She kept her voice very low. "You deserve to have somebody who appreciates you more than I did."

Jasper said that.

Anica tried to think of what she'd want to hear under these circ.u.mstances. "Someone who clicks with you on a deeper level."

Jasper repeated her words.

"Someone who's not such a self-centered jerk."

Jasper lifted his eyebrows and she simply smiled at him.

"Uh, Sheila, you need someone who's not such a self-centered jerk. That's right. Yep. If I were you I'd be mad at me, too." He nodded. "No, I don't think it's a good idea if we meet to talk it out. Seriously, no."

Anica racked her brain for something that would discourage Sheila. "We'll both heal quicker if we stay away from each other," she murmured.

Jasper gave her a thumbs-up. "We'll heal quicker if we stay away from each other." He paused to listen. "No, I really believe that. Absence doesn't make the heart grow fonder. It makes you forget all about the person. Absolutely. And besides . . ." He glanced at Anica.

She was running out of happy talk. She shrugged.

"Besides, Sheila, I, um, I hate to tell you this, but . . . I'm tired of s.e.x."

Anica clapped a hand over her mouth. He would never get away with that whopper.

"I know it's hard to believe, but there you have it. For me it's the same ol', same ol'. You can spice it up with whips and chains, threesomes, foursomes, a whole orgy, and it's still a yawner." Jasper turned away from Anica, probably so he wouldn't crack up in the middle of his heartfelt explanation. "Definitely. You need to find someone who isn't s.e.xually jaded. Uh-huh. Right. Thanks for calling. 'Bye."

"Don't tell me she bought that line of bull?"

He faced her with only a hint of a smile. "Maybe it's not a line of bull."

"Jasper, not an hour ago you were-"

"With you. Yes, I know. That's the only part I didn't mention to Sheila. See, although I haven't tried the whips and chains and group s.e.x-"

"I'm relieved to hear it."

"Nah, that kind of stuff doesn't interest me. I'd rather have one-on-one. But that said, I had become sort of bored with s.e.x."

"I see." She folded her arms and waited to see how big a hole he'd dig for himself.

"No, seriously! I was beginning to wonder if something was wrong with me because I wasn't into it anymore. But guys don't like to admit a thing like that. We're supposed to be ready for it all the time."

"Sheila seemed to think you were into it. She couldn't have been more complimentary about your performance."

"That's nice, but you just nailed it. I was putting on a performance."

"You mean after a while, after the thrill wore off." The longer he talked, the heavier her heart grew.

"No, I mean from the beginning. Same with Kate and Deb."

"So once the chase is over, the conquest is made, then-"

"No, that's not it!" He gripped her arms, his gaze intense. "I talked myself into going to bed with all three of those women because they were smart and hot, and I thought eventually I'd get the thrill back. It wasn't about making a conquest; it was about trying to feel a little old-fashioned l.u.s.t."

"That's crazy."

"I thought I was going crazy. Then I met you and the old feeling was back. l.u.s.t was back, baby!"

"But what if it goes away again?"

He pulled her close. "How about this? How about we enjoy it while it's here?"

That's the thing about cats. We live in the moment. He hadn't said the words, but they echoed in her head, anyway.

"You have a couple of e-mails to send first."

"You're right. And now I know what to say."

"Jasper, I wouldn't count on fooling anybody else with that s.e.xually bored routine."

"No, that was lame, but I hadn't thought it through. Now I have." He walked back to the computer and switched it on.

"So what are you planning to say to Kate and Deb?"

He sat down in the desk chair and stared at the screen as the computer booted up. "That I've found someone who makes me feel s.e.xually alive again, and I wish the same for them."

s.e.xually alive. That certainly described how he made her feel, too, and that was a huge gift. She glanced at the antique clock on the wall. Earlier tonight they'd seemed to have so much time, but it was dwindling fast. If she didn't take his suggestion and live in the moment, she'd be all kinds of a fool.

"When you're finished," she said, "you'll find me in the bedroom."

He typed quickly. "Asleep?"

"No. Naked."

Chapter 21.

Jasper typed those e-mails with a hard-on. He typed them as quickly as he could before turning off the computer, choosing a few magic books from Anica's collection and walking down the hall. Orion followed him.

Soft light spilled from the bedroom doorway, but it had a different quality from the kind created by her table lamps. He was curious as to how she'd created that effect.

The air smelled like warm honey. Although his human sense of smell wasn't as acute as when he was a cat, he seemed to have learned to pay more attention to his environment. He stepped through the door and found her surrounded by what seemed like a hundred beeswax candles. Tapers, pillars and votives covered every available surface.

The ivory glow made him catch his breath. She lay in the center of a bed stripped of everything but the bottom sheet and two pillows. She waited, this ivory and golden G.o.ddess, for him. For him. That crack she'd made in the kitchen reminding him about how soon he'd be eating off the counter where they'd just had s.e.x hadn't really fooled him. She was in as deep as he was.

Orion trotted over and hopped onto the bed, where he curled up next to Anica. She scratched behind his ears, but her gaze remained on Jasper. Jasper had to admit the orange tabby fit nicely into the scene if somebody had canvas and paints to capture it. But he wasn't an artist. He was a man with an erection that felt bigger than the Hanc.o.c.k building.

Setting the stack of books next to the bed, he reached over and picked up the cat. His fingers grazed her skin and his d.i.c.k twitched in antic.i.p.ation.

"You'd better put him in the coat closet."

"I hate sticking him in that tiny s.p.a.ce. The hall will work." He set Orion on his feet outside the door and closed it. Then, keeping his attention focused on Anica, he pulled his shirt from his slacks and began unfastening the b.u.t.tons.

Orion began to meow and scratch at the door.

"Coat closet," Anica said with a smile.

"Right." Jasper opened the door.

Orion shot through it and dashed under the bed.

With a groan, Jasper dropped to his hands and knees and tried to reach the cat, but Orion backed into the exact center of the s.p.a.ce.

Laughing, Anica broke her pose and climbed out of bed. "I'll get the broom."

Jasper enjoyed the view as she walked out of the room, but then he peered under the bed and glared at the cat. "If it weren't for you I'd be a happy man right about now. I was trying to do you a favor, you ingrate. I'd hate to be closed in that tiny closet, so I figured you would, too. And this is how you repay me for being a pal."

Orion stared at him, unmoving.

"This should help." Anica arrived with the broom.

Jasper recognized the broom. It was the same one she'd used to chase him out from under the bed that first night. This was no O-Cedar brand of broom, either. The handle was thick and had a pentagram carved into it near the top. The bristles were gathered in a bundle instead of the flat brooms he was used to using.

Where had he seen a similar kind of broom? Oh yeah. Kate had been a Harry Potter fan. She'd dragged him to the movies. Harry and friends rode on brooms like this, but of course that was all fake.

Anica gave him a puzzled glance. "Is something wrong?"

h.e.l.l, he needed to ask these kinds of questions sooner or later, but he was afraid it would ruin the s.e.x. He hated to do that, because every time he looked at her walking around with no clothes on, he wanted to-well, do everything in the book with her. And a few things that might not be in any book.

"Jasper?"

"I . . . um, do you . . . ride that?"

Her brow cleared. "You're freaked out by the broom."

"I wouldn't say that."

"I would. You're staring at it as if it might start moving around the apartment on its own."

"Can it?"

"No," she said gently. "And right now, when I have no magic, it's just an ordinary broom, the kind you can use to get a cat out from under the bed."

He realized he was buying trouble, worrying about things that weren't a factor yet. He was less and less willing to do that, so he decided to drop the subject of the broom as a potential flying machine. "I don't want to use the broom to get Orion out."

"Why not?"

"Because it's no fun being chased out from under the bed with a broom."

"Oh." She seemed to be holding back a smile. "Then what do you suggest?"

"Let me get him something to eat instead."

"You know I'm trying to keep him from-" She interrupted herself and shook her head. "Never mind. Sure. Get him whatever you want except tuna. I really don't want to start with that. Cats can get to the point where they won't eat anything else, which isn't good for them."

"Okay. Be right back." He went into the kitchen with the image of her standing there naked, holding the broom that might or might not be able to fly. He was so effing confused. He wanted her more than he'd ever wanted a woman before, and she'd jump-started his libido, which was huge. But could he deal with flying brooms and magic wands?

He'd said the magic wasn't such a factor now. Maybe he hadn't been honest with himself about that. The idea of Anica flying through the night astride a broom was a little disturbing.

He found some deli meat in the fridge to tempt Orion out from under the bed. As he carried it back to the bedroom, he was met with a sight guaranteed to fry a guy's brain and send all the blood rushing south. Anica was on all fours beside the bed, which was interesting enough.

But her pose was even more erotic than that. With her f.a.n.n.y in the air, she laid her cheek on the carpet so she could see under the bed and call to Orion. Jasper almost came when he saw her positioned like that. Forget the cat. He'd grab a condom and be buried deep before the cat could blink.

She must have heard his footsteps, though, because she pushed herself upright and stood. "I can't get him to budge without the broom, so let's see you try with the food bribe."

He was so aroused he could barely talk. Apparently she had no idea what she'd looked like to someone coming through that door. He doubted he'd ever forget that moment.

Then again maybe she'd known exactly what she was doing. She glanced up at him and smiled. "I was just thinking, we haven't tried it doggie style."

He gulped. "Uh, no, we haven't."

"Get Orion out from under the bed and maybe we can remedy that omission."

Given that possibility, he was ready to drag Orion out with a grappling hook. No, no, he wasn't. Cats were people, too. Well, some were, him in particular. Some were people wannabes, and that would be Orion's category. He didn't deserve the broom treatment.

Fortunately the deli meat worked like a charm. Once Orion was mostly out, Jasper grabbed him. Orion would still get the meat, of course, unlike the sneaky behavior of that Shoumatoff woman, who had brought tuna without any intention of giving it to him. Jasper knew he'd probably been guilty of similar tactics with pets, but he wouldn't treat an animal with that kind of disrespect ever again.

After closing Orion in the closet with his deli meat, Jasper strode down the hall, shedding clothes along the way. He was shirtless before he made it through the bedroom doorway, and shoeless before he got to the bed.

She was back on the bed again, bathed in flickering candlelight. This time, instead of lying on her back as if ready to receive him between her thighs, she was propped on her side watching him undress.

"I love seeing you naked," she said.

"Same here." Then another thought came to him. As he stripped off the rest of his clothes, he wondered if she danced naked in the moonlight.

What were those groups of witches called? He'd read it on the Internet. Then the word came to him. "Do you belong to a coven?"

"How would you feel about that?"

"I don't know. I picture people dancing naked in a circle out in the woods somewhere."

"I have done that a few times."

He was a little shocked by that and a lot turned on. "Basically, witches and wizards are nature buffs," she said.