Taking off his shirt, he walked back into the room and paused. She’d always been speedy at undressing, but she must have set a world record this time. Gloriously naked, she crouched beside the fireplace with a lit match in her hand.
The small flame illuminated her delicate features, and another pain sliced through his heart. So beautiful. She tossed the match into the fireplace and swore when it fell uselessly through the grate. Opening the box of matches, she struck another one.
Silly as it was, he wanted her to succeed, but he didn’t give her method much chance. Focusing on the logs arranged in the fireplace, he timed his muttered incantation to her match-tossing. The logs caught.
“Yes!” She turned to him, her smile bright. “You were standing there thinking I wouldn’t get it started, weren’t you?”
“Actually, I thought you would.” He’d simply increased her odds.
“Let’s make love here in front of the fire.”
“Why not?” He was touched that she’d ask, and that she’d used the phrase make love instead of have sex. They used to make love in front of the fire. His duplex had been a real find—a rental with a woodburning fireplace. He’d used magick to keep the blaze going while they were otherwise occupied.
An unmagickal fire required constant tending, which meant having sex by the fire was romantic in theory but inconvenient in practice. She’d never questioned the consistency of their fires. He hoped that was because she’d been too busy enjoying herself.
He wondered if she’d ever tried having hearthside sex with anyone else. If so, she would have discovered it didn’t work quite the way it had with him. Selfishly, he liked knowing that their experience would stand out in her mind.
She rose from the hearth with an unselfconsciousness that showed she hadn’t really been worried about revealing her body. He couldn’t stop looking at her. She was the same, yet different.
The tiny mole positioned over her heart was still there, waiting for his kiss. But her breasts were more voluptuous now, and her hips flared a bit more, emphasizing her narrow waist. His gaze traveled the length of her slender legs. He had fond memories of those legs wrapped around his hips. She knew how to lock him in tight while giving him room to move. He didn’t need much, just enough to create the right kind of friction....
She said something, but he was so lost in memories he missed it.
“Earth to Cole.”
“Hmm?”
“Your clothes, Evergreen. Lose ’em. I’ll fix us a bed by the fire.”
He grinned at her and snapped a quick salute. “Aye, aye, cap’n.”
“Smart-ass.”
“Sweet-ass.” How quickly they’d become comfortable with each other again. Ten years had vanished, replaced with the easy relationship he remembered so well. Taryn got him. Well, not completely, because she didn’t know about the magick. That should have been a huge omission, but somehow, when they were together, it didn’t seem to matter. They made their own magick.
By the time he’d shucked the rest of his clothes and located another condom, she’d spread a quilt on the floor and tossed a couple of pillows there, too. He walked toward her, his cock already standing at attention. “You made your bed. Now lie in it.”
“I thought I would.” Dropping to her knees, she stretched out on the fluffy quilt with the lithe movements of a cat. Then she glanced up at him. “Come on down.”
“I will, but I just realized what’s different. You’re not squinting.”
“No, I’m not. Want to see my bedroom eyes?”
“Absolutely.”
“Watch this.” She lowered her lids to half mast and her eyes took on a smoky quality.
His balls tightened. “That’s good.” He swallowed. “Very good.” He started to kneel.
“Wait. I’m not done.” Her gaze dropped to his feet. Then it traveled slowly up his calves to his knees, and beyond his knees to his thighs, until finally coming to rest on his pride and joy. At that point, she ran her tongue over her lips.
“Now you’re done.” He sank to his knees before she figured out he was shaking again.
“No, I’m not.” She beckoned to him with a crook of her forefinger. “C’mere.”
A stronger wizard would have refused the temptation she offered. He’d intended this session to be all about her. Apparently he wasn’t as strong as he’d like to think he was. He stretched out on the quilt and allowed her to have her way with him, and it was so good the fire roared in the hearth.
She drew back, startled. “Why did that happen?”
His breathing wasn’t very steady, but he gulped in air and managed a quick explanation. “Pine knots. They flare up.”
“Oh.” She wrapped her fingers around his bad boy and leaned toward him. “Sorry for the interruption.”
“No, it’s a good thing.” He cupped her cheek, stopping her descent. “I was about to get carried away.”
She glanced up at him with a seductive smile. “That’s the idea.”
“Not this time. I have a few plans of my own. Be fair. Take turns.”
She hesitated.
“You used to really like some of the things I did.”
Her eyes darkened and her breath hitched. “Yeah.”
“Let me do those things again.” He stroked his thumb over her cheek. “You know you want me to.”
“Okay.” She flopped back onto the quilt like a ragdoll. “You convinced me, Evergreen. Do me.”
“You bet.” And he proceeded to. Revisiting all his favorite Taryn places felt like coming home, and she rolled out the welcome mat for him. In seconds she’d abandoned herself to the process of being seduced.
By the time he put on a condom and slid into her, she was on the brink of climax. One firm stroke on his part, and she came. He muffled her cries with the flat of his hand and kept pumping into her.
“Again,” he murmured.
She pulled his hand away, gasping. “I can’t breathe.”
“Then, here.” Bracing himself on one arm, he cupped the back of her head and lifted her so she could press her mouth to his shoulder. When she came the second time, she bit him.
He didn’t care. In fact, it made him happy to know she’d marked him. Eventually the mark would fade, but until it did, he’d have a physical reminder of loving Taryn.
Slowly she relaxed in his arms and he eased her head back onto the pillow.
She looked up at him, firelight dancing in her eyes as she massaged his back. “Amazing. Stupendous.”
“Mmm.” His own climax hovered, but he’d managed to keep the urge from overwhelming him. Holding her gaze, he eased in and out. “We’ve still got it.”
She nodded.
“There’s no one like you, Taryn.”
“I’m a special snowflake,” she murmured.
“Uh-huh. Very special.”
“So are you, Cole.”
And there was that pain, burrowing into his heart. He might carry that ache forever, but that was okay, too. The pain would remind him that, for a little while, he’d had Taryn to love again.
She grasped his hips. “Your turn.”
“Not yet.” He hated for this moment to end.
“We can do this again tomorrow night.”
“I hope so.” But he had no guarantee of that. His intuition was excellent, and it told him he’d better treasure this moment and not count on any more.
Her grip tightened. “I think I can come again. Let’s do it together.”
“All right.” He’d mastered that little trick before. The secret was watching her eyes and timing his response to what he saw there.
He bore down and increased the pace. Yes, she was right with him. Her pupils widened. He slowly slipped the leash on his own response and his heart began to pound.
The glow in her eyes was impossible to misunderstand. She loved him. His eyes surely reflected the same emotion, because he loved her, too. And because he did, he had to let her go.
But in this moment, as they surged toward a shared climax, he was hers and she was his. He held nothing back as he drove in one more time. She arched against him and he pulsed within her, each of them silencing their cries and their words of love. Yet their eyes said all their voices could not. And the fire roared.
Chapter 6
Cole left long before anyone in the inn was awake, and Taryn understood why he’d done that. Whatever mysterious element was keeping them in limbo would naturally figure into his reluctance to let anyone here know they were lovers. She wouldn’t give him away, either. She’d act strictly professional today at Evergreen Industries.
She hated that he couldn’t stay to share the breakfast tray that had arrived outside her door, though. Cole had a sweet tooth—he preferred cocoa to coffee. She’d bet Mrs. Gustafson would have made him cocoa to go with the apple strudel and fresh orange juice.
Placing the tray on a small desk by the side window, she drew back the lacy curtains and peeked outside for the first time. Cole hadn’t been kidding about the charm of Gingerbread. Judging from the slice of town she could see, it was a full-size version of the Christmas villages in Seattle shop windows this time of year. The architecture reminded her of Europe, with a fairy-tale element thrown in.
Old-fashioned lampposts each sported a wreath and a red bow. Every shop featured garlands in the window, and larger garlands hung at intervals across the snowy street. The late-model cars that drove by seemed out of place. Horse-drawn carriages would have fit in better. Then she saw one of those, with laughing people bundled up in blankets in the back, enjoying an open-air ride.
One lone high-rise building was visible above the peaked rooftops covered with snow. Evergreen Industries, no doubt. Beyond that, where the land sloped upward and the pine forest closed in, a snow-capped mountain pierced the blue sky. Although other mountains were visible in the distance, this one was quite distinctive. She decided it must be Mistletoe Mountain, which had been mentioned during her internet search.
Until now, she hadn’t thought about what would happen if and when her plan worked and she eliminated whatever problem was keeping her from a happily ever after with Cole. Her business didn’t require her to live in a certain place, which meant logically she’d be the one to move.
She let that idea percolate to see how she felt about it. Turned out she was perfectly okay with leaving Seattle if it meant being with Cole. The decision wouldn’t even be that difficult. As much as she traveled, she could see her friends and family when she was between jobs.
But her home would be here in Gingerbread with Cole, wherever he lived. Come to think of it, she had no idea what his place was like, which seemed odd to her, considering they’d been naked together so recently. She’d ask him about it when he came to pick her up later that morning.
Remembering that she had to be ready soon, she tucked into her protein-free but delicious breakfast, took a quick shower in the claw-foot tub with its old-fashioned circular shower rod, and dressed in a clean pair of jeans and one of her nicer sweaters. Until she understood the corporate culture at Evergreen, she’d go with something a bit less casual than her usual techie outfit of old jeans, a faded T-shirt and a hoodie.
She was in the lobby chatting with Mrs. Gustafson about things to do in town when Cole walked in. Taryn might have been prejudiced, but the guy knew how to make an entrance. He swept in wearing that long black coat, a green wool scarf, and no hat. His tousled dark hair gave him a rakish look she’d never been able to resist.
“Ah, Cole!” Mrs. Gustafson, plump and graying, clasped her hands together. “Your guest is a delight. She’s already in love with our little town. I hope you’re planning to give her a tour.”
Cole’s bemused smile indicated he hadn’t planned anything of the sort. “Uh, sure. Why not? But first we have some business to take care of at Evergreen.”
Mrs. Gustafson waved a hand at him. “Well, I know that. The guests you bring here always have business at Evergreen. But Taryn has taken a real interest in Gingerbread, haven’t you, dear?”
“I have.” Taryn had to work hard not to laugh at Cole’s uneasiness. “And I’d love a tour if we have the time.”
Cole’s green eyes flashed with amusement. “I’ll see to it. Shall we go?”
“I’m ready when you are.”
“Have fun, you two!” Mrs. Gustafson called after them as they left the cozy lobby.
“We will!” Taryn called back.
“Chatting up the landlady?” Cole said once they were on the front porch.
“Is that a problem?”
“No, I just...do you really want a tour of Gingerbread?”
“I wouldn’t mind.” She took a deep breath of the crisp air as they started down the sidewalk toward the parking area. “I like it here.”
“Well, good...that’s good.”
She glanced at him, and his cheeks were ruddy. It could have been from the cold, but she suspected he was agitated. “You’d prefer I never come back here, right?”
“I can’t stop you from doing that if you want to.”
“But it makes you nervous.”
“Yes.”
“You’re the one who raved about the Christmas cheer in Gingerbread. And sure enough, the place is charming. I have friends who would love to vacation here.”
He sighed. “Then they should.”
“I think so, too.” She longed to assure him everything would be okay, because she was going to figure this out, but saying anything like that would alert him to her covert plans. For now, he couldn’t know what was in her mind and her heart. Soon enough, he would.
Getting into his sleek black sedan reminded her of their songfest the night before, but she doubted he wanted to repeat that. He was tense this morning, and she had a hunch as to why. He was second-guessing his course of action. Pulling out of the inn’s parking lot, he drove slowly down the street. As they rolled along, Taryn checked out the shops.
Cup of Cheer bustled with morning activity. “Cute coffee shop,” she said. “I suppose you never go there.”
“No, but my sister Belle does.”
“She still lives in Gingerbread?” Back in college, he’d mentioned two brothers and a sister, but she hadn’t thought to ask where they lived now.
“We all work for Evergreen.”
“Oh. That’s nice.” Or it could have been, except that if everyone had to keep the same damned secret, what kind of life did they have here? “Will I be meeting them?”
“We’ll see. Depends on everybody’s schedule.”
“You don’t want me getting chummy with your siblings, do you?”
He glanced over at her. “The thing is, they know you were my college girlfriend.”
“Aha!” That pleased her immensely. “Then I’d be surprised if they didn’t want to get a look at me. I would, if I were in their shoes.”
“They probably do want to.” He sounded resigned.
“Great. Then I will meet them.” She settled back in her seat with a smile.
Cole, however, was not smiling. In fact, his profile resembled an ice sculpture.
She’d have loved to thaw him out. “You know, I realized this morning I have no idea where you live.”
His throat moved as he swallowed. “It, um, doesn’t really matter, does it?”
“It does to me. I’m not in the habit of taking my clothes off for a man when I have no idea where he lives or what his place looks like. Until this morning, I hadn’t thought about that discrepancy. You do live in Gingerbread, I assume?”
“Outside of it, but yes, in a sense. It’s the closest town.”
“Will you let me see your place?”
“That’s not a good idea.”
“Why not?”
“Taryn, don’t push.”
“I hardly think it’s pushing to want to see your home. Back at MIT we went back and forth between my apartment and your duplex all the time. I knew what was in your refrigerator and you knew what was in mine. Having no idea about your living space feels weird, Cole.”
He sighed. “We’re not at MIT. And I can’t show you where I live.”
She heard the note of finality in his voice and tucked that information away. Wherever he lived, the secret lived, too. If that weren’t so, he’d have agreed to take her there.
Although she had a million more questions, she didn’t ask them. He was already on edge. But she was about to enter a place filled with other sources of information.
As they approached the tall building she’d identified from her bedroom window, a portly man in a red jogging suit lumbered past on the snowy sidewalk. He had on a knit cap instead of a fur-trimmed one, but his white beard was very Santa Claus-like.
She’d decided not to make any more comments, but seeing the jogging Santa look-alike was a safe enough topic. “That guy we just passed looks exactly like Santa Claus.”
A muscle in Cole’s jaw twitched. “I know.”
“Is he some local character?”
“Something like that.”
“It’s kind of cute, don’t you think? A middle-aged guy lives in Gingerbread and decides to take on the persona of Santa Claus. It’s like the role players in old Western towns like Tombstone.”
“Guess so.”
“You don’t seem to appreciate the charm of it, my friend.”
Cole took a deep breath and looked over at her. “I’d forgotten that your brain is always analyzing, always evaluating, sifting and cataloging.”
“Of course. So’s yours.”
He flicked on a turn signal and pulled up to a wrought iron gate with scrollwork incorporating an elaborate E. “I’m going to ask you to focus all that brainpower on the Evergreen database. Pretend you have blinders on and ignore everything else.”
“Sounds like censorship, Cole.”
He touched a button on the dash and the gates swung open. “That’s because it is.”
“For the love of God, what’s going on in this building?”
Pulling into a parking space labeled with his name, he shut off the engine and turned to her. “I promise you that what goes on in this building is benign. There are no criminals here, no terrorists and no drug dealers. Nothing bad happens here, Taryn. Can you accept that and just do your job?”
“If it’s nothing bad, why can’t you tell me?”
“I can’t tell you because...” He looked into her eyes and his throat moved. When he spoke, his voice was husky with emotion. “I can’t tell you, not ever, and I really wish I could, because...”
“Because why?”
“Because I love you.”
She gasped, shocked that he’d said it, but thrilled, too. “But I love you, too! And people who love each other share things they wouldn’t tell anyone else.”
“Not in this case.” His gaze searched hers. “I need you to analyze the database. You’re the person for the job—maybe the only person who can do what I need done. Will you do that for me?”
“Yes, I will.” He hadn’t asked her to promise she’d wear those blinders. Maybe he secretly wanted her to find out what was going on.
Whether he wanted her to find out or not, she intended to. This was ridiculous. They belonged together, and she wouldn’t let him throw their future away, at least not until she knew why he was so intent on doing it.
The lobby was decorated for Christmas, which she would have expected. A blue spruce that had to be thirty feet tall stood in the center of the two-story vaulted ceiling. Evergreen ornaments hung from every branch. Many of them gave off that mysterious glow she’d noticed in hers.
Display cases filled with ornaments lined the walls, and each ornament was labeled with the year in which it was manufactured. Taryn didn’t have much time to look, but she’d swear at least one of them dated back to the 1600s. “Cole, some of those ornaments are really old.”
“The company’s been around a long time.”
“Did it originate in Europe?”
“Yes, it did, in fact. Let’s get you signed in.” He guided her toward an ornate desk that looked as if it might have been imported from Versailles. Behind it sat a sweet-faced woman who could have been anywhere from fifty to seventy. She wore a red velvet dress, and the nameplate on her desk identified her as Jolie S. Garland.
Taryn wanted to ask her, with a wink, if that was her real name. But something about the woman’s calm gaze kept her from doing that. Taryn suspected it was her real name, and she’d be insulted if anyone suggested otherwise. Whether she’d found her perfect job or the job had found her, she’d discovered the right spot for a person with that particular name.
Smiling, she handed Taryn a gold pen. “Sign here, Miss Harper, and I’ll give you an access card.”
Jolie reached into a drawer and came up with a sparkling gold card with Taryn’s name embossed on the front and a magnetic strip on the back. “This will allow you to board the elevator, which will take you to the IT center on the twelfth floor. If you need anything, please come back to the lobby and I’ll assist you.”
“Thank you, Jolie.” Taryn returned the woman’s genial smile, but she had the distinct impression she’d been given a ticket to the IT floor and nothing else. Once she and Cole were inside the shiny gold elevator, she confirmed it with him.
“That’s all you were hired to do.” He unbuttoned his coat and loosened his scarf, but he stood on the opposite side of the elevator.
She found that significant—depressingly so. “I thought you might give me a tour of the building while I’m here.” She hadn’t really thought that, but it was worth a shot.
A ghost of a smile touched his lips. “Would you settle for a tour of the IT department? It’s my favorite floor.”
“I’m sure it is. But your parking space said you were the CEO. Who’s in charge of IT?”
“I am, for now. I haven’t found anybody I’d turn it over to, so I’m doing double-duty.”
“That can’t be easy. This looks like a huge operation. How can you handle the IT department when you’re supposed to be the head honcho of Evergreen?”
“Obviously I’m not doing a very good job of it. You hacked in.”
“You shouldn’t let that bother you. As I said before, I know your MO. The average hacker wouldn’t have nearly such an easy time of it.”
“Nevertheless, you exposed my vulnerabilities. I want those protected.”
That, too, was a telling statement. She was the woman who knew too much. He’d hired her to barricade him against future invasions, both business-related and emotional, and then leave.
The elevator came to a smooth stop on the twelfth floor. It hadn’t stopped once since they’d left the lobby. Other people had to be working in this large building, and yet she’d never know it. Jolie S. Garland was the only employee she’d met. That was spooky.
“I gave the rest of the IT staff the day off to go Christmas shopping,” he said. “I wanted you to be able to work undisturbed.”
That meant he didn’t want her talking to anyone. He’d done his best to isolate her from the rest of the workers at Evergreen. After they’d gotten so close at MIT, he should have realized the more he tried to deny her access to information, the more determined she’d become. If she hadn’t believed her investigative plan was for his own good, she’d feel disloyal. But he’d refused to give her all the facts, and without those facts, she couldn’t make an informed decision. Maybe, once she knew what the issues were, she’d agree with him that they had no future.
She seriously doubted that, though. Every problem had a solution. He’d been conditioned to believe this particular problem couldn’t be solved. That wasn’t a failing. Everyone had blind spots. Because she loved him, she would help him to overcome his.
After they left the elevator, he led her past several offices, but the hallway was ghost-town silent.
At the end of the hall, Cole opened a door into a larger office. An L-shaped dark walnut desk held multiple monitors, a top-of-the-line keyboard and a mouse pad in the shape of a round Christmas ornament. A Santa mug sat to the right of the keyboard, but that was it. No framed pictures, no flowering plant, no cluttered in-basket.
She glanced around. “Is this your office?”
“Used to be. I still work down here when I need to.”
“Where’s your regular office?”
“Fifteenth floor.” He seemed reluctant to share that information. “Let me take your coat so you can have a seat and get started.”
