Kitabı oku: «Sex, Lies and Mistletoe», sayfa 3

“Well, hello there,” Spackle Gal said. The brunette, dressed as if she moonlighted on the stroll, minced her way across the floor to lay a red-taloned hand on his arm. “It’s a pleasure to have you here in Black Oak. I’m the welcome wagon, and I’d be happy to show you a good time while you’re visiting our little town.”

His brow arched, Caleb glanced at her hand, then back at her face. It only took her a second to get a clue and move her fingers back where they belonged.

“I know the town just fine, thanks,” he dismissed. His gaze went back to the sweetie behind the counter. “Apparently I don’t know everyone in town as well as I’d like, though.”

The brunette gave a little hiss. Caleb ignored her. Despite her clear message of a free-and-easy good time, he wasn’t interested.

He’d only come in to check the place out. Not because he was interested in … He looked around, wondering what the hell they sold here. This store shared the alley with what was apparently his father’s motorcycle shop. His dad had still been on the take when Caleb had lived in Black Oak, so his shop was new, and Caleb’s familiarity with this side of town sketchy.

So this weird store was going to be his new home away from home. By hanging here he could scope things out. Get the lay of the land, keep low for a few days and see how much intel he could scout. Then he’d decide if he wanted to let Tobias know he was in town or not.

“Some people aren’t as important to know as others,” the brunette said, trying her luck again by nudging close enough to press one impressive breast against his arm. Caleb was grateful for the extra protection of his leather jacket. “Why don’t you and I go to Mick’s for a drink and I’ll introduce you around.”

Caleb wanted to sigh. God, he was tired. Undercover standard operating procedure said take her offer. She was the perfect cover. A resident who probably liked her gossip, she could fill him in on all the townspeople. As blatantly sexual as she was, she might even have an in with the ecstasy crowd.

She’d obviously be happy to offer up any manner of information, favors and probably kinky acts, and walk away with a smile and no regrets the next morning. But he was tired of using himself, losing himself, like that.

And, dammit, he was supposed to be on vacation. A man shouldn’t feel guilty about turning down cheap sex while he was on vacation.

“I’m good,” he said, stepping away to make his rejection clear. From her glare, she got the message loud and clear. Color high on her cheeks, she shot an ugly look at the girls standing at the counter before heading for the door.

“You might want to slow down on testing your wares from the café, Pandora,” the vamp warned over her shoulder as she teetered out of the store. “Not only is that aphrodisiac crap in danger of making you sound like a slut, but you’re gaining weight.”

Caleb’s eyes cut to the women behind the counter, noting the shocked horror in the blonde’s eyes and the sneer on the redhead’s face. He grinned, liking her screw-you attitude.

“What’s she so bitchy about?” he asked, keeping his smile friendly. Nothing connected with a mark—or suspect—faster than sympathy. Besides, facts were facts … the woman had been a bitch. He wandered the store ostensibly looking at merchandise while eyeing the back wall and its bead-covered doorway.

“That’s her default personality,” the redhead said.

“Pandora, is it?”

He wondered why she was looking at him as if he was a wolf about to pounce. Sure, he’d been a troublemaker as a teen, but he’d been gone almost twelve years. Was his rep still that bad in Black Oak? He didn’t recognize her. Younger than him, she was closer to his sister’s age.

“Hello?” he said, giving her a verbal nudge as he picked up a clear rock shaped like a pyramid, pretending to inspect it. Her worried stare was starting to bug him.

“I’ll go make sure everyone’s out of the café since it’s closed now,” the blonde murmured.

“Yes, I’m Pandora,” the other woman said, grabbing the arm of the blonde before she could move away. “I’m the, um, owner. Can I help you?”

“Owner? You don’t sound so sure.”

“I’m still getting used to the idea.” Pandora’s smile was as stiff and fake as the blow-up doll Caleb had shipped off to Hunter the previous day. “What can I do for you?”

God, so many things. Let him taste those lips to see if they were as soft and delicious as they looked. Slide that silky-looking hair over his naked body. Tell him about all her favorite sexual positions and give him a chance to teach her his.

“I’m just looking around. You’ve got a nice place here.”

“Thanks. Was there anything specific you were shopping for?”

His grin said it all. A sweet pink flush colored her cheeks, but he saw the flash of reciprocated interest in her eyes. Then, for some bizarre reason, she slammed that door shut with an impersonal arch of her brow.

What the hell? Unlike his brother, Gabriel, he didn’t expect women to fall at his feet. And the hard-to-get game did have appeal sometimes. But to totally deny the attraction? What was up with that?

Focus, Black, he reminded himself. He’d come to town for a crappy reason and wanted to leave as fast as he could. So her denial was a good thing.

And maybe if he told himself that a few hundred more times, he’d believe it.

“So you have a café here, too?” he asked, poking through a basket of glossy rocks and trying to take his own advice to focus. Now that he was closer, he noted the noise and tasty scents coming through that beaded curtain. Was the back door to the alley through there?

Before he could poke his head through to see, a group of people strode out with a clatter of beads and a lot of laughter. They’d obviously been having a happy holiday lunch.

There, in the center of the group like a king surrounded by his royal court, was Tobias Black. His lion’s mane of black hair had gone gray at the temples. His face sported a few more wrinkles, adding to its austere authority. Still tall and lean, he wore jeans and biker boots, a denim work shirt and a mellow smile.

Caleb froze. Control broke for a brief second as he closed his eyes against the crashing waves of memories as they pounded through his head—and his heart. Holidays and hugs, lectures and encouraging winks. Watching his dad pull a con, then pulling his first con while his dad watched. The trip to Baskin-Robbins afterward, where Tobias let Caleb treat to hot-fudge sundaes with his ill-gotten gains, cementing the lesson that winning was sweet, but the money had to be kept in circulation.

And then his last day of college. The day when Caleb had told dear ole dad that he was bucking family tradition and basically becoming the enemy. A cop. And when he’d threatened, in cocky righteousness, that if his dad didn’t dump his new partner and go straight, Caleb was leaving the family. That’d been the point his dad had told him to get his ass out.

Good times.

Caleb took a deep breath, his eyes meeting the wide hazel gaze of the pretty redhead behind the counter. He frowned at the sympathy and concern on her face. In the past eight years, he’d faced down whacked-out drug addicts and homicidal drug lords for a living with a blank face. Why did this pretty little thing think there was anything to be sympathetic over? Something to mull over later. Right now he had to pay the piper.

Caleb slowly turned around, automatically shoving his hands into the front pockets of his jeans and rocking back on his heels. He’d known this moment would come, but now that it had, he wasn’t ready. He’d walked away from his family and used that lack of emotional ties in building his career. But now he was back, face-to-face with his father.

And he had no idea how he felt about it.

Like a bull who’d suddenly hit a steel wall, Tobias slammed to a halt. His midnight-blue eyes went huge. But only for a second. Then he grinned. A charming grin that Caleb knew was hiding that shock he hadn’t meant to show.

“Well, well,” Tobias said, slowly walking forward. “What have we here? If it isn’t the prodigal son.”

3

OH, MY. MR. TALL, HOT and Dangerous was one of the wild and mysterious Black clan? Along with the rest of the gawpers standing around the store, Pandora stared, rapt, as the two men faced off.

“Wow,” Fifi breathed.

Pandora nodded. Wow, indeed.

The Black clan was legend. History said a Black had founded the small town a hundred years back. But for all their standing in the town, people still passed rumors and innuendo in whispers, wondering where the Black fortune came from. Everything from inheriting from an eccentric relative to robbing banks to wise investments. All anyone knew for sure was that they were the wealthiest family in Black Oak, that Tobias’s wife had died of leukemia before his youngest child could walk, and until five years ago when Tobias had opened a custom motorcycle shop, they hadn’t appeared to work for a living.

“I’m surprised to see you here,” Tobias was saying. Pandora frowned, though. The older man didn’t look so much surprised as … What? She studied his body language, the way he rocked back on his heels, the set of his shoulders. If she had to guess, she’d say he looked satisfied.

“I didn’t realize I had to check in with you as soon as I crossed the city limits,” Caleb returned.

“Check in?” Tobias’s hearty laugh filled the store, making half the customers smile in response. “Son, you know I don’t make rules like that. But if I’d known you were gonna be in town for the holidays, I’d have had Mrs. Long get your room ready.”

Caleb’s only response was an arched brow.

Pandora tensed. They seemed amiable enough, but she still felt as if she was watching a boxing match. The two men circled each other without even moving. The gorgeously sexy biker looked even more dangerous than he had when he’d walked in. On the surface, he was relaxed, leaning against the wall. She could see the bored look on his narrow face and the general sense of screw-you surrounding him. But his feet gave him away. Instead of crossed at the ankle, or rocked back on the heels, his boots were planted as if he were ready to run.

This reunion was a family thing. Private. Especially if one of them decided to throw a punch.

“Maybe the two of you would like some privacy,” she offered. The customers turned as one, a few shooting her guilty looks while the rest glared. Black Oak loved its gossip.

“No.” Caleb shook his head before stepping forward to lay a warm, strong hand on Pandora’s arm. The only thing that kept her from gasping and scurrying away was a desperate need to not add more fuel to the already out-of-control whisperfest brewing.

“We need to talk, son,” Tobias insisted. His words were quiet, they were friendly and they were offered with a smile. They were also hard as steel.

“Maybe later,” Caleb dismissed them. “Right now Pandora’s promised me lunch.”

“What?” she yelped. Caleb’s fingers tightened on her arm.

“Really?” Tobias said at the same time, drawing the word out and giving them both a toothy smile.

Rock, meet hard place. Pandora’s eyes swept the store, noting the slew of avid townspeople staring, waiting to see what she did. A few even mouthed the words stay here. Even the cats were watching her, Bonnie with her head tilted in curiosity, Paulie peering at her through slitted eyes, as if she was disturbing his nap. Then her gaze met Caleb’s.

His eyes didn’t beg. His face was passive. He simply returned her stare, his eyes steady. She could only hold his look for a few seconds, the intensity of those gold eyes sending crazy swirls of sexual heat spiraling down through her belly.

“Um, yes. Lunch,” she murmured, finally pulling her arm out from under his hand. Needing to move, she headed toward the café.

Caleb sauntered beside her, his long legs easily keeping up with her rushed steps.

Everyone in the store moved, too. Apparently, customers were positioning themselves for the best view into the café.

Tobias, however, followed them right through the beads.

“I’m so glad to see so many holiday shoppers,” Pandora called back through the beaded doorway of the café. “I know Cassiopeia will be thrilled when I tell her who was in buying merchandise today.”

That got them going. Customers scurried to shelves, displays and tables in search of something to keep the town woo-woo queen from cursing them. Or worse, not giving them a peek into their future the next time they asked.

“I’m sure Pandora won’t mind if we have a little chat before lunch,” Tobias said.

She shook her head no, and was about to offer to wait in the kitchen, when Caleb laid his hand on her arm again.

She froze. Her breath caught and her legs went weak at his touch. The guy wasn’t even looking at her and she was about to melt into a puddle at his feet. While his only use for her was to avoid talking to his daddy.

Yep, he was bad news.

Needing to unfog her brain, and unlust her body, she stepped away.

“I’m just passing through,” Caleb said, leaning casually against the wall. But the smirk he shot Pandora was amused, as if he knew exactly what kind of effect he had on her.

“How long until you passed through my front door?” Tobias challenged. “You were going to let me know you were in town, weren’t you?”

Silence. The hottie had that intense, brooding rebellious thing down pat. Without him saying a word, Pandora knew he hadn’t planned to see his father, would have preferred that dear ole dad didn’t even know he was in town and was thoroughly pissed to be put in the position of defending himself.

The air in the café was heavy with tension. So out of her element she wanted to turn heel and run all the way back to San Francisco, Pandora shifted from one foot to the other, forcing herself to stay in place.

“Today’s special is a hot and spicy double meatball sandwich and four-layer Foreplay Chocolate Cake for dessert,” she blurted out in her perkiest waitress voice.

It wasn’t until both men shot her identical looks of shocked amusement that she realized what she’d offered. Oh, hell. She wanted to smack her hand over her mouth in horror. Her lust for Caleb was bad enough, but for it to sneak out in front of his father?

“I mean, um, that’s the menu. Not an offer, you know? I wouldn’t do that. Hit on a customer, I mean. That’d be rude.”

Holy crap, Pandora thought. It was like taking her foot out of her mouth and shoving her ass in instead.

Thankfully, Caleb was sticking with his brooding silence. Wincing, she glanced at Tobias, who still looked amused. With an actual reason this time.

“I’ll let the two of you do lunch, then,” the older man decided. He glanced through the beaded doorway. Pandora followed his gaze and cringed. How’d the crowd get even bigger?

She couldn’t make Tobias go out there. They’d be on him like a pack of rabid dogs. And yes, she eyed the older man, noting the freakishly calm stance and lack of anger emanating off him, he could probably handle himself fine. Better than she could, that was for sure.

Still …

“Tobias, did you want to—”

Before she could finish the sentence, Caleb snapped to attention, straightening from the wall like a stiff board. Nice to know he could get stiff that fast; she almost smirked. Then she saw the intense anger in his eyes and swallowed.

What? Did he think she was going to invite his dad to stay?

“It’s a little crowded with shoppers in the store now,” she finished slowly, choosing her words as if they would guide her through a live minefield. “So, um, would you like to go out the back and cut across the alley to your own shop?”

Tobias rocked back on his heels, mimicking his son’s stance and considered the two of them. He glanced through the beads again and then arched a brow at Caleb.

Clueless, Pandora looked at the younger man, too, trying to figure out what the silent question was that had just been asked. But she couldn’t read a thing on either man’s face.

She wanted to scream. Even if it wasn’t a talent, she’d at least had a decent grasp of reading body language—bs, that was. Before Sean. Now? She might as well be blind.

She eyed the two men and their stoic faces and apparently relaxed stance. They came across as totally mellow strangers. And the hair on the back of her neck was standing up due to all the antagonism flying through the room.

It was frustrating the hell out of her.

“Thanks, Pandora,” Tobias accepted. Then he flashed her a charming smile. “And is there any chance I could get a piece of that cake to go? I was too full after lunch, but it’d be a nice snack later.”

Pandora bit her lip, not sure why she felt as if she needed to stick around and protect Caleb. The man obviously didn’t need little ole her standing in front of him.

But still …

“I’d appreciate it,” Tobias prodded.

Unable to do otherwise, Pandora nodded and hurried into the tiny kitchen at the far end of the sunroom. She cut a fat slab of cake and scooped it into a cardboard box, not bothering to lick the decadent ganache off her knuckle as she pressed the lid down and rushed back out.

Neither man had moved. From what she could tell, neither had said a word, either.

“Here you go,” she said, staying by the kitchen and its door to the alley, instead of taking the cake over to Tobias. “I hope you enjoy it. It’s my favorite recipe.”

Tobias gave his son a nod, then strode toward Pandora. A goodbye? Or acknowledgment that Caleb had won this round? Pandora wasn’t sure which.

Caleb, of course, just stood there. Did nothing rile the guy?

“I do appreciate your hospitality,” Tobias said as he reached her. “For the cake, and for making my son feel welcome. I’m sure one bite of your delicious offerings and he’ll be ready to stay in Black Oak and enjoy himself for a while.”

“Um, you’re welcome?” Pandora murmured. She wanted to point out that as delicious as chocolate was, it wasn’t magic cake. He was asking for an awful lot from a lunch that she wasn’t even sure Caleb would eat.

Without another word to her, or to his son, Tobias gave a jaunty wave and headed out the back door. Pandora plaited her fingers together, staring in the direction Tobias had gone until she heard the door close. She shifted her gaze to the café tables then, noting that half needed tidying.

Her gaze landed everywhere but on Caleb.

Murmurs rose from the store. She turned, grateful that something might demand her attention.

Then she winced. She could almost feel the barbs of fury shooting at her from the disappointed crowd. They’d obviously thought the show would move into the store, where they could get a better view. They’d probably positioned themselves to best greet, and grill, Tobias as he left the café. And she’d ruined it.

But she didn’t hear the chimes over the front door ring at all, which meant they were still circling, waiting for fresh meat. Or in this case, a hunk named Caleb.

They could just keep waiting. And, hopefully, purchasing. After all, she was apparently giving away cake back here.

Speaking of …

“Would you like something to eat?” she asked, finally looking directly at Caleb.

Under his slash of black brows, his eyes were intense as he inspected her. His expression didn’t change as his gaze traveled from her face, then skimmed down her body in a way that made her wish she was wearing one of those loose, New Agey dresses Fifi and Cassiopeia wore.

Or that she was naked.

Either one would be better than this feeling that there wasn’t a chance in hell she could measure up to the sexual challenge Caleb presented.

A sexual challenge she wasn’t even positive he was issuing. For all she knew, the guy gave that same hot but unreadable look to his mail lady when she asked him to sign for delivery.

Her body on fire, her mind a mess of tangled thoughts, she gave in to the desire to run.

“I’ll be right back,” she muttered as she hurried back to the small kitchen again. This time, instead of hacking through the cake and throwing it in a container, she carefully selected a plate, cut a precise slice and centered it on the cobalt glass plate. She retrieved a can of whipped cream and sprayed a sweet little rosette of white on top of the chocolate.

This was crazy. It wasn’t as though the guy was going to ask her on a date. He was here to … What? Shop for Christmas gifts? Score an aphrodisiac-laced lunch?

Pandora groaned. Oh, wouldn’t that be sweet? Insane, impossible and inconceivable—but so sweet to have sex with a man like Caleb Black. A man who, with just one look, could make her body go lax, her legs quiver and her nipples beg in pouty supplication.

But Caleb Black was the kind of guy who went for powerful women. A woman who could hold her own, who would demand he fulfill her every fantasy and in doing so, would show him things he hadn’t even dreamed of yet.

In other words, totally not Pandora.

Except … she wanted him for herself.

She grabbed two forks, setting one neatly on the plate. With the other she stabbed a huge chunk from the cake still on the serving dish. Shoving it in her mouth, she closed her eyes and, with a sigh, let the chocolate work its way through her system. Calming, centering, soothing.

God, she loved chocolate.

More than sex, she insisted to herself. Which was a lie, of course, but with a little work she might start believing it. After all, chocolate’s only threat was to her hips.

Swallowing hard as she imagined what kind of threat Caleb might pose to her body, she scooped up the plate and forced herself to return to the café.

“You look like that visit barely registered on your stress meter, but mine is off the charts. Nothing pulls me out of the dumps like chocolate, so I figured you might want some,” she said with a sheepish smile as she set the cake on a nearby table. Glancing through the beads at the nosy crowd, she sighed, then sat opposite the plate and waited.

“Why’s it empty in here?” he asked, his voice as surly as his scowl. But hey, words were words. Who was she to quibble over tone?

“The café closes at two. We still have shoppers in the store, but Fifi is helping them. People know we’re closed. They won’t come back here,” she assured him. “It’s not much, but at least it’s a tiny semblance of privacy.”

He gave her a look, those gold eyes dark. She could see the anger in them now, as clearly as she could see it in the set of his chin and his clenched fists. But now she could see hurt, too, in the way he hunched his shoulders, the droop of his lips.

“I guess this isn’t a surprise visit for the holidays,” she said with a tentative smile, wishing he’d smile again.

“Prodigal son, didn’t Tobias say?”

“You call your father by his name?” Why was she so shocked? It wasn’t as if he was the kind of guy to call his old man daddy.

He shrugged, staring at the door to the alley. Finally, he came over and sat across from her. She didn’t know if it was because she’d worn him down with her inane chatter or if he was emotionally exhausted from the confrontation. It definitely wasn’t because he was suddenly in the mood to be friendly. Not the way he was glowering. The frown didn’t detract from his mouth.

A deliciously sensual mouth, she noticed. She licked her own lips, wondering what he tasted like. How he kissed. Whether he was slow and sensual or if he liked it wild and intense.

“You interested in providing a little prodigal entertainment?”

“Hmm?”

She’d bet he was a wild kind of guy. One who’d take her mouth in a hard, mind-blowing kiss and leave her begging for a taste of his promised sexual nirvana.

“Yeah, you’re interested.”

Pandora ripped her gaze off his mouth to meet his eyes in horror. Was she that obvious? Was she so unskilled that she couldn’t even hide her should-be-secret lusty thoughts?

What the hell was she doing? The man was off-limits. He was bad news, with a capital H heartbreak. And while she was intrigued enough to risk her heart, she still had the bruises from risking her reputation and ego.

“No, sorry. I’m not interested, I’m just curious.”

“Curious?” His smile was pure temptation. Wicked and knowing. He didn’t push, though. Instead, he cocked a brow at the slice of cake she’d set on the table between them, then pulled it toward him. He pressed his finger on a crumb and lifted it to his mouth.

Pandora swore her thighs melted. Heat, intense and needy, clawed through her good intentions.

PUZZLED, CALEB STUDIED the woman in front of him.

He’d got what he wanted out of this visit—to see the back room and access to the bike shop. Her interest would be easy to use to get back in, anytime he wanted.

But could he do it?

Seated at the table like a dainty lady about to serve some fancy-ass tea, Pandora looked as calm as a placid lake. Except for those occasional flashes of hunger he saw in her pretty eyes. With her smooth, dark red hair and porcelain complexion, she looked like the special china doll his sister had as a kid. If he remembered correctly, he’d broken that doll at one point or another.

Something to keep in mind.

He noted the lush fullness of her lips and the sweet curve of her breasts beneath the white silky fabric of her conservatively cut blouse. His body stirred in reluctant interest. Good girls weren’t his thing, but his body wasn’t paying much attention to that detail.

“Were you going to try the cake?” Pandora prodded, looking a little put out at his inspection. She sounded as if she wanted to say something—probably something rude—but good girls didn’t do things like that.

He grinned. Yet another reason not to be good.

He had questions, so more to pacify her than because he wanted any, he swiped his finger over the frosted cake and sucked the sweet confection while holding her gaze.

Her eyes narrowed. He imagined she was trying to look stern, but came off as cute instead. Her store location was handy, she probably had an inside track to the town and townspeople, and she looked as if she was one of those crazy trust-until-proved-untrustworthy kind of people.

A much better cover than the loosey-goosey vamp who’d hit on him before. She was going to be easier to, well, manipulate.

“I remember this store now,” he mused as he looked, noting the deep purple walls with garlands of flowers, stars, suns and moons painted along the ceiling. “I broke in here one night on a dare, hoping to see a rumored séance. It wasn’t a restaurant then, though.”

“Broke in? I always heard that you were wild, but I thought those rumors were exaggerated.”

He just shrugged. It wasn’t as though it was a secret that he’d been well on his way to a life of crime in his teen years. Hell, he considered it early training for his undercover assignments.

The frosting was good. Ready for more, he took the fork and scooped up a big bite.

“This room used to be set up for classes and readings,” she explained, still frowning at him in a chiding sort of way. “My mother started using it for storage when the mayor changed the permit requirements to demand a twenty percent kickback.”

Caleb snorted. He’d grown up the son of an infamous con artist and spent his adult years dealing with criminal dregs. But he was pretty sure politics were the biggest scam around.

“Gotta hand it to her. The mayor’s big on clever ways to line the town coffers.”

She gave him a narrow-eyed look at odds with his sweet, goody-goody image of her. “Isn’t Mayor Parker your aunt?”

Realizing he was starving, he forked up more of the rich cake and grinned. “Yep.”

“So this is like old home week. Will you be staying with your aunt instead of your father?”

“Nope. I’m at the Black Oak Inn. Room seventeen, if you’re out wandering later,” he said with a wink.

Her eyes rounded. She caught her breath as if grabbing back a response that scared her. The move made her cotton top slide temptingly over rounded breasts. He watched as her nipples beaded against the fabric. Suddenly starving, he wanted nothing more than to lean across the table and taste her.

Her reaction was gratifying. His own irritated him, though. She wasn’t his type, and given the situation, she was off-limits. He just had to remember that.

“I’m sure I’ll see her, though. Want me to talk her into dropping those fees for you?” he offered with another wink.

“I don’t do readings.”

That sounded bitter. His chewing slowed; he gave her a searching look.

She gave a tiny shrug and looked away.

Off-limits? A part of him wanted to push. To ask questions and get to know her better. The rest of him, the burned-out, disenchanted, cynical DEA-trained part of him, said that unless it pertained to the case, it didn’t matter.

Since he wasn’t sticking around longer than it took to clear his old man, the cynic got to call the shots.

“So what’s the deal?” Caleb asked instead. “You seem to know Tobias pretty well, right?”

“I wouldn’t say I know your father well,” she mused, her eyes skimming toward the alley. “No more so than anyone else in town. I mean, he’s the patriarch, isn’t he? From what I understand, he’s got more power than the mayor and the sheriff combined. People look up to him, turn to him for advice. I’ve been hearing accolades since the day I arrived.”

“You’re not a native of Black Oak?” Why had he thought she was?

“I am native,” she said, drawing the words out. “I think I was even in a few classes with your sister, Maya. But I left for college and haven’t been back much since.”

“So why’d you get a job here? You’re interested in this New Age stuff?”

She looked toward the dangling beaded doorway with shelves of crystal balls lining either side and rolled her eyes.