Cajun Magic 02 - Voodoo for Two (6 page)

Chapter Six

All her friends’ warnings pummeled against Lucie’s conscience, with the ultimate mantra,
Don’t do it!
reverberating through her skull.

Too late.

The ladybug had delivered its magic to Eric. Now, thanks to Ben, it was loose on the entire town of Bayou Miste.

Ben.

Holy swamp rats, Ben! Her eyes popped open and she glanced down at the arms encircling her waist. Strong, memorable arms. Arms that had held her in passionate embraces on more than one occasion. Arms encased in a bug exterminator’s coverall. How ironic. She’d delivered her spell with a bug, and Ben was an exterminator. How fitting.

For a brief moment, she leaned against his chest, savoring the once-familiar warmth she’d enjoyed.

But this was Ben. Ben Boyette. The man who thought she was no better than her sister. A tease.

As if burned, she slapped at Ben’s arms, shoving them away. She dashed halfway across the room and stopped, gasping for air from lungs too tight to breathe. “Don’t ever touch me again.”

His eyes narrowed slightly before he leaned against the window encasement. “Next time, I’ll let you jump.” He pushed away from the wall and strode toward her. “What were you doing with the bug anyway?”

“Nothing.” Her face burned and she looked away from his perceptive gaze. Why couldn’t she control her blushes?

“Tsk, tsk.” Ben touched a finger to her chin. “Didn’t your grandmother tell you lying gives you warts?”

Her breath caught in her throat. His hand against her skin sent fiery sparks straight to the pit of her stomach. “No, it doesn’t,” she whispered, the warmth of her breath bouncing off his skin to caress her cheek. Her hands rose to push him away. Instead, they rested against the solid wall of muscles.

“Are you willing to take the risk?” Ben leaned closer, his lips a mere inch from hers.

Like a hummingbird drawn to the sweet center of a flower petal, she leaned closer until her lips touched his.

His mouth covered hers, his tongue warring, twisting, tasting, and sliding in and out in a primal imitation of more intimate acts. His hands smoothed down her arms to cup her buttocks, pulling her hips against his.

She gasped into his mouth, the rigid evidence of his desire prodding her belly through the thin fabrics of his coverall and her skirt.

Her blood burned molten hot, coursing through her veins to pool at the juncture of her thighs, moistening her panties. With her heart thundering in her chest and ears, every nerve ending tautened, expectant…ready for more.

Ben broke off the kiss and pressed his lips to her temple, his racing pulse a testament to how the kiss had affected him. After a long pause, he tongued her ear, then whispered, “So, what do you want…with Eric?”

Her red-hot blood froze in midstream. Talk about your alligator pits. What was she doing, kissing
Ben
?

She jerked away and turned her back to him, buying time for her traitorous body to calm. “What’s it to you?” she answered flippantly, when she felt anything but flippant. Her brain still wasn’t functioning coherently. How could one simple kiss throw her so completely off track?

Who’d he think he was to come strolling in here after seven years? Did he think he could just pick up where they left off? Well, he had another think coming.

Her hands strayed across the surface of Eric’s desk and she lifted a paperweight of solid brass, weighing it in her hand. This little gem could put a dent in a man’s head the size of Cleveland. Her fingers curled around the cold metal. Oh, the satisfaction of bonking the oaf in the head.

Ben moved a few steps away, as if recognizing the danger of standing within range of the lethal desk ornament. A sly smile quirked the corner of his mouth, as if he knew he’d scored a hit on Lucie’s sensitivities.

All the more reason to throw the paperweight at him. The louse deserved a dent in his head for confusing her so badly.

Then, as innocent as could be, he said, “Go home, Lucie.”

“Look, I have a right to visit anyone I please.”

As if ignoring her last outburst, he continued, “You can’t possibly represent the protesters outside.” He shook his head. “No, they’re not really your style.”

“Them?” Like he really thought she’d be out in some useless picket line. Ha! But she’d play his game
.
“Those people don’t even live here. Everyone in town knows Littington Enterprises will make good on their promise.”

“Then why are you here?”

Back to the original question. With a dramatic down-sweep of eyelashes, a move she’d mastered at the age of three, thanks to her twin sister, Lucie let her lips curl slow and sexy. “Do I have to have a reason to visit Eric, other than, well, he’s Eric?” If that kiss had as much impact on him as it had on her, her question would find its mark.

Ben’s Adam’s apple bobbed once before his mouth settled into a tight line. “Leave him alone.”

She’d scored on Ben and she wasn’t backing down now. With slow, deliberate steps, one foot in front of the other, designed to take full advantage of feminine hip action, she stalked her prey. The vamp walk was another legacy from her infamous sister, Lisa.

Toe-to-toe, she stood before him and walked her fingers up his chest. Let him suffer a little of his own medicine. “What? Are you jealous of Eric? Afraid he might find me attractive?”

Ben grabbed her hand, squeezing hard.

“Let go.” She struggled to free her hand.

He only squeezed tighter. “Stay away from him, do you hear?”

“Why should I?”

Every time she tugged, her chest bumped against Ben’s arms. The tips of her breasts pushed out, forming little peaks against the powder-blue shirt she’d specifically chosen for her meeting with Eric. What had been the most subdued outfit in her sister’s closet suddenly became a reminder of what she’d always tried so hard to avoid—looking like the swamp trash everyone in Bayou Miste thought she and her sister were.

Well, to hell with them, and to hell with Ben Boyette.
Eric
was her future. Her knight in shining armor, sent to pull her out of the swamp and into the life she wished to become accustomed to. And that damned ladybug better have gotten the point across!

An awful thought suddenly occurred to Lucie. In order for the ladybug to distribute its magic, it had to circle the heads of the spell’s victims—er, subjects. In this bug’s case, it had circled the heads of Eric, Lucie,
and
Ben. Which meant…

She’d cast a spell on not one, but
two
men.
Double
damn.

She hoped Eric would fall in love with her, but she didn’t want anything to do with Ben. Besides, she didn’t want his love if it came by way of magic. Wow, she could be in a very deep bayou bog if
both
men fell in love with her.

And the bug was loose on the town!

Ben dropped her hand.

Why did all her spells always end up this way? She should know better by now. But
noooo
. She
had
to try it. And then she had to go and kiss Ben, ruining seven years of attempting to forget him. She beat the heel of her palm against her forehead. “Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!”

Ben grabbed her wrist to keep her from hitting herself yet again. “What is your problem?”

She shoved her palms against his chest. “You! You’re my problem.” With more force than the last nudge, she shoved him again.

He clasped her hands in his. “What are you talking about?”

Anger at her sorry attempts at magic, anger at her inept attempts to make a life for herself, anger at how he’d never come back for her, all boiled up inside her. She hated that every time she got really mad, she’d do something even stupider—she’d cry.

And sure enough, tears trembled on her eyelashes now. But she refused to give in to them, to let Ben see her upset.

“Why did you have to come back into my life and mess everything up, again? Why?”

A smile quirked the corners of his mouth upward and his eyes twinkled. “Seems to me you’re quite capable of messing it up all on your own.”

She could fall into those eyes. Just as she had when she was nineteen and gullible.
Get a grip!
She yanked her hands free and grabbed her purse. “Yeah, and sometimes I get a little help from so-called friends. See ya around, bug man.”

Without looking back, she raced through the door. She had to catch that ladybug before it spread around more magic. All she needed was for Bayou Miste to be involved in a giant love fest. Wouldn’t her grandmother be pleased?

Not!

…

“Hey, what happened in here?” Eric strode into his office, with a backward glance at the elevator door sliding shut behind him.

“I’m not exactly sure.” Ben’s head spun like he’d been popped by an alligator tail. What had Lucie meant by he’d messed up everything? Again? Hell,
she’d
messed up
his
life seven years ago, not the other way around. She’d toyed with his heart and left it sadly scarred.

“Something must have happened. Lucie blew by me like the building was on fire.” Eric frowned at Ben. “Did she say anything? Did you?”

“No.” He didn’t like lying, but what Lucie had said didn’t make much sense, at least not anything worth repeating. “Maybe she had another appointment.”

“At least she gave me her phone number.” Eric held up a business card. “I’m going to ask her out.”

The punch in his gut didn’t help the indigestion Ben was working on. “You sure you want to do that?”

“Why not?”

He knew he should stay out of this swamp goo, but he couldn’t help himself. Something about Lucie dating Eric bothered him. Bothered him a lot. “She doesn’t quite seem the type a congressional candidate would date.”

“Oh, you mean her reputation?” Eric waved a hand as if pushing aside the issue. “I’m not worried about that. I think she’s smart and spunky. Actually, she’s just what a congressman’s wife needs to be.”

“Aren’t you afraid rumors will spread?” Ben persisted when he should have dropped the matter.

“You and I both know how rumors have a way of being blown out of proportion.” Eric grinned. “Besides, I like her and want to get to know her better. I still remember her as the skinny little girl from the swamp some eleven years ago. Wow, has she changed, or what? She’s pretty amazing.”

Amazing was just a part of the picture. Add to her résumé rude, mouthy, and entirely too sexy. Every man in the parish found it hard to keep his hands off her curves. As evidenced by that redneck LeRoy’s attempt to grab her at the Raccoon Saloon the previous evening. But Eric wasn’t listening. The man was practically drooling.

Ben clenched his teeth to avoid emitting another negative comment about the fair Lucie. If Eric wanted her, let him have her.

Why did that thought roil around in his belly like food poisoning, and make him want to punch something or someone? He needed to get out of the office and into some fresh air before he slammed a fist through the wall. “Whatever. I’ve made my sweep. No wires or bugs.”

“Thanks, Ben.” Eric held out his hand. “You don’t know how much it means to me to know you’re watching my back.”

How could he stay mad at the guy? Anger over a woman, especially one as untrustworthy as Lucie, was ludicrous. He took the proffered hand and shook it a little harder than he meant, the lingering sting of Lucie’s seven-year-old rejection still festering in his chest. Eric deserved better than Lucie. And Lucie deserved someone who could go toe-to-toe with her and not back down
.

Someone like Ben.

Eric strode to the window and stared down. “What the heck is she doing down there?”

“Who?” Ben moved up beside him.

Lucie pushed through the crowd congregated in front of the gates of Littington Enterprises. From the distance, she appeared to be leaping at intervals and swatting at the air.

He suspected she was chasing the bug he’d let loose. Something wasn’t right about her obsession with that bug. “I think I’ll go down and find out what she’s up to.”

“Me, too.”

“No, really. Don’t you have work to do, or don’t you need to manage your campaign, or something?”

“Ben Boyette, if I didn’t know you better, I’d think you were trying to get rid of me. Do you have a thing for Lucie LeBieu?”

“No.” His answer was short, his lips tight around the single word. At one time, his answer would have been entirely different. But not now.

“Are you sure?” Eric’s brow furrowed. He stared from the erratic path Lucie followed back to Ben. “I mean, I wouldn’t stand in your way, if you wanted to go after her. You probably know her better than I do.”

Oh, yeah. He knew her better than he’d ever let Eric know. Besides, Eric was more Lucie’s type. He had everything going for him. He’d be “good enough” for Lucie, unlike Ben. That’s probably why she’d been in Eric’s office to begin with. She’d set her sights on the young politician. “No, I’m sure. You can have her.”
She wouldn’t have me, anyway
. “You go. I’ll stay here and check out a few more things before I leave.”

“If you’re sure.” Eric grabbed the navy blazer neatly hung on the coat rack and raced for the door. “We’ll talk later.”

…

“Come here, you creepy little bug!” Lucie leaped as high as she could in heels and a short skirt. She’d had to leave her turquoise-blue 1967 Mustang convertible parked in the lot inside the gates of Littington Enterprises in order to chase the spellbound bug on foot.

It flew around the protesters, thank goodness, avoiding the potential for a really messy love fest. She had raced out the gates, charging through the picket line to chase the stupid creature.

And did the love bug head into the swamp like most self-respecting creatures of nature?

No.

The shiny, red, spotted insect with the alien-like greenish glow was headed straight down Highway 9 to Bayou Miste, a stretch of the legs—three miles—from the Littington compound.

A mile and a half down the road, she pulled off her shoes and started throwing them at the bug. “Die, you little beast!” The blister on her big toe and the stone bruise on her left heel slowed her progress to a crawl. Sweat trickled down her forehead into her eyes, blinding her.