Species Interaction

by Cheyenne Meadows

  Picking up the phone, I waited for the operator to answer. "Is our dinner ready yet?"

  Chapter 17

  Dinner over, I made a production of biting off the prominent part of one of the cupcakes, earning a groan from the guys.

  "These are good. You should try them."

  Both shook their heads, but continued to watch me.

  Swallowing, I pointed to the other trays. "I don't get it."

  "Get what?" Meat asked, his brow crinkling in confusion as he stared at the remaining desserts.

  "Why do the melons rings have donut holes? I can understand the pineapple because, well, that's just what they do with pineapples. But why does the cantaloupe have a hole? A big hole."

  Ducian shared a look with Meat. Grins appeared on their faces. "Decoration."

  I blinked at Ducky. "Decoration?" Taking another bite, I finished my cupcake.

  Meat nodded. "Think"—he tapped his chin, and then I could see the light bulb click on—"think the ring toss game."

  Perplexed, I gazed from him to the melons once more. "I throw those and try to make them land on a pole?" My face heated as I realized just what pole he spoke of.

  "Sort of. No throwing. More like eating dessert on a stick," Ducian said.

  "Isn't that messy? Sticky?" The words barreled out of my mouth.

  Both men grinned wickedly. "Oh, yeah."

  Shaking my head, I gestured toward the giant lifesavers. "What about those?" The question blurted out before I could consider the consequences.

  Ducian took the lead on this one. "Ever heard of a cock ring?"

  I could only blink, gape, and stare. "Like the melons?" My voice resembled a mouse squeak.

  Meat shook his head. "The melons are for flavor. The lifesavers have a more practical purpose."

  I shook my head. "I don't get it. I like the taste of lifesavers, especially the chewy ones."

  Ducian chuckled, reaching out to pick up a red ring. "These are a bit snugger than the melons."

  "So?"

  "They are used so a man can… hold off… his climax."

  I choked and coughed. Meat whapped me on the back.

  "Yeah, if those don't work, there are real ones made out of steel in that basket. Just in case cat boy here has a spring-loaded trigger."

  Meat flipped Ducian off. I started to wheeze. Impulsively, I covered my right eye, trying to still the annoying twitch.

  The guys settled on the loveseat, bracketing me in the middle. Chewing my lip, I quickly debated my options. Game time had arrived. Unfortunately, I couldn't participate. At the same time, the thought of rejecting Ducky broke my heart. After all, he kept to his promise of not dining on me for dinner and did eat the bad guy who attacked me at my kidnapping. He made for a fun and funny companion, but he didn't give me goose bumps, make me think naughty thoughts, or want my naked body to writhe all over his.

  "I never imagined I would participate in some sort of odd fetish," I attempted to both stall and explain.

  Ducian grinned devilishly. "You do know what the difference between normal and fetish is, don't you?"

  I shook my head.

  "Normal is what you do. Fetish is what other people do."

  Meat snorted.

  "So what does kinky mean then?"

  "Kinky is what three people do," Ducian whispered the answer in my ear.

  Meat cupped my chin, drawing my attention, as he leaned in for a meshing of lips. At the same time, I felt small butterfly kisses on my bare shoulder where the vampire scrunched my shirt sleeve up. His other hand meandered down my side, coming to a rest at my rear. He pinched, and I jumped.

  "Wait. Stop," I blurted, drawing back from Meat's mouth, taking some deep breaths to gain my composure.

  "Why?" Ducian asked as both men stared at me.

  With a sigh, I opted for sheer honesty. Shifting, I turned enough to face Ducian, while still being able to keep an eye on Meat at the same time. Reaching out with my right hand, I gently placed it on the vampire's cheek. Meeting his gaze, tears welled up as I sought the words I needed.

  "I'm sorry. I just… I just… can't."

  "About damn time you realized that," Meat growled from behind me.

  To my amazement, Ducian wrapped his fingers around my wrist, pulling my palm around for a nuzzling kiss. A slow smile graced his face. "I know."

  "Huh?" Blinking, I glimpsed Meat's frown before turning back to Ducky.

  "We're more than just stud muffins, you know. We do have brains."

  I shook my head, more confused than ever.

  "We both knew you wouldn't be able to go through with this. Why else would you have waited this long to do this weekend?" Meat pointed out, wrapping an arm about my waist, and tugging me back against his side. "Any other woman would have been signing up the first weekend possible and not wasted a single minute beating down the doors to get it on."

  I snorted and gave Meat an elbow to the gut. The overgrown housecat didn't even flinch.

  My attention returned to Ducian. "But… I…"

  He dropped my hand and gave a small wave. "Meat and I planned this all out already."

  "You did?"

  "Of course. We can't leave it up, willy-nilly, to women or we'd be sitting in this hotel room playing Old Maid for the next two days."

  Okay. He had a point.

  I intertwined my fingers with Meat's. "So what do we do now?"

  Ducian literally beamed. He jumped up, pulled out his cell phone, and punched in numbers.

  Unsure, I looked over my shoulder at Meat. He leaned forward, nipped my earlobe, and whispered, "You know the back-up winner for this prize?" I shrugged. I only knew her as the threat which lit a fire under me.

  Unless… The rat buzzard couldn't be thinking such a thing. Anger shot to the fore followed closely by sheer indignation.

  "What?"

  I wiggled from his hold, stood, then turned angry glares at them both. "I just said I couldn't sleep with another man. Now, you kick me off the hotel suite prize island, and replace me with some other woman? Tygerius Augustus! You… you… tomcat!"

  Meat chuckled. Ducian snapped his phone shut, laughing hard.

  Growling, I turned to stomp to the bedroom, when Ducian snagged me around the waist. I barely managed to refrain from smashing his toes, but did shoot him a look rife with retribution.

  He smiled down and pressed a quick kiss to my nose, earning a hiss from Meat. "Settle down. Catnip boy is messing with you."

  I swung around to glare at the kitty in question before returning my attention to the vampire. "Care to enlighten me?"

  "The backup winner, her name is Charity, by the way, anyway, she and I… well… have been seeing one another off an on." A small smile grew on Ducian's face as he spoke of her. "We knew you couldn't be with both of us. But, on the other hand, if you gave up the prize…"

  "She would take it in a heartbeat and…"

  "And be with me," Ducian finished.

  Still not quite clear, I tossed out the burning question. "And be with Meat, too?"

  "No." That came from the loveseat, where the man in question stood and walked over to join the conversation. "I wouldn't be with another woman, not when I have you."

  "Okay. I still don't get it. What are we going to do with me and this Charity?"

  Ducian sighed. "Charity is coming up here. She's willing to spend the weekend with me in one of the suite's bedrooms. You and the puss in boots can spend the weekend together in the other suite bedroom." The corners of his mouth kicked up.

  "Oh." Finally, things were starting to click into place. Meat and I could have time by ourselves. Ducky and his girlfriend could have days to revel in one another. Free meals, a hot tub, and every sex toy known to man awaited. That left one minor dilemma.

  "I call the non-scary bedroom!"

  Meat grabbed my hand, tugging me toward the far bedroom. "Chicken." His eyes flashed with mischief.

  "Bok. Bok." I grinned back, taking the opportunity to ogle his
rear as he led me to the entrance of the non-scary bedroom.

  A quiet knock at the suite door drew my attention. Ducian flew to answer it.

  The woman who appeared on the far side of the door surprised me. Not that I could see a lot about her from my vantage point across the room and Ducky's tall frame blotted out portions, but what I could see intrigued me. With all the women throwing themselves at the dancers each night, it would come to reason that the guys could have their choice of dozens of them. I pictured Ducian with a supermodel, a Playboy Bunny, a professional cheerleader. Never had it crossed my mind that he might choose someone more average. But it appeared he did just that.

  She looked to be about average height with shoulder-length straight brown hair. Her body could be considered pudgy by some. Not fat, but well rounded. Her jeans and royal blue blouse complemented curves. Certainly not the lithe, svelte form men seemed to be drawn to. Yet, at the same time, I couldn't recall ever seeing Ducian quite as enthralled with a woman.

  He immediately reached for her, enveloping her as if she were a long lost mate. They kissed, they laughed, and in a few seconds, they headed into the remaining bedroom.

  She might appear ordinary, but I could see, to Ducian, she was a step above all others.

  "Shy?"

  I pulled my focus away from the newly closed bedroom door and stepped into the large ornate bedroom, softly closing the door behind me. "Yes?"

  Meat stood beside the huge bed, busily unbuttoning his shirt. Leaving his task, he stalked over, banded me with his strong arms, and brought me flush against his body. His lips explored my earlobe, leaving a tiny love bite in their wake.

  I yawned.

  His brow crinkled. "Don't you…?"

  A rhythmic thumping began on the other side of the suite. Muffled squeals and screams followed.

  My slow brain took a second to realize the meaning of those particular sounds. Mental images followed, more than enough to send me back to therapy for a good month.

  "Omigod. They… I… I don't need to hear that!"

  Meat chuckled, swatting my bottom. "The woman with a monk fetish is squeamish about being an auditory voyeur?"

  I pulled out of his grasp and snorted. Spying the TV remote, I quickly grabbed it, punching the power button. A naked couple immediately appeared on the screen, making quite the racket with all the moans and groans as they familiarized themselves with the other person's parts. Flicking the volume button, I managed to drown out the noises coming from the other bedroom.

  Meat sat down on the corner of the bed, smiling as he watched me fidget with the remote. "You want to watch porn first?" His eyes twinkled.

  I rolled my eyes. "No. We're simply going to listen to the TV instead of Ducky and his girlfriend getting their groove on."

  His head tilted throwing his raven locks to one side. "What's the difference? Same sounds, same thing happening. Except with the porn you can watch it, too." Those eyebrows wiggled in emphasis.

  "Those are strangers." I pointed to the TV screen, avoiding looking at the nude actors. "Ducky isn't."

  "So?"

  "Ohhhhh." I picked up a pillow and whapped the dense kitty over the head. "I so don't need to hear Ducky having sex! I'll have to face him again sometime. When I do, I don't want to have flashbacks of… you know."

  A devilish grin flashed as he grabbed the pillow from my hands. His shirt tails parted farther with the action, revealing those toned abs and wide chest. "But he'll hear us having sex."

  Standing with a pillow in one hand, I paused in the process of smacking him again.

  Hadn't thought of that. Good grief. How embarrassing.

  A quick solution popped into my mind. I sent Meat a small 'I know the answer to this word problem' smile. "Nah. He won't hear us."

  He perked up. "How can he not?" Meat stood, coming to stand before me, leaning in close. "Vampires have excellent hearing, not as great as shape-shifters, but certainly much better than humans."

  Using my right hand, I pushed against his chest. "'Cause we're going to practice noiseless sex."

  "What?" His eyes widened even as his eyebrows shot up in surprise.

  "Simple. We have sex, we just don't make any noise while in the act."

  A loud scream came from the TV, followed by increasingly intense grunting.

  "You can't be serious."

  I nodded. "We can be quiet. How hard can it be anyway?"

  A slow sensual smile crossed his lips. Those eyes heated.

  Uh oh. I'd had seen that expression before and it never boded well for my modesty.

  Slowly stalking, he paused just short of our bodies meshing. "Baby."

  I craned my head back to watch his face.

  A soft butterfly kiss landed on my nose. "I'll make you forget all about the others."

  "Huh?" I retreated a step.

  He followed, confident and determined. "You don't believe I can get you so excited and needy that you can't think of anything else besides me, and scream my name in pleasure?" His large hand wrapped around my hip, giving a squeeze.

  "Ummmmm…" Those words were a good start. Shy parts sat up and took notice.

  "Is that a challenge?"

  I blinked and backed up farther. "What? No. Oh, no. Definitely not." Rule number one when dating a shape-shifter alpha: Never, ever, toss down a gauntlet.

  "Oh, I think you did." Meat licked my ear before heading to the bedroom door.

  Now I had one big horny kitty out to prove his manhood. One yummy, sexy alpha liger in his prime who knew each and every hot spot on a woman's body and prided himself on his abilities to expertly utilize each and every one of them. My belly flip flopped, and my mouth began to water. He hadn't laid a hand on me yet, and I squirmed with primal need.

  "Where are you going?" I blurted out.

  He flashed a smile wide enough to show off those fangs. "This calls for some melon rings."

  My mouth fell open. The scoundrel laughed. And the thump-thump started again across the suite.

  Chapter 18

  Waking, I noticed two pressing things immediately. First, I had to pee. Badly. Secondly, Meat wrapped around me like a powerful, warm and tight cocoon, busily snoring in my ear.

  Technically, a third item clamored for attention, it fell a bit lower on the totem pole. I made a mental note to avoid being near the shifter boyfriend when porn played over the TV screen. The extra stimulation turned a randy kitty into an insatiable horny toad and left me with a few aches and pains.

  I wiggled. I poked. I tickled. Just when I thought I would have to either punch the guy in the ribs or risk wetting the bed, I managed to extricate myself from his clutches.

  My panties lay on the far side of the bed right beside Meat's discarded shirt. Grabbing both items, I zipped into the bathroom. I could dig through my overnight bag for fresh panties, but figured that since I wore the pair in my hand for less than an hour, they could be considered clean. Wrinkled didn't count.

  A few minutes later, I managed to sneak out of the non-scary bedroom, leaving one big kitty sprawled across the middle of the bed. He dominated the bed just as he dominated everything else in his life. Made for a yummy picture, but was dang difficult to pry myself away without waking the beast.

  Closing the door softly behind me, I headed to the kitchen area with one thought in mind: food.

  I paused at the kitchen table, taking inventory of my options. Several melon rings remained from last night. Snarling my nose, I shook my head. After last night, I needed more than sticky fruit to survive another horny Meat workout. A plate of fresh muffins resting in a basket caught my eye. Someone must have dropped them by this morning while we all were sleeping. A little alarming that no one woke, but I quickly brushed it off. Both guys proved adept and able to take care of themselves and others given the need.

  The coffeemaker sat on the counter with half a dozen varieties of specialty ground coffee beside it. Not that I cared for the stuff, but I figured others might want some. So I quickly gra
bbed a bag, scooped some grounds into the filter and set the machine to work.

  A smaller half-sized fridge sat on the far counter. Intrigued, I tugged the door open and my nose crinkled at the sight. Rows and rows of plastic bags filled with blood lined both shelves, each sporting a white label with black markings. With a small shudder, I quickly shut the door. Not something I really needed to see this early in the morning.

  The stockpile of bagged blood didn't even put a dent in my ravenous appetite. Heading to the stainless steel full-sized refrigerator, I stuck my head inside, spying several items of normal food, including milk. I set the milk on the table then dug around until I found a plate and a glass in a nearby cabinet. Sitting down, I poured the milk and dug through the muffins until I found a fat blueberry flavored one. Just as I took the first bite, Charity sauntered in.

  She must have had the same idea as I, for she wore a wrinkled man's shirt, dutifully long enough to cover the necessities. Her hair appeared freshly brushed and she looked no worse for wear for her enthusiastic night.

  I gave her a small wave, then swallowed. "Hi."

  She studied me for a long moment then returned the greeting. Her gaze rose to the counter as she found the freshly made coffee.

  "Cabinet right above the coffeemaker is mugs." I sipped my milk.

  She found one and efficiently filled her cup with the steaming brew. "Thanks." A couple of steps later, she stood beside the table. "May I?"

  I gestured to the seat opposite me. "Sure."

  Charity took a seat, sniffed her coffee, took a sip, and released a sigh.

  I smiled. "Good stuff?"

  "Oh, yeah."

  Nodding, I went back to eating my muffin.

  "Hungry?" Her lips tilted up in a friendly way.

  "Starved, actually." I took a drink then rambled on, "For the last week, I've been eating everything in sight."

  Those words rang a warning bell in my head. I sat up and started doing some quick calculations.

  "You aren't pregnant," Charity assured me, wrapping both palms around her mug.

  I blinked her direction, completely puzzled at her comment. "How would you know?"

  She took a long sip before answering. "I've always heard that pregnant women have morning sickness and puke when first expecting. They don't get ravenous until later in the pregnancy."