Breaking the Rules (7 page)

But there was no way she could keep it hidden as she turned to him with a full glass of milk. She carried it carefully, eyes focused on the white liquid as she set the glass down on the table.

Their eyes met for an instant as she looked up, black gaze wide and startled. She blinked and wheeled away, silent feet hurrying back to the stove.

Joe shrugged and stretched. Women. No telling what she was all wound up about. Probably had nothing to do with him anyway.

“Thanks for letting me sleep over. Best night of sleep I’ve had in a long time.”

“You’re welcome.” Her voice emerged as a throaty whisper, and she cleared her throat as she turned to him with a steaming plate of eggs, bacon and toast.

“Damn, that looks good!”

A quick smile flashed across her face at his compliment. She set the plate down on the table, then hesitated for a second with her hands on her hips.

“Aren’t you going to join me?”

“I had something to eat earlier.” She raised a hand to push back her hair, her movements still hesitant, edgy.

“Will you sit with me?”

Something had changed since last night. Since that odd but lovely moment when she’d told him she liked him. He didn’t want her off scuttling around the apartment, not looking him in the eye, then shoving him out the door without really facing him.

She bit her lip, hands still on her hips. “Okay.” She yanked out the chair, then sat down quickly, adjusting her full skirt about her legs.

He scooped up a big forkful of eggs and shoved it into his mouth. She watched him suspiciously as he chewed.

“S’good.”

“I’m glad.” She licked her lips and shifted a little.

“Would you like a bite?” He proffered a forkful of bacon and eggs.

A shy smile curved her lips. “No, thanks. You eat it.”

“Okay.” He forked the breakfast into his smiling mouth and chewed it, watching her. She blinked nervously.

“Your grandma didn’t haunt me last night.”

“Did you think she would?”

“It seemed like a possibility.”

She smiled. “I was a little worried, too, since we didn’t burn her bed. It’s metal. She never much liked sleeping in bed, though.”

“Where did she sleep?”

“On the couch in the living room mostly. She usually fell asleep during
Law & Order
.”

Their chuckles mingled, and the tension lifted slightly.

“Did you burn the sofa?”

She nodded. “In the fireplace. My cousin Roman chopped it up with an axe.”

“I bet the neighbors enjoyed that.”

“The neighbors don’t bother us.”

“Yeah, ’cos they think you’ll put a curse on them.”

“Probably.”

“Have you ever put a curse on anyone?” A little twinge of anticipation tightened his belly.

She paused, looked at him slyly, a smile playing across her lips. “Maybe.”

“You wouldn’t put one on me, would you?” He hoped his tone sounded light.

She didn’t answer right away. She studied his face and her eyes narrowed slightly. “You may not like this…” She paused and licked her lips thoughtfully. “But I think you’re under a curse already.”

“Yeah, well, you may have a point there.” He tried to sound jovial as he shoved more food in his mouth.

“I’m serious.”

“I bet you’re always pretty serious.”

Her shoulders hitched in a tiny shrug. “You don’t have to listen to me. You didn’t pay me for my advice, and you don’t have to take it.”

“Just to keep it lively, what would be your advice?”

“First, you need to find the root of the curse, where it’s taken hold.”

“Wait a second here.” Joe held up a hand as he finished chewing and swallowed his mouthful. “Are you trying to say someone out there has actually put a curse on me?”

“Not necessarily.” She regarded him steadily, her heart-shaped face solemn. Calm repose had replaced her flightiness of earlier. She was on her own turf now.

Joe’s gut tightened again. “Well?”

“A curse can come into being without deliberate ill will on the part of any one person.”

“You mean it can just spring to life?”

“Not exactly, it’s hard to explain.” She rearranged the bracelets on her wrist, hesitating. Then she looked back up at him cautiously. “If you lose faith in yourself, that can function as a curse.”

“Like a self-fulfilling prophecy?”

She nodded. “Kind of.”

He’d lost faith in himself all right. Not all at once. It had been nibbled away in tiny bites until there just wasn’t any more left. But he didn’t want to tell his pretty gypsy girl about all that stuff. Didn’t want to think about it either.

Damn she was pretty. He loved her serious expression, no simpering and flirting for her. Getting into her pants might cure what ailed him. Not that she wore pants. Getting under that big skirt then. Maybe she’d let him crawl right under it and hide down there. Make a long slow acquaintance with her thighs.

“If the root of the curse can be found, it can be removed.” Her eyes narrowed.

Joe’s attention drifted reluctantly back to their conversation. “How do you get to the bottom of it?”

“By doing a reading.”

“No thanks. Been there, done that.”

She reached a hand across the table. On impulse he dropped his fork and took it. She curled her fingers around his palm and pressed her cool fingertips lightly into his warm flesh.

“It’s okay, Joe.”

“I look that bad, huh?”

“I can see from your face that you have been badly hurt.”

“Yeah, well, that’s life.”

“The curse can be lifted.”

“I still don’t believe there is a curse.”

“I know, and that’s okay, too.” She squeezed his hand gently, dark eyes filled with compassion.

Joe clamped his teeth down on the inside of his mouth, trying to bite back the surge of emotion welling inside him. He hadn’t yet embarrassed himself by bawling in front of anyone, and he didn’t plan to start now.

He lifted his chin, trying to get his head up above dangerous waters. “You think you can see right through me, don’t you?”

“No. I can only see the surface, just like anyone else. But from my work I have much experience with people…who need help.”

“You think I need help?” He accompanied his words with a dismissive snort.

“Yes. You wouldn’t have come back to me if you didn’t.”

“I don’t even know why I came to you. But I can think of one thing you could help me with.”

“What’s that?”

She said it so sincerely, with such an expression of thoughtful concern, that he couldn’t bring himself to say the crude, sexually suggestive words he’d hoped to brush her off with.

“You could let go of my hand so I can finish my breakfast.”

She gave him a knowing smile as she withdrew her hand gently from his.

He picked up his fork and stuffed another heaping mouthful of bacon and eggs into his mouth. Narrow escape. He’d come way too close to losing it right there. He was walking a fine line between sanity and madness lately, and he wasn’t sure this chick was going to help him fall on the right side of the line if he crashed.

He glanced up at her and got an odd little stab in his gut when he saw she was looking at him, soft-eyed, her lips curved in a slight smile.

“What’re you smiling about?”

“Nothing.”

“I guess we can both play at that game, huh?”

She nodded, still smiling like the Mona Lisa, and he got on with eating his breakfast.

Susana got up and wandered off while Joe finished up the last of his eggs. He stretched as best he could in the cramped space. Damn he felt relaxed. And good. Whatever tricks she had up her sleeve, so far they were working.

But he had work to do today. He needed to find a place to live and start getting his business plan off the ground. And he had to deposit that check.

The thought of the check, still crumpled in the back pocket of yesterday’s jeans, stirred his muscles to life. He really shouldn’t leave that kind of money lying around.

He squeezed himself out from behind the table and carried his plate and glass to the sink. Common politeness told him to wash up, but suddenly he had a very strong desire to make sure his check was where he left it.

Not that he didn’t trust Susana or anything.

Anxiety pricked him as he strode into the hallway and shoved open the door to Grandma’s bedroom. Phew. Everything looked much as he’d left it. He snuck a glance at the doorway before picking his crumpled jeans off the floor and shoving his hand into the back pocket.

Empty.

Jesus.

He groped for the other pocket, heart firing. When his fingers closed around the crisp paper he let out an audible sigh of relief.

“Thought I robbed you?”

Susana’s cool voice from the doorway made him jump.

“No.”

“You think all gypsies are thieves?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Yes, you do. I saw you come running in here to check your pockets after I got up.”

“If you put it that way, I have pretty solid evidence that all humans are thieves and will strip you bare sooner or later.”

He stared at her for a second, and she regarded him down the length of her elegant nose. Heating with embarrassment, Joe balled up his jeans and flung them at his bag, then tucked the check into the front pocket of his clean jeans.

“Hmm. Perhaps you’re right. Perhaps it’s best not to trust anyone.”

She stood regally in the doorway, chin lifted. Joe could hear doors slamming shut in her mind. He’d obviously just dropped a thousand notches in her esteem.

There went his chances of getting under her skirt.

“I appreciate you letting me sleep over.” His own chin tilted naturally as he turned to her, defying her to look down on him.

Not that she could, since he was several inches taller. But her quiet dignity gave her stature beyond her physical height.

“It was nothing.” The emphasis on the last word cut him like a blunt knife.

“How can I repay you?”

She laughed. The sound of it curdled his breakfast. “Don’t worry. I’ll just help myself.”

Joe felt his heart literally sinking. He didn’t realize until this moment, but overnight he’d come to count on Susana’s friendship. And now she’d withdrawn it.

The renewed sense of aloneness chilled him. His calm relaxation of a few minutes ago evaporated as the familiar tension crept back into his muscles, tightening them. Girding him for battle with a cruel world.

“Look, I didn’t mean to insult you, Susana. It’s just that this piece of paper,” he fished into his pocket and drew it out. “It’s all the money I have in the world.”

She raised an eyebrow very slightly over her withering glance.

He unfolded the crumpled and insignificant looking blue paper.

“It’s a check.”

“I can see that.” She crossed her arms over her chest.

“For one million, nine hundred and seventy two thousand dollars.”

Her eyes widened. “That’s a lot of dough.”

“You’re telling me. You can see why I’m a little antsy about it.”

“You should be. Why are you carrying that kind of money around in your pocket?”

“I was on my way to the bank when I stumbled across this gypsy fortune-teller.”

“Banks aren’t open in the evening.”

“No? Guess it’s okay I didn’t make it there, then.”

Susana planted her hands on her hips and stared at him. The expression on her face softened. She glanced down at the blue paper then back up at him.“What’s it from?”

“I sold my business. Well, my share of it anyway.”

To the thieving swine who stole my wife
.

A spark of rage stirred his gut, and he blew out a breath. No sense getting all riled up any more. It was over. Cold hard cash, that was all he had left to worry about now.

“Huh.” She pursed her lips. “Must be nice to have that kind of money.”

Joe shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. I haven’t cashed it yet.”

“What kind of business was it?”

“Security.”

She raised an eyebrow but didn’t ask for details. “What are you going to do with it?”

Joe suppressed a chuckle. She was pretty interested all of a sudden. “I dunno. Maybe we could go to Atlantic City and see if I can double it?”

Her eyes narrowed, and he saw her fighting to keep a smile from creeping across her lips.

“I’m serious. I’m a desperate man, remember?”

“Not that desperate. You’d better get that to the bank before someone less trustworthy than me relieves you of it.”

“Yeah. I guess I’d better. You want to come?”

He watched her hesitate, her eyes suddenly bright. Jeez, maybe she did like the idea of sticking close to all that money? He didn’t much mind, though. As long as she was back on his side.

“Come on, I need you, Susana, I don’t even know which bank to go to. You can pick one for me. But then I don’t suppose gypsies go in for banks much. Do you keep all your money under the bed?”

“I wear it around my neck in gold coins, of course.” A smile tugged at her lips again.

“All right. Maybe we can get this melted down into some coins and you can wear them for me?”

“Sounds kind of heavy.”

“Weight-bearing exercise is good for the bones.”

“You’re terrible, Joe.”

“I know. That’s why I’m so damn miserable.”

She tossed her head, the mane of raven hair falling down her back. “I’ll come to the bank with you.”

“Now you know I’m loaded you want to be my friend again?”

“Something like that.”

“I’ll take what I can get.”

Joe watched as she locked up the apartment. Five locks seemed a little paranoid, but he enjoyed watching her bend over to turn the one right near the floor.

Sooner or later, he was going to get under that skirt. Preferably sooner.

“You can leave your bag here, you know.”

“Nah, it’s got stuff in it I might need.”

“You don’t trust me?” Her brow arched but her expression was warm.

“Let’s not go down that road again. And who knows, I might not be back. I’m going to look for an apartment today.” He looked at her quickly to gauge her reaction.

And was delighted to see a flicker of alarm—and very definite disappointment—cross her delicate features.