Cursed by Love (15 page)

The day after Molly’s near
m
é
nage
à
trois
with Gabe and her car, she slurped down
a Jell-O shot and laughed with her friends at the patter provided by the perky
Babes in Toyland’s representative.

“For those times when you’re in a
do-it-yourself mood, or when your partner isn’t up to ‘finishing’ the job,”
enthused Janelle with a waggle of pencil-thin eyebrows. “Simply place the
bunny’s nose on your, um, hot button, turn him on with a twist of his tail, and
let the Frisky Rabbit go to town. You won’t believe what his little ears do at
the same time!”

Molly slurped down a Jell-O shot and
laughed along with the other women at the Babes in Toyland party. Janelle
demonstrated the hand-held device against the fuzz of an unsuspecting peach.
“Ladies, don’t listen to the old Stones tune, ‘I Can’t Get No Satisfaction.’
Play Justin Timberlake’s game and bring sexy back with the Frisky Rabbit. Or
with this handy little companion tool we call the Tickle-Me-Happy.”

Janelle exhibited other gadgets from the
array of sex toys, but Molly looked at her watch. She’d agreed at the last
minute to attend this in-home party hosted by Lindsay, one of the other
teachers from school. Vibrators, edible panties, and other sex simulating and
stimulating tools weren’t normally her kind of thing.

But she’d been solo for several months
now—ever since William had dropped her like a bad habit—and the idea of a
utilitarian vibrator held a certain appeal. Now, on her fourth Jell-O shot,
some of the more exotic toys were starting to catch her attention.

“Much less trouble than a man, believe
me.” Janelle activated the gyrations of another intriguingly twisted piece of
pliable plastic. “You turn this baby off and put it in a drawer when you’re
done with it—until you’re ready for more. No snoring. No hogging the covers. No
heartache.”

“But no snuggling either,” Lindsay
added, a little wistfully. She’d recently been dumped by her boyfriend, too.

“Right.” Molly eyed, eyeing the cold and
isolating personal appliances. “They’re about as cozy as a toaster.”

“How many men really like to snuggle?” Janelle
asked.

“Not mine,” a gym teacher named Vera
complained. “When Jerry’s done, he rolls over and reaches for the TV remote.”

“My Greg doesn’t even bother to turn the
TV off,” Lindsay’s sister,
Marnie
, confided. “His
idea of multitasking is watching the game while he gets his rocks off.” She
swirled her tongue through another Jell-O shot. “Men! They have all the
romantic sensibilities of a toilet seat.”

William hadn’t been as bad as Molly’s
friends’ partners, but he had been rather, um, uncreative in his lovemaking.
With his departure, she’d sworn off men and sex. But late at night, she often
woke up craving the touch of a man’s body next to hers. And not just for the
physical act or the climax. She also craved someone to ease the loneliness.

Invariably this past week, the face to
fit the cravings had been Gabe’s.

Sometimes he dominated her thoughts
during the daylight hours, too. That could be dangerous, considering they were
going out the next night. Alone together, one on one, with none of the
distractions that had cropped up between them in the past. Except for the phone
he used incessantly.

She wasn’t a prude, but she’d never been
the kind of girl to sleep with a man on the first date either. Normally, she
placed more value on the acts building up to intimacy than she did on a night
of
smokin
’ hot monkey sex. Although hot monkey sex
had its merits, she enjoyed the slow dance of flirtation that led up to the
main event as much as she enjoyed the main event itself. Usually.

But she couldn’t stop thinking about the
clench they’d shared the day before. His usual reserve had been stripped away,
leaving her little doubt that his desire for her ran deeper and hotter than
William’s ever had. At least on a physical level. Emotionally, he still erected
a lot of barriers.

Now that her libido had been jerked
awake on the hood of her car, and she knew he wasn’t the overbearing, obnoxious
jerk his phone-yelling had made him out to be, she was half-afraid she’d jump
him and strip him the minute he arrived on her doorstep.

Maybe one of these battery-operated
gadgets would be just the thing to take the edge off. Hot bunny sex. It didn’t
sound quite as appealing. With the number of sex toys buzzing on fruit all
around the room, it took Molly a second to realize the cell phone in her pocket
created a separate vibration.

As she pulled it out and swiped to
answer, laughter erupted around the room at Janelle’s latest demonstration.
With her hand pressed over her free ear, she answered.

“Molly?” Real heat started to pulse in
any number of sensitive body parts as the life-sized embodiment of her desires
said her name.

“Just a second.” She stepped onto
Lindsay’s tiny balcony and closed the sliding door behind her. “Okay, I can
talk now.”

“You’re not at home?”

She pressed her cheek against the cool
glass of the door. “No, I’m at a party.”

“What kind of party? Jewelry? Basket?
Baby shower?”

“It’s called Babes in Toyland.”

“Would that be, um, Christmas stuff?”

Why wouldn’t he let it go?
That was Gabe. Inquisitive about
everything. If she didn’t tell him, he’d probably Google the company. “No, it’s
personal items. For women.”

“Ah.” Pause. “Really?” A note of
interest crept into his tone. “
Babes in Toyland
. I get it.” He cleared
his throat. “Have you made any purchases?”

Her cheeks warmed at the thought of the
Frisky Rabbit. “Not yet.”

“Well.” His voice dropped to a silky
level of intimacy. “Don’t let me keep you.”

“I have a few minutes.” She settled in a
chair and peeked through the sliding door at her friends, passing around an
item that looked like an ordinary, old-fashioned feather duster. Uh huh, not so
ordinary or old-fashioned. There went a container of something sparkly. Janelle
dampened an index finger with her tongue and dipped it into the container of
Lik
-M-Aid for adults. “What’s up?”

“We need to discuss our plans for
tomorrow night, but first, I want to tell you I received an interesting offer
on the Sleeping Lotus today.”

And just that fast, some of Molly’s
sexual and alcoholic buzz fizzled. She bit her lip to keep from issuing a sharp
objection. “Someone made you an unsolicited offer? Without knowing the
provenance? Now why do I find that doubtful?”

“Because you’re a suspicious individual
and you don’t trust me?”

“That’s probably not it. Who made the
offer?”

“One of those guys from the crowd at
Your
Grandma’s Attic
.”

 “That’s weird.” The mental image
of a gray sedan with tinted windows and an Ohio State bumper leapt to mind.
“How did he know where to find you?”

“He said he got my name from the
appraiser, Googled me, found the company listing, and called.”

“Really? Do you think someone from the
show would give out your name? Wasn’t confidentiality part of the agreement?”

“Yes, but that’s the way business goes
sometimes. I wouldn’t be surprised if the appraisers work this angle to make
extra cash. They may be restricted from contacting us directly, but work out
side deals with third parties.”

“Sounds unethical to me. I would’ve
thought better of James than that,” Molly said. “How much was the offer?”

“Six hundred thousand.”

She heard the excitement in his voice.
The amount of money sent chills down her spine. Six hundred thousand dollars
was a lot of money for anyone, especially for a single elementary school
teacher with house and car payments and a small business owner like Gabe with
enormous responsibilities.

“Wow. That’s more than James originally
suggested. Wasn’t the caller worried about the provenance?”

“I told him we’re still researching it.”

“What did you tell him about the offer?

“I told him it would be up to you.”

Since her opinions on the subject were
based strictly on sentiment and emotion, not logic or good sense, she
hesitated. “I’m still not sure I want to sell.”

“What will it take to convince you? A
sign from above?” Frustration laced his comment. He lowered his voice, and she
could picture him leaning in, focusing on the conversation with everything he
had. “The pieces were meant to be together. I thought we agreed on that much at
least.”

“Right.” She did believe the pieces
should be joined due to the legend. But he believed it because the pieces were
worth so much more together, than apart. “That probably is the way to go, but I
want to think about it.”

“Don’t think too long,” Gabe said. “The
buyer says he’ll take the offer off the table on Monday.”

“Good to know.” Molly considered the
deadline, fingering her way through the charms on her bracelet. “I’ll make a
decision before then. We can talk more about it tomorrow.”

“Fine,” he said, short and clipped. Then
distantly, like he’d moved his mouth away from the phone she heard him say,
“Just a sec, I’ll be right with you.” His regular volume resumed. “My cousin
Lenny’s here. I have some new business I need to go over with him.”

Another cousin?
Let’s see. Male family members had been
Terry, Dominic, Granddad, and Uncle Harold. “Have I met Lenny?”

“No, he wasn’t here yesterday. He’s a
clown.”

“A clown,” Molly repeated. “As in funny
ha-ha? Like a practical joker?”

“As in red nose, baggy suit, big shoes.”

Molly laughed. “He’s responsible for the
balloon animals in your office, right?”

“Probably, although almost everyone here
knows how to make them. Even Chloe can produce a respectable dog or giraffe.”

“That’s great.” She couldn’t help
chuckling, although the Jell-O shots may have had something to do with it.
“Where does he do his, um, clowning?”

“He’s a member of the Shriners’ clown
team. You’ve probably seen them. He rides in the back of a little car at
parades and local fairs and stuff, but mostly he visits kids in hospitals.”

“That’s pretty special.” From having her
tonsils out when she was six, and from some of her students' more recent
experiences, she knew how frightening and lonely hospitals could be for a
child. “Your family is amazing.”

“That’s one way to look at them.”

“How do you look at them?”

“Inescapable,” he said, after a long
pause.

She’d never heard a voice contain so
much exhaustion before.

Molly managed not to jump Gabe when he
showed up on her door Friday night, but just barely. He looked tastier than
anything she could imagine having for dinner. Apparently, she needed more than
one mechanical rabbit-induced orgasm to knock the edge off the desire that
revved her up every time she saw him.

Uncertain if he’d be in a car or on his
Harley when he picked her up, a lot of hand-twisting went into her clothing
choice for the night. Finally, she’d decided on a little turquoise slip dress
because the color looked good on her and it fit like, well, a slip, showing off
her curves to best advantage. Plus, the outfit was neutral enough to go
anywhere Gabe chose, dressy or casual. If he rode up on the Harley, she’d just
have to change.

But once she laid eyes on Gabe, she
wished she’d gone with something dressier. Because he looked stunning. He’d
gone all
GQ
on her, wearing a perfectly-fitted dark suit, white shirt
with blue stripes, and a deep red tie.

She wanted to tug the tie off him and
rip open the buttons on that starched shirt. This was the first time she’d seen
him in anything besides khakis or jeans. And this young executive look worked
to his advantage. She took a moment to enjoy the view, but the simple bouquet
of daisies in his hand took her breath away.

She blushed like a schoolgirl as she
accepted the flowers from him. “My favorite.” She gushed like no one had ever
brought her flowers before. And she didn’t think anyone over the age of eight
ever had, except for the mandatory corsages for high school dances. “They’re
beautiful. So cheerful and springy. Come in while I put them in water.”