Mystic Tides Read online

  “Now listen here, you…”

  “Uh-uh-uh, choose your words carefully, Mr. Marshall.” She wiggled her fingers. “My name is Grey.”

  She slowly, methodically, approached him like an animal stalking its prey. Maybe she’d been going about her approach all wrong. Men couldn’t resist her. Why was this one being so difficult?

  “I heard you like to be called Sparky. Why is that, because you’re a fire starter?” Beck lifted a challenging brow.

  Touché, the man wasn’t an imbecile. To be her better half, he’d better not be. She’d end up killing him before the first date. “Listen…I don’t have time for all of this.”

  “Make time. Is the nickname because of your abilities?”

  “No.” Gray pressed her lips together to keep from telling the jerk off. How dare he not capitulate? She just needed him to repeat the words. She wasn’t asking that they be true, just said out loud so the universe would hear, the spell would break, and she could go back to her cozy little world of fashion and mayhem.

  Maybe she’d approached her predicament in the wrong way. No man could resist her, not even him. The angel and devil on her shoulders warred against the idea of screwing with the firefighter. Her little devil won out. She stepped closer and placed her hand against his very strong, very masculine chest that, not only hours ago, she’d run smack-dab into.

  “It’s not because of the fire.” She leaned in closer to him, hoping that this new tactic might work out easier and quicker for all involved. Three easy words. That was all she needed. Three words he’d be screaming from the rooftops when she was done. “It’s because I burn up the sheets.” She rubbed up over his biceps. Her gaze landed on his bulging muscles and what was missing around his neck. “Where’s your pendant?”

  His brows dipped. “How did you know I had one?”

  She shrugged. “Lucky guess.”

  “It’s in my locker.” He gestured to the open locker, where his fire-department-issued shirt hung.

  “Will you wear it for me?” she asked in the sexiest voice she could muster.

  An hour was all she needed. A little more flirting, a change of outfit, and he’d be worshiping the ground she walked on. She pressed her lips to his in a kiss meant to catch him off guard.

  His hands caught her hips, and he tugged her closer until their bodies were flush. If she’d meant to surprise him, she’d failed miserably. She gave, and he took. Sparks sizzled around them, and the smell of burning flesh made her nose twitch. She tried to pull her hand back, afraid she’d cook him alive, yet he placed his hand over hers. Tingles traveled through her palm, through her fingers, and up her arm. Her body cooled, the fire tamed from his simple touch.

  He broke the kiss but held her in place. “You aren’t the only one with secrets, darlin’. I’ll pick you up at four before we’re due on the barge, and I’ll wear my pendant just for you.” He released her before heading toward the door that went inside the building.

  “Where are you going?” she hollered after him.

  He turned, walking backward as he answered. “To buy extra sheets and plan our date.”

  “I didn’t agree to a date.”

  He winked. “You will. I’ll be seeing you, Red.”

  “I just need the words,” she called out to his disappearing body as he walked back into the station.

  If a game was what he wanted, she could play. With a snap of the fingers, Grey changed her outfit into that of a turtleneck beneath a long, ugly dress. She pulled her hair back in a ponytail and headed for the same door leading into the firehouse that he’d disappeared through. She pulled it open. She knew where she was going. She’d been there before.

  She stepped into the mess hall where the guys were sitting around the table. They each had a plate of food in front of them. A birthday cake sat on the kitchen counter.

  The room turned quiet as all eyes went to her. When Beck turned around to see her posing at the entranceway, she held his gaze, not caring about the others. She gestured to her hideous clothes and winked at him before walking in the door. There was something he needed to understand, something that she needed to show him, and it wasn’t the color of her thong.

  “Grey?”

  She smiled and moved farther into the room, running her hand over his chest as she slowly walked by. “You need to see this to understand the magnitude of you not wearing your pendant and me needing those words.”

  “Cappy.” She said his name while holding Beck’s gaze. “I need five thousand dollars.”

  “Anything for you, Grey. I hope a check’s okay.” Cappy stood and walked over to a black bag and pulled out his checkbook.

  “No. I need cash,” she answered. Beck’s brows dipped as he glanced past her and watched Cappy go grab his keys.

  “Stop him.”

  “Cappy, stop and go finish eating.”

  Cappy returned to his seat in a lust-filled haze.

  “Maybe he just thinks of you as a daughter. He’d help out any one of us who needed it.”

  Grey’s brow rose. “He damn sure didn’t do it because of my clothing.”

  Beck crossed his arms over his chest. “What is this supposed to prove?”

  “It proves that there is a love spell surrounding me. It doesn’t matter if it’s men or women. They all freakin’ want me.”

  Beck grinned, making her narrow her eyes. “Conceited much?”

  “Fine. Still don’t believe me?”

  “Josh,” she called out, and he stood. “Come kiss me.”

  Beck dropped his arms from his chest and watched as Josh rounded the table. Grey held him off, long enough to say words that she was sure Beck would never hear. “One taste and you have to quit your job to make me happy. You’ll have to go on an arson spree with me. Do you agree?”

  Josh pulled her into his arms and laid a kiss on her lips, bending her over backward as he assaulted her mouth.

  A second later, he was being snatched away.

  “Fix him,” Beck growled.

  “Josh, ignore what I told you and pretend this never happened.”

  Josh returned to his seat, not making eye contact with either of them.

  “Now do you believe me?”

  Beck grasped her arm, pulled her out of their mess hall, and guided her back out into the truck bay. He grabbed his keys, shirt, and pendant and kept walking outside with her. He helped her up into his truck and got in behind the wheel. “What the hell was that?”

  Grey let her head drop forward. “The spell. I had to show you how important this is. I would never dream of doing that to anyone, but I needed you to understand why it’s important, not only to me, but to everyone in our town, including the married people. They are relentless, and this crap isn’t going to stop.”

  Beck let out a long breath. “Explain again what this has to do with me and my pendant.”

  “I need you to say you love me, and until you do, your pendant, coupled with mine, is the only thing that dilutes the spell’s power over others, unless of course you know who made the pendants. If they get destroyed, it breaks our connection. Listen, I don’t want to take away their free choice, but without your help, we’re all screwed.”

  Beck put the truck into gear and pulled out of the parking lot.

  “You can’t just leave work.” Grey turned to look out of the back window and watched as the fire station receded.

  “I’m off today.” He took a left and headed toward the beach.

  “Then why were you there?”

  He shrugged. “Where else am I supposed to be? We have the barge tonight, and I offered to help with that, but for the most part, I’m off until after the ball.” He glanced over at her. “Probably a good thing, too, seeing as how you’re in this predicament.”

  He continued driving, only stopping when he pulled into his drive. He tossed on his shirt and put the pendant around his neck. “How close do we have to be?”

  She lifted her shoulder. “I don’t know. Your pendant was in yo
ur locker, and we were in the mess hall, and it didn’t have any effect. How far apart was that?”

  “That kind of limits things.” Beck got out of the truck and moved around to her side, opening her door. He held out his hand to help her down.

  Grey had never been one of those girly girls that needed help, and she didn’t need it this time either. She pushed past him and slid out on her own accord.

  “Chivalry isn’t dead.”

  “If that were the case, you’d have said what I need you to.”

  Just the touch of Beck’s palm on her back sent a tingle she was trying to ignore straight through her body. He led the way to the stairs and then took them two at a time, not waiting to see if she’d follow. She did. She was so close to what she needed that she could taste it. He unlocked the door, and they both walked inside.

  The living room had chocolate leather couches and a recliner set on a hardwood floor. A big screen TV was along one wall with a fireplace on the other. Throw rugs were strategic placed beneath the furniture. What she hadn’t been expecting was the exquisite crown molding and details that set the place apart from any other rental she’d ever seen.

  “Nice place.”

  “Thanks,” Beck called from the kitchen where he’d disappeared before returning minutes later with a glass of wine in one hand and a beer in the other. He handed her the glass. “I’m going to change, and then what do you say we sit on the deck or take a walk down the beach?”

  She nodded, knowing he held all the cards. No matter how much that bothered her, there wasn’t much she could do besides agree. “Sure.”

  While Beck was in his room changing, she snapped her fingers and changed into a flowing flowery tube-top-style beach dress that cupped her breasts but flowed gently to the floor. Her painted toes peeked out beneath the hem of her dress, and she was in the process of twisting her hair up in a messy bun when he returned into the room.

  “Nice trick.”

  “It works for me.”

  He grabbed his beer and headed for the door, pulling it open. He glanced back at her. “Sit or walk?”

  She stepped outside and looked up and down the deserted beach. There were a few people lying out in the lowering sun, but not many. “You wearing your pendant?”

  He nodded and pulled the leather string out from beneath his shirt. The pendant dangled on the end.

  “Then let’s walk.”

  She followed him down the steps with her wine glass in hand.

  “Can I ask you something?” He glanced down at her.

  “Could I stop you?”

  “Not really,” he answered and slid his fingers through hers, clasping her hand.

  She slid her fingers loose, freeing her hand, and changed the hand she was using to hold the wine glass, taking away his easy access.

  Beck chuckled beneath his breath. “You don’t like people much, do you?”

  “That isn’t a question. It’s an observation.”

  “True.”

  “Well, what’s the question?”

  “What are you going to do when you really do fall in love with me?”

  “Honestly?” She glanced up at him. “It’s not in my nature to fall in love, so I’m sorry you’re getting saddled with me.” She nudged his arm as she walked. “But you know, even if we are meant to be together, you could still find someone else. No harm, no foul. I’m a bad bet, and I know it.”

  * * * *

  Challenge accepted. Grey intrigued him. Her sheer determination of not wanting a relationship pulled him in even more. Maybe it was the challenge. He pushed the thought away. It was her. He knew it, and so did she.

  “So, if I say those three words you want, do you think it will really break the spell?” He tossed his arm over her shoulder. When she tried to shrug it off, he pulled her closer into his side. “Because I don’t just go around professing my love for just anyone.”

  Grey came to an abrupt halt, making his arm fall free from her shoulders. Her head drooped forward. The wine glass dangled between her fingers. “Listen. I know you got the short end of the stick.” She looked up at him. The green in her eyes swirled, calling to him like a long-lost lover. “So just tell me what it’s going to take. Money? Sex? What?”

  “You don’t give me enough credit.” Beck took a sip of his beer and turned his back on her to continue walking.

  “Is that what this is?” she asked as she hurried to his side. “You need me to stroke your ego and tell you that you’re a triple threat in my world. You’re hot, smart, and sexy. Any woman would be lucky to have you.”

  “Any woman but you, is that it?”

  “Beck. I don’t know you.”

  You will.

  “You don’t know me.”

  That’s debatable.

  “Let’s not pretend we’re anything more than just neighbors.”

  “Fine, neighbor.” He took another swig of his beer. “How I see it is that you need me and not the other way around. So we’re going to do this my way.”

  Beck stopped walking and pulled her to sit down in the sand with him “You and I are going to spend the rest of the week, together.”

  “I’m not sleeping with you,” she was quick to point out.

  He couldn’t hide his smile.

  “I wouldn’t ask you to, but by the end of the ball, if we haven’t fallen in love with each other, then I’ll tell you those words you want to hear.”

  He noticed the hesitation and instant determination in her eyes. “I feel a catch coming… What’s in it for you?”

  “If you even like me a little bit”—he held up his fingers to show less than an inch—“then you’ll quit fighting me and give us a chance. And I don’t mean half-assed. You’ll let me take you to dinner, and we’ll spend time with each other, like normal couples do.”

  “What’s the matter, Beck? Are you hard up for a girlfriend?”

  “Hardly.”

  He watched as she chewed her bottom lip. “I could make you say the three words.”

  Beck chuckled. “I’d like to see you try. Honey, you may think you know me, but you have no idea what I’m all about. Now why don’t you go get ready for our…date.”

  Chapter 5

  Grey stormed up the steps to her beach house and walked inside, slamming the door behind her. She slid off her shoes and then threw them across the room. “Unfreakinbelievable.”

  Her cousins were dead meat and their little rodents too. She seethed at the thought. What had they been thinking? Leaving her vulnerable….and to the likes of him, no less.

  “Crap.”

  Fire ignited in her blood, licking her veins with a warm, familiar caress. Anger fueled the heat coursing through her body all the way down to her core, and her fingers twitched to expel it. She was trapped like a caged animal in a life she’d never asked for, a life she didn’t want.

  “I can handle this.” Taking a deep, calming breath, she stood rooted in the middle of her living room. “How hard can it be? I just have to play girlfriend, and at the end of the week, I’ll get what I want. Then I’ll cut him loose. It’s not like I haven’t done it before.”

  She gave a terse nod of acknowledgment to her plan and headed to her bedroom to shower and change.

  Grey slid into her Daisy Duke shorts and was just tying the low-cut halter top around her neck when she heard his knock.

  “Freakin’, frackin’, no-good spell-casting witches,” she mumbled to herself while heading into the living room.

  Grey placed her hand on her belly to squish the butterflies that took flight. If she’d had time, she would have cursed her reaction to Beck, maybe even cast a spell to undo his effect on her. She let out a deep breath and placed a fake smile on her face as she answered the door.

  Beck’s gaze raked slowly down her body and back up before meeting her face. He frowned. “You can’t wear that.”

  Grey placed a fist on her hip and raised her brow. “Excuse me?”

  “Go change,” Beck practically or
dered as he stepped toward her, making her step back. He shut the door behind him.

  “You can’t tell me what to wear.”

  “I damn sure can,” he announced with determination. “Do you realize how many explosives will be around us? One misfire and…” He let his sentence trail off as he shook his head. “No, you can’t wear that. You need something to cover your arms and legs, preferably layers, and they can’t be too loose. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  “I’ll be with Blansett’s finest. What could possibly go wrong with a bunch of fireman, not to mention the fact that I’m a fire starter? Do you honestly think that fire affects me like that?”

  “We need to get something straight.” He stalked closer to her. She stood her ground, unwilling to back down.

  “Yes, let’s,” she answered through gritted teeth.

  His fingers gently touched the bare skin of her waist, and her breath hitched.

  “You like that?” His lips twitched as he reached around her, splaying his fingers on the small of her back. He stepped closer. “What about this?” Using his other hand, he ran his finger down her neck to the tattoo on her shoulder. “Do you like that too?”

  Grey was left speechless. A slew of emotions assaulted her at once. Anger, want, need, and aggravation took hold.

  “This is the part of your body that will burn the fastest.” He leaned down and pressed a lingering kiss to her collarbone. “All of this creamy skin will burn within seconds.”

  His kiss moved up her neck, and he lifted the strand holding the pendant out of the way. Her head fell back on her shoulders. Her body was heating without the threat of fire, just by his simple touch. A touch that shouldn’t be happening but she was helpless to stop. “I don’t know about you, but it would be a shame if I couldn’t kiss you here.” He laid a tender kiss just below her ear. “Or here.” He laid another on her jaw.