Мишель Роуэн - Hot Spell

David gave her a strange look. “What did you say, Amanda?”

“Nothing.” She forced a smile, then glanced at Jacob. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Count on it.”

With a last look at the woman who now haunted his waking hours completely, he turned and forced himself to walk away from her.

AMANDA barely slept that night. She was too busy turning everything over and over in her head and trying to make sense of it all.

But it didn’t make any sense.

Even during dinner last night with David she could barely concentrate on the food or wine or conversation. David had been very patient with her, assuming that she’d had a tough, draining assignment the previous night. He didn’t grill her about it.

When he’d dropped her off at home after their awkward talk with Jacob outside Chez Nuit, he’d given her a brief kiss on her cheek.

“It’ll all be okay,” he said. “You’re making the right decision. Don’t worry.”

He thought she was having second thoughts about leaving Mystic Ridge. But she wasn’t. If there was one thing she was certain about, it was her upcoming move.

She sat in the middle of her living room surrounded by dozens of packing boxes. Today she was focusing on organizing her massive book collection. Funny how many things one acquired over six years of living in the same place. Boxes and boxes of memories, not including the bags of junk that she planned to donate.

The doorbell rang and she tensed. A glance at the clock told her it was ten minutes to ten. She shook her head. Jacob had never been early a day in his life, but today he was making an exception? Fabulous. Really. Just wonderful.

Last night she’d seen him before she could read his thoughts. She couldn’t hear anything until he was within a dozen feet of her. Obviously this mind-reading ability had everything to do with proximity, which confirmed that her recent decision to keep away from him was the easiest way of dealing with this curse. Once she’d left town, the curse would simply cease to be an issue for either of them.

Despite that, she pushed away the annoying shiver of anticipation she got at the thought of seeing him again and rose to her feet. This would be simple. She’d tell him her plan to discuss matters with Patrick at the office tomorrow, get his feedback, but otherwise pretend that nothing had happened. As far as she was concerned, nothing had happened.

Do you even lie to yourself? her inner voice scolded.

The fact that she could barely touch David last night was an indication of how self-delusional she was being. Her awkwardness with him wasn’t only because of the guilt she felt at betraying his trust. It had been a whole day since she’d last had sex with Jacob, but it felt as if his body had branded her. When she closed her eyes it was his face she saw, not David’s. That was disturbing on too many levels to count.

Not because of how Jacob had made her feel when they’d made love, but because she knew it wasn’t real.

She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was fake because it was too big, this feeling inside her; she’d never felt this kind of overpowering need before in her entire life.

If she thought it was real, if she let herself explore the sensations and emotions he’d effortlessly coaxed from her…then she’d be in more trouble than she already was. Because if she was truthful with herself, she’d liked it. She’d liked him . Everything about him and everything they’d experienced together. She knew she could easily fall head-over-heels in love with Jacob Caine if she let herself.

And that wasn’t going to happen. Not a chance.

She reminded herself of this sternly as she opened the door, fixing a frozen smile on her face, and was surprised at who stood on the other side. It was a well-dressed, dark-haired woman in her midfifties who was extremely familiar despite Amanda not having seen her for a few months.

“Mom?” she squeaked. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to see if the rumors I’ve heard were true.” Her mother’s gaze moved past her daughter and into the small house. “And they are. You’re finally moving away from this dreary little town?”

“I…I am. Yes.”

Madeleine stood there for a moment tapping her right foot. “Are you going to invite me in?”

Amanda snapped out of her daze and waved an arm. “Of course. Please, come in. I have coffee made. Would you like a cup?”

“I’m drinking green tea now. Do you have any of that?”

“Sorry, no.” She awkwardly hugged her mother, trying to get over her surprise at this impromptu visit. “Come in, have a seat.”

“I can’t stay long.”

“I understand. But it’s so wonderful that you dropped by.”

Her mother’s new husband was a banker. She’d only seen Madeleine twice since the wedding last year, but both times she’d been wearing only the best, most expensive fashions, and her hair had always been perfectly in place. This was a far cry from the woman Amanda remembered from her childhood, who’d had to take on two jobs after Amanda’s father had left them without any savings.

She pushed the painful memory away.

“Where are you moving?” her mother asked, glancing at the boxes.

It said quite a lot about their relationship that she’d neglected to mention her upcoming move to her mother. She was sure she would have gotten to it, given enough time. She already had those change-of-address notices filled out.

“New York City,” she said. “Manhattan.”

Her mother raised an eyebrow. “Is this because of a man?”

“No. Not entirely. I thought it was time for me to start new somewhere. I’m going into the advertising business.”

“Really?” Her mother seemed surprised by this. “I thought you were perfectly happy working for that strange little company here. After all, it’s been how many years now? Four?”

“Six, actually. I guess I needed a change.”

“So you won’t be requiring your unique… skill set …at the new job?”

Her mother had never referred to her psychic abilities except in the most vague and disapproving terms possible. “That’s right.”

“Very interesting. And you said ‘not entirely’ because of a man, but there is someone involved?”

“Yes. His name is David and I’m moving to be with him.”

“Is he…” Her mother pursed her lips. “ Different? ”

“If you’re asking if he’s psychic, no he isn’t. David is the most normal man I think I’ve ever met. I’m sure you’d love him.”

This brought the first smile she’d seen on her mother’s face in as long as she could remember. “This is wonderful, Amanda. Finally, after all this time you’ve seen the light. You see that your current lifestyle would not bring you the future you so deserve. All I’ve ever wanted for you was the chance to be normal and happy.”

Normal and happy. A mutually exclusive pairing?

The doorbell rang again and Amanda’s stomach sank. She considered ignoring it, but that wasn’t a very good solution. Jacob struck her as a persistent man when it came to getting what he wanted.

“Just a moment,” she told her mother and went to the door. The sight of Jacob swept her breath away for a moment. Today he wore a dark-green button-down shirt that made his green eyes more noticeable, and dark jeans. Despite everything, she felt herself weaken a bit as the desire she desperately tried to repress swirled inside of her.

He actually gave her a half smile. “Good morning.”

“This isn’t a good time.”

The smile faded. “We had an appointment.”

“I know. But, my…my mother is here. I didn’t expect her.”

“Who is it, Amanda?” her mother called from the living room.