Sex, Lies and Mistletoe (9 page)

Pandora giggled.

“Caleb. It was amazing. In the café, and oh, my God, of course not.”

“But you wanted to be?”

“Absolutely,” she admitted with a sigh. Her smile softened as she remembered his lips again. The taste of him, male, hot and just a little chocolaty. Their bodies hadn’t even touched, yet she’d been more turned on than the last time she’d had full-on, two-naked-bodies and real-live-orgasm sex.

More turned on than she’d ever been in her life, actually.

“In the café?” Kathy said, a naughty look dancing in her green eyes. “Had you shared one of those sexy treats?”

Pandora opened her mouth to say no, then closed it.

She hadn’t put much thought into it, but he’d had a few big bites of the Foreplay cake. So had she, for that matter. But their lust had been the real deal. At least, hers had.

Doubt, always lurking somewhere but now painfully close to the surface thanks to Sean, reared its ugly head.

“A couple bites is all,” she admitted with a frown. “But a lot of the power of an aphrodisiac is in the mind, isn’t it? My grammy always said that most magics require belief to work. The power of suggestion and all that.”

“Kinda like a low-cut dress, huh?”

Pandora grinned, acknowledging Kathy’s point with a wave of her fork. “A little.”

Then her smile fell away. “Do you think that’s why he kissed me? Of course it is,” she answered herself. “I mean, he just got to town, he’s so gorgeous he probably has women throwing themselves at him. Why else would he kiss a perfect stranger?”

Why had she thought he’d found her special? That was crazy. She wasn’t the type to inspire uncontrollable lust. Heck, she rarely inspired a second look.

Seeing where her mind was going, Kathy shook her head and gave Pandora’s forearm a chiding tap. “Stop that. You’re counting yourself out before you even consider the situation.”

“What’s to consider?”

“The details, of course. Start at the beginning.”

Pandora arched one brow. “When the dinosaurs roamed? Or back further than that?”

“Smart-ass. When did you first meet Caleb Black?”

Pandora picked at her slice of bread again, wishing she’d never brought the subject up. For just a while there she’d been riding high on the idea that a man so sexy he made her toes curl had been attracted enough for a kiss at first sight. But now? Now she figured she should raise the prices in the café, since her aphrodisiacs were that strong.

“Deets,” Kathy prodded. “Has he been in town long? When was the kiss?”

“Two days ago,” she finally confessed. “He came into the store. There was this big confrontation between him and his dad, then I gave him a piece of cake and he kissed me.”

Just remembering gave her shivers. It’d been so incredible. For a guy who came across as a total hard-ass, his lips had been so, so soft.

She took a shaky breath and brushed the bread crumbs off her fingers.

Maybe the why didn’t matter. She’d had an incredible kiss. Wasn’t that what counted?

“Wow, talk about a lot going on. I’ll want the details of all the rest later. But for now, how was the kiss?” Kathy asked, her eyes huge. “Was it amazing?”

“It was…special,” she decided with a soft smile.

“Uh-oh.”

“What uh-oh?” Pandora saw the concerned look in Kathy’s eyes and shook her head. “No. No uh-oh. I’m not getting romantic ideas. That’d be crazy, considering he only kissed me because of the cake. I’m just saying, it was a hot kiss that didn’t follow the standard moves, you know?”

“Standard moves?”

“Yeah. You know how usually the first kiss with a guy is more about the anticipation and, well, introduction to his style?”

Kathy nodded.

“There was no anticipation because, I mean, who the hell kisses a complete stranger in a café while sneaking out the back door?” Kathy’s brows creased, but before she could ask, Pandora continued, “And he wasn’t so much introducing his style as he was…”

“Was…what?”

“Making me melt?” Pandora admitted with a helpless little laugh. “Honestly, I have no idea why he kissed me. I just know that it was amazing.”

“Once again, uh-oh,” Kathy worried, apprehension clear in her eyes.

“What?”

“Be careful. Those Black men are heartbreakers. They went through girls like crazy. They always left them smiling, sure. But they never stuck around. Still, you don’t need that,” Kathy warned.

“I know he’s off-limits,” Pandora said with a bad-tempered shrug. “I didn’t say I was crazy enough to think one flirty little kiss—especially one that didn’t include tongue—means I’m in for some hot and wild bad-boy sex.”

“He’s not off-limits. He’s just trouble. But if all you’re thinking about is getting naked and doing the horizontal tango, then maybe you should. Just as long as you’re clear from the start that it’s just sex. Nothing more.”

Caleb Black. Naked. Oh, man, she’d bet he was deliciously built. Those wide shoulders would have the kind of muscles she could cling to as he moved in her, his long torso and slender hips arched over her straining body. She knew he had a sweet little hiney, but it’d look even better bare than it had covered in denim. She’d bet it was firm, so hard she’d barely make a dent if her fingers gripped it. Heat washed over Pandora so fast she had to take a sip of her wine before she combusted.

“That is all you’re thinking about, isn’t it?” Kathy prodded.

“Well, now I’m thinking about Caleb naked and can’t remember your question,” Pandora said with a pout.

“You’re only looking for sex, right? Not a relationship? Not a wild time that might turn into something special once he realizes how great you are?”

“No,” she protested vehemently. This was a stupid conversation. All she’d wanted was to share her little bit of sexy news and suddenly she was defending a fling with a guy who probably kissed every woman he met. That didn’t mean he had any interest in actually getting naked and slippery. “I’m not going to do anything stupid. I’d have to be crazy to fall for a guy like Caleb Black. I’m not his type and that kiss was probably the last contact we’ll ever have.”

Kathy leaned back in the booth and gave her a long, searching look. After a few seconds, Pandora squirmed. She didn’t like people looking that close, or that deep.

“Okay, I’ve changed my mind. I think you should go for it.”

“Go for what? It wasn’t like an invitation to a relationship. It was more like a hit-and-run.”

“Maybe. But maybe not. I’m just saying if he hits again, you should take him up on a little ride. I’ll bet he’s the kind of guy who’ll make you see stars.”

Stars. Pandora wasn’t a virginal prude. She liked sex. Especially if it was good sex. She read the how-to articles in women’s magazines and erotic books, she knew her body and wasn’t shy about giving directions when necessary.

But, typically, the guys she’d been with weren’t big on directions.

Which was probably why she’d never seen stars. With Sean, she’d seen a flicker or two but never full-oh-my-God stars.

“So?” Kathy prodded.

“So what?”

“So, are you going to shoot for the stars? Or are you going to take the route of avoidance?”

Avoidance. All the way.

After all, the last time she’d given in to a sexy fling, she’d paid. Big-time. And Sean hadn’t been anywhere near as hot, gorgeous or tempting as Caleb. Getting involved with him was crazy.

The last thing she needed was to get herself all upside down over a guy. Even a just-sex-and-nothing-more kind of guy. A more confident woman might be able to handle a sweet fling with someone like that, but her? She wasn’t that kind of woman.

For once, though, she wanted to be. She wanted to have a purely sexual fling based on nothing more than physical satisfaction and excitement. She wanted to be exciting and dynamic. Fun and maybe a little wild. No expectations of anything long-term or emotional.

And maybe, just maybe, to relax knowing that because she didn’t expect anything, her inability to read him couldn’t be termed a failure.

“He’s not going to ask me out,” she said again.

“So why don’t you ask him out?”

Why didn’t she jump up on the table and strip naked while singing Katy Perry’s “Hot N Cold”? “I can’t do that,” she excused.

Kathy just gave her The Look.

Pandora pressed a hand to her stomach, feeling as if she was about to jump off a very high cliff.

It was scary.

But it was also exciting as hell.

“I’m not promising anything. But—and it’s a teensy-tiny but—but…if I do, and if he says yes, then our next kiss
will
involve tongues,” she vowed.

CALEB LEANED HIS LEATHER-CLAD shoulder against the black iron lamppost and stared across the street at the warm welcome of Moonspun Dreams.

He’d promised Hunter he’d give it two weeks. So in between watching the store, he’d spent the past four days nosing around. He’d hit what passed for the party scene in Black Oak. Bounced through a few bars, made himself known to the major partiers and netted a couple easy introductions to the town’s lower-level drug dealers. The first step was to get the lay of the land, to gauge how challenging the bust would be and to establish his identity.

The ecstasy was definitely available and at discounts usually only seen in Black Friday sales ads. Marketing 101, make the product cheap and plentiful until you’d hooked enough suckers, then bleed them dry. As he would on any DEA job, he’d scored a little from each dealer, sending it all to Hunter for analysis. But experience and instinct told him it was all coming from the same source. A source nobody could—or would—pinpoint.

So far this visit was a bust. He hadn’t found out much for Hunter. He hadn’t cleared his father. Of course, he’d done his damnedest to avoid seeing his father at all after that first surprise visit, but that was neither here nor there.

And all he could think about was that one small kiss from the intriguingly reticent Pandora.

Unlike his usual M.O. in breaking a drug ring, this time he had no cover. Around here, everyone and their granny knew who he was. Many had pinched his cheeks at the same time they’d bemoaned his probable criminal career. That all worked in his favor, his lousy rep ensuring that nobody questioned his activities.

Still, that was then. He’d have liked to come home and be appreciated for who he really was now. An upright citizen who’d made a life outside of crime.

Except, he realized with a tired sigh, that he really didn’t have any life outside of crime. Which was why he’d quit. To relax, to get a hobby and to figure out what he wanted from life.

Which brought his thoughts back, yet again, to Pandora. He couldn’t figure out why the woman fascinated him, but she did. She was quiet, when he usually went for the flamboyant. She seemed sweet, which he was pretty sure he was allergic to. And she was friendly with his father, which meant she had questionable taste.

As he pondered, and yes, stared at Moonspun’s window hoping to catch a glimpse of the sexy Ms. Easton, something on the corner across the street caught his eye. Two guys in black hoodies, both hunched over as if they were trying to blend in with the brick siding of Pandora’s building. Caleb shook his head in disgust. He didn’t need years of DEA experience to recognize a drug deal going down. Hell, the little old lady walking her Pomeranian was shooting the two guys the same disgusted look. When one of the guys made a hulking gesture toward her, obviously trying to intimidate, she flipped him the bird and kept mincing along in her fluffy pink knitted hat. Caleb could see the goon growl from across the street. He made as if to go after her, when his buddy grabbed his arm, saying something and showing him a bag of what Caleb assumed were the drugs in question.

Hulk flexed a little, then followed the Baggie into the alley. Caleb considered trailing them. He had no jurisdiction. Hell, he was on a pseudovacation with his resignation sitting on his boss’s desk. It was the
pseudo
part of that equation that made him hesitate, not the vacation or the resignation.

But, really, how far did fake authority go? Favors for buddies and an unexplained need to vindicate his father didn’t give him the jurisdiction to bust a deal going down.

Then again, when had he ever worried about rules?

Before he could step off the curb, though, Hulk slunk out of the alley. His hoodie pulled low so his face was shadowed, he loped down the street.

No point following the doper. Caleb wanted the guy hooked into whoever was running the game. He waited for him to come out.

But the alley opening stayed empty.

Five minutes later, Caleb was mentally cussing and ready to hit something. There were only two businesses accessible through that alley. Moonspun Dreams and his dad’s bike shop.

Dammit.

Before he could decide how he wanted to handle it, a car pulled up next to him. Caleb’s sigh was infinitesimal as he cut his gaze to the sheriff’s cruiser. His eyes were the only thing he moved, though.

Because he knew damn well the lack of reaction would piss Jeff off.