Enchant Me (8 page)

“Are you alright?” I asked softly, trying to
keep the laugh out of my voice.

Apparently not succeeding, he quirked a brow
at me. “I’ll survive, but you owe me.”

I lifted up his shirt and gently bathed the
scratches. “What did you have in mind?” I asked, while flipping
back down his shirt and tossing the cotton balls in the trash.

 I rolled a ball with a bell in it
across the floor and Cody leapt out of Christian’s lap to go after
it. Christian straightened out his long legs and crossed them
at the ankles, propping himself up with his arms and cocking his
head to the side, he looked at me intently. “I’ve kissed you, now
it is your turn to kiss me.”

I wasn’t sure I saw the difference but I
wasn’t going to argue. Without warning I lunged at him like the cat
he thought I was and toppled him over. It was time he got a little
taste of his own medicine. His eyes were wide and amused as I
crouched over him. I leaned down close to him until our breaths
mingled between us.

I traveled his face with my eyes. “You really
are beautiful,” I murmured.

His brows drew together, his mouth
wry. Oh right, he didn’t like that. “I mean you are so dang
sexy,” I giggled. 

His expression lifted even as I bent the rest
of the way to kiss his lips. I brushed my lips across his, once,
twice, and then settled in to the softest of kisses. It was
heavenly. I was right. His kisses were like full enveloping
caresses and I let myself get lost in them. 

Only to find myself being rolled under him
again, I yanked on his hair playfully. “Hey, I thought I was
supposed to be the one in control,” I gasped. 

He didn’t answer or even look at me. He just
pressed his forehead against my cheek and took a deep breath.
Realizing that he was trying to regain control, I moved my hands
down to his back and rubbed as calmly as I could. Eventually
he pulled us both up to standing and pressed a quick kiss against
my lips.

“I think you’re middle name is Temptation,”
he sighed and took a step away from me. 

Without thought I snapped right back. “Well I
think your middle name is Sin.”

He softly laughed at that and wisely I kept
my distance while he let himself out of my house. The rest of
the week passed in a happy blur, seeing Christian in-between
classes and every other lunch, talking on the phone until the wee
hours when we could. We couldn’t hang out after school until Friday
since I had that belly dance performance to prepare for on
Saturday, but I still felt pretty lucky. That is…until Friday
morning. 

I had parked at school towards the back of
the lot as usual. My helmet off, I waved at Christian as he made
his way over to me, when I got that feeling I was being
watched. I looked around expecting maybe Jenny or Tanya at
worst, when my eyes fell on a lone still figure, staring at me from
across the lot from the yard of the mental hospital next door, a
chain link fence all that separated me from his malevolent stare. A
chill went over my body and I felt the blood drop from my face,
leaving me feeling colder than usual.

He looked different although I couldn’t
describe how. Then intuition whispered-- it wasn’t me he was
thinking so maliciously about. It was Christian. Tremors
started to course through me even as Christian reached my side.

He grabbed my shoulders and when I looked at
him I could see the concern all over his face. “What’s wrong,”
he demanded, looking around trying to find the source of my
fright. 

I glanced back to where I had last seen
Nicolas and he was gone. “I saw…Nicolas,” I stuttered, closing my
eyes and leaning into Christian’s warmth. 

“Where?” he growled, his dark eyes were tight
with anger. I pointed to the hospital yard, knowing that he
was long gone. Christian wrapped his hard arms around me,
pressing me close.

“What did I tell you?”

“You wouldn’t let anything happen to me?” I
mumbled into his shirt. 

“That’s right, come on. I will walk you to
class.” I could hear the restrained anger in his voice.

His arm was tight around my waist as he led
me into school. He stopped me outside my first period class,
pinning me with his eyes.

“I am going to walk you to all your classes
today, we’ll do lunch together too,” he lifted my chin with his
hand. “You are not to leave this building today without me ok?” I
nodded numbly.

He brushed a kiss across my lips, “I want you
to let your friends know what is going on too, the more eyes on you
the better.” 

I pulled him in for a quick, reassuring hug,
inhaling his scent before I walked into class. It wasn’t me I was
worried about. I knew intimately what Nicolas could be like when he
turned that laser beam focus on you.

As the day wore on I started to relax.
Between my friends being all about me and Christian constantly at
my side, doing his best to make me laugh. I wondered if maybe I had
imagined Nicolas there. I asked Tina to discretely look into
whether anyone had heard he was back. I was immensely glad
when school was over. Waving goodbye to Tina and Becca as they got
on their bus I joined Christian as we walked to my bike.

With one arm around my shoulders, I could
tell he was looking around, keeping an eye out. He even seemed to
visually inspect my bike before he allowed me on. Even though
I was sure he knew that I felt better, I could see the concern
still in his velvety eyes.

“I am going to follow you on the way to your
house and then we’ll take my car,” he murmured and gave me a quick
kiss on the forehead. 

He was in his car and waiting for me to lead
the way before I even knew it. I kept looking around on the way to
my house but I saw nothing suspicious and decided to let it go for
now. I would mention it to mom later. Once at his house, I
really studied the yard and home as we approached the front door.
His house didn’t really look like it suited him either. It was kind
of--decrepit. The yard was overgrown, the weeds almost hip length
if you weren’t on the small gravel path. The white paint seemed to
be peeling in many places. All in all, it was kind of rundown… or
haunted. I looked at him confused as he let me in the front
door. 

“What?” he asked, a boyish grin spreading
across his face. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings but I
really wanted to know.

“Why--um… haven’t you mowed the lawn?”

He let out a short bark of laughter as he
shut and locked the door. “My grandparents travel a lot so they
haven’t had the time or inclination to take care of things around
here. And as for me doing it, I have to admit I’ve been more
interested in my art than maintaining the house and yard.” He
put his arm around me and led me further into the house. “I’ll hire
someone to do it as a coming home present for them.”

I glanced up at him. “They’re not here
now?”

He looked down at me, a mischievous glint in
his eyes. “Nope, they’re in Arizona now, visiting relatives.”

I caught his drift. “So it’s just you and me,
huh?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

The upper level of the house was what I
expected of grandparents, furniture from the fifties to the
seventies, doilies on every available surface, pictures of Italy
and stuffed fish on the walls. They had huge windows though, with
gorgeous views of the Puget Sound. There was even a wrap-around
deck. The house had real potential. When he led me downstairs,
it was obvious that this was his domain. It was like walking into a
different house from the one above. He had his own sitting room
with clean-line modern furniture, a big flat screen TV. The color
scheme a dramatic black, red and white, which for all his obvious
calm and control suited him. His bedroom was huge. The first half
seemed to be his studio, facing the windows, cluttered with every
type of art tool you can imagine. There were a couple of easels
holding canvases in various stages of development. One in
particular caught my attention.

I drifted over to it, looking back at him in
a wordless query. He had moved to stand right beside me, looking
almost shy as he met my eyes. “Yes, I was painting you at the art
show.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“Good. Cause it is,” he exclaimed, all
shyness gone now. “Would you consider sitting for me for real?”

That was probably the best compliment I ever
got. “Of course.” I walked over and sat at his bay window. He
was so amazingly lucky. “What a great view.”

“Yes it is,” he replied, warmer than what my
comment warranted.

 I glanced over at him and noticed he
was looking at me and not the view. I inclined my head in silent
thanks.

 “Christian,” I murmured, trying to draw
out his name like a cat purring. “Come here.”

His eyes got dark and smoky. He wasn’t
stupid. As soon as he sat down, I crawled over to him and sat
astride his legs. I faked a pout as I stared at his perfect full
lips.

“I didn’t really get my turn you know.”

That god-help-me, sexy smile started to
spread across his face as he looked deep into my eyes. He cupped
both my hips with his hands, his dark velvet eyes daring me to
follow through. 

“You’re right; I would hate to be considered
unfair.” The soft, seductive, low tone of his voice was my
undoing.

Whatever control or sense of self
preservation I had dissipated. I slid my hands in his shirt to
grasp his shoulders, digging my nails in just as I bent down and
nipped at his lower lip with my teeth. I wasn’t gentle and he
didn’t seem to mind. I felt the grip of desire like I never had
before. A kind of madness I couldn’t control and wasn’t sure I
wanted to. Soon we were kissing ravenously, demandingly.

He wrapped his arms around me, lifted me up
and walked over to his bed. I didn’t stop kissing him the entire
time. With lips like his, how could anyone blame me? He toppled us
on it with him on top. I arched against him, unconsciously asking
for more and then it occurred to me he was using his weight to
immobilize me, not to incite me, and his kisses were turning from
wild to soft and soothing. 

“Lex,” he breathed. “You’re going to kill
me.”

Sighing shakily, I didn’t dare open my eyes
and look at him. I didn’t trust what I would do if I did. Slowly he
moved off me and lay on his back, pulling me against his side. I
threw an arm over him and laid my head against his chest. It was
almost as good. I felt so safe and warm that my eyelids started
begging me to close them-- and I gave in. Christian’s steady even
breathing easing me into sleep. I don’t know how much time
passed but eventually I felt him slowly ease away from me. I
watched half asleep and bleary-eyed as he crossed over to his art
space and bent down to get a sketch pad. My temples started to
throb a little and I felt like there was something that was being
shoved in my mind in front of my eyes. As it rocked into place, I
saw an image of Christian, years ago I would guess, his body drawn
up in a fetal position, his hands clutching his head while tears
streamed down his face. I obviously wasn’t completely awake yet, I
shook my head to rid myself of that image. What a horrible
dream. I opened my eyes all the way to see Christian staring
down at me.

“Are you alright?”

The pain was already starting to fade. “Yeah,
just a little headache.”

His brown eyes were soft with concern. “Would
you like some aspirin?”

“No, I’m fine.” I looked down at the
sketch pad he held. “What were you going to do?”

“I thought I would do some preliminary
sketching,” he admitted, one of his big warm hands stroking my
face. 

“While I was sleeping?” I gasped,
horrified.

What if my mouth was hanging open or I was
drooling. Ugh. “You better not,” I warned. 

His dark eyes became calculating, “Or what?”
he challenged. 

I got up to my knees on his bed, “or I’ll
kick your butt, how about that?”

I put my hands on my hips to emphasize the
seriousness of my threat. Throwing the sketch pad on the floor
he kneeled on the bed facing me. “I would really like to see you
try,” he warned, a mischievous look in his eyes. Never one to
back down from a challenge, I lunged at him almost toppling us off
the bed. Within seconds I found myself tossed gently back to the
center of the bed. Thank god, it was a queen size. As I got back up
to my knees, I watched as he lifted his palm up, and like Bruce
Lee, crooked his fingers in a bring-it-on gesture. My chin dropped,
I couldn’t believe he was taunting me. Oh, it was on now! We
playfully wrestled until the sun went down and I was starting to
get tired. So I decided to finally allow him to win. Once he had me
pinned down on the bed, leaning on his elbows over me, his hips
pressing against mine, I moved my arms around to his neck and
pulled him close, traveling his face with my eyes. I felt myself
melt with all the sweet feelings he inspired.

“Christian…I kind of like you a lot.”

My heart squeezed as his eyes went soft and
his hands insinuated themselves in my hair and cradled my head. “I
like you a lot too.”

Sighing, I pulled him in tight for a hug and
held him there. I luxuriated in the shelter of his arms, feeling
safe in the solidity of his body around me. I wished I could spend
the night but I wasn’t so sure how cool my mom would be about that.
So with great reluctance, I moved out from under him.

“I have to go.”

I could see the reluctance in his eyes as he
stood up. “I will walk you home. By the way, some friends and I are
playing soccer on Sunday, you want to come?”

More time with my half Irish, half Italian,
guardian angel? You don’t have to ask me twice, “sure.”

Once we were out of his house and headed to
mine, I could feel him glancing around again. His concern seemed to
reawaken mine and I found myself studying every shadow we neared. I
considered mentioning my concern for his safety, but being a guy, I
was sure he would be affronted. Like I was saying he couldn’t take
care of himself. So I kept my mouth shut. His arm tightened
around my waist and he looked down at me.