Willow: June (7 page)

T
he fresh air
did wonders for Cedric’s sour mood. Or, it could be that they were no longer in the firehouse and a certain firefighter couldn’t hit on Willow anymore.

His jealousy knew no bounds, as the other man had a lot of nerve to flirt
and
kiss her in front of him. Apparently, his presence wasn’t enough to deter other men. Not with that damn moonstone around her neck. This was exactly the thing he wanted to avoid next week, and why he needed to get it from around her neck.

“Is the café okay with you? We can sit outside,” Willow said as they walked down the Main Street sidewalk.

“Sounds good.” He wouldn’t mind people seeing them together. Maybe they would get it in their fool heads Willow was taken.

The hostess, a girl he had gone out with once before, smiled brightly at him and told them to pick a table. She followed them out with two menus, placing them on the table before heading off to grab them water.

Like the gentleman he was, Cedric held the chair for Willow and helped scoot her in. He took the seat to her right, instead of the one across from her. Being able to touch her anytime he wanted was a necessity. Also, anyone walking by would see them together, and if he knew the citizens of the town, news of their relationship would spread like wildfire.

A smile tipped his lips at the thought. There would be no mistaking they were together by the time the solstice celebrations started. He never knew he would be so desperate for people to know he was with someone. Or, more specifically, that Willow was with him.

Willow dipped her head and studied the menu, though he doubted she really needed to. The café had been a popular spot when they were growing up. Most of them gathered there after school to hang out and be a general nuisance.

The hostess came back out and set their waters down. She stood next to him and fidgeted. He saw her twisting a ring on her finger out of the corner of his eye. He had no idea what she was still doing standing there. He looked up at her and smiled.

Relief flooded her face for some unknown reason. “It’s good to see you again, Ric.”

Cedric tried his best not to cringe, and he could have sworn he heard Willow snort when the hostess called him Ric. He kept his focus on the woman, silently wishing she would hurry up and say whatever it was she seemed determined to say.

She batted her long eyelashes at him, and he had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. “I had a
really
great time on our date,” she paused and licked her lips. “And I wondered if you wanted to go out again. My shift ends in a couple hours, and I’m free tonight if that works for you.”

An odd sound came from Willow. It sounded somewhere between a snort and a chuckle. He cast a glance in her direction and saw her shoulders shake behind the menu she’d pulled up to cover her face. Reaching over, he plucked the menu from her hands.

Indignation played across her face. Her mouth popped open. “Hey, I wasn’t done looking.”

“You have the same thing every time you come here.”

“How would you know?”

“Because I know everything about you, love,” he smirked.

She harrumphed and crossed her arms over her chest, pouting.

He turned back to the hostess, pasting a placating smile on his face. “I’m sorry,” his gaze dropped to her nametag then back to her face. “Tiffany. I’m here with my girlfriend and we’re pretty serious. I won’t be going out with anyone else.”

The girl blinked rapidly, her mouth dropping open. “It’s never stopped you before. And you weren’t with her two weeks ago, how serious could it be after such a short time?” She eyed Willow dubiously, and it pissed him off.

Tiffany made him sound bad, and his tendency to date one woman after another was
not
something he needed Willow to be reminded of. “We’re
very
serious,” he said, putting some force behind the word. He thrust the menus at her. “Please, send our waiter over, we’re ready to order.”

The girl gasped, obviously hurt that he wasn’t tossing Willow aside for her, then spun away.

“You didn’t need to be mean about it,
Ric
.” Willow snickered, and he pinned her with a glare. He didn’t like her calling him that.

“I wasn’t. And what is with people? That’s twice today someone assumed we weren’t together.”

“Twice?”

“Yeah, Tiffany and Aaron. Don’t think I didn’t see him kiss you. As a matter of fact.” He grabbed the arm of her chair and yanked her closer. As soon as she was within range, he wrapped his fingers around the back of her neck and kissed her. Her lips softened against his instantly, parting slightly on a sigh. He took advantage and sucked her bottom lip into his mouth, nipping it lightly, then soothing it with his tongue. He pulled away and she moaned. Her eyes fluttered open and lust radiated from within.

Someone coughed next to him, bringing his attention back to where they were. Cedric turned his head and found the waiter waiting, notepad in hand. His eyes were as big as saucers.

“She’ll have the Chicken Pecan Salad with the raspberry vinaigrette, and I’ll have the Chicken Carbonara.”

The man hurried away and Willow laughed. “I think he’s scarred for life.”

“Or jealous as hell.”

“Maybe he wanted to be the one you were kissing. I bet he’s in there relaying what he just saw to Tiffany.”

“She’ll get over it.” He shrugged and took a sip of water. He looked out on the street and watched as people walked by. They stared at them. Some not caring. Some, people he knew, clearly surprised.

He felt Willow regarding him steadily.

“I’m not your girlfriend, just so you know,” she said, running a finger back and forth over the tablecloth. The saltshaker started to dance, and he felt her anxiety like a living, breathing thing.

“Maybe I want you to be.” He did, and so much more.

“No one would ever believe that.”

That caught his attention. “Why not?”

The shaker he was keeping an eye on started hopping up and down in tune with her now tapping finger. “Everyone would be waiting for you to pull the rug out from underneath me and have a good laugh.”

“Why would they ever think that?” He rested his hand on top of hers, the shaker stopped moving. He turned her hand over and laced their fingers together. A part of him was soothed by the intimacy, no matter how innocent it was.

She tilted her head and her forehead wrinkled. “Because that’s what you do to me. Have you not been paying attention to our relationship over the years?”

“I have.”

“Then what kind do
you
think we have?”

“Friendship.” At least that’s how
he
saw it. They joked around with each other and poked fun. There were never any hard feelings. Not on his part anyway. He had never taken the time to think or ask how she felt.

“I’m not sure you know what that word means.” Her brows furrowed in confusion.

“Yes, I do. I have a lot of friends. We hang out. Do shit. Talk shit. Have each other’s back when needed.”

“We don’t do any of that.”

Shit, now he was confused. “What do you do with your friends?”

She did a one-shoulder shrug and looked away. Her gaze landed somewhere on the passing traffic. “Go out to eat. Hang out at each other’s house. Go shopping and talk. We get manis and pedis. Girl stuff, I guess.”

“So, the same thing.”

“Basically, but we,” she motioned between them. “Don’t do that. You joke around with your friends, and I end up being the butt of a joke or a horrible, cringe-worthy date. Your friends did have your back that day. They sat behind you and laughed at my expense.”

That was news to him but, now that he was forced to think about it, he did recall laughter behind him at the time. He figured it was about something else. None of them said anything to him at the time. He also wouldn’t have listened since he was trying to talk to Willow.

“I’m sorry they laughed. I didn’t realize it was about you. Do you want me to kick their asses?”

“I don’t think that’s how friendship works.”

“Sure it is. We’re guys. We’re allowed to beat each other up, and when we’re done, we’ll sit down and drink a beer.”

“Men are strange. My whole point, though, was that I’m not your girlfriend, and you could have set up a date with the hostess if you’d wanted.”

“I didn’t want to.”

“But you could have.”

“And yet, I still don’t want to. I’m on a date with the woman I
want
to be with.”

“For now, until you get whatever has you all screwed up inside thinking you want to be with me out of your system.”

“Won’t happen.” He picked up her hand and kissed her palm.

“We’ll see,” she said, doubt creeping into her voice. Her hand drifted up to the moonstone. He didn’t think she knew she was doing it.

Their server reappeared and set their food down in front of them. With a nod and a thank you, Cedric dismissed him.

Willow dug into her salad, mixing it up. A companionable silence fell over them.

“For the record, Aaron has nothing on you when it comes to kissing.”

Cedric whipped his head in her direction. She had a slight, close-lipped smile on her face and teasing light to her eyes. He sat up a little straighter, his chest puffed out a bit, and his ego was duly stroked.

A
fter lunch
, Cedric dropped Willow off at home. It went against everything in him to leave her standing on her front porch. He wanted to invite himself in and find a way to coax her to her bedroom. But part of a semi-slow seduction was waiting for the right time, and that certainly wasn’t at the moment. He kissed her goodbye and left once again.

He also had other places to be, and a business partner to talk to. Joel had received a call from the local newspaper wanting to do a story on
Callisto’s
. They needed to decide if it was time to introduce Cedric, taking him out of the silent partner sphere.

W
illow scrambled
for her purse and the ringing cell phone inside. She wrapped her fingers around it right when it stopped.

“That’s what I get for leaving it in there,” she mumbled, flipping the phone over so she could see who had called. It was the number for the firehouse.

She tapped on the missed number and let it ring. Wondering if something had gone wrong and they needed to arrange for a backup.

“Firehouse 15, this is Aaron.”

“Oh hey, Aaron, this is Willow. It looks like I missed a call from you guys.”

He chuckled lightly. “Not all of us. Just me.”

“Oh, okay. What’s up? Is there a problem with the arrangements?”

“No. Those are still good. I was actually calling to see if you’d like to go out with me sometime. I was thinking I could take you to lunch or maybe a cup of coffee.”

“Oh!” She hadn’t expected him to ask her out.

“Is that a good ‘oh’ or bad ‘oh’?”

She didn’t know. He was a good-looking man, but she couldn’t say she had ever thought of dating him. “It’s a surprised oh,” she finally said.

“What do you say, sweetheart, want to go out on a date with me?”

Willow clutched the moonstone automatically. It warmed against her fingers a little, but she questioned whether it was from a new heat source or because of Aaron. Maybe it didn’t react unless she was with the man of her dreams in person.

“Sure,” she said, even though something inside her hesitated. There had to be a reason Aaron was on her radar now, and if it were from the Goddess, she wouldn’t turn the opportunity away. “Lunch sounds good. When were you thinking?”

“How about today? I get off shift in a couple hours and can meet you at the café.”

A moment of guilt swamped her at the mention of the café. She had just gone there with Cedric on a date. She couldn’t go there with another man. At least not so soon.

“How about
Pain et du Chocolat
? It’s been a while since I’ve been there, and I heard they have some new menu items.”

“The bread and chocolate place? Sounds good. One of my buddies said its good, and I’ve wanted to check it out. Want to meet there around one?”

“Okay. I’ll see you then.” Willow hung up and slid the phone in her pocket.

She wandered back into the kitchen and finished making her tea. She glanced at the clock. Three hours before she met up with Aaron. What in the world did she do in the meantime?

She had yet to hear from or see Cedric. The last she had heard from him was on Sunday night when he sent her a text. Was it considered stepping out on him when she didn’t know what they were doing in the first place?

He said he wanted her as his girlfriend, but they hadn’t talked about it. There was nothing official. She also didn’t know if he was serious or stringing her along. There were just too many unknowns with him.

The moonstone made her doubt what was happening between them. He
had
shown up the morning after the rite. His new fascination could just be the pull from the Goddess of love and desire.

Willow took her tea and went into the living room. Edward followed her in and curled around her feet before jumping up onto the back of the couch.

“Well, Edward, what do you think? Is the moonstone playing a trick on my mind? Is the attention only because of it?”

Edward, the cheeky cat, batted the back of her head.

“Hey, that was rude.”

He tipped his head up and looked away.

“What? You think I should be a lonely old spinster and find you a lady friend instead?”

Edward meowed and hopped off the back of the couch. He walked across her legs and curled in her lap.

“I think you like that idea a bit too much. How about we compromise? You help me figure out what is real and what is solely because of the moonstone, and I’ll find you a lady cat.”

Edward purred and kneaded her legs with his claws. The sharp little talons digging in none too gently.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

The next couple of hours flew by and before she knew it, it was time to head to
Pain et du Chocolat.
She fluffed her hair and changed out of her fur-laden clothes. Choosing to go casual with a pair of dark jeans and a pink top. Her tattoo was covered and her makeup was done. It was as good as it was going to get for a last minute date.

She got in her car and headed to Main Street. As she parked, her phone buzzed in her purse. She quickly dug it out and saw a text from Cedric.

Wanna meet for lunch?

Her heart skipped a beat, and she ended up chewing on her lip. She was flooded with guilt for agreeing to go to lunch with Aaron, but if she wanted to find love, then she needed to take chances. She had to be honest with Cedric. It wasn’t like they were actually dating. He’d taken her out for two meals, and once was after conducting coven business. In the big book of dating rules, she didn’t think that counted.

Already have plans. Meeting Aaron for lunch.
She shot off the text and dropped her phone back in her purse, afraid of his response. Getting out of the car, she locked it and headed across the street to the small restaurant. Aaron stood out front waiting for her.

The big man looked good. Short, brown hair cropped close to his head. Deep-blue eyes twinkling in the bright sunlight. Tight, faded jeans and a firehouse T-shirt accented his thick muscles. His biceps bulged, and she spied a tribal tattoo peeking out from one sleeve. He grinned, the left side of his mouth tipping up higher than the right.

She grabbed the moonstone and waited for a reaction. He should have been sending her libido through the roof. Goddess knew most of the women she knew lusted after the hot firefighter and his equally hot colleagues. When nothing happened, she let go and pasted a smile on her face. She had a sinking feeling lunch was going to be a disaster, at least in the love department.

“Hey, Willow,” he greeted her, leaning in to kiss her cheek. There was no spark when his firm lips touched her skin. He slid a hand down her back, coming to a stop right before he got to her ass. “Ready to grab some grub?”

“Sure,” she replied as brightly as possible.

They were seated quickly and ordered after a couple minutes. An awkward silence fell over them as they waited for their food.

Willow pinched her lips together and grasped the moonstone.

“So…” Aaron started, but didn’t say anything else. He looked at her like she should take the lead from there.

The silence was killing her. “How do you like being a fireman?” She asked, feeling ridiculous as soon as the words left her mouth. She already knew he loved it. Any fool with eyes could see that.

He chuckled lightly. “This is awkward, isn’t it?

“A little and I don’t know why. We don’t know each other well, so you would think we’d have loads to talk about. Things to learn about each other.”

“Yeah. I don’t get it either. I had no problem talking to you at the firehouse.”

“Maybe we aren’t meant to be anything other than friends.”

“Could be. I’m not too sure how that would go though. I don’t know how to be friends with a woman. I pretty much end up sleeping with them and that’s about it. There’s no forming a friendship after you’ve fucked each other’s brains out. All you end up doing is imagining them naked when they want to talk. From my experience, women don’t like that.”

Willow laughed. “I have a friend like that. Though, I’ve never slept with him.”

Aaron sent a sly look her way. “Ric?”

“Yes.”

“What’s up with you two? He looked fucking pissed at the firehouse on Sunday. He definitely wasn’t keen on me trying to get you in bed, or when I kissed you.”

Willow shook her head. “I really don’t know. He’s been acting strange the last week or so. He even says he’s in love with me, but I think he’s going through some mid-life crisis.”

Aaron’s dark eyebrows shot up to his hairline in surprise. “He’s in love with you? Jesus! What are you doing having lunch with me then?”

“I’m out to lunch with you because you asked, and I wanted to. But, I think we both now know nothing is going to happen between us in a romantic sense.”

“Romantic? Probably not. But I wouldn’t be opposed to heating up the sheets with you.”

“Oh!” She hadn’t expected his honesty about that. She waited for the arousal to hit her at the thought of sleeping with him, but it never did.

“But,” he paused, his expression turning serious. “I don’t intentionally poach on another guy’s territory. I didn’t think he was serious about you when you two came to the firehouse, so I thought you were fair game. I’ve always seen you two as oil and water and; well, he’s a bit of a hound.”

“That might be an understatement,” she mumbled mostly to herself.

Aaron smiled knowingly. “Do I hear a bit of jealousy in your voice?”

“No,” she replied, affronted by the accusation. She wasn’t jealous that every other woman she knew had the attention and then some of Cedric at one point or another.

A huge grin lit Aaron’s face. “Sorry, sweetheart, but I think I do. As a matter of fact, I think
you’re
in love with him. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have that look on your face.”

“What look?”

“Like someone pissed in your cereal.”

Willow rolled her eyes at the crude comment. “Goddess no. How can I be in love with someone who is constantly making my life hell?”

“Because you like it,” he said, a smug smile lifting the corner of his lips. “I don’t see him acting that way with other women. You must be pretty damn special to him.”

Their server brought their food, ending the conversation. She was definitely
not
supposed to fall in love with Aaron Hoserman.

They ate their meals and chatted about the solstice celebration. When they were done, Aaron paid and escorted her to her car. He kissed her cheek and waited next to her car as she got in. He motioned for her to put the window down.

“I had a good time,” he said, leaning down, his hand on the roof of her car.

“I did too, even if you think I’m in love with Cedric.”

He chuckled. “I know you are now, if that comment is still bothering you. I hope it works out, but if he breaks your heart and you need a shoulder to cry on, I’m happy to supply mine.”

“You’re just hoping I’m a wreck and decide to fall into bed with you.”

“Just putting it out there,” he waggled his eyebrows.

“You’re incorrigible. I’ll see you around, Aaron. Thanks for lunch.”

He tapped on the roof of the car and stood back. “Thanks for showing me I might actually be able to be friends with a woman…as long as she’s taken.”

Willow reversed out of her spot and drove the ten minutes home. As she approached her house, she noticed a very familiar, expensive SUV parked in front, but there was no sign of the driver.

“This should be fun.” Parking, she got out of her car and made her way to the front door.

Cedric was leaning against the railing just like he had the Sunday he showed back up in her life.

She nodded at him and let herself in. He followed behind, not bothering to wait for an invitation. Keys and purse put away, she figured it would be a good time for some tea. Something to keep her hands busy as she waited for Cedric’s reason for being there.

He sat in one of the chairs and waited. His eyebrow raised and a wounded look on his face. The guilt of going out with Aaron grew. In the back of her mind, she knew she was wrong, but she’d used the lame excuse that she and Cedric weren’t really dating to justify it.

She made them each a cup of tea and set his down in front of him before she took her seat.

He sipped it quietly, studying her as her nerves ratcheted up another notch. His steady gaze was beginning to unnerve her.

She couldn’t take it anymore. “I’m sorry,” she said, not even knowing that was what was going to come out of her mouth.

“You’re sorry for what?”

“The lunch date. It was a mistake.”

He nodded as if agreeing, but didn’t say anything.

“I knew I shouldn’t have gone, even though you and I aren’t really a thing. I mean, we’ve gone out twice, and once was after coven business. I don’t think that actually counts as a date. That’s two people eating because they were hungry after getting some work done.”

“Are you trying to convince me or yourself? I was surprised and pretty pissed you went out with Aaron. I know I don’t have a claim on you, but I thought you understood I want something more.”

“More?”

“Yes. More than our current relationship that you say isn’t really friendship. I meant what I said the other day, Willow. I’m in love with you. It’s taken me a long time to realize that was what I felt, but it doesn’t make it any less true.”

“Oh.” It was all she could think to say.

“Don’t worry. I can wait to hear you say it back. I know you need time, but don’t take too long.” He sipped his tea, then let out a loud breath. She got the impression he was warring with something inside. “Can you do me a favor?”

“Of course.”

“You don’t even know what it is. How can you say yes without details?”

“When have I ever turned you down?”

His mouth curved into a pleased smile. “Don’t go out on any more dates with other men. Aaron is pretty fucking lucky I’m not over there maiming him.”

She snorted and nodded. She was fairly certain she wouldn’t be seeing anyone else. The guilt she felt for having lunch with Aaron was enough to put her off.