Just His Taste (5 page)

Chapter Eight

Ava tore through the city streets before bursting out of the city onto an old country road. And from there, she took off, driving as fast as she could. Faster.

Even faster.

She hit one hundred miles an hour without batting an eye.

The revving engine underneath her didn't soothe the desperate sexual desire that Jason had built in only minutes, but it helped. Though she doubted even Cupid could squelch this kind of want.

Nothing this strong had ever happened to her. She'd talked to charges before. She'd talked to a charge's love interest to feel them out. And many times those interactions had involved having a drink with them, really speaking to them and getting to know them.

Never had she been so tempted to let go—to not do her job—like this.

This was not the typical case. Something had to be wrong. This had to be a mistake. There had to be a reason she'd responded so strongly to him. Was he using some kind of pheromone spray or something?

Regardless, what in the stars was she going to do now?

She felt a connection to her charge. One that no Fairy Godmother should ever feel.

She had to admit it, because if she didn't, she'd never be able to deal with it. And the worst thing any Fairy Godmother could feel was a connection to her charge—well, other than sisterly compassion.

And there was nothing sisterly about the emotions she felt for Jason Gregorian. Not to mention the ones he obviously had for her—his aura had about gone berserk with all the twirls of desire pulsing through him when she'd climbed on the motorcycle.

It might have been more, but she'd made herself shut off that power because she didn't want to see it.

It was easier to deal with it if the attraction was one-sided.

Ava watched the road, slipping around the curves, leaning into its turns. Feeling every bump and jar, she forced herself to focus. At these speeds, she had to be careful. She didn't want to end up in a healers' ward.

Not at the beginning of this. Not now.

The wind blew against her, and the motorcycle flew faster than she'd ever traveled with her wings, and centered her like nothing else. Motorcycles had become an obsession of hers since their creation. Nothing both thrilled her and brought her more peace than slipping on one and flying down the road.

She cranked up the speed even more. Here, she would find her answer.

She always found her answer on a bike.

Today would be no different.

The country road turned cave-like as the trees grew tall and thick on each side, branches curving overhead, shielding the sky.

“Speed” by Montgomery Gentry came to mind. While Ava usually remained more of a rocker girl—even before rock and roll came around—that song seemed appropriate.

She needed to get some space between her and her charge.

And fast.

Because she had to clear her he—

Everything suddenly went both superfast and ultraslow. Ava felt more than saw the little sandbar on the road.

The bike twisted, the rear flinging itself out from under her.

Go, go, go!
Ava heard clearly in her head.

She pushed up on the seat, her wings burst from her back, tearing apart her tank top. Momentum pulled her down—she struggled, striking hard with the wings.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Ava shot into the air. Her wings pumped hard, sending her shooting into the sky.

Rather, straight into one of the trees.

Even with her helmet on, she slammed hard into its thick branch.

The last thing she thought as she fell?

Shit.

I am fucked.

Chapter Nine

Cupid had witnessed the entire episode between Ava and her charge at the bed and breakfast.

As Ava took off on her motorcycle, Cupid pulled up the file on her charge, Jason Gregorian.

He studied the file carefully and noticed that the single blank line on the Potential HEA section had filled in.

Files normally did not change unless something drastic had been set into motion in the process of a Fairy Godmother assignment. And this one had changed significantly.

This was not good. Not good at all.

“Ava, my darling, you may not understand this. But it's for your own good.” Cupid ran his hand over the file and changed the information. One of the minor liberties a god held over a fairy. Gods could change the files, if it was necessary. Though very rarely did gods bother with fairy business. It usually was something that they never paid any attention to.

This time, though, Cupid felt very justified.

It took a few moments for the letters and the notes in the file to adjust, but they did.

Cupid then glanced at Ava's charge, who stood there in the parking lot, staring after her like a lost puppy.

“Hmm, this may take some work.” He circled his hand in the air and saw where the woman Tessa, the other potential HEA, was. Invoking one of the gifts of being the God of Love, Cupid twisted her thoughts. With a few deft adjustments, the woman stood and headed out the door, back toward the bed and breakfast.

“Now, to keep him here.” Cupid floated around. Mortals could not merely appear in locations like gods, so he needed to stall the charge until she arrived.

Cupid flew around him and his van. “Perfect.” He fired an arrow—double-tipped with his special magic to make someone fall in love—through the back tire on the driver's side.

He conjured a chair to watch the coming events unfold.

Oh how he loved manipulating mortals. He didn't do it as much as he used to. The fairies had rules, and whether Cupid liked it or not, he had limits on what he could do.

Rules could be twisted as needed, however.

Especially in a situation like this.

Minutes later, the fun began. When the charge touched his tire, Cupid's magic hit him. The mortal's aura lit up like fireworks as Cupid's potion came to life in his system.

And, right on cue, the woman Tessa pulled into the parking lot.

She got out and walked toward Jason.

Jason looked at her.

Blinked twice as the magic hit him hard. Then his aura lit on fire for her.

From Cupid's vantage point, he could see all the swirls of desire and need and want that suddenly rushed through the man. Desires and thoughts he probably didn't realize he could have for someone.

Good.

Good.

It will keep the man confused.

Now, though, for her.

She approached, and said a few words, asking him if he was all right. The man stumbled, falling against the van. She came to his side, touching his arm, and the man winced.

Hmmm. Maybe Cupid had upped the dosage too much.

And Tessa looked rather irritated at Jason.

Perhaps she needed some assistance too. Cupid pulled an arrow, ready to hit her as well, but she touched the tire, right on the cut. Immediately, her aura lit up, not quite as strongly as his did, but it ignited enough to know that she had been infected with his potion as well.

Well, that makes it easy.

Cupid smiled and went back to the Fairy Realm to comfort Ava.

Chapter Ten

Bright lights were everywhere. Was a semi bearing down on her?

Ava glanced around and realized she wasn't in the middle of the country road. It took a second, but she figured out she was back in the Fairy Realm. As she tried to move, pain shot through her left shoulder.

“What…how?” She tried to move, but couldn't. Strapped down, her wings hung in slings on either side of her, and loose restraints held her in place on a healer's bed.

“Uh… Oh wow,
ow ow ow ow
!” She tried to work herself free.

“Uh-oh, don't do that, dearie,” came a woman's voice. “You don't want to aggravate that sprain.”

“What sprain?” Ava focused on the lady in a blue dress approach her. “What happened?” she croaked.

“You, my dear, are very lucky. Why, if the FID hadn't been out—”

“Oh Jupiter, the FID?” Ava groaned. The FID—or Fairy In Distress unit—patrolled the mortal world, looking for fairies, well, in distress. Injured, usually. The FID protected the fairies, before humans could find them. Because humans can't know that their mythical creatures actually exist.

The FID was, in essence, an ambulance service mixed with a kind of police force. They also patrolled for fairies under duress. Or fairies mixed up in things that might not be in their best interest.

Ava groaned.

They likely knew all the little details of why Ava wrecked that motorcycle, because they probably scanned her brain with their freaky mind-reading mojo.

Ava let out a sigh.

“It will be fine, dear. The injuries are not that bad,” the healer said, drawing Ava's attention from her inner thoughts. “Not like some of your previous visits.” The healer snorted.

Ava sighed. “Lovely.” She was screwed all the way around.

And not in the good way.

Damn.

“Is she awake?” came a male voice from the doorway. One that Ava recognized, but she wasn't sure from where she knew it.

She blinked, glancing at the man with the short brown hair as he approached the bed. His green wings, bigger than hers, were folded neatly against his back, but his dark uniform tipped her off.

FID.

Shit.

“She's still very exhausted,” the healer said. The woman narrowed her gaze at the officer. “Do not upset her. She needs rest right now.”

The man nodded and turned to Ava. “Can you give us a minute alone?” he asked without looking back at the healer.

“Sure.” The healer touched Ava's arm. “If you need anything, just ring,” she said. A little silver bell materialized on the small table next to Ava's bed.

“Thanks,” Ava whispered.

The healer's soft steps were the only sounds in the room as she left. Then the door slid shut, and with a soft click, she was alone with the FID agent.

He crossed to her bedside and waved his arm. A stool appeared, and he dragged it closer to the bed. He sat down, fluffed his wings, and stared at Ava.

She opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off.

“You don't remember me, do you?” he said.

Ava shook her head, which made her skull pound in a horrid staccato rhythm. “No, I don't.”

“I'm Ewan's brother.”

Ava blinked. And stared. And it hit her. “Your hair used to be really long, didn't it?”

He smiled. “Yeah.” He ran his hand over his cropped hair. And it hit Ava—the horrible not-a-blind-date-but-pretty-much-a-setup that Christy and Ewan had put together. It failed miserably. Ava had no—not even an inkling—of interest in him. Fortunately, he hadn't been interested in her either.

“Wow, how long has it been?” Ava asked. “A quarter of a century?”

“Probably longer than that. I think closer to a century.”

“Wow, that long?” Ava asked, trying hard to remember his name.

“You don't remember, do you?”

“Of course I remember you.”

“Then what's my name?”

“It's…it's…Donald.”

“Duncan.”

“That's what I said. Duncan. Duncan Molar.”

He smiled. He had a nice grin. Heck, everything about him was nice, very much like his brother Ewan. But since fellow Fairy Godmother Christy was practically a sister, and her husband felt like a brother, Duncan only inspired brotherly type sensations.

“Since when have you been in the FID, Duncan?” Ava asked, trying to sound relaxed.

“Did a changeup about fifty years ago.”

“You like it better?”

“It suits me better.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Now, tell me why you were riding a motorcycle in excess of one hundred miles per hour on an old country road?”

“Need for speed?” Ava asked.

He raised his eyebrow and crossed his arms. “And?”

“I like to ride motorcycles.”

He shook his head. “Listen, I'm going to be really nice and let you tell me what happened. If you don't, I'll have to do my FID thing and find out for myself. And by the way, your aura is really muddled. I'll know if you're lying.”

Shit.

“I was confused about my charge, okay? So I went for a ride to clear my head.”

“Your charge?”

“I've just been assigned my new charge, and I wasn't sure how to proceed with a few things, so I took a ride. The road must have been slick or something because I remember the bike going down, and I tried to go up, but that didn't work well.”

While it was pretty much the truth, she left out a few details, hoping Duncan wouldn't notice.

From the look on his face, she had the sinking feeling he knew there was more to the story.

She fought to keep her cool. “So what is the deal? Am I in trouble?”

“Should you be?”

“Well, I don't know. Is there some rule against riding a motorcycle?”

“No.”

“So why are you here?”

“Hunch,” Duncan said.

“Your hunch is off. I'm not doing anything—”

“Where is she?” Cupid flew in the door. “Ava? Ava, are you all right?” He darted straight for her.

“Cupid,” Duncan said.

Cupid stopped dead and glanced at Duncan. “Oh lovely, an ambulance.”

Duncan narrowed his gaze at Cupid.

“She's here now. Be gone.” Cupid waved his arm at Duncan.

Ava grimaced—regardless of being in trouble, she'd rather have Duncan asking uncomfortable questions than Cupid right now. Unfortunately, Cupid liked to use that godly status of his to order fairies—even the FID—around.

The two males glared at each other. For a second, Ava thought she'd have to intervene, but Duncan broke the glare first, and faced Ava again.

“I will be keeping an eye on this, Miss Avalynn.”

Ava rolled her eyes, hoping her aura didn't reveal more than necessary. “You'll be wasting your time.”

Duncan nodded and left. She doubted he believed her.

Just perfect.

Cupid watched him leave and didn't speak again until the door closed. “Are you all right?”

“I'm fine,” Ava replied. “Just an accident.”

“If you are sure.”

“Of course I am,” she said, not looking at him.

Cupid came to her side and ran his hand over her forehead. “I was worried.”

Ava pulled away, suddenly feeling cheap, because she knew she didn't care for him. Not in a way that required affection. Sex wasn't affection. And Cupid was good at sex. Not at affection.

Even now, as she glanced back at him, he looked strained attempting to be affectionate.

He said her name again.

“You shouldn't be here,” she told him.

“Why not? You are my friend.”

She snorted. “I don't have time for this.”

“Time for what?”

She waved her arm, wincing as pain shot through her shoulder. “You. This. We shouldn't even be aware of one another.” There were a lot of things she shouldn't be aware of—like how her charge kissed.

“You never cared before,” Cupid said, drawing her out of her thoughts and her memories.

“I've never been in a healer's bed with FID hanging around either. I can't afford to screw up my place, Cupid. I'm not even three hundred years old yet. I can't have a blotched record.” Or worse—lose her place as a Fairy Godmother. What would she do? What would the Council do to her? Retirement—like Christy faced—was one thing. Being fired would be horrible. She'd trained to do this for decades. Had been doing this for a couple hundred years and hadn't considered doing anything else.

Where would she go?

What would she do?

“You do not want me here?” Cupid asked.

Ava nodded. “I can't have you or your minions meddling. I have enough on my plate right now.”

Cupid snorted. “I can help you.”

“Isn't that how all this got started?” Ava said.

Cupid grinned. “True enough. Though I still find it fascinating that you came to me instead of your trio for help.”

“Yeah, well, we all do desperate things from time to time.” Ava hadn't been with Christy and Lilly long when she'd gone to Cupid. She'd been desperate, hadn't known her trio well yet. They had bonded with each other, but Ava had been new, and she had to prove she was as good as they were. Harder than it sounded, what with them having over a hundred years more experience.

Cupid had agreed to help her. For a price. At the time, Ava had been glad to pay—after all, he was the God of Love. And he was good at the making-love part.

It wasn't constant, or even monogamous—not that Ava cared. At least she never had, not until now, anyway. Not until she'd met Jason. Feeling that connection, Ava didn't want the empty physical relationship she had with Cupid.

She wanted more.

While it would never be with Jason, she could find someone, somewhere, and feel that deeper emotional connection.

Maybe Christy could set her up with someone again.

Cupid sighed. “You should rest. Would you like Christy or Lilly to be notified of what happened?”

Ava shook her head. “It's bad enough you know I'm here.”

“I'm hurt.”

“Whatever. Now get going. I have to rest so I can get back to work.”

“Of course.” Cupid caressed her hand. “If you need me—”

“Not likely.”

“Hmm. Be careful. You may need me before all is said and done.” He started to leave.

“Wait, Cupid.”

“Yes?”

“Keep your minions away.”

“You are no fun.”

“Cupid, I mean it.”

He smiled and disappeared.

That was rather foreboding
.