the night is great,” Pandora suggested, pacing over to the tree to rearrange the bows and balls on the crisp evergreen boughs. Can’t have the two gold balls next to each other, after all. It might ruin the ambience. “Say the sex is incredible. The best in my life. Maybe even one of his top ten. Multiple-orgasm, headboard-banging, seeing-stars incredible. Say it’s all that. What do I do then?”

After a long pause, Kathy got to her feet and headed for the tiny kitchen.

“What are you doing?” Pandora called after her.

“Getting a glass of ice water.”

“Seriously!”

“Seriously?” Kathy filled a cup with water from the pitcher in the fridge and gulped it down. “Seriously, then you’ll probably collapse in an exhausted, albeit very satisfied, heap.”