Blonde With a Wand (28 page)

“Hell, no! I left each of them because I realized we weren’t as good together as I’d thought we’d be.”

He might come to feel the same way about her, and she had to accept that. “Did you tell them that in this latest e-mail?”

“Why would I say that? I don’t want them to feel bad all over again. This is supposed to be about healing old hurts.”

“Or creating new ones.” Anica sighed. “You don’t want them to get their hopes up, Jasper. Um, did you notice that Sheila gave me her business card?”

“Yep. It was seeing her card that got me thinking about this idea.” He sounded very proud of himself.

“Do you have any idea why Sheila gave it to me?”

“Not really.” He shrugged. “She’s a consultant for a window covering company. I thought maybe she was drumming up business.”

Anica didn’t like revealing another woman’s vulnerabilities, but Jasper needed to understand the impact he’d had on his former girlfriends. “She was trying to drum up you.”

“I don’t get it.”

“She still wants you, Jasper. She told me if I wasn’t interested, to let her know so she might be able to catch you on the rebound.”

“But I made it clear that I—”

“Doesn’t matter.” Looking at him standing there, confused, rumpled and so very sexy, she had no trouble imagining that women would forgive him anything if they could have one more round of sex, one more chance to convince him they were the perfect match.

“Sure it does. We said our good-byes and that was that.”

“People change their minds all the time. Sheila hopes that you’ll change yours, and she’d love to help that process along by coaxing you back to her bed.”

Jasper groaned. “Maybe that happens with other guys, but not me. When I leave, I leave for
good.
No do-overs.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

He met her gaze. “I haven’t left you, Anica.”

“No, but it’s a good bet that you will once my magic comes back. Admit it, the magic freaks you out.”

“It used to.” He shoved his hands in the pockets of his slacks as if uncomfortable with the topic but determined to discuss it, anyway. “You said yourself that witches and wizards are pledged to do no harm.”

“That’s true. We are.” If she’d gotten that much across, then she’d done the magical community a favor. Not many nonmagical people accepted that basic premise. They still thought of witches as evil.

“I’ve seen how that works. You broke the rule and you lost your magic.”

“Yes.”

“So like you said, I don’t have anything to be afraid of from you other than the usual man-woman stuff like rejection, misunderstanding, power struggles, hogging the bathroom mirror, using my razor to shave your legs—stuff like that.”

She thought he might be saying that he no longer saw her witch status as a problem. Funny how that was the issue they’d started with on Monday night, and now, apparently, it wasn’t an issue anymore. No, they now had other issues.

First there was the obvious physical problem of whether he would ever revert permanently to his human form. A great deal depended on that, and there were no guarantees. Then they had to wonder whether they’d want to spend time with each other if he did regain his status as a man. Finally, there was the biggie, the super-duper issue of all—whether, if after all that transpired, they could trust each other with their hearts.

But they’d wandered off the track and she knew a time bomb could be ticking away inside that computer. “You need to send more e-mails,” she said.

“I do?”

“Yes. You must e-mail each of those women and let her know that you have no intention of getting back together. You can wish her well, and apologize again for the initial lie you told to get her in bed, but make sure she understands this isn’t an invitation to reunite.”

“They won’t think that’s what it was.”

She gazed at him and shook her head. “You may understand more about cats than ever before, but you still have a lot to learn about women.”

As if to make that point, a muffled cell-phone tune sounded in the apartment. Anica recognized “Brown-Eyed Girl.”

“That’s my BlackBerry,” he said. “Where is it?”

“I left it in the pocket of your wool coat.” She motioned toward the coat closet by the front door. “It’s in there.”

“Damn.”

“Someone you know?”

“Sheila.” He made no move toward the coat closet.

“You need to answer it, Jasper. If she’s calling you at this hour of the night, immediately after you sent her an e-mail, she’s in a world of hurt. She’s misinterpreted what you said in the e-mail.”

Jasper looked like a man going to an execution as he walked over to the coat closet. But he did it. Opening the door, he reached inside the pocket of his coat, pulled out the BlackBerry and answered it.

“Hi, Sheila,” he said. “I . . . uh . . . didn’t expect you to call.”

Anica thought she should duck out on this conversation. She was halfway to the kitchen to get coffee when Jasper caught her by the wrist. She turned and looked into his eyes.

“No, Sheila, that’s not why I e-mailed you,” he said.

Anica didn’t have to be a mind reader to interpret his pleading glance. He wanted her to stay for moral support. He might even want her to feed him lines.

He cleared his throat. “No, the e-mail was only meant to let you know that I’m sorry for the way I began it.” He winced at something Sheila must have said, looked at Anica and mouthed the word
Help
.

She kept her voice very low. “You deserve to have somebody who appreciates you more than I did.”

Jasper said that.

Anica tried to think of what she’d want to hear under these circumstances. “Someone who clicks with you on a deeper level.”

Jasper repeated her words.

“Someone who’s not such a self-centered jerk.”

Jasper lifted his eyebrows and she simply smiled at him.

“Uh, Sheila, you need someone who’s not such a self-centered jerk. That’s right. Yep. If I were you I’d be mad at me, too.” He nodded. “No, I don’t think it’s a good idea if we meet to talk it out. Seriously, no.”

Anica racked her brain for something that would discourage Sheila. “We’ll both heal quicker if we stay away from each other,” she murmured.

Jasper gave her a thumbs-up. “We’ll heal quicker if we stay away from each other.” He paused to listen. “No, I really believe that. Absence doesn’t make the heart grow fonder. It makes you forget all about the person. Absolutely. And besides . . .” He glanced at Anica.

She was running out of happy talk. She shrugged.

“Besides, Sheila, I, um, I hate to tell you this, but . . . I’m tired of sex.”

Anica clapped a hand over her mouth. He would never get away with that whopper.

“I know it’s hard to believe, but there you have it. For me it’s the same ol’, same ol’. You can spice it up with whips and chains, threesomes, foursomes, a whole orgy, and it’s still a yawner.” Jasper turned away from Anica, probably so he wouldn’t crack up in the middle of his heartfelt explanation. “Definitely. You need to find someone who isn’t sexually jaded. Uh-huh. Right. Thanks for calling. ’Bye.”

“Don’t tell me she bought that line of bull?”

He faced her with only a hint of a smile. “Maybe it’s not a line of bull.”

“Jasper, not an hour ago you were—”

“With you. Yes, I know. That’s the only part I didn’t mention to Sheila. See, although I haven’t tried the whips and chains and group sex—”

“I’m relieved to hear it.”

“Nah, that kind of stuff doesn’t interest me. I’d rather have one-on-one. But that said, I
had
become sort of bored with sex.”

“I see.” She folded her arms and waited to see how big a hole he’d dig for himself.

“No, seriously! I was beginning to wonder if something was wrong with me because I wasn’t into it anymore. But guys don’t like to admit a thing like that. We’re supposed to be ready for it all the time.”

“Sheila seemed to think you were into it. She couldn’t have been more complimentary about your performance.”

“That’s nice, but you just nailed it. I was putting on a performance.”

“You mean after a while, after the thrill wore off.” The longer he talked, the heavier her heart grew.

“No, I mean from the beginning. Same with Kate and Deb.”

“So once the chase is over, the conquest is made, then—”

“No, that’s not it!” He gripped her arms, his gaze intense. “I talked myself into going to bed with all three of those women because they were smart and hot, and I thought eventually I’d get the thrill back. It wasn’t about making a conquest; it was about trying to feel a little old-fashioned lust.”

“That’s crazy.”

“I thought I was going crazy. Then I met you and the old feeling was back. Lust was back, baby!”

“But what if it goes away again?”

He pulled her close. “How about this? How about we enjoy it while it’s here?”

That’s the thing about cats. We live in the moment.
He hadn’t said the words, but they echoed in her head, anyway.

“You have a couple of e-mails to send first.”

“You’re right. And now I know what to say.”

“Jasper, I wouldn’t count on fooling anybody else with that sexually bored routine.”

“No, that was lame, but I hadn’t thought it through. Now I have.” He walked back to the computer and switched it on.

“So what are you planning to say to Kate and Deb?”

He sat down in the desk chair and stared at the screen as the computer booted up. “That I’ve found someone who makes me feel sexually alive again, and I wish the same for them.”

Sexually alive.
That certainly described how he made her feel, too, and that was a huge gift. She glanced at the antique clock on the wall. Earlier tonight they’d seemed to have so much time, but it was dwindling fast. If she didn’t take his suggestion and live in the moment, she’d be all kinds of a fool.

“When you’re finished,” she said, “you’ll find me in the bedroom.”

He typed quickly. “Asleep?”

“No. Naked.”

Jasper typed those e-mails with a hard-on. He typed them as quickly as he could before turning off the computer, choosing a few magic books from Anica’s collection and walking down the hall. Orion followed him.

Soft light spilled from the bedroom doorway, but it had a different quality from the kind created by her table lamps. He was curious as to how she’d created that effect.

The air smelled like warm honey. Although his human sense of smell wasn’t as acute as when he was a cat, he seemed to have learned to pay more attention to his environment. He stepped through the door and found her surrounded by what seemed like a hundred beeswax candles. Tapers, pillars and votives covered every available surface.

The ivory glow made him catch his breath. She lay in the center of a bed stripped of everything but the bottom sheet and two pillows. She waited, this ivory and golden goddess, for him.
For him.
That crack she’d made in the kitchen reminding him about how soon he’d be eating off the counter where they’d just had sex hadn’t really fooled him. She was in as deep as he was.

Orion trotted over and hopped onto the bed, where he curled up next to Anica. She scratched behind his ears, but her gaze remained on Jasper. Jasper had to admit the orange tabby fit nicely into the scene if somebody had canvas and paints to capture it. But he wasn’t an artist. He was a man with an erection that felt bigger than the Hancock building.

Setting the stack of books next to the bed, he reached over and picked up the cat. His fingers grazed her skin and his dick twitched in anticipation.

“You’d better put him in the coat closet.”

“I hate sticking him in that tiny space. The hall will work.” He set Orion on his feet outside the door and closed it. Then, keeping his attention focused on Anica, he pulled his shirt from his slacks and began unfastening the buttons.

Orion began to meow and scratch at the door.

“Coat closet,” Anica said with a smile.

“Right.” Jasper opened the door.

Orion shot through it and dashed under the bed.

With a groan, Jasper dropped to his hands and knees and tried to reach the cat, but Orion backed into the exact center of the space.

Laughing, Anica broke her pose and climbed out of bed. “I’ll get the broom.”

Jasper enjoyed the view as she walked out of the room, but then he peered under the bed and glared at the cat. “If it weren’t for you I’d be a happy man right about now. I was trying to do you a favor, you ingrate. I’d hate to be closed in that tiny closet, so I figured you would, too. And this is how you repay me for being a pal.”

Orion stared at him, unmoving.

“This should help.” Anica arrived with the broom.

Jasper recognized the broom. It was the same one she’d used to chase him out from under the bed that first night. This was no O-Cedar brand of broom, either. The handle was thick and had a pentagram carved into it near the top. The bristles were gathered in a bundle instead of the flat brooms he was used to using.

Where had he seen a similar kind of broom? Oh yeah. Kate had been a Harry Potter fan. She’d dragged him to the movies. Harry and friends rode on brooms like this, but of course that was all fake.

Anica gave him a puzzled glance. “Is something wrong?”

Hell, he needed to ask these kinds of questions sooner or later, but he was afraid it would ruin the sex. He hated to do that, because every time he looked at her walking around with no clothes on, he wanted to—well, do everything in the book with her. And a few things that might not be in any book.

“Jasper?”

“I . . . um, do you . . . ride that?”

Her brow cleared. “You’re freaked out by the broom.”

“I wouldn’t say that.”