by Sam Hall
“Ah, someone’s hot for teacher!”
“You bloody . . .!” Tess raised a hand to whack me on the back of the head, then put it back in her lap with a curious smile.
"Tess?" She just continued to smile, mild as the Mona Lisa. “Tess, what are you going to do?”
“You’ll see.”
“No dinosaur porn or anything like that, OK? No matter what they think, it’s not physically possible.”
“Nope.”
"Or puppet porn, because eww."
"Nope."
“You’re not going to tell me, are you?”
She didn’t, which is why I woke up early the next morning, tired, sore and paranoid. Again, my apartment was peaceful and only had me in it. I whipped through a shower and change and ran downstairs. We could get breakfast from a drive-thru. I scanned the foyer, but there was no one except old Mrs Hughes, and she just gave me a grumpy scowl like usual. I grabbed my phone out and dialled Tess’s number, “You ready to go?”
“I’m the eldest, I can still kick your arse, you know,” I said to Tess, walking backwards towards the door of the shop.
“Bullshit! I’ve been training with the medieval fight club for . . . oh.”
“Medieval fight club? Dressing up in cosplay and pretending to hit each other with foam swords is not going to protect you,” I said, laughing. Tess’s eyes widened in alarm, I thought due to the singular viciousness of my repartee, then I traced her gaze over my shoulder. I spun around, all too late, walking straight into a wall of manly flesh. Arms went around my waist automatically, to stop me from going any further and then to prevent me from falling on my arse when I jerked back. I blinked, so bloody horrified my mind was temporarily unable to instruct my body to do the right thing and push itself away from the warm, hard body that was pressed against mine.
“You don’t want to go for a drink, then you throw yourself at me,” a familiar voice said. “I’m getting some mixed signals here, love.”
I shot a glare at Tess over my shoulder, who just grinned smugly. I pulled myself free from Gabe, or tried to, but was held in place by a pair of arms thick with muscle. I have to admit, for a moment, I stood there, a little limp. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I'd end up pressed against a body like this. Like, maybe he kicked puppies or stole money from little old ladies, maybe he was some kind of meth-dealing biker, but right now his character was not foremost in my mind. Right now the animal part of my brain couldn’t get past the sensation of a big hard body touching mine, making me feel small, soft and ready for something I dared not articulate. Slowly, to be sure I knew he was making this happen, he let me out of my lovely prison, though his fingers tangled with mine as I finally moved away. He held my hand as he checked me out, ostensibly to check if I was in one piece. That damned gorgeous smile only widened when he saw my face. OK, this had gone far enough. I tried to jerk my hand free, but he just held it in his and dragged me with him as we walked through the doorway into the shop.
“You holding the boss’s hand? Are you going to hold mine next?” Flea asked me with a cheeky grin.
"No, mate, she isn't," Gabe growled, forcing me back and slightly behind him.
"Seriously! This has got to. . . . Look, let me go right now, or I'll scream. Now." My hand was relinquished and the grin just got broader.
He dropped his mouth down to my ear and said, “You’ll be screaming tonight if I have anything to say about it.” I jerked away from him, beating a hasty retreat to behind the counter, dragging Tess with me. Holy grandmother, Batman, Gabe was the one affected by the curse! I did not have the time or the money to deal with a curse-addled tenant who could be our sole source of income. What was he going to be thinking tomorrow when he walked in here? And he has a girlfriend, a very sweet, jewellery-loving girlfriend, I reminded myself as my eyes dropped to his butt, showcased in a pair of tight faded jeans. Damnit! Eyes up, Ash!
“You’re dead,” I hissed at Tess after the boys disappeared into their side of the shop and snapped. “What did you read last night?”
“A biker romance.”
“What the hell is that?”
“Sons of Anarchy porn. You’ve never read any?”
“That’s a thing now? Of course, because Charlie Hunnam. Tess, the man has a girlfriend.”
“It will only last a day and your morals are too high to poach any woman’s man.”
“So, you’re just going to punish me, with that?” I jerked my thumb to the door. “What can you tell me about the plot? I need to know what I’m in for.”
“Nothing whatsoever,” Tess said with a smirk and unlocked the till.
11
“Which biker book did you read last night?” I shouted as I followed my sister into the storeroom. Jez jumped, but Tess just grinned. "Seriously, Tess."
"There's this whole genre of romance novels about 'alpha male' romantic leads. They're completely over the top as characters, but because they're 'hawt' the girls always fall for them. I figured billionaire wasn't going to cut it and pirate would be too hard to explain, so biker it is, seeing as we have a tattoo shop going up next door. . . ."
"SoA porn? Damn girl, now you're talking," Jez said, bumping knuckles with Tess. "I was wondering when you were gonna get sick of all this G-rated crap. You want bad boys books? Girl, I can hook you up."
“I think you’ve altered the poor man’s body! He looks taller, what do you reckon, Tess? Was he always that muscly? He’s probably down to 2% body fat, if that. Why are you laughing?”
“Probably has a twelve-inch dick, too,” my sister giggled. “They pack major salamis in these books.”
“And can breathe out his ears. Mm, maybe I need to go and have a look at this new mural,” Jez said with a purr.
"Jez . . ."
"C'mon, just a little sneaky peek. I’m not going to do anything."
"Ah jeez, fine, we have to at least pretend to be running the shop, so we can't all be in here. Is Merlin coming in for another lesson?"
Tess nodded, "He has our address now, so he'll come in via the portal," she said.
"Alright, so who's going to wait for him to knock? Tess? No surprises there."
"Have your look and then start going over the inventory. Amber is our sole client and apparently, she always wants more amber. Also, I want to start cross-referencing the most common purchases Nan was making with gold with what we have in stock. We also have to haul these books in."
"Oh, my God!" Jez didn't even try to hide it. She stuck her head around the door frame at the end of our counter that led into the tattoo shop and then flung her body back, fanning herself.
"What?" I snapped irritably. All she would do was point at the door and gulp air dramatically. "Stop being a dick, Jez." She persisted, making inarticulate grunting noises that were really getting on my nerves, so I put down the tray of jewellery I was looking at and marched over to the doorway. I made a pretence of opening and looking through a glass case right next to it, the buzzing sound of the tattoo gun ringing in my ears. I plucked out a green amber ring we'd missed. Not sure if that still fit Amber's bill, but I'd find out. There was also a pendant with amber, amethyst and tourmaline on it and a bracelet with small amber accents. I collected them then locked up the cabinet. I intended to have a quick glance as I went back to the counter, enough to agree that he was indeed hot, so we could get some work done, when I stopped in the doorway.
Flea sat with his back to me thankfully, hands covered in black latex gloves, tattoo gun in hand. Jez, with many of her own tatts, was not dumbstruck at that. No, it was Gabe lying shirtless and outstretched on the vinyl couch, arms crossed under his head, the muscles there popping out in stark relief. The many tattoos did nothing to mask the clear-cut shapes of his well-developed physique. Neither did the fact the fly of his jeans was partially undone, revealing the taut v of his hips on which Flea tattooed an image of a skull with a snake running through its eye socket.
Flea might not have been able to see me, but
Gabe sure could. I had thought his eyes were closed, but I saw the glimmer there all too late, as well as the slow grin. He twitched slightly under the needle, as if in pain. It wasn't pain. My eyes were drawn to the tattoo site, then lower where something . . . shifted just under his fly. I jerked myself away from the door, panting. It was then that I realised he had gone to work commando. “So, these might fit the bill,” Jez said with a knowing smile, passing me a handful of jewellery and wands. I nodded, grabbed a box and put each piece in carefully, one by one.
We worked through the inventory check and brought the books into the storeroom in almost complete silence. Jez, I think, remembered finally that I was her boss, and I could, indeed, sack her. After what felt like hours, Gabe came out of the tattoo parlour. His eyes remained on me as he reached down and redid his jeans’ button. I jerked my eyes down to the jewellery, gathering up the amber stash for his inspection. I did need to make more money; I didn’t need to poach someone else’s man. “So, we don’t have many more books to bring in,” he said, leaning over the counter, forcing me to meet his gaze.
“Great, I’m sure you’re just as tired of them as I am. Look, I found all the amber pieces we currently have in stock. I’ll keep them under the counter until next time your girlfriend is in.”
“Girlfriend?” his head jerked back and then a wide smile spread across his face. “Amber’s my sister.”
I frowned at this, “Seriously? You look nothing like each other.”
“You don’t believe me?” his eyes twinkled and he straightened up and pulled his phone from his pocket. I rolled my eyes, this was the oldest line in the book. “Here,” he said, holding out a scan of an old photo. The colours were washed out, the corners dog-eared but sure enough, there was a much shorter and skinnier teenage Gabe with a waif-thin Amber, sans tattoos.
“Oh.”
“You think I’d be doing this . . .,” he gestured to me then him, “if I had a girlfriend?”
“What is ‘this?’” I asked, imitating his gesture.
“Ash, c’mon.”
“What?”
“Seriously? You don’t feel this? Babe, the Snow White get-up was dead sexy. All sweet and innocent princess that was brazen enough to stick her hands down my pants and grab what she wanted, no apologies. Then something happened to put her back into her cage. Not sure if it’s the tenancy deal or you just haven’t had your morning coffee yet, but I can’t help wondering what it would take to get her to come out to play again.” He leant over the counter, broaching the distance between us with ease. “Because I think she’s just begging to play my favourite game, teasing you until you’re begging me to come, spreading you out naked on my bed, thighs wrapped around my head as I shove my fingers inside you, circling your clit with the tip of my—”
“Stop,” I gasped. As he spoke the words, I felt myself transported from the shop to another place, where I experienced just what he said. As his gaze slid over parts of my body, I felt just how taut, wet and damned ready I was to do just as he described. I forced myself to meet his gaze; his smile had softened to something darker and more heated. He was a picture of reined-back power; his stance as he leaned against the counter deceptively casual. Only I could see the tension in his body as he held himself back.
I have to admit, I sometimes made fun of Tess’s preoccupation with romance novels. I’d read plenty when I was growing up but cast them off when real boys became more interesting than the steel-jawed sex demons on the page. But there was something dizzying about seeing and talking to someone who belonged on their pages standing in my shop, offering to lick my clit. The cold hard realist in me was freaked. This had to be the spell. He’d seemed a little flirty before this, but nothing more than the usual polite, complimentary behaviour most people engaged in.
He stood up with a sigh, “That little brain of yours is ticking over right now, isn’t it? Look, I’m a pretty straightforward kind of guy. I don’t see the point of beating around the bush, so to speak. I’ve got some things to do, get the last of these bookshelves out. I’ll come back here at the end of the day and you can tell me yea or nay.” His fingers went to the hem of his t-shirt, my eyes widening as he pulled it from his body, slowly revealing every golden brown muscle before tucking it into the back of his jeans. “And Ash, I’m really hoping you say yes.”
12
It took quite some time for me to move from my spot and close my damn mouth. I'd had an array of Tess's book boyfriends hit me up over the months since the curse started, but knights spouting 'prithees and thous', or vampires who lit up like glitter balls had never been real tempting. Did I want to? If I was really honest, and there was no one else around to notice, I would have locked up the shop and dragged him into the backroom to have my way with him. It wasn't ever going to be more than sex, but there wasn't anything wrong than that.
But how would people react? I was a woman and as much as I hated it, the consequences of sleeping with someone always immediately sprung to mind. Tess would think it hysterically funny and probably start quizzing me on what I wanted to bang next, so she could alter her to be read list. Jez was pretty open about what she thought about lovers who conveniently disappeared at 4 a.m. But the guys, I really, really needed them to take this lease, especially as they'd started painting a mural on the wall.
I tried to push the offer from my mind by getting the books into the new storeroom library, both Tess and Jez remarking on my energy. Who knew that sexual temptation was better than a coffee? By the time late afternoon arrived, we’d gotten the books cleared away and had almost finished the stocktake when I heard the bells go on the door. "Jez, can you go in the back for a moment?" I asked, coming into the front. Sure enough, Gabe stood just inside the shop, shirt off, sweat beading on his skin, the sun casting kind of a halo around his head.
“Yep,” Jez said, looking from him to me. She swooped in close and whispered in my ear, "I want allll the deets tomorrow."
Without looking away from his eyes, I heard her move, then shut the storeroom door behind me. I took one step, then two towards him as he watched my every move. Somehow having no one else to watch what was going on allowed something I had struggled to keep a lid on all day slip free. I felt the heat–the want–inside me flare up. I looked him over like he was a side of meat and decided I very much wanted, no needed, to take a bite. When I was close enough to almost touch, I hissed, "What do you want to do to me?"
His eyes glittered at that, and I watched that golden throat swallow. He searched my face, my body as if looking for signs. In some ways this was a test, if he really was a manifestation of a romance novel, he'd talk only about my pleasure. It seemed wish fulfilment was a strong theme in romance, where super gorgeous guys were concerned only with servicing their partner, even willing to forgo their own pleasure to make sure the female lead had multiple earth-shattering orgasms. It kinda jerked me out of the story when I read them, no one was that selfless, but I get what they were trying to do. I'd had plenty of lovers who made sure I had a good time, but always, at the back of my mind when a guy was about to go down on me or do something to please me, was a feeling that I couldn't quite relax. I couldn't let it go on too long, or they'd get a sore jaw or hand or whatever, that I couldn't just indulge.
"I want to taste you," he said in a low rasp. "I want to strip you, lay you on your bed and lick every inch of you. I want to spread those legs as far as they can go and look at your glistening wet pussy. I want to eat you, shove my fingers into you until you come so many times you lose count."
I shouldn't do this. I was probably souring the business relationship that would keep us afloat. My mother would be completely appalled, but I realised this was my opportunity to have my wishes fulfilled, as many times as I liked. Refractory time was pretty awesome in romance novels. I smiled and placed a hand on his hot skin. "You want to ride in my car or follow on your bike?"
13
He followed me to my place. I stepped out into the quiet car park, it was early
and most people weren't home from work yet, when his bike roared up to be parked beside me. He had his leg over the bike in one second, his arms around me in the next. His mouth crushed into mine, hard lips nipping and his tongue flickering out to tangle with mine. I groaned as his hands grabbed at my butt, pulling me hard against the unbending bulge there. "I've been wanting to do that since the moment you put your hand under my shirt," he said between pants, resting his forehead against mine. "Tell me you're on the ground floor."
"First, but it’s only one flight of stairs."
We raced up to my apartment and were inside in what felt like a few moments. His hands were on me as soon as the door closed, digging into my hair, running along my back, pulling me hard against him. "Jesus," he hissed, "I can't get enough of you. Take these damned clothes off."
I pulled back and did something I never normally did. "You first," I said. This is my fantasy, I realised. I didn't have to worry about being too pushy, whether he liked my lumps and bumps or not. He was designed to be on board with everything I was, so I was going to enjoy the few hours I had left of that.
"I've been thinking about this body," Gabe said with a purr. "What's under this t-shirt, what these tits look like, how hard your nipples will get when I suck them, ever since we first met. My dick has been aching the whole damned time. I was about ready to chuck the tenancy agreement and waltz out of there, with you under my arm, so if you think I'm gonna wait . . ."
"If you take your clothes off, let me see, touch you a little, I'll fuck you in every way I find pleasurable, as many times as you can get it up until 4 a.m."
"What happens at 4 a.m.? You turn into a pumpkin?"
"You'll leave."
"I will, will I? What if you're loving this so much, you never want it to end?"
