Heart of Fire: a Moonbound World series (Witches of Whitewood Book 1) (2 page)

Kyle Harris might be one of the most attractive men she’d ever seen.

Easily.

Dammit.

Nope
. Married man. Done and done.

J
amie tried
to watch the ceiling when Kyle bent down in the pantry and the jeans.
Girl. Those jeans
. Regardless of who he was, a man with a nice, round ass was a thing of beauty, and far too rare.

For lack of a better term, she was a butt woman. The feel of a man’s ass in her hands as he plunged…aaaaaaand that thought was going nowhere quick.

Married man, Jamie. Stop it.

She forced her gaze to the window above the sink, where she saw something shift down in the valley. Their cattle were never far out of sight, so it wasn’t unusual to see movement from all directions somewhere along the horizon.

Right now, anything was a good distraction from the way Kyle’s gray t-shirt crept up his taut back as he reached toward a shelf and revealed even more of that beautiful...

Can you call a man’s ass beautiful?

A gorgeous, well-filled-out,
married
ass.
Married. Okay? Enough.

“So you did all the ordering?” Kyle asked, his face still in the pantry.

“Technically, your predecessor made the first order, and I just copied what she’d done, based on a head count.”

“My predecessor?” He put a knee down on the laminate flooring and turned part way around. “I take it from what you said, something happened.”

Jamie snorted and pulled on her hair to tighten her ponytail. “It’s none of your business.”

“So something did happen.”

“Just look at your pantry, Kyle.”

His smile was slow and luxurious, like he’d been prying to get her to respond to him. “It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me. I’m happy to be in the dark.”

She bit her lip and looked away. Jamie didn’t like to be played with. “You’ll have to get this all packed up in the wagon this afternoon. I pulled it around into the garage yesterday—which will usually be your job, but we have to leave today.” She pointed past the pantry to the large double doors at the end of the kitchen. “You can load it all in there, and I’ll bring the team around to get it in an hour or two.”

“You expect me to have menus finished in an hour?”

Jamie put a hand on her hip. “No, I expect you to have the food loaded in an hour. You can do your menus on the road. You’ll have three hours to sit on your butt in the wagon on your way out to the campsite.”

Kyle pushed to his feet and walked to the double doors. When he opened them, he stood absolutely still for a moment then whistled. “We’re really driving some old covered wagon out into the wilderness for a week?” He faced her, and his eyes shadowed. “And you expect me to make meals on a campfire?”

“You haven’t even looked in the wagon. And it’s not old.” She snuck by him and into the garage. The musty, earthy smell enveloped her when she opened the door. “We had it built for this purpose.”

Jamie unlatched the gate and pulled a cord that hung down the right side. A light illuminated two huge silver grills pushed into the wagon bed. “There’s a portable butcher block with a built-in knife rack. You’ll have nothing but the best. Trust me.”

His lips still pursed, Kyle stared into the back of the chuck wagon. “So I have to make menus with someone else’s food order.”

“Cry me a river. I’ll load you up an episode of
Chopped
and we’ll all play along.” She pulled the cord again and the place went dark. She was suddenly aware of his nearness in the huge space, and stepped around the wagon, toward the kitchen.

A picture of Charity and Paul flashed across her memory. She’d been the one to catch them last week, opening the barn door to her friend climbing off her brother, naked. If Brady hadn’t been behind her and seen them, she might’ve been able to salvage Charity’s job. But that had been the cook’s last day.

And now, Jamie was stuck with a married man with an unbelievable ass who couldn’t keep his eyes off her when they had four solid weeks of tourists lined up to go out on trail. Danger zone.

She reached the well-lit kitchen and sighed. If only she could get rid of Kyle and get Charity back. She’d had so many plans for her and Charity out on the trail together—her first summer as the program director. Singing, matchmaking, laughing, riding horses. They’d planned for it all spring. All the activities. Now, she’d be stuck doing it all by herself.

Jamie looked behind her, where Kyle still stood in the dark and stared into the back of the wagon. She rolled her eyes. The man was so fixated on having to cook with Charity’s food. He’d just have to get over it. They didn’t have time to make a new order.

He followed at last, and Jamie waited just inside the door, hating him, wishing he would turn into Charity. Wishing Brady would reconsider.

When Kyle appeared in the kitchen, his gaze met hers and the heat returned to her face. He flashed that same flirty smile, hooding his gaze and putting that arrogant slant to his head.

She had to fight rolling her eyes again. His interest was so obvious. She’d never have had to deal with this if he was a girl. But he would learn fast. If he tried anything, her brother would be on him so fast, he’d be swallowing dust for weeks.

Serve him right.

Kyle’s eyes brightened, and he stepped toward her. “What’s that smile about?”

“Never you mind.” Jamie turned for the kitchen door. She needed some time to think about this, and she needed to get the team ready to hitch up to the wagon. “You just load up and get ready to head out on trail. Come up to the barn when you’re done, and we’ll drive the team down.”

She scooted through the door and pulled out her phone. Only Charity would understand.

* * *

M
attie Banfield walked opened
the side door to the kitchen and heard her daughter’s long, melodic laugh. She looked around, having expected Jamie to be up at the barn by now. Instead, her daughter stood near the outer door, giving the new chef a veiled dare-you-to-do-it look. Mattie knew that look well.

“What’s that smile about?” Kyle asked, his voice low and sultry. He advanced on her, but Jamie swirled away from him, all flirtation.

Mattie was too stunned to listen to the rest of their conversation.

This was her
Jamie
. The girl who was famous among the ranch hands and all the locals for having no time for men. Jamie, who’d really never quite grown out of the
boys have cooties
phase. Who would rather sit a horse than wear a dress. Even though there was no Banfield blood in Jamie’s veins, she was more like Mattie than was probably good for her.

Mattie looked down at the tins nestled into the box in her hands. She had to chuckle at magick. If Fate had chosen to bring Kyle here so that Jamie could finally fall in love…Well then.

That wasn’t the purpose of the choosing spell. But sometimes, Fate had a will of its own. If life had taught her nothing else, it’d taught her that. Perhaps it was time to give Fate a little push.

The outside door closed and she looked up to find the new chef on his own. She cleared her throat and stepped toward the empty prep table.

“Oh, Mrs. Banfield.” Kyle raised his dark brows. “I didn’t see you there.”

“That’s okay, honey. And call me Mattie.” She set the box on the table and ran her hands along the tins, one at a time. “I brought these for you to pack. I think Charity was out the last time I checked.”

“What is this?” He picked up one of the tins and turned it over. Mattie’s hand-written scribbles on the side smudged a bit under his fingers.

“They’re our proprietary spice blends,” she said with a big smile. “I worked with a chef awhile ago to develop these spice blends that are the
secret sauce
of the ranch kitchen, as they say.” She pointed a finger toward the ceiling, where her personal kitchen sat. “After the ride is over, we sell these for the couples to take home. Keep the magick alive.”

Kyle popped the top and sniffed. “
Awaken Love
blend,” he read off the lid. “What’s that?”

“Oh, they’re a little gimmick we have for the tourists.” She picked up the
Cowboy Matchmaker
and flipped off the top. “Each one has a different name that’s supposed to invoke memories from the meal, and what they’re used for.” Mattie poured some of the spice blend into Kyle’s hand and sniffed it herself.

“What are the spices?” He gave the
Cowboy Matchmaker
blend a whiff.

“Taste it,” she said, pushing his hand toward his face. “See if you can tell me what we used.”

Kyle raised one eyebrow and cocked his head to one side, but he took a pinch of the blend and put it on his tongue. Then another pinch. “Hmmm. I taste ginger…and garlic powder…thyme…” He took another pinch. “Salt and pepper, must be.” He smacked his lips. “Interesting with the thyme addition. Not sure I would’ve gone there. But it could work.”

Mattie smiled and put the lid back on the tin. “I had some help.”

Of course, he would think she meant the help of a chef. But she meant magick. What Kyle couldn’t know was each of the spice blends had a little secret ingredient. Just a little push from Fate that’d help the process of whatever needed to happen.

She saved the potent ones for her own use, or Caleb Gallagher’s. The ones she couldn’t trust in the hands of non-magickal people. But the blends in these tins were all harmless. They would awaken the heart, turn the senses on, and make the tourists open to the love that was already a seedling inside. All she was really doing was watering what’d already been planted.
It wasn’t like a love potion
.

Although she knew what Brady would say to that.

“I typically use my own spice blends.” Kyle took the offered box. “Y’know, just so I can control how things taste, myself.”

“I know, honey.” She patted his shoulder. “And when we have more time, maybe you and I can come up with all new blends. But for now, do you mind using these?” Mattie tried to stuff all the
pleading mom
she could into her words.

The new chef seemed like the type to be moved by the feminine plight. He certainly didn’t seem the type to respond by direct order, but she could be wrong.

She’d been wrong before.

“I’ll see what I can do, Mrs. Banfield. Thanks.” Kyle walked the box across the room and set it on top of the cases of water that would be going into the wagon, when he loaded it.

“You can call me Mattie, sweetheart.” She flashed him a big smile. “You’re part of the family now.”

A strange look passed over his face and Mattie paused. He pressed his lips together, flicking his gaze to the floor. “I’m not used to that. Sorry.”

“What?” she asked.

“Being part of a family.” He shrugged, rolling his head to one side.

“You don’t have family?” Mattie put her hand on the table, wanting more than anything to reach over and stroke his arm. Comfort him. She could see the torment building behind his eyes.

“I suppose when I was married, before the…” His eyes shot wide with shock. “Sorry. I mean… I’m not… I’m not usually this chatty. I don’t know what’s going on with me.”

“Oh, I do.” Mattie tried to put all her motherly compassion into her voice.
Poor guy wouldn’t be able to withstand the magick.
“Look, Kyle, I’m a firm believer in everything-happens-for-a-reason. Whatever path brought you here, you’re here now.”

“I need this job, Mrs. Banfield.”

“Mattie,” she corrected, gently, a little pang resounding inside. “There is no Mr. Banfield, so you don’t have to call me that. And don’t worry. You’re going to work out just fine.”

He offered an awkward smile. “I just can’t screw this up.”

“You won’t.” She patted the table. The spell was doing its job. Breaking down the walls inside, making what’s hidden come to light. If there really was something bubbling under the surface between him and her daughter, the
Cowboy Matchmaker
would bring it up.

It was a sort of version of the choosing spell, only with a tiny tweak to make a person act on latent feelings.

This one could be unpredictable, and she’d seen it do everything from making a man move across the country, to helping him choose the color shirt that would stick out to his date’s preferences, to bringing about spontaneous confessions of love. And it often built up in a person’s system. So, the more Kyle used it, the more he’d know if Jamie was the one for him. And vice versa.

Or, if they weren’t right together, it would help them see that, as well. It might have painful consequences, but it would make the choices easy. Fast.

She could only hope that Jamie would listen to her heart when it spoke.

Mattie had a feeling that her daughter’s emotions had been buried down deep for so long, there was no hope for revealing them, outside of magick.

“
Y
ou think he’s hot
, admit it.” Charity’s sing-song voice made Jamie cringe and she looked around the empty path to make sure no one could overhear. Nothing but white trees and underbrush and sun.

“I don’t think he’s hot.”
How could she hear that? Under all the complaining?
Lord. Better bury that a little deeper, girl.

“You do, too.” Charity clucked at her. “I can hear it. Not that it matters.”

Jamie glanced at the house, which wasn’t very far from her. She stopped in the middle of the trail and brought her voice down. “Right. It doesn’t matter at all. He’ll trip himself up eventually. Men like that always out themselves in the end.”

“No, that’s not what I meant. I mean we should get him fired.”

Jamie stepped off the smooth path and rounded one of the larger trees, trying for some sort of privacy. “Charity!” Something crawled up the back of her throat, like she might vomit at any moment. “We can’t do that.”

“You’re right.” A conspiratorial edge slid into her voice. “I can’t do anything. But you can.”

Jamie shook her head, not sure what to say to effectively communicate what a dumbass idea this was. There weren’t enough words in the English language.

“I’m not going to get someone fired.”

“Do you want Brady to give me my job back?” She sighed, over-loud. Jamie could just see her, the roll of her blue eyes, the uptilt of her chin. The way she would get when Jamie refused to help her sneak off with Paul—an equally bad idea, as it turned out.

“I want you to get your job back. But I don’t want to get someone fired. He’s going to out himself, this one. Trust me.”

“Jamie, I don’t even have a place to stay tonight.” The quaver in her voice made Jamie’s heart lurch.

“You can’t stay with Paul?”

“Brady will find out and kick Paul off staff.”

Jamie pressed her back into the tree, hard. There was no good option. Brady already said no to her friend stay with Jamie, Charity was afraid of getting caught with Paul—although now that she wasn’t staff, she should be able to do what she wanted—and she’d let her apartment go in April when she got hired at the ranch.

“You have to help me.”

“I’m leaving in two hours, Charity.”

“Please.”

She switched the phone to her other ear, rocking back and forth. Her brother was going to kill her.

“Okay, I’ll help.” Jamie pushed air through her nostrils. She was going to regret this. “Brady leaves the northwest cabin stocked for the guys when they’re up with the cows. There’s a key under the frog statue thingy that has the horse tie-up knobs on it.”

“Oh, Jamie, you are a life-saver.”

“Sure.” Some of the tension in her chest released, but this was only a temporary fix. “But you have to use as little of the supplies as possible. And tell me what you used so I can replace it. My brother will kill me.”

“He doesn’t ever go up there, does he?”

“No. And you have to return it
exactly
to the way you found it.”

“Oh, I love you, I love you.” Charity’s glee should have relaxed things inside Jamie’s stomach, but it didn’t.

Her friend wasn’t done asking for favors. She could just tell. There was a lead-off at the end of every sentence, like she hadn’t said what she really wanted to say yet.

The sound of a honking horn blasted through Jamie’s speaker and she had to pull her head away from the noise.

“What’s that?” she asked.

“I don’t know.” Charity’s tone was so matter-of-fact, and Jamie realized she hadn’t even asked where her friend was. Did she need a ride up to the cabin? How did she plan to get around? She didn’t have a car of her own.

“Look, I need to ask you one more favor,” Charity said.

Jamie sighed and glanced at the kitchen door, in case the new chef decided to be on his way up to the barn, like she’d asked. He wasn’t. Thankfully. Not to mention the fact that she was having a conversation about him, was the fact that if he realized she was talking to Charity, he might tell Brady, and her brother would
not
be happy about that.

He really had it out for Charity.

“Ask away, but I can’t make any promises. I’m about to start a week on the trail.”

“I need you to help me get my job back.”

Jamie exhaled hard.
Shoulda known this was coming
.

“I’m not gonna sleep with a married man, Charity.”

“Oh you don’t have to do that.” Her friend’s tone was so flippant, Jamie started to relax.
That was a hard stop. No adultery
.

“Good.”

“You only need to get caught, like, kissing him or whatever.”

Jamie shook her head, wordlessly. There was no way she was going to kiss a married man. His wife would find out why he got fired, she would divorce him… that was an absolute no. But saying no to Charity was not an easy thing.

“I’m not going to kiss him.”

“Oh, come on. You want to. I can hear it in your voice.”

“I do not want to kiss Kyle Harris.”

“Right.”

Jamie pushed off the tree and walked back to the trail. She wasn’t going to listen to any more of this nonsense. She had work to do.

“Look. I’ll let you stay in the cabin, but I’m not going to do something with consequences like that.” Jamie’s steps increased, along with her heartbeat.

“But you said he’d been ogling you all day.”

“That’s different. I can’t control what he does with his eyes.
He
initiates that. I’m not going to initiate anything.”

“Fine.” Charity’s pouty voice was extra-crispy. Jamie wasn’t falling for it this time. Her friend may have been sparky and fun and a thrill-a-minute, but she was an instigator, and Jamie wasn’t getting caught up in any more of Charity’s schemes.

* * *

K
yle kept
a list of every item he put in the wagon. He wasn’t quite sure who this Charity was, or what her credentials were, but the woman had absolutely no idea how to order food. She shopped like a Real Housewife, not a trained chef.

But he’d whip this place into shape and make do with what he had. Proprietary spice blends and all. He’d gone through each one after Mattie left, and written down what he could taste in each blend. If he really planned to use them, he’d need to know how to pair them with Charity’s nightmare pantry.

Thankfully, the walk-in freezer had been absolutely packed. There was enough meat to feed an army for months. Someone obviously hunted, too, because it wasn’t just beef. There was almost a whole elk, from the looks of it. Buffalo and rabbit and deer meat, each wrapped in plain white butcher paper.

There was a decent size mini-freezer with a generator in the wagon. It was a little nuts how decked out this place was. The kind of person who could afford to vacation in a place like this was too rich for his blood.

The only thing that might’ve been better was his very own food truck. But for now, he’d take the tricked-out covered wagon.

This would a fun summer. With or without Jamie.

The boss’s sister didn’t seem to like him very much. He would resign himself to a civil working relationship with the most beautiful woman he’d ever met. It could be worse.

Either way, it didn’t matter, because there’d be a bunch of tourists with the them for the next week, and he’d learned enough from Jamie to know that every sexual position currently floating through his mind was off-limits.

Would be fun. But off-limits.

He could only hope that Mattie Banfield wouldn’t say anything to her son about the
was-married
thing. That was the kind of comment women had radar for. And what the hell, with the spontaneous utterances… Time to put a lid on the talking for awhile. This job was everything.

By the time he finished loading the food, he’d convinced himself to keep Jamie firmly in the spank bank. He’d had a long drought, with an estranged wife who wanted to jump on every dick in the world except his. Maybe he could keep himself warm in the long, cold nights on the mountain, and keep Jamie in his thoughts only. Not in his bed, where she belonged.

The walk to the barn seemed so much longer than it had on the way up. Granted, he’d had Jamie’s ass wiggling in front of him on the way to the house. That had been nice incentive.

No. Not an incentive.
Gotta stop thinking of her that way.

One thing was for certain, firing Charity had been smart. She’d kept the kitchen in an awful state, and the first thing he’d do when he got back was give the whole place a good, thorough cleaning. And then start making his lists for their next food order. No more freaking canned caviar. Even if these people were super rich, they’d get a better eating experience by having fresh, unique local ingredients than they would from the most expensive packaged shit in the grocery store. If she’d been working in his kitchen, he would’ve fired her, too.

A sharp whinny from the barn perked Kyle’s ears. He wasn’t much of a horseman, but he knew enough to recognize the sound of a horse in distress.

He picked up his pace and jogged for the barn. In the corral, Brady sat atop a beautiful golden horse, pulling tight at the reins and steering the uppity filly in a gradual loop. Mattie and Jamie leaned against the far side, watching him guide the horse around.

Jamie’s eyes were so solidly fixed on Brady, Kyle wondered if it was the horse or the rider she worried about more. But her whole body was on alert—muscles coiled, limbs still, ready to pounce. Warmth stole through Kyle’s body as he watched her.

One thing he couldn’t ignore. He wanted her. His groin tightened as he let his imagination roam free. Not smart, these free-range wild-sex-thoughts. The pressure in his pants seemed to tighten as he bent toward the roughhewn wood.

“I told you, you have to let up on your right heel,” Jamie called.

The filly bucked, and Brady pulled the reins. At the sharp tug, the horse slammed into the side of the corral not far from where Kyle leaned through the rails.

“Dammit, Jamie.” In a fluid movement, his new boss dismounted and hit the ground running. The golden filly settled right down and looked almost content to have the man off her back. She nickered, low, and pranced in place.

Brady jogged to his sister and threw his hat on the ground at her feet. “This is the last horse I’m gonna let her ruin.” He turned back to the center of the corral and stared at the palomino. “I’m going over there tomorrow, and she’s gonna give us our money back, or I’m calling the Sheriff.”

Jamie stretched to meet her brother’s anger head-on. “None of those horses were ruined. You just overreact because you don’t like Kira. If you leave that right side alone for a few days, it’ll be fine like all the rest.”

“Well, I shouldn’t have to not-ride a horse for a week after Kira breaks her.” Brady bent to retrieve his hat, and Jamie brushed past him.

With her shoulders set and her jaw working, she looked every bit the rough and tumble cowgirl Kyle had known was in there. He climbed inside the corral and rested on the edge of a rail to watch the show.

“You can ride her
now
.” Jamie grabbed the filly’s reins and hoisted herself into the saddle from the left side without using the stirrup. “You just have to let up on your right heel.”

Kyle leaned forward when it seemed like she might topple right over the other side, but she caught her seat and gripped the horse with her thighs, clicked at her, and took off around the corral. It was a thing of beauty to watch. Her long, graceful body with muscled, blue-jeaned legs wrapped around a big…

Hot fuckin’ damn. Cool it, man.

“You just have to keep easy on her right side.” Jamie rode past her brother and mother, keeping eye contact with Brady. As she rounded, she kept her right foot high up on the filly’s stomach, avoiding a red spot near where Jamie’s heel would’ve been if she’d been in-stirrup.

Brady walked toward her, his face dark. “Jamie, you get off that horse.”

Her eyes grazed over Kyle’s and locked there as she started a second sweep around the corral. Her features knotted in surprise when she caught herself, and she yanked at the reins. Her foot slipped down too low on the right side, and the filly neighed. The horse reared on her hind legs and sent Jamie sailing through the air.

Kyle found himself lunging forward before he could think. He hit the ground first, curling his body as she smashed into him in what seemed like a slow motion movie stunt.

He wrapped his arms around her and rolled onto his side, winding his body around hers on impact. When they came to a resting spot, he couldn’t tell which legs were his and which were Jamie’s, but he felt the weight of her chest and the pressure of her breath pushing back against him.

They lay in the dust for a moment, and Kyle touched the side of her face.

Those brilliant green of her eyes lit up under the shadow of her brim.
Oh shit.
Between the way she felt in his arms and the way his heart leapt when her eyes opened, he had it bad.

Even if it was only lust, he had it bad.