Mr.
Blackwell
By AB
Novak
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Cover Designer: Rue Volley
Out October
15, 2015
In the deep, bice,
swampy waters of Louisiana, novice journalist Vivienne Gray falls head over
heels in love with a man she supposed to be interviewing, Jase Blackwell. When
Vivienne saves Jase’s life they are pulled into an ancient curse that has
plagued the Blackwell family for years. There is a reason behind superstition.
It's because it's all true. Not believing does not make it go away.
Unsure whether I was making a mistake or not, I
sat back down and, from the moment we restarted the interview, it went pretty
well. Jeffery and Julius answered most of my questions, and Father Joe
commented here and there. Jase was the only one who didn’t talk or seem
interested in the conversation. Everyone else was cooperating, though, so I
didn’t mind.
That was until Julius brought up Jase’s
snakebite. I learned that in the springtime, just a few months ago, Jase was
bitten by a diamondback rattlesnake and had survived on his own, for about a
day, in the swamp. The snake bit him in his lower abdomen, and he almost died.
When they found him, he was barely breathing and had to be flown to the
hospital to receive twenty-two anti-venom shots.
My reporter's brain started spinning fast.
Intrigued by his survival story and desperately wanting to know more about this
man, I asked if he could show me how, what, where, when, and how he survived.
He was hesitant, but in the end, the family made him do it, most likely just to
make it up to me. That's why I ended up in a dark corner of the Blackwell
hunting cabin, cradling my plate, and waiting for him to say something,
anything.
He must have known I’d wanted to clean my plate
because he got up, walked over to take it from me, and exited through the only
door. I heard him scraping both plates and then running water. He came back
with two clean plates.
Not wanting any more silence, I spoke up. “So is
this where you were bitten?”
He put the plates away on the shelf above the
fireplace then strode back to the table, and sat down in a bit of a huff. He
ran his fingers through his auburn hair and rubbed the back of his neck a few
times.
I kicked an invisible piece of dirt on the
ground, pretending I wasn’t watching his every move. Another shiver went down
my spine. I reached up with one hand to untwist my necklace, thinking once more
I shouldn’t have come out here.
Again, I barely heard him speak. “No, it’s a
two-mile hike from here. I’ll show you in the morning. We got a late start
today. I’m not taking you out there at night. We’ll leave at first light and
get you back in time for your flight.”
My mouth felt dry. I liked his slow, southern
way of speaking. Shaking my head a little and deciding to take a chance, I went
to my bag and pulled out my pen and pad. I didn’t really need to take notes
because I knew that nothing he said would be forgotten. I sat back down at the
table, gave him a reassuring nod, and he began.
He focused his piercing eyes on the fire across
the cabin. “As I said, I hiked about two miles east from here. I was looking
for some wood for a bow I was working on. The rattlesnake must have just shed
its skin or the rattle was broken off because I didn’t hear or see it until I
was right on top of it. Mating season makes the snakes more aggressive. He got
me here.”
Leaning back in the chair, he patted his lower,
right abdomen. I was hoping he was going to lift up his shirt, but he didn’t. A
girl can dream. Pushing those thoughts out of my head, I pretended to make a
note. “You have to stay calm when you get bit like that. You don’t want to get
your blood pumping too fast because the venom will spread faster. By the time I
made it back here, I was feeling the effects... bad.” His deep voice was
extremely attractive.
He got up effortlessly from where he was sitting
at the old wooden table, walked across to the fire, and poked at it with a
stick of some sort. Feeling myself shiver, I slowly walked over to where he was
by the fireplace and sat down cross-legged, needing the heat. He glanced
sideways at me and put down the makeshift poker. He sat, too, resting his
weight on his hands behind him and stretching out his long legs. The fire
danced in his eyes. They were normally a deep royal blue, but when they mixed
with the yellow firelight, they seemed emerald in color. Every hair on my body
felt like it was standing on end, ready to ignite.
“My head was throbbing, my right leg was numb,
my back ached, and I was getting sick to my stomach.” He reached up and touched
his forehead as if the pain was still there. It wasn’t me making him act this
way; he was reliving the horrifying experience. He’d thought he was going to
die out here.
I opened my mouth to speak, to tell him to stop.
He didn’t have to tell me any more. I couldn’t stand to hear the pain in his
voice anymore. But before I could say anything, he continued. “I crawled to the
boat. I don’t know how I was able to start the motor, but I did. I hoped I'd
pointed it in the right direction down river. I don’t remember anymore. Dad
found me a few hours later. The boat was grounded on the riverbank a few miles
up from here.” His eyes became distant as his thoughts engulfed him.
I never wanted him to feel that way again and
changed the subject, quickly. “So since you’ve caught my gift of gab, Jase, why
don’t you tell me more about your gift of silence?” I liked the way his name
slipped easily off my tongue. I smiled at him, hoping he found the humor in my
words. He closed his divine eyes for a moment then he was back from wherever he
had gone. I got my first real smile from him, and it took my breath away.
I watched as his sublime lips parted, and he
began to speak. “I find that if you listen, you learn a lot more than when you
talk.”
“Ouch,” I said. “You really don’t like me, do
you?” I asked, tapping my pen on my notepad, trying not to sound hurt. But I
was.
“You don’t understand what I’m saying, Miss
Gray,” he chuckled, sitting up and poking at the fire again.
Feeling as if he’d just called me brainless, I
lashed out. “I see and understand everything, Jase Blackwell. I can comprehend
everything you’re saying. You think I’m some young, dumb, blonde girl who has
no business being out here. Hate to break it to you, bud, but I think you’re
more afraid out here right now than I am.” His eyes never left mine during my
rant. I felt my body moving involuntarily closer to him as I watched his eyes
light up with amusement. “What’s so funny?” I asked in the meanest tone I could
muster.
What’s with me? One minute I’m captivated by
this man, and the next I want to slap him across his bearded face. I sat back
with a huff then got up and walked back to my dark corner. I was ready to tell
him to just forget it.
He stared into the fire and spoke quietly. “I’ve
learned that when you’re nervous, you don’t know what to do with your gentle
hands. You often reach up to make sure your necklace is there. It must be of
some importance to you. When you get mad, your eyes narrow, and I can almost
see the fire burning inside you. I can tell you’re in good shape because most
people don’t hold up well in temperatures like this unless they’re used to it.
You don’t mind the dirt and grime that comes with spending a night in the
swamp, so I’m guessing you’re not from the city like my dad thought. The big
bugs freak you out... a lot. And when your yellow hair blows in the breeze, it
reminds me of sunbeams, and when you’re embarrassed, your fair skin turns my
favorite shade of red.”
I stood there, not knowing what to say. If he
could see my cheeks in the shadows, he’d probably be happy. Trying to shake off
the chill and yearning for the heat of the fire, I emerged from the darkness.
“Well, that was honestly the biggest flying monster I’ve ever seen. It was
huge. It wouldn’t leave me alone. It kept coming back, and it stung me twice.”
I snatched the poker out of his hand and poked at the fire with it, not wanting
to talk about me. “It’s your perfume. It’s very sweet. I should’ve warned you
before we left the house.” He grinned, sniffing the air with his absolutely
perfect nose.
I stopped fiddling with the fire and glanced at
him out the corner of my eye. I wasn’t sure if my face was giving anything
away, but I was certainly doing back flips on the inside. “I don’t wear
perfume. I’m allergic.”
His piercing eyes looked like he had just
revealed a secret that he wasn’t supposed to, and his lips parted slightly as
we once again locked eyes. My skin was on fire again, and the urge to reach for
him was back.
Shaking his head slightly, he stood up, went
over to our gear, and started laying out our sleeping bags. I saw him pull out
a large, silver knife and place it next to his sleeping bag. Next, he moved his
bow and arrows closer to the fireplace.
My eyes grew wide, and my heart beat rapidly. So
consumed was I with trying to figure out Jase Blackwell that I’d forgotten I
was miles away from civilization in the middle of a Louisiana swamp with a man
I had only known for a few hours. He sensed my sudden edginess.
He lay down and said, “Don’t worry—you’re safe
with me. I’ll never let anything happen to you.” It was as if he was stating a
fact he had known all his life.
And I believed him. I did feel safe and warm
when he was near. No man had ever made me feel this way. I should be afraid,
but I wasn’t. I should want to be boarding that plane back to Baltimore, but I
wasn’t. For some unknown reason, I knew I didn’t want to be anywhere but next
to him. He laid a muscular arm over his face to block out the moonlight coming
through the front window of the cabin. Or maybe it was just a sign for me to
stop talking.
“Good night, Miss Gray,” he whispered.
“’Night, Jase,” I said. It was all I could
manage.
With that, I went to my bag and pulled out a
hair tie. I braided my long, blonde hair back as I did every night, took my
boots off, and slipped into my sleeping bag. For a while, I just lay there in
the moonlight, watching Jase’s chest rise and fall and thinking about how
satisfying it would be to touch him. I thought about what his beard would feel
like if I ran my fingers through it and gave it a tug. I thought he’d like it.
I didn’t care if he saw me watching him—I couldn’t help myself. I kept my hands
pinned under my head just in case I got the urge to reach out for him. All the
emotions that had been running through me simmered as I realized I was lovesick
for Jase Blackwell.
A.B. Novak grew up
in Northern Maryland. She graduated from college with a degree in Fashion
Design. In 2009 she married her college sweetheart, moved to a farm and had two
beautiful children. She is an avid horse rider, author and business owner with
her husband.
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