Enchant Me (19 page)

With his chin resting gently on the top of my
head I felt him shake someone off. “There’s nothing more we can do
tonight, so let’s not worry about it. I will make sure Lex gets
home.”

I couldn’t help but smile at his commanding
tone and manner. He led me away from the dance floor and into a
small curtained alcove. A chaise lounge was placed within the small
private space. He sat down and leaned against the back of it
pulling me into his lap, his arms around my waist. Keeping my arms
around his neck I rested my head on his shoulder. One hand
came up to grasp my chin, tilting my head so he could see into my
eyes.

“How could you not know that he wasn’t me?”
He muttered.

  I was amazed at how much he had
correctly deduced and mildly amused by the fact that he was more
offended than hurt. Gently I removed his mask and just gazed at
him. He was so handsome it hurt. Even in the dim light of the
lantern on the side table next to us, I could see his dark eyes
were soft and gentle as he looked at me. Whatever issue there had
been between us was gone now. I tried to think of a way to
tell him without mentioning my vision that I had obviously
misinterpreted. It had been a warning but different from what I had
thought. That’s what I get for fighting my gift I suppose.
Disaster… 

“I wasn’t paying that much attention, he has
your basic build, height, and he obviously colored his hair.”

The more I thought about it the more panicky
I felt. He had gone to a lot of trouble for that one dance. If
Christian hadn’t shown up would he have tried to lure me outside…?
I started to shake.

“Lex,” he said, trying to get my attention,
tilting my head higher so I was forced to look at him. “What are
you thinking about?”

“He went to a lot of trouble to impersonate
you. If you hadn’t shown up…”

His brows crashed together and a flash of
rage crossed his face. I immediately regretted telling him. I
didn’t want him to get into a fight with Nicolas. I peered at him
warily as he looked at me. I felt his care and possessiveness from
my head to my toes. Gradually the rage faded and he took both my
hands in his, lightly massaging them as he regarded me. “What
did I tell you?”

Confused after all that had happened, I
searched back trying to figure out what he wanted me to recall.
Then I remembered. “That you wouldn’t let anything happen to
me.”

“Yes,” he breathed bringing up my hands to
his lips and brushing a kiss across my knuckles, then flipping them
over and placing a kiss inside each of my palms. As we looked at
each other I saw regret infuse his expression. 

“I’m sorry. I should never have left
you.”

He leaned heavily back against the chair
again. I had a feeling he almost hated himself for it. 

“Why did you?” I asked quietly, looking away
and down at our joined hands.

“It’s not something I think either of us
wants to get into too deeply right now, but…I know you’re
different,” he murmured.

 Startled I jerked my head up to stare
at him. He calmly regarded me back. I looked away from his
penetrating gaze as I thought back on the last couple weeks and
especially last night; his reactions to my headaches, the
motorcycle race and his odd question about getting headaches around
only him, which I still didn’t understand. Could he actually know?
How? I decided I really didn’t care if he knew or not. I wanted no
more secrets between us, but he was right. Neither of us wanted to
get into it tonight… Peeking at him, I was still a little nervous
as I considered what to say. 

“Are you afraid of me?” I breathed.

His tantalizing lips curled up at the
corners. “Maybe, but I was also afraid of me.”

I gave him the most confused look I could
muster, but he shook his head. “Not tonight, you deserve to enjoy
prom too.”

I smiled and arched a brow at him, wondering
what he had in mind. Enthralled, I watched as admiration took hold
of him and his hand drifted down from my chin to caress my bare
shoulder and down my arm. For a moment I just closed my eyes and
tracked his hands as they moved down and around my waist until I
felt their heat on my bare back. Slowly I opened my eyes and smiled
at him.

“Have I told you how beautiful you are
tonight?”

“No,” I said pertly.

He laughed so soft and low I barely heard it,
and I was charmed by him all over again. “You are
breathtaking,” he breathed. As his hands caressed my back, I
let mine trace over his tux covered arms, chest and shoulders,
eventually spearing my fingers in his hair at the nape of his neck.
“Well I think you are absolutely beautiful,” I said, daring him to
have a problem with it. No longer able to resist, I leaned
against him, my lips hovering just above his. Letting the moment
stretch I took in the strength of his warm hard body around me and
the slight scent of his cologne. The look of desire in his eyes and
his breath upon my lips completely captured me. The sensation of
his hand trailing up my back and cupping the back of my neck sent
delicious tremors through my body, and I let him draw my lips to
his for our softest kiss yet, like we were truly meeting for the
first time. As we kissed I couldn’t stop my hands from caressing
his face, neck and shoulders.

Everything about him captivated me. I felt
like I was melting into him, our souls merging in some luscious way
that defied description. Nothing existed beyond this moment and
that was fine by me. Bit by bit we drifted back into the real
world, permitting a breath’s space between our lips. I opened my
eyes to find him regarding me rather seriously.

“I love you,” he murmured. Awestruck, I
just stared at him for a moment, my heart beating so fast I was
embarrassed that he would hear it. “I love you too,” I
breathed. Now it seemed his turn to look stunned. Did he
really believe I couldn’t love him? What woman could resist him? I
could tell him that I also worshiped and adored him but I didn’t
want him to get a big head, so I left it at love. Cupping my head
in both hands he kissed me deeply, let me get a glimmer of the
depth of the desire he felt before he pulled away. He sighed
as he swung his feet off the chaise and onto the floor, hands
around my waist he pulled us both up to standing. I felt him run
the back of his hand down my naked spine as we stood there and I
leaned against him. “You are so lucky we are surrounded by all
these people or I would ravish you on the spot.”

I smiled up at him. “We could always
leave.”

He chucked me under the chin. “Don’t tempt
me.”

Smiling and laughing we returned to prom. As
soon as Tina saw us she swept us up into a picture frenzy that I
now happily endured. It made me so happy to see the light back in
Christian’s eyes. Watching him talk and laugh amongst our friends,
the darkness gone now, hopefully forever. I didn’t even mind
when the DJ announced the last song of the night because I was in
Christian’s arms. I put my hands inside his coat and around his
waist. For his part, he seemed fascinated with my bare back, his
hands moving up and down in an endless caress. 

He bent down towards my ear. “You have the
softest skin.”

I didn’t look up, instead I burrowed deeper
into his embrace. “I must, since you can’t seem to stop petting
me.”

He laughed and nuzzled against the side of my
face. “I really do love you,” he whispered in my ear. 

My heart swelled at his words. I believed
him. “You better or I will replace you with another hot
Irish-Italian painter.”

Laughing again he nudged at my head to make
me look up. “Not a chance, they broke the mold when they made
me.”

Moving my hands up around his neck I started
to raise up to kiss him, only to have him wrap his arms around my
waist and lift me up; my feet no longer touched the ground. “I’m
sure they did,” I gasped. 

I was in the middle of peppering Christian’s
face with kisses when a masculine hand grabbed Christian’s sleeve
and started tugging on him. Thoroughly irritated we both turned to
the source.

Jim was looking at us amused and apologetic,
Tina beside him was trying to contain her smile.

“I hate to tell you this but we all have to
go. The theatre people want to lock up and go home,” he
said. 

Chagrined now, Christian let me down. We
rushed to get our things and headed out the door to his car, our
friends trailing behind us, laughing their butts off. As we walked
to his car I felt the heat of his hand protectively at my back. Now
I definitely knew all was right with the world. It had been a
magical night after all. 

CHAPTER 10

I had only been home and sleeping for a
couple of hours when the pounding in my head forced me from a
blissful sleep. Disoriented, I wanted to scream from the pain but I
couldn’t risk waking up my mom. The agonizing roar in my ears was
almost deafening. I forced myself to sit up, and out of the corner
of my eye I saw Cody pacing anxiously. He padded over to me,
sniffed me and twitched his tail, then went back to his pacing. I
groaned. This had to be the moment I had been dreading and my
grandmother had been dreaming about. There couldn’t be a worse pain
than this one. Clutching my head, trying to hold it together, I
stumbled to my vanity to get my phone. My head throbbed so bad I
could barely see, but eventually I was able to pull up my
grandmother’s number and the phone rang for what felt like hours,
before she answered. “Grandma Anne?”

“Yes honey, what’s wrong?”

“It’s happening; I need you to come get me. I
won’t be able to drive.”

“Ok honey, you are going to be fine, I am on
my way now.”

After hanging up, I had planned on changing
out of my nightgown and into some clothes but when the world
started teetering around me, I settled for the robe at the end of
my bed. Then I started to make my way carefully into the living
room, Cody following at a safe distance. It was oddly comforting
that he was near. It was an eternity until I made it to the
door and unlocked it in preparation, and then I collapsed on the
couch. It seemed like I had just laid down when my grandmother
quietly knocked and then opened the door. Her boyfriend Charles, a
nice elderly gentleman, also part of our grove, was on her heels.
She kneeled down next to me, brushing sweat-drenched hair out of my
face.

“How are you doing?”

“Terrible,” I groaned.

“Can you walk?”

I shook my head; I didn’t want to even move,
but then she got out of the way and Charles gently lifted me up in
his arms and carried me out to the car, settling me in the back
that had been furnished with pillows and blankets. I laid down
putting a pillow beneath my head and braced my arms between the
front and back seat to keep my rocking to a minimum. As they both
got into the car they were careful as they closed the doors, trying
not to jar my head at all. 

“Alexis, I left your mom a note that you
weren’t feeling well and I took you to my place.”

“She is going to be insulted that I went to
you for help since she was right there.”

“Don’t worry about that right now honey,” she
said calmly, taking a quick glance at me as she pulled out of the
driveway.

The drive was going to be miserable, I
already knew that. I was getting motion sickness from laying down
in the back and to top that off with whatever else I was
experiencing, was hell. I wish someone would just knock me out and
I could wake up and it would all be over. Most likely my head would
still hurt from being punched out, but at least the worst would be
over. Out of nowhere I heard Cody’s plaintive meow. I wondered if I
was truly losing it. “Why do I hear Cody’s meow?”

“I brought him with us,” she answered.

“Why did you do that?”

“He should be there,” was all she said.

“What’s wrong with him?” I groaned, massaging
my temples against the pain. His forlorn meow seemed to echo in the
confines of the car. 

“Nothing, he wants to be near you,” my
grandmother replied. 

Charles looked back at me, his brows raised
in concern. “You sure you can handle him back there? He’s kind of
restless.”

“Yes,” I said, lifting up my arms to receive
him. 

He stopped meowing and seemed to calm when I
placed him on my chest. I petted him a couple times until he
settled there, tucking his front paws underneath him. He looked
deep into my eyes in a way that I had never seen any animal do, and
I let the rhythmic sound of his purr relax me. After a time I
started to match my breathing to the cadence of his purr and my
headache eased a little, but in its place visions bloomed inside my
brain. 

“Grandmother, I’m starting to see things,” I
said, alarmed. I could tell she wanted to glance back at me
but couldn’t since she was driving.

“That’s ok, that’s your gift remember. What
are you seeing?”

I felt myself edging towards panic again, and
so tuned back into the soothing rhythm of Cody’s purr. I tried to
concentrate on the pictures being thrust in front of my eyes. “I
don’t know, it’s just flashes, bits and pieces of images.”

“Try to stay relaxed, don’t fight it,” she
said soothingly. 

“I think my intuition is part of my psychic
visions, not a sign of what my gift was to be.”

“Why do you say that?” she asked,
understanding that I was trying to distract myself from the
pain.

 “I don’t always understand what I am
seeing, so I think that extra intuition is to fill in the gaps,”
and that was one of the last sensible things I said.

 The relief was incredible as I felt us
slow and turn onto her property. I started to feel like I was going
to throw up if I didn’t get out of this small, dark space any
minute now. I tried to concentrate on the sense of calm Cody was
emanating. When we pulled next to her house I noticed that none of
the lights were on which seemed odd. Charles opened my door and I
started to try to sit upright to aid him in helping me out, but I
felt so weak and pain-ridden. I groaned in distress. My grandmother
picked Cody off my chest while another man from our grove, Keith,
lifted me up into his arms. It was then that I looked around me and
I saw the nine other members of our grove, all holding candlelit
lanterns.