Twofold Desires Read online

  Twofold Desires

  Ashleigh Raine

  Non-Dedication

  This story is not in any way dedicated to our best friend Carrie. Nope. Not at all dedicated to her. No way. No how. We wouldn’t dedicate this to her. Nuh-uh. Not Carrie. Not the lovable, charismatic, vibrant, wonderful, loud, fan-damn-tastic, electric, hyper, bodacious, awesome, spectacular, intrepid, ballsy, funky-spunky, musical, lyrical, outer-spacial woman we know and love.

  So Carrie, now that this story has NOT been dedicated to you, whatcha gonna do about it?

  2

  Chapter One

  Can’t close early.

  Want to close early.

  For the two hundredth time in the last five minutes, Jill Evans looked at her wristwatch. Had the hands even moved? She glanced up at the wall clock and sighed. Foiled again. Closing time wasn’t for another long, drawn out, painfully frustrating fifteen minutes. Ugh. She fought the temptation to flip the sign on the door to closed. Who was going to shop for flowers at 7:45 at night a few days before Halloween?

  No, she couldn’t do it. What if a young girl wanted to buy a flower for her first love? Or what if a gentleman needed a corsage for his lovely lady? Or better yet, what if a single handsome stranger wanted a solitary red rose to bring to the party tonight?

  Oh crap!

  Tossing her pliers back onto the workbench, Jill whipped around the counter to her computer. She’d never printed up her ticket for tonight’s Singles Haunt at Silver Twilight . She typed in her webmail address. While waiting for the site to load through her incredibly slow connection, she skipped over to the sink and attempted to clean some of the orange and black flower dye from under her fingernails.

  Three days until Halloween and everyone seemed to be getting in the spirit. Just today, Jill had sprayed a batch of gladiolus black and orange and carved a few pumpkins. But tonight’s bash was the highlight of her holiday. She’d always hoped that one day a man would walk through the door of Jill’s Bloomers and sweep her off her feet. Yet in the five years since she’d opened, the only sweeping going on involved her broom. The

  3

  men who came in weren’t looking for a woman, they were looking for flowers for the woman they already had. Although that was great for business, it wasn’t great for her love life, or even her go-out-on-a-dateonce-every-blue-moon life.

  So it was time to take the bull by the horns. Time to go out and get noticed, to live a little dangerously and maybe go a little wild.

  And hopefully find someone to go a little wild with her in the process.

  The party tonight incorporated all of her newest resolutions. Less than a year ago, Silver Twilight had been a strip club. Now it was under new management, offering live music and dancing every night. It was the place in Talisman Bay to go for fun.

  She cast a glance over her shoulder as she scrubbed. It looked like her eticket had arrived. Shutting off the water, she grabbed a towel and did the happy dance back to her computer, letting out a giddy giggle.

  Before clicking on the Silver Twilight confirmation and e-ticket, she skimmed her incoming messages and noticed one of her old college friends had sent her a Halloween funny. Her grin widened. Charlene always sent the best zingers. Jill had learned to never drink while reading Charlene’s emails, to avoid spewing soda all over the monitor. After clicking the appropriate button to print her e-ticket, Jill opened the joke email.

  She didn’t even get to read the first line before her printer jammed.

  “No, no, no. Darn it.” At least her stupid printer decided to eat something of hers rather than a receipt for a client. But she needed the printout in order to get in. That darn printer would not ruin her plans to finally have some fun!

  Jill yanked on the jammed sheet of paper, extracting it as though opening a Chinese fan, fold by fold. “All right, you silly old thing. Are you going to play nice now?” Offering up a prayer to the god of crappy computers, she returned to the e-ticket email, clicked print again and watched. “Thank

  4

  heavens.” Her printer appeared to be cooperating.

  “Okay. Now then, what good joke did Charlene send me?” She opened the email.

  “Top Ten Things to Avoid on Halloween”

  Never—

  Interrupting yet again, the printer started to eat the page, making a horrendous squeaking sound. “But you were being so good!”

  Oh well. There wasn’t enough time to deal with it anymore. She grabbed a knife from her worktable, shut off the printer from hell and slashed the page free. Luckily, the e-ticket and confirmation number were on the top half.

  She tucked the ticket into her purse and for the third time, clicked to open Charlene’s email.

  Her computer froze.

  Jill stuck her tongue out at her computer as she powered down. Okay, obviously she wasn’t supposed to read that email tonight. Too bad. It would’ve been fun to see how many of those so-called rules she could have broken.

  She glanced at the wall clock. Only five minutes remaining. She swallowed her grin, reminding herself to stay professional.

  Screw it! Closing five minutes early was hardly cause for anyone to be upset. Hurrying about, she pulled the display buckets from the front

  5

  sidewalk and began tucking all the necessary delicate blooms into the refrigerators.

  The bell on the door jingled merrily behind her. Fudge! She hadn’t locked it yet.

  Turning to the latecomer, she offered up her best retail smile. Hopefully, the fun at Silver Twilight wouldn’t run out before she got there.

  * * * * *

  By the time Jill had escaped work, showered, dressed up, discovered her nylons had holes instead of feet, rushed to the corner store, put on her new pair while driving, and finally arrived at Silver Twilight , the party was in full swing. People were talking, mingling, making a connection. The music was loud, and servers weaved through the crowd handling drink orders. It was the definition of organized chaos.

  Devils, pirates and warriors shared the dance floor with vixens, French maids and a few dominatrices. Most everyone was dressed in dark shades, the most common colors vamp red and soulless black.

  Her sparkly white fairy costume with tiny silver gossamer wings made her stick out like a sore thumb.

  No, she chastised herself, not like a sore thumb. She was unique and original. And so out of place she suddenly wondered what the heck she was doing there.

  Butterflies fluttered nervously in her stomach. As much as she’d been anticipating tonight, looking around at the room full of costumed people trying to make a love connection, she realized she had no idea what to do next. Should she just jump in and start dancing? Maybe buy a drink, then walk around hoping someone would talk to her? Paste a smile on her face, hoping it made her look friendly and approachable rather than three sheets to the wind?

  She shook her head and sighed. No wonder she was still single. She had

  6

  no clue about this kind of stuff.

  An overweight vampire, blood smeared on both of his chins, winked at her as he sauntered into the bathroom. She stifled her giggle. Okay, maybe she wouldn’t be a complete failure with the men tonight. But should she wait around for another vampire? A pirate maybe? What about one of the knights in rusty armor?

  Wait a minute. Why should she wait around for some clown, or cowboy, or whatever that thing in the corner was to come to her? Tonight she was a fairy. And as a fairy, there was no reason she couldn’t flit around, grant wishes, flirt profusely and have a darn good time in the process.

  Jill took a deep breath and thrust her way into the crowd. She expected to be bounced back out, rejected with a big red “vetoed” stamp on her forehead, but instead the swarm sw
allowed her up, welcoming her into their midst.

  The rest of her worry evaporated as she noticed a familiar face on the dance floor. Jake, who co-owned Rare and Unusual Imports , was dancing and laughing, surrounded by a group of women all vying to be the one he took home that night. His eyes met hers and he grinned, gesturing for her to join them.

  Not one to turn down an invitation to dance, she smiled and weaved her way toward him, already beginning to move to the music.

  * * * * *

  Arden snarled inwardly as he scanned the festive crowd. With the way the women were dressed, it was more like a flashers convention than a costume party. Everywhere he looked, breasts spilled out the top of tootight spandex. Disgusting. Appreciating beautiful women was one thing, but watching them use their bodies to try to hook some poor fool for a night was almost painful. Was there not a decent woman in the whole place?

  An all too familiar voice mentally interrupted his internal tirade. You’re

  7

  growling again. No wonder you’re still sitting by yourself.

  Arden cursed the telepathic, empathic and downright annoying connection he shared with Leo. Get out of my head, Leo.

  If you’re not even going to try, then why are we here?

  Through the crowd, Leo shot Arden the usual scowl.

  I thought there’d be potential here, not a roomful of women only interested in a quick lay in the back alley.

  Oh ye of little faith. You see my following. There’s tons of potential.

  Arden scanned the group of women surrounding Leo, then turned his back on all of them. Big deal. We’re not here just to get laid.

  Leo’s annoyance permeated Arden’s consciousness. Dammit. This was your idea in the first place. “We’re running out of time,” you said. “We can’t give up yet,” you said. “We can still find the one.” All of this bullshit and now you’re backing out?

  Arden downed the rest of his beer and gestured for the bartender to hand him another. This wasn’t what I had in mind.

  You know what, Arden, if you’re going to be a dick and give up, maybe you should just pick yourself out a vamp, maid, dominatrix or whatever and at least get laid one last—Leo’s spiel came to an abrupt halt.

  Wondering what had caused the interruption, Arden glanced back toward Leo, but his gaze was drawn to someone else. A woman, dressed in sparkling white and silver, weaved through the crowd as Leo continued. Or how about a fairy? Now, she definitely has potential.

  For the first time that night, hope stirred inside of Arden. The beautiful fairy glowed as she moved, unknowingly portraying a bright innocence that made her outshine every other woman in the room. Shoulder-length brown hair framed a heart-shaped face. Wide brown eyes seemed to watch

  8

  everything at once, unabashedly soaking in the world around her. She was pure and sweet and exactly what he was looking for.

  A moment of guilt slashed through him. Did she deserve to be pulled into their cursed existence?

  Did they have a choice?

  Leo interrupted his troubled thoughts. If you’re not interested…

  I am, Arden fairly growled.

  Good, Leo replied smugly. Because it looks like our fairy queen is thirsty.

  9

  Chapter Two

  Jill spied an empty barstool and her aching feet turned longingly in that direction. After putting in a full day of standing at work, then dancing nonstop for forty-five minutes, she was ready for the sit, drink and chatwith-whoever-was-nearby part of tonight’s festivities.

  Breaking from the dance floor, she made her way along a row of small tables, aiming for the short set of stairs leading to the bar. Jill passed table after table of flirting couples, heads pressed close so as not to miss a word the other said. She even saw the double-chinned vampire from earlier, cuddled up with a latex-clad goddess of equally dynamic proportions. She grinned. Love—or at least lust—was in the air tonight.

  At the last table next to the stairs, what could only be described as a gaggle of women surrounded someone Jill could not yet see. A few even leaned over the railing from above, smiling and flirting with whoever was seated below. They all laughed in unison and one of them moved, giving Jill an opportunity to see what all the fuss was about.

  Wow.

  Double wow.

  No wonder so many women were hanging around his table. The man had one of those classically beautiful faces, as though a sculptor had taken his time, meticulously carving out every rich detail of expression, the sharp arch of each golden eyebrow, the proud, aristocratic nose, down to the sinful expanse of his mouth. White blond hair disappeared over his shoulders and down his back. As she moved closer to him, she was able to see even more detail. Long, dark blond eyelashes framed almond-shaped amber eyes that sparkled with mirth, as though he knew a secret that all the women were desperate to learn.

  10

  He sat crookedly, one arm resting on the table, the other casually lying along the back of his chair. Although clad in dark colors, mostly grays and browns, unlike the rest of the crowd, he would never blend in. Like a royal leader holding court, mesmerizing the women with his mere presence.

  Too bad Jill wasn’t one to compete. With a bevy of eager babes at his disposal, the man was probably a player anyway.

  She turned away from the blond god and, resting her hand on the railing, began to climb the few steps to the bar. For a split second, a warm masculine hand covered hers, fingertips clasping around her wrist almost possessively before retreating.

  Who had touched her? Jill looked down, almost expecting to see a red flush where her skin tingled. There was only one man close enough to lay his hand on her. She turned her gaze toward him as he straightened in his chair. Her breath caught as his amber eyes locked with hers. Awareness flooded from where her hand and wrist still tingled, to every cell of her body. His eyes danced, those full lips curling up into a knowing smile. She returned his smile, her heart thumping wildly against her rib cage.

  No wonder he had a harem ready to serve him. His smile alone could charm the cheap spandex off any woman in the room.

  Too bad she wasn’t just any woman. Wanting to avoid temptation, she tried to break from the blond man’s stare, afraid if she didn’t, she’d launch herself over the railing and into his lap. Instead, she rammed full force into someone at the top of the stairs.

  “Whoa, there. I got you.” Strong arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her flush against a warm, male body, keeping her from careening backward down the stairs.

  Trying to regain her mental balance as well as her physical, she grabbed onto his arms and got a handful of rock-hard muscle.

  She squeezed her hands, getting a firmer grasp of his biceps. This man could easily bench-press a truck. He was probably one of Silver Twilight’s

  11

  bouncers, sent to kick her out for excessive levels of drooling.

  Prepared to state her case, claiming dehydration and possible chemical reactions from the glitter makeup she was wearing, she lifted her head. Her stomach dropped to the tips of her tired toes as she looked at her rescuer’s face.

  Holy moly! Two hot men in a row. Where had these two been hiding all night? Although this man was an exact opposite of the blond god. He was dark. Rough-edged. Beautiful in a sexy, dangerous, probably-shouldn’ttake-him-home-to-mom kind of way.

  Wavy dark brown hair fell raggedly to his shoulders. Dark eyebrows slashed deliciously over black eyes deep as night. Strong cheekbones complimented his sturdy nose and late-night stubble covered his jaw. His mouth tilted up questioningly as he spoke. “You okay?”

  She nodded, not quite able to get the words past her lips. His voice was deep, almost more of a growl. He should have scared her, the whole package of dark, rugged male. But she wasn’t frightened. Instead, her body reacted to his nearness, heating from the inside out. Between this man, and her brush with the hot blond god earlier, her internal temperature had skyrocketed.

  One of hi
s arms slipped from around her waist, brushing her flyaway hair back into place.

  Realizing that if she didn’t say something soon he’d probably think her an imbecile, she grasped for the comfort of the line she’d been using all night.

  “Need a wish granted?” she asked, forcing her voice to come out light and flirty.

  His mouth widened in a crooked grin but before he could answer, someone bumped into him from behind. His arm circled tighter around her waist, pulling her even closer against the warmth of his body. Now within licking distance of his neck, she indulged her curiosity and inhaled, taking in his scent. He smelled like the outdoors, like the wind on a hot summer day.

  12

  Warm lips pressed against her ear, his breath caressing her neck. She suppressed a needy shiver as he spoke. “You grant wishes? Have a drink with me?”

  Jill wondered if screaming yes and dancing a jig would be an inappropriate response. She turned her head toward him to answer. His lips were so close, she wanted to trace them with her tongue, to see if he tasted like sunshine, too.

  Instead, she licked her own dry lips, and said, “Wish granted.”