by Tate James
“Honey, I didn’t mean to make you cry.” Preston’s voice was rough as he reached up and swiped away my tears.
I shook my head, my vision blurry. “Happy tears,” I mumbled. “Happy tears.”
I leaned forward and threw my arms around his neck, kissing him. “Yes,” I said against his lips. “Yes, I’ll stay.” Whatever Wilde might say, whatever Mrs. Young might say—I’d stay with them forever.
Preston kissed me back with reverence. Opening his mouth and letting me explore inside. I fell onto his chest as he lay back, his hands coming up to push my t-shirt around my ribs. I sat back, pulling my mouth away, ripping my t-shirt away before tugging on his as well. Preston sat up quickly, divesting himself of his shirt and tossing it to the ground. Then I was back on top of him, my hips astride his as I kissed him.
I groaned and rocked against the erection in his pants. His rough fingers traversed the ridges of my spine, sliding up into my hair and then down to the waistband of my shorts. His fingers dipped between my asscheeks until he cupped my core from behind. I moaned as his fingers played at the seam of my pussy.
“Preston,” I whispered hungrily. “Take me.”
I didn’t need to ask twice. Preston flipped me over and moved down my body, unsnapping my shorts with his teeth and then ripping them and my underwear down the rest of the way. I sat up and unclipped my bra throwing it to the side.
“You too,” I said quickly before he could drive me more insane. I touched the edge of his jeans and he groaned, shuffling back off the narrow bed. He freed himself and then slid his jeans away, coming back over me, naked and glorious and strong. I cried out as he took one of my nipples in his mouth.
“I love you, Jen.”
I cried out again as he surged against me, rubbing the head of his cock along my clit. He reached back, producing a condom. I took the packet from him, ripped it open, and slid it on. I couldn’t wait any longer. I was ready for him.
Preston gripped my hips with one hand and then smoothed his other down my back as he lifted me and placed me over him. We both sat up as I perched myself on his thighs while he sank down into me. All the way to the hilt until I could feel him in my bones. We groaned in unison.
“Honey...Jen…” I gasped as he started to move. I knew I wouldn’t last long. It was inevitable. I came on the third stroke, crying out and clenching down on him until he, too, came.
“No more misunderstandings,” I panted as he lay on top of me afterwards.
He shook his head, his hair sliding against my naked skin. “No more misunderstandings. You’re all mine—all ours.”
I leaned back, reaching up to cup his face between my palms. “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” I said, pressing my mouth to his. He kissed me back with a sweetness so intense, I felt my teeth ache.
“I have something for you,” he said when we parted. I leaned up and watched him curiously as he moved off the bed and rifled through his discarded clothes. I watched the lean muscles of his back bunch and release as he found what he was looking for and came back to me. Holding the sheet up and tucking them under my arms, I rested against his chest as he handed me a small box. I opened the top and nearly gasped at what I saw inside.
“It’s Leo…” I whispered. Or rather, it was a stone the same golden color as the majestic animal’s eyes.
“I went and checked on him today,” Preston confided. “He and the rest of the animals are doing fine. The rangers interrogated the two poachers and found their buddy at a hideout not too far away. They won’t be hurting any more animals.”
I held the necklace and the oval-shaped stone against my chest, blinking back tears as I tilted my head back and offered my lips up for another kiss. Preston smiled and acquiesced to my silent demand. “I love it,” I confided. “It’s beautiful.” Just like the great lion. Just like the man at my back. Just like this land that had once been so strange and new to me.
“You’re beautiful,” he replied. A blush stole over my cheeks, but I couldn’t stop the smile that bloomed.
“I’m glad Leo’s okay,” I said, sighing and resting against him. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
“It’s all thanks to you,” Preston said.
I turned my head and kissed the base of his throat, raising my face and reaching up with my free hand to grab the back of his head and guide him down to my mouth. He let me control the pace, touching him as I wanted to, holding him how I needed to. It was everything I could have wanted, everything I could have ever imagined, but only in my craziest, wildest dreams.
About the Author
To read more from this author please follow on Amazon:
Amazon.com/Lucy-Smoke/e/B073Y39DRG
Or visit her website:
www.lucysmoke.com
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF BANDIT
SHORT STORY
KEL CARPENTER
Description
Rysten doesn’t like animals, especially trash pandas with a mean streak.
But his mate, Ruby, is preparing for her move to Hell—and like any good mate, he agrees to watch the raccoon without any complaining. How much trouble could it be, after all?
Read A Day in the Life of Bandit for an exclusive sneak peek at what exactly Bandit gets up to every day Ruby is at work, and just how many ways a raccoon can emasculate a demon without breaking a sweat
*This short story is part of the greater world of Queen of the Damned.
1
A Day in the Life of Bandit
I really didn’t like the damned trash panda.
Yet, somehow, I was always the one that ended up watching him.
“Now be good, Bandit. Rysten is going to babysit for the day.” Ruby embraced the mask-faced vermin for the third time that morning and he let out a little wail. Her shoulders sagged, and she gave him a rueful look before turning to me.
“You sure you got this?” she asked. Her hair was pulled up in some kind of messy knot, but the long strands of sapphire slipped through and framed her face.
I gave her an easy smile and lied through my teeth. “Of course, love. Everything will be fine.”
No. It wouldn’t be fine. My day was going to be a fucking waste of time, but I wouldn’t tell her that. Even if the thought of babysitting the striped rat made me want to fester a plague of Ebola and watch a room full of humans die. Slowly.
She kissed me on the corner of the mouth and turned to leave. Behind her, the banshee rolled her eyes and started jamming the penthouse elevator button for the doors to close the very second Ruby stepped in. Either Ruby didn’t notice, or she pretended not to. The doors slid shut and for the third time that week, I was left alone with Bandit. The raccoon let out a huff and waddled off to start rubbing his black fur and disgusting musky scent all over the white furniture.
I ignored him and left him to it. I’d learned this week that telling him to stop only made it worse. The thing had an uncanny way of knowing how to get under my skin.
I retreated to my office to check on the program I had running to sweep the cameras across Portland for signs of the imp. He’d disappeared like smoke in the night and getting a trace on him was proving to be more difficult than we’d thought. So far, every time he’d turned up, the trail ran cold. It was strange the way he disappeared, but we would catch him eventually.
We always did.
I sank into the cool leather seat and zoned in on the program, fiddling with it to see what could be improved. I couldn’t have been working more than ten minutes when a loud crash came from the kitchen.
“Bloody hell…” I pushed the chair away from the desk and stalked down the hallway to see what the raccoon had gotten into.
Every single cabinet in the kitchen had been opened and the dishes pushed out. Broken pieces of glass and porcelain covered the counters and floors. Metal pots and pans lay discarded on their sides, and at the very back of the room, standing on top of the fridge, was the fucking raccoon.
“Now, listen here, mate. You really don’t wan
t to—” I lifted my hands and slowly made towards him like he was rabid.
What did the blasted thing do?
He shoved at the half-empty bottles of red wine, knocking them over. They fell through the air and landed with a smash, red liquid spraying the marble flooring and white cabinets.
Bandit lifted his head and started clapping, an evil glint in his eye.
I stopped and took a deep breath, running a hand through my hair. Ruby would never forgive me if I killed the little asshole. Or dropped him in the Siberian winter.
“You’re lucky she loves you,” I hissed.
The raccoon didn’t reply, only jumped down and skipped across the counters before launching himself into the living room where he disappeared down the hallway.
Yes, Ruby would be vexed if the little rat died, but I would be fucking elated.
Alas, that’s not how the world worked. Not the human world anyway. People apparently liked these fucking animals, or at least Ruby did.
I took a frustrated breath and started cleaning the kitchen. Sweeping up the broken shit was easy enough. Cleaning up the wine and little splinters of glass? Less so. Still, I scrubbed and bleached every inch of that kitchen until it shone again. After filling and tying off the second trash bag, I hefted both over my shoulder and debated between shadow walking and taking the elevator. It was only a short lift down and I didn’t want to attract unwanted attention to myself should someone be in the garage.
But the vermin...
Could I leave him here on his own? I knew humans had strange rules about leaving children home alone, and the thing was only two years-old according to Ruby…but taking him with would be a massive headache. Besides, Ruby left him home all the time. It couldn’t be that bad if she did it, right?
Maybe if I hurry…
With a sharp glance down the hall to where Bandit had disappeared, I pressed the button for the elevator and stepped inside. The apartment was all but silent when the doors slid shut. That should have been my first inclination that the striped rat was up to something.
I made the trip down to the garbage bin and back in less than three minutes. Really, there was no way he should be able to get up to anything in so little time… At least, that’s what I told myself as I shifted uneasily waiting for the damn door to open. The elevator pinged, and I braced myself for the worst.
The living room was quiet and nothing appeared broken or ruined. I walked forward, carefully inspecting the furniture and rugs as I went. His fur was everywhere, but he hadn’t pissed while I was gone or knocked anything over again. Maybe he really was done for the morning.
I brushed off the sense of unease as I went back to my office and the door was open. He opened the fucking door.
All of the monitors were black. Mostly. Some of them had lines of color: purple, blue, and red. The scent of raccoon piss hit me with a pungent vengeance. I stopped and crouched down to check the multiple computer cases on the ground. As I’d suspected, the cords were unplugged or chewed through, and one of the larger cases had a puddle of piss beneath it.
I let out a low growl and turned for the door.
“Bandit!” I yelled. “Bandit when I find you—”
CRASH!
I stood there, and for the first time in my immortal existence, I wondered how stay-at-home mothers did it. How did they not end up killing their children? After this, I had the utmost respect for anyone that chose to spend time with kids or pets. They were both germy and disgusting and protected by laws that I would have broken in the case of Bandit—were Ruby not a factor.
Staring at all my ruined gear, I couldn’t find it in me to give a shit what he had just broken. I was already going to need to order thousands of dollars in electronics to replace the shit he had literally pissed on—not to mention all the broken plates in the kitchen and the rare bottle of wine I had gifted to Ruby. Despite all of that, it was the time wasted that pissed me off. I’d have to start over hacking into the city’s cameras to look for the imp, and starting over means we are not tracking him now. While replacing the wine wouldn’t be terribly difficult, that particular bottle was quite old and one of her favorites. Finding another from that batch wouldn’t be easy to run down. Then there’s the matter of cleaning out all of the broken equipment and getting the stench of piss out of the carpet.
I sighed.
Nope. I couldn’t find the fucks to give.
That’s it. We were leaving.
I didn’t care where we went or what we did, but at least if he broke something outside of the apartment, I wouldn’t have to replace it. And if he went missing…well, that was an added bonus. I’d get Ruby a puppy once we settled in Hell. Women liked puppies, right? Nice animals. Docile. No grabby hands to climb with.
Now that gave me an idea. I knew exactly where I would take him for the day.
“Bandit! Oh, Bandit! We’re going on an adventure,” I called out to the raccoon as I came around the corner. He stood beside one of Allistair’s many mirrors—this mirror now lay in a thousand shattered pieces.
I ignored the urge to throttle him and instead went for my shoes. We had a field trip to go on.
I slipped my foot inside the first sneaker and froze.
“What the—?” I tugged the shoe off and lifted it, leaning in to take a whiff.
Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting.
I peeled the sock off that was now covered in raccoon feces and tossed both it and the ruined shoes in the trash.
Our excursion was on temporary hold.
First, I needed to find new shoes that he hadn’t already taken a dump in—then we were going out. Somewhere that he could be the feral animal he was without me having to care.
The dog park.
As it turns out, raccoons don’t care for wearing a leash. Who would have thought? Bandit sat on the compacted dirt beside me, hissing and spitting as he tried to forcibly remove the collar from his neck, but the dog park had rules. No collar. No entrance.
I pulled on the leash to get him to cut it out, but all the little bugger did was turn and hiss at me. A young woman walked by wearing a tracksuit and sneakers, her eyes were hidden behind dark sunglasses, but the firm tug of her lips as she pulled her golden retriever quite forcefully around us was telling. Two men walked by, one of them holding a puppy that was wriggling to get out of his arms to try and come see Bandit. Both owners stopped and stared at the raccoon for a second, then me. After thirty seconds of holding their stare, they turned and walked right back out of the gate, muttering about feral animals being diseased.
“Now, now. The other owners are giving you funny looks. Stop that.”
He did not stop.
A pack of three dogs were playing off to the side of Bandit. One great big black animal wrestled with a smaller russet brown one. They were a tangle of saliva and teeth that had me grimacing. The third stood off to the side barking. I couldn’t tell why. Maybe it didn’t like to be left out? Bandit let out a growl towards the noisy animal and all three turned his way. The one barking froze and slowly approached the hissing raccoon. Bandit drew himself back and bared his teeth, his coarse hairs standing on end.
It probably should have occurred to me that allowing another creature in his zone while he was angry wasn’t a good idea, but I didn’t particularly care. I was so ready for this day to be over and hand him back to Ruby.
The hesitant dog approached and whined, its tail wagging uncertainly. I don’t speak dog, but I think he wanted to play with Bandit. Unfortunately, Bandit liked to play with no one.
The raccoon turned and lunged. It was only my quick hand tugging on the leash that kept him from killing the damn thing. The dog let out a surprised yelp and backed away, its tail between its legs. Its owner seemed more preoccupied by the cell phone in his hand than the crying fur mass at his feet. I shook my head, but at least it was one less person giving me weird looks.
“How are you going to make friends acting like that?” I asked him.
Bandit retur
ned to clawing at the collar and gave me a death stare.
Maybe this wasn’t the greatest idea. I had a feeling I would need to start checking my shoes regularly.
A ringer beeped as my cell phone started vibrating.
“Rysten,” I answered.
“Hey,” Ruby paused, and the sound went dead for a moment before she was back. “So, I might have forgotten that Bandit had a vet appointment scheduled for today.”
“Okay.” Inside I was slowly shriveling up and dying. A vet appointment? With the trash panda?
Nope. Not happening. No fucking way—
“I’m kind of running late with a client. I was hoping you could take him and I could meet you there…”
Her voice trailed off, like my silence had clued her into how I might feel about this. I lowered the phone for a second to let out a heavy sigh. “I could call and ask Laran, if it’s too much of a—”
Any resistance I felt flew out the window. “Nope, I’d love to help.”
Fuck me. Did I really just say that?
Yeah. I did.
“Are you sure? I know Bandit hasn’t been the easiest for you…” she started, and while the concern in her voice was nice, there was no way in Hell I was handing this task off to Laran. He was already branded as the first mate and the raccoon liked him. I needed to earn some brownie points here if I was going to catch up.
“It’s no problem at all, love. Just let me know when and where.”
Right as I finished speaking, two other dogs approached Bandit, growling. He stopped tugging at the collar and paused for a heartbeat, then launched at the animals, swiping viscously. The owners ran up, yelling at me and Bandit as they pulled their animals away, sending both me and the raccoon filthy looks while muttering under their breaths about dog parks being for dogs.
