Chapter Ten

 

             

            It was a good thing he wasn’t holding anything in his hands because her kiss literally left him numb. She smelled like peppermint. Like a warm, pliable statue of sweet, savory candy. His hands went around her without thought as her kiss drew him in deeper. She reached up to place her fingertips at the neckline of his sweater vest. He could feel her stroking his skin, stoking the fire that was beginning to burn through him. Suffocating him. Making him feel as if he was caught in the center of an oven, and all the air and moisture was being sucked out of him.

            Her lips were incredibly soft and sensuous as her kiss became more insistent. She parted her mouth in invitation, and Jonathan eagerly dipped past her teeth to find her tongue.

            She must have eaten some of the candy cane. Her breath was spiced air, deliciously filled with a minty fragrance.  Tamberly moaned as he drew her tongue onto his and began sucking on it, pulling gently on it with long, slow strokes. At the sound of her reaction, he felt his cock stiffen again, until there was no way she couldn’t avoid being prodded.

            And apparently she didn’t like being poked in the stomach. Reluctantly, he released her mouth and let her pull away from him. But her gaze remained on his face, especially his eyes. Her own green eyes literally twinkled, surprising him. He had heard of such a thing, but this was the first time he’d actually seen someone’s eyes sparkle.

            “Did I shock you?” she murmured.

            “Huh? Umm, no. I mean…” He chuckled softly, then cleared this throat. “What did you mean when you said I wasn’t seeing things?”

            “The candy cane. You’re not imagining that you’re seeing the stripes whirling around on it.”

            Her comment got a raised eyebrow out of him. “I’m not?”

            “No,” she giggled, shaking her head slightly. A length of hair fell over her shoulder and across the back of his hand. He fought the urge to pick up the russet lock and feel its silkiness.

            It took another moment for him to get his head back on straight as her confession sunk in. “The stripes are really moving? You‘ve seen it, too?”

            “Uh-huh.”

            “Care to tell me how?” he asked just as another thought struck him. “Is it… Does it have something to do with you being a witch?”

            “Witchlet,” Tamberly corrected him. “Half witch. And, yes, it has everything to do with me. With us. With tonight.”

            Taking a deep breath, Jonathan steeled himself. “Okay. Give it to me straight. I’m cursed, right?”

            She glanced back behind her where the table was prepared. “The food’s getting cold. After all the work you’ve put into making it, I would hate to see it go to waste. Why don’t we eat, and I’ll explain things to you while we enjoy our meal?”

            “Please tell me I’m not cursed,” he insisted.

            Laughing throatily, Tamberly assured him, “No. You’re not cursed. But in a way, you can say you’re predestined.”

            “Is that a good thing?”

            “Mm-hmm. I think you could say that.”

            He helped her into her chair and took his own seat across the table, facing her. “Tonight’s meal is typical of what I plan to serve at my restaurant.”

            “It smells so good,” she complimented him.

            “Thank you. It’s not fancy or avant-garde. We’re having meat loaf, mashed potatoes, and green beans, but each of these dishes has something added to them to give them a bit of a twist. My personal touch, so to speak. A’ la Jonathan.” At the mention of the word “twist”, Jonathan’s thoughts went back to the candy cane. A quick search discovered the confection sitting next to Tamberly’s plate. He stared at it for a few seconds, but the stripes didn’t move again.

            Tamberly served herself, which reminded him about the bottle of wine he had stashed in the refrigerator. He started to get up to retrieve it, when she commented, “If you’re getting us something to drink, I’d prefer water.”

            Okay. Water it is.

            She was already eating when he returned with two glasses of water. “This tastes better than it smells, Jonathan. Do I detect garlic and a bit of sage in the potatoes?”

            “Bingo!” he grinned. “How about the meat loaf?”

            “Sorry.” She shook her head slightly. “Either I’m too hungry to notice, or I’m not that adept at detecting subtle flavors.”

            “That’s all right. As long as you’re enjoying it, that’s all that matters.”

            They ate in silence for another minute or two, when Jonathan got to his feet again. “I forgot. I have a holiday CD I was going to play as background music. Do you mind?”

            Tamberly sat her fork down beside her plate and gave him her full attention. “Yes, I do mind, because we need to talk.”

            “About the candy cane.”

            “About us.”

            He sat down. “Okay. I’m listening. By the way, I have to be honest. Those aren’t my candy canes. In fact, I don’t know where they came from, much less how they’re able to move like that. They must be some kind of electronic—”

            “They’re real candy canes,” she told him. “You can even eat them.”

            He remained silent and continued to stare at her, waiting for the punch line.

            Clasping her hands together, she placed her elbows on the table and leaned toward him. “Jonathan, what would you say if I told you you are my intended? My destined love?”

            “I’d say you were either delusional, or… Forget that. You’re a witch, so I have to suspend disbelief. What does that have to do with the candy canes?”   

            “They’re what led me to you. They’re what makes me believe that what I’m feeling inside for you is the real thing.”

            “How? Because the stripes on them actually move?”

            She smiled in obvious relief. “That’s exactly how I knew. You see… Oh, hell, how can I explain this and still make sense? I told you about what it means to be a tempus witch, right? And that the most important events in our lives revolve around the time of year when we’re born.”

            “And that you were born on Christmas day.”

            “Right,” she nodded. “Well, one of the most important events in our lives is the finding of our one true love. Our lifelong love. When we find that one person, something will happen to let us know we’ve found him.”

            “Are you telling me that candy cane reacted to me because I’m supposed to be your one true love?” Jonathan asked. Her story sounded so incredible, yet she was deadly serious. And because he had already witnessed a taste of her power, he knew he had no choice but to believe her. Oddly enough, though, he wasn’t having any difficulty with that.

            Tamberly scrunched up her nose slightly. “Wellll, reacting to you isn’t exactly…” She paused, then gave a deep sigh. “Jonathan, I didn’t come here tonight just to have dinner with you. I came because I have to know if you pass the sex hex test.”

            “The what?”

            “We have to have sex. If you pass the test, then it will prove we were meant to be together.”

            “What kind of test? A sex hex?” he repeated. At the mention of having sex, his body had gone into instant alert, including a jump in both his heart rate and blood pressure.

            “The sex hex test,” she clarified. “I’ve been waiting and searching for some sort of sign to prove to me that you are my intended.” Picking up the candy cane from beside her plate, she held it up. “The stripes moving on this are my sign. The candy canes are my guide.”

            “So all we have to do is have sex, and that’s it?”

            “We have to have sex with the candy cane,” Tamberly told him. “And if you pass, it will let us know.”

            “How? I mean, how will it let us know?”

            She shrugged as she grinned. “I don’t know, but I guess we’ll find out, won’t we?”