The Magick of Dark Root (Daughters of Dark Root) (21 page)

Shane raised his arms in a stretch, kicking out his long legs. His T-shirt rose up, allowing me to glimpse his lightly muscled abs. “That, my dear, is a technicality. Someday I’m gonna have that horse and a pretty little cowgirl to ride off into the sunset with.” He lowered his arms and wrapped them around my waist. “Will you be that cowgirl? Pretty please?”

I pushed one of his arms down as the other found its way back around me. “You’re like a human octopus,” I said. “You need to go home and get some sleep. Let me call you a cab.”

“What? It’s still early.” He checked his wrist and chuckled when he noticed he wasn’t wearing a watch. “I like this place. I have music, fine company, and love.” He clamped both my hands in his and put them to his chest.

“Seriously, Shane. Do you have a designated driver? Did Paul come with you?”

“Maybe you can give me a ride. Will you give me a ride, Maggie?”

The double entendre made me blush, partly from embarrassment at seeing him like this, and partly for what he was implying. “Shane, come on.” I turned to the bartender. “Can you call him a taxi please? He needs to go home.”

“Home? Home to what? I live in an apartment above a fondue bar. I’m a cowboy with a fondue bar! That’s not home, Maggie. That’s not a place I can hang my hat.” He pulled my fingers to his lips. “I got a great idea. We can move in together. I can build us a little house. A ranch house!” His eyes lit up. “Wouldn’t that be swell?”

“Swell?” I took his grabby hands and planted them on the bar counter. “That’s it. You’re no longer allowed to watch The Andy Griffith Show.”
 

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Eve motioning for me to join her. One of the guys placed his hands on her bottom and her eyes told me that I’d better hurry.

“Mag-gie,” Shane slurred, gazing at me from beneath his lush, dark lashes. “We could get married. Start a family…wouldn’t that be n-ice?”

“The cab will be here in five minutes,” the bartender said.

“Shane, go home, okay? We’ll talk tomorrow.”

“Is that your way of saying you don’t want to live with me?” He grabbed his hat on the counter and pushed it onto his head. “You won’t hold my hand. You won’t kiss me. And now you don’t even want to live with me. That’s just great.”

Eve practically hopped as she tried to wave me over.
 

I stood, torn between staying with Shane––who was clearly drunk off his ass––and Eve, who might be in trouble. The headlights of a cab appeared outside the window and I knew he’d be okay.

“Shane, I have to go.” I reached into his front jeans pocket and he smiled, pushing his hips against my hand. I could feel the beginning of his arousal. “Don’t get too excited. I’m just getting your keys.”
 

His expression turned sulky.

I found his keys and dropped them in my bag. “I’ll bring these by tomorrow. Your ride’s outside. Go home and get some sleep, okay?”

Reluctantly, I joined my sister and her two companions. They were older than her by at least twenty years. She smiled at me gratefully as I approached.
 

“Maggie, meet Bob and Larry. I told them we might be up for a quick game or two.” Larry, a balding man with a mustache that covered his entire upper lip, sidled over to me and slipped an arm around my neck. I gracefully stepped out of his clutch, but not before Shane approached, scowling.

“It all makes sense now,” Shane said. “Why you don’t call me. Why you don’t want to live with me. Take good care of her, man,” he said to Larry as he passed.
 

Shane stomped away, trying unsuccessfully to slam the door on his way out.

I should have run after him, explained the situation to him, but it was pointless. In Shane’s liquored up head, he wouldn’t understand.
 

I hardly understood, and I was sober.

I watched through the window as Shane climbed into the cab. I could only hope that he had gotten so drunk he’d forget this whole evening come tomorrow when I dropped off his car.
 

“Gentlemen,” I said, staring resolutely at the pool table, my fingers tingling with electricity. “Let’s play.”

Twelve

SEX AND CANDY

Dark Root, Oregon

The Woods

Time: Unknown

He pushed his way through fog, thick as cotton candy, ignoring the dense undergrowth that grabbed for his feet. He smiled confidently as his eyes met mine.

“You came for me,” I said.

“You knew I would.”
 

“Yes.”
 

I thought for a moment, my mind muddled. “But how did you find me, Shane? Here, I mean.”

“I can always find you, Maggie. Even in your dreams.”

He closed the distance between us, his body so close to mine I could feel the heat rising off of him. Our breath and the fog became one. He rested one arm on the tree behind me. His body was damp and sticky, evidence of his restless sleep.

The trees closed in around us like a curtain. We were alone here, unchained by the burdens of reality. We could do…anything.

“Miss me?” I teased, resisting the urge to pull him closer. He had come for me. It was his quest to finish. “I mean, really Shane, I’ve had admirers before, but never ones who stalked me in my dreams.”

“Well, then,” he said, his face so close I could still smell the alcohol on his breath. “Maybe they didn’t admire you as much as I do.”

I swallowed hard, trying to think of something else to say, something light and coy.
 

“You should have at least given me some warning.” I adjusted the collar of his T-shirt. “Then I could have put on something sexier.”

He lifted a playful eyebrow. “Your wish is my command.”

In the twinkling of an eye, my shirt was replaced by a long billowy skirt and no blouse. I dropped my hands from his collar to cover up my exposed breasts. He pulled them away and studied me.

I dropped the schoolgirl smile as my breathing deepened. I ran my hand along his square jaw, then to the soft curve of his chin, down his round shoulders, stopping at the hollow of his neck. I let my hands roam across his shirt, feeling the soft swell of muscles beneath cotton.

He watched as his warm breath fell across my face.

“I want you,” I said, pushing my hand up through the bottom of his shirt, feeling the smoothness of his abdomen and the soft hairs around his navel.
 

“You can have me,” he said, pushing me back against the tree behind us, the tree where he had carved our initials. “We’re meant to be together, Maggie. Not just now, but forever.”

“I know.” I tilted my head back, offering him my neck. I burned so hot I thought I might set the whole forest on fire.

“No, Maggie, you don’t know.” He took my chin firmly in his hands, forcing me to look into his eyes. “You keep running from me. You keep hiding from me. But you can’t hide here. I can always find you here.”

“I'm not running now, Shane.”

He released my face and clasped my hands in his. He lifted them over my head, pinning me to the tree. “That’s because I won’t let you.”

The left corner of his mouth turned up into a crooked smile and he narrowed his eyes.

Still pinning me, he pushed my legs open with his knee and drew his lips towards mine. I jerked my head from side to side, letting him wrestle me back each time. He was larger than me, able to overpower me. I grew wet thinking he could take me anytime and there was nothing I could do about it.
 

With his full weight, he pressed into me, releasing my hands.

I could push him back now, if I wanted. If I wanted.

“I’m going to take you now,” he said, his hand moving up my skirt until he found my thigh. “I’m going to do what I should have done to you years ago. I’m going to claim you, Maggie.”

“Will it hurt?” I asked, pulling on his hair in a desperate attempt to get as close to him as I could.
 

He flashed me a wicked grin. “Only if you want it to.”

I woke drenched in perspiration, my mind and heart still racing from the dream.

I had never had a dream that real or personal before and I couldn't get the image of Shane Doler, pinning me against the tree, out of my head. I busied myself throughout the morning, trying to hold back the blush from my cheeks.

At last, Eve and Paul went to work and I slipped into Eve’s bedroom, undetected.

The dream did something to me, charged me. As I rummaged through Eve’s dresser, I realized how silly I had been. If the reality of what it would be like to be with Shane was even one tenth as good as the dream, I was going for it. Screw my pride. Screw saving him. Screw saving myself. I threw a fantasy life out the window in favor of real.

It didn’t take me long to put together an entire outfit from Eve’s extensive wardrobe: a drape-y, hunter-green blouse with a low-cut neck, a long, charcoal-colored skirt with a slit up the side, black ankle boots a size too small, and a pair of real gold, hoop earrings.
 

Once dressed, I studied myself in her full length mirror. The loose fabric of the blouse hid my belly and accentuated my neckline and chest, both of which were quickly becoming my best features.
 

“I’m a gypsy,” I said, snaking my hands above my head and thrusting out my left hip. “And I’ve come to steal your heart, Shane Doler.”
 

I practiced an enticing look in the mirror, lowering my lashes as I tried to pull a dimple out of my cheek. I’d need more practice on my alluring stance. For now, I hoped the clothes were enough.

My face was flushed red so I dabbed on a bit of Eve’s powder, which hid my freckles as well as the blush. Two stones. I’d have to play it as low-key as possible, if I were going to get past Aunt Dora without notice.

“Ya look nice,” she said suspiciously as I zipped through the living room towards the front door. “Ya should wear yer hair down more. Brings out yer emerald eyes.”

“Thank you. I’m off for the day. Be back by dinner.” I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and rushed out before she could ask any questions.