Stone Cold Fox Read online

  “Feeling better, darlin’?” he asked quietly.

  “Actually, I am.” Jo still couldn’t quite believe it. She’d been willing to think that the previous times the throbbing had left were simply coincidence. But this proved that Fiona was right.

  About everything, though? whispered a skeptical little voice in her head. Are you one hundred percent sure you’re a Shifter? And even if you are, do you think that all this lust you’re feeling is due to your new hormones? Because though the throbbing in her temples had disappeared, the ache between her thighs had most definitely not. She still felt wet and hot and ready in a way that scared her. Jo squeezed her thighs together tightly and bit her lip.

  Isn’t it more likely that some—or maybe even most—of the need you’re feeling is due to that damn spell you botched? asked the reasonable little voice.

  Yes—that had to be it, Jo told herself. What she needed to do was just reverse the spell and she’d be feeling much better and more comfortable about staying with the big Shifter. And she was going to be in a perfect position to do that—Fiona’s pharmacy was filled with rare ingredients. Surely what Jo needed to reverse the spell was here, somewhere in these piles and stacks and shelves.

  “All right,” she said at last, looking at Fiona. “I’ll stay with Reese.” She looked up at him. “If you, uh, really don’t mind.”

  “I don’t,” he said simply. “It’ll be nice to have a female around the house again—my last sister moved out over two years ago and it’s felt pretty empty since then.”

  Jo thought it was nice he was trying to put her more at ease by talking about his sisters, although she doubted he’d ever looked at any of them the way he was looking at her now. Those deep brown eyes of his would be so easy to fall into . . .

  Quickly, she looked away and drew her hand out of his.

  “Good—then that’s settled,” Fiona said. “Reese can drop you off here in the mornings when he comes to open his shop and take you home in the evening. And if your headaches get too painful to bear during the day, he’s only just across the road.”

  “I don’t know if Jo is going to want to be holding hands with me during the day,” Reese said dryly. “Since mine are usually covered in grease about a second after I get to work.”

  “We shall see.” Fiona gave both of them a sharp look and then focused on Jo. “Well—can you start today?”

  “I . . . I guess so. I don’t have anything else to do.” Jo shrugged.

  “Good. Well then, enough chatting—we all have work to do.” The older woman got up briskly and started clearing away the tea things. When she took them in the other room, Jo looked uncertainly at Reese.

  “Are you sure you’re really okay with this? With me staying with you for a while?”

  “More than okay,” Reese assured her. “But it’s not just me that wants you to stay.”

  “Well, I know Fiona does,” Jo said.

  “No, not her.” Reese shook his head. “Didn’t I tell you? My Fox is crazy about you.”

  Jo thought of the adorable fuzzy little animal with his sharp, pointed muzzle and big brown eyes and couldn’t help smiling. Though she knew cognitively that Reese and the sweet little fox were one and the same, it was really hard to make herself grasp that fact on a gut level.

  “I’m kind of crazy about him too,” she admitted. “Tell him . . .” She cleared her throat. “Tell him I’ll try to be a good roommate.”

  “I’m sure you will, darlin’,” Reese murmured. He reached out and seemed about to stroke her cheek. But then, at the last moment he drew back.

  Jo wasn’t sure if she was happy or sad about the almost-touch.

  “Well . . .” she said awkwardly.

  “Well . . .” Reese echoed and sighed. “I’d better go open my shop. I’m glad you’re going to stay and work with Fiona—I think you’re going to really like her. I can tell she likes you.”

  “Thank you.” Impulsively, Jo stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. She felt a little tingle as she did, though nothing like the electrical charge of pleasure she’d had when she’d deliberately taken his hand earlier.

  When she drew back, Reese was giving her a quizzical little smile.

  “What was that for?” he asked.

  “For everything,” Jo said softly. “For offering me a place to stay and making me feel safe there, for introducing me to Fiona, for believing me about the thing watching in the woods . . .” She shivered at the thought.

  “You’re welcome, darlin’,” Reese rumbled. “And listen, you don’t have to be afraid of that thing or of anything or anybody else. As long as you’re with me, I’ll be making your safety my first priority.” He grinned. “Although, with your juiced-up powers, you might not need me.”

  Jo thought again of the shadow creature and shook her head.

  “Whether I need your protection or not, it makes me feel better to have it.” She laughed. “I guess that’s not a very feminist thing to say. And after all these years of taking the hard line—‘A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle,’” she quoted dryly. “Maybe I’m going soft in my old age . . . or would it be my young age?” She shook her head.

  Reese gave her that easy, charming grin of his, his brown eyes sleepy with amusement.

  “Who says a fish doesn’t need a bicycle? How else is he gonna get to the store to buy fish food?”

  Jo found herself smiling back, almost against her will.

  “All right. Well, you’d better open your shop so you can look at that old lady’s alternator and all the other bad transmissions and flat tires in town.”

  “You got that right.” He nodded. “Enjoy working with Fiona. Her filing system is . . . kind of eccentric.”

  “I can see that.” Jo looked around at the crowded shelves. “But I like a challenge.”

  His eyes flashed. “So do I, darlin’.” He turned to go but then turned back again for a moment. “And listen, if your headache comes back, just give me a call—Fiona has my number.”

  “So you can come across the road and hold hands with me?” Jo asked, raising an eyebrow at him. “I thought you said you’d be covered in grease?”

  “Well, you can hold my elbow if you want—doesn’t really matter.” Reese shrugged. “Any kind of skin-to-skin contact will do it.”

  “Okay.” Jo nodded awkwardly although she secretly had no intention of asking him to drop his work and come across the street to hold hands or elbows or anything else with her. She might be staying with him, but until she got her lust and fidelity spell reversed, it was going to be advisable to keep some distance between them—a lot of distance.

  Which is why you shouldn’t have kissed him on the cheek, whispered a reproving little voice in her head. Jo knew it was right but she hadn’t been able to help herself. Even now, she felt herself drawn to the big Shifter, wanting to touch him again . . . to hold him and let him hold her . . . to taste those warm lips just one more time . . .

  She took a step back and looked down at her hands.

  “I’d, uh, better go see where Fiona wants me to start.”

  “Right.” Reese studied her face for a moment longer and then turned again. “If you need me, darlin’, I’m just across the street,” he reminded her. And then he was gone, weaving his way through the crowded shelves to the front of the pharmacy.

  Jo watched his broad back retreating and wished she could call him back for a kiss goodbye . . . and maybe much, much more. Then she did her best to squash the impulse and went to find Fiona.

  She had to get that spell reversed—and soon—or her living arrangements with Reese were going to get very awkward, very fast.

  Chapter Nine

  “So how are things going with you and the witch?”

  Reese looked up from the engine he was examining to see Keller leaning against the doorway to his shop, his arms crossed over his chest. There was a sardonic little grin on the other male’s face, but Reese thought he could detect just a hint of worry far back