by E A Price
“What are you doing here?” she griped when she was finally back on her feet.
“Waiting to see if you, ah…” He cleared his throat and tried to hide the arousal she had incited when she plopped her very round, soft ass in his lap. “I thought you were reading.”
“I was, I… stopped.” She smoothed out her sack-like cardigan.
Tomas nodded, and one of their usual awkward silences descended.
“Perhaps…” she started.
“Yes?” He almost leaped on that word, nearly scaring her in his eagerness.
“Ah… perhaps, I’m hungry.”
He frowned at her. “You don’t know?”
“No, I am hungry.”
“I’ll make you something,” he offered, relieved there was something he could actually do for her.
Mary’s nose scrunched. “You?”
He smiled slightly at the disbelief in her tone. “Sure.”
“You know how to cook?”
“Sure, why not me?” Yeah, he wasn’t the smartest guy around – in fact he was definitely tilting at the other end of the IQ scale. But he could manage cooking; he even enjoyed it.
Mary gestured up and down. “Well, have you seen you? I don’t mean to be rude but, you just don’t seem like the type who needs to learn.”
Tomas’ smile faltered a little. His brothers didn’t think they were the types either.
“How about grilled cheese?”
Mary almost smiled in return. “Okay.”
*
Tomas moved around the kitchen with ease. She scratched at her hand, not at all at ease. She had no idea where the other women were, but she would have loved to have one of them hanging around at that moment. She just didn’t know what to say. It had been so long since she had been really alone with a man. Except for Detective Hotsler but he didn’t count – he was more like a father, or like how she always wanted her father to be.
Every few seconds he flicked a look at her, caught her eye and then quickly looked away. Could he be even more nervous than her? No, not possible. He couldn’t be nervous. Why would he be nervous?
She watched as he chopped peppers with the ease of someone who did it all the time. In spite of all the lonely nights Mary had spent at home, she had never been able to master much other than how to use a microwave. She almost envied how easy he made it look.
“Do you like to cook?” she asked uncertainly.
His huge shoulders seemed to unstiffen slightly as they rolled in a shrug. “I guess.”
“You don’t know?” she said echoing his words, and then tittering out a laugh, uncertain of how he would react.
She clasped her hands together as they shook slightly. She had always been bashful when talking to men. Probably something to do with going to an all-girls school and being kept away from boys by over-zealous parents. Course, when she finally escaped for college, there was nothing they could do to stop her from speaking to boys… and more.
“I just have to do it.”
“Oh.” She deflated a little.
He licked his lips, seemingly in frustration. “I have to cook to help out my mom.”
Mary perked up. “Oh?”
“Uh, yeah.” He appeared encouraged by her interest. “I have six younger brothers. I’m the oldest.”
“Wow, six.”
“Soon to be seven.”
“Your mother’s pregnant?”
Tomas nodded.
“Wow, that’s… lovely.”
He snorted. “Yeah, get’s lovelier every time.”
Mary tinkled with laughter, and his handsome face blossomed into a full but rueful smile.
“I’m sure it’s nice to have so many siblings.”
“Humph. It’s loud, and there’s never any hot water.”
“No sisters?”
Tomas’ gaze flickered. “No. Do you have any brothers and sisters?”
Mary shook her head, pursing her lips. Tomas watched her warily. She was so concerned about his reactions that she hadn’t considered that he might worry about hers.
“Just me.”
“Must have been nice.”
“It wasn’t.”
Mary unclenched her hands and traced her finger over the table. She didn’t talk about her home life much with anyone. Only Elise. Probably because she didn’t have anyone else to talk to, but partly because she didn’t like to think about it.
“My parents were…”
Tomas stopped what he was doing to watch her. Her cheeks flamed under his scrutiny, and her eyes dipped, focusing on her own hand.
“They were… fanatical. We never had a TV because they thought watching it was a sin. We had to spend an hour praying every morning and at least an hour every night. They wouldn’t let me even talk to boys. Most of my childhood was spent being screamed at about how wicked I was, or being locked under the stairs…”
Her parents considered that even allowing her to look at a boy would lead to pregnancy. The time she talked to the plumber led to six hours of ‘correction’ locked under the stairs. As for when they caught her with the neighbor boy… that didn’t bear thinking about.
“I wouldn’t have minded a few siblings.”
But that certainly was not possible. No, her parents believed sex was a sin. They indulged until they conceived her – doing their duty and all that - and that was that – separate bedrooms all the way after.
She jumped at the sudden growling noise. She looked up to find Tomas, flashing with anger. Fear ripped through her for a few moments. Instinctively, she wanted to run away but fear kept her rooted.
“Bastards.”
Mary blinked at him.
“Where are they?”
She tilted her head at him. He was angry with her parents. Angry at the way they had treated her. Elise had a similar reaction when Mary finally divulged the truth. But then, Elise had become like a sister at that point. Perhaps Tomas was just a caring man.
Strange how easily she had told him the truth. It had taken months – nearly a year – to admit it to Elise. So used to being alone, confiding in people had not come easily. But spilling her guts to Tomas seemed natural.
She realized he was staring at her keenly, waiting for an answer.
“Oh, ah, they’re miles away – back home. I never see them anymore.”
Though they tended to send her a letter every year telling her how wicked she was. But they didn’t worry her. They wouldn’t travel to Los Lobos – they considered it a den of sin and would not sully themselves to visit it. No, they were hardly a blip on her worry radar anymore. That was all reserved for her stalker.
Tomas pressed his lips together for a few moments before nodding shortly and returning to grilling his sandwiches.
Mary watched his back, watched the way the muscles bunched and rippled as he moved. He was certainly well built, and she wasn’t the only woman to notice. He had gotten quite a lot of looks at the speed dating. Another reason she had run away so quickly – the pain of rejection was not something she needed. Why would he want plain little her when he could have anyone?
Maybe she should tell him about the stalker. No, couldn’t, not ready, not yet, maybe later, maybe never… Though she had told Maria, but the woman would keep her mouth shut – Mary was sure.
He handed her a sandwich, and she said thank you. He sat down and started wolfing his. It sure did smell good. She bit off a chunk and gratefully chewed. Oh – the flavors! Oh – the mouthwatering deliciousness. Oh – the holy hellfire!
“Ah, ah, ah!” she exclaimed trying to fan her mouth. “Hot, hot, hot!” Her mouth was on freaking fire!
“Shit!”
Tomas leaped up and grabbed some water from the refrigerator. He pulled Mary into his lap and held her steady as he poured the water down her mouth. Her eyes watered at the heat.
It took several minutes until she could calm down, all the while Tomas was rubbing her back, and another part of him was rubbing against her as well.
“Thank you,” she panted.
“I’m… I ah… I didn’t realize the peppers would be so spicy.”
He looked mortified, and Mary patted his arm.
“It’s okay; I’m just a lightweight. The sandwich is delicious.”
Tomas snorted. “You almost melted.”
“And it was still delicious,” she said stubbornly.
His huge hand rested on her waist; even through her thick clothing, she could feel the heat from his touch. She should probably move, except she kind of liked where she was sitting. She smiled, and he smiled back, his gorgeous face lighting up the room.
Tentatively, he raised his hand to her face. She held still, thinking he was going to push her hair out of her eyes – in the tender way he had at the speed dating. She moved towards his hand, yearning for any kind of intimate gesture, and just as she was about to get it, his blasted phone rang.
Tomas reached around her to grab it, growling as he did so. “My mom,” he muttered.
Mary clambered off his lap, trying not to eye the truly huge bulge in his trousers, though it was hard to look anywhere else. He caught her looking and red dusted his cheeks.
“I need to go.” He winced. “Family and that.”
Mary nodded and was surprised at just how disappointed she was to hear he was going.
*
Tomas didn’t like leaving Mary, particularly given that he seemed actually to be making progress with her, but he also didn’t want his mother to collapse from exhaustion. He knew her friends tried to help her, but they had their own ungrateful sons to take care of, and nobody in their right mind would want to take care of his brothers.
His mother had taken a break, fallen asleep and fell behind on making dinner – she needed help from Tomas to cook the feast like meal it took to feed their hungry family.
He did wonder if he should have brought Mary to dinner. Though on watching his brothers eat, he knew he had made the right decision. He also needed to cool down a little. When his mother called, his beast had been pushing him to kiss her, to taste her, to take her… and he was seriously considering all three. He needed to calm down – according to the leap rules; they weren’t supposed to do anything until she agreed to stay and they officially mated. Well, holding hands would probably be permitted. So would cuddling. Kissing would be okay… probably not just on the lips…
Tomas grabbed his glass of water and downed it in one. Cool it, he snarled at his beast. The last thing he wanted was a hard-on around his brothers – like they didn’t tease him enough.
“Where is this mate of yours?” demanded his father.
That was enough to dampen his arousal.
“Busy,” he grunted before shoveling some more mashed potato in his mouth.
“Your mother is run off her feet,” he complained.
Tomas scowled through the potatoes.
“I’m sure we will meet her soon,” said his mom while trying not to yawn.
His father shot her a look of disapproval that soon had her clamming up. The male was in an irritable mood and was intent on getting in Tomas’ face. His jaguar huffed – he was his father, he would not snarl at him… until he really deserved it.
“You were supposed to be on duty today.”
Tomas was one of the leap’s enforcers – they were in charge of security and pretty much doing anything the prime decided they should.
“Switched with David.”
He wanted to be near Mary, and the mated David understood that. Course, Tomas could have done without the winks, nudges and crude sex motions David made.
“You’re lazy that’s your problem,” complained his father. “Do you think the prime will keep you on if you let him down all the time? Don’t screw this up!”
His mother shook her head but would not disagree with his father. His mother was not what he would consider as being timid – not like Mary – but she doted on his father and agreed with him no matter what. While she yelled at his brothers, it did no good – she was very much a powerless figurehead.
Tomas ignored his father and focused on his mother who was virtually collapsing into her peas.
“I can clear up,” he said.
She smiled at him in thanks. “I think I’ll go have a lie-down.”
His father jumped to his feet, grinning. “I’ll come with you.”
“Not that sort of lie down,” she chastised mildly.
“We’ll see,” he crooned, patting her ass as he led her away.
Tomas sighed and got on with clearing the table.
“I saw some of the new females out and about,” said Carlos, “which one is Mary?”
“She’s the dumpy one,” sneered another brother, Eric.
The rest of them tittered in laughter, and his jaguar snapped. Tomas roared and grabbed his brother by the throat, pinning him to the wall.
“You will never speak of my mate again!”
His brother was sixteen – not too young for a sound thrashing. Fur pushed out of Tomas’ pores, and his claws lengthened, he was teetering on the edge of his shift, teetering on the edge of losing control entirely. The other brothers stared at him in shock, and he dropped Eric.
Yeah, big, stupid Tomas – did they really think they could talk about Mary that way and he would let them?
He looked at his brothers. “Clear. The. Table.”
They moved like they were on fire. He’d always had a little trouble controlling his temper, but he tried his hardest never to lose it at home. Maybe he should if this were the reaction he would get.
It didn’t really bother him what they thought of Mary. If they didn’t find her attractive, all the better – he didn’t want other males ogling her. But he would not tolerate them making fun of her. She was a sweet female – his female – and she deserved better. Better than him he was sure, but he was determined that she would be his. Mine.
Thirteen
Tomas walked into the guest house to find all four females watching a movie and munching popcorn. They paused on seeing him.
“Tomas!” exclaimed Mary.
“Mary,” he rumbled.
His cheeks flamed. Mary’s cheeks flamed.
“What are you doing here?” asked Sadie, her ruby red lips curling.
Yeah, she scared him at the speed dating too.
Given that he set his brothers cleaning the house, he found he had a little free time and couldn’t stand to stay home and listen to them dare each other to drink the cleaning fluids. So, he went to check up on his mate.
“Wanted to make sure Mary’s tongue is okay,” he blurted in the face of their inquiring looks.
Three heads whipped to look at Mary.
“Oh yes?” asked Laurel.
“What has she been doing with her tongue?” snickered Hester.
Mary turned puce as the other women laughed and she scuttled out of the room.
“It was a pepper,” he mumbled lumbering after her.
“Sorry,” he muttered as he found her in the kitchen.
Mary shook her head. “It’s okay; you didn’t do anything wrong. I don’t like being teased. I’m not used to it, I…” Her eyes ducked. “I don’t have many friends.”
His protective side kicked in. He knew too well what teasing felt like. “I will go tell them not to talk to you that way.”
Tomas was about to stalk away when two small hands gripped his arm. He stopped and stared at her in surprise and delight.
Touching! Touching already. Yeah, he had her in his lap twice already that day, but she had no choice either of those times and yeah, okay, maybe she was just trying to stop him from running off and probably making an ass of himself but still, it was touching!
“Please don’t, I don’t mind them really.”
“They upset you,” he grumbled. He had a flashback to his school years. Stupid, big Tomas – everyone made fun of him, until he snapped…
“Not really, I just get embarrassed. They’ve been really nice to me; please don’t upset them.�
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Mary looked at him with her huge brown eyes, pleading with him.
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Yeah, I… I want to make you happy.” Understatement of the year.
Mary blinked up at him, her dark brown eyes widening and he stared at them, noticing the flecks of green and amber. He hadn’t realized before because of the glasses, but they were rather spectacular.
“Thank you.”
He shrugged it away and looked down at her hands, still on his arm, enjoying it as long as he could. Which wasn’t long because naturally Mary jumped away from him and blushed again.
They watched each other in silence until Mary blurted, “My tongue is fine.”
“Good.”
She nodded. “How is your tongue?”
Laurel walked into the kitchen and looked at them both before turning around again. They could hear her giggles through the walls.
Mary placed her hands on her cheeks, looking horrified for a few moments before bursting into laughter. Tomas stared at her before doing the same.
On finally sobering he said, “Mine’s fine.”
“Good.”
She toyed with the hem of her cardigan. “The sandwich was really nice, thank you.”
“You ate it?” He was still kicking himself for adding those damn hot peppers. He was used to them, but he hadn’t given any thought to how Mary would react. Stupid grumbled his beast. Tomas agreed.
“Yes, it was a little fiery but I drank lots of water, and it was delicious.”
“Oh. You’re welcome.”
“You’re a wonderful cook.”
Tomas shrugged self-consciously, unused to flattery in any way. “It was just a grilled cheese.”
“Most people don’t use peppers or ham or three types of cheese,” she said enthusiastically. It was the most animated he had ever seen her, and he had to admit he enjoyed seeing her this way.
“I just make it how I like it.”
“That’s nice.” She smiled. “I hate cooking. Not my thing at all.”
“No?”
“No. I’m terrible at following the directions, and nothing seems to go well for me.”
“I like it. It’s easy for me. Not something I have to think about.”
