Stone Cold Fox Read online

  “Let me down—you don’t have to do this!” Jo protested. He was so big and warm and so close she could smell the spicy, masculine scent of his skin. It made her pussy throb and ache being so near to him—made her nearly crazy with desire.

  Feeling so much heat—so much need—made her panicky. She wriggled in Reese’s arms.

  “I said, I’m perfectly capable of walking!”

  “Right. Which is why you’re falling all over the damn place when you try to take two steps,” he growled sarcastically, tightening his grip. “I’m not going to argue with you, Jo. I’ll carry you home in human form or Fox form but you’re not walking.”

  “Fine!” Jo nearly shouted. “Fine, your Fox form then. Anything is better than—” She broke off abruptly, seeing the look on his face.

  “Anything is better than being close to me, being held by me. Is that right?” There was a bitterness in his deep voice Jo hadn’t heard before.

  “Reese—” she began but he was already putting her down. Without another word, he Shifted back, growing into the huge Fox once more so quickly she would have missed it if she’d looked away for even a second.

  The Fox gave her a long, steady look, then crouched low so she could get on his back.

  Feeling miserable, Jo obeyed the silent command. Throwing a leg over his furry side, she climbed aboard and held on to his ruff. The Fox cast a glance over his shoulder, as if to make sure she was well settled.

  “I’m fine,” Jo told him. “You can go.”

  He nodded once and began picking his way with surprising delicacy through the forest. For such a huge animal, he made hardly any noise, and he was good at avoiding any tree branches that would hit her or scrape her off his back.

  His fur was warm and soft and Jo found the ride surprisingly comfortable—or she would have if she hadn’t been so miserable.

  Why did I say that? she asked herself. Now Reese thinks I hate him, when actually I . . . What? How did she feel for the big Shifter? She’d only known him a little over a week but she’d found Reese to be kind and intelligent—not to mention patient and generous. Don’t forget hot, muscular, and mouthwateringly sexy, whispered a little voice in her head.

  Jo tried to push it away. I’m only feeling like that because of that stupid spell, she thought. The stupid spell she still had no way of breaking since she hadn’t gotten the night-blooming jasmine after all. Damn.

  Anyway, that was the reason Reese was feeling for her as well—the spell. And maybe it had something to do with the Shifter hormones Fiona kept talking about, though Jo was still skeptical about the idea of being a Shifter herself. It seemed to her that the physical changes in her body could be explained by magical means as much as hormonal ones.

  “You know,” she told the Fox, since he was easier to talk to than Reese in his human form. “You only think you care about me—that you like me, I mean.”

  One pointed ear swiveled back as though he was listening and the Fox made a short, sharp yip that sounded like a negation to Jo.

  “It’s true,” she insisted, as they reached the edge of the forest. “It’s that stupid spell I cast on both of us—it’s making us both crazy for each other. Or maybe it’s the whole Shifter thing—I don’t know. But I think it’s more likely the spell. I—”

  They were back in Reese’s backyard by now. With no warning, the Fox Shifted and twisted under her. Jo gasped as she suddenly found herself straddling Reese’s naked, muscular torso and staring down into a human face instead of his Fox.

  “Oh!” she gasped in surprise.

  “Is that really what you think?” Reese demanded, glaring up at her. “That I only care about you because of some spell?”

  “Yes, all right?” Jo snapped. “It’s driving us both crazy and it needs to be broken. That’s what I was out doing tonight—I wasn’t running away. I was trying to get an ingredient to put in a spell breaking potion I found. Look . . .” She scrambled up off of him and stood aside so he could stand. “Come in the house and I’ll show you. And, uh . . .” She could feel her cheeks getting hot as her eyes flicked over his big, naked body. “You can put some clothes on too.”

  “All right. Let’s go in.” He stooped to pick her up again but Jo stepped hastily away.

  “I feel better now. I really can walk.”

  “Fine. But it you start to fall I’m going to catch you whether you like it or not, darlin’.” Frowning at her, Reese held out a hand in an “after you” gesture.

  Jo was feeling steadier on her feet by now. Her temple still throbbed, but the world had stopped spinning and swaying. She walked carefully but quickly up the back porch steps without falling.

  Once inside, she headed for the upstairs area and went to get Miranda’s book of Shadows. She would prove to Reese once and for all that she’d had a legitimate reason to be out tonight and that she hadn’t been running away.

  Are you sure about that? whispered a little voice in her head. Don’t you think trying to find a way to break the spell is a form of running away? Running away from what you feel for Reese?

  Not now, Jo told the voice firmly. She wasn’t ready to think about how she felt for the big Shifter. She might never be ready.

  Pushing the thought aside, she went to find the book.

  Chapter Twelve

  Reese went to his room and pulled on a pair of blue pajama bottoms. He didn’t bother with anything else—it was the middle of the night and presumably they would be going to sleep soon.

  Not that he could sleep with so many thoughts on his mind . . . and so much pain in his heart. He’d thought that he and Jo had a connection—that they were forming a bond between them. They seemed to have so much in common—they laughed at each other’s jokes, they enjoyed working in the kitchen together, talking together, reading together, and just generally being in each other’s company.

  At least he’d thought they did.

  Was I imagining it all? he wondered as he brushed the pieces of dried leaves out of his hair. Was I making it up to make myself feel better? Trying to believe she felt for me the way I feel for her?

  Because he did feel for her—so much it made his heart ache with yearning to be near her, to touch her and hold her—to heal the old pain he saw lurking in her lovely amber eyes sometimes.

  I love her, Reese suddenly realized. And it’s not because of any damn spell or even because of her Juvie scent—I love her for being everything I’ve ever wanted in a woman . . . for just being herself.

  But he couldn’t tell Jo that—not now, when she’d made it so transparently obvious that she wanted nothing to do with him. Not when he knew she’d rather risk her life in the dark forest at night than spend one more day feeling for him the way he felt for her.

  Be fair, whispered a little voice in his head. She has a past—a reason not to trust males. A reason to be afraid. He thought of the little sachet of herbs and the instructions Fiona had given him. The wise woman’s words came back to him.

  “Jo must be healed of the past before she can move forward into the future, Reese,” she’d told him. “A kind and patient male may be able to help her. But you must wait for the right time.”

  Well, he’d been waiting and so far it seemed like Jo was running away from him rather than towards him. Was there anything he could do to stop that? Was there any way to show he could be trusted, that he would never hurt her?

  Reese just didn’t know.

  “It’s gone.”

  He looked up to see Jo standing at the doorway of his room. She, too, had changed clothes. She was wearing the warm, woolly green robe his sister Meggie had left behind—it made her flame-colored hair look almost auburn.

  She was holding a book—an old leather-bound journal—and thumbing desperately through the pages.

  “What’s gone?” Reese asked, frowning. “What are you talking about?”

  “The potion formula I told you about—the one for breaking love spells.” Jo looked up at him, her face stricken. “It’s gone. B