The Hollow Page 0,18

eyes; her mouth brushed his.

The kiss went deeper, a slow slide into heat that tangled his senses, that filled them with her until all he wanted was to sink and sink and sink. And drown.

She made some sound, pleasure, distress, he couldn't tell with the blood roaring in his ears. But it reminded him where they were. How they were. He broke the kiss, realized he was essentially shoving her into the storage closet.

"Sorry. I'm sorry." She was working for him, for God's sake. "I shouldn't have. That was inappropriate. It was-" Amazing. "It was..."

"Fox?"

He jerked back an entire foot at the voice behind him. When he whirled around, he could feel his stomach drop straight to his knees. "Mom."

"Sorry to interrupt." She gave Fox a sunny smile, then turned it on Layla. "Hi. I'm Joanne Barry. Fox's mother."

Why was there never a handy hole in the floor when you needed one? Layla thought. "It's nice to meet you, Ms. Barry. I'm Layla Darnell."

"I told you Layla's helping me out in the office. We were just..."

"Yes, you were."

Still smiling, she left it at that.

She was the kind of woman you'd probably stare at even if you weren't stunned stupid, Layla thought. There was all that rich brown hair waving wild around a strong-boned face with its full, unpainted mouth, and long hazel eyes that managed to look amused, curious, and patient all at once. Joanne had the tall, willowy build that carried the low-slung jeans, boots, and skinny sweater look perfectly.

Since it appeared Fox had been struck dumb, Layla managed to clear her throat. "I, ah, needed a new cartridge. For the printer? It's on the top shelf."

"Right. Right. I was getting that." Fox turned, managed to collide with Layla again. "Sorry." Jesus Christ. He'd no more than pulled the box down when Layla snatched it away, and fled.

"Thanks!"

"Do you have a minute for me?" Jo asked sweetly. "Or do you need to get back to what you were doing when I came in?"

"Cut it out." Fox hunched his shoulders, led the way back to his office.

"She's very pretty. Who could blame you for playing a little boss and secretary?"

"Mom." Now he dragged his hands through his hair. "It wasn't like that. It was... Never mind." He dropped into a chair. "What's up?"

"I had some things to do in town. One of which was to drop by your sister's for lunch. Sparrow tells me she hasn't seen you in there for two weeks."

"I've been meaning to."

Jo leaned back against his desk. "Eating something that isn't fried, processed, and full of chemicals once a week won't kill you, Fox. And you should be supporting your sister."

"Okay. I'll go in today."

"Good. Second, I had some pottery to take into Lorrie's. You must've seen what happened to her shop."

"Not specifically." He thought of the smashed windows, the corpses of crows on Main Street. "How bad's the damage?"

"It's bad." Jo lifted a hand to the trio of crystals that hung from a chain around her neck. "Fox, she's talking about closing. Moving away. It breaks my heart. And it scares me. I'm scared for you."

He rose, put his arms around her, rubbed his cheek against hers. "It's going to be okay. We're working on it."

"I want to do something. Your dad and I, all of us, we want to do something."

"You've done something every day of my entire life." He gave her a squeeze. "You've been my mom."

She eased back to take his face in her hands. "You get that charm from your father. Look right at me and reassure me it's going to be okay."

Without hesitation or guile, his eyes met hers. "It's going to be okay. Trust me."

"I do." She kissed his forehead, his cheek, then the other, then gave him a light peck on the lips. "But you're still my baby. I expect you to take good care of my baby. Now go have lunch at your sister's. Her eggplant salad's on special today."

"Yummy."

Tolerant, she gave him a light poke in the belly. "You ought to close the office for an hour and take that pretty girl to lunch with you."

"The pretty girl works for me."

"How did I manage to raise such a rule follower? It's disheartening." She gave him another poke before starting for the door. "I love you, Fox."

"I love you, Mom. And I'll walk out with you," he added quickly, realizing his mother would have no compunction about stopping by Layla's desk and pumping the pretty girl for