Rebound Read online

  “Really? A fortune-teller?” I looked down at her.

  She smiled as she bit her lip. “You have to sit with her and hear what she has to say. She’s amazing.”

  “They always know exactly what to say to make you think they know. They’re scam artists, Fiona.”

  She squinted, the smile on her face transforming into a grin. “Humor me, please.”

  “If you give me another kiss, I’ll let her tell me my future.” I thought it was an even exchange. At least I’d have something to look forward to while I listened to her drone on with a pack of lies.

  “You got it, Sam. Now?” she asked, standing on her tiptoes as she moved her lips toward mine.

  “No,” I said, holding her by the arms. “Afterward. If it’s horrible, you’ll owe me more.” I smiled, hoping she’d agree. I wanted more than a kiss. Being able to feel her body against mine sent goose bumps across my skin.

  “That’s fair. I’ll wait here.”

  “What?” I asked before my mouth fell open. “You have to come with me.”

  “Oh no. No one else can know your fortune. I’ll wait here on the bench where you can see me and I can see you.”

  I pulled her face to mine, letting my lips linger over hers. “You owe me big-time for this, Fiona.”

  “You wanted the New Orleans experience. Voodoo and magic are part of the charm. She just may surprise you, Sam.”

  “Big,” I repeated, brushing my lips against hers before I released her. “This’ll be quick.”

  “Okay,” she whispered, holding on to my hand as our fingertips touched until our bodies were too far apart and our connection was broken.

  I walked slowly. Dreading the next five minutes of my life. Listening to an old woman as she hustled me would be agony as I stared at her. Before I approached the table, I turned around, giving Fiona a quick glance. She gave me the thumbs-up with a giant smile on her face. Why did I think I was being set up?

  4

  Fortunes Be Damned

  “That’ll be fifty dollars, sir,” the old woman said with a smile.

  “What?” I asked, looking at her with the most confused look. I thought I heard her wrong. When did the price of a few words skyrocket? Growing up I’d see fortune-tellers at the carnivals and never did I see a sign that read fifty dollars. Fiona better give me more than a kiss for the price of this bullshit.

  I looked over the old woman’s head and glared at Fiona. She tipped her head back, bursting into laughter. I could see her body shaking as her smile grew wider. Even though I couldn’t hear her giddiness, I could see it. She was pleased with herself.

  “A reading is fifty dollars,” the woman repeated.

  I shook my head, reaching in my back pocket for my wallet. “Here,” I said on a sigh, kissing that fifty goodbye for no good reason.

  Instantly, I pushed that thought from my mind. There was a good reason. Kissing Fiona was the reason. I’d do more to touch her lips again. To feel the warmth of her against me and the sweet smell of her breath as it cascaded across my face.

  “Give me your hands,” she asked, placing her palms up as she waited for me to comply.

  I rubbed my palms against my jeans before setting them against hers. She flipped them over in her tiny hands and moved in closer. The table had a couple candles scattered about to help give extra light. I didn’t see a need for the additional illumination. It wasn’t like she was really seeing someone in my palms. I looked at them enough in my life and they never said a fucking word.

  “Ah, I see,” she mumbled, tracing the long line that hugged the ball of my thumb. “This is your life line. It’s very long, longer than most I’ve seen.”

  “Okay,” I replied, unsure of what else to say.

  “You’re going to live to be a very old man.”

  “Lucky me,” I muttered as I tried not to fidget in my chair. The entire situation made me feel uncomfortable. I don’t know if it was being swindled out of the money or the lies she was trying to sell me.

  “I can tell that you’ve had your heart broken.”

  I wanted to interrupt her because, really, who hasn’t had their heart broken at some point in their life? Most of us meander through our days, mending a broken heart, and looking for someone or something to give us hope for the future. If there was a person on this planet who had gone through life without heartache, they were the luckiest person in the world.

  “What else can you see?” I asked, waiting to hear what fantastic bullshit she’d weave. I glanced at Fiona. She sat on the bench with her legs crossed. Her elbow was on her knee as she rested her chin in her hand. She watched us with a grin on her face. When I caught her eye, the corner of her mouth turned up a little more. She raised her eyebrows, giving them a quick wiggle.

  The woman traced my love line, stopping at specific points. “It was recent and crushing,” she replied, rubbing a small circle in the center of my palm. “The love was long and deep, but it ended suddenly.”

  I swallowed hard, taking in her words and how close they were to being accurate. It had been hours since I’d thought about Izzy. Spending time with Fiona, I didn’t have the time or the urge to think about her. Fiona did that. Wiped Izzy from my mind and replaced her with laughter and happiness.

  “She will not be your only love,” the fortune-teller interrupted my thoughts. “Someone else will enter your life. Open yourself. Love is close by,” she whispered.

  My stomach dropped as my eyes flickered to Fiona. She hadn’t moved. Her smile had disappeared, but her eyes stayed locked on me.

  “How close?” I asked, buying into her words. Maybe it was the magic of the evening and spending time with Fiona. I knew she probably repeated the words to dozens of people every day, barely varying from her script.

  “You must open your heart for you to accept what is right in front of you.”

  Could she… Did she know? There’s a possibility that she saw us as we entered the square hand-in-hand. Her back was to us, but she could have caught a glimpse as I pulled Fiona into my arms.

  “I see a change in careers coming too. Your job is no longer fulfilling, and a major shift will happen.”

  “What type of change?” I asked without thinking. I went from being cynical to asking her to explain her answer. Almost hanging on her words, I could feel myself buying into her statements.

  If I had sat in this chair hours earlier, before Fiona sat down on the barstool next to me, I wouldn’t have believed a word. But with Fiona waiting across the square from me with so many possibilities on the horizon, I felt myself wanting to believe.

  “You need to break free from your past entirely. Starting over in a new city with a job that gives you pride. Something that will bring you peace…”

  I sat there, letting the old woman’s words sink in as I stared at Fiona. Was this my chance at happiness? Did fate step in and put Fiona at my side tonight? I had never believed in fate or some grand plan, but tonight I questioned everything.

  I didn’t feel there was anything back home for me. Izzy was the one person who kept me coming back for more, but now there was nothing. No reason to stay in Florida, or near Tampa, for that matter. I could go anywhere.

  I didn’t pay attention to the rest of her reading. I was too lost in her previous statements. Izzy was my past, and I needed to move toward my future. Shit happens all the time. How I move beyond it is what makes the man.

  My future was in front of me.

  “Do you have anything else you’d like to know, child?”

  I blinked, sucking in a breath. “Um, have I met my future?” I didn’t know what else to ask. The simple fact that she had worked her way inside my brain and made me believe was shocking and a little disturbing. What the fuck was I doing asking her a question when I didn’t want to buy into her words?

  “It sits before you, ready to be taken. The real question is, are you willing to open your heart and move beyond your past? If the answer is no, your future will escape you.” She gave me a smile minus a few teeth.

  I didn’t move or respond. Staring across the square, I looked at Fiona. Was she my future? I know what you’re thinking. I thought the same thing. There’s no way I could have these thoughts only a few hours after meeting someone. I don’t know if it was the old woman or Fiona who worked her way into my thoughts and made me doubt my heart.

  Fiona seemed relaxed and carefree. There was a kindness to her. A side much like my own, caring and warm. I was drawn to her. It was something I hadn’t felt from another person in years. Wanted. It’s something we all want to feel. For once, I had it. Maybe I was reading her body language wrong or I had mistaken her kindness for a tourist for more than it really was, but I felt something there.

  I wasn’t about to fall to my knees and profess my love, but I wanted to spend more time with her. I didn’t want to spend the weekend in the bars, wallowing in my sorrows and drowning them at the bottom of a liquor bottle. I wanted to explore this city, get to know Fiona, and see if I was crazy or not. Love at first sight wasn’t something I bought into. But lust at first sight? Sure, why the fuck not?

  “Thank you,” I said as I stood from the chair.

  “You’re welcome, child.” She gave me a quick nod of her head and waved.

  As I walked toward Fiona, she stood and gave me a small smile. Clutching her hands in front of her, she bounced on her feet, rocking back and forth. “So what did you think?” she asked as I approached.

  I shook my head, unable to stop the smile that crept across my face. “It was interesting.”

  “Does that mean you believed her?” Her eyes grew wide as her smile grew larger.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know what I believe.” It was the truth too. Maybe I’d had more to drink than I thought.

  “When I’m feeling down, I always go see her. For some reason, she makes me feel better. She gives me hope. Even if she’s full of crap at least I walk away with a new outlook on life.”

  “So you think she’s full of shit?” I arched an eyebrow, wondering if two people had just duped me.

  She shook her head as she reached out and touched my arms. “No, I don’t think it’s all nonsense. Lately, her readings have given me more hope. She’s typically pretty close to the truth.”

  I set my hands on her waist, pulling her closer to me. “Did she warn you about your heartbreak?” It was a shitty question to ask. Bringing up the reason she was so sad when I met her tonight. But it was valid.

  “She did. It was the one thing she told me that I never bought into.” Her eyes dropped to the ground. “I was madly in love with my husband and thought he felt the same. I didn’t allow myself to believe what she said about the relationship coming to an end due to betrayal.” Her shoulders sagged.

  “Hey.” I touched her chin and forced her eyes to meet my gaze, “I didn’t need a fortune-teller to tell me how my heart would be broken. I knew it would happen, but I refused to believe it. Sometimes our hearts don’t allow us to believe what our mind already knows.” I moved forward, placing my lips on her forehead.

  She wrapped her arms around my waist. “This is the first night in a long time I’ve felt like myself again. I don’t want to talk about sad things. I want to enjoy the city and the man in front of me,” she said as she peered up at me. “I don’t want to waste another minute of my life being sad, Sam.”

  “Well, then,” I replied, moving my lips closer to hers, “I think you owe me something, as per our agreement.”

  “I do,” she whispered against my mouth as her eyes fluttered closed.

  Without wasting another second, I kissed her as I cradled her face in my hands. I inhaled her whiskey-laced breath and the city fell away, growing quiet as we connected. I brushed my thumb across her jaw, feeling her body shudder against me.

  The way she responded to my touch was mind-blowing. Never in my life had I had someone react to me as she did.

  I wanted her. More than I could remember wanting someone in my whole life. I never believed in love at first sight. I always thought Izzy was my soul mate, destined to be with me for my entire life. But in that moment, as I kissed Fiona, something shifted inside me.

  Maybe it was the crazy old woman filling my head with nonsense, but I felt connected to Fiona. Like I was destined to be with her.

  There was a high probability that the alcohol was impairing my judgment, but I didn’t want to believe that was true.

  After I released her lips, I rested my forehead against hers. “We need to keep moving or I won’t be able to stop myself,” I said through gritted teeth. My rock-hard cock made wearing pants almost unbearable. If I kissed her again, I wouldn’t be able to control what happened next. The mix of alcohol and horniness wouldn’t help me maintain my composure.

  “From what?” she whispered as she stared into my eyes.

  “I want you so bad. If I kiss you again, I won’t be able to stop myself from wanting to fuck you tonight.” I closed my eyes, trying not to visualize the act.

  “I may want that.”

  My eyes flew open and saw the grin pulling at her lips. “Not tonight.” I didn’t want a one-night stand. What the fuck would I do the rest of the weekend? I’d be stuck in New Orleans for the next however many hours with nothing to do. I wanted to fill my weekend with her.

  Sadness filled her eyes as they flickered toward the ground. “Hey,” I said, using my fingers to lift her chin, “I want you more than anything right now. I just want to give you a reason to see me again tomorrow.”

  “Oh.” Her magnificent smile returned and then vanished. “I have to work tomorrow. Shit.”

  Damn. I wasn’t ready for it all to slip away. “After work?” I asked, hoping she wasn’t just making an excuse.

  “I work twelve to twelve, though.” She sighed, leaning against me as she rested her hands against my chest.

  “You get off at midnight?” I asked, feeling hopeful. I didn’t care what time it was. I’d sleep all damn day if it meant I’d get to spend my night with her.

  “I’m hoping.” She laughed, digging her fingers into my pecs. “So muscular,” she whispered, squeezing my chest.

  “I’m big all over,” I bragged. What a fucking idiot. That was definitely the liquor talking. I knew I could back that shit up, but it wasn’t sexy to brag.

  “You’re too much, Sam, but I hope to find out.” She smiled, her eyes looking into mine. “Walk me home?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “I’d love to, Fiona.”

  “You can stay the night if you want.” Her other eyebrow joined the first, giving me a look of hopefulness.

  “You need to sleep for work, and I need more than a few hours to worship your body.”

  She smacked my chest and laughed. “You’re such a shit-talker.”

  “It’s not shit when I’ve got the goods to back it up.” I smiled down at her and grabbed the back of her neck. Holding her in my grip, I wiped the smile from my face. Bringing her lips to mine, I said, “I plan to take my time when I fuck you.”

  Fiona sucked in a quick breath as her hands stilled on my chest. “How is it possible?”

  The question made me want to laugh, but I kept it in check. “Well, first I’m going to touch every inch of your body using my mouth and—”

  “Stop,” she pleaded. “That’s not what I meant, Romeo.” She giggled.

  It was my turn to act surprised. “No?” I grinned, wishing we could stay in that moment forever.

  She rested her forehead against my chin as her fingers started to rub my pecs. “I’m wondering if I’m truly here or if I’m passed out at home dreaming this.”

  “I’m real, sweetheart.” I gripped her ass, pressing her against my body. “Does this feel like a dream?” My stiff cock should be enough affirmation that it was, in fact, very real.

  “That feels real. Let me get a better feel though to be sure.” She wiggled her lower half, rubbing against my pants and making the throbbing that much worse. “Yeah, huh,” she whispered. “Sure as hell is for real.”

  I tossed my head back, laughing at her words. “You’re just as wicked as I am, Fiona.”

  “You’re the one who made it sexual, Sam. I wasn’t even thinking that when I asked about this.” She motioned between us with her hands.

  “I know, but it was fun. Let’s get you home so you’re not asking yourself that question and regretting the entire evening.”

  She intertwined her fingers with mine and pulled me forward. “Not possible.”

  “All things are possible,” I replied, following her away from the square.

  The entire walk to her place was filled with flirtatious double-talk. The conversation flowed easily and never died. It was rare to find someone who made me feel completely comfortable with being myself. I didn’t want the evening to end. I tried to tell myself “good things come to those who wait” as we approached her door.

  “This is me,” she said, glancing at the address above the door.

  718 Saint Philip. I repeated in it my head, writing it on my memory. “Until tomorrow,” I said, wrapping my arms around her body before I kissed her.

  Her breathing changed as I pressed my lips against hers. She panted, moaning into my mouth as she fisted my hair in her hands. Listening to the sounds she made almost pushed me over the edge. If I didn’t stop, I wouldn’t be able to. This wasn’t the moment to fuck her. No. I’d be back for more.

  I nipped at her lips, finally removing mine from her mouth. “Fuck,” I groaned, feeling my restraint slipping.

  “I know,” she agreed in a breathy tone, pressing her tits against me.

  I grabbed her arms, holding her body away from mine. “We gotta stop,” I said through gritted teeth. I knew what I said was right, but it was the last fucking thing I wanted to do. The only way to make myself feel better would be to bury myself inside her and not come up for air until my flight took off.

  “Tomorrow,” she whispered, peering up at me.

  I looked down at her and nodded. Her entire face smiled. The corners of her mouth almost kissed her eyes. “Yeah. Give me your phone.” She reached in her small purse and handed it to me without hesitation. I put in my number, saving myself as a contact. I hit send and waited for my phone to vibrate before hanging up. “I got ya now.” I winked at her, turning off her screen before I handed it back to her.

  She stared at the ground, kicking her feet against the sidewalk as she slipped the phone back into her purse and pulled out her keys. “Is this it?”

  “For now, Fiona. I’ll see you tomorrow night.” I kissed her gently on the lips, holding her face in my palm.

  “Promise you’ll be there?” she asked against my lips.

  I smiled, wishing I could explain how I felt about her without sounding like an absolute lunatic. “I promise.”

  She kissed me back, swaying a bit as she grabbed my arm. When she stopped, she glanced up at me. With a smile on her face, she said, “I don’t know if I’m tipsy or just exhausted.”

  “Probably a little bit of both. I know I’m drunk on you.” I swiped my thumb across her jaw, relishing the softness of her skin. God, I sounded like a cheesy asshole. Could I be any more of a tool?

  “You’re such a flirt, Sam. I’ll hold you to your promise.”

  “And I’ll get my payback you promised me for talking to the fortune-teller.”

  She blushed. Even in the virtual pitch-darkness, I could see the pink creep into her cheeks. “I thought maybe you forgot.”

  “A promise like that is unforgettable. I’ll collect tomorrow.” I dragged my hand down her jaw, touching her neck before I released her.

  “Night.” She waved before unlocking the door.

  I gave her a goofy smile, feeling happier than I had in a long time. “Night, Fiona. See you tomorrow.” I waited for her to enter the house and close the door before I started to walk away.

  I fist pumped the air and whisper-yelled, “Yes!” as I headed back toward the action on Bourbon Street. I hope she hadn’t watched me through the window, but the thought didn’t occur to me until after.

  Tomorrow felt promising. No longer did I feel like I was gliding through life, only trying to make it to the next day. I had a reason to be excited for tomorrow. Fiona, the golden-haired girl with eyes as blue as the Caribbean Sea on a sunny day. Her lips breathed new life into me.

  There was a possibility that New Orleans wasn’t just a place where people came to get lost and stay that way.

  Maybe, just maybe, it was a place where someone could be found.

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