“Aw, Jess. Can’t hold on much longer. You close?”
“Go,” she whispered, her fingers plucking at his flat nipple.
He cursed under his breath, a pithiness she didn’t catch but his desire, his desperation was clear.
He surged deep, his stroke strumming her clit. With his next thrust, she fell into more pleasure—this time gentle but still sweet and exquisite. Satisfying.
“Aw, Jess,” he whispered, his breath hot against her ear. He joined their lips and kissed her with passion, his tongue duplicating the motions of his cock. One more stroke. A second. A third decidedly deeper, harder thrust and his big body shuddered. He stilled, buried deep within her, and she held him tight.
Long moments later, he pulled free, and she mourned the loss, the weight of him. He kissed her—a slow, drugging kiss of passion—before he raised his head.
“That was incredible,” he said and snatched another quick kiss.
“He-haw!”
Jessalyn blinked while Manu gaped before his chortle escaped. Heat sneaked into her cheeks and she was fiercely glad of her darker skin tones that hid the worst of her embarrassment.
“I guess you heard that, huh? My taniwha.”
“Yep.”
“I never hear your taniwha.”
Manu stood and casually removed the condom. He walked into the en suite and returned. “I’ve had longer to forge a relationship. My dragon’s aware that in order to keep us both alive we have to remain hidden. Your taniwha will learn. Speak firmly to her.”
“Huh! Did you hear that Ms. Taniwha?”
“I’m in a sexual stupor. Don’t ruin my perfect mood.”
A snort escaped Jessalyn.
Manu’s expression turned quizzical. “Did I miss something?”
She rolled her eyes. “My taniwha approves of the sex and wishes for time alone to process.”
Manu’s broad smile sent her pulse rate skittering. “That will give us time to cuddle and recharge,” he said. “Because I agree with your taniwha. He-haw!”
12 – Danny Causes Chaos
Manu parked in Wynyard Quarter at ten the next morning. Today she lingered instead of escaping as she had in the past and leaned toward Manu to offer her mouth for a kiss. Instead of the quick meeting of lips she’d intended, their mouths clung and the slow dance of tongues had her primed for another round of glorious sex.
Unwillingly, she pulled back. “Hold that thought. See you later.”
“I’ll pick you up and we’ll go straight to Botany to find your father’s storage locker. Jack said he’ll have a list for me later today.”
“Thanks.” Jessalyn slipped from the vehicle. With a wave, she jogged from Wynyard Quarter toward the restaurants and the walking bridge that crossed to The Viaduct. A ring of an alarm and the flash of lights slowed her steps. Perfect. A launch or yacht was leaving the enclosed part of the harbor and required the bridge to lift in order to pass.
She glanced at her phone. She’d already cut it fine time-wise. Now she’d be officially late. Jessalyn scanned the surrounding people. Most wore impatience, equally impressed at the delay. Auckland. Everyone was always in a hurry. To pass the time, she made up stories about the people standing around her. The couple in business clothes—black suits and the smart white contrast—they were work colleagues, and the defined space between them hinted at an affair, especially since she intercepted their heated glance.
That man over there in the navy-blue hoody and faded jeans—Jessalyn stared harder, but the man darted out of sight. She frowned. He reminded her of Danny, but that couldn’t be right.
The bridge lowered and the restless pedestrians surged forward once the barrier arm lifted. Jessalyn glanced over her shoulder but didn’t spot the man again. She pushed aside her unease and lengthened her stride. The sooner she reached the pub, the quicker she’d face Chef’s wrath and move on with her day.
“Sorry, I’m late.” The words burst from her on seeing a scowling chef. “My friend always drops me at Wynyard Quarter because of the road work along Quay Street. They lifted the bridge to let two launches through and I had to wait.”
“We have two work groups in the function room today,” Chef snapped, ignoring her tardiness excuse. “One at twelve and the other at five-thirty. I need these onions chopped.” He gestured at a huge pile of red onions. “As soon as that’s completed, I want you to chop the ingredients for our range of salads.”
“Yes, Chef.” Jessalyn hid her groan at the onion assignment. She’d bawl for sure. While most places used pre-cut onions, Chef preferred fresh ingredients. She got to work, glad for Chef’s knife-skills training. The man might be a bad-tempered tyrant, but he passed on his expertise to those who wished to learn.
While she chopped the onions, she planned the meal she intended to cook for Manu. Roast beef and all the trimmings. Chef had taught her to make Yorkshire puddings and told her she’d done an excellent job, even if he’d stinted his praise.
With the onions done, Jessalyn washed her hands thoroughly before she collected a tissue to wipe her streaming eyes. Aware of Chef’s testy mood, she moved on to salad preparation.
“Jessalyn.” A barmaid appeared in the kitchen. “There’s a guy wanting you out front. Says he’s your boyfriend.”
“Manu?”
“I’ve no idea what his name is,” she said and flounced out.
Jessalyn wondered why Manu hadn’t sent a text. She’d confided about her irascible boss. She glanced warily at Chef.
“Finish the salad prep and you can take ten.”
A quarter of an hour later, Jessalyn left the kitchen and took the employee door to the bar. Two steps into the bar she came to an abrupt halt.
Danny.
Crap, what was she going to do? She didn’t want to talk to anyone from Piha. She started to retreat but too late.
“Jessalyn!” Danny jumped off his barstool.
“What are you doing here?” Wait! How had he found her?
“You’re my girlfriend. It worried me when you disappeared. This woman said you’d gone overseas. I knew that couldn’t be right.”
Before she could blink, he grabbed her in an embrace and kissed her. The kiss was just as slobbery as the others, and she wrenched away to scrub her mouth with her fingers.
“Quit kissing me,” she said, putting an extra foot between them in case he pounced again. He was fast. She’d give him that. “I’m not your girlfriend.”
“Who have you been kissing?” The question emerged from him in a snarl.
“What?” How had he known? Oh! Of course. Taniwha senses. Could he tell she’d spent time with Manu? She gave a tentative sniff and discerned nothing but onions and Danny’s aftershave. Too strong. After another sniff, she backed away in self-protection. If he had a taniwha within him, the strong odor hid his otherness, although maybe that was the point of the stinky aftershave. Jessalyn needed to ask Manu for dragon-recognizing hints.
“You’ve got bruises on your neck.”
Jessalyn adjusted her polo shirt. “None of your business.”
“I’m your boyfriend!”
“I thought you were my friend,” Jessalyn snapped back. “Obviously, I was mistaken.” She whirled, intent on escape.
Danny grasped her forearm, preventing her escape. “Can we go somewhere to talk?”
“I have ten minutes before Chef is expecting me back at work.”
Danny dragged her to a booth. He pushed her down on the seat and slid in, trapping her in place. She drew a sharp breath, ready to rain down home truths about his highhandedness.
“Why are you working here? Why did you leave without telling anyone?”
The bald questions pierced some of her indignation, raised her guilt. She should’ve told Danny she was leaving, yet the things she’d learned of the Waaka family and Karen stilled her apology.
“It was an impulse. I needed money to keep up with the mortgage payments. My job at the library was temporary. There was nothing to hold me in Piha. How di
d you find me, anyway?”
“I’m your boyfriend. You should have told me.” His voice rose, attracting the attention of a group of businessmen sitting at a nearby table.
“You are not,” Jessalyn snapped. “Let me out. My break is finished.”
“No, we have to work this out. I want to marry you.” Desperation coated his words.
“Let. Me. Out.”
His eyes widened a fraction before implacability stamped into his features. “Not until you come to your senses. We’re perfect together. You know it’s true.”
Jessalyn glanced at her phone and muttered a swear word. Her ten-minute break had flown. Danny’s stubbornness was legendary in Piha and amongst his friends. Once he set his mind, he became intractable and infuriating.
“One last time. Let me out so I can go back to work.”
“I want to announce our engagement. I’ve got the ring with me.”
The second he took his gaze off her to fumble in his pocket, she leaped up and over the table, her agility taking Danny by surprise. Her too, but she didn’t dwell on the how and made her escape. Danny moved with a preternatural hustle and grabbed her shoulder, his grip painful in its intensity.
She shook him off, her countermove also taking him unawares. With a burst of speed, she shoved through the door and into the kitchen. With her apron back in place, she turned to Chef.
“What would you like me to do next?”
“I’ll show you how to pipe the filling into the pastry cases. I need one hundred for lunch in an hour.” He demonstrated and watched her efforts, evidently satisfied when he moved to speak with the other two kitchenhands.
Jessalyn piped the savory filling on automatic, getting up a rhythm. Her mind went straight to Danny. How had he found her? His insistence they were engaged and getting married bothered her even more. Danny was laid back rather than intense. Someone else was behind his declaration and it didn’t bode well for her. It meant other Waaka taniwha were watching her, spying on her every move. She needed to contact Manu and ask his opinion.
After finishing her task, she moved on to making mini trifles in shot glasses.
A bartender—a male this time—ran into the kitchen. “Jessalyn, your boyfriend is making a scene in the bar.”
“He’s not my boyfriend. He’s someone I know from Piha.”
“I don’t care. He’s drunk and rude.”
Jessalyn glanced at Chef. He gave a curt nod. “Get him to leave and come back to work.”
She stomped after the bartender, temper simmering. She enjoyed this job and was learning new skills. If Danny wrecked this for her, she’d never forgive him.
Danny was sitting at the bar and had two shot glasses in front of him, one of which was still full of a golden liquid. Probably his preferred bourbon.
“You have to leave. You’ll get me fired, and I like this job.” She grasped his arm and tugged. He crashed off the barstool, knocking her off her feet. He picked himself up and staggered into a man carrying three draft beers. The glasses went flying, the beer splashing a group of women. Their screeches of protest hurt Jessalyn’s ears.
A security man appeared, and Jessalyn cursed under her breath. This wasn’t good. On a weekday, security never started until five, which meant the bar manager had called this man in specially.
Jessalyn sprang up and grabbed Danny’s hand. “Come on, we need to leave.”
“Are you coming with me?”
“Yes,” Jessalyn lied and took him by the arm.
How much had he drunk while he’d been here? He didn’t usually get this bad from alcohol. He and his cousins could drink anyone under the table and made a game of it with summer visitors to Piha. She attempted to haul him to the pub entrance, but Danny wasn’t having any of the hustled exit.
“I’m not going anywhere until you promise to marry me.”
“We’re not that sort of friends,” Jessalyn said, irritated by his insistence. “I know your bad habits. That’s enough to put me off marriage. Besides, we’d drive each other crazy. You’re bossy with your girlfriends. I wouldn’t let you get away with that. Admit it. We’d be miserable.”
“We’re perfect together. We’ll get married.” Danny’s face contorted with determination. He wrenched away, stumbled, and sent a table flying. With it, numerous drinks and three newly delivered meals smashed to the floor.
Shouts erupted. Insults. Tempers snapped and fists flew. In the blink of an eye, Jessalyn found herself in the midst of a fight. A thin, tattooed man clipped her on the jaw and knocked her against the security man who’d waded in to stop the melee.
“Sorry,” Jessalyn said. “He pushed me.” She scuttled out of the way, appalled at the drama Danny had created.
“Jessalyn,” a harsh voice drew her attention.
She turned to face Will, the bar manager, the man responsible for the smooth running of the entire pub. The early lunch crowd had thinned, and she quailed at the man’s severe displeasure.
“Get your things. I’ll send your final pay on to you,” he bit out.
“B-but I haven’t d-done anything,” she stammered.
“This is the second disturbance your boyfriend has caused today. You’re disrupting business and chasing away our customers.” Will’s implacable expression told Jessalyn this was his final decision.
“Jessalyn. Jessalyn!” Danny howled.
She glowered in his direction, gathered her fury around her, and stalked through the employee door.
“Jessalyn,” Chef called. “What the devil are you doing? I need you in here.”
“Will sacked me.” She marched to the staff locker room to grab her daypack. When she exited, Chef and Will were screaming at each other.
The red-faced bar manager spotted her, and anger turned his features hard. “I thought I told you to leave.”
“I’m going.” Jessalyn stomped out the rear entrance and jogged to Britomart Train Station. Danny could be anywhere, and she had no interest in finding him. Much safer for him too, because if she saw him anytime soon, she’d be tempted to pop him in the nose.
Her eyes stung, and she swallowed hard, determined not to cry. This was a setback, not the end of the world.
She’d find another job.
Her phone rang as she tagged her Hop card and walked onto the platform. The next train to Papakura left in ten minutes. She checked the number and didn’t recognize it. At least it wasn’t Danny intent on continuing his crazy demands of engagements and weddings.
“Hello, Jessalyn speaking.”
“This is Amy from Waitakere Real Estate. I have a business couple who are interested in renting your house. They’re willing to pay the asking price of five-hundred-and-twenty-five dollars per week during the official summer period. They asked if you’d consider a reduced rental of four-hundred-and-twenty-five dollars during winter.”
“So they require a long-term rental?”
“They do. She works from home. A writer, while he works remotely for part of the week. Your property is ideal for them. Close enough to the city but at the beach too.”
“Done. Are they happy to keep the remaining furniture or do you need me to clear that for them?”
“They’re newly married and starting out. This situation works well for them,” Amy said. “When can you sign the rental agreement?”
“Is it possible to email it to me? I can courier it back to you.”
With the business details clarified, Jessalyn hung up, her bad mood lightening a fraction. She must’ve looked a little crazy because an elderly woman sitting nearby stood and shuffled farther down the platform, sneaking wary peeks to monitor Jessalyn’s behavior.
“Have a little decorum.”
“So now you make an appearance,” Jessalyn said. Her taniwha’s silence had worried her—not that she’d ever admit to relief at her presence.
“Shush! Don’t talk aloud. The humans will think you’re crazy.”
“Point taken,” Jessalyn murmured. “You’ve been quiet
.”
“Sexual hangover.”
Jessalyn considered that for a second. “No comment.”
The train arrived and the elderly woman paused for Jessalyn to enter a carriage before scuttling farther down the platform with a sharp tap-tap-tap of her walking stick.
“That lady didn’t even want to share the carriage with us.”
“Smart lady. She should try sharing a brain,” Jessalyn retorted. “Quiet, I have to call Manu. No, maybe I’ll send a text.”
“Danny is trouble.”
“He’s also deluded.”
Her taniwha sniffed. “As if we’d consider him and his weakling of a taniwha when we can have Manu with his sexy black beast.”
Jessalyn snorted, although her taniwha made a good point. Unfortunately for Danny, there was no comparison between the two men. Manu had offered his help even though she’d been a stranger. Danny blew hot and cold, his behavior and attitude to her depending on his older, and as she’d recently learned, taniwha cousins. Now, because of Danny, she’d lost a job she enjoyed. She sighed and sent a text to Manu.
He rang her as the train pulled in at Newmarket Station. “Why are you coming home early?”
“Danny turned up at the pub and created a scene. He got kicked out, and I got the sack.”
“How did he know where to find you?”
“I asked, but he didn’t answer my questions.”
“Too busy harping on about marriage,” her taniwha commented with a sniff. “It wasn’t even a tempting proposal.”
“The only way he could’ve known was by tracking the registration of my vehicle or someone at the real estate agency told him,” Manu said. “You’re not wearing the relic?”
“No, it’s in the box.” Jessalyn focused and replayed his words. “The agency has my phone number, not my address.”
“Crap. Your phone. I’ll get Hone to check it. Danny might have added a tracker. Has he ever had your phone?”
“We spent a lot of time together, especially before Dad died. I suppose it’s possible.”
“Hone can tell us for sure,” Manu said. “I’ll pick you up at the train station in Papakura. Half an hour.”
“The train has just left Newmarket.”
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