Any Way You Want It by Kathy Love Read Free Book Online Page B

looked up from the cup, meeting Maggie’s eyes directly. “Just remember that you can’t cut yourself off from life and love because one person hurt you. You need to take risks. You need to live.”
    Maggie nodded again.
    “And it’s very clear that music is so important to all this. And not just your work. Your whole world seems surrounded by music.”
    Then Hattie held the teacup out to her, tilting it so she could see the smattering of fine black leaves clinging to the sides. Maggie looked in, unsure what she was supposed to be looking at.
    She certainly didn’t see any of the things Hattie had mentioned. Not even the musical notes.
    With a pen, Hattie used the tip to point at a pattern just below the lip of the cup. “Do you see that?”
    Maggie nodded, studying where she pointed.
    “This is of great consequence too. The way it’s separated from all the other patterns means it’s very important. But I don’t understand exactly what it means.”
    Maggie peered at it, trying to decipher what the shape could be. And just as dawning realization hit her, Hattie said her very thought out loud.
    “It looks like a face with long hair. And an eye.”
    Immediately Ren’s face was vividly clear in Maggie’s head. Long hair and his eye with the white lashes.
     
    “So, what did your psychic tell you?” Erika asked as soon as they stepped out onto the sidewalk.
    Despite the bright sunlight and the ever-present humidity, a chill clung to Maggie’s skin. That had all been too strange. And a little too accurate. A small face with long hair flashed in her mind. The arrangement of leaves could have looked like a dozen different things. But it hadn’t. She and Hattie had seen the very same thing.
    “Maggie? Are you okay?”
    Maggie nodded, even as another chill prickled her skin. She couldn’t talk about it. Not yet.
     
    Instead she asked Erika what her reading said. She was relieved when Erika excitedly told her.
    She was going to have a great year. Her career, as an artist, a sculptor, was going to finally take off. She’d actually have several very successful shows. She’d also meet a new guy.
    Maggie hung onto that last prediction, telling herself she was right. All fortune-tellers foretold new loves.
    “A blond, dark-eyed prince,” she told Maggie, wagging her eyebrows. “Overall, it sounds like everything is going to fall into place.”
    Maggie said something appropriate, although she couldn’t have said what it was a minute later.
    “Are you hungry?” Erika asked as they approached a restaurant. The smell of spicy food managed to penetrate Maggie’s frazzled thoughts.
    “Sure.” Although she wasn’t the least bit hungry, food would be a good grounding sort of distraction.
    “So,” Erika asked again once they settled at a table in a quaint courtyard. “What did your reading say?”
    Maggie busied herself with the menu, still reluctant to talk about it. But she knew Erika wouldn’t let it go. She’d have to spill eventually.
    Maggie pushed the menu aside and said, “I think that musician from last night was in my cup.”
    Erika didn’t look nearly as stunned by the announcement as Maggie was.
    “Then I guess we know where we’re going tonight,” Erika said, then turned to place her order with the waiter.

Chapter 6
    R en’s glance returned to the doorway yet again as another woman entered the bar. Platinum blonde.
    Not her.
    Today had seemed like an eternity. Quite a statement for a vampire. But he’d been anxious to get here tonight and see if Maggie showed up again.
    His sleep should have been an escape from thoughts of her. Slumber was always black and empty. He never dreamed. But even with the relentless, drugging weight of the sun’s rays overhead, dreams had still managed to penetrate the blackness. The enforced rest had been filled with images of a strawberry blonde with green-gray eyes and bow-shaped lips.
    As he rose for the evening, surprised and confused by the images, he told