Fools "Rush" In

Chapter 10 - I Put a Spell on You

It didn't take long to find her; after walking through a fairly dense grove of fruit trees, he came upon a clearing containing several acres of sectioned off gardens. The sections were clearly defined by berms and irrigation lines.

In one of the far sections was a lone woman carrying a burlap sack over one shoulder and a long handled tool in the other. As he drew closer he watched her swing the tool into the ground with the sharp end, reach into the bag and drop something into the hole that he assumed was a seed, and then pat the dirt down over it.

When he was within a couple hundred feet, he was able to tell that the woman was indeed Elaina Blackhawk, and that the reason she hadn't noticed him was because she was wearing earphones and singing along with the music only he could hear. Her voice was deep and clear and strong; the song she was singing was an old blues standard, 'Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone'.

Not sure of the best way to approach without startling her, he first cleared his throat. When that didn't work, he started approaching her slowly. When he was within a few yards of where she was, she swung around and he was suddenly staring down the barrel of a wicked looking pistol.

Immediately his arms flew into the air and he was saying, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hey now, I'm sorry I startled you."

In a flash the gun was gone and back into its hiding spot. "That's a damn good way of getting yourself shot around here, Mr. Reedus."

"How the hell else was I supposed to get your attention?" He huffed, feeling good and pissed because his adrenaline was still coursing through his veins. Then, to pour salt in his wound, she actually started laughing and shaking her head.

"You have a point. I'm sorry..." Elaina said as she held her hand out. She had just controlled her laughter, but burst out again when instead of shaking her hand he shoved both of his up under his arms and stuck his lip out like a child.

When she started laughing at him, it was the last straw; Norman did something that he rarely ever did, something that Elaina Blackhawk seemed uniquely qualified to make him do... he lost his temper. "IS THIS WHAT YOU DRUG ME OUT HERE FOR? First you make me fly half way across the country to this mosquito-infested, backwoods hell where even the devil himself would complain about the heat and humidity, then have that rude-ass Voodoo woman cause me to get attacked by those crawfish, and then get a GUN shoved in my face and top it all off by laughing at me?" His face was red and his chest was heaving and deep inside he knew he was making it worse, but he just couldn't control it.

Elaina was watching the temper tantrum and knew she needed to get things back under control or she would never be able to get him to take her and her project seriously. While the selfish part of her brain wanted to keep aggravating him and pushing his buttons because it was funny, the calculating part of her brain told her she needed to appeal to his ego.

To make that happen, she forced herself to concentrate on how his crossed arms accentuated his biceps and forearm muscles. Quickly the laughter stopped and she found herself unable to keep her eyes from traveling from his arms down his torso to his feet and then back up to linger on his mouth and finally meet his blue eyes, which were still stormy and narrowed. However, the smouldering feeling had switched from anger to something more primal.

Norman was suddenly very aware that Elaina was wearing a tank top and that her arms were as muscular as he remembered. What was new was the long length of tanned and equally muscled leg on view beneath the denim cut-offs she was wearing. As he looked up to her face, he was momentarily mesmerized by a droplet of sweat that broke loose of her hairline and made its way down her flushed cheek, past her strong jaw line, and into the valley between her breasts. He looked back up and made contact with her gold flecked green eyes and found himself unable to look away. She took a step towards him and heavy, molten feeling invaded his belly.

Elaina felt herself step forward and watched him go to lift his leg to help close the distance. She was astounded at the absolute 180 degree turn around in emotion that they had both gone through, and in record time. But it didn't matter, she suddenly found that the only need she cared about was the one that wanted to touch and taste this other human being.

Just as Norman reached up to cup the side of Elaina's face so he could fit his mouth to hers, a terrifying howl sounded from his right. Elaina's eyes widened, and as if everything was moving in slow motion, he watched her head turn and her mouth open to yell "NO!" and in the next second they were both being slammed to the ground.

When the stars lifted from behind his eyes, Norman looked over to see a small horse sitting on Elaina's chest, licking her while she tried in vain to protect her face with her arms. When she was finally able to shove the massive creature off her, she looked over at him with a goofy grin.

"Norman, I'd like you to meet my personal bodyguard and best buddy..." She reached up to scratch the beast's face and the damn thing smiled. "This is Dinky."