Apple of My Eye (Tiger's Eye Mystery #7) - Alyssa Day Page 0,12

on that date. Tomorrow evening?"

A wickedly sexy smile slowly spread across his gorgeous face. "What about tomorrow morning? And then we spend the day together?"

"I can't. I promised Aunt Ruby I'd go to church with her. I missed last Sunday doing inventory and the Sunday before because I overslept."

"Lunch?"

My shoulders slumped. "I promised Aunt Ruby and Uncle Mike I'd have lunch at their place after church."

"Perfect. I'll go with you. I'm sure Mike has missed me." His smile deepened. "I haven't been around to hear him make vague threats about tiger-skin rugs for a while. I'll bring steaks."

"Do you want to go to church with us?"

"Maybe another time." His smile faded. "The things I've been doing for the past few weeks… I'm not ready to go to church."

Impulsively, I raised my head and kissed him on the cheek. "Jack. You know you can talk to me, right?"

He pulled me close for a hug, and I closed my eyes and enjoyed the warm, solid feel of his arms around me for a long moment before I pulled away. His fingers tightened on my waist for a second or two before he released me, and I caught my breath.

"Um. Okay. I'll get you a blanket and a pillow, and —"

"Tess." Jack grinned at me. "I'll be fine. I'll even stay on the couch, because I'll be able to hear it if anybody comes anywhere close to the house."

Then he turned and walked back toward the front room, surrounded by the shimmer of his magic. When he got to the end of my short hallway, he turned his tiger head and winked at me, before padding over to the couch.

Lou, having decided to forgive him about halfway through the movie, hopped up on the back of the couch and started purring.

"Traitor," I told her, when she showed no signs of coming to join me in bed.

She, being a cat, loftily ignored me and began to wash her paw.

I stayed awake, staring at the ceiling, for a long, long time. And then, when I finally fell asleep, swarms of disembodied fingers chased me around my dreams for hours.

When I woke up, Aunt Ruby was standing at the end of my bed, dressed in her Sunday best, frowning down at me.

"You didn't return my call, young lady."

"I don't think the mayor is allowed to break into people's houses and chastise them," I mumbled, brushing my tangled cloud of hair away from my face.

"I brought donuts."

"Welcome!"

4

Aunt Ruby was a perfect example of Southern womanhood. She was pleasingly plump, had beautiful manners, and always wore a hat to keep her soft skin out of the sun.

She was also more stubborn than a herd of mules, as I'd learned in my teen years, much to my dismay. She and Uncle Mike had taken over raising me when I was a toddler and my parents left me alone in the world—my mom by dying of cancer and my dad by losing himself at the bottom of a bottle.

"What kind of donuts?"

She held up a bag from Mellie's Bakery. "Is there any other kind? Mellie has this nasty cold that's going around, so her cousin Vern is helping out. Nice boy but not particularly great in the retail department. He was getting everybody's order a little bit wrong." She shook her head. "And you know how seriously Dead Enders take their donuts."

That was definitely true. Especially me.

"Gimme!"

"You get dressed and come into the kitchen. I'll make coffee, and you can tell me why Jack is back and you didn't tell me."

If that's all she wanted to know, then Susan hadn't reported in on the box/finger/ring situation yet, and I was deeply grateful. I was going to need a lot of coffee for that conversation.

I took a quick shower, deliberately not thinking about apples or eyes or amputated fingers, put my long red hair up in a twist, and slipped into a blue sleeveless dress and low heels. A quick swipe of mascara, and I was ready to go. September was still way too hot to bother with much makeup, not that I usually did, anyway. I tucked my tinted lip balm into the Kate Spade clutch I'd taken in pawn and then been unable to resist when the owner never returned for it. And I was ready to go.

Or at least ready for donuts.

I followed the sound of Jack's low laughter to the kitchen, where I found him back in human form, Lou on his lap, charming my aunt, who