He looked out the window and grimaced at the overabundance of nature everywhere. Trees and mountains, bushes and flowers, it was like the greedy fingers of nature were trying to gobble up the stately house. The house, in putting up a good fight, had a pillars and a spindled railing surrounding it, and what looked like thorny rose bushes at the windows and three stories of shuttered windows all brightly glinting back at the sun.
“How far from town is this?” he wondered.
“A couple of miles.”
“I didn’t realize Black Oak was that small,” he muttered as he unhooked his seat belt.
“They have an inn downtown,” she said, shifting her body so she could get her purse out of the back. Her shoulder brushed his arm, her flower scent filling his senses.
“Too close for comfort?” he guessed.
She shot him a look, both surprise and speculation in her eyes. “A little.”
Simon nodded, hiding his grimace as he exited the vehicle. Two miles from town and Maya held the car keys. He waited while she gathered her kitty cat carrier, then followed the sweet sway of her denim clad hips up the cobblestone walk.
This case was continuing to be quite the challenge.
LATER THAT EVENING, Maya stood on the sidewalk outside the most opulent house in the town of Black Oak, watching the sparkling white lights as they flickered against the ice-chilled yard. Winter had hit hard in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
“Wow,” Simon said quietly, stepping up next to her. He shook his head at the deep purple paint and gilded railing, then scanned the yard filled with lawn art and elaborately manicured bonsai bushes. “Is that a naked angel statue?”
Maya glanced at the six-foot tall marble depiction of—she squinted—
Eros?
“I think he’s supposed to be the god of love. Caleb’s future mother-in-law is, um, unique. I’m pretty sure that’s Dionysus, the wine god over on the other side of the walk.”
“Huh,” he said, stuffing his gloveless hands in his pockets and rocking back on the heels of his cowboy boots. He continued to look around, clearly fascinated.
“Caleb said Pandora thought her mom’s house would be the best place for us all to meet for dinner. Neutral territory, if you will.”
That’d been Maya’s first inkling that she was going to like her new sister-in-law.
“Do you think there are more naked statues, of the female sort, inside?” Simon mused.
“I don’t remember her old house being quite this entertaining,” she mused. “She must drive my aunt crazy.”
“Your aunt?”
Maya gestured to the gray house with its carefully manicured lawn, tidy junipers and plain white-curtained windows closed tight as if horrified by the view.
“Her Honor, the Mayor lives next door to the town psychic,” Maya explained. Despite her fleece-lined jacket and leather gloves, she shivered a little looking at her aunt’s house. Oh, the lectures she’d endured there. Tea, cookies and decorum every Monday after school.
Still, Aunt Cynthia had loved her, in her way. And she’d kept the connection to Maya’s mother alive through stories and pictures. Maya sighed softly. Disapproving lectures were a small price to pay for that little piece of her mom each week.
She glanced at Cassiopeia’s driveway, noting the Harley, a classic Chevelle and a late model Honda.
“It looks like almost everyone’s here,” she mused. “Pandora, that’s Caleb’s fiancé, she said it’d just be family. Her and her mom, my brother and, um, our father. Again, the goal being less awkwardness.”
She was stalling. She knew it, and a glance at Simon’s sympathetic face said he knew it, too. But her stomach was doing somersaults and her insides were shaking. Her love life wasn’t top of her priorities right now but she was pretty sure throwing up on Eros’s feet would doom it forever.
“Wanna leave a note on the door and run away?” he teased.
At the same time, he reached out and took her hand. Her heart melted a little at the move. She knew she should pull away. Pretend she was strong and could handle this, no problem. But his touch calmed some of the nerves. Made her feel safe at the same time as it made her feel special. And just a little excited. So instead, Maya sighed, then curled her fingers into his. This was going to suck, unquestionably. So she’d take any comfort she could get.
“Running away never works,” she said with a sad smile. “At least, not for long.”
She’d filled him in on the bare bones of the family dynamics, that she and her father were estranged and her brother had been traveling for his career for the past half-dozen years. But she’d skipped over the finer details, figuring nobody else was going to bring up her arrest record and her father’s betrayal over dinner.
“Then shall we?” He gestured with their entwined hands toward the door. “If things get too stressful, we can sneak off for a makeout session.”
That shocked a laugh out of Maya. She turned toward him, her stiletto boots hitting a patch of ice on the sidewalk. With his free hand, Simon grabbed her shoulder to steady her. Her breath a fog between them as she puffed out a relieved sigh at the near miss, Maya looked up to thank him.
And got lost in the green depths of Simon’s eyes. They were mesmerizing. Gorgeous and hypnotic, she could stare for hours. There was something in the depths, something that made her feel safe. To want to trust him with all of her secret hopes and dreams.
He stepped closer, so their bodies brushed together. They were both wrapped in heavy winter coats. Hers fleece-lined denim, his a snow-worthy parka. But she swore, she could feel the heat of his body through the layers. It warmed her. It tempted her. It made her insides melt.
“Maybe this will take your mind off of being nervous,” he said, sliding his hands under her hair to curve over the back of her neck. His fingers were chilly, a vivid contrast to the warmth of his body as he pulled her close.
“This is…”
His lips brushed over hers, making her swallow the word
crazy
. But she didn’t stop thinking it.
Crazy wild.
His lips were so sweet. So soft as they rubbed over hers. His tongue slipped, so gently, along the edge of her lips. She gasped, opening her mouth to his. Taking that as a welcome, Simon’s tongue moved in to dance with hers.
Crazy hot.
Their mouths sipped and slid. Hot and wet. She gasped when his teeth nipped at her lower lip. He soothed the tiny hurt with his tongue, then sucked her lip into his mouth. Desire took on a sharp edge. Maya’s fingers dug into the thick cushion of Simon’s parka.
Crazy intense.
His hands shifted, smoothing down the sides of her throat, along the edge of her collar. Warming her skin and leaving a sizzling trail of heat behind. Heat that made her want to strip off her jacket and bury his hands inside her blouse. To feel his fingers on her. To find out if they were as talented as his mouth promised.
Finally, just as she was wondering if her knees would hold up long enough for her to throw him in the back of her truck and strip him naked, he pulled away.
He stared down at her, his eyes dark with desire. His fingers tightened briefly on her shoulders before he slid them down her arms to take her hands in his.
“Well,” Maya said breathlessly. But she couldn’t think of anything to say after that. Her brain was blank, her body a puddle of churned-up lust. All she could do was blink and try and reinflate her lungs.
“Well,” Simon echoed, his voice a little hoarse. But he seemed to have a few brain cells still working, because he looked around, then tucked his arm around Maya’s shoulders. He took a deep breath. Then, pulling her along, he headed up the walk toward the front door.
“Wait,” she protested halfway there, realizing they were heading for the lion’s den and she wasn’t prepared.
“Best to do it now, while we’re in a good mood,” he said, giving her a wicked wink. Then, to her horror, he reached out one finger and rang the doorbell.
Maya spent one glorious second entertaining the fantasy of turning heel and running away. But given that Simon had a good grip on her shoulders, she’d probably trip and land face first at Eros’s naked feet.
Letting the image entertain, and sooth her, she took a deep breath. Before she could let it out, the door swung open.
“Well, hello,” intoned the redheaded Amazon in a throaty voice. “You’re Maya. And you—” she gave Simon a slow, appreciative once over “—are delicious. Please, join us.”
The woman was wearing heels, making her easily six feet tall. Her dress was a midnight blue with tiny silver stars embroidered along the bodice and teeny gold planets along the hem. Crystal earrings as big as Maya’s fist glinted in the porch light through an abundance of fire-engine-red waves of hair.
Wow.
“Cassiopeia, isn’t it?” Maya asked as she stepped out from under Simon’s arm to cross the threshold. “You did a great séance and tarot reading for my senior class event. I still remember how accurate and, well, a little scary, your words were.”
Taking Maya’s hand in her own, Cassiopeia offered a smile that was oddly reassuring. “Just, as I imagine, this evening feels to you now. But take heart, it’ll all turn out just fine.”
It wasn’t so much her words that sent a chill through Maya. It was her tone of voice. Knowing, intense and just a little eerie.
Maya’s smile stiffened and she pulled her hand free. Then both women looked back at Simon, who was still on the porch looking dumbfounded. At Maya’s arch look, he cleared his throat and held out his own hand.
“Simon Harris, it’s a pleasure,” he said.
“I can’t wait to learn all about you, Mr. Harris,” Cassiopeia said, holding his hand in hers as she closed the door. Then she gave Maya a naughty wink, and led the two of them down a long magenta hallway.
“Darlings,” Cassiopeia said as she entered the great room first. “Our guests have arrived.”
Before Maya could get a look around, or even gauge how many people made up Cassiopeia’s
darlings,
she was enfolded in a tight bear hug and swung off her feet in a wide, stomach-arching circle.
All thoughts, and thankfully her nerves, at looking for her father disappeared.
“Caleb,” she squealed, her face buried in a hard shoulder. He smelled the same. Like Irish Spring soap, coffee and, well, like her big brother. His arms were tight around her waist as he set her to her feet and gave her a thorough inspection.
His eyes, the exact same shade of gold as her own, narrowed, like he saw something that worried him. Then he smiled, his teeth white against the dusky five-o’clock shadow he always seemed to sport.
“Hey, little girl.”
“I missed you,” she murmured, ashamed that her eyes filled with tears, but unable to stop them. “It’s been so long.”
“Too long. But that’s done. Now you get to see me a minimum of three times a year, whether you like it or not.”
“Three?”
He shrugged. “Arbitrary number. I’ll take more, but refuse to settle for less.”
“Bossy.”
“Better believe it.”
They grinned at each other. The old patterns, the teasing, the simple and easy affection. They were still there. A tiny part of Maya’s heart, one she hadn’t even realized she’d tucked away, sang in relief. Her entire body sagged with the joy of having her brother back in her world again.
“I want you to meet Pandora,” Caleb said, stepping aside to take the hand of a slender, auburn-haired woman.
Maya stared. She’d had a solid idea of what kind of woman it’d take to bring down the mighty Caleb Black. Someone a little hard, a lot sexy, wild and in-your-face strong.
But while Pandora was sexy, and looked strong enough to handle Caleb, she was anything but hard. Instead, she looked…sweet, Maya decided. A soft fall of auburn hair brushed shoulders covered in a black velvet dress, hazel eyes looked back at Maya, both happy and just a little nervous.
“Maya, I’m happy to meet you. I remember you from school, but doubt you remember me,” she said, stepping forward to offer her hand.
“That’s my loss, then. And now I owe you,” Maya said with a grin. “You not only snagged my brother, but you’ve got him to stay in one place. We’re going to have a nice, long talk and you’ll have to share all your secrets.”