Bewitching You

chapter Ten



Penny sat on the black leather chair, staring over the big walnut desk at her stubborn daughter. “If you don’t want to do it for me, then do it for Sofia,” she pleaded.

Laura strummed her plain bitten-down fingernails on the desk. She looked sleep-deprived and irritated all at once. Penny read mixed phrases of guilt, loneliness, and desperation pulsating from her daughter’s mind.

The woman needed to get herself a man.

Penny blocked Laura’s thoughts and concentrated on the task at hand. “You have the power. Hayes is there, watching them. Don’t you want to know how Sofia is doing?”

Laura huffed out a breath. “Fine. I’ll do it.” After blowing out an exasperated breath, she began whispering in such a low voice, it was difficult to decipher the words.

Her face grew pale, and her eyes rolled back in her head. The murmured words grew faster and louder. “Hayes Phillips, I call upon you,” she repeated over and over.

A blast of cold air shot through the room, and the young man appeared. He leaned against the bookshelf with his hands in the pockets of his holey jeans.

“This is what you look like?” Penny said. “Identical to your brother, are you?”

Hayes grinned. “He looks a little more respectable than I do.” His smile disappeared when he noticed Laura sitting on the other side of the desk. “What is she doing here?”

“She has the gift to call spirits. She’s the one that brought you.”

“I’ll speak to you only,” he said, dismissing Laura.

Laura stood. “Well, I guess my work is done here. I’ll leave you two alone.”

“Sit down,” Penny ordered. Enough of the childishness.

With an eye roll, Laura sat back down.

“You want to know how they’re doing?” Hayes asked Penny.

“Yes, that would be wonderful.”

“It’s happening slowly. They’re attracted to each other, but she’s wary of him, and Gray isn’t exactly a smooth talker.”

“Like you?” Penny raised her eyebrows at him for fun. He seemed like such an interesting fellow.

His thoughts were even more so. The name Rachel and her image vibrated passionately out into the room and into Penny’s head.

He shrugged and continued. “I stopped planting Sofia’s dreams in Gray’s head. I’m hoping it’ll make him miss her touch and force him to step up his game. He’s got a problem with that. If he doesn’t start laying on more moves, she might not think he’s genuinely attracted to her. Because you all know how insecure she is, right?”

“My daughter is not insecure,” Laura piped up.

“Of course she is, dear. Especially when it comes to men, since you’ve been feeding her bullshit that they can’t be trusted.”

“Well, they can’t. And you’re going to regret this, Mother. As soon as this Gray person comes out of his spell, he’s going to leave Sofia heartbroken.”

Penny ignored her daughter’s glare and spoke to Hayes. “I was hoping this would all happen more naturally, but do you think the spell needs to be stronger?”

“And move it along faster? Couldn’t hurt. I need to get this all done ASAP. My other project is getting a little overwhelming.”

“Other project?” Penny was intrigued.

“The love of my life needs a new love of her life.”

“Oh, well let me know if I can be of any help. And thank you for all of yours.”

“Absolutely.” He faded into nothing. “See ya.”

~ * ~

A glass and a half of wine later and Sofia was feeling pretty good. She wasn’t quite sure how Gray was doing though. He’d been quiet for most of supper and now he sat silently on the floor with his back leaning against Nana’s sofa.

He’d insisted he’d break the sofa if he tried to sit on it. Sofia wasn’t sure he was wrong. The man was big and the sofa was ancient and tiny. The two rocking chairs that stood in each corner of the room weren’t too solid, either.

Feeling guilty, Sofia sat on the floor in front of him, carefully crossing her legs together to avoid giving him a show. She leaned back on her hands and eyed him. The dim light in the room made him appear serious and somber. What was on the man’s mind? Maybe his ex? Maybe his brother? Had they been close? It was amazing that she’d loved him in her visions, yet she knew nothing about him in real life.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked, not being able to take the silence any longer.

“How much I want to kiss you again.” The words slipped out of his mouth easily, as if they had been at the tip of his tongue.

And yet they were potent enough to warm her body from her scalp to her curling toes. Her cheeks burned, undoubtedly revealing how he affected her.

Trying to joke away her powerful response to him, she made a fish face. “What? You want to kiss these lips?”

“Among other things.”

Change the subject fast, Sofe. She reached across the floor for the radio and pulled it in front of her. “Do you like music?” She switched it on to a station where Blondie sang The Tide Is High. As long as there wasn’t a crooning love song playing or anything with sex or kissing in the lyrics, she should be safe.

“Sure. What about you?”

“I like to listen to it while I’m painting. The genre sets the mood. Like, when I want to paint something sexy and smooth, I listen to jazz. When I want to paint something edgy and dark, I listen to hard rock.”

“What do you paint?”

You. “Whatever’s on my mind. Things I’m passionate about.”

“Like what?” He pushed on. “What did you paint last?”

You. “It’s kind of personal.”

“Oh.” His forehead crinkled. “Will you show me sometime? I mean, if you decide you don’t want me out of your life forever.”

“I’d love to show you,” she said. Stupid honesty sneaked up on her way too much.

“Good.” He smiled, genuinely. Stunningly.

For a moment, Sofia wondered if it would be a horrible idea to forget her inhibitions. Just for one night…or forever. She controlled her destiny. The only problem was she couldn’t control him. What if she let herself fall in love with him, only to dream of him dumping her?

She sighed. Now that would suck.

The song changed to a hip-hop tune, and Gray chuckled lightly.

“What?”

“It’s embarrassing to admit this, but Hayes and I used to break dance to this song in high school.”

“You used to break dance?”

“Yeah. We’d practice like crazy on the weekends. We’d tear apart cardboard boxes and lay them out in the driveway. Smoother surface, you know? And we’d try all these crazy stunts until we finally got it right.”

“That is so cute.” Sofia tried to picture Gray spinning on his head. Hmm.

“You wouldn’t think it was cute if you knew the reason why we did it.”

“Which was?”

“To get laid. The girls loved it.”

“Really? Well, I have to see some moves.” She teased. “Maybe I’ll love it too.”

“Not gonna happen. It’s been over ten years since I’ve even attempted it.”

“Come on. Please?” She gave him her best pouty face.

“What do I get in return?”

“Um.” Sofia thought back to her high school years. “I’ll do the splits. Or try to, anyway.”

His eyebrows arched. “Deal.”

“Cool.” She stood up and helped him clear a space in the middle of the hardwood floor.

He stretched his arms and his legs. “If I pull something, you’ll have to nurse me back to health.”

“You got it.”

“Don’t laugh.”

“What if it’s funny?”

He gave her a stern look while kicking off his loafers.

“I’ll try not to laugh.”

“Okay, we had these routines that we made up. We had no idea what these moves were called; we just did them. First, we both did this.” He did a handstand and brought one hand up. “Holy shit.” He flipped over onto his feet. Barely.

Sofia clapped, mainly because of the way his biceps and shoulders flexed. And it was nice to see him having fun.

“I used to be able to hold myself up longer, but I’m a lot heavier now.”

“What did you do after that?”

He grinned. “Is this going to get me laid?”

“We already made the deal.”

“Oh, hell. Okay, then I’d lean over and Hayes would do the leapfrog thing over my back. Then we’d line up and do a couple moves.” He shuffled around, brought his knee up and jerked his arms around.

Sofia held her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing. He looked adorable.

“And then,” he said breathlessly, “we did a backspin.” He ran in a circle and fell into a spin on his back for about half a second, ending it by posing on his side, facing the other direction.

“Okay. Go ahead and laugh now.”

She let out a giggle. “Gray,” she said as he stood to face her with his arms crossed, “you are such a good sport.”

“Hell, no, I’m not. I feel old and I think I have bruises on my back now.”

“Oh, poor baby.”

“Don’t ‘poor baby’ me.” His gaze dipped to her chest and back up again. “We made a deal.”

~ * ~

Gray’s body ached, but he was certain the pain and humiliation would all be worth it. That was, if she ever followed through with her end of the bargain.

First, she had to get a drink of water. Then she had to use the bathroom. Then she had to change into some shorts, which happened to be the little pink ones. God help him.

On her last pass through, Gray grabbed her by the shoulders. “Get it over with, Sofia.”

“Oh, fine.” She glowered. “After I pour some more oil in that lamp. It’s running a little low.”

“Nope. You’ve procrastinated enough.”

She scrunched her nose. “I may not be able to do it anymore.”

“Try.”

“Oh, fine.” She got down on the floor and stretched out her legs in front her. With her hands, she hoisted forward and eased back, propping her body up. She was only a few inches from the ground. She bounced up and down a couple of times, stretching out her muscles and finally completing her splits.

A growing hard-on pressed against his jeans.

“I did it,” she screamed, and jumped to her feet and into his arms.

“Yes, you did.” He wrapped his arms around her, glad to have a reason to be close. Vanilla. She smelled like sweet vanilla… Or like the cupcakes his mom used to bake for his birthday every year. He’d almost forgotten that memory.

She backed away and clapped her hands, still excited, and Gray instantly missed her warmth. “Todd Beltman can eat his heart out,” she said. “I bet he can’t do the splits anymore. I bet he’s fat and bald now. I ought to look him up.”

“Who’s Todd Beltman?”

“Freshman year in high school, I tried out for the cheerleading squad and made it. Everything was going great until we started doing lifts. Coach Perry paired me with Todd, and Todd said right there in front of everyone in the squad that he didn’t think he could lift me. He thought I was too fat to be a cheerleader.”

“What? Were you a big girl back then?”

“Roughly the same as I am now, only about two inches shorter, five pounds lighter.” She looked like she was about to burst into tears at the mere memory. “I was so embarrassed, I quit and never tried out again.”

“Sugar,” he said, thinking the endearment suited her, “the guy was probably afraid to touch a hot girl.”

“No, he was right. I was too big. I would’ve crushed him. He was a tiny little guy, and I was this—” She blew up her cheeks and spread her arms out.

“You’re out of your mind.” Gray grabbed her hand and gathered her close. “And so was that f*cker, Todd. We really should look him up. I’ll lift him up and throw him across the country for hurting your feelings.”

“I don’t know. I’ve always been a little overweight.”

The woman was insane. He let his gaze fall over her lush body. Curves in all the right places. No way in hell was she too heavy to pick up. To prove his point, he grabbed her by the waist and lifted her with ease.

She gasped slightly, grabbing at his shirt. “What are you doing?”

“Showing you that Todd what’s-his-face was a lying little bastard.” He lifted her until her head brushed the ceiling. Then, slowly, he lowered her, letting her slide against his body.

When he didn’t put her down right away, she wrapped her legs around him and held on tight. She clasped onto his neck, bringing them face-to-face.

Gray shifted his arms. One cradled her bottom, keeping her up, while the other curved around her back, crushing her soft breasts into his chest.

“You can put me down now,” she said, breathless. Her lips were within licking distance.

“Not until you kiss me.” He grinned at her.

“You have no idea how tempted I am. But I can’t. I—”

Gray covered her lips with his to shut her up. He didn’t want to hear any excuses. He wanted to be the man in her dreams, the one who could touch her anywhere and everywhere. Make love to her any way he wanted.

To keep her from shying away, he backed her into the wall. Then he slid his tongue into her mouth and flicked it across hers. Luckily, she accepted it eagerly, moaning softly and raking her fingers into his hair.

The heat from her sex pressed against him. Closer. He wanted to be closer.

Feel every part of her.

His free hand found the hem of her tank top and slipped up underneath until he found her breast. He pushed her lace bra up and massaged the plump and supple flesh. Her nipple budded at his touch.

She squirmed against him and began to slip down the wall. Gray lifted her back up, supporting her bottom. This couldn’t end yet. There was so much more he wanted to do with her.

He paused from kissing her to whisper, “Can I take you upstairs?”

Don’t ask, just do it, you fool. This had been his downfall with many girlfriends in the past. He never pushed them, never wanted to take advantage of them. In the end, they’d moved on to guys who did push them.

Sure, he didn’t have a condom, but he could think of about thousand other ways to please them both without protection.

“I’m not ready for that yet,” she whispered back and dropped her legs from his waist to the ground, fixing her bra and top in the process.

Damn it. “Right.” He fisted his hands at his sides, trying to ignore how his body burned with unspent desire and how his cock ached for release. But it was damned difficult, considering he’d gotten so close.

She stared up at him, the blue of her eyes only a thin ringlet around her pupil. “Thank you for making me feel better about the Todd incident.”

Ah hell. The woman was after his heart.

“Thank you for reminding me there are memories of Hayes that I love and cherish. Those have been kind of hard to come by lately.”

Her eyes welled up. “Oh my gosh. You must still be grieving over losing him. I’m so sorry. Were you two pretty close?”

“Yeah. He’s been my best friend since birth…and my worst enemy at times as well.”

She stood up on the tips of her toes and pressed a kiss to his lips. “It’ll get better, I promise.”

“I think it just did.”

~ * ~

Sofia finished showering and changing into her favorite light green nightgown. It had spaghetti straps and was silky and sleek against her skin. She ran her hands over her hips and felt truly sexy for the first time in her life. The change probably had to do with there being a hot guy downstairs who made her feel like she was something more than a short, overweight wannabe cheerleader. So much more. He was sweet for sticking up for her against her worst high school memory. It made her wish she’d met him back then.

Sighing, she pulled her sketchbook from her duffle bag and sifted through the pages. Her own personal homage to Gray. How humiliating would it be if he found it? Even worse, if he were to see the numerous paintings that filled her bedroom at home. Sofia Good: Dream stalker extraordinaire. Why, yes, Gray, I did spend hours upon hours sketching and painting you, even before I laid eyes on you.

Not good. She stuffed the sketchbook back in the bottom of the bag and scrounged for a new pair of panties. All that was left were her high-cut cotton briefs. Comfortable, but not sexy at all. She really needed to do laundry, but how embarrassing would it be to hang out your underwear for the world and Gray to see on a clothesline?

No way.

She opted to wear none for tonight. Nothing was going to happen, but it was fun to feel a little naughty. To know that with one slip of his hand, he would realize she was completely bare underneath this lightweight nightgown.

He’d only have to hike it up and straddle her on his lap… Stop it, Sofe. Stop. It.

Twenty-four years without knowing the touch of a man was starting to warp her mind. Sure, she could’ve given into a man’s advances on one of the several dates she’d been on, but when she had visions of the men falling in love with someone else, the idea always lost its flavor. Of course, she didn’t have that problem with Gray. In her dreams of him, he loved her, and no one else.

She let out a breath and put a brush through her damp hair.

“Sofia.” Gray’s voice jolted her, his low tone resonating deep in her belly.

She resumed normal breathing, then swerved to see him standing at the door with his hands braced against the doorframe. She really needed to remember to start closing and locking the door.

Or not.

His shirt was off again and he was wearing jeans that hung low on his hips, revealing muscles that trailed to places she’d yet to see in real life.

“Hi,” she managed to squeak.

“Am I interrupting?”

“No. Not at all.” She dropped the brush on the dresser and watched as he sat on the edge of the bed.

“So.” He rubbed his palms on his jeans, looking like he might be as nervous as she felt.

Sofia licked her lips and pressed her hand to her belly, the area that wouldn’t stop quivering. Her silky nightgown suddenly seemed weightless.

“Sofia,” he said again, but she didn’t mind the repetition. She loved how he said her name.

“Yeah?”

He reached out and grabbed hold of her wrist. His dark eyes coaxed her toward him as he gently tugged her over until she stood in between his thighs.

“I wanted to say goodnight.” His hand settled on her hips, drawing her against him. Heat permeated from his body…or maybe it was the warmth rushing up her chest to her cheeks that caused her to feel feverish.

“Okay.” Oh, boy.

“And because sometimes words escape me, I wanted to make a point to tell you how beautiful I think you are. Inside and out.”

She gulped. “I, um…thanks.”

His hands, broad against her hips, slid to the outside of her thighs and back up again. He must have noticed her lack of underwear, because he bit into his bottom lip and repeated the action.

Sofia was pretty sure her heart stopped beating. Not since Leo Wendle pinched her ass in the hallway in the seventh grade had someone acted like they appreciated God’s big, old, huge gift to her backside. And Leo Wendle had been an acne-faced pervert with premature facial hair.

This was so much better.

“I think,” she managed to say, “that you’re beautiful too. I mean, handsome, not beautiful. Cause you’re a guy. A man, really.” Just stop talking.

“I hope you can forgive me for treating you badly when we first met. It might sound like a cop-out but after Hayes died, my life tilted off balance, and I went a little crazy trying to get back in control. Then the dreams happened, and as you know, I had zero control over those.”

“But you didn’t have one last night. Maybe they’re gone now, so you don’t have to worry about that any longer.”

“I don’t worry. Not now anyway.” He teased her lips with a soft kiss. “I’m ready for the future.”

Before Sofia could ask exactly what he meant by that—because sometimes she thought she needed a sledgehammer over her head to understand men—he stood up and said, “Goodnight, Sofia.”

Really? No more kisses? No more touching? She watched him walk to the door, but couldn’t stand letting him leave without…something.

“Wait.” With a leap and a small sprint, she reached him and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him one more time. “Goodnight, Gray.”

~ * ~

Gray tossed and turned in his bed. Go to her. The words played over and over in his head. She was only down the hall, lying in bed, wearing that silky little nightgown with no panties.

God help him.

He wanted her like no other woman he’d ever laid eyes on. The urge to slide into bed with her, lie on top of her, wedge himself between those thighs and enter her—hell, his erection pulsed at the mere idea. Why hadn’t he been more assertive in her bedroom? He could be lying with her right now, naked, having already made love to her.

Making her his.

But he just couldn’t hurt her. No protection, no sex. And honestly, Gray didn’t think he had enough sense in him to stop at a little harmless fondling. Sofia had been smart to turn him down earlier.

Not that Gray wasn’t safe. He knew he was free of any STDs, but he couldn’t risk getting her pregnant. She was too good a girl. She deserved more. More than an unemployed a*shole could give her.

Go to her.

F*ck. He threw the sheet off his naked body and hurried downstairs to get some ice-cold water to drink, or pour over his head. When he reached the kitchen, Sam hissed at him from on top of the butcher block, causing Gray to jump back. What was wrong with that cat?

She leaped down and raced up the stairs.

After Gray’s heart started beating again, he searched the refrigerator for a bottle of water but couldn’t find any. Tap water would have to do. He opened the cupboard for a glass…and noticed a large box of condoms?

What the hell? He picked them up and saw that a sticky note attached. For Sofia, it read with a heart drawn next to it.

Nana was his new best friend. Strange that a grandmother would leave an economy-sized box of rubbers for her virgin granddaughter, but who was Gray to judge?

Forgetting about the water, he made his way back upstairs, attempting to throw a plan together in his head. Should he crawl into bed with her and hope she didn’t kick him out? Should he accidentally trip in the hall, making enough noise she would wake up and see if he was okay? Yeah, that would be real smooth, Gray.

She’d want to have sex with him then, wouldn’t she?

He lay back down on the guest bed and opened the box. Rows of condoms fell on top of his chest. It’d been a while since he’d seen one of these. He’d never even considered buying any when he was with Rachel.

He’d thought he could wait until they were married, but now that he was wiser about the whole issue, wasn’t the real reason because he hadn’t loved her? Hadn’t desired her enough to push it?

Unquestionably, he’d had more passionate feelings about Sofia in the past forty-eight hours than he’d had during his entire relationship with Rachel.

Sure, the dreams probably helped those feelings along, but knowing now what he didn’t know then, he was damn glad he was here instead of making the worst mistake of his life. He hadn’t loved Rachel; it was obvious to him now. But did he love Sofia?

A low, hollow scream echoed down the hall and into the bedroom. Gray sat straight up, the hair rising on his neck. Sofia?

He jammed the condoms back into the box and set them underneath the bed before rewrapping the sheet around his waist and running into the hallway. Sofia walked toward him, shaking and in tears.

He gathered her into his arms. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

“Oh, Gray. I have to stop it.”

“Stop what?” Damn, he’d do anything to help her.

“The airplane.” She wiped the wet streaks from her face, only more brimmed in her eyes. “It’s going to crash, which really doesn’t matter because they’re all already dead. Every one of them. Even the pilot. There must have been a problem with the oxygen in the cabin. Maybe the plane flew too high or too low or both. Maybe there’s a crack in a window somewhere and all the air depleted from there. Or…or they all passed out before the oxygen masks fell. I don’t know. It’s just flying through the air with nobody at the wheel. What should I do?”

She wasn’t making any sense. Had she had a nightmare?

“Relax and try to breath, Sofe.”

“I can’t go back to sleep. It hurts too much to see them, knowing I can’t help.” She gulped for air. Her crisp gaze held secrets Gray wasn’t sure he wanted to know about.

Regardless, he wouldn’t tolerate her being in pain, helpless against her own dreams.

“What can I do?” He kissed her forehead, wanting to comfort her in any way possible.

“Hold me.”

Without question, Gray took her hand and guided her into her bedroom. She climbed onto the bed ahead of him and sat, waiting for him.

He gestured to the sheet wrapped around his waist. “I’ll put something on.”

“It’s okay. Just lie with me.”

Gray stretched out next to her, keeping the sheet over him while he enfolded her in his arms and held her close. This unknown emotion filled him. He ached for her, wanted to be with her, and couldn’t imagine never seeing her again.

Did he love her?

She rested her head on his bicep and met his gaze. A worried expression scrunched her forehead.

He pushed a lock of hair behind her ear and kissed her lips. “Did you have a premonition?” he asked—for the first time, believing that it might be possible.

“Yes. People are going to die if I don’t help them. I don’t know what to do.” A tear fell off her cheek and onto his arm.

“Don’t cry, Sofia. We’ll figure it out together, okay? I’ll help you as much as I can.”

“You will?”

“Yes.” He’d do anything.

“Thank you.” She let out a sigh of relief and closed her eyes.