by Ashlyn Chase
He squeezed her hand. “Like I told you before, I don’t do anything I don’t want to do. I’m not sure what else you need to know.”
“I guess I need to know why. If you’re only doing this because of your sister or because I’m warming your bed.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“It’s not ridiculous. I want to know. Does any of this need to protect me have to do with me, the person, not the ‘innocent victim’ or the not-so-innocent vixen? I have to tell you that if you think of me as a victim and intend to hide me away for the rest of my life—”
“I do not and will not . . .”
The waitress arrived with their drinks, and Vic looked relieved. He took a long draw on his beer, set the glass on the table and tapped it with two fingers. “Michele, I do know why, but maybe I’m just not prepared to tell you yet.”
What does he mean by that? “Okaaay . . .” She looked at her menu and occasionally glanced up at him. He appeared to be studying the entrees very intensely. She hoped if she remained quiet, he’d fill in the silence that had stretched out between them—maybe the words eluded him.
At last, he laid down his menu, clasped and stroked her hands. “It has a lot to do with you as a person.” He gave her a fleeting smile. “Did you want to know if we’re exclusive?”
“Well, that’s not what I was asking, but we should probably talk about that sometime.”
The waitress returned for their orders. Michele traced the little rivers of condensation down her water glass. She remembered that they had a date at home, for make-up sex. A little smile curled her lips.
“What are you thinking about?” Vic asked.
She leaned back in her seat and smiled into his eyes. “You.”
“Thinking about me makes you smile like that?”
Under the table, she kicked off her shoe and rubbed his leg with her foot.
“Ah.” He smiled too and raised one eyebrow. “Yes. I’m thinking about you too.” He licked his lips.
“I was thinking that as long as I have my own personal Eagle Scout, I should partake and enjoy—fully.”
“Honey, I’m starving, but if you don’t stop that, I’m liable to skip dinner and take you straight home for dessert.”
“Home.” Her voice cooled. “We’ve both used that word. But the closest thing to my home is Savern’s apartment, and I can’t go home.”
“Not yet.” He pulled her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. “Home is a relative term. You probably feel like you were just putting down roots and now they’ve been yanked up again. I’m not going to hold you captive, but for now, mi casa es su casa. I’m your devoted friend. I want you to feel at home with me.”
“Oddly, I do. I still think we were connected in the past somehow.”
He nodded and smiled. “I know what you mean.”
Then she put a devilish smile on her face and lowered her voice to a sexy whisper. “And I’m your devoted sex slave. I want you to feel at home in me.”
She guided her stockinged foot higher up his leg, probing. He parted his legs and let her continue until her big toe reached his crotch. He gave a little jump when her toe found his hard cock and rubbed.
He took in a deep breath and grinned. Vic’s face contorted from her relentless torture. Michele bit her lip and tried hard to keep a neutral expression on her face. He struggled to do the same. She hoped he would let her continue until he came, but she knew he wouldn’t. Mr. Eagle Scout wouldn’t take the chance of grunting or convulsing in his chair.
He grabbed her foot and growled. “Michele . . .”
“What’s the matter?”
“I think I can feel my sperm count rising.”
She raised her eyebrows. Cocking her head, she smiled and looked at him with the most innocent expression she could fake. “Oh dear.”
“But the food is coming,” he said, massaging her foot.
She smiled, straightened up and folded her hands on top of the table. “We’ll finish this later.”
“Mmm. I’m counting on it.”
Just as their waitress came back with their drinks and bread, the hostess rushed over and whispered something frantically into the server’s ear. It sounded as if a large party had just arrived and she needed someone to take the table.
Their waitress set down the tray, faced the hostess, and jammed her hands on her hips. “I’m getting slammed in the front and I’ve got a big one in the back. It’s a little too much for me.”
Vic and Michele stared at each other wide-eyed, then said, “Check please,” simultaneously.
* * * * *
Sunday morning Vic squinted at the sun streaming in his bedroom window. Michele was standing on the other side of the room, nude and exquisite, staring out the window at the river. His own personal centerfold.
His gaze wandered over her smooth back, down her long legs and back up to rest on her perfect buttocks. He didn’t want to disturb her. He enjoyed his view as much as she seemed to be enjoying hers. Soon, as if sensing his eyes roaming over her, she turned.
She was even more beautiful from the front.
“Mornin’, sunshine,” he said.
“Good morning.” She strolled to the bed and stood in front of him, letting him take in a full frontal picture of her, in all her exposed glory.
He reached for her. “Come here, beautiful.”
With one knee on the bed she extended her arms and moved into his embrace gracefully until he flipped her over on her back. She giggled.
He had a heavy coating of stubble that needed to be shaved. He had only intended to give her a peck, but she hungrily pulled his head toward hers, capturing his lips in a long, hot, wet kiss.
He moved his body to cover hers as best he could with his cock like a steel pipe sticking straight into her hip. She grabbed it and he gasped.
“Michele, don’t you ever get tired of constant sex?”
“No. Do you?”
“No. Go figure.”
She shrugged. “Is my healthy appetite a problem?”
Vic chuckled. “A problem? Oh, it’s a problem all right—a problem most men would love to have. I’m glad I’m the one helping you solve this problem.” It took no time at all before they were tangled in sheets and legs. Sucking, stroking, trembling, and moaning.
She freed her legs and spread them wide for him to enter. He sheathed himself and slid into her—and slowly out—and thrust in—and, oh . . . it was building already.
How many times had they made love over the last week? Eighteen? Twenty? Vic had lost count. The mounting sensation made him lose track of the question.
He paused, held her close, and rolled so she could be on top. They began the glorious rhythm again with Michele taking the lead. He rubbed and squeezed her breasts. She moaned and reared back letting him use his magic fingers on her. Soon she trembled and bucked until she screamed with an explosive orgasm. Collapsing on his chest, she groaned, “Oh, Lord and Lady!”
“Are you okay?”
“Oh, yes.” She pushed herself back up and rode him until her breath evened, and then she put a circular motion into her hips and ground into his pelvis until he moaned. Their sexual heat mounted with the delicious friction. His volcanic explosion came on fast and he experienced a shattering release. The aftershocks kept him jerking in short bursts.
At last he was tranquil. Panting, he pulled her down. “Woman, you rock my world.” She settled her head on his arm and shoulder.
Shortly after his breathing returned to normal she raised up and he shuddered with one last aftershock as he pulled out of her. She was quiet until she confessed in a low voice, “This is the last day of our week.”
He looked at her. Her eyebrows drooped and her eyes seemed cheerless. The thought of her leaving today made him miserable. It seemed as if she felt some impending loss too. It had been a rare luxury, or a privilege, to make love anytime he wanted to with his sexy nymph.
He placed a finger under her chin and kissed her on
the nose. “Don’t go.”
“I can’t keep depending on you like this. I feel awful about how much I’ve intruded already.”
“I wouldn’t call it an intrusion.” He kissed her deep and slow and tried to convince her that she couldn’t live without these kisses day and night. Damn. He was convincing himself. “C’mon. We’re supposed to meet Alex and Savern for breakfast. We’d better decide what it is we want to do and know exactly what we’re going to tell them.”
“I know what I want to do,” she said.
“What’s that?”
“Screw the restaurant. We just had breakfast.” She smiled coquettishly. “Do we have time for more?”
“Later, I promise.” He winked.
“I’ll hold you to that.
* * * * *
Vic, Michele, Alex, and Savern surrounded a fake butcher-block table in Steve’s Famous Diner. Vic watched Michele push her eggs around on the plate.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, Alex,” she said,” but I don’t want to move in with you. We haven’t lived together for quite a while, and I’m afraid you’ll be tempted to treat me like a child. Not only that, but I don’t want to put you in danger.”
Vic had decided to let Michele do the talking. So far, so good.
Alex was frowning at the paper he was peeling from his giant muffin. “How so?”
“If he comes after me again, and I’m at your house . . .”
“That’s not what I meant. How would I be treating you like a child?”
Michele sighed. “Well, for one thing, I’d like to invite Vic to my apartment or motel room—wherever I end up.”
“You can invite him to my house.”
She rolled her eyes. “Do I have to spell it out? If so, it’s spelled s-e-x.”
Alex’s posture suddenly straightened and his eyebrows shot up. “Jesus, Michele.”
“What the matter? Are you surprised? We’re having sex. Lots and lots of hot, sweaty, passionate sex—every night.”
“Do you have to be so brutally honest? You could have said you’d like to spend some time together, alone.”
She leaned against the booth’s high wooden back and folded her arms. “Honesty is part of my charm.”
Alex had taken a large bite of his muffin and had to talk around it. “Didn’t sound terribly charming to me.”
Vic wondered if he should add his two cents, but he’d probably make it worse. Instead, he tasted his coffee, decided it was too strong, and stirred some sugar into it.
Savern clicked her tongue and shook her head. “Alex, you just proved her point. If you can’t accept that she’s a sexual being with plenty of womanly lust . . .”
“It’s okay if you have lust, Savern” Alex said. “You’re not my stepdaughter.”
Savern bumped him with her elbow and spoke with a sly smile. “Many witches are wanton. That’s why Donovan be wantin’ Michele.”
Alex bristled. “She’s not wanton.” Then he playfully bumped her back. “I thought you might be, since you’re walking around with proof of a one-night-stand showing.”
Savern frowned, crossed her arms over the top of her swollen womb and slumped down in the booth. “Way to go, Alex.”
Michele shook her head and sighed. “It’s okay if Savern likes sex, but I can’t admit I like sex. Is that it?”
Vic adjusted in his seat. Change the subject. Talk about anything else. Say vampire monkeys from outer space have landed at the racetrack.
Alex shrugged. “You can like sex with a committed partner.”
“Thanks a lot, Alex. You know I’m not ready for that.”
“Why not? You’re twenty six, aren’t you?”
“Twenty seven.” Michele leaned forward and pointed with her fork as if it were her index finger. “That means I’m an adult capable of deciding what I need and want.” She rubbed Vic’s leg under the table.
Vic squirmed. “Um. Is it okay if I express an opinion on this?”
Michele and Alex both turned to him and said, “No,” at the same time.
Savern straightened her back against the wall of the booth. “Sure, Vic. Go ahead.”
“I was going to anyway.” Vic rubbed the back of his neck and tried to choose the right words. “Let’s get back to the main point—safety. Now that Donovan has discovered the apartment and a way in . . .” He cleared his throat. “I was going to suggest that Michele stay with me until we nail this son-of-a-bitch. He doesn’t know where I live—doesn’t know my name—and I want to teach Michele more self-defense tactics in my home gym.”
“That’s convenient,” Alex said.
Michele put her fists on the table. “Come on, Alex. Give us a break.”
He directed his next question to Vic. “So you’re teaching her self-defense?”
Vic looked at her, wondering if he should lie. She jumped in and said, “I don’t know nearly enough about it, yet. It could come in handy.”
Alex crossed his arms but nodded as if he approved. Then he said, “Why can’t you teach her that at my house?”
“Oh, for the love of . . .”
Vic slapped a hand over Michele’s mouth, and held it there. Michele glared at him. “Please, babe. Let me tell him that we need my equipment for that.” He bumped her knee with his under the table. Neither one of them had lied. He hadn’t taught her any self-defense yet, but he wanted to. Maybe sometime they’d learn how to grapple and wrestle each other without getting laid.
Savern put her fork down. “You know, that’s not a bad idea, Alex. Let Vic have some more time with her. Since Donovan can’t use magic against Michele, he’ll probably try to overpower her, physically, at some point.”
“Do you think it’s a good idea, Michele?” Vic rested his hand on her arm. He hoped the gesture would make him look attentive to her needs—not bossy.
Michele nodded and looked at Vic with a wide smile. “I’m okay with that—for a little while longer.”
Alex threw his hands in the air. “Well, I don’t know what to think!” He leveled his gaze at Vic. “I know you act like you care about her, but are you really prepared to do anything it takes? Would you die for her?”
“No offense, Alex, but you know I’d give all I’ve got and more. And it was you who introduced us in the first place.” Vic shot him a look that he hoped would remind Alex of their agreement. Yet, he had to address the man’s qualms. “Yes, there’s chemistry between us. It’s pretty powerful chemistry, I’ll admit that. Still, how far it goes is between us, don’t you think? If a serious relationship develops, it’s our business. I’ll be careful with her heart, I promise you that. And, yes, I’d put my life on the line to protect her. That’s just the way I am.”
They sat in silence staring at each other. Finally Alex turned to Michele. “So, you’re ready to live with this man?”
She shrugged. “Temporarily. Why does it concern you so much? I thought he was your trusted friend.”
Alex let out a long sigh. “Okay, but Savern shouldn’t be left alone, either.” He crossed his arms. “What if she lives with me, indefinitely? What do you two think of that?” Alex said it as if he expected an argument.
Michele looked toward her friend. “It’s her call.”
Savern shook her head. “I don’t think so. I tell you, Alex, I wasn’t crazy about that comment you made a minute ago.” She looked out the window while tapping the table with her fingernails.
Alex closed his eyes and dropped his head. “I’m sorry. You’re absolutely right. I didn’t mean to be an insensitive clod about your condition or the way it happened. Forgive me?”
She didn’t answer him.
Michele sighed. “Savern, I love you, and I really don’t want to endanger you and the baby. Alex didn’t mean anything judgmental by it. I think you know that.”
Savern begrudgingly turned to Alex and muttered, “You’re an ass, but not usually. Just today. You’re forgiven.”
Alex smiled, put his arm around Savern and gave her shoulder a s
queeze.
Vic saw his opportunity and jumped on it. “You’re right, Alex. Neither of them should be left vulnerable. Keeping them split up ought to help. It’s good of you to offer your home to keep Savern and her baby safe.”
Savern traced the condensation on the glass of milk in front of her with her finger. “I’m sorry if I sounded ungrateful, Alex. I appreciate the offer.”
Vic didn’t let her say, ‘but’. He leaned forward. “You see the wisdom in that, don’t you?” That was as direct as he dared be without laying a whole guilt trip on an expectant mother.
She nodded.
“Then it’s settled,” Alex said. “Savern will stay with me. Michele is yours—but only until it’s safe.” He stabbed his eggs with his fork.
Hallelujah. Michele’s hand wandered to Vic’s thigh and squeezed. When he looked at her she subtly pointed across the table. Alex was patting Savern’s leg and she let her head rest on his shoulder. Vic thought about what was happening with the other couple. It would be interesting to see if the clothes landed on the other floor.
Chapter 11
“You promised to take me to the shop,” Michele insisted. She had raised herself up enough to peek out the Volvo’s window.
Vic had the top down and his dark hair blew in the wind. “We’ll get there.”
“When? This isn’t exactly the most comfortable position.”
He smiled and reached over to pat her head. “Sorry, babe.”
“Oooh. Do you think you could patronize me a little more, please?” She frowned and crossed her arms.
“What could you possibly need at the shop? You have enough supplies at my house to open another shop.”
“I need my statue of Brigit. She’s the goddess-protector of children. I remembered that I haven’t done a spell to protect Savern’s baby.”
“Doesn’t protecting Savern count as protecting her baby?”
She let out a breath in a huff and rolled her eyes. “Typical man.”
“What?”
“If it’s inconvenient, skip it. It must not matter, says every guy. Well it does.”
“I never said that.” Vic waited and when she had nothing more to say, he braced his elbow on the open window resting his head against his fist.
