kiss or no kiss routine after a date, if that’s what the
night had been.
Gower seemed to have no such qualms, standing beside her on
the front step. He gently took her chin in his hand, lifting her head. His gaze
skittered all over her face. Leaning down, he kissed her with all the promise
of what he could offer her. Reined fury hid behind his soft lips. He nipped and
licked her mouth and neck, burying his hands in her hair.
Her hands slipped inside his jacket and pulled him closer,
felt the tension in his body he held back. Her tingling breasts begged for his
touch, but logic still lingered strong enough to keep from dragging him inside
and tearing off both their clothes. There were still too many foggy areas
regarding relationships for her to let go. Forcing herself, she ended the kiss.
“Thank you for dinner. I enjoyed visiting with everyone.”
“It was our pleasure. We don’t eat full meals often, but the
social aspects make it that much more pleasurable.”
Sin rose on her toes for one last quick peck on his mouth,
then went inside.
* * * * *
Baen scratched the back of his head as he looked at the
remaining unsorted boxes in Sin’s attic. He and his brothers had come over
daily for the past week to help determine what was in there and what to do with
it all, and had only made it through half of the room.
Sin used a crowbar to open another crate, coughing when she
lifted the top layer of packing paper inside. “So much of this stuff seems to
be in the original shipping containers, as if he never looked at the contents.”
“He might not have,” Gower said. He was rewrapping the china
pieces Sin wanted to send to her mother, and packing them in a cardboard box.
“From what Marrett has said, I gather George acquired a lot of it just to get
it out of circulation. Prevent anyone from accidentally stumbling on the
things.”
“Yet my great-aunt suffered her whole life from what he kept
here.”
Baen put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed, hoping to
comfort her some. “Sometimes things happen when we stay focused only on the big
picture. His intentions were good.”
“You’re right. Will Marrett be able to keep them safe, the
dangerous pieces? And what do we do with the just plain weird stuff?”
“The Marrett family has been securing artifacts for a long
time without problems. And the weird stuff, if we can’t find a museum
interested, we might just want to destroy.” Baen pulled another tightly wrapped
object from his crate and checked it against the packing slip. In theory, a
museum would be thrilled with some of the fetishes and icons, but first Marrett
needed to screen them. It was impossible for the untrained individual to tell
if a spell had been cast on an object.
Sin looked like she was wearing down, so he signaled his
brothers. “Why don’t we call it a day? After Sin cleans up, she and I can stop
by the pub and pick up some pizza to take to the house.”
Enos nodded. “Sounds good.”
“Works for me, too,” Gower agreed.
They sorted anything loose and organized what they could for
the next day. Gower and Enos left together in Gower’s car, and Baen went
downstairs to the kitchen to clean up their lunch dishes while Sin showered. He
didn’t envy her the task of moving into a furnished house. So many rooms still
stood as they had when Absinthe had moved to the nursing home.
He and his brothers, and many in the community, had told
Absinthe to contact her grand-niece and let her have the house then, but the
old woman insisted it couldn’t happen until she died. Baen still wasn’t certain
what her reasoning had been, but wondered if she knew the financial straits
Sin’s boyfriend had her in. If Sin took possession of the house and control
over the woman’s money while the boyfriend was still under prosecution, some of
the money might have been claimed for restitution. It didn’t seem fair, given
Sin’s innocence in the scandal, but the man had swindled many people.
She
night had been.
Gower seemed to have no such qualms, standing beside her on
the front step. He gently took her chin in his hand, lifting her head. His gaze
skittered all over her face. Leaning down, he kissed her with all the promise
of what he could offer her. Reined fury hid behind his soft lips. He nipped and
licked her mouth and neck, burying his hands in her hair.
Her hands slipped inside his jacket and pulled him closer,
felt the tension in his body he held back. Her tingling breasts begged for his
touch, but logic still lingered strong enough to keep from dragging him inside
and tearing off both their clothes. There were still too many foggy areas
regarding relationships for her to let go. Forcing herself, she ended the kiss.
“Thank you for dinner. I enjoyed visiting with everyone.”
“It was our pleasure. We don’t eat full meals often, but the
social aspects make it that much more pleasurable.”
Sin rose on her toes for one last quick peck on his mouth,
then went inside.
* * * * *
Baen scratched the back of his head as he looked at the
remaining unsorted boxes in Sin’s attic. He and his brothers had come over
daily for the past week to help determine what was in there and what to do with
it all, and had only made it through half of the room.
Sin used a crowbar to open another crate, coughing when she
lifted the top layer of packing paper inside. “So much of this stuff seems to
be in the original shipping containers, as if he never looked at the contents.”
“He might not have,” Gower said. He was rewrapping the china
pieces Sin wanted to send to her mother, and packing them in a cardboard box.
“From what Marrett has said, I gather George acquired a lot of it just to get
it out of circulation. Prevent anyone from accidentally stumbling on the
things.”
“Yet my great-aunt suffered her whole life from what he kept
here.”
Baen put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed, hoping to
comfort her some. “Sometimes things happen when we stay focused only on the big
picture. His intentions were good.”
“You’re right. Will Marrett be able to keep them safe, the
dangerous pieces? And what do we do with the just plain weird stuff?”
“The Marrett family has been securing artifacts for a long
time without problems. And the weird stuff, if we can’t find a museum
interested, we might just want to destroy.” Baen pulled another tightly wrapped
object from his crate and checked it against the packing slip. In theory, a
museum would be thrilled with some of the fetishes and icons, but first Marrett
needed to screen them. It was impossible for the untrained individual to tell
if a spell had been cast on an object.
Sin looked like she was wearing down, so he signaled his
brothers. “Why don’t we call it a day? After Sin cleans up, she and I can stop
by the pub and pick up some pizza to take to the house.”
Enos nodded. “Sounds good.”
“Works for me, too,” Gower agreed.
They sorted anything loose and organized what they could for
the next day. Gower and Enos left together in Gower’s car, and Baen went
downstairs to the kitchen to clean up their lunch dishes while Sin showered. He
didn’t envy her the task of moving into a furnished house. So many rooms still
stood as they had when Absinthe had moved to the nursing home.
He and his brothers, and many in the community, had told
Absinthe to contact her grand-niece and let her have the house then, but the
old woman insisted it couldn’t happen until she died. Baen still wasn’t certain
what her reasoning had been, but wondered if she knew the financial straits
Sin’s boyfriend had her in. If Sin took possession of the house and control
over the woman’s money while the boyfriend was still under prosecution, some of
the money might have been claimed for restitution. It didn’t seem fair, given
Sin’s innocence in the scandal, but the man had swindled many people.
She
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