"I see no reason to do that," Anica said. "She was so skinny when we found her that she's been on her own a long time. It's a good guess she was abandoned on purpose."

"That's what I think, too." Julie hesitated. "Do you like her name?"

"It's a great name. Persephone's the one who got taken to the underworld by Hades."

"I know. I've studied all that. And I wanted her to have a magical name."

"You did, huh?" Now, there was a brilliant response. "I mean, that's interesting." Even more brilliant.

"Anica, I have something to show you."

Anica wasn't as intuitive as she would have liked, but she had a strong feeling this wouldn't be something she wanted to see. "You know, maybe next time. I should probably be getting back."

"It'll only take a minute." Julie flicked the power switch on her DVD player and the flat-screen TV. Then she pulled a DVD out of a cabinet under the screen and loaded it into the system.

If only this DVD could be another one of Pete's lame cable shows, Anica would be grateful. She didn't think that was it, though.

Julie hit PLAY, and Anica recognized the street in front of their apartment building. Down the street a ways, near the little park, a man and woman faced each other, obviously having an argument. Even before the camera zoomed in on the couple, Anica recognized who it was. She'd known all along, from the moment Julie had suggested showing her something.

Anica watched, holding her breath, as the most fateful moment of her life played out on the screen. The woman pulled a small wand from her purse and pointed at the tall, good-looking man. A moment later, the man pulled the woman into his arms, she shoved him away and the man became a pile of clothes.

Someone whimpered in the room, and then Anica realized it had been her. She covered her mouth and stood as she tried to imagine what she could say to this girl who had captured her worst moment on camera.

"I didn't mean to upset you," Julie said. "I wanted you to know that I know. And I want to help!"

"If only you could." Anica gazed at her.

"I have a great-aunt who is a witch," Julie said. "Once my parents found out, they would never let me visit her. But now that I'm on my own . . . sort of . . . I keep in touch with her by e-mail. She lives in California, and I'm not big on traveling by myself so I haven't gone out there, but I've been studying and . . . I think I . . . that is . . . I might be a witch, too. But I can't let my parents know or they'd stop sending money."

"They support you?"

"Yeah, both me and Pete. It's no big deal. They have a ton of money, and I still don't know what I want to do with my life. Well, I do. I want to practice magic."

"But I doubt you'll be able to support yourself on it."

"I know. I was thinking since you're a witch, too, you could help me figure out what's the best job for people like us."

"Well, I-" Her cell phone kept her from having to come up with a response. "Excuse me a minute." Her heart hammered as she flipped open the phone. "h.e.l.lo?"

"I'm about to make coffee," Jasper said. "Do you trust me with this machine?"

He could have been her live-in boyfriend calling with a simple comment. Except nothing about Jasper was simple. "No." Her voice wasn't quite steady. "I'll be right there." Flipping the phone closed, she glanced at Julie. "I have to go."

"Were you talking to him?" Eagerness shone in Julie's dark eyes. "Does he change back for a while?"

"I have to go." Anica turned and headed toward the door. But she couldn't leave without offering Julie something. "I'll call you tomorrow," she said. "We'll talk."

"I'm serious. I want to help."

Anica glanced at her. "If you can, I'll let you know." Then she went out the door and hurried down the steps. She glanced at her watch. Nine forty. If Jasper was ready to make coffee, he probably transformed at nine thirty. Through good deeds of some sort he'd gained another two hours.

Jasper was wearing clothes for the first time since Tuesday night. He'd expected to be happy about that return to seminormal living, but instead the clothes felt restrictive. He left them on, though, because he had e-mails to write and donations to make.

First he rummaged through the refrigerator and found the other half of the chicken breast Anica had cooked for his dinner. She'd probably saved the rest for tomorrow, but he gave it to Orion.

"Eat fast, buddy. The diet police will be here any minute." He hadn't really needed to say that. Orion always ate like a teenage boy at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

The key turned in the front door lock. Jasper walked out of the kitchen as Anica came through the door, clutching her cell phone in her hand.

She looked rattled. "You're dressed."

"I thought I could risk it." He wondered if she was disappointed not to find him naked and ready for s.e.x.

He wasn't naked, but the moment she'd come through the door he'd felt a familiar ache in his groin. After all, that was the primary activity they'd engaged in while they'd been together in the apartment. She hadn't been around when he'd transformed this time, and he hadn't immediately started thinking about s.e.x. But he was thinking about it now.

He liked that red sweater and skirt on her. He'd like it a whole lot better off her, though. The sweater b.u.t.toned up the front, so that wouldn't be much of a challenge. She'd worn knee-high boots today, so maybe that meant that under her skirt she didn't have on a pair of those G.o.d-awful pantyhose that were worse than a chast.i.ty belt.

Anica locked the dead bolt and turned back to him. "Julie has a video of me changing you into a cat. I just saw it."

A sense of being personally violated wiped out his fantasies of pulling off Anica's sweater and skirt. He didn't want anybody to see that transformation, ever. "How the h.e.l.l did that happen?"

"Julie's hobby is pointing a camcorder at the street outside the building and seeing what she gets."

"Isn't that illegal? I'm impressed that she took in the mother cat and kittens, but that doesn't give her the right to invade people's privacy."

"She's a kid, and she thinks it's an art form. She always scrambles the image so n.o.body can tell who it is before she puts it on her brother's cable show."

"Cable show?" Jasper felt steam coming out of his ears. "She has a video of me turning into a cat, and she's planning to broadcast it?"

"No, I'm sure she's not." Anica walked over to her antique desk and tucked her cell phone into the ceramic dragon holder. "She's been waiting for a chance to broach the whole subject of witches. By showing me the video, she eliminated any chance I'd deny I'm a witch."

Jasper found this extremely alarming. "So what now? Blackmail? People coming with burning torches?"

"I doubt it. I think she wants me to be her mentor."

"Good grief." Jasper had enough problems with the idea of witches in the city without imagining the concept spreading.

Anica approached him. "What are you afraid of, Jasper?"

"Oh, I don't know. Dating a witch who turned me into a cat shouldn't be a big deal, I suppose. A guy should take that kind of event in stride, shouldn't he?"

"You're talking as if such a thing could happen at any time with no consequences. Have you forgotten that once I did that, which is strictly forbidden under current code, I lost my magic?"

Sometimes he did forget that she'd been penalized for her behavior. He got so caught up in his own frustration that he forgot about hers.

"Witches and wizards are not a danger to society," Anica continued. "All our prayers end with the words with harm to none. I broke that vow when I changed you into a cat, so I'm no longer allowed to work magic." Her lower lip trembled. Not much, but enough to hint at tightly contained emotional distress.

He closed the distance between them and took her by the shoulders. "It wasn't all your fault."

"Mostly my fault."

"You held the wand, but I provoked you to use it. Nothing happens in a vacuum." He hadn't been willing to admit that until now, hadn't been willing to take responsibility for his present situation. But he'd arrogantly a.s.sumed that she wanted him even though he'd lied to her. Now that he'd lived with her and knew her better, he understood that he'd pushed her into reacting.

She took a shaky breath. "I appreciate your saying that," she said. "It helps."

"Good." He gazed into her blue eyes and then, out of habit, his attention moved down to her plump lips, which looked so kissable right now.

She could use a kiss, and he knew that as surely as if he'd been reading her mind. But if he started kissing her, he would never accomplish anything he'd promised himself he would do with his time.

He'd tucked a condom in his pocket to replace the one he'd had there Tuesday night. No doubt the cleaners had thrown that one away. Just because he had a condom handy, though, didn't mean he had to use it now.

"I have some work to do on the computer." He ma.s.saged her shoulders and watched her eyelids droop. "But you must be tired. You haven't been getting much rest."

Her eyes opened, and her gaze was definitely not sleepy. "Adrenaline's kicked in."

"Oh." It would be so easy to say to h.e.l.l with his program and take her to bed. But tempting as that was, he had a plan and he would stick with the plan. "Did you mention coffee?"

"I'll make some." She stepped smoothly away from him and walked into the kitchen. "How do you want it?" she called over her shoulder.

"Strong and hot."

"Don't flirt with me, Danes. Not unless you're planning to take your clothes off."

He was glad to hear the sa.s.s coming back into her voice. "I'll take my clothes off." He'd turned on the computer the minute he'd transformed, so now he was able to walk over and pull up the animal rescue site. "But not yet. The way I have it figured, we have until two thirty in the morning. We should pace ourselves."

"Speak for yourself, wimp." She bustled around in the kitchen, talking trash as she put the coffee on. "If you have no stamina, just be a man and admit it."

He clicked the donation b.u.t.ton and gave the organization another two thousand bucks. If he was right about good deeds being the answer, it was a cheap price.

Then he stood and walked into the kitchen. Plans were made to be broken. "You shouldn't taunt a man who's packing a condom in his pants pocket. Especially when you promise him counter s.e.x and then welsh on the deal."

She gave him a saucy look guaranteed to get her laid. "Don't you have something to do on the computer?"

"I'll get to it." He swept the cat food bowl out of the way and lifted her up on the counter. "I have until two thirty in the morning." He fished the condom out of his pocket and handed it to her. "Open this."

Her breathing quickened. "What happened to pacing ourselves?"

"See how you like this pace." Cupping the back of her head with one hand, he began kissing the daylights out of her while he undid the b.u.t.tons on her sweater with the other hand.

She kissed him back with a very gratifying moan and then antic.i.p.ated his next move by unbuckling his belt.

He lifted his mouth a fraction. "Have you had counter s.e.x before?"

"No. You're my first."

"Then you must be a natural at it. Just keep working on that project." He hoped she'd hurry. His c.o.c.k was not happy trapped inside his pants.

Once he had her red sweater unb.u.t.toned, he was overjoyed to discover her bra had a front clasp, almost as if she'd known he'd undress her tonight. Good guess, he thought as he flipped open the catch of the bra. The earlier he started showing up in the evenings, the less likely he'd find her running around in a nightgown or a towel.

This sort of clothing challenge worked for him, though. Thrusting aside her bra, he fondled her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and felt his d.i.c.k jerk in response. She'd managed to unzip his pants but his knit boxers were holding up progress. Ah, but a man appreciated something more if he had to work a little harder to get it, and Jasper appreciated the h.e.l.l out of ma.s.saging her warm skin and gently pinching her nipples until they were rock hard.

Then she coaxed his bad boy out of his briefs, rolled on the condom, and it was showtime. Hiking up her skirt he moved between her thighs, and her booted feet nudged his bare b.u.t.t. Kinky. The feel of leather against his skin inspired him.

He'd never ripped up a woman's clothing until the night he'd torn her nightgown down the middle, but that had turned out well. Might as well reach up under her skirt and rip the crotch out of her panties.

He happened to be kissing her at the time, and whether on purpose or by accident, when he ripped her panties, she bit him. Breathing hard, he lifted his head and gazed into eyes burning with a blue flame. "Did you mean to do that?" he murmured, tasting a drop of blood on his lower lip.

"Did you mean to rip my panties?"

"Yes."

"Then I meant to bite you." Her voice was low and urgent, rich with barely restrained l.u.s.t. "Bring it, Danes. Bring it right now."

"Oh yeah." Sliding her to the very edge of the counter, he lifted her hips slightly, found her sweet spot, and drove home. "Happy now?"

"Marginally." Wrapping her legs around his waist, she locked him in tight as she looked into his eyes. "I've missed you."

"Me or this?" d.a.m.n, where had that come from? Wasn't he the one who wanted to keep this strictly s.e.xual? "Silly question." He began pumping slowly.

"It is a silly question." Her fingers dug into his shoulders.

He reached between her thighs and pressed his thumb against her c.l.i.t as he continued to thrust. "Forget I asked."

"You keep that up and I'll forget my own name."

"So we'll go for mindless s.e.x." He felt her clench her muscles. She was close.

"Sure." She began to pant. "Mindless s.e.x it is."

He moved faster, watching her eyes. His vocal cords thickened as his climax neared. "Not enough mindless s.e.x in this world."

"Right." Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s quivered with every jolt of his body against hers. "Good. Very . . . oh, please . . . Jasper . . ."

"That's it. Let go." He moved his thumb in a rapid circle, wanting her to come soon, because the longer he looked into her eyes, the more he craved release. With her. With Anica.

"Yes . . . ah . . . yes!" The spasms. .h.i.t and her eyes darkened with pleasure, but she didn't close them, didn't look away.

What a gift, to witness the powerful emotions he stirred in her. In a rare moment of openness, she'd let him see all the way down to her soul. The rush of that was all it took to send him over the edge with a growl of animal satisfaction wrenched from deep in his gut. He didn't look away, either. He wanted her to see the effect this surging, desperately sought climax had on him. He wanted her to see inside his soul, too.

Mindless s.e.x. Yeah, sure. He'd never been so mindful of another human being in his entire life.

Chapter 20.