Jean walked through the door with a few grocery bags and went right over to to Kate, leaning down and kissing her cheek tenderly. Marcus followed it up with another kiss and she felt the familiar flutter in her stomach. No matter how long they were together she hoped that excited feeling never went away. She wanted to be in love forever.
Cal squealed and ran over to his daddy’s wrapping one arm around each of their legs. There had been a moment when Kate feared telling her son about her strange arrangement. She often thought back to the conversation that she’d had with Maddy many years ago. Relationships like theirs were become more and more normal but it still made her nervous.
Then Marcus would point out that the number of people in their household was not the strangest thing about them and she somehow felt calmed by that. It should have made her nervous but it never did.
Marcus scooped Cal into his arms, pinching his chubby legs “Have you been good for mama? Holding the fort down?”
Cal squealed and nodded, clapping his hands together “Yes, Daddy!”
Because of his parents, Cal was becoming fluent in three languages and often changed between them with ease. It was always something that had impressed Kate. She smiled and stood, going over to them and leaning against Jean.
“Maddy is going to be here this evening. She already landed but she has to take the train out here” she explained.
It had been well over a year since she had last seen Maddy. They made the occasional visit back to the states but never stayed long. Kate had spent her whole life in the united states. She was curious about the rest of the world.
Jean smiled and kissed her black hair “Don’t worry, my love. We’re going to have a nice dinner all set up for her.”
He glanced at Marcus a moment “Did you get the guest bedroom ready.”
Marcus laughed a little nervously “Of course I did! But I’m gonna go check it just in case. I’m taking my little helper with me.” He said, bouncing Cal before running off.
Jean watched him go and shook his head “If you had told me ten years ago that he would be a father, I would have laughed at you.”
She wrapped her arms around Jean’s waist and smiled “Is it that hard to believe?”
“You weren’t the one stuck with him for three hundred years.”
Kate laughed a little and nodded “I guess you’re right.” She hummed, closing her eyes.
She enjoyed the feel of being close to them, any of them. She preferred to be close to all of her boys at once but that didn’t always happen. When it did, she cherished it. Falling asleep, squished between her two lovers was the best place in the world as far as Kate was concerned.
She turned her head and gazed out the window, watching the waves crash into the rocks. This felt like some kind of a dream. There were days where Kate questions if all of this was real or not.
If this was some kind of a dream, she hoped she never work up. Her life was far too perfect.
BONUS
DRAGON TRIP
By Rachel S. William
Chapter 1
Macy’s jaw swung open, her lips vibrating as she released a heavy sigh. She leaned over her desk, resting her elbows on the manuscript she had sprawled all in front of her and cupping her hands over her face, accidentally smudging the eyeliner she had spent far too much time on that morning, which, incidentally, resulted in her showing up late for work and being slammed with this awful manuscript to power through. One look at her watch told her that it was barely noon, not quite time for lunch and nowhere near time to go home and fall into a failure-induced coma.
Someone slammed their fist against the side of her cubicle. She groaned to herself and looked up, more than certain she would find her boss’s non-amused face looking back at her. Instead, she found herself staring at a pair of alluring green eyes, framed by a face that looked like it had been meticulously carved by Michelangelo himself. She blinked twice, forcing her face to remain straight and unemotional, as she murmured, “Yes,” at Jason, the man who sat just on the other side of her cubicle and found a way to torment her for at least 50% of every single one of her work-days.
He didn’t say anything at first, but shifted his gaze from the confused facial expression of hers pressing its way through her smudged makeup, to the mess of a word document becoming wrinkled by the indents of her elbows pressing into it. “What are you up to?” he demanded, his voice holding that tone of mischief she wished she wasn’t always so familiar with.
Macy rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulders. “I mean, isn’t it obvious?” she demanded, gesturing at the stack of papers in front of her.
He leaned in even closer to her, so much so that he must have been bent at a 90 degree angle.
But she held her stance, inhaled deep whiffs of his Calvin Klein over kill and tried her best not to think about the fact that she hadn’t actually had sex in over three months.
“You know that’s going to be a terrible book right?” he asked, in a low murmured.
Macy sucked in a deep breath. “Yes. I do. As a matter of fact, I picked it off of the slush pile myself.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Did it intrigue you?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I was just late this morning and Alexis was pissed.” She replied, looking back at her stack of terrible writing.
He nodded slowly. “You know, I just don’t understand why she would do that. That’s such a waste of everyone’s time.”
Macy shrugged, wondering why he was kissing up to her today of all days, when she looked like she had lost a fight with her entire make-up bag. “I know, but what are you gonna do?” she murmured, looking back down at her manuscript.
Jason leaned in still closer to her, placing his hand on her shoulder. She froze, her eyes wide in what could only be described as a strange combination of fear and surprise. Her skin crawled at the sensation of his warm breath caressing her neck. “Stage a coup?” He asked.
Macy scoffed. “I don’t know the first thing about this publishing company.” She replied, even though she could feel that he had successfully planted that seed of possibility in the back of her mind.
He chuckled, the sound of it bouncing around in her head. “Yes you do.” He replied, pointing at the stack in front of her, “You know that that’s terrible writing and it’s quite frankly, extremely insulting that you are being forced to read it.”
Macy couldn’t help but to laugh at this. She couldn’t deny the fact that he did have a point. Her whole life, the only thing she ever wanted to do was to work in a real publishing house. Now that she had her seat at Writer’s House, the only real thing between her and the corner office on the 27th floor was a couple of more years spent drowning in the slush pile. She looked up at him, his smile actually getting through to her for once.
He held out his hand to her. “Do you want a little break?” he asked.
Macy raised an eyebrow, her eyes darting from his outstretched hand, to the extreme look of mischief in his face. She shook her head. “I am afraid, I do not know what you are talking about.” She replied, clenching her jaw. She figured if she physically forced her lips shut, she could stop herself from completely relinquishing all of her control to Jason, who was always so much more attractive than she liked to admit that he was.
He winked at her. “Oh come on. How are you going to stage a coup when you’ve never even been to the basement?”
She couldn’t help but to giggle at this. “The basement?” she asked.
He nodded solemnly, his eyes boring right into her. “Yes. I can show you where the grease-monkeys live.” He offered.
There was something about Jason that always made it impossible for Macy to resist him, so, without fully understanding what it was that she was about to do, she stood up, an action that brought her within three inches of him. His eyes scanned the length of her body, picking up everything from her full quivering bottom lip, to the curves of her body, accentuated by the black mini dress she had only dared we
ar because it was laundry day and was certain Alexis would fire her on the spot if she ever saw her in jeans. “Okay fine. But if I don’t see a single monkey, I won’t ever trust you again.” She teased.
He scoffed. “I was completely unaware that you trusted me in the first place.” He replied as he led her down the hall to the elevator.
She shrugged as she reached in front of him to press the, “down,” button. As she stepped back, she was certain she could feel his eyes boring into her back, so she took the liberty of making sure her dress was pulled all the way down for the third time in the last five minutes.
Jason chuckled at this. “Don’t worry, honey. You’re not showing me your good stuff…” he replied.
The elevator arrived, the doors swinging open with a chime.
“Unfortunately….” He continued with a dark voice.
Aside from a short side-glance, Macy pretended she hadn’t heard any of that and pressed past him, getting into the elevator. He chuckled as he followed her in, letting the door close behind them. She bit her lip as her stomach lurched with the elevator’s quick speed. She folded her hands together and tried to pretend that Jason wasn’t staring at her the entire time. She could feel the heat in the small space as the two of them had become space heaters of sexual desire more so than anything else.
Finally, the bell chimed and the doors swung open, revealing what looked like a basement factory. “The printing press.” She breathed, her heart skipping at the magnificent sight.
Jason nodded. “Right you are.” He replied as he stepped in front of her, his hand outstretched behind him.
Macy stared at it, her gaze shifting from his long fingers to his eager eyes, but wasn’t entirely sure she should partake.
He then rolled his eyes. “Well, c’mon!” he urged.
Macy jumped, but grabbed his hand anyway, completely unable to resist.
“This place has actually been around since around the time the very first printing press was invented.” He explained as he led her down the isle of machines working basically of their own accord.
Macy smiled and nodded at the first person they came across, a stout man with long hair; he wore a tie at the base of his neck and a greasy smile stretched across his face. “How many people work down here?” she asked.
He shrugged. “I have absolutely no idea.” He replied. “Who would know that?”
Macy slowed to a stop, her gaze sweeping the room, taking in everything from the loud machines, pumping out millions of pages a minute to the men dotting the room, all equally greasy, equally stout and unassuming. She could tell that they were probably migrant workers, or people riding the base of the social latter, because who in their right mind, with a true choice, would choose to work in this place? Where they were underground without so much as a window to keep them updated on what was going on in the outside world.
Macy could feel a short story forming itself in the back of her mind, Jason yanked her arm, throwing her tentative creative thoughts out of her reach.
“C’mon, I have to show you something.” He explained as he continued on down the isles.
Eventually, they came to the end of the rows of workers and machines, and found themselves staring at a back wall. Macy gasped as she found herself staring at a wall covered in old newspaper clippings from The NewYorker, the Times, and even New York Times. There was everything from Pearl Harbor to studio 54, to Vietnam… It was a wall composed entirely of all the most beautifully exciting things that had happened before she was alive, much less competent enough to write about any of it.
Jason stepped behind her, placing both of his hands on each of her shoulders. “You see, the basement as a slush pile of its own.” He murmured into her ear as his hands slipped from her shoulders, caressing her upper arms. “I mean, it’s a hundred times more interesting… but still.” He replied.
Macy’s eyes went wide. “So you made this?” she breathed.
He nodded, planting a soft kiss on her cheek.
She froze. Call her stupid, but this was the last thing she would have expected from him on their little adventure to procrastinate on real, deadline-bound, work.
“Yes.” He whispered. “But I have one more thing to show you.” He replied.
Chapter 2
Jason grabbed her hand once again and led her down the side of the wall. Soon enough, they had traveled all the way to the right side of the room and were standing in front of a door. There was a set of blinds covering what looked like a mirror that ran the length of the entire door. Macy assumed she was looking at an office, which is why it completely floored her when Jason unhooked a set of keys from one of his back belt loops and let go of her hand for as long as it took to open the door.
Macy’s eyes went wide as she asked, “How did you get this key?” she asked as he grabbed her hand again and led her into the room.
He shrugged. “It was just lying around somewhere.” He replied in a nonchalant voice.
She blinked incessantly as he shut the door behind her and stood in front of it, patiently waiting for her to take in everything about the room. She gasped at the centerpiece of the aged oak desk on the far wall: a bonafide typewriter. She couldn’t believe she was actually staring at one. “Oh my God. This can’t be real!” she screeched as she rushed over to sit at the desk.
He nodded following her with calculated footsteps. “It is. I know how obsessed you are with stuff like this, so I thought it might make your day better to see it.”
Macy’s heart swelled. No one had ever been this thoughtful of her in a long time. In fact, since her last relationship, which ended far too long ago for her to still be justified in thinking about it in this way. “This is amazing!” She breathed as she punched one of the keys. A deep thump echoed through the room, reverberating through the wood of the desk as a puff of air filled the space in front of her.
He sat in the chair across from her a mischievous grin on his face. “Now, this is my secret hiding place, so don’t tell anyone about it.”
Macy raised an eyebrow, resting her elbows on the table in front of her and leaning into him. “Your secret hiding place?” she asked as her eyes caught sight of the small modern art piece above the door.
He nodded slowly. “I’m serious Macy. Some of us need just need to hide every once in a while.” He replied.
She could feel her skin crawling as goose bumps sprouted on top of it. Her stomach flipped, dipping low into her gut as he looked into her eyes and saw a real person staring back. A lump formed itself in her throat because she was nowhere ready to accept that reality. It was so much easier for her to be attracted to him when he was nothing more than a person in the cubicle next to her who may or may not have been physically attracted to her.
She nodded. “I wouldn’t dare.” But before she could even get that entire phrase out of her mouth, he gripped her by the back of her neck and kissed her. She froze, her eyes flashing wide open in surprise. In the next moment, she had melted into his embrace, their lips dancing together as they moving in perfect time, like two puzzle pieces a master designer had been looking to bring together for the longest of time.
There she was, finally kissing Jason, who had been the subject of many wet dreams in the past. When he ran his hands through her thick curls, her first thought was that she hadn’t washed her hair in almost two days now and he must be thinking she was a disgusting troll, but he thrust his tongue in her mouth and the warmth she felt between her thick legs made it impossible for her to continue to form coherent thoughts about what he must be thinking about her. In fact, every word belonging to the English language, or any real language for that matter had been swept from her mind.
Her dreams had given her an idea of what this might feel like, but they hadn’t prepared her for the true racing of her heart, or the way her eyes watered because she just wanted to be that much closer to him. From the way she saw it, at that moment, she had two options: to either stop it right then, come up with an excuse as to why it
was an entirely terrible idea for them to be involved as co-workers or whatever other bullshit excuse she could whip out of thin air, or she could have sex with him right then and there and eradicate any chance they ever had of becoming a relationship.
She chose the latter.
In the next moment, she had shifted the typewriter aside and climbed onto the desk. A wild worry of breaking the desk crossed her mind, but she ignored it, distracted by the sensation of his lips on the side of her neck. Her eyes went wide at this as she felt her nipples grow hard, pressing against her bra. She squeezed his strong arm as he slipped his hand in between her legs, his fingers grinding against her vulva through her panties. She gasped as he flicked her there.
He licked her cheek, then moved his lips lower and lower, until he was sucking on her neck. She ran her hands through his hair, gently moving his face much lower. The last thing she wanted was to leave her desk with Jason and a clear neck and to come back with a hickey the size of an orange. She moaned as she felt his hands fiddling with the zipper on the back of her dress. It easily came apart, leaving her chest free for his penetration. He slowly lifted the dress away from her front side, the release almost orgasmic in and of itself.
She struggled with the buttons on his shirt as he kissed her again, his thumbs rubbing her nipples getting them even harder and harder. She ripped his shirt off and bit his shoulder as slipped down to the ground.
He grunted at this, his deep chuckle filling the room as he ripped her bra off and threw it over his shoulder. His eyelids hung heavy over his smokey eyes as he got his fill of her breasts. “These are incredible.” He whispered as he began to suck on her nipples.
VAMPIRE:Vampire Guardian Series: Paranormal Mystery Vampire Alpha Male Romance (New Adult Contemporary Paranormal Royalty Fantasy Romance Collection)) Page 42
