by Camryn Rhys
Only it was too soon to be feeling the tequila. The earth had started moving as soon as Kyle had sat down next to her.
Who am I kidding?
“I’ve never felt like this before,” Jamie ventured, as his hands slid from her shoulders, up to her neck, and threaded through her long, loose hair. “Or I’ve never let myself feel like this before. Or whatever.”
“Okay.”
“So it’s understandable, when I all of the sudden have feelings for someone, right on the tail of having ingested magick food, I would be suspicious.”
“Right.” He didn’t move, except his fingers on her neck, which were massaging her, coaxing her. And she wanted to just give in to them.
Why can’t I just give in to them?
“I still don’t know if I trust myself,” she blurted out.
His fingers didn’t stop moving along the base of her neck, and through her hair. “That’s okay.”
“And I’m not sure if what I’m feeling is magick or hormones or whatever, but—”
“If you want me to stop,” he whispered, “Just say the word.” His eyes were fixed on her mouth and his thumb snuck down to one side of her lips. “I’ve been thinking about you nonstop for two days, and if there’s any way I can just be touching you…” Kyle licked his lips as he traced the edge of her mouth with his thumb. His breaths were coming shallow, but he didn’t move any closer. He didn’t kiss her.
That should make me happy, shouldn’t it?
“I know the feeling,” Jamie found herself saying…or sighing… Something warm rushed through her when his finger brushed her earlobe. She lurched forward, planting a kiss on his lips that made fireworks explode behind her eyes. She’d been waiting for so long to kiss him—was it weeks? Years? It felt like forever.
Kyle slid his tongue along the seam of her lips and teased her mouth open. The slick pressure reminded her of having his face between her breasts. His tongue on other parts of her.
She wanted him.
“God, Jamie,” he whispered against her mouth, “I want you right now.”
Her fingers laced together, behind his head, and she held him tighter against her. She had to make a decision, and the pushing urgency inside wasn’t making it easier to think, but Jamie couldn’t get enough of him.
She looked around the dark corner of the restaurant and pulled him away from the bar by the collar of his shirt.
His hands skimmed her waist and he followed along, but he never took his hands off her.
Jamie led him halfway down the hall and pushed him in to the storage closet, unbuttoning the top of her white jeans. When she closed the door, it was almost pitch black, but she could still feel Kyle’s fingers on her arm, then on her waist, then helping her get her pants off. She shrugged out of them and went to work on his, leaning up to find his lips again.
“Are you sure?” he asked, a breathiness to his voice.
Instead of answering, she pushed his jeans down and slid her hand into his boxer shorts. Once her hand found the length of his dick, he gasped.
“Jamie, please,” he whispered. “I need you to say it.”
She released his erection and pulled him toward her, bringing his mouth down again to find hers. Jamie backed up against the wall and found something hard and sturdy, almost like a shelf, behind her. She sat on it, testing out the heft, and found it held her weight. There was some kind of plastic covering it, and she spread her legs wide, guiding him toward her.
“I want you, too.” She found his erection and whispered, “Right now.”
Kyle pushed into her and she blinked lazily against the darkness. She couldn’t see him, or his face, but she could hear the urgency in his groaning as he began a rhythm of thrusts.
The thing that she sat on made clicking noises each time he pushed into her, and Jamie put one hand behind her, where the plastic cover gave way into some kind of a cavity. She lost her balance and began laughing.
“What the hell is this thing you’re on?” he asked, re-positioning himself, and picking her up off the plastic. Her skin was tender where she’d been sitting on something with divots, but as soon as he pulled her away from her sitting position, his dick slid out of her, and she felt the lack.
“I don’t know, but let me get back on it,” she said, climbing back up to sit down. “It’s good leverage.”
“But you’re falling off.” Kyle’s voice had taken on an amused quality and, in her mind’s eye, Jamie could see his half-smirking face. “I don’t want to lose you.”
A warmth spread through her chest and she pulled him back between her legs, guiding him into her. “You’re not going to lose me.” His mouth crushed down on hers and he resumed his pace. The strange clicking noise continued, and she couldn’t help laughing again.
“Kyle,” she giggled. “Wait. Let me…” She leaned back one more time, trying to find a better leverage, and when she did, one of his hands slipped up inside her shirt. She gasped as his fingers found her nipple through her bra.
He lifted her shirt to expose her bra, and his mouth closed over one of her nipples.
Her mouth fell open and she tilted her hips just enough to give him full access. Kyle found a quick rhythm and was groaning into her shoulder when she pulled him up to meet her lips.
“Jamie.”
The sound of her name on his lips made her heart tighten. She clutched onto his body and drew herself as close as she could get.
He plunged in to her, over and over, his pace increasing with each thrust. When he finally exploded inside her, Jamie gripped his body with hers, holding him against her, willing him to stay.
Never to leave. Never to let their bodies or their souls part.
She clung to him, kissing his neck and cooing to him. She just wanted to stay this close forever.
“God, Jamie.” His words were ragged and his breath tickled her neck, but she just smiled.
“You know, I came here tonight not knowing what I felt.”
Kyle chuckled, his breath a gust on her skin. “Well, if this is indecision, I’d hate to see you when you really want something.”
Jamie pulled his head back until he was in front of her, and even though she couldn’t see him, she stared forward. “I really want you,” she said. “That’s the thing.”
“Yeah. I got that part.”
“No, you don’t understand what I mean.” Jamie opened her mouth to speak again, but the sound of the door jolted her.
A tiny sliver of light peeked into the other side of the room and she realized, they were behind the door.
“Just a warning, you two,” the familiar East Coast accent was barely more than a hissed whisper. “I’ve got to turn on the light.”
And with a flicking sound, the whole room was illuminated. It was a small place, probably a couple of horse lengths, and packed with boxes on one wall.
Jamie pulled her shirt down over her breasts and looked for her pants.
“Don’t worry,” the voice said again. “I don’t have to come in.”
Kyle met her eyes and he slid his hand over his face, calling out, “What can I get you?”
“On the top shelf, over by the old juke box, there’s a box of Republic Tequila with the front cut out,” the bartender said.
Jamie looked down and sighed. Juke box. She’d just had sex in the dark on a juke box. And without the aid of magick.
Shit. That says a lot.
Kyle ran his hand up over the boxes above their head and took out a big, brown bottle shaped like the state of Texas. He walked to the door and passed it around until it disappeared into the opening she couldn’t see. “Thanks, man,” he said. “You can leave the light on.”
“Thank you,” said the bartender, with a lift on the final word.
The door pulled closed, and Kyle came back to stand in front of her with a huge smile on his face. “Well, that was maybe the weirdest sex of my life.” He scratched his fingers across his forehead and sighed.
“Weirder than river
sex?” Jamie said, tracing her finger up his abdomen. “Weirder than tent sex?”
He raised an eyebrow. “Juke box sex is definitely the weirdest.”
She felt a laugh bubble up from deep inside her and she collapsed against him as they laughed together. She wrapped her arms around his neck and drew herself up his body, hanging against him.
Something about this felt so right, Jamie didn’t care where they’d been when they had sex. And she certainly didn’t care that someone had almost caught them. Of all the places they’d had sex in the last several days, this was the most un-public.
“We’re moving up in the world,” she said against his neck. “Next time, it might even be in a house. In a bed.” She kissed the hot skin below his ear. “And there may not even be anyone else in that house.”
Kyle rubbed his hands down her back. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
Jamie pulled back and looked in his eyes. That familiar deep blue with that familiar twinkly sparkle. He was becoming known to her. She almost knew what to expect from him, and she liked that. She liked the feeling of comfort he brought. “In the end,” she said, “Whether there was magick involved or not doesn’t really matter.” She traced her finger down the side of his face and touched his lips before she kissed them. “You’re a good man, Kyle Harris.”
“So, I take it, this means that I don’t get to make Brady make fire in his hand anymore.” A touch of a smile in his voice brought out the laughter inside her as well.
“You can ask my brother to do whatever you want.” The tingle of regret in her chest made her pull back from Kyle. “I’ve been avoiding my mom since we were all in the kitchen.”
“I think she’s here now,” he said, nodding toward the bar. “At least, she rode here with Brady.”
Jamie ran her tongue around her mouth and considered that information. Did she want to talk to her mother? She’d rather just relax in the store room on the uncomfortable juke box and have more sex with Kyle.
“I should go find her,” she said, kissing him again. The warmth of his lips made her want to sink right back into him and never leave. But she had work to do.
He bent down to retrieve her pants and panties. “Maybe we should get dressed first.”
She smacked his shoulder and took her clothes. It wasn’t easy to eat humble pie, but she’d been thinking about her mother, and why she’d done what she had. It was time to forgive her and move on.
If Mom was right, and Fate had a hand in everything, then Fate had used magick to bring her and Kyle together, which meant that Fate had used Mattie Banfield to do work that wouldn’t have otherwise been done.
It also meant Fate had brought Jamie to the Banfield family. And if magick was real, then Fate was real.
And her whole life, she’d known that she could trust Fate. So why would this be any different?
Chapter Twenty-One
Mattie Banfield wiped the bits of onion off the prep counter and into the bowl. She glanced up at Caleb Gallagher, who was standing over the grill with his wife. A smile crept up on her and she indulged it.
She’d known Caleb since she was a girl, since long before the white woods, and while the families had stayed mostly apart for her whole life, once the old Alpha of Caleb’s pack had passed away and Caleb became the Alpha himself, Mattie hadn’t been so much of a pariah.
She liked for the trail riders to spend their last night—the big Date Night—of the Singles’ rides at Caleb’s restaurant, the Blue Moon. Not because it was particularly amazing, but because it had that old West charm. Lamps made out of cowboy hats, chairs and tables from the seventies, a menu that would have made Guy Fieri proud.
The Blue Moon was Americana at its best. And Caleb employed his family there, so Mattie always felt like she was getting double duty out of the money they spent. On one hand, giving her clients a taste of rural life. On the other hand, supporting a friend.
Caleb and Gretchen were what the werewolves called Fated Mates, and every time Mattie saw them together, she understood exactly why they called it that. They’d been married for thirty-seven years, and Caleb still smiled whenever Gretchen walked into a room. He still pinched her ass when she walked by him at the grill. He still got growly and possessive when someone spoke ill of her in his presence.
They had everything Mattie had ever wanted.
“You’re crying.” Gretchen Gallagher passed her a white kitchen towel and glanced back at her husband. “That’s why I usually make him do the onions.” She waved at her eyes. “No mascara.”
“Oh, I’ll be fine.” Mattie wiped away the moisture. She hadn’t been crying because of the onions, but Gretchen didn’t need to know that.
As far as they knew, everything was copacetic in the Banfield household. Caleb was a little nosy when it came to Jamie and Paul because they were his family—although neither Jamie nor Paul knew that. As far as they were concerned, the Gallaghers were nice, if somewhat secretive family friends.
Even Brady didn’t know Caleb was a wolf. Let alone the other Gallaghers—some of whom he’d gone to school with. He didn’t know wolves existed at all, as far as she knew, and if he did, he hadn’t heard it from her. Some things weren’t meant for everyone’s ears.
“Thanks for offering to help out, Mats,” he said, clapping her on the back. “When you guys come in here, it’s every man for himself. Bein’ Friday night and all.”
Mattie dipped her knife into the soapy water and scrubbed the little bits of onion skin away, careful to wipe down and away from the sharp edge of the blade. She dried it on the nearest clean towel and slid it into the blade cover, then into the drawer.
The number of times she’d worked in this kitchen gave her more than a passing familiarity, and she turned toward the dinging bell when one of the servers came to the window.
Caleb had shimmied his way up to the pass-through and he grabbed the ticket off the rack.
“Another T-bone, Mats,” he said with a click of his tongue. “Your people certainly get their money’s worth.”
“Well, the only good thing on the menu is the steak,” she said with a ribbing smile.
Caleb smacked Gretchen’s ass and laughed. “Fire another steak, baby, and burn it this time.”
Mattie sunk her hands into the dish water and found a dirty plate. She was making quick work of the dishes when she saw her daughter’s face out the corner of her eye. She froze, with her hands in the hot water, and the smell of bleach from the other sink made her cough.
The Alpha turned around and a bright smile lit his rugged features. “Well, Jamie Banfield. As I live and breathe.”
“Hi, Uncle Caleb,” she said, sliding into his side and hugging him. The words still pinged Mattie’s heart when she said them, like Jamie knew the truth. But she didn’t. In the absence of real uncles, Jamie had latched on to the Gallaghers.
If she only knew.
Jamie had on these dressy white jeans and a flowy top that made her dark hair even more radiant against her wardrobe. Jamie was so beautiful, it sometimes stopped Mattie’s heart. She would have slit throats to be that beautiful at Jamie’s age. Or any age. But she was the spitting image of her biological mother.
Mattie looked at Caleb. I wonder if he sees it. But if he did, he didn’t show it.
“Have you met the new cook on the ranch?” Her daughter pulled Kyle forward and the two cooks shook hands.
“I hear you’re a proper chef, though,” Caleb said. “I should’ve put you to work and let Mattie take a load off.”
Kyle’s smile was somber, gentle, and he made quick eye-contact with her. She could tell by their body language that they’d at least sorted out some of their own will-they-or-won’t-they, but how Jamie would handle Mattie’s own secret-keeping…another story.
“Mattie does need to take a load off.” Kyle pointed to the sink. “Why don’t you let me wash those dishes? I think Jamie wants to talk to you.”
Mattie wiped her hands on her apron and untied it f
rom around her neck. She passed it to Kyle. “You’re going to need this, though. Caleb is a messy cook.”
She caught the Alpha’s eye, and he gave her a hard, narrow look. It wasn’t about the cooking comment. Anything that had to do with Jamie, Caleb was on the lookout for. She hadn’t wanted him to know that her daughter knew about the magick, because that would bring up a whole new set of issues that Mattie just couldn’t work up the stomach to deal with at the moment.
With as wide a smile as she could manage, she passed between Caleb and Gretchen, following Jamie out the kitchen. “Everything’s fine,” she whispered. “Don’t worry.”
But if Caleb was any judge of body language at all, he’d be able to tell, just like Mattie could, that everything wasn’t fine.
Jamie was still mad.
They walked all the way out of the kitchen, through the back hall, and into the cool night. Mattie didn’t want there to be any way that Caleb and his enhanced hearing could get wind of the fight she and Jamie would probably be having.
When the door closed, her daughter stood against it, her arms crossed.
Not a good sign.
“I think the magick is gone.”
“It should be,” Mattie said, a hopeful note in her voice.
“Kyle still loves me.”
“I knew he would.”
Jamie tapped her fingers on her arm. “And I still love him.”
Something jumped in Mattie’s chest and tears pressed behind her eyes. “I knew you would,” she said.
Whether Jamie could’ve admitted it or not, that had been the big question.
Her eyes took on a sheen of their own as she looked up at the blue neon sign that hovered over the building on stilts. She cleared her throat. “I wish you hadn’t lied to me.”
“I know.” Mattie’s voice shook just enough that her daughter looked back at her. “I didn’t want to hurt you. But if you knew the whole story…”
