The Flavor Of Love (13 page)

“
Mmm,” she moaned and he looked up to find her eyeing him. Cocking her head to the side, she asked with a wicked gleam and the tears now gone. “Keigo Kyou, I’m beginning to think you are suffering from a foot fetish.”

“
There are some things I will never admit to,” he returned her smile and stood. “How about that tea?”

She laughed up at him.

Their eyes locked and held.

His heart lurched. What was it about her that stirred him so? His blood weighed heavy in his crotch and his cock throbbed. How could he not desire her? Her pants caressed and molded the sexiest heart-shaped derriere he’d ever seen. Her t-shirt clung to small well-formed breasts with dark large nipples. He wanted to unknot it at the waist and sweep it over her slender defined arms. The first thing he would do is take one of those turgid nipples into his mouth and suckle like a newborn babe.

Keigo’s mouth went dry. He licked his lips. His dark eyes followed the tip of her pink tongue as she matched his wonton movement. Would she welcome his kiss or be appalled by his forwardness? It had been awhile since he had to think about things such as this. He knew his wife since high school and except for her he’d only been with two other women during the times they broke up only to get back together again.

His thoughts wondered to what kind of man this Neil had been. Auntie Loo had spoken of Neil. Was
he
Etta’s one great love? Did she have room in her heart for another man? What was her story, exactly?

The spell of the moment was broken and he felt her withdraw as if she sensed the turn his thoughts had taken. Maybe she did. He didn’t know enough about people that considered themselves psychics.

“
Thank you,” she nodded at his feet. “For remembering I don’t allow people to wear shoes in my home.”

“
How could I forget about your
tatami
floors?” Keigo snorted. “After the show airs, all of California and beyond will know about your bare feet and floors.”

”
Ha and ha,” she muttered. “
Anyway
, I’m glad you came by. I was about to call you,” Etta said. Her breast brushed against his arm as she pushed past him and eased down the entrance hall. She continued to chatter as he continued to take in the view from walking behind her.

“
I need to know how to pack and such. Also, did you remember to tell your assistant, Nan, to fax me those enrollment forms on the students? I haven’t got them yet and I won’t know how to plan my meals until I do.”

Keigo swallowed deeply and licked his lips once more wondering again if working in close proximity with Etta was a mistake. He was a grown man and of he couldn’t keep his body from reacting to Etta, how could he expect a handful of teenage boys to be civil around her? Then again, he possibly was over sensitive from lack of sex.

“
Keigo, are you okay? You’re looking a bit feverish.”

He merely smiled.
Nothing a cold shower won’t cure
, he thought.

“
It’s not the ulcer. It’s…” Etta frowned in confusion. “I’m not sure what it is. It’s a hunger…yet, not. Come and have a seat. If you aren’t feeling well, feel free to lie down. Have you eaten yet today? I can fix you some breakfast--”

“
You
can’t tell if I ate or not? Isn’t that unusual for you, the
Psychic Chef
?” Keigo chuckled, casting an amused look at Etta.

She went still and turned on him. “
Fuck!
”

Keigo coughed. His eyebrows arched in surprise.

“
I hate it when people say stuff like that,” she explained. “Keigo let me get something clear so that I won’t spend the next month of my life hearing you make these little cracks.”

“
Etta--” Keigo began, but that was as far as he got.

“
Can the sarcasm,” she interrupted. “I’m not a walking thermometer stuck up your ass all day,” she fussed. “Let me explain what my abilities are in layman terms. I read your body’s nutritional needs. I suppose it can be similar to reading auras. That means I’m able to see the energy field that emanates from your body. For instance, everyone has this natural ability.”

He found her analogy amusing but didn’t dare laugh. He could see by the expression on her face she was serious and he remembered what Auntie Loo said about her wanting to live a normal life.

“
I didn’t--”

“
Let me finish,” she cut him off once more. “You know how you feel when your body nags you until you eat something creamy, chocolate, salty or sweet or the times that you keep eating because you can’t figure out what you want and eat a salad with a protein and its hit the spot?”

Deciding it was better to keep his mouth shut, Keigo nodded.

“
I have the ability to read those naggings and a vision materializes in my mind of what physical nourishment your body needs. Now, it doesn’t seem like much when you think of it in terms of my using it for entertainment purposes. But, Keigo I only do that to pay my bills so that I can help those in deep need of my abilities without adding further financial hardships on them and their families.”

“
I don’t understand,” Keigo cocked his head in question.

“
That’s my point. You don’t understand,” Etta accused. “Your humorous jabs at my expense have proven that and the fact that you aren’t trying to understand hurts me. I’ve had to go through this my entire life.”

“
Etta, I’m sorry.” Keigo reached out and caught her hand in his. The touch caused an immediate reaction as his blood rushed to where their palms pressed against one another. He could literally feel his heartbeat in his hand, or was it the combination of his and hers? “I can’t imagine what life is like for someone like you. I suppose human nature causes one to make light of the supernatural things they don’t understand or believe in. For me, it’s more than my analytical mind can consider. It rattles me and therefore I make jokes.”

He felt her hand squeeze his before saying, “I just need you at least for the next month we are to be in each other’s company to respect what I do. I didn’t ask to be this way and trust me, I fought it for a long time and because of it, I brought a curse upon myself.”

“
Surly you don’t believe that,” Keigo protested.

“
Yes, I do believe it,” Etta said. “I realized after my fiancé died in some freak accident that I wasn’t doing what God had planned for me. I was born with these extrasensory capabilities so that I can help others.” She shrugged her shoulders. “My grandmother told me that psychics, mediums and healers are God’s angels on earth. Our purpose is to balance out things by helping others. Not helping is going against our natural nature to help others and when this happens, it sets our entire lives into a tail spin.”

Keigo wasn’t sure how to respond to her statement. He was sure she believed it to be true. Did she assume it was because she tried to live normal life years ago her fiancé’s death was
the curse
her grandmother had spoken of? He wasn’t a religious man, but he didn’t think God would have time to be petty and deliberately make her life miserable.

Just like his lost. It wasn’t God that took his wife and daughter from him. It was a living-breathing madman that broke the law and because he was sentenced to pay for his crimes, he held Keigo accountable and cut his break lines. They had yet to find him

Startled by his revelation, Keigo eyes widened in amazement. It was the first time since the accident he laid blame at the perpetrator’s feet instead of his own for choosing to be a judge.

He inattentively caressed the top of her hand in his with his thumb. “Tell me more about what you do to help others. You mentioned helping those who couldn’t afford to pay you. What is that about? Etta, I really want to understand what it’s like in your world.”

He saw her visibly relax. She tugged on his hand and urged him to sit on the blue silk covered sofa. He was happy she chose to drop down beside him so that he didn’t have to let go of her hand.

“
I volunteer my services to people who have family in the hospital or nursing home for long term illnesses. For instance, patients that are in a comma, yet they have the ability to sustain life without machines breathing for them, but they aren’t awake to feed themselves. So these families are being told by doctors that they won’t ever wake up and suggest removing the feeding tubes and allow them to die naturally.”

It shamed him that he never thought about it. Keigo to this day had never bothered to discuss the accident and its after effect with his mother. He had no idea what she and the rest of his immediate family went through while he was in a coma. He had been so oppressed by his own guilt and grief. Keigo didn’t think he remembered to thank his family and friends for taking care of him, his place and everything else that they had done for him during such difficult times.

Hell, it's been over three years and Marco and Enrique were still handling him with care when it came to his temperament, his need to have them drive all the time, not to mention his inability to discuss his wife and daughter or the circumstances around their death. Nor had he been willing to face the fact that his marriage hadn't been as perfect as he liked to have believed at the time of Claire's death. It was remarkable how one's mind could remember only the good things about people once they died.

Keigo turned his attention back to Etta as she continued attempting to make him understand what her life was like.

“
My mother and I work as a team. She does a reading and knows if the patient is still aware of things around them. She also can tell if they will make a recovery within time or…not,” Etta explained. “She is what one would call clairvoyant; she is also clairsentience.”

Confused, Keigo stared at her. “Meaning what exactly?”

“
She has the ability to see images with exceedingly heightened sensitivity. She has
the capacity to predict or have the wisdom of something in advance of its occurrence—such as death or pending dangers. If they are aware and aren’t going to die, I aid in the process of keeping them healthy as possible. Something like the therapists that come in and work their limbs to keep the circulation flowing.”

“
How does your mother make such predictions? She just looks at them and whammy!” Keigo hoped he didn’t come across too strong. He sincerely was becoming intrigued and wanted to know more.

“
Well,” Etta began. “Sometimes it just comes to her in a trancelike state and when this happens, it’s hard on her physically because it has been known to cause her to have seizures. As she’s become older, her abilities have grown more acute and we don’t allow her to drive herself any longer. My brother, his wife or I, along with friends and public transportation, assure she gets around safely.”

“
Will this happen to you as you get older?”

Their eyes locked and held. “I will remain as I am as long as I don’t get pregnant. The psychic women of my family become more perceptive and our skills seem to advance with hormonal imbalances, especially if it’s a girl. We seem to be highly sensitive to estrogen, with girl children the nausea and sickness is worse.”

Keigo found himself looking at her slender frame, the shape of her hips and stomach. He couldn’t imagine such a flat stomach expanding with a child. However, his instincts told him she would make a good mother or was that the words Auntie Loo installed in his head?

“
At other times, my mother's visions come to her in dreams. That way is much easier on her. This wonderful heightened ability of hers helps
people deal with the future or present.”

He smiled, noticing the admiration in her voice. He looked down as her fingers relaxed, resting lightly in his. Sitting here holding her hand like this felt natural and oddly comforting to him. If he wasn’t careful, he could get use to having Etta around. “So what is Auntie Loo? A witch?”

“
Oh,” Etta laughed shaking her head. “I hope you didn’t say that to her face.”

“
More or less,” he shrugged with a boyish grin on his face.

“
I don’t know if that was brave or stupid, but you better hope she forgave you for being a novice about psychics or--”

“
Big Bertha will shrink my penis,” he filled in for her.

Her eyebrows rose in amazement while she stared at him blankly with her mouth open. “Oh, my God. No, she didn’t.”

“
I’m afraid she did, and even now I feel this urge to ask you to use the restroom so that I may check myself.” The warmth of his smile echoed in his voice.

A thoughtful smile came to Etta’s lips and her eyes traveled slowly down his body. “From what I can tell, it seems that Auntie Loo must like you because she might have had Bertha place a ‘blessing’ spell on you.”

Keigo wasn’t expecting her blatant boldness. He exchanged a smile with her, then shook his head giving her a little surprise of his own by saying, “It’s difficult to tell through my jeans. Could be I stuffed a sock there to be impressive. Maybe you’d like me to slip them off so we both can make sure.”

Her smile faded a little when he placed his hand on his silver belt buckle.