A banging on the door disturbed Knox Carlyle in the middle of his scrying. He shoved aside the small kernel of irritation. “One second!”
He closed his eyes, inhaled to the count of four, and released. Privacy at the Carlyle estate was a joke. He really should consider moving into his own place—soon.
Again, the banging started, more urgent this time.
Knox cast one last long glance at the woman reflected back at him then swiped a hand over the mirror. All was well for the moment. He could relax his guard.
“Knox? What gives, man? Open the damned door.”
As he swung open the door, his cousin was poised with his fist in the air, ready to pound on the wood again. Impatience was alive and well in the Carlyle clan.
“Seriously, man? My ‘one second’ wasn’t good enough?” Knox demanded.
Keaton’s lips quirked in a sheepish grin. “Yeah, sorry. I need to know if you can watch Chloe. C.C. is in North Carolina, and Zane had an emergency pop up. Autumn and I had planned on a private dinner.”
Keaton didn’t need to stress how important his dinner with his new wife was to him. They’d only recently taken up where they left off years before due to a colossal misunderstanding. Finding their way back to one another had been a long, arduous journey.
“Sure. Go have fun. Chloe and I can either conjure something or grab a bite at Monica’s.” Knox referred to a local downtown diner that featured desserts to die for. His young cousin was always up for the triple chocolate layer cake.
“You’re a lifesaver, man.”
“I’m tallying up all the favors. One day I may need a kidney or something.”
Keaton flashed an amused grin. “Thanks, Knox. Have I told you how much I like having you here?”
A snort escaped. “Because what’s better than your own built-in babysitter?”
An outraged cry had both men ducking their heads into the hall.
Chloe’s face screwed up in indignation. “I’m not a baby!”
Knox and Keaton shared a panicked look.
“I know you’re not.” Knox stepped up to the plate to soothe his eight-year-old cousin. “I didn’t mean it that way, Chloe. It’s a standard term for watching someone’s kid.” He scooped her up in his arms and blew a raspberry against her cheek. “Forgive me?”
She giggled and nodded as she wrapped her arms around his neck. He ignored the accidental pull of his hair.
“I forgive you, Knox.”
“Good, because I have a special project I need your help with.”
“You do?” Her honey-hued eyes flew wide.
“Indeed, I do, peanut.” He tilted his head and made a face to indicate her dad. “But it has to wait until he’s gone. This is Top Secret, I-could-tell-you-but-then-I’d-have-to-kill-you type stuff.”
“Gotcha!”
“Now I want to stay and find out,” Keaton complained.
“Nope. Only Chloe is allowed to know. I need her keen intellect and eye for detail,” Knox swung her around for a piggyback ride. When the time came for Chloe’s million questions—and it wouldn’t be far off—Knox hoped like hell he could come up with something fun and creative to keep her occupied. Sometimes dealing with a highly intelligent kid was torturous.
“Fine. But don’t think she won’t spill her guts for a twenty and a bag of candy,” Keaton informed him.
“I’m not a rat, Daddy!”
Autumn’s arrival cut off the current line of discussion.
“There’s my beautiful wife.” Keaton’s smile practically lit up the hallway. The man was head over heels.
“Well, don’t keep her waiting. Chloe and I have things to do.” After Keaton and Autumn kissed Chloe and left, Knox glanced over his shoulder at his young cousin. “Dinner at Monica’s first?”
“Can I get a hot fudge sundae?”
“Is the sky blue?”
Chloe’s scrawny arms tightened around his neck. “You’re the best, Knox.”
“I know. But for saying it, you get dessert first.” He started humming the Mission Impossible theme as he crept down the halls of the sprawling two-story home. “Do we drive or teleport?”
Her excited squeak made him smile. Chloe was taking to magic like a duck to water, but there were still things her father refused to allow her to do without adult supervision, and teleporting was one.
“Will Dad get mad?”
“Not at you, and that’s all that matters,” he assured her. “So we doing this?”
By “this” he meant teleporting to the alley behind the diner. Knox knew the alley was usually abandoned except for the occasional stray animal, but he sent out a magical feeler first to be sure they had the all clear. It wouldn’t do for their abilities to come to light in Smalltown, USA.
“Yeah!”
“Hang on tight, kid.”
They arrived in the blink of an eye—much to Chloe’s delight.
Hand-in-hand, they crept around the corner of the building and made a run for the front door of Monica’s Diner, laughing the entire way.
The sight that greeted him stopped Knox short.
Spring Thorne.
She leaned her elbows back against the long counter, which had the effect of pushing out her perfect, pert breasts, as she flirted with Tommy Tomlinson.
But looks could be deceiving. They certainly were on the part of Spring. One had only to look at her to see a sultry siren with tawny hair and dancing jade-green eyes. But Knox knew she was far from the sexy goddess she appeared. Spring’s bright-white aura was untouched, a clear indication of her virgin status.
Yet, based on the invitation in her eyes, she was clearly trying to rectify that little problem with Tommy.
Fury unlike any he’d ever known swamped him. It also confused him. He didn’t want the complication that came with a relationship, and he absolutely didn’t want the complication of Spring’s innocence to contend with. But the sight of her making the moves on Tommy woke the beast in Knox.
When she threw back her head and laughed, her long, lean throat was exposed. That creamy expanse of skin was temptation itself. It begged a man to taste the silky sweetness there, to suck on her throat and to mark her as taken as a warning to all other men.
“Knox?” Chloe’s uncertain voice penetrated the angry haze clouding his brain.
With great difficulty, he tore his gaze from Spring’s beautiful body and glanced down. “Table, booth, or bar?” he asked.
“Booth in the back. Can we ask Miss Spring to have dinner with us?”
He suppressed a grimace. Chloe was a fan of all things Spring related: the flower shop, the Thorne gardens, the infuriating woman herself.
“It looks like she’s busy.”
“No, she’s coming this way.”
Knox’s head whipped up. Sure enough, Spring sashayed in their direction with a wide, welcoming smile directed toward his little cousin. Was it possible to be jealous of a kid?
“Chloe!” she cried as if the sight of the child was the most delightful thing she’d ever experienced. And that was the crux of Knox’s obsession with her. If she found the simple everyday that joy-filled, what would the serious aspects of life draw from her? He could only imagine what her enjoyment of sex would bring.
Chloe released his hand to run forward for a warm hug. “Did you already eat, Miss Spring? Do you want to join us?”
Wary eyes rose to connect with his gaze across the short distance. “I don’t want to interrupt your dinner,” she said in her soft, hesitant voice.
Knox should’ve demurred and told her that she wasn’t interrupting, but he couldn’t bring himself to offer up the social niceties.
“Knox doesn’t mind. Do you, Knox?” Chloe turned wide, pleading eyes on him.
He forced a smile. “Of course not.”
Spring squatted and, with the tip of her finger, tapped Chloe’s nose. “Then I’ll gladly accept.”
As she rose, Tommy stepped forward and rested a hand on her waist. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Yes. I’ll be there,” Spring agreed.
Tommy’s hand lingered as he tried to delay his departure.
The desire to sever that hand from Tommy’s body just about caused Knox’s head to explode. “Come on, Chloe. Let’s leave these two alone for a minute.”
“We’ll be back there, Miss Spring,” Chloe called over her shoulder as Knox practically shoved her toward the back booth.
With any luck, Spring would change her mind and head off with Tommy. While the image of the two of them together tore at his sanity, Knox silently hoped Spring would find another man to attach herself to. For the last six years, she’d taken every opportunity to throw herself at Knox. Each and every time, his answer was the same, “Not going to happen.” She was like a pit bull with a bone and refused to accept no.
Remembering the sight of her on his doorstep in her tiny emerald bikini caused his saliva glands to dry up and his brain to malfunction. The gentle slope of her breast had scarcely been covered by the triangular scrap of material, and his hands had itched with the need to touch. The open longing in her bright green gaze had nearly been his downfall.
But he’d stuck to his guns. When she stalked away, he caved to his inner male-chauvinist pig and watched her ass twitch its angry rhythm until she was out of sight. He might have a strict policy of not getting romantically involved, but he wasn’t dead. Any man with a pulse wouldn’t have been able to tear his gaze from those firm ass cheeks.
He swallowed hard at the memory and pretended interest in the menu before him.
“I guess Miss Spring doesn’t want to date you anymore, Knox,” Chloe said as she openly watched her idol from across the room.
He stared in open-mouthed wonder at Chloe. The kid was right! Spring hadn’t given him the time of day since the incident in her driveway about three months ago when he’d dumped a vase of water over her head. Maybe even before that, if he cared to examine the timeline.
Knox whipped his head around to where Spring stood with her hand over Tommy’s heart. Sonofabitch! She’d moved on! Even knowing it was for the best, the fact made him irritable and out of sorts. She could do better than nerdy Tommy Tomlinson for her first lover.
“Are you mad?”
Hell, yes, Knox was mad. He was fit to be tied. But Chloe’s quivering voice shot straight to his heart. Taking care to smooth his frown, he stretched his lips in what he hoped was a reassuring smile.
“Of course not, midget. Why would I be mad?”
“You look mad.”
Mentally, he added practicing his poker face to his to-do list. His young cousin was sensitive to the most subtle changes in expression, and the people in her life needed to remain on guard so as not to bring back the trauma she’d experienced at her horrible mother’s hands. The two of them had that in common.
“Nope. I’m just hungry and hope that if Miss Spring plans to join us, she does it soon.”
As if on cue, Spring arrived at their table. “I’m sorry to keep you waiting. Have you decided on what you’re getting?”
Spring tried to slide in beside Chloe, but she had settled close to the edge of the seat and refused to budge. The mischievous spark in her wide, honey eyes caused the hairs on Knox’s arms to stand on end. The little troublemaker was trying to set him and Spring up!
He rose and gestured to the bench beside him.
Although Spring’s expression was watchful and overly cautious, she scooted across the old, cracked vinyl seat anyway.
Chloe beamed in delight.
Before he could stop the words, he said, “So, you and Tommy, huh?”
In the process of unwrapping her silverware, Spring paused. “I suppose you could say that.” She continued to lay out her fork, knife, and spoon in a perfect line.
“How long have you been dating?”
She sighed and shifted on the vinyl seat to face him. “Go ahead, get the jokes out of the way.”
“I’m not—”
“Oh, come on, Knox. Everything I do or say is a joke to you.” She cast Chloe an apologetic glance. “Sorry, kid. I think joining you was a bad idea.” To Knox, she said, “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be on my way.”
“No.”
Her dark brows shot to her hairline. “Excuse me?”
“No. I…” What the hell could he say? Why didn’t he move so she could be out of his hair? “Look, for what it’s worth, I think Tommy is a nice guy.” There, that should work. Then, his mouth opened again. “Maybe not the one for you, but…” He shrugged and studied the battered menu in his hand.
“You don’t know how to not insult me, do you?”
“I didn’t insult you,” he argued. “I was paying you a compliment.”
“Could’ve fooled me,” she muttered. In a slightly louder voice, she asked, “Can you please scooch?”
“Why? I thought you were hungry.”
“There you go thinking again,” she said from between gritted teeth. The saccharine sweetness of her voice fooled no one.
If she didn’t irritate the living hell out of him, Knox might’ve found her amusing.
“You deserve better than Tommy for your first—”
“Child present,” she snapped.
“…for your first boyfriend,” he clarified.
“I’ve had boyfriends.”
His own brows shot up in disbelief.
Spring’s mood plunged to downright pissy. Who did this puffed-up, self-important peacock think he was anyway?
Sure, she’d never had boyfriends in the truest sense of the word, but she’d had boys who were friends. And while she hadn’t slept with a single one of them, they’d done other things like kiss or fondle private parts. She hadn’t gone so far as to do the final deed with anyone. None of which was Knox’s business.
“I’ve just remembered I have a few things I need to attend to tonight,” she said.
“You’re lying.” He jutted his chin toward her menu on the table. “Figure out what you want for dinner.”
His refusal to let her out of the booth until he was good and ready added to her ire. There they sat, glaring at one another, and all she could think was that she wanted to feel his lips on hers. To have those large work-roughened hands touch her in ways she’d only dreamed about. Her gaze fell to his wide, generous mouth before she shook her head and faced away from him.
Chloe watched them with wide-eyed wonder. “You fight like Mom and Dad used to,” she said.
An icky feeling settled in Spring’s stomach. She didn’t like the look in Chloe’s eyes. The girl was up to something, and Spring imagined it was a match between her and Knox. “Your dad and Autumn love each other, Chloe. They had to work through their issues.”
“Does that mean you love Knox? That you need to work through your issues?”
Yep, without a doubt, the kid wanted to match them up.
“No, sweetie. Knox and I are far, far away from anything resembling love.”
She could feel his intense stare on her, and she worked to keep her blush at bay.
“But I want you to marry him. Then you could come live with us.”
A quick check of the general vicinity showed their table had become the center of attention due to Chloe’s loud proclamation.
She cast Chloe a sickly smile and lowered her voice. “Not going to happen, kiddo.”
The restaurant goers all heaved a collective sigh of disappointment. What the hell had they expected was going to happen? Did no one understand that she and Knox were as dissimilar as oil and water?
At one time she’d wanted him to notice her. Hell, she’d thrown herself at his feet on occasions too numerous to count. But all that was in the past, and she was determined to find someone who would make her feel wanted. Who didn’t look at her as if she were the dirt beneath his feet. But who also didn’t put her on a pedestal and believe because of her beauty that she was worthy of the best things in life. She needed someone to see her true self and love her anyway. Knox was not that guy.
As the youngest of the Thorne sisters, she’d scarcely gotten to know her mother’s love before her mom had disappeared and been declared dead. Her father, in an effort to erase his painful memories, had traveled the world and ignored his daughters’ very existence. There was never a doubt that Preston Thorne loved his girls, but staying at home was torturous for him without their mother. In addition, her father contracted for the Witches’ Council and was always running off on one mission or another. The result was Spring’s parentless upbringing.
It was the reason she’d sought out Knox at every opportunity. As kids, he used to take her mind off her loneliness. He’d acted as if having a child tagging around after him was no big deal. Whenever she would show up on the Carlyle estate, he had a horse saddled and waiting for her. It was as if he knew the exact moment she would arrive.
He’d been kind to her, and she’d fallen head over heels for him. It helped that he looked like a hero from a romance novel: windswept, sun-bleached blond hair on the long side, sapphire-blue eyes shielded by thick brown lashes, and a generous smile that melted her from the inside out every time it flashed in her direction. Yes, Knox was the whole perfect package.
Then one day, it all changed. All the kindness and caring he’d shown a lonely little girl evaporated into nothingness. If she were being truthful with herself, she knew the reason why. Somewhere around her fifteenth year, she’d decided to confess her love. Nineteen-year-old Knox had stared at her, aghast, and when she flung herself at his chest, he shoved her into a pile of horse manure.
But Spring hadn’t given up. She bided her time and waited four years to try again. From that day on, she hadn’t stopped trying to make him see her for the grown-up woman she’d become. Each rejection stung worse than the last. But each one made her that much more determined to win his affections.
However, nothing she did had worked. It was as if, once she turned fifteen, she’d ceased to exist for him. The only feeling he held for her was contempt. For six full years, she fought to make him see her. This past summer, Spring had finally gotten the message.
She’d shown up in a bikini to retrieve her sister’s elephant from the Carlyle’s olympic-sized, backyard pool. Spring had preened and displayed her wares, certain Knox would wake up and see her for the desirable woman she was. Instead he’d shoved her into the water—right next to Eddie the Elephant.
“Where’s your pride, Spring?” he’d asked scathingly. “You keep up with this little slut routine of yours, and some man is going to take you up on your offer. When he’s gotten what he wants and leaves you cold, you’ll have nothing but self-disgust as your companion.”
“But I love you,” she’d whispered tearfully.
He’d sneered and shook his head. “Grow up.”
That confrontation had been roughly nine months ago.
Since then, she’d avoided him whenever possible. She told herself he didn’t deserve the love she had to offer. And while it was said the Thornes only ever loved once, she was determined to disabuse her family of that notion. Determined to find another love who was worthy. But until that day came, the Tommy Tomlinsons of the world would have to do.
She bit her lip and blinked back the tears of self-pity forming. Spring wanted nothing more than to teleport home, but to do so in front of a restaurant full of people would cause a sensation from which this town would never recover.
“Knox, please let me out,” she asked quietly.
His curt “I’m sorry” was grudgingly given and barely resembled an apology.
Had Chloe not interrupted, Spring might have teleported anyway. “Please stay, Miss Spring. He promises to be nice. Right, Knox?”
“Sure,” he agreed.
Left with no choice because Knox didn’t intend to budge from his spot anytime soon, Spring nodded and kept her eyes glued to the menu. With false cheer, she asked, “What are we thinking about for dinner?”
“Knox said we can get dessert first. I want a hot fudge sundae with extra fudge and sprinkles.”
Spring’s laugh was genuine in the face of Chloe’s enthusiasm. “Good plan. Monica’s hot fudge sundaes are most excellent. I’ll have the same.”
A cute brunette server showed up at their table. Her covetous dark-brown gaze was drawn to the beauty of Knox. “What will you have?” The huskiness in her voice was pure invitation, as was the flirty hand on his bulging bicep.
Spring white-knuckled the plastic menu in order to keep from zapping the woman’s ass into next week. When she lost the battle to control her jealousy and contain the bolt of magic, salvation appeared in the form of her Uncle Alastair.