Instinctive - By Cathryn Fox Page 0,36

traveled to Sunray’s mouth. Good Lord, no one could pull off red lipstick the way Sunray could. The woman looked good enough to eat. Heck, not that Jaclyn swung that way, but after five days without a man, she was about ready to take a nibble.

“The café was busy, so I decided to bring lunch back.” She held out half her sandwich. “Bite?”

Sunray’s graphite eyes glistened as she licked her painted lips, except it wasn’t Jaclyn’s sandwich she was looking at when she nodded her head eagerly.

Jaclyn would have taken her for a lesbian, except she’d seen her leaving Vibes the other night with a couple of guys, and the way they were all fawning over one another told Jaclyn they weren’t going for coffee. Heck, maybe her thong swung both ways. Not that it mattered one iota to Jaclyn. She liked Sunray and didn’t judge or label people. Okay, so maybe she had labeled Slyck as crazy, but who could blame her? The way Jaclyn saw it, if anyone showed up at her barbecue, and she had a chance to talk to them, she’d prove to herself that the town wasn’t full of make-believe fairy-tale creatures; it was just a town where the people were suspicious of outsiders.

She put her mind on the matters at hand, chewed her sandwich, and said, “So, Sunray, tell me: What marketing strategies would you put in place to sell cosmetics to all these beautiful, flawless women?”

Sunray gave her a quizzical look, gauging her for a moment.

Jaclyn recognized that look, had seen it on Slyck’s face a time or two. Slyck. Why the hell was she going there again?

“Any ideas?” Jaclyn pressed.

“Maybe if you wore it yourself, you know, showed the women how sexy they can be.”

Okay, so she’d just recounted Slyck’s advice. Although it made sense, she didn’t want to give off the wrong image. If she did, she’d never attract a nice churchgoing boy—someone who was the opposite of Slyck, someone she could bring home to Daddy. She blew out a long sigh. Not that any of the men she’d come across in Serene fit that description, however. Who would have thought that the small town would be filled with so many hunky alphas?

“Not to offend you or anything, Jaclyn,” Sunray went on to say, “but maybe I could lend you some clothes. You have a great body underneath all that starch.”

“Thanks. I’ll think about it,” she murmured around a mouthful of sandwich.

The rest of Jaclyn’s workday crawled by. She found Brandy and Gina lounging in the staff room and summoned them to the counter so she could introduce and explain the benefits of each and every product. Then she went over sales and marketing reports, phoned a few contacts, and reorganized the shelves. At the end of her shift, she left the building and took note of the threatening clouds moving in from the west. Praying the rain would hold off, she hurried home to prepare for the night’s barbecue and tried to keep her mind off Slyck, and keep her gaze from straying to his bedroom window.

Was he up there watching?

She strung lights over the pool, not that she planned on getting in, whipped up a few salads and desserts, avoiding anything and everything chocolate just in case, and tossed the steaks on the grill. Once the preparations were complete she changed into a pretty floral dress that would be right at home on any one of the Stepford wives. Now all that was left to do was wait.

As she walked the perimeter of the pool, enjoying the cool breeze that had just blown in, a strange energy brewed in the air. Yes, the storm was coming. But it was more than that. As the sun began its nightly descent, there was an eeriness, a stillness over the town that caused the hair on the back of her neck to tingle. She hugged herself to stave off a shiver.

A noise behind her gained her attention. She brushed off her uneasy feeling, and spun around to find Sunray and the same golden-haired man she’d spotted at the café coming up her walkway. Jaclyn’s eyes widened when she saw the pack of people in the driveway behind them.

“Sunray,” she cried out, rushing forward to give her a big hug.

The man at her side cupped Sunray’s elbow and eased her back to him, seemingly displeased to see the two of them embrace. His nostrils flared, anger flashed in his eyes.

Wearing a sassy smirk