Page 55 of Wind Called

“Then I suppose you should text her,” Marc replied. It would be good to get to the bottom of this vortex thing, and if it turned out Bree’s powers really were enhanced by spending some time here, then at least it would prove that the ranch’s vortex did seem to affect only women.

So, did that mean he should try going to one of the outflow vortexes, the ones on the hilltops and mesas, to see if they did the same thing for him?

Maybe, although he wasn’t sure how he was going to manage sleeping there. As Bellamy had already pointed out, most of Sedona’s most powerful vortexes were located on Forest Service land, which meant you couldn’t just pitch a tent wherever you wanted.

When he mentioned that small complication to her, however, she only shook her head, still looking a bit amused.

“It’s actually not as big a deal as you think. Airport Mesa is one of the most powerful vortexes here, if this map Clint Greaves gave us is at all accurate, and there’s a hotel built right on top of it — Sky Ranch Lodge. We can stay there for a night or two and see what happens.”

He had to admit that sounded like a pretty decent plan as well. Sure, it meant he’d be paying for yet another place to stay, but he was okay with spending a couple of hundred extra bucks to find out if he was vortex-impervious or whether he just needed to experience the right kind to really supercharge his powers, so to speak.

Bellamy got out her phone, saying, “I’m going to text Bree now. Why don’t you see if Sky Ranch Lodge has any rooms available for tomorrow night?”

“Sure,” he replied, and also plucked his phone from his pocket. He figured he’d try one of the discount hotel apps first, and if they didn’t have anything, then he’d just call the place directly and hope for the best.

But it turned out Expedia had two rooms left for August thirteenth, so he went ahead and made the booking, securing a king room for two nights just in case it turned out that he needed a little more time to really determine whether the outflow energies of the Airport Mesa vortex had affected him at all.

Just as he was finishing with the reservations, Bellamy’s phone binged. She picked it up, looked down at the screen, and then settled against the back of her chair, looking relieved.

“That was Bree. She said she doesn’t have anything going on until Friday night, so she’s cool with participating in our little experiment. What time do you want her to come over?”

As late as possible,flashed through Marc’s mind, but he knew that wasn’t a very friendly response. Bree McAllister was helping them out, after all, so as much as he would have liked an intimate dinner with Bellamy tonight, he knew he should do what he could to make her cousin feel included.

“I don’t know…five-thirty or six? We can try some pizza from Pisa Lisa tonight.”

“No pineapple, I assume,” Bellamy replied, mouth quirking a little. “You wouldn’t want my whole clan to know your dirty little secret.”

He chuckled, thinking that if loving Hawaiian pizza was the biggest secret he needed to conceal, then he was probably doing okay. “I think I can live with pepperoni for one night.”

Smiling, she typed out a quick reply to her cousin, presumably letting Bree know the timing of her arrival. Another response came back lightning fast, telling Marc that she’d probably been camped on her phone, waiting to hear back regarding their plans.

“Well, that’s done,” Bellamy announced as she set down her phone, then pushed back her chair so she could stand up. She put her arms around him, squeezing just the smallest bit, and then murmured in his ear, “I know we won’t be able to do anything while Bree is staying here, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun before she arrives.”

A woman after his own heart. Not for the first time, Marc wondered what he’d done to deserve a woman like Bellamy McAllister. It wasn’t as if he was a bad person or anything like that, but he also didn’t think he’d been the sort of outstanding warlock that would attract a woman who was so amazing in every way.

However, he wasn’t going to argue. If the universe had decided to put them in each other’s paths, then he was more than happy to go along for the ride.

“That’s a great idea,” he said, and took her by the hand and led her down the hall to the bedroom.

Bellamy was pretty sure she’d gotten rid of all evidence of hers and Marc’s activities that afternoon — the bed in the master bedroom was neatly made, and she’d gone into the bathroom and carefully applied mascara and lip gloss…along with some concealer to cover the marks he’d left on her neck. They were still kind of there if you looked close enough, but her loose hair should serve to hide most of them.

At exactly five-thirty, her phone pinged again.

I’m at the gate. Can you buzz me in?

Sure. Just give me a sec.

She went over to the security panel on the wall in the kitchen and pressed the button that operated the gate. Marc had been sitting in the living room, half-heartedly watching a Diamondbacks game, and she called out,

“Bree should be here in a couple of minutes. I just got the gate for her.”

At once, Marc picked up the remote so he could turn off the TV. As he stood, he said, “Have you thought about what you’re going to do about work?”

Oh, she’d thought a lot…well, when he hadn’t been sending her to another plane of existence as another orgasm shuddered its way through her.

“I guess I’ll just have to take the rest of the week off,” she told him. “I mean, all this is so up in the air that I just can’t see my way clear to spending all day at work.”

She tried to sound blithe about the whole thing, but she supposed her concern must have been mirrored in her face, because he immediately came over and took her hands in his.

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