Out of Mind

Chapter 4

Willow opened the French doors to the courtyard behind the shop. She glanced back at Ben. He smiled at her, but Willow hurried outside—unsmiling—and shut the door again.

“Give her a few minutes,” Pascal said, putting the box containing Willow’s new helmet into Ben’s arms.

Marley smothered a snigger and Ben narrowed his eyes at her.

“I’ll take the gun, too,” he said.

“She shouldn’t have a gun,” Pascal said promptly.

“Come on, Winnie,” Marley said, her expression innocent. “Time to leave great male minds to work out what’s best for the little woman.”

Marley glanced past Ben and raised one fine, red brow. “Some things never change,” she said. “Are you ever going to grow up, Sykes?”

Ben grinned. Sykes Millet, a formidable paranormal force, used his ability to be invisible judiciously—except when he wanted to tease sister Marley. He never tired of sneaking up and letting her see him when others couldn’t, something he didn’t do with anyone else.

“Don’t smirk at me like that,” Marley said. She crossed her arms. “If you’ve got something useful to suggest, show yourself so we can all swoon over you.”

A heavy hand landed on Ben’s shoulder and he looked into Sykes’s brilliant blue eyes. “How long have you been here?” Ben asked.

“I was worried about Willow. Something’s definitely going on. I caught up with her in the street and came here with her—more or less.”

Pascal shrugged as if he was out of patience. “Really, Sykes. Why not meet your sister out there like any normal man and walk with her back to the shop? Why all this silly showing off?”

“Normal?” Sykes said with a wicked grin. “If you don’t know the reason for my caution, I’ll tell you. I was trying to see if there was something around that shouldn’t be there. With me walking along beside her in clear sight, I doubt there would be anything to see.”

“Was there?” Marley, Pascal and Ben asked together.

Sykes sat down and stretched out his tall body on an old fainting couch with gilded legs shaped like fish standing on their heads. He put his hands behind his neck. “Depends on what you mean by was.” Sykes appeared all shadows and angles; his eyebrows flared and he managed to look as if he belonged on the eighteenth-century couch, even if it was much too short for him.

A Renaissance man with muscles like steel, whip-fast reflexes and hands honed to weapons by years of chiseling stone, Sykes had made a name for himself as a sculptor.

Marley sighed, but Winnie trotted over to plant her front feet on Sykes’s ribs and lick his dramatic face.

“No more evasive answers,” Pascal said shortly.

“When Willow’s hair moved away from her neck out there and she felt a sensation on her neck, was there anything there if I couldn’t see it? It made her scream.”

Ben’s jaw tightened and he turned to look down on his old friend. “I saw her touch her neck just now. Why? You know, don’t you?”

Sykes got up and paced. “You’re the one who’s going to find out what she felt, Ben. She may tell you. With the rest of us she won’t admit there’s anything in the world that’s not what she calls ‘normal.’ Her hair moved, or was moved. And she felt something. I thought I saw a separate shadow, but I couldn’t be sure. So was there something?”

Ben thought about it. “Didn’t you say that after Marley and Gray came together and Willow accidentally let everyone know she can see hidden events and feelings, past and present, you thought she was ready to join the fold?”

“Sykes is an optimist,” Marley said. She sat on the stairs and Ben was struck afresh by the appeal of the Millet women. “Willow has powers none of us had guessed at. She could see how Gray had suffered in the past, and how it affected him, but she only slipped up and let us know because she felt badly for Gray.”

Ben screwed up his eyes. “An advanced power, I should think. And rare. Where is Gray, did you say?”

“His office is still at his dad’s cottage in Faubourg Marigny. He’s either over there or out on the job. He’ll be back a bit later.”

“I may need him,” Ben said. He wasn’t above confronting Willow with solid evidence of how “normal” she was. “I’ll be seeing you.”

Ben gave Sykes a look that warned him to not follow him as he went after Willow. As powerful as Sykes was, he wasn’t the only one who could be around without others knowing it. The difference was that Ben used invisibility to travel to other locations, often returning without anyone being aware he had ever left. And in truly extreme situations he could manipulate time—which was a skill he had never told anyone about. It was dangerous and carried more responsibility than anyone could take lightly, but Ben was schooled in keeping the changes minuscule and returning time to its rightful place once he’d carried out what had to be done.

He held out his hand for the package containing the gun. Pascal grimaced, but handed it over.

“Good luck,” Sykes said with a sympathetic shrug. “I think it’s time for me to get back to work.”

“Thanks,” Ben said, going out into the Court of Angels.

Alone among the lush ferns bobbing over cobblestones, the tough, shiny leaves of gardenias and the stone angels—some not very angelic-looking—Ben collected himself.

This courtyard had intrigued him since he was a boy. The atmosphere was like no other place. Ben had seen and felt things here that he had never felt anywhere else.

Subtle things he had only mentioned to Sykes, whose experiences among the shadowed stone faces and occasional gargoyle poking from a door lintel were different from Ben’s, but no less intense.

Today he did not experience anything remarkable.

He wanted to see Willow on his own. He wanted her to at least give him a little opening into her life again, but if they couldn’t accept every aspect of one another, the incredible emotional and sexual power she wielded over him wouldn’t be enough.

Would it?

The patterns thrown by leaves shivered on red brick walls around all sides of the courtyard.

There it was, gentle laughter, almost giggling, so faint he strained to hear it. Automatically, he stared from stone figure to stone figure. They weren’t laughing.

Green-painted metal staircases zigzagged upward between randomly placed windows, stopping with a landing at each floor. The Millets’ flats faced him on each side, including Sykes’s, which was where Ben would live while he was back in New Orleans…unless Willow kicked him out….

He glanced up at Willow’s flat and barely pulled himself together enough not to jump. She stood at the open front door, leaning on the jamb, arms crossed.

It was definitely giggling he heard, and it saturated his senses.

To smile or not to smile?

Ben fashioned a restrained upward tilt at the corners of his mouth and strode to jog up the steps and meet the woman he wanted.

“Hey, Willow,” he said, arriving in front of her and keeping his demeanor more-or-less solemn. That wasn’t hard. He suddenly felt solemn…and insecure? Ben Fortune didn’t go in for feeling insecure very easily.

“Hey, Ben.”

The giggles faded into gusty titters that slithered away. He had always intended to do more research on the Court of Angels, but never got around to it.

“I brought your helmet up,” he said, feeling lame.

“Thanks.” She reached for the box, but he made no attempt to give it to her.

This was the first time since his return that he had stood so close to Willow. She really was a little woman. All the women in her family were small. He recalled his sister, Poppy, reminding him before he left for Kauai that he should “Look for a woman you won’t crush.” Poppy was tall and almost too beautiful. She had always been his friend, but in the past two years he had come to truly admire her.

“You’ve got my gun, too. How did you manage to get it from Uncle Pascal?”

“By letting him know you’re mature enough to make your own decisions.” Not completely true, but Marley had just about said that and Ben hadn’t disagreed.

“Thanks for that.” She smiled a little, but immediately bowed her face in the way he remembered so well. Willow talked a tough story, but she had a shy streak a mile wide.

“Are you going to invite me in?”

A frown came and went quickly. “Of course. Come in. I don’t suppose Winnie followed you out, did she?” She peered around him and down into the courtyard. “She likes to come up when Marley works late and Gray is gone.”

“Too much going on for her to concentrate today, I think,” Ben said, sensing Willow’s disappointment.

Willow shook her head as if the dog didn’t matter to her. “Gray doesn’t get back early most nights. He’s at his dad’s working. His dad is Gus Fisher—we look after his cottage and make sure everything gets done over there. Gus loves Winnie, too. Winnie likes to ride over to Gus’s in my trailer.”

He was no closer to going inside her flat. “Dogs and trailers match,” he said. “Not as much as dogs and pickups, though. I’ll have to take you to Kauai one day and you’ll see how every pickup has its dog in the back, or several dogs.”

She gave him a quizzical look, but at least she didn’t protest that she’d never be going to Kauai, or not with him.

Yet.

“Gray and Marley live here, then?” he said.

She nodded. “Yes. They like it here. Gray’s all over the place with what he does and it’s convenient for Marley to be close to work.”

“Marley looks happy.”

She smiled broadly. “They both are. They can’t keep their hands off each other.” She laughed at that.

Ben felt a spear of jealousy. “I’ve missed you,” he said. Everyone said he was fearless—this was a time to prove it.

Willow’s white, freckled skin turned pink. She had thick, auburn eyelashes that spread shadows across her shining eyes.

“Is it okay if I say that? Friends are supposed to care about each other.”

“It’s okay,” she said and walked into the flat, leaving him to follow her. “It’s dinnertime. Are you hungry?”

He barely stopped himself from saying he wasn’t. “Getting there,” he said. “I got in late yesterday and slept. Then caught up with Sykes. I think I forgot to eat.”

“Oh.” Her expression suggested she had not expected him to take her up on a vague offer of a meal. “Well, you’re in luck. It’s gumbo here tonight. I cooked a whole mess of it yesterday and it’s always better on the second day.”

He closed his eyes and made sounds of ecstasy. “Gumbo? When you live in the land of pork and poi, good as it is, gumbo sounds exotic. I’d love some, but there’s no hurry.”

That got him another look. He could see her thinking that he sounded as if he was settling in. If he were sneakier, he’d tune in and listen to exactly what she was thinking. That was generally against his principles unless absolutely necessary.

But he wasn’t ruling out running the risk if he had to.

“Let’s go in the living room,” Willow said. “It’s tidy for once.”

“It’s always tidy,” he reminded her.

Her expression flickered as she must have remembered how much time they had spent there together in the past, but she used turning off the television to cover any awkwardness.

“Do you still like background noise if you’re alone?” he asked, and winced.

“Why don’t I take the boxes from you?” she said, facing him again.

He’d as good as asked her if she was lonely. She used to use the television to fill up time when he was away from New Orleans.

She didn’t answer him.

“Can we see what you’ve got here?” He put the packages on the floor and sat on the edge of a well-worn blue armchair. But he stopped in the act of removing the helmet from the box. “Am I being too pushy? Taking too much for granted?”

She took a bit too long to shake her head, no. “Look at it. It’s state-of-the-art and should be really safe.”

Once she had got to the flat she must have immediately changed her clothes. She looked fresh and curvy in a yellow cotton dress that skimmed her body.

It was far too long since he had touched her.

Ben concentrated on the helmet. “Wow. Are you sure it’s not too heavy?”

“Why would it be too heavy?”

Looking straight at her and making no attempt at laughing anything off, he said, “Because although you’re strong, you’re small. I like to think of any equipment you use being the right weight for you.” He looked from her face to her sandaled feet—bare and smooth, just as her legs were. “It wouldn’t help much if I put you in a bulletproof vest that made it impossible for you to run, would it? You’d need one in your own size.”

“Bulletproof?” She frowned and all traces of the blush disappeared. Her hand touched her neck again.

“Just an example,” he said. An unfortunate one, given that she was so jumpy lately. “Do you have a rash?” he asked suddenly.

Willow’s lips parted and her eyes grew bigger and an even brighter green. “What kind of question is that?” She checked her arms and legs.

“That was clumsy,” he said. “It was your neck I had in mind. You rub it as if you think there’s something there.”

Instantly, her right hand slid beneath her hair and she backed away.

“What is it?” he said, getting up. “What’s going on, Willow? Sykes knows there’s something happening. They all do and now I do. Would you fill me in, please? Sykes only touched on what he suspected.”

She shuddered and Ben caught hold of her shoulders.

Her hands came up, but she didn’t try to push him away.

Nothing had changed. He closed his eyes and dug his fingers into her flesh. Never before, and not since Willow, had he felt the searing jolt of pain and pleasure that immobilized him when they first touched.

“When I left I actually hoped I’d forget this,” he whispered. “What a fool I was.”

“I’ll never forget it,” she said. “We shouldn’t—”

“Don’t say it. It may be true, but don’t say it. I can’t stand hearing you send me away again.”

“I had to.”

“Why?” He pulled her closer. “You never told me why.”

“We aren’t meant for each other.”

“My God,” he said, shaking with the effort of not taking her into his arms. “How can you say that?”

“Everyone said…” She turned her face away again, but slowly looked back at him.

“Everyone said what?”

“Nothing. I’m not what you need. Leave it at that.”

There was no decision; he just brought his mouth down on hers, hard and demanding. And she held still, her fingers resting on his chest. The web of raw sensation spun around them. He had never understood it. Only the Millets had this mystical Bonding element—he could vouch for that with certainty.

Her mouth grew warmer and softened under his. Gasping, she stood on tiptoe and slid her hands up to his shoulders.

Their lips parted, and their tongues entwined. He vaguely heard her moans and his own ragged breathing.

The slide of her fingers up his neck to rest on his jaw left a trail of heat. Her body bent into his and Ben’s pelvis jerked against her, hard. He felt the pulsing, the throbbing in his groin. Willow had to feel his erection.

“Willow,” he said. “I’m breaking apart.”

Her breath came in sobs and she shook so hard he clutched her to him, smoothed her back, rocked them together. He smoothed his hands up to the sides of her breasts.

“We can’t,” she said brokenly. “We can’t let this happen, Ben. You know it.”

They grew still but hung on to each other.

“I had to do that,” Ben said. “I had to find out if anything had changed. It hasn’t. Are you still going to say you’re not what I need?”

When Willow didn’t answer, he sat down again and rested his face in his hands.

“Don’t,” she said.

“Don’t what?”

“I don’t know. Feel bad, I guess. You’ll meet the right woman, just give it time.”

He didn’t understand what point she was trying to make, unless… “Tell me you don’t feel anything for me and I’ll help with any business that needs taking care of here and get out of New Orleans again.”

“Don’t ask me questions like that,” she said. “Look, we haven’t seen each other in a long time. It’s a shock. We’re reacting to that.”

“That was some hello, Willow.” Parts of him kept right on reacting to her. “Do you still say there’s nothing out of the ordinary—or not normal, as you call it—about you?”

“Yes,” she said emphatically. “I’ve started to admit that the rest of you have some sort of weird traits, but I don’t have them.”

“You,” he said, “are either a liar or you’re in denial. Down there in the shop, when you didn’t expect me to contact you, you responded. You’re telepathic—at the very least.”

At first he didn’t think she’d answer him at all. Then she took a deep breath and said, “Whatever you say. Do you still want to eat?”

He swallowed the “no” that wanted to snap out and said, “You bet.”

“Fine. Come and help then. I’ve still got a job to do tonight.”

“Tonight?” He looked pointedly at her dress. “Dressed like that? And at night?”

“Yes, like this. I’m going to help a customer host a party. His wife can’t be there until later. It’s a casual party—pool party.” She patted her hip. “I’ve got my swimsuit on already.”