Elemental Enchantment (11 page)

For several long moments, they stayed like that, their rough, uneven breathing the only sound that filled the small kitchen. Finally, he straightened and withdrew then disposed of his condom before returning and smoothing his hands down her arms, over the leather that still wrapped around her. Reaching the buckle, he unfastened it and unbound her arms, gently massaging them before helping her up and pulling her close.

She turned in his embrace and rested her head against his chest. His heart still beat impossibly fast beneath her cheek. She’d only meant to invite him in for tea, and somehow, here they were. Naked again. Not that she was complaining. She had to admit, she was blown away by the fact that he hadn’t turned and run in the opposite direction when he discovered the whole witch thing. But maybe it hadn’t really sunk in yet.

He kissed the top of her had. “Are you all right? Not too sore?”

Her arms ached a little, but it was a small price to pay for amazing sex. “I’m fine. Great, really.” Tilting back her head, she looked up at him. “So…over a police car, huh?”

He raised an eyebrow. “It’s occurred to me.”

“Uh-huh.” She laughed. “I can probably get on board with that.”

A wicked grin curved his lips. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Chapter Twelve

Eli pulled Meaghan closer, and she sighed in her sleep. He’d been surprised when she’d led him to her bedroom. He’d half-expected her to ask him to leave after they’d had sex, but she hadn’t, and he was grateful. They’d lain awake and talked for hours—about everything. Well, everything but the fact that witches were real, and there were sick fucks in the world who kidnapped children. They’d avoided those topics. And they’d made love again. It seemed neither one of them could get enough of the other.

He still wasn’t sure how to process everything he’d seen tonight. Trying to come to terms with the fact that magic actually existed
and
the woman he was well on his way to falling in love with was a witch was a lot to handle in one evening.

If he were honest with himself, he might have walked away from someone else who’d shown him the same thing. But this was Meaghan. It was more than getting to finally bang his high school crush. He really liked the woman she’d become. She was smart, funny, passionate, not to mention fucking beautiful. Now, he just needed to convince her she was actually relationship-able, and that he was worth taking a chance on.

* * * *

Eli squinted into the grayish dawn light and tried to figure out what had woken him. Meaghan whimpered, and he realized the sound had pulled him from sleep. With a gasp, her eyes flew open and she struggled in his embrace. Loosening his hold on her, he murmured her name, shaking her slightly. The kitten that had been sleeping on her pillow hissed at him as he tried to wake her.

“Meaghan, it’s okay. You’re having a dream.”

Slowly, her eyes seemed to focus, and she blinked at him, but he wasn’t sure she actually saw him. “I was dreaming about Ava. She was holding my hand and leading me through the woods to her body. She kept repeating ‘Help us,’ over and over. Just as I saw the garbage bag, a man showed up in a gray hoodie, leading another little girl by the hand. He pulled up the edge of the garbage bag and told her if she didn’t stop crying, the same thing would happen to her.”

Eli pulled Meaghan against his chest and smoothed his hand over her head and back. He couldn’t believe he was about to ask this question, but at this point, all they had to go on was spirit photography and a scrying spell. Why not toss possibly prophetic dreams into the mix? “Did you recognize the area?”

She shrugged. “Sort of. It was wooded, but so are lots of places around here. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t the same place we found Marisol a few years ago. That was an orchard, and these didn’t look like apple trees.”

“Do you think this is a psychic dream kind of thing?” he asked. “I mean, do you have those? Are they real, too?”

She laughed, but it sounded as if there was an edge of hysteria to it. “I’m not the least little bit psychic. Until the wedding, the only experiences I had with ghosts were with my sister. So who knows? I guess it could be a psychic dream. Or it could just be my subconscious working overtime out of desperation. I don’t know.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I’m going to review these files along with any other unsolved child abductions. Maybe there’s some connection that’s been overlooked.”

“Is there a way you can search to see if any of Bob’s relatives or friends have a gold car he might have borrowed?”

He shook his head. “Not without something to tie him to either of the girls.”

She turned her head to look at the clock and sighed. “As much as I don’t want to, I should probably get up. I need to go to the studio and explain why I’m not finished sorting the photos yet.”

“Make sure you keep an entire unaltered set…just in case.”

She nodded. “Already on it.”

He dropped a kiss on her lips. “Yet another reason I’m well on my way to falling in love with you.”

Her eyes widened, but she laughed, seeming genuinely happy. “I’m a little concerned that you’re turned on by organizational skills.”

“Mostly, it’s just you.”

She reached up and brushed the hair from his eyes, her expression tender and full of wonder.

“I know it’s fast, and I know that you insist you’re not relationship-able,” he said, stumbling over the word. “But I think you are. I’m hoping you’re willing to give me a chance to prove it to you.”

Meaghan stared at him for a moment, her deep brown eyes full of an emotion he couldn’t identify, then nodded and pulled his head down for a kiss.

When he finally lifted his head, he glanced at the clock and groaned. “If I’m going to get in there early enough to look at those files, I should get going.” Instead of moving, he kissed her again. When they finally broke apart, he said, “Or I could just call the chief and let him know I’ve been enchanted by a beautiful witch.”

“Oh my god. I’m so stupid.” Sudden shock and horror twisted her features. She gently shoved at his shoulder and climbed out of bed. She grabbed a long T-shirt and yanked it over her head.

“Meaghan? What’s wrong?” Stomach sinking to his feet, he got out of bed and went to her.

She turned and met his gaze, her eyes filled with unmistakable pain. “You’re not falling in love with me.”

“The hell I’m not!”

She shook her head. “Just listen to me a minute. You’re under a spell. My stupid best friend has been saying I needed a love spell. In fact, she was saying it again right before I nearly hit the kitten.”

“So? What does that have to do with how I feel about you?”

She looked as if she was going to cry, and he wanted to do anything to take away the pain. When he stepped toward her, she backed away.

“You’re not really feeling it,” she explained. “You were just convenient when she cast the spell.”

“No. No way.” There was no way what he felt wasn’t real. He was falling in love with her. Maybe a little part of him had always loved her.

“Explain why you didn’t completely flip out when you saw me cast those spells. It’s part of the enchantment.”

Now, he was getting pissed. He’d be even angrier if he couldn’t tell this was tearing her up. “I was a cop. In Lansing. For years. Do you have any idea how much weird shit I saw? It’s hard to shock me.”

She snorted in disbelief.

He dragged a hand through his hair in frustration. “I’ll be honest; it did freak me out a little. What was worse was those few minutes I thought you might somehow be involved.” He turned her to meet his gaze. “When you went on to prove—quite effectively, I might add—that you weren’t, I was more relieved than anything else.”

She swallowed hard. “I know this feels real to you, but I promise, it’s not.”

He opened his mouth, and she laid her fingers across it. Her huge brown eyes filled with tears. “Please don’t make this harder than it already is. I’ll talk to Rowan today and get her to reverse it. I’m so sorry she did this to you.”

“Meaghan…”

“Please don’t. I’m sorry. I just can’t do this.” She smiled sadly at him then stood on her toes and brushed a kiss across his cheek. “You should go so you can look at those files.” Without another word, she disappeared into the bathroom, the lock clicking shut behind her.

He wanted to break down the door, but what good would that do? Instead, he paused at the door and said, “I’m leaving, but this isn’t done. Not by a long shot.”

His chest ached at the sound of her muffled crying.

* * * *

When Meaghan opened the bathroom door, she knew Eli was gone. The kitten sat mewing plaintively outside the door. She picked him up and wandered into the kitchen. Her phone sat on the kitchen table next to her purse. Definitely not where she’d left it. Picking it up, she found she had a text message.

Sorry to go through your purse to find your phone, but I wanted to make sure you had my number in case you need anything. Or in case you come across more information. I’ll talk to you later. Please give me a chance to prove you wrong.

She looked around the kitchen. He’d picked up her clothes from the night before and folded them—well, “guy folded” them—and put them on one of the chairs.

The sight of those sloppily folded clothes started the tears all over again. Falling for him hurt. The idea that he actually cared about her hurt far worse than outright rejection. She loved Rowan. She really did, but she was going to kill her friend for this.

* * * *

After a quick shower, Meaghan headed over to Rowan’s. Not bothering to knock, she pushed open the backdoor.

Her friend smiled at her as she set a plate of pancakes on the table and said, “You’re just in time for breakfast.”

“I’m not hungry.”

Rowan looked more closely at her. “You look terrible. Sit down—at least, let me get you some coffee. What’s the matter?”

Meaghan sank into the chair across from Rowan’s one-year-old daughter and waved at the little girl who squealed excitedly and banged her hands on her tray.

“Megs,” Rowan said. “What’s going on?”

“I need you to reverse the love spell on Eli.”

Her friend frowned. “Who’s Eli?”

“He’s the guy who rear-ended me the other day when we were on the phone—the one I spent the night with after the wedding. He thinks he’s falling in love with me.”

“Did he hit his head?” Rowan set a plate of chocolate chip pancakes and bacon in front of Meaghan. Being this close to actual home-cooked food made it almost impossible to resist.

“Nice,” Meaghan snapped, biting into a piece of bacon.

“Well, you act like that’s the only way a guy would fall for you.”

She glared at Rowan. “Well, that or a love spell.”

Meaghan watched as Rowan broke up pieces of pancake and put them on the baby’s highchair tray. “I didn’t cast a love spell on anyone, Megs. I promise.”

Meaghan stared down at the plate of food in front of her, willing away the tears that burned her eyes.

Rowan laid her hand over Meaghan’s. “You know I’d never do that to you, right? Not without your permission, anyway.”

Meaghan nodded and swiped at her eyes as Rowan passed the syrup.

“Eat something, and tell me everything—starting with who the hell is Eli?”

Meaghan poured some syrup on the pancakes. “Remember the guy who used the tutor me in Algebra back in high school?”

Rowan frowned for a minute, then said, “Oh yeah. That adorable little nerdy kid.”

“Yeah, well, that adorable little nerdy kid grew up to be a drop-dead gorgeous cop who’s nothing short of amazing in bed.”

By the time they’d finished breakfast, Meaghan had told her everything from the accident to finding her clothes folded on the chair this morning. Gwydion, Rowan’s husband, had joined them for the last part of the story.

“So he really didn’t freak about the whole witchy thing?” Rowan asked.

Meaghan shook her head. “He was surprised, but no, not really. Not like some people.”

Rowan stood to clear the plates. “Look, I’m not saying you need a man to complete you, but he’s cool with witchcraft, is gorgeous and fucks like a dream…and you kicked him out?”

Her husband playfully smacked her ass. “Do you want your daughter to learn that language?”

She dropped a kiss on his upturned mouth. “She doesn’t understand yet. When she does, she’ll probably be a potty mouth like her mama and her Aunt Meggie.”

Gwydion laughed and turned to Meaghan. “Do you like him?”

Meaghan nodded miserably.

“Then give him a chance.”

Chapter Thirteen

Eli pushed away his frustration over Meaghan and pored through the missing children case files, looking for any similarities. Ava Billings, Daisy Sumner and the child Meaghan had told him about, Marisol Ramirez, had all been abducted by a white male driving an older model gold or tan car. There were even partial license plates for the last two, but none of the numbers matched. Okay… Different plates for each abduction. It wouldn’t be the first time a serial kidnapper had done that.

He punched the numbers of both partials into the DVM database.

“You’re in early, Jones,” the chief said.

“Yeah. I had a thought about the Sumner abduction. Just doing a little follow up.”

“You look like shit on toast. What the hell happened to your face?”

“A linebacker at that house party happened to it.”

“Damn kids,” the other man muttered then gestured at his computer screen. “Well, don’t think you’re getting overtime for coming in early.” His boss took a sip of his coffee and started to walk away.

The database results popped up on Eli’s computer screen, and his blood ran a cold. One of them was registered to a Margery Lewandowski. Bob’s mother. Meaghan had been right all along.

“Hey, Chief? There’s a partial from the Billings’ abduction that shows a limited match to a nineteen eighty-two, gold Lincoln Town Car registered to a Margery Lewandowski. Did anyone ever check that out?”