by Ever Coming
“So, what I said to them about you moving here, what do you think?” Jason asked point blank.
“Are you asking us to stay?” Mariah was hesitant in her question, and Amber grabbed her hand to comfort the young woman.
“We would love it if you stayed.” It was amazing to hear Jason saying we.
“What would I do for your business?”
“Honestly,” he began, “nothing.” Mariah’s smile fell.
“I need to do my share if I’m going to stay.”
Amber could see where Kit got her posturing. “I actually was hoping you would help with my business.” Jason winked as Amber offered. That had been his plan all along.
“Healing?” Mariah seemed to be trying it out for size. “I don’t know much about it. Just what I learned growing up.”
“Did you see what you did in a few hours this morning?” Amber gestured around the room. “You got things back on track faster than I could have. If we work together, I bet we can make enough money at this to add an addition to the cabin so you and Kit can have more room.” As she talked, a plan just fell into place and out of her mouth. It felt so right.
“Actually,” Jason interrupted. “I had a different plan in mind.”
“And that plan would be?” Amber thought she had his end game worked out.
“I would like to build a second cabin for you two.” Amber was wrong. She had zero clues as to what he was working toward. “And I want to add onto this one. We need a better bathroom.” Darn man winked at her. Not that he was wrong. They really did.
“Or …” Mariah pulled Amber from her thoughts which was good because they were quickly spiraling to the realm of naughtydom, and this was not the time.
“Or?” Jason encouraged.
“Or you can build a new cabin for you and your jaguar and can add a second kitchen in there for the business.” Amber could almost see the wheels turning in Mariah’s mind. She was going to jump into this with both feet. “Then you wouldn’t have to remodel this place.”
“I like that idea.” Jason seemed to really be pleased by that idea. He started to gather the dirty plates as if it were a done deal.
“That will cost more money.” He set the plates down as Amber spoke.
“How about this …” Jason pulled out a paper from his back pocket and unfolded it. “This is the deed to the property. I already signed it over to you.” When had he done that? “Town hall opens early—” He smirked back at her. What time did he get up to look at her motorcycle and sign over property?
“Can they just do that?” It sounded fishy to Amber, but what did she know about property transactions.
“No, not really, but I started the process.” He slid it over. “Now, let me finish, woman.” Mariah grabbed the stacked plates and chuckled as she deposited them into the kitchen. “What I was trying to say was, go with my plan. If you find it isn’t working for you, you can either sell me your land and this house or kick us out.” Amber knew she would never do either, but it felt so fast that it was nice to be offered an out. “It’s what Rosemary would’ve wanted.” He’d gone in for the kill. She loved Rosemary more than her own family; of course she would want to honor her wishes.
“Doesn’t change the fact that it would cost a lot more money.” She was being stubborn, but so be it.
“It would probably cost less,” Mariah offered before pushing in her chair. “I need to go check on Kit.” As she reached the door and turned to add, “We are staying by the way. I have plans for this business. Big plans.” She closed the door behind her.
“I think you created a monster,” Jason joked. “Seriously though, I have money.”
“I know.” Amber skootched her seat closer to him, but finding it not close enough, opting to sit on his lap instead. “It just feels like a huge move to make with someone you met only a day ago.” She laid her head on his shoulder.
“It feels right though.” He pulled her in even closer.
“It does.” Nothing had felt more right in her life.
“So we’re in agreement?”
“We are.” Before she could elaborate and add in all the monetary conditions she wanted to put into place, he began kissing and nibbling her neck and all thoughts were lost. “Not playing fair,” she groaned between kisses.
“Not playing. Kissing.” With that he took her lips only to be interrupted almost immediately by a running Kit.
“Sorry, I have to go potty.” She was at the bathroom quick as a whip.
“Sorry guys, she really had to go.”
“No worries. We’re done negotiating.” She climbed back into her seat as Jason spoke. “We’ll be following your plan. Having a kitchen just for the business with office space attached seems like the best plan.”
“Your jaguar is going to be happy,” Kit sang as she came in.
“What are you singing?” Jason asked what Amber was thinking.
“Oh, I was just singing about Aunt Amber’s jaguar. She’s going to be happy. She’s been hiding for so many years and wants to come out.” Kit just spoke as if she was saying what everyone else already knew.
“She knows things.” Mariah took her daughters hand. “But she knows better than to let everyone else know about it, though. Don’t you, Kit?”
“Mama, that’s why I was singing, and then people think it’s a song.”
“We’ve been over this.” Mariah exhales with exacerbation. “People think it’s creepy, not a song.”
“Sorry, Mama.”
“Don’t be sorry. We’re all family.” Jason gave her a warm smile and nod as Amber spoke. “But your mama’s right. Best to only do that here.”
“What else do you know about my mate’s jaguar?” Jason added, much to Amber’s shock.
“Mate?” She liked the taste of the word, as unexpected as it was.
“Soon to be mate?” His shy tone, not fooling anyone. He had already decided she was his and that suited her just fine. Who cares what the rest of the world thought about it? When you know, you know.
“Fair enough.” She wasn’t going to argue since everyone there knew it to be true, as crazy as it was. Even if “mate” was an antiquated term.
“What can I say? I’m an old fashioned guy.” He shrugged his shoulders before turning back to the young girl and kneeling to be eye level with her. “So, back to the question at hand. Kit, do you know anything else about her jaguar?”
Kit looked to her mother who gave her a nod of approval. “She was told to hide when Amber was a baby. The witch told her that Amber needed to be alone for a while.” Amber’s head was spinning. If it had been an adult throwing this at her, she would have been interrogating the daylights out of her, but the girl was five; Amber knew enough about kids to know that they would shut down if she pushed too hard.
“Do you know why?” Jason seemed to get kids, too. Mariah was right, he would be an amazing dad one day.
“It doesn’t make sense, Mama.” Kit looked back to her mom for support and was met with a warm smile.
“That is okay, honey, say it anyway,” Mariah encouraged.
“She needed to be alone to learn her true gift.” Kit shrugged her shoulders.
“Thanks, Kit. I’m glad you told me.” The naïve girl looked far too worried for a person so young. Whatever Kit’s gift was, it was powerful. “I was thinking I was broken,” Amber confessed, opening her arms to invite Kit in for a hug.
“Not broken,” Kit confirmed as she entered the embrace. “She’s happy now and will come out to play more. She just is shy from hiding for so long.” Amber could feel the truth to these words.
“Mama, can I go back outside?” Kit was done with grown-up time, and who could blame her?
“Absolutely, sweetheart. In a little bit we will do something fun. Deal?”
“Deal, Mama.” And with that the girl scampered off.
“So, now you see what I have been hiding.” Mariah fell to the floor with her back against the cabinet. “She is very powerful and
can communicate even better than I can.”
“You mean the way you speak in my head?” If Jason was shocked by Amber’s statement, he was schooling himself well.
“Yes, she can do that, but oh, so much more.” Mariah examined their faces and Amber joined them on the ground. What a sight it would be to see the three of them all sitting on the floor looking so serious. “I can only communicate that way with shifters and other witches and wizards, and they have to be very powerful to even do that. Kit. Well, Kit can communicate with a shifters’ animal, if they take animal form. She can also talk to humans.” She mumbled the last part.
“She’s never accidentally shared with me,” Jason offered. “I bet she can control it much better than any other five year old would be able to.”
“She really is amazing.” Mariah sat a little higher as she spoke. “We’ll probably never know for sure who the witch, who in essence bound your jaguar, but maybe if you tell me where you are from I could give a guess.”
“No need. I think I already know.” Amber had not thought of her “aunt” in many years. “My mom had a very powerful witch as a best friend almost all of my childhood. I would venture it was her. When my mom used to get all worried about fixing me, it was Aunt Ruby who talked her down. In hind sight, it all makes sense.”
“Should we call her?” Mariah seemed to want answers as much as she did.
“She passed when I was a teen.” She still thought of the woman often, and if she told her jaguar to back down, the reason was legit. She couldn’t even bring herself to be mad. “If she felt it needed to happen this way, she had a reason. Look at all it brought me.”
Amber looked to the two people sitting on the floor beside her and quickly glanced at the door.
“A sexy new beau?”
“Well, there it that.” She scooted closer to Jason, grabbing his hand. “But it brought me so much more. I have a calling to heal, a new business partner, a family,” Mariah reached out and touched her knee at the word family, “and yeah, you’re not a too shabby part of the deal.” Amber leaned into Jason, who in return kissed her head.
“So we’re really going to do this,” Mariah said matter of factly as she rose. “In that case I best tell Kit. She just asked me if we had to move again. Poor thing thought you would freak out about her abilities.”
“Hey, Kit!” Jason shouted to the door.
“Yes, Uncle Jason.” The girl bounced in, a smile on her face.
“What color do you want your room?” Kit barreled into both Amber and Jason in reply. No other words were needed.
Three Months Later
“Well, what do you think?”
“What do I think?” Amber couldn’t believe the home he’d just shown her. For the past two months he had a crew building the cabin. She, of course, knew what the outside looked like and he had her work directly with the contractors about the business part of the home, but all else was kept a secret. The man was a vault. She had tried all of her wiles to get him to let her know what he had planned for their home, to no avail.
In the time since they first met, the lust that drove them together initially only grew stronger. That wasn’t even the best part as far as Amber was concerned. No, the best part was the ever growing strength of their friendship. He really was meant for her. Amber had always wished that true fated mates had existed like in the novels she loved so much. She’d been wrong. What she wished for was exactly what she had with the man beside her. The one now walking side by side with her during this journey she called life.
Her jaguar couldn’t agree more. She was pretty much always at the forefront now, and not just during the time of carnal fun. It was a comfort to have her there and something Amber was still getting used to. She still disappeared while Amber worked on her healing work, which was probably for the best since she tapped into a different part of her then. Mariah guessed that somewhere in her genealogy was a “pretty freakin’ strong ass witch.”
“So. Are you going to keep me waiting?” Jason sounded nervous. It was so un-Jason like and frankly, quite endearing.
“I absolutely love the house.”
“And?” She knew what he wanted to know and was enjoying making him fuss the way he had made her squirm over the past month of construction.
“And I think this room is the perfect nursery, too.” He swept her into his arms and began to twirl her around.
“Put me down. I am too big for that.” She smacked his arm in faux protest.
“Hardly. I find you deliciously perfect.” He had shown her over and over again how true that was over the past few months. He loved every one of her abundant curves.
“Okay,” Amber conceded. “Maybe I am not too big now, but in about eight months I will be.” Instead of putting her down, he held her even tighter.
“Really?” he gasped, awe filling his voice.
“Yes. Really.” His eyes sparkled as they met hers, confirming to Amber that he was every bit as excited as she was.
“We did it wrong, you know.” The quirk in his eye told her otherwise.
“On the contrary, according to the little stick I peed on we did it very right,” she goaded as he placed her on the floor.
“Not that, love. I know we did that right.” He winked, and she leaned up to give him a quick kiss. “I meant we aren’t mated yet.”
The subject of mating had come up numerous times, and each and every one, conversation ended with them agreeing to wait until they were settled into their new life. Life was hardly settled, considering they were living in a cramped cabin waiting for their home to be completed, but the timing felt right. The house was finally done and ready for them to move in, and she was far more than ready.
“I think we can remedy that.” She leaned in for another kiss, which he ended far too quickly for her liking.
“So does that mean you are going to bite me?” The huskiness of his voice had her wanting to do just that, right there in the empty room still filled with construction dust.
“Only if you’re good … or bad.” The exaggerated wink she gave him probably looked silly, but she had yet to master the sexiness he could portray in the gesture. “I’ve yet to decide.”
“Minx.”
“Your minx.” Amber grabbed his hand, unsure of why they were not getting right to the mating.
“Mine.” Jason kissed her thoroughly and she was out of breath when he finally pulled away. Oh goodness gracious why had he pulled away? “You know how you have been pestering me about how unicorns mate?”
“Yes.” It had been driving her crazy.” “You, my unicorn, are like a vault.”
“Well …” Jason dropped to one knee, a box in his hand. Not only was he a vault, her was a magician. “This is how.” Amber just stood there, staring at the handsome man before her as her eyes filled with tears. She had spent most of her life beyond lonely, and now she had her jaguar, a business partner, an intelligent and powerful niece, a baby on the way and this amazing man who was now kneeling before her. If this was a dream, she wanted to stay asleep forever. “From the day we met I knew we were meant to be together, and each and every day since has only strengthened that knowledge. Will you do me the amazing honor of being my wife?”
“Yes.” Her eyes blurred with tears. “Yes.” She knelt to meet his height, grabbing his face with both hands. “Yes.” She kissed him, pouring every ounce of emotion she could into the kiss. She needed him to feel what her words couldn’t say.
“Is that a yes?” He spoke with shallow breath when the kiss broke. “You haven’t even looked at the ring yet. It might be from a gumball machine.” He held the ring in front of her so she couldn’t miss it. It was beautiful. She had no idea what the stone was, but it matched his eyes perfectly.
“That is a yes. Even if it were from a machine.” Leaning in she kissed the spot below his ear. “This is where I’m going to bite you.”
“I hope you meant, ‘This is where I am going to bite you now.’ ” The lust in the air was
so heavy in that moment, she wasn’t sure if waiting were even an option. Good thing she didn’t have to find out.
“I think I can arrange that.”
And arrange that she did.
Woodland Creek Series.
30 Authors. 30 Shifter Stories.
http://woodlandcreekseries.com
About the Author
Filled with the desire to write books she wouldn't want her mama to know she read, much less wrote, Ever Coming was born. Ever Coming is the naughty pen name of an international best selling author who simply wanted to get her smut on. When she is not reading and writing the naughty, Ever is usually found enjoying time with her kids and husband. www.evercoming.com
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If you loved Riding Her Unicorn, please enjoy this chapter of BLIND TRUST by Raci Ames, another sexy shifter book from the Woodland Creek series.
Smoke. It was everywhere. Gritty on her burning skin and dark in the air. Pia tried to see though it, looking for any light at all. Just seconds ago her entire world had burst with it - brighter and hotter than an explosion in a movie scene. She jumped from her bed, going towards the source until it had knocked her against the wall and prevented her from moving another inch. Terrified, she’d prayed for the glow to stop melting her eyes. And it had. The darkness set in. And she screamed.
The roar and the heat though, they’d stayed and increased along with a stabbing pain in her skull. She moved carefully, unsure which direction offered safety. Soon she bumped into a cool surface, virtual miracle in this inferno. Arms came around her and an unfamiliar voice deep with a Southern accent that didn’t belong in this Illinois town, whispered to her.
“Calm down, I’ve got you. Just listen carefully,” he said, slowly lifting her and cradling the petite brunette to his chest.
