“But…” Pandora dropped onto the overstuffed chair, picking at the deep blue fabric with her fingernails. “But what if it’s so great I want more? How did you have the greatest sex of your life, then walk away?”
“It’s all about expectations,” Kathy said, setting her water aside and coming over to sit across from Pandora. She leaned forward, her pretty face serious. “You know going in that it’s special, that it’s just that once, and you ring every drop of pleasure from it possible. Like seeing Baryshnikov dance, or visiting Stonehenge or meeting Johnny Depp at Comic-Con last year. They were all amazing experiences, but you don’t expect to do them repeatedly, right?”
“What are the chances that sex with Caleb Black will be as good as Baryshnikov, Stonehenge and the amazing Johnny Depp all rolled into one experience?”
“I think the chances are pretty damn good.”
Pandora sank her head into the chair’s pillowed back and sighed. She thought so, too.
“Look, you deserve this. Every woman deserves this. One night of absolute pleasure, with no strings or worries or stress. Just wild and mindless sex, with no rules or expectations.”
“You think?”
“Don’t you?”
Pandora looked at the array of food covering the two short countertops. Her grandmother’s recipe book was there, too. Filled with recipes that had, so far, increased Moonspun Dreams’ coffers beyond her wildest dreams.
Despite her run-don’t-walk departure from all things associated with Black Oak and her mother, Pandora had been raised to believe certain things. And many of those tenets she still subscribed to wholeheartedly. Karma and the golden rule. Respecting nature and conserving resources. Prayer and faith. And as she’d told Caleb, she believed in what she did. In what the store offered.
Sure, she’d launched this aphrodisiac sideline as a desperate attempt to dig the store out of a financial pit. But obviously the aphrodisiacs worked. She saw proof five days a week between the hours of eleven and two, after all. All they required was a spark.
And even she had to admit, she’d definitely inspired a few sparks in Caleb.
“The bottom line is, do you want to do this?” Kathy prodded. “Or don’t you?”
A thousand arguments still running through her head, Pandora sighed. Yes, she wanted it. It being this night with Caleb. And more important, a chance to step out of the shadows and have a little excitement in her life. The kind she’d enjoy, not the kind that made her cringe.
Pandora bit her lip again, then squared her shoulders and headed for the kitchen to wash her hands.
“What are you doing?” Kathy asked.
“Getting dinner started.” She shot her friend a look of combined terror and excitement. “Who am I to deny myself the absolute pleasure I deserve?”
THREE HOURS LATER and that statement had become Pandora’s mantra.
“I deserve absolute pleasure,” she muttered to herself as she pulled a floaty black dress knitted of the softest cashmere over her shoulders and slipped the tiny mother-of-pearl buttons closed from cleavage to knee. The fabric molded gently over her breasts, showing just a hint of her red lace bra, and ended a few inches shy of her ankles, where she’d chosen to go barefoot except for a glistening ruby toe ring and gold anklet.
Not quite a see-through Santa nightie, she mused as she stared at her reflection, but it’d do. She fluffed her hair around her shoulders, added a smidge more mascara and took a deep breath.
“I do. I deserve absolute pleasure.” The reminder had turned into an affirmation about an hour ago, but like most law-of-attraction-type things, she knew it was basically useless without real belief behind the words.
So she’d fake it. A quick glance at the clock told her that Caleb was due in five minutes. Which meant that as appealing as hiding under the bed was, she’d better get the appetizers ready.
Pandora hurried from the room, checking to see that the fire was burning bright in the fireplace and that all the red candles—for passion—were lit around the room. The cottage smelled delicious. The subtle waft of incense, the appealing scent of smoky apple wood. And the food.
That was the only thing she had complete confidence in tonight. Her food rocked. The roast was done and resting, tender and juicy in a gravy of rosemary, celery seed and just a pinch of ginseng. There wasn’t really any aphrodisiac ingredients in the fresh rolls, but Pandora had filled in the menu with things that played to the theory that the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach. If the rolls could open that door, she figured the aphrodisiacs should reroute things southward.
“Absolute pleasure,” she murmured as she checked the chocolate-espresso mousse with whipped caramel crème in the fridge, then the wine that was breathing on the counter. Figuring it’d make her look less anxious, and might just help her chill out, she poured herself a glass.
“Yep, all ready for that pleasure. Absolutely.”
The doorbell rang.
Pandora started, slopping wine all over her hand.
Right that second, if the cottage had a back door, she would have taken absolute pleasure in sneaking out through it.
Deep breath and a quick rinse of her fingers under the tap, she then wiped nervously down her dress before almost tripping over her own bare feet on the way to the door.
Another deep breath and she pulled it open.
“Hi,” Caleb said.
Hubba da hubbada, her brain stuttered. Holy hunks, the man was pure eye candy. The moon at his back, his face was thrown into shadows. His black hair slicked down so it flowed like silk over his collar, he wore slacks, boots and a dark dress shirt. He smelled incredible. Male but with a hint of musk.
His smile was just this side of wicked as he gave her an appreciative look, those warm gold eyes tracing her curves, from collar to breast, down her waist and over her hips until he reached her naked toes.
One look from him and she was ready to strip the rest of herself bare and see how many kinds of pleasure they could offer each other. Whether it was because he looked sexy enough to slurp with a spoon, because she was wearing her do-me undies, or if it was the day spent creating a meal meant for seduction, all Pandora could think about was how long she’d have to wait for dessert.
“Pandora?” he prompted, his smile tipping into a grin as he leaned his shoulder against the door frame. “You gonna let me in?”
Doh. They couldn’t do dessert until he was inside, could they?
“I’m sorry. It’s just… Wow.” She stepped aside for him to enter. “You look fabulous.”
Realizing how that’d probably sounded, color warmed Pandora’s cheeks. “Not that you didn’t look great before,” she said. She winced, then tried again. “I mean, I wouldn’t have thought you’d have dress clothes tucked away in your motorcycle saddlebags.”
“Always pays to be prepared,” he said as he dried his feet on the mat before entering the cottage. She shut the door behind him, its click echoing the beat of her heart in her chest.
“Do you have to dress up often?” she asked, suddenly realizing that she had no idea what Caleb did for a living. Gossip had run wild since his return to town last week, speculating on everything from career criminal to mechanic to construction. One person had thought he might even be a lawyer.
“It’s the holidays,” he said absently, looking around. “I figured I’d get roped into some Christmas fluff or other.”
He gave her a slow smile, making her tummy slide down to her toes. “But this is a much better option.”
Heat poured through Pandora’s body like molten lava, hungry and intense.
She had to say something before she wrapped herself around his body and begged him to let her lick him from head to toe.
“So what do you do for a living?” she blurted out.
His smile changed. It was a tiny change, one she doubted most people would notice. It got a little hard, like his eyes. “I’m in the middle of changing jobs right now,” he said.
Trying to study his body language without being obvious, Pandora bit her lip. Other than the slightly scary look in his eyes, he seemed totally relaxed. Did that mean he was out of a job, or just looking for something else before he left? And did it matter? It wasn’t as if she needed to see his résumé. This was a one-night, prove-the-aphrodisiacs-work and have-great-sex fling.
So change the subject.
“Are you going to the big party tomorrow night at your father’s motorcycle shop?” she asked.
His smile fell away, his shoulders tensed up. His body language had gone from friendly to unfathomable in less than a heartbeat. Her fault. She knew there were issues with him and his father. So she should have known that bringing him up wouldn’t be a great conversation starter.
Wasn’t she the hostess with the mostest.
“No.”
Awkward.
Crazy with curiosity but not wanting to ruin the evening by asking more uncomfortable questions, Pandora was grateful when the oven timer went off.
“Please, make yourself comfortable,” she invited as she hurried toward the safety of the food.
“I thought you’d be staying at Cassiopeia’s place,” Caleb said as he followed her into the kitchen.
Payback? She gave him an arch look over her shoulder, trying not to grin. Gotta love a guy who knew how to get revenge without drawing blood.
“Oh, no,” she said, laughing a little at the idea of staying in her mother’s. It would be like staying on a movie set. Nobody who knew Cassiopeia ever had to ask if she believed in the woo-woo. She lived it, right down to the celestial designs on her carpet.
Pandora pulled the roasted asparagus from the oven and set it on the stove top, then turned back to Caleb.
“No. My mother’s house is too crowded for me. She collects as much stuff there as she does in the store, plus there are always people in and out when she’s home. Even now, with me just stopping by to collect her mail and water the plants, they pop in hoping for a reading or chat. I think it drives her nearest neighbor, the mayor, a little crazy.”
Caleb flashed a quick grin as he handed her a bottle of wine. She glanced at the label and raised her brows. Pricey.
“I forgot my aunt had moved.”
“Haven’t you been to see her yet? I hear she throws a huge holiday open house. Is that next weekend? Someone was saying that your dad never goes, but you probably will, right?” Busy setting the mushroom caps and oysters Rockefeller on a serving plate, it took her a few seconds to pick up on the sudden tension in Caleb.
She’d done it again.
“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable by bringing up your father.” She met his eyes. He didn’t look uncomfortable anymore, though. More like…intrigued.
“Don’t worry about it. If I had a problem talking about Tobias, I’d say so.”
“Okay,” she said slowly. Except that he didn’t talk about his father. Or his family at all. Despite the tension and hurt she saw in his face, she had to know more. Was desperate to understand more about Caleb Black. So she quirked a brow and continued, “Although I haven’t seen her since I moved back, or since she became mayor for that matter, I do remember your aunt. I’m not sure she’s a fan of my mother’s, though. Mom said the week after she moved in, Her Honor raised the fence height in her backyard and instructed the gardener to plant a hedge between the houses.”
Caleb snickered.
“Aunt Cynthia is a hard-ass all right,” he agreed. “It must drive her insane having a free spirit like your mom next door. Probably afraid people will think she and Cassiopeia are having wild parties in the hot tub after dark.”
Pandora laughed, her nerves over the evening starting to fade as he pulled out a chair and got comfortable. She held up the bottle of wine in question, and when he nodded, got him a glass from the counter.
“I guess you’ve worked really hard to distance yourself from your dad,” she said as she poured.
“It wasn’t hard. I just had to move out of Black Oak and his sphere of influence.”
“Smart,” she complimented. Then, honesty forced her to admit, “Tobias comes into the store and the café pretty regularly. Having a parent with an, um, forceful personality myself, I can understand how it’d be challenging to live with such a strong person. But I have to admit, I do like him.”
She didn’t add the bit of gossip she’d heard earlier that day, that Tobias had hooked up with that nasty piece of work, Lilah Gomez. Telling a man his dad was dating someone younger than him was hardly dinnertime conversation.
“Most people like Tobias,” Caleb said with a shrug. “He’s got a way with the charm.”
“Like father like son?” She smiled, handing him the glass of wine.
“You’re kidding, right?” Caleb shook his head, obviously not seeing himself as a charmer. “I was a disappointment on that score. Maya’s got a way about her, that’s for sure. But Gabriel got the bulk of the charm. Me, I got the short end of that particular stick.”
Pandora wanted to tell him just how appealing rough edges could be, but took a sip of her wine instead. Then she gathered her nerve and lifted the platter filled with the promise of sexual nirvana.
“Speaking of sticks and their length,” she said with her naughtiest smile, “I have your proof here. If you’d care to give it a try?”