Free Cajun Magic 01 - Voodoo on the Bayou by Elle James

blurred in the endless shadows of dusk. Elaine was glad she’d worn her shiny new mud boots. If anything lurked in the gloom, the calf-high rubber would protect her ankles. Unfortunately, the large boots didn’t quite fit, and she clumped her way toward the marina feeling about as graceful as a lumbering elephant.
    Arms aching, she hurried the last few steps to the bait shop, plunked her bucket on the porch and almost breathed a sigh of relief. Almost. Craig waited inside. Her heartbeat ratcheted up a notch. Perhaps if she repeated her mantra, she’d keep her wits about her and remain on track. “I am a scientist. I love science. I am a scientist. I love science.”
    She felt better already, even allowing a smile to curve her lips as she pulled open the screen door.
    Just as the night before, the bait shop stood in near darkness, the lights not yet turned on. Her heart jumped into hyper-drive. The last time she’d come in here, she’d met Craig in the flesh, and not much else.
    “I am a scientist. I love science.”
    The back door thumped and she heard soft shooshing of what sounded like bare feet on hardwood floors.
    Bare feet . Um…
    She eased along a shadowy aisle. By the meager light filtering through the few windows, she could make out a display of strings, hooks, and lead weights.
    “I am a scientist. I love science.”
    A tall shadow emerged in the doorway behind the counter.
    “Mr. Thibodeaux? Oh, there you are—”
    The rising moon chose that moment to crest over the top of the trees and shine in a window, illuminating him in a bright moon glow. All of him.
    She gasped, and her mind shut down all other information processing functions. A second after intellectual faculties ceased, every nerve ending in her body exploded in all directions. Her senses leapt into overload and her brain struggled to handle the volume of signals screaming along neural pathways.
    Craig grabbed at the closest thing to him—a fish net.
    All his perfectly placed body parts were on display. Broad shoulders narrowed to a tight abdomen and a thin line of black curly hair lead to his—
    “Oh, my.” Elaine froze, staring at the net and all it didn’t cover.
    He dropped the net and snatched a plastic bag of fake worms from the shelf beside him and covered his—
    Good lord .
    Elaine kept staring. Her mouth worked but the only words to emerge were, “I am a scientist. I love sex.”
    “What?” Craig asked, a harried smile tilting his lips.
    “What what?” She resisted the urge to smack her forehead with her palm. Stupider and stupider. Who’d have thought she’d attained a double major in chemistry and biology, a master’s and a doctorate and graduated at the top of every class?
    Craig pushed the hair back from his forehead with his free hand and leaned against a counter, crossing his bare ankles. His pose reeked of confidence, as if waiting on a customer naked constituted perfectly appropriate behavior—at least in Bayou Miste society. “Can I help you?” he asked in a voice completely at odds with his current state of undress.
    “Oh, yes.” Elaine’s response was a breathy whisper.
    When he shifted the fake worms to cover more skin, she tore her gaze from his body and darted it up to his eyes. Heat rushed into her face. The hotter her face grew, the faster her breathing became. She had to get a grip or hyperventilate.
    Oh, how much easier to sink to the floor in blessed oblivion! But she didn’t faint, much to her chagrin. She closed her eyes, inhaling the potent smells of earthworms and fish. With her concentration shifted to the unattractive aromas, she managed to rein in her galloping hormones.
    She opened her eyelids and pressed her lips together. “This is getting to be a habit, Mr. Thibodeaux. Do you provide such service to all your customers, or just me?”
    “Are you embarrassed by nudity? I thought all scientists approached the human body in a clinical manner.”
    “Yes, of course.” She didn’t look at