by M. L. Briers
Still, what a low blow, nobody wanted to think that they had morphed into their mother, even if it was somewhat inevitable like the sun going down and the moon coming into view – it happened without trying. It would be a full-on waste of life to spend all your time and energy not being like your mother, and most mothers’ had their good sides too.
Marilyn wouldn’t forgive him for pointing it out though, and payback was a thing best contemplated on for a while. Revenge was like a great scotch, it took time to reach perfection, and she was in no rush.
Neal pushed the front door open and stood to the side so she could go in first. The moment that she drew level with him, he whispered. “You know I’m just trying to get a rise out of you, right?”
Marilyn’s elbow found its target somewhere between his ribs, and she heard the huff of breath that came with a flinch from the pain she’d inflicted. “Funny, I can’t say the same,” she informed him, dropping her eyes to his manhood before she carried on inside.
“Unfortunately,” he muttered to himself, eyeing the outside world for signs of trouble before he closed the door behind them.
Marilyn headed for the only open door and hit the internal brakes the moment she walked into the room. Neal was right behind her. “I think those two might have the right idea,” he whispered in over her shoulder, and the little squeak that got caught in the back of her throat made him smile.
Neal wasn’t sure who the most shocked person in the room was, Scott and Sandy at being caught in a compromising position, or Marilyn for finding her son like that. It took Marilyn a moment for her brain to kick her backside into gear, but then she promptly turned on her heels to leave and walked right into Neal’s hard, unmoving body.
“Move!” she snapped out, unable to fathom a way out of the room when he was blocking the doorway, and she needed to make a speedy exit.
“Don’t you love a good family reunion?” Neal’s tone was mocking and gleeful, and she snapped a death glare up at him and contemplated adding a little magic to it.
“If you do not move, I swear, you’ll never get a rise out of that which you value most again – ever – for eternity,” she hissed out on a low whisper that only he could hear.
Neal immediately stepped aside to let her pass. There were some things in life that just weren’t worth the risk.
~
Claudia hadn’t meant to get into such a compromising position. She’d turned towards Cain intending to tell him to take a long walk off a short pier, but that fell flat on its face the moment she found herself sandwiched between the counter at her back and his hard, muscled body right in front of her.
Usually, when someone was in her personal space like that she’d have no qualms at all about bringing her knee up with a firm, but fair no thank you. The blow wouldn’t be hard enough for them to need retrieval surgery, but it did make their eyes water, their knees weak, and their voice turned soprano for a little while.
But with Cain, the idea only had a fleeting wave hello as it was nudged out of the way by that little devil on her shoulder reminding her to look at that muscled chest, those sculpted arms, the hard thump of his pulse in the side of his thick neck, and then those eyes – soulful – definitely lustful – and oh so damn sexy. That made her knees weak, her heart race and her palms turn clammy, as she fought her demons and tried to remember her name.
Sex on a stick – that wasn’t her name, but it could have been his for all she could remember – and she wanted to lick that man from the soles of his feet up to his hard body to those kissable, soft, but demanding lips, if she remembered right. But then, that kind of a kiss wasn’t something you forgot – ever. Sure, the flip-flop of your stomach could fade with time, but the memory would always remain.
But now she was caught between a rock and a hard body and she didn’t have a clue what she was doing – literally – she’d been locked in that moment for what felt like forever, and the slow to boil, sexy as hell smile that drew on his lips said they both knew it.
Busted!
“Oh, I’d like to be able to read the thoughts that just went through your mind,” Cain said, and the deep rumble of a growl wasn’t lost on her. It was hungry and reached out to her feminine side just as much as his presence did. Any closer and he might just press up against her annoyingly taunt, aching nipples that cried out to be touched more than she wanted to breathe.
The truth was, she hadn’t taken a real breath in a while, and here she was, thinking about cutting off her oxygen supply and kissing him in a way she would typically attack one of Marilyn’s sticky toffee puddings. Heaven help her, but if that man came with a calorie count, she’d be unable to get through an average-sized doorframe within a week.
“Some thoughts, maybe,” she admitted and hoped she was the only one who noticed just how breathless she sounded. “But others would make you cover and duck in fear for your balls…”
“I like the first option better,” he said, and that sexy, cocky grin turned into a wolfish one.
“Me too,” she said, and then realised that she’d said that out loud.
It was all he needed – that green light to a boy racer – the starter pistol to a thoroughbred – and when those big, strong, muscled arms wrapped around her and pulled her up against his hard body, she did what all women do in that situation – jumped in with both feet, and tossed the thought of the future behind her.
Claudia’s future was pretty much settled, barring the plate throwing, the socks-in-the-basket and the toilet seat down lessons, she was good to go – it only remained to be seen how far she was prepared to go right now.
~
“Oh, come on, Marilyn, you have to see the funny side of it,” Neal said. He leant back into the soft cushions of a well battered comfortable chair and watched the witch fidget in her seat opposite him.
With a glass of something that he assured her had aged well in her hand, the roar of a freshly lit new fire in the hearth, and an entirely different room far away from her embarrassing encounter with her son, she pondered the vampire’s good mood. “I will, once the shock of walking in on him doing…” She waved an absent hand in the air – she didn’t even want to think about what he’d been doing; it was not a mother’s place to think on those things when it involved her children.
“What comes naturally?” Neal offered with a devilish grin. “They’re young…”
“Dumb and full of c…”
“Mum!” Scott said, cutting her off as he strolled into the room as if butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. His clothes were messy, but at least he was wearing some. In truth, he’d only had his shirt off, but that was enough for his mother who still thought of him as ten.
“Not what I was going for and entirely inappropriate,” Marilyn grumbled and watched Neal silently chuckle. “And get a room.”
CHAPTER THIRTY SIX
~
“I live here!” Scott reminded her. “What are you doing here?”
Marilyn stared at Neal as she tried to find an answer that didn’t sound like the dog ate my homework. “The shifter is dead. I came to see you, saw more than I needed,” she offered in the time old position of pass the guilt.
Scott braced himself. “We were just…” Then he stopped talking. He felt like an idiot. He wasn’t a teen, it wasn’t under his mother’s roof, and he wasn’t sure why he was thinking up excuses, but there it was.
Marilyn steeled herself. “I think I know the birds and the bees when I see it, Scott. How do you think you got here, a stork?”
Sandy hurried into the room and cleared her throat. “We hadn’t got that far.”
“Well, maybe someone should have that conversation with you before you do.” Marilyn heard Neal snicker and instinctively slapped at him with her magic. It was more of a snap, like the hard sting of an elastic band hitting his thumb, and he jumped in place.
“I said nothing!” Neal protested.
“Keep it that way,” she warned him.
Sandy cleared her
throat again. “I know about the birds and the bees, I meant we weren’t…”
Marilyn turned her attention to Scott. “Did I ever tell you how and where you were conceived?”
Scott snapped to attention. The grimace on his face said it all. “I am not listening,” he grumbled, spun Sandy on her toes and bundled her out of the room.
Marilyn looked at Neal. “Works every time.”
“Well, why don’t you tell me that story and when I can’t get rid of him fast enough I can use it,” Neal said and winked.
“I’m not telling you about my sex life…”
“Or lack of, as the case may be.”
“Oh, shut up,” Marilyn scolded him. “This cat and mouse thing needs to stop…”
“I’m the cat in this particular scenario, right?”
Marilyn raised her eyebrows, and he pouted. He winked again and offered her a roguish grin, and she snorted her contempt for him. “Top Cat,” she said and smiled to herself. “But you’ve had your fun…”
“I must have missed that,” he said and turned his attention to the ceiling as he made an outward show of considering it.
Marilyn ignored him. “You’ve messed with my mother, paid her back for the spell on this place,” she said, waving an absent hand in the air. “But, times up. Enough is enough.”
“And you used to be so much fun,” Neal said with a devilish grin that matched the sparkle of amusement in his eyes.
“Well, I grew up,” Marilyn informed him like a reprimand for his wicked ways. “You should try it sometime.”
“Alas, I’m Peter Pan…”
“A fifty-year-old Peter Pan?” She raised her eyebrows again.
“But, I’m not going to get any older…”
“Well, I am…”
“Then I’d be your toyboy,” he said.
“I don’t think they call it that anymore,” she informed him. “I don’t know what they call it, but I’m sure it’s something equally as stupid.”
“And you’d be a cougar,” he said with a big dollop of relish. When she cocked just the one eyebrow back at him, he frowned. “Or maybe not, but it doesn’t have to be that way…”
“I’m not getting plastic surgery or botox; I like it when my eyebrows move independently of the rest of my forehead.”
“I was talking about, you know…?”
Marilyn’s momentary lapse of understanding made him tap his fangs. Marilyn snorted her contempt for that. “Witches do not go to the dark side, Fang.”
“Sure, they do…”
“Not this witch,” Marilyn said and tossed the scotch down the back of her throat – immediately regretting it when it burned like hellfire all the way down. “Whoa! What the hell is this – molten lava?”
“It’s very old and very expensive,” he informed her. “More?”
“No! Geez, just get out the blow torch and save your money,” she said and then involuntarily coughed. “They should call that dragon’s fire.”
Neal chuckled. “Lightweight, but why am I now thinking about your mother?”
“Crush?” Marilyn asked with a teasing smile and watched him shiver at the thought.
“You certainly know how to hit below the belt,” he said. “I may never have another happy thought again.” Marilyn just stared back at him with a big old smile on her lips. “What evil plan are you hatching?”
“Just wondering if there was a spell that would – force is too strong a word – encourage you to woo my m…”
“Don’t say it!” He rushed out and twisted his head to one side as he eyed her with suspicion. She looked very pleased with herself. “I beseech you, do not put that thought in my head unless you have a spell to bleach my brain afterwards.”
“My mother,” she said, emphasising the word with glee.
“Ugh!” Neal looked sick to his stomach at the thought. “It’s in there now, and I may never purge it.” He tapped his forehead and watched her chuckle.
“Well, it serves you right,” she grinned in victory. “Come back if you want some more.”
“I can never look at her the same way again…”
“With loathing?” Marilyn teased the glass in her hand as she thought another wicked thought.
“No more have mercy.” He knew what was coming, not the content, but the general direction of the conversation.
“Maybe I can get Lottie to lend my mother her Dolly costume for the next eighties night and…”
Neal pushed up to his feet. “I’m leaving now.” And he was gone.
Marilyn couldn’t help but chuckle to herself. “Well, where’s the fun in that?” she called out and snickered.
~
Just a few seconds more and I’m good to go; the thought pinged in Claudia’s mind as she gave as good as she was getting in the kissing stakes.
Just a few seconds more and I’ll pull back and leave him wanting more, the ping of another thought went unanswered when Cain’s large hands travelled down her back and found the cheeks of her backside, cupping them, and sending good thoughts to chase the others away.
A potent arrow of thrill shot through her when he lifted her from the ground and put her backside on the counter, stepping in between her legs, and the hard press of his caged length against the most intimate part of her body which sent more arrows of lust, need and desire shooting inside of her.
What’s another minute or two in the grand scheme of things? She thought, and involuntarily wrapped her legs around him to lock him against her, snug, hard, and teasing that little nub of sensitive nerves until she wanted to move against him of her own volition.
I’m not going to pop like a champagne cork, she warned herself, but then he moved his hips, and his length rubbed against that little nub of desperate flesh, or maybe I am. She had to wonder what had happened to the ‘just a few more seconds’ thing that she’d been telling herself, but a few more seconds of him doing what he was doing and she just might give the game away and moan like a woman in desperate need of more.
Claudia knew she needed to take charge of the situation, of the moment that led to another moment, and then another. But she didn’t much feel like taking charge of anything right then – in fact, she kind of hoped that he’d take things one step further and she could just go along for the ride – literally – but with some input of her own.
She was a modern woman who was quite capable of giving as good as she got. Still, right now she just wanted, needed, things that she couldn’t articulate because her brain was mush, her lips were busy kissing, and she was being sidetracked by the feel-good factor of body to brain rebellion – and boy, did she like it?
Hungry like the wolf – not him, but her. She couldn’t quite control her body; her hands had a life of their own travelling over the hard muscles that she’d been exploring in her daydreams of late. Her legs were loosening and tightening their grip around his hips, allowing him to move at her direction. And she never knew she could go so long without taking a real breath until he broke away from her lips and found that spot on her neck that made her clench her internal muscles around the imaginary length she wanted inside of her.
Things weren’t going to plan in Claudia’s mind, not that she’d had a plan that went further than – just a few seconds more and then… but damn, not having a plan felt good. It was liberating – a fly by the seat of her panties experience that she wanted to take to the next level – a bed or soft surface would be great, because she couldn’t really go anywhere, or do very much as she was.
Having a quickie on the kitchen counter would be great, but this wasn’t a quickie, and hip crap was a very real thing. “Bed!” she announced without her brain even being in gear when the word came out of her mouth. But there it was – that next step – and she’d said it now.
What were the odds that someone with his hearing wouldn’t have heard that?
Right on cue, his head snapped up, and she found herself staring into the jet black hungry gaze of a man who looked like he wanted to
rip her clothes off and do what nature gave him the body to do right there and then.
Ping – an arrow of pure lust shot through her body, and she could have melted like the snow hitting molten lava.
Oooo – she did not want to take back that word, if anything, she wanted to double down. “Or the nearest sofa works for me too,” she said with a wicked sparkle of desire in her eyes the likes of which Cain had never seen before. But he wanted to see it again, and again, and again – and his only regret was that the house was so damn large and the bedrooms seemed so far away.
With a grunt; he snatched her from the counter. His strong arms wrapped around her body and kept her right where he wanted her to be. With a growl, he turned and headed out the kitchen, across the hallway, and took those stairs two at a time like they were nothing.
If that didn’t get her motor running, nothing else would. A big, strong, hunk of a man was carrying her to her bedroom, and they both knew what was going to happen once they got there. Yep, her motor wasn’t just running, she had one foot on the brake and a hard press on the gas, and was preparing to wheel spin away.
Watch out boy racers – she was locked and loaded, and she wasn’t about to take any prisoners.
CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN
~
Sandy walked backwards across the hallway in what she hoped was the general direction of the front door. “You’re leaving because of my mother?” Scott said.
Sandy waved an absent hand in front of her. “No, I’m leaving because it’s getting late…”
“Don’t leave on my account,” Marilyn said, walking through the hallway as she explored the large house. She hated to be nosy, but how often did you get the chance to snoop around a vampire’s lair? She wasn’t about to sit on her hands for this opportunity, and besides, there was always the hope of finding something so embarrassing that she could lord it over him for the next decade or two.