Enchant Me (12 page)

I sat back waiting for the applause for my
brilliant plan. She stared out the window, apparently
considering all the pros and cons, ever cautious. She finally
turned back to me her eyes glittering with excitement.

“I like the first idea but not the
second.”

“Well the second is only if he doesn’t agree
with the first. I will get Michelle to discretely encourage
him.”

“Alright it’s a deal,” she said and shook my
hand. 

After that we both relaxed back on the couch
and took turns petting Cody’s sleeping little form. Both lost in
our own thoughts of our men. 

“It seems like we haven’t talked in forever,
Lex. How is it going with Christian?”

That big smile started across my face as
usual.

She glanced at me, “that good huh?” She
smiled and giggled. 

“Girl, I wish I could tell you in detail. He
is so…hot. Oh my god, I can’t even begin to tell you. He makes me
so crazy.”

“I noticed the souvenir on your neck,” she
admitted, the giggle still in her voice. 

I gasped; I thought I had covered it with
makeup pretty well. I tried to look down to see it, which was of
course impossible and pretty comical, especially considering how
Tina was laughing probably harder than I had ever heard her
laugh. I leapt up, and went straight to my bedroom, and sat
down at my vanity. Tina followed me in. I didn’t even have to pull
the collar of my shirt away; I could already see the bruise-like
mark. My concealer must have rubbed off during the day. I patted on
a little more powder.

“I so don’t want my mom to see it. She’s met
Christian and all, but I really don’t want any lectures, you
know?”

Tina seemed fascinated by my mark; her eyes
glued to it. Sometimes I forgot she hadn’t really dated much
yet. 

Her lips curled up in a smile. “What was it
like?” she asked in a hushed tone. 

I smiled and thought back. “It was so
intense… romantic… and you just want and need in this crazy sort of
way. You feel like you would do anything to keep the feeling
going.”

I looked back at her and could see she had
gone into her own little world, daydreaming about Jim, no
doubt. After she sat down on my bed, a thought occurred to me
and unfortunately I needed to interrupt her fantasies.

“Tina, have you heard that Nicolas is
back?”

I could almost hear the thump as she came
back down to earth. I felt bad when her dreamy expression
faded. Her brown eyes were compassionate when she looked at
me.

“No. No one has seen him and I guess his
parents have been laying low too. Are you sure it was him? I
actually heard one rumor that he went to France.”

“That’s random. I don’t remember him ever
saying he still had family back there.”

“I don’t know, but try not to worry about it,
ok. We’ll all keep a look out.”

“I know. Thanks.”

The rest of the night passed as usual for us,
lots of giggling and joking. Even my mom joined in on our
silliness. But as I watched Tina drive off that evening, I was sad
at the thought that in a year or so we would be going to different
colleges and for me, in a totally different state. Sighing, I
collected my now rambunctious kitten on my way to my room, praying
his nighttime crazies only had another hour or so to go. 

The next day, after school I followed
Christian to his house so I could meet his grandparents. I was more
than a little nervous. He obviously adored them and it was
important to me that they liked me, but at the same time I didn’t
want to portray myself as anything other than what I was. So I
dressed and styled myself as I would any other day, even leaving my
nose ring in. When I pulled up, I smiled at the mown grass and
the newly painted house. I almost missed the old look though. It
had been kind of romantic… in a gothic sort of way.

Getting out of his car, he walked over to me
and putting a gentle hand at my back, he steered me into the
house. His grandparents were wonderful, friendly and
boisterous. His grandma Antonia, he actually called her grandma
Tony for short, was an amazing cook. I practically plunged head
first in everything she put in front of me. I could totally see
where he got it from and was tempted to plead my case for moving
in. His grandfather Leo was so sweet and charming; I could see so
much of Christian in him, that he totally won my heart. I was so
enchanted with his little family, and watching how they interacted,
that I was able to listen to at least two hours of fishing stories
without even noticing the time.

 Eventually Christian decided to save me
and whisked me downstairs on the pretense that he needed to do some
sketches of me. At least I had thought it was a pretense until he
sat me in his bay window and started to pose me. Next he grabbed
some clothes and left the room only to return a couple minutes
later in some loose jeans and a t-shirt with paint stains all over
them. Luckily the position he put me in was relatively
comfortable, sitting in the window with my legs stretched out in
front of me, my head turned towards him. He looked so adorable and
sexy with his brow furrowed, concentration evident on his face. His
lean muscular body was relaxed as he sketched; a slight smile on
his face. As he studied me, I studied him. I closed my eyes as
the throbbing in my temples started again, the intense dizziness
following that. Not again. Why did this always seem to happen with
Christian? I fought it this time, tensing and concentrating against
it, pleading for it to go away. I heard the halt of his pencil on
paper.

“What’s wrong?” He demanded, his voice not
soft like I would have expected. I could see the concern on his
face but he was also suspicious, wary?

“Just a headache,” I mumbled. 

“You seem to be having a lot of those
lately,” he mused roughly.

 While we stared at each other I
realized he wasn’t getting up to come over to me but rather was
watching me from his stool. That seemed odd to me. I felt a little
sick; something in his behavior didn’t ring right. 

“Maybe I should take you home?”

The dizziness had cleared although the
throbbing hadn’t gone away. I was safe enough to ride the two
blocks home by myself, which was exactly what I wanted to do. For
the first time I felt really angry and irritated with Christian.
Something was wrong and I knew he wasn’t going to tell me. I
didn’t even look at him as I got up and grabbed my stuff. Feeling
supremely grateful he had his own door, I prepared to storm out and
away from the irritating, sexy idiot.

He grabbed my arm as I passed him, holding me
in place. “Where do you think you are going?”

I ripped my arm out of his grasp and charged
through the door. “Home. I am fine to drive two blasted blocks to
my house.” 

I didn’t look back to see what he did, but I
could hear the sound of his feet on the pathway. The sound
following me all the way to my bike, and out of my peripheral
vision I could see him watch me ride away. When I glanced in the
rearview mirror I saw him toss up his hands in the air like he
didn’t know what to do, which as far as I was concerned, was
exactly how I felt too. 

As I rode into the driveway I was relieved to
see my mom wasn’t home yet so I could give full rein to my
emotions. I stormed into the house slamming the door behind me, and
I started pacing back and forth in the living room. It wasn’t
making me feel better but it did give me something to do. Cody
seemed to sense my mood and jumped to the top of the couch, his
large gold eyes watching me travel back and forth across the
Oriental rug. His tail almost seemed to swish in time to my loops
around the coffee table. Eventually he seemed to get bored by
this and made one of his brave graceful leaps to the coffee table.
Well it probably would have been graceful if he hadn’t landed on a
slick magazine that skidded towards the edge of the table. I
dropped to my knees to catch him just as he went over, his eyes
huge and startled.

I cuddled him close and felt myself relax a
bit and I realized the headache was gone. It actually might have
been gone since I left Christian, but I couldn’t be sure. I hadn’t
been really paying attention to anything else when I had walked
out. Feeling emotionally worn out, I carried Cody into my room
with me and prepared to get some homework done before bed. Mom came
home an hour later and after a quick recap of her day, she went to
shower and prepared to go to bed early too. Almost dreading what
tomorrow was going to be like I turned out the lights and laid down
to go to sleep, only to hear a soft knock on my window.

I knew who it was but was tempted to ignore
it. Giving up on the idea that I could ever really ignore him, I
opened my curtains and pushed open the window. He then grabbed the
screen, quietly lifted it out and climbed into my room, closing the
window behind him. I stared at him like he was certifiable and
felt my annoyance rush back over me. I walked away from him
determined to keep my head straight so we could iron this out.
Against my will, annoyance was being edged out by attraction. He
had followed my retreat into the complete darkness of my room. All
I could see now was his silhouette and even that faded into shadow
as he took the last step that bridged the distance between us.

He was always warm and I could feel his body
heat radiate down the front of mine; his intoxicating scent filled
my nostrils and the intensity rolling off of him attracted me
rather than repelled me. 

“I couldn’t sleep with things like this
between us,” he rasped, so close to me I could feel his breath flow
down my face. 

Resisting the urge to touch him, I tried to
see the expression on his face but it was too dark, I could only
feel and sense his mood. “I don’t understand what’s been with you
lately.”

He sighed. “I know, it’s just something I’ve
got to deal with.”

I felt my frustration mounting again, “and
you won’t tell me what the issue is?”

He cupped my shoulders with his hands and I
knew I wasn’t going to like whatever he was going to say. “No, it’s
not something for you to worry about.”

I didn’t usually have much of a temper but
this was definitely one of those rare moments where I felt it was
about to explode. Seeming to sense this, he wrapped both arms
around my waist and started to push us back onto my bed. I grabbed
the hair at the nape of his neck and yanked to get his
attention.

“Cody is sleeping on the bed,” I whispered
harshly. 

“Actually he’s not; he’s sitting in the
window.”

Taking advantage of my distraction he pressed
me down onto the bed, his body covering me from head to toe. I
tried to hold onto my anger but it was fading fast, lost under the
onslaught of a physical attraction so powerful that I wondered if
there would ever be any way to win an argument with him? Would I
always be at the mercy of my own desires? I had always been the
boss, the one with the most power in my relationships and I wasn’t
so sure I liked this reversal of roles.

I could feel him resting his forearms on
either side of my shoulders, his hands gently brushing strands of
hair out of my face. His head bent near to my ear and he whispered,
“Lex, you know I would never stalk you or hurt you right? If you
ever want me to stop or leave you alone, all you have to do is
say.”

Wrapping my arms around his neck and drawing
my legs around his waist, I pulled him down and tighter against me.
“You already know I’m not angry anymore, you big jerk.”

I was pretty sure he was grinning
triumphantly but I ignored the mild annoyance that caused. It was a
different experience being in complete darkness, with my vision all
but useless in the dark; I was forced to rely on my sense of touch
and smell. I couldn’t even see his face; I only felt his lips as
they pressed upon mine. His kiss was gentle this time,
coaxing, asking for my response. When he nudged my head to the side
and breathed moisture down my neck, I shuddered as he drifted close
to the spot he had marked the night before. 

“Did I hurt you?” he murmured.

Speech was beyond me; so I shook my head and
arched further against him. I concentrated on how loud his
heartbeat had become, his breathing more labored, the feel of his
hair brushing my shoulder and his warm hands coming up to cradle my
head. I sighed and let my hands drift down his hard back, reveling
in the shift of his muscles as he moved. My whole body jerked when
I felt his mouth press against the mark and lightly nipped at
it. His male chuckle of satisfaction at my eager response
pricked at my pride and I decided it was time to turn the tables.
Lifting my hands to cup his head I brought his lips down to mine,
nibbling his lower lip before settling in a kiss that demanded and
devoured.

Once I knew I had him wrapped up in my web, I
teasingly pulled away, avoiding his lips as he tried to find mine,
a soft laugh finally escaping me.

 “Lex,” he growled.

Just then I heard my mom’s bedroom door open.
We both froze for a second, then he leapt into action. Cody was so
startled he actually hissed at Christian, then jumped down from the
window and hid under the bed. Christian slid the window open as
quietly as he could, leaping out and quickly pressing the screen
back in place. I was still in bed, amazed at how fast he had gotten
out and fixed the window. 

When I heard my mom’s bedroom door close
again, I went over to the window and looked out. There he was in
all his dark splendor, smiling from ear to ear.

I arched a brow at him. “You’ve done
this before haven’t you,” I accused. 

His wicked grin got worse and I rolled my
eyes at him. I couldn’t help smiling back at him. “Good night,
troublemaker,” I said and closed the window.

Totally enchanted, I watched him walk out
into the night until I could see him no more. The next morning
at school every time our eyes caught he grinned wickedly at me and
a hot blush would rush up my neck and cover my face. By the time
school was over I couldn’t decide whether I should strangle him or
lock us in a small room for the next couple days. At least my plan
for Jim and Tina was proceeding as planned. Without much coercion
Jim had agreed to go with the rest of my friends from yearbook
class for the motorcycle race at Pacific Raceways in Kent on
Saturday, where Michelle would introduce them since I would be on
the track. While Christian escorted me to my bike, I snuck as
many quick glances at his face that I could without tripping over
my own feet. I had almost forgotten how beautiful his eyes were in
the bright light of day, a dark molten brown that at this moment
were sparkling with humor and wildness. I felt regret fill me.