Part 9 (1/2)
It was a tempting thought.
Lily stood. ”Enough of this. Let's raid your closet and find us some hot dancing duds.” She continued down the hall.
Jasper glared after her. Lily was so wrong about him. He didn't like Cheez-Its. Onion rings went way better with beer.
He sulked for a while as the women discussed clothes. Lily apparently found something of Anica's she wanted to wear, judging from her exclamations of happiness. Beyond boring. Naptime beckoned, and he was on his way to the sofa to stake out his corner spot when Lily let out a hoot.
”When did you buy this? Talk about wicked! I didn't know you had it in you, girl.”
”I may not keep it,” Anica said.
So much for Jasper's plan to take a nap. He retraced his path to the bedroom.
”Of course you're keeping it,” Lily said. ”In fact, you're going to wear it right this minute. Take off your pants and sweater while I cut off the tags.”
Anica sighed. ”All right.”
Jasper arrived in the bedroom doorway to find Lily wearing a black dress she must have borrowed from Anica, which made it indecently short. Jasper spared her one glance before all his attention was claimed by Anica taking off the sweater she'd worn to Wicked Brew that morning. She and Lily hadn't noticed him, so he crouched on the carpet and waited for the sweater to come all the way off. He might as well know what he was walking away from when he left this apartment tonight.
Quite a bit, it turned out. Even giving credit to a black underwire bra, Anica was built like a G.o.ddess. Knowing he was going to ditch her the minute he was himself again, he probably shouldn't check her out like this. He should go back down the hall and get on with that nap.
Yet he drew comfort from the fact he wasn't sleepy anymore. Maybe the potion was working, because he shouldn't be fixated on Anica while she undressed. But he was mesmerized as she kicked off her shoes, unzipped her slacks and stepped out of them.
”I don't think you're supposed to wear a bra with this.” Lily held up a red dress on a padded hanger.
Jasper wasn't much of an expert on dresses, especially when they were still on a hanger, but this one looked promising. The top part was a halter style that tied at the back of the neck, and the skirt sort of floated in the breeze from the heating duct, which meant as it moved it would show off a nice pair of legs.
”You can wear a bra,” Anica said, ”but it has to be a halter style. I haven't bought one to wear with it yet.”
”Then go without.”
”Okay.”
Jasper held his breath as Anica reached behind her back and unhooked her bra.
Just as the bra came undone, Lily stepped in front of his line of sight. He hadn't meant to growl. It sort of slipped out. Both women turned immediately in his direction.
Anica gasped and held the bra against her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. ”I didn't realize he was there.”
”Me, either,” Lily said. ”If I didn't know better, I'd say we have a Peeping Tomcat on the premises.”
”I'll finish changing in the bathroom.” Anica s.n.a.t.c.hed the hanger from Lily and stalked away.
”I don't get it,” Lily called after her. ”You came really close to sleeping with the guy, so why worry about a little b.o.o.b show now?”
”Because I never will sleep with him,” Anica said from the bathroom. ”I don't want some man I never intend to sleep with walking around Chicago with a visual of my bare t.i.ts.”
”You always were too modest. And speaking of visuals, chances are you'll see him naked soon, anyway. You two are going to be on fairly intimate terms with each other, whether you want to be or not.”
”I know. I wish there was some way to avoid that, but I can't leave him alone when the change is taking place. I want to be there in case there's some . . .” She let the sentence dangle there, unfinished.
Some what? Complete the sentence, d.a.m.n it! Jasper fought down panic. The whole transformation process scared the s.h.i.+t out of him, and she was only making it worse.
Going from man to cat had been like nothing he'd ever experienced, as if he'd driven his Beemer into a wall at eighty miles an hour. There'd been the shock of impact and then a brief period of total blackness before he realized with growing horror that he was suddenly very hairy and quite vertically challenged.
If he'd thought it was real in those first few minutes after the transformation, he might have gone insane on the spot. But he'd convinced himself immediately that he was in some awful nightmare, and that belief had helped get him through the initial hours. Now he was starting to adjust to his new body.
That was a sobering thought. He was getting used to being a cat. That didn't mean he wanted to stay that way. It only meant that he was adaptable.
Yet when he thought of changing back again, a sick feeling formed in the pit of his stomach. Would his skin split like the Incredible Hulk's? Would it be slow and painful, or quick and painful?
Either way he figured it would have to hurt. You couldn't do something that monumental to an organism without causing trauma. It didn't take a medical expert to understand that.
For that reason, he wanted somebody else to be there, so he was grateful that Anica had committed to that plan, even though she didn't want to see him naked. He didn't want her to see him transform, either, but his fear was greater than his ego. He might need help.
”What do you think?” Anica walked out of the bathroom, her feet bare, her blond hair brus.h.i.+ng her white shoulders, and the dress doing amazing things for her body.
Jasper swallowed. He'd been s.e.xually attracted to her before, but he'd had no idea she could look this hot. The dress's neckline made the most of her eye-popping cleavage. The multilayered skirt had an uneven hem, and when she moved, the layers parted on one side to reveal a creamy thigh.
Lily clapped wildly. ”Bravo! It's the perfect salsa dress. It's as if you'd planned on learning how to dance.”
”I only wanted to look as if I could dance.” Anica gave her a sheepish glance. ”I wanted to fool people into thinking I could step out on the floor any minute, but instead I'd chosen not to.”
”Well, that's just silly, to go to all the trouble of dressing the part and then not doing it. I'm going to teach you the moves that will make you worthy of that dress. Got shoes?”
”Oh, sure. I bought those, too.” Anica leaned over to rummage in the closet.
Meanwhile Jasper was wis.h.i.+ng he could be in the closet, enjoying the view of her leaning over. None of this l.u.s.ting on his part was good, because he was supposed to hate her. He had a rule-never go to bed with a woman you despise, no matter how hot she is. Naturally he despised Anica for turning him into a cat. Any reasonable person would feel that way.
But how could you despise a woman who was so luscious and so . . . human? Her witchy abilities were intimidating, but not so much now, when she'd lost her magic. He was touched by her worry about her dancing ability, or lack of it. Apparently a witch couldn't fix everything with a magic wand. At the moment, Anica couldn't fix a pot of tea with her magic wand, and Jasper could see how much that bothered her.
He wasn't minimizing the damage to him, not by a long shot. She had plenty to answer for, and he was still a cat, although rediscovering his human libido was encouraging to him. He needed to direct it somewhere else, though, on general principles.
Then Anica brought out the spike-heeled shoes that matched the dress, and proceeded to fasten the ankle straps. G.o.d help him, he couldn't look at those shoes without l.u.s.ting after the perfection of her legs. He didn't want to want her, but he couldn't seem to help it.
”Hooker shoes!” Lily crowed. ”Too bad we don't wear the same size shoe, or I'd be stealing those from you when your back is turned. Come on, sis. Let's shake it up!” She s.h.i.+mmied through the bedroom doorway. ”I saw you ogling her, p.u.s.s.ycat,” she said without sparing Jasper a glance. ”Don't think I didn't.”
Anica walked over and gazed at him for several long moments. He kept eye contact. Staring was what cats did best, he discovered.
”Are you the kind of person Lily thinks you are?” she murmured. ”Are you just a tomcat on the prowl?”
”Anica!” Lily cranked up the music. ”Get your b.u.t.t in here!”
With a sigh Anica walked down the hall, her heels sinking into the carpet and the sway of her hips making the hem of the dress dance around her legs.
Jasper watched her go and felt a tug of regret. He wished he could talk so he could convince her that Lily was wrong about him. Sure, he had a line he used on women. Didn't every guy? An innocent line wasn't exactly a criminal act.