by E A Price
He looked like he was about to boil over. “What?!”
She took the opportunity to disappear into her apartment, slamming the door in his face and running into the bathroom. She turned the water on and opened the bathroom window before ducking into the shower.
It was the trick she used when her landlord wanted the rent. She never actually went down the fire escape – that thing would collapse the moment you put a toe on it. No, she just needed for him to think she was escaping that way, then she could nip out the back way. Her flamingo wasn’t happy, but even she saw the need for deception.
He knocked on the door, and she held her breath.
“Feathers, c’mon honey. Feathers? Feathers?” He crashed through the door; she heard the thud of his feet and then he swore before running away.
Francine counted to ten then exited the shower. She found him waiting next to her front door. He was leaning against it, arms folded and a faint smile on his lips.
She squeaked in frustration, and he shook his head. “Feathers, I’d know your scent anywhere. No way would I fall for that. You were in the shower the whole time.”
She opened her mouth to protest, and he cut her off by throwing her over his shoulder and carrying her down to his car. She wailed and pounded on his back all the way.
Chapter Twenty
Stone glanced at his pouty flamingo. While he was overjoyed at seeing her again – his gruff rhino was practically throwing a party – he did kind of wish that she would be a little happier to see him. Although, that kiss had been incredible. He rubbed his lips. His body still burned from her touch. He wanted to pull over and drag her onto his lap; he wanted to smother her in kisses and hold her to him as tightly as possible. Except, he doubted it would exactly be welcome at that moment.
“So, ah,” he tried as cold blue eyes glared at him. “We never got a chance to talk before…”
Her eyes narrowed as if they were trying to communicate that they weren’t going to get the chance now, either.
“We didn’t get a chance to get to know one another.”
Francine sniffed. “No point now, is there?”
“Aww, honey, gimme a chance.”
“What’s the point? I’ll be in jail before we even get a second date.” Slowly her bottom lip started to wobble, and her face crumpled as tears streaked down her cheeks.
“Aww, feathers, honey!” His rhino yowled in alarm.
She dabbed at her eyes in between hiccups. “We won’t get to be together!” she wailed. “You’ll meet someone else, and I’ll die in jail!” She let out a frame-shaking sob.
Unable to take it anymore, Stone pulled over and turned off the engine. He had to hold her; he had to comfort her and tell her everything was going to be okay. He had to take care of her. He had to… run after the minx who had darted out of the car the moment he stopped. Damnit!
His rhino reared in excitement. Thrilled at the chance to chase her. It was just as exciting as chasing a regular skip. No, it was more exciting. Regular skips were fun, but this one might end up with some making out and maybe more! Okay, as annoyed as Stone was at her for running, he could see the fun side of the situation.
She wasn’t exactly a fast or coordinated runner, but she was a joy to watch. He smiled as he watched her peachy rear end bob and jiggle as she fled. He pushed himself to go faster – eager to get his hoofs on said peachy rear end.
He could hear her squeaking and gasping as she glanced over her shoulder and saw him gaining on her. Her legs pumped but alas she was no match for love-struck rhino.
In no time at all he scooped her up into his arms and crushed her against him. She made some chirrups of protest, and a few feeble attempts to slap him, but she did no real damage. With very little trouble, he managed to maneuver her back onto his shoulder, and soon enough he was striding back to his car.
“You… you… pig!” came the muffled voice over her shoulder.
He patted her ass and grinned. “You’re more of a handful than I thought.” He wasn’t complaining – quite the opposite. He and his rhino found the whole chase thing immensely enjoyable.
Other people in the street eyed them curiously, but they didn’t say anything. Stone’s huge size and wide, smiling face put anyone off trying to approach him. The size made him scary. The smile made him dangerous.
“Help! I’m being kidnapped!” cried Francine over his shoulder.
He shook with silent laughter. She really was something special. Unfortunately, her cries actually had an effect on the passerby.
An elderly lady poked him with her umbrella. It was a fact that elderly ladies tended to be fearless when it came to dealing with creatures five times their size.
“What are you doing to that poor girl?” snapped the old lady.
Stone gave her a look of geniality that worked on all the ladies in his building. “I’m not kidnapping her.”
“He told me to give him a blowjob, or he’d cut my throat!” sobbed the traitorous flamingo.
He felt his cheeks burn. “What?! No, I…”
“Help me!” sobbed Francine.
The elderly woman looked indignant. She started waving her umbrella. “He’s kidnapping that poor girl to turn her into a sex slave!”
“Wait, no that’s not…” The protestations died on his lips as numerous people started advancing on them.
Fuck. His rhino was all for staying and fighting, but if he did that, Francine might make a break for it or worse get hurt in the scuffle. He clamped an arm around her thighs and ran for his car. They were human they wouldn’t catch him even if he were carrying five Francines.
“You are going to pay for this,” he muttered.
“From jail?” she replied, enjoying the situation far too much.
He reached the area where his car should have been and… it was empty. “You have got to be kidding!”
Perhaps, jumping out of his car and leaving the doors open and the keys in it hadn’t been a good idea. He had been in such a rush to get to her that he hadn’t stopped to think. He breathed in and out hoarsely, trying to marshal his anger. It was okay. It didn’t matter. He loved that car – his Maria – but it wasn’t that important. He had Francine. She was more important. His lips curved into a ghost of a smile. Strange, a few weeks ago the thought of anything happening to Maria would have horrified him. But now, he’d get over it.
Francine tried to look around, awkwardly trying to angle her body over his shoulder. “What’s happening?”
“My car’s been stolen.”
“Oh.” She was silent for a few seconds before breaking out into loud guffaws.
“It’s not funny,” he told her, patiently as he started marching away.
She wriggled her butt, her cheeks were disturbingly close to his face and presented a temptation far greater than she could ever realize.
“You going to carry me all the way to the cops?” she taunted.
“If I have to,” he grunted. No way was he letting her go. Although, when this whole mess was sorted out, his rhino was keen for another little chase. Plus he could report his stolen car while turning her in – two birds, one stone.
Francine was silent for a few blocks while she considered her options. He was a lot harder to shake than she could have imagined. He just ran away from those people chasing them – easily outstripping them – and he wasn’t even panting. She feared that he really could walk all the way to the cops with her perched on his shoulder. Maybe there was something to all this exercising nonsense.
Even worse than that, her flamingo seemed to have actually enjoyed being chased. It was the oddest sensation. She felt flutters of arousal at having her big, burly rhino catch her. Those were feelings she would try to identify later.
She tried wriggling again, but it didn’t even make him stumble. People they passed gave them interested looks, but mostly no one noticed. Playa Lunar was a big city with a huge supernatural population. Weird was normal.
“I guess you wouldn’t be
lieve me if I told you I needed the toilet.”
“No.”
She tried a different tack. “Sorry about your car.”
“So am I. But I’m sure I’ll get it back later, and if I don’t, I’ll get a new car.”
Francine huffed. He was entirely unreasonable by being entirely reasonable. He should be angry and ranting at her. But he was calm and damn him, he sounded happy. He must have sensed her displeasure because he chuckled and patted her ass again. She let out an instinctive squawk, but only because she was annoyed. Having his hands on her wasn’t objectionable.
“I like that sound,” he said almost wistfully. “When are you going to show me your bird?”
“How about the first Friday after they serve snow cones in hell.”
“You’ll show her to me, and I’ll show you my rhino,” he told her with far too much confidence. “You’ll like him – he certainly likes you.”
“Ha.” Although she knew she would, and she was concerned about how thrilled her flamingo was at the thought of him seeing her completely naked. He’d seen all of Francine, but he hadn’t seen the beast within. Not that she was very beastly.
His phone rang, and he shuffled in his pocket to pull it out. He looked at the phone for a moment before rejecting the call.
“Shouldn’t you get that? It might be your fiancée.” Low blow, maybe, but he seemed harder to rile than a hunk of wood.
He grunted but didn’t say anything. He simply strode on, tightening his arm over her legs ever so slightly.
Francine tried to needle him. “Wouldn’t she be hurt to know you were carrying another woman around town?”
“Since she’s not my fiancée, she has no right.”
“So what is she?” she asked not entirely sure either she or her bird wanted to know the answer.
“We slept together; it was nothing. We’re not even friends.” He wasn’t angry but his voice seemed to have lost a little of its joviality. This clearly wasn’t something he wished to talk about.
“Like you and me.”
“No,” he replied quickly and a shade too loudly. His outburst scared a couple of school kids across the street. “That’s not the same, okay?”
“Ummm hmmm.”
“No ummm hmmm, just yes, Stone, or yes, my personal sex-god or yes, your divine sexy godliness.”
Francine rolled her eyes, but she could help her smile. “Ummm hmmm. So she’s stalking you, right?”
Stone grunted, and she suspected he was disappointed that she wasn’t going to use either of the suggested nicknames.
“Maybe you shouldn’t have one night stands,” she said, primly. She only felt a little guilty for saying that.
“No, probably better if I stab them and destroy their cars.”
Francine and her bird gasped. He knew! But, of course, he must know all the sordid details. She found that more upsetting than she could say.
“I’m sorry…” he stammered.
“I never slept with that… that pervert!”
“Good,” he growled in relief.
“Really? You’re pleased about that?”
“Yes, other men don’t appreciate you.”
She huffed. “And you do?” He was taking her to jail, after all.
“How many other men have made you come?” he asked with an enormous dollop of smugness.
She couldn’t see him, but she could tell he was smirking. She dug her fingers into his back, but he probably felt it less than an actual stone wall would.
“Shame you won’t get a chance to do it again.” But, she didn’t say that with much conviction. And it wasn’t easy to say at all with a mutinous bird yelping in protest.
“Aww, feathers, you really shouldn’t lie to me,” he said, very cheerfully.
“And if I’m in prison for the next twenty years?” she asked, waspishly.
“It won’t come to that, we’ll figure it out.”
Francine bit her lip. “But just in case, I think you’re right.”
“I am?”
She inflicted a hint of coquettishness into her voice. “We should enjoy ourselves while we can. I’ve been thinking about you since our night together.” Which was true. She’d had some very erotic dreams about him. They turned into bitterly disappointing reality whenever she awoke. She started massaging his back, and he shuddered beneath her. “Have you been thinking of me?”
He groaned as his rhino sighed. “More than you can imagine.”
“I’ve been dreaming about feeling your hands on me again, feeling your mouth on my…”
Stone groaned as he wobbled. He couldn’t help it. Big strong male that he was, he wobbled at hearing those words. Those were words plucked right out of his dreams.
“Feathers…”
“I need to kiss you, now.” It was said in a soft voice, but it was an order that he dare not disobey.
He ran down an alley and set her on her feet. He spun her round and swept her into an embrace. His hands were searching and grasping as his kisses were hot and heavy. Yes, god yes, this is what he needed. It felt so right and so perfect. He pulled her body flush against him, delighting as her curves molded against him.
Her hands clutched at him as she mewled in delight. Stone only pulled away with reluctance because he needed air – although a part of him was happy to try and go without it.
He gasped for breath as arousal thrummed through him. Their scents entwined, their mutual desire clinging together. The scent of her lust was strong, but… not that strong.
“I’m really sorry about this,” she said in a small voice.
“Wha…”
He saw stars as she kneed him in the groin. He imagined his eyes bulged, and his face took on a pained expression and he crumpled to the ground. His rhino reared in alarm, perhaps in solidarity for what the man was going through, but Stone doubted it. No, he was more concerned about the fact that he could hear retreating footsteps as the flamingo ran away.
Chapter Twenty-One
“Hush,” muttered Francine irritably. “I didn’t have a choice.”
Several people on the train moved away from her. She pulled her hood over her head. She was talking to her flamingo, of course, who was wailing pitifully for both what she had done to Stone and for running away.
Francine felt bad, she really did, but he didn’t leave her with an option. The overwhelming urge to stay behind and continue kissing him and so forth was great. But, ultimately, unless she wanted their next kiss to be up against a sheet of glass in a prison visiting room, it had to be done.
That is if he wanted to kiss her again.
She had injured a part of him that was very dear to him – he may not want even to see her again. That thought was a bummer. But he was a shifter – he’d heal quickly. Although the memory of the pain may stay with him forever. But, she’d be willing to kiss it better, if he wanted that…
She was on the subway and on her way to Michael’s house. Not many people used it in Playa Lunar preferring the bus, so she had a good chance of remaining unnoticed. At least that had been the plan.
A warm and achingly familiar arm slid around her waist. “Just so you know, feathers, I’m wearing a protective cup.”
Her flamingo was elated. Francine… less so. She pulled her hood back and twisted in his arms. She noticed his grip was unyielding – yeah, he wasn’t letting go.
“How did you find me?”
Stone beamed. “Trade secret.” But he did take out the blue feather again and tickled her nose.
She giggled and then pulled herself together. This was serious. “You're so…. So… unreasonable!”
His eyebrows almost shot off his head. “Me? You just kneed me in my unmentionables, and I’m the one being unreasonable?”
Francine pouted. “Yes, and I’m glad that you can admit it.”
“They’re fine by the way.” His eyes flickered down to his crotch. “The boys, I mean.”
She softened slightly and patted his chest. “I knew they w
ould be; I wouldn’t cause any lasting damage.”
His smile widened so much he looked like his dimples had been welded to his cheeks. “I know, feathers, if you did you wouldn’t get to fu…”
“I meant,” she interrupted, quickly, “that I wouldn’t hurt you the way you’re hurting me right now.”
He was aghast and loosened his grip slightly. “I’m sorry, feathers, where did I… sometimes I don’t know my own strength.”
“Oh no, I didn’t mean that – I meant emotionally.” His touch and grip were very welcoming, even if she was mad at him. She could happily spend all day wrapped in his arms.
All concern evaporated from his face, and he drew her closer to him. The buffeting of the subway meant that they rubbed against one another, very intimately. He waggled his eyebrows, and she felt something very hard digging into her – no he didn’t seem injured at all, although she reflected this may be the cup.
“Still going to take me to the cops?” she asked, peevishly.
His forehead creased. “I have to.”
“You don’t have to do anything.”
“I do,” he insisted.
“Fine, then I don’t have to forgive you for waking up in your bed to find a skinny blonde hovering over me.”
Stone gaped at her. “That wasn’t my fault… exactly.”
“It’ll teach you to bring strays home,” she taunted.
He frowned at her before something seemed to dawn on him, and slowly his lips curled up. “You’re jealous!” he exclaimed as giddy as a schoolboy on Christmas morning. He seemed thrilled.
Francine let out a noise of disgust, but her flamingo hung her head in an admission of the truth. “Nothing to be jealous of, is there?” she asked, pointedly.
Stone kissed her forehead, sweetly. A couple of old ladies put down their knitting to let out matching awws. “No, there isn’t.”
The train came to a halt, and Stone braced her against him. Sigh. It was nice – too nice, and she wished she could curl up in these arms and pretend the rest of the world didn’t exist. But, she had something that really wouldn’t wait until tomorrow.
“That’s my stop.”