Beneath the Skin (de La Vega Cats)

by Lauren Dane

  She also smiled warmly and took Mia’s hand. “Hello! It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Grace Warden. Cade asked me to bring you back. He’s finishing up a phone call with his brother back in Seattle. Crazy stuff going on out there just now.”

  Mia knew of some of it. Witches disappearing, apparently kidnapped by mages who’d been bent on stealing their magick. Just as she knew it was one of the de La Vega sons who’d been aiding them and giving them information as to the whereabouts of Renee and Kendra so they could be taken. The reverberations of that still echoed through the jamboree.

  “Would you like some coffee? I just made a pot so it’s fresh and hot.” Grace brought her into an office that looked very much like a living room. Several small couches with low tables dotted the space. The view of the river was pretty spectacular as well.

  “Yes please. These offices are amazing,” she said as she sat where Grace had indicated.

  “I have a clinic. I’m a doctor you see. And I have a walk-in clinic downstairs but this afternoon I’m finished with appointments. So I come up here to do Alpha-type stuff but I don’t want a traditional office. I have that down there if I want it. But up here I can have the kids with me if I want. They’ve napped on these couches more than once. Oh and if you’re having a craving for goldfish crackers, I’ve got several metric tons of them in the closet.”

  Mia laughed. “That’s a nice thing. My parents own a wine shop, and my brothers and I grew up there on weekends and school holidays. During the summer my dad made us do inventory and all that stuff.”

  Grace brought over two mugs of coffee and some smaller containers. “Yes, they’re in training for the long hours of running a Pack. Family business just like yours.” She tipped her chin. “Cream and sugar if you like.” She sat, stirring hers, adding a dollop of milk.

  Grace took her in with eyes that didn’t miss a thing. But her posture remained at ease. Shifter to shifter, things were going well. It was easy to relax around the other woman.

  “So you’re a pilot.”

  “I am. And you’re in the market for one?”

  Grace nodded. “We are. They used to have a service. But it’s not totally safe. That ended up with my sister-in-law nearly dead. We like to avoid that, so we’ve been having one of Cade’s old buddies come out to handle it when we need it. But he lives in Alaska and that’s a hassle and it slows us down if we want to go right then. And sometimes it’s a ‘right then’ sort of thing. Can you handle that? Having only an hour or so before you have to fly one of us somewhere?”

  “Barring any emergencies, yes.”

  “And what is your definition of emergency?”

  Mia sipped her coffee and was glad to have something to do with her hands. “Someone in my family being in the hospital.”

  “All right, I can agree with that. I like your priorities.”

  She nearly laughed but didn’t. She did, however, really like Grace Warden.

  “You were decorated. In the military I mean.”

  Mia nodded.

  “So if say, one of us is threatened or under attack you could handle it?”

  “I’m a full-grown shifter. I can handle most things. And when I can’t, I know how to use a variety of weapons. But if you need a bodyguard, I don’t know that I’m your gal. I’ve been recovering from...an attack. I’m in physical therapy for it now. But I’m a pilot who can react to danger and help protect you. Not a bodyguard. I’m not at a hundred percent.”

  Grace cocked her head, quiet for a moment. “What happened?”

  She swallowed and told Grace the story. And when she was finished, she’d had no idea why she did so easily. Only that it had seemed natural to share with Grace.

  But the words had flown from her and with each one, the weight had become a little less.

  When Mia had finished, Grace put her mug down, her mouth in a hard line. “Sometimes, Mia, I wonder why some things happen. Why such horrible beings exist. I’m sure people will tell you things happen for a reason. But that was senseless. It makes me angry that anyone would harm you. Or anyone else for simply being what they are. I’m sorry.”

  “So I understand if you’d rather have someone else do the job.”

  Grace sat back and waved it away. “You’re able to fly still?”

  “Yes. Cade described the aircraft you’d need me to fly. I can easily handle them.”

  “Then I have no need for anyone else to do the job.”

  Cade came in moments later and holy cow he was gorgeous. Like heart-stoppingly beautiful. The connection between him and Grace was brilliant. Mia was pleased just to look at them. They were clearly made for one another.

  “We need to get Mia on the payroll immediately. I need to fly to DC tomorrow.” She turned back to Mia. “The old Alpha of National, Templeton Mancini, was poisoned with a degenerative compound several years ago. He survived, but has a great deal of medical issues still. He’s got his own doctor of course, but that doctor is easily scared by Templeton.”

  Cade laughed and shook Mia’s hand. “Grace is scarier than Templeton. I think Templeton loves that. So Grace goes and coos over him and takes the girls, our daughters that is, and everyone is happy.”

  And she walked out of the building three hours later with a job that paid enough to keep her in Boston and the beginnings of a new friendship. All in all, a very good day.

  Chapter Ten

  When Gibson walked through the door that night the smells of something amazing greeted him. He followed the scent and found her in his kitchen, barefoot, her hair in two braids, a snug T-shirt not hiding the lack of a bra.

  He approached and pulled her into his arms. “Best Wednesday night ever.”

  She grinned and kissed him soundly. “Not even over yet.”

  He kissed her again because he could and because having her there at the end of a long day made him happier than he’d probably wanted to admit to himself even a week before.

  “Do you like lasagna? If not fake it. I made two huge pans of it.”

  “A better question is who doesn’t like lasagna? Smells really good. To what do I owe the pleasure of this meal?”

  “Room and board.”

  He laughed. “The fact that you let me touch your tits makes up for that.”

  “Ha. You know, Gibson, you’re a big marshmallow underneath that snarly exterior. I won’t tell anyone, but I want you to know I know.”

  “I’m sure you’re mistaken. But what do you mean?”

  “I have a job.”

  “Really? Good news. Doing what?”

  “As if you didn’t know. I’m going to be a pilot for National. My first flight is tomorrow.”

  Damn, Cade moved fast. He’d only mentioned it to him that afternoon.

  “I got a call when I was cleaning out the back room at the shop. Rushed back here, got my business face on. Dario gave me a ride, by the way. He wouldn’t let me take a cab. He’s a nice man.”

  Of course Dario gave her a ride. As if anything else was going to happen. He gave her a ride to the shop that morning, and if he could have her in his or Dario’s custody all the time he’d have been more comfortable.

  “Anyway, it was obvious they learned of me from you. I appreciate that.”

  “They wouldn’t have hired you if they hadn’t felt you were right for the job. You got it on your own merits.”

  “Of course I did. But he wouldn’t have known about me without you. So thank you.”

  He shrugged. Happy that she was so happy.

  “It’s a quick trip. I’ll be back by the late afternoon. Just to DC with Grace.”

  “I’m going to send one of my men along. Don’t argue, people are trying to kill you.”

  “Grace said her personal guard would be going. Dave, I think she said his name w
as. I’m going to be carrying too.”

  He held back his growl. “Be that as it may. You’ll have a guard with you. That’s how it has to be so don’t fight me over it. If I can’t be with you, I’m going to send along someone. And I can’t tomorrow, I’m sorry.”

  “I’m not interested in anyone having to give up their life to be with me.” Her mouth hardened and he realized they were headed back to that place they’d been in the night before.

  “Didn’t I just say I couldn’t? I have meetings all day. If I was giving up my life wouldn’t I have cancelled them all and gone with you?”

  She eyed him carefully and he wanted to laugh.

  “You take me from happy to turned on to exasperated and then back to turned on in zero to three seconds.”

  “It’s a gift.” She kissed him again and turned back to the stove. “I really missed being able to cook big meals. I figure I’ll need to find a place with a giant kitchen. Dario’s dad runs a property management company so he’s got me looking at a few places.”

  He frowned at her back as she dug through his fridge.

  “I went grocery shopping today. Really, Gibson, you need more than olive oil and parmesan cheese to eat. You’re a growing boy.” She laughed as she pulled things out and put them on his counter.

  “You can give Dario or one of the others a list, and they’ll get it for you. The jamboree has an account at a few places nearby.”

  “I’m perfectly capable of grocery shopping. And as I told Dario when he tried that we have an account here business, I don’t work for de La Vega. I pay my own way. You didn’t pay for my food when I lived elsewhere, you don’t need to now.”

  He didn’t want her living anywhere else. There was no need for her to look for apartments when she was here. And they didn’t know how long this rogue-cat thing would last after all. She shouldn’t move out until he was sure she’d be safe. That wasn’t right now.

  “You should hold off on finding a place.”

  Suspicious, she turned to face him. “That so? Why?”

  “Because those cats are still out there. Because you’re safe here. I like it when you’re safe. And you don’t work for us, but you do live with me, and it’s my fridge and I say I pay for groceries. I have a job. If you had a job and I didn’t, would you expect me to pay for groceries?”

  “Nice try. But I do have a job. I work for my parents and as of tomorrow I’m working for National. I get paid a base salary and then bonuses for each job. I have money in savings. Those cats won’t always be out there. You’re good at your job and you’ll find them and everything will be safe and I’ll still need a place to live. Joe is back in two days so I can’t go back there. Or I could, but I don’t want to sleep on his couch any longer than I have to. And he’ll want to have ladies back to his place for sexytimes anyway.”

  He exhaled, trying to read her as she regarded him with a poker face. There was something going on in that head of hers and damned if he could figure it out. “I like you here.”

  She grinned. “Wasn’t so hard, was it?” She turned and stirred whatever she had in a pot on the stove.

  “Was there a doubt?” He kissed the back of her neck, his cat settling down as her scent hit his system.

  “It never hurts to say it out loud.”

  This relationship thing was complicated.

  “How long until the lasagna is done?”

  She turned to look at the oven timer. “We’ve got another twenty-five minutes.”

  “What about what you’re cooking right there?”

  “I was getting ready to put it on a back burner and put a lid on it.”

  He slid his hands around her waist and up her belly to find her breasts unfettered by a bra. He sighed, smiling against her skin.

  He pulled her away from the stove and over to the center island. Easily, he picked her up and sat her on the island, stepping between her thighs.

  She kissed his ears, knowing how sensitive they were, loving the way he growled low in his throat. She’d been with him long enough to recognize his turned-on growl. She knew that because she’d heard the pissed-off growl enough to know the difference.

  He pulled her shirt up and over her head. “I could feast on you all day long.”

  “Don’t ruin your dinner.”

  His teeth grazed over her nipples, one and the other and back again until she pounded on his back, wanting more than that. Needing all he had to give.

  He laid her back and pulled her jeans and underpants off. “I like the braids, by the way.”

  He had her naked on his kitchen counter and he commented on her braids. He made her laugh.

  “What’s so funny about that?”

  “You still have clothes on and you are not inside me. Lame.”

  He shook his head but he pulled his shirt off and then undid his rig, divesting himself of his weapons and then his pants and more weapons.

  “You’re like a small army.”

  “Gotta be. Brigands about.” He moved back to her but she bent to reach his cock before he could spread her thighs wider.

  “I want this in me.”

  He pulled her from the counter and spun her body so she faced it. “Feet apart.”

  His fingers slid through the slick folds of her pussy and he hissed as she pushed back against them when he dipped inside her.

  “Greedy.”

  “Mmm.”

  But the head of his cock was nudging into her body as she got to her tiptoes to get him deeper. “More.”

  “Patience. I don’t want to hurt you.”

  She angled herself and used her hands on the counter to push back, taking him in all the way in one hard movement. She shuddered as a small orgasm spread through her body, warming her.

  “Christ. You’re too much. Wait, wait.”

  “Don’t want to wait, Gibson. I want you in me all the way. Hard and fast.”

  She knew he liked it that way. His animal side just beneath the skin as he thrust into her. Possessing her. His fingers digging into the muscle of her hips hard enough to leave a bruise for a few hours.

  She liked it too.

  He snarled then as she tightened around him and then unleashed his desire. Fucking into her so hard she had to lock her elbows to keep from moving forward.

  In the reflection of the granite on the counters, she watched his face. The intensity of desire on his features, the light of his cat in his eyes. Hers rose in response, filling her senses with that twin nature.

  And then he licked her left shoulder and she whimpered at how good it was. At how much he meant to her. She’d look for another apartment just to have a fallback, but she liked living with him. Liked waking up sore and warm because after he’d woken her to fuck at three a.m., he’d pulled her close and held her tight until the alarm went off the next day.

  She liked him. Period.

  But she wanted him to admit it out loud. More than his careful skirting around it. More than his nearly saying it. She wanted him to ask her to stay. Wanted him to ask her to live with him, not just because it made her safe or he could keep an eye on her. But because he wanted to be with her all the time.

  He reached around and found her clit, sliding the pad of his finger over it in tiny circles. Over and over until she couldn’t hold it back anymore, and she came so hard she brought blood when she bit her bottom lip.

  His teeth grazed her shoulder and everything in her froze. Her cat seemed to roll inside her. She stretched her neck, exposing it to him in submission, and he growled, those grazing teeth suddenly grasping and biting the muscle.

  She came again, nearly collapsing as orgasm crashed again and again as he joined her, her flesh still in his teeth. As he marked her.

  * * *

  He couldn’t believe he’d marked he
r.

  But once she’d bared her neck and offered herself, his cat pushed, the man didn’t resist. He had to get his teeth into her skin and when he had and she’d come again, he fell into her so deeply he knew he’d taken a step into a place he couldn’t retreat from.

  He rested his forehead on her shoulder, eyes open, looking at it. At the mark of his teeth in her skin.

  He knew without asking that no one had marked her before.

  Just as he knew he’d be thinking about that mark all the next day as she flew Grace to DC and back. And that he’d be waiting for her at the National building to give her a ride back home. Where he’d celebrate the first day of her new job.

  Because she was far more than one of his cats.

  * * *

  It had been a good day. When she’d climbed into the cockpit of the Gulfstream, it had all come back to her in a rush. She’d fought back tears as she re-oriented herself. She’d flown midsize private jets a few times over the years, and this was one of her favorites.

  She could do this. She could fly planes and live the life she wanted to on her own terms and those shitheads down in LA could fuck off.

  Grace had settled in with her daughters and her bodyguard, Dave, along with Robby, one of Gibson’s men along to guard Mia. Thank goodness the plane was a good-sized one so everyone would fit comfortably, giant shifter males and all.

  Grace’s daughters had come along with their mother to see Templeton, who in turn was delighted to be fawned over and jumped on and slobber kissed by them. He’d even played dolls with them and in doing so, Mia had absolutely fallen for the charmer.

  His mate, Carla, had also been wonderful. Chatting with Grace and Mia about a trip they’d recently taken. While Templeton wasn’t strong enough to be Alpha anymore, he was still alive and had no plans to stop enjoying his life.

  As they’d left he pulled Mia aside.

  “It was a pleasure meeting you, Mia. I wanted to talk with you about something and I’m going to mess it up because I’m a man and I’m nosy and of course no one should have shared this with me, but shifters are a nosy bunch.”