“Yes, you are,” he laughed. “And I kinda like it.”
“Why do men always think calling them out on their shit is bitching?”
“It’s not?” His quiet laughter wasn’t helping.
A tremendous thud made her jump. His arms tightened. The protective reflex felt good. And then a series of loud gusts shook the Queen Anne house from rafters to basement.
“Shit. That didn’t sound good.” He eased her off his lap and onto her butt. “I better go check things out.”
His statement was followed by another loud sound. This one was jarring, creaked a bit and ended with a crashing bang. He was racing for the front door, barefoot, with a flashlight he’d picked up along the way. Charlie huddled with a blanket around her shoulders when the door flung open with a loud bang.
“Damn wind,” he grunted. Freezing cold air blasted into the room.
She watched as he shone the flashlight onto the wrap around porch. The snow was coming down heavily and even with the beam from the flashlight it was still hard to see much else but blowing white.
“What is it?” she hollered.
Closing the door, he used his shoulder to heave it shut. His expression when he came back was concerned.
“Limb from the maple tree came down and took out the overhead on the corner of the porch. All I can see is pieces hanging and the branch covered in snow.”
Her phone went off and she looked for it in the darkness. Ty drawled, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow?”
“Hand it to me, quick!”
He yanked it off the charging cord and tossed it to her. “Catch.”
Amy’s image flashed on the screen. “Shit,” she muttered. “It’s Facetime. What do I do?”
“Well, answer it, for starters.”
She stuck her tongue out. “I meant how.”
He came at her and took the phone, did something and handed it back. In a conspiratorial whisper, he told her, “Remember she can see you, okay?”
“Oh, eat shit,” she sniped.
Amy’s laugh came through the phone. “Eat shit? Is that the new hello?”
“Sorry,” Charlie muttered. “You caught me off guard. What’s up?”
“Just checking up on you. Your power’s out too, I guess. Gonna be hours before the system blows out to the coast. Hope you’re okay Charlie. Not much we can do from here. My hubs has his hands full right now.”
“Bunch of tree limbs are down but I took your advice and got ready for no electricity.”
“Hey,” Amy chirped. “Is Cal with you? Is he okay?”
“Right here, Amy,” he chimed in so she could hear him. “We’re good. Don’t worry the newlyweds if they decide to check in, okay?”
“Are you kidding? The last thing any of us need is a pregnant bride with too much worry on her hands. They’ll be gone long enough that any fixing needing to be done will be over and done with before they get back.” She laughed with a loud snort. “And Jax. Oh lord. He wanted to put in generators for the business and the house but the wedding kind of took precedent and then it started snowing. He’ll be kicking himself for waiting.”
Ty motioned something, but in the darkness she had no idea what he’d just told her.
“Listen Charlie. Glad you two are okay. No more chit chat, though. Save the charge on your phone. Give us a yell if you need anything.”
The call ended and she turned to say something, only she was alone in the room. Oh well.
The fireplace crackled. She watched the flames dance for a minute then crawled closer to stir up the embers and add another log. When she was finished and felt satisfied that the fire was burning nicely, Charlie wiped her hands on her jeans and stood up. Outside the wind was howling and she shivered on reflex. The loose, one shoulder sweater had been a good idea hours ago. It occurred to her that something warmer might be a smart move now that the only heat they had was from the fireplace.
Carefully plunking up the stairs in her unicorn slippers, she felt her way down the hallway in the pitch darkness, to the master. Feeling for the knob, she pushed open the door. Relief washed over her when a single candle, one of the little votives Brynn kept in small glass containers, was flickering on top of a tall dresser. The room wasn’t exactly flooded with light but it was enough. She was moving for the bathroom when out of the darkness Ty appeared. His shirt was off and in his hand, he held a thick hoodie and a pair of socks. He must have come up to change.
Charlie froze. Wearing nothing but the dark green sweats, he looked, well, he looked like sex on two legs. Her eyes shot to his groin—what she could see of it. The waistband on the sweats hung dangerously low on his hips, exposing not just his navel, but also the defined muscular V that disappeared into his pants.
He was easy on the eyes. Sort of like the statue of David, an observation that made a five-alarm fire break out inside her. In the flickering light, the definition of his torso made her mouth go dry. He had the chest of a Roman god, that was for sure.
She admired his shoulders. When it came to wingspan, Ty had all the bases covered. His neck, hmmm. She wanted to sink her teeth into the ridge above his collarbone. His arms moved. He crossed them and it seemed to her as if he might be taunting her. She was staring after all.
Oh God—and those arms? Holy hell. They were big, muscled and she knew from first-hand experience, strong. Powerful.
The weirdest sensation fired off in her belly. A tingling, almost an itch. It grew in intensity and radiated outward. Charlie held her breath. She was being fanciful, she knew that, but there was no denying what she felt. Her aura, the essence of who she was, the life force of Charlie she called it, was searching. And she knew what for.
When the sliver of energy from her body connected with his, she felt it like a jolt of electricity. A soft glowing corona encircled them. Right then, she didn’t care if the big bad wolf himself came and huffed, puffed and blew the house down around them.
WHAT THE HELL WAS HAPPENING? Cal threw the clothes he held onto the bed and reached for her, but she was way faster than him.
When he’d left her to talk to Amy, he planned to put on something warmer and grab some more blankets. The last thing he expected was for her to surprise him in the bedroom. Had she followed?
And then she devoured him with her eyes and it was all he could do to stand still and let her have a good look. Right then, all thoughts of pulling the hoodie on vanished and was replaced by how quickly he could strip them both naked. He didn’t have long to think about it. Not after she muttered something unintelligible about sweat pants and being easy. That’s when he went to grab her.
But what did she do? She rushed him, pushed Cal back until his legs hit the side of the bed and he wobbled. Her hands went around his neck and then into his hair. He moaned. She grabbed all the hair she could and yanked.
Ow, fuck. He’d be bald if she kept that up. “‘tessa,” he cautioned and whatever he planned to say next stalled completely in the face of her explosive reaction.
“No,” she growled. “No,” she yelled more urgently.
What the hell was he supposed to do? Throwing her on the bed and fucking her into tomorrow wasn’t even a consideration. He searched for option B and came up empty. Figuring out where she was coming from was no easy task—especially since the vibe he got from her landed somewhere between righteous anger and unbridled lust.
He didn’t resist when she let go of his hair and used her entire body to forcefully shove him onto the bed. Falling backward with a grunt, he started to get really nervous when she leapt on top, her legs straddling him as she put her hands on his shoulders and held him down. She was joking, right? With little effort, he could have her under him in a heartbeat.
“No,” she growled again. “If we’re gonna do this …,” she stopped and made a fierce face but left off the rest. What she came back with shut him down so fast he couldn’t think straight. “Charlize,” she bit out. “And you’re Caleb. No more ‘tessa and Ty. That wasn’t real.”
> “But—”
“No!”
Uh, okay. Shit—she was worked up.
“It’s just sex, Caleb. Understand? Nothing else. No more pretend.”
Just sex? JUST SEX? Well. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. What was going on between them was shitloads more than just sex.
“Take it or leave it.”
Whoa. Her eyes were full of fire. For him. At him. A dangerous combination. She put her mouth on his neck, and he shuddered. Cal knew he wouldn’t be able to stop what her anger was starting so he reached for a straw and hoped it was enough to throw cold water on the situation. This so was not how he wanted them to move forward.
“Uh, ‘Tes…I mean Charlize,” he grumbled. “Small problem.”
She pulled back and searched his face. His mind blanked for the briefest second. Something about her holding him down and hovering overtop with her hair hanging around them like a sensual veil.
“Unless you have a box of condoms stashed in your bag, we have to stop. Now.” Her eyes flashed and, thinking he had her, added, “Doubt that Jax and his pregnant wife have a stockpile somewhere.”
‘‘tessa sat back, right on top of his groin, and stabbed him with a look. Too bad he was frantically dealing with his ready to burst cock or he might have noticed the caution sign before he drove straight into it.
“Lack of birth control. Is that your only objection?”
Fuck, man. It wasn’t his only objection—just the first one in his mind. The universe she constantly referenced must be fall-down laughing at him by this point. He was falling in love with this girl. Making love to her again was his new obsession. Not screwing for the sake of screwing. Not fucking for relief.
“It’s a pretty big objection, Tesoro.”
She backed off. He shouldn’t look so smug, but he did. And regretted it instantly.
“Well then, we’re good,” she retorted with a single arched brow. Oh, fuck. He knew that look. His mom used it on him and Jax when they did something boneheaded.
She rather boldly ran her fingers down the center of his chest. He sucked in his gut and held his breath. He needed her to move off him—now. Before he stopped giving a shit about condoms and birth control.
“Figured I was lucky—avoiding the whole knocked up thing—the last time. Especially once I realized we weren’t in any way exclusive.”
Her condemning sneer hit him straight in the heart. Score one for the sexy hippy chick.
“Started taking the pill.”
All she needed to do was lick her paws and rub one across her face to look like a cat who just drained a milky bowl of fuck you.
“You’d know this if not for …Claudia.”
The exaggerated cloud pronunciation of that fucking bitch’s name spoke volumes—no, fuck volumes. Spoke an entire library of ‘tessa’s disdain when it came to the evil troll.
Completely wrapped up in replaying the crushing scene, Cal dropped the thread for a nanosecond but it was enough to hand over complete control of this unexpected change in their tenuous relationship. Charlize was in charge and judging by the shit-eating smirk he could barely make out in the darkness, she was on a mission. One she expected to win. And she wouldn’t be taking any prisoners. For the first time, he pondered the very real possibility that he wouldn’t survive. Not with his heart intact, anyway.
She read his lack of response as consent and snickered. “Aw, what? Don’t like having the tables turned? Tough shit. Welcome to the other side Caleb. Don’t look so upset. I’m about to fuck your brains out.”
She suddenly whipped her shirt over her head. The long necklace with the half moon hung against her pale skin. Seeing the fullness of her breasts as they jiggled from her movements made his mouth go bone dry. He grabbed hold of her hips to keep from reaching for the enticing globes.
“Snowstorm sex,” she laughed. Only there wasn’t a speck of pleasure in her voice. “A blackout fuck. Better hurry,” she drawled. “It’s cold up here. How ‘bout we generate a little heat, Mr. Merrill?”
If she kept hammering away at him with the snarky name references, he might forget to be a gentleman and teach her wild ass a lesson.
Wild ass. Wilde ass. He groaned. This is why he was so fucked.
She essentially rearranged all his brain cells when his darling ‘tessa played out her idea of what a sexy seduction looked like. Brutally sweet and innocent, despite her wanton efforts, he clung to the truth knowing in his heart that’s who she really was and just surrendered to the forces driving her.
In the darkness, he lay there while she used her hair and the tips of her breasts in a sensual onslaught that got him moaning almost instantly. She kept her mouth busy too; wracking him with shivers of pleasure from the things she did to his flesh. Her tongue destroyed both his ears, swirling in and around until chewing the lobes with stinging nips. When she sucked his earlobe and bit him under each ear, he gave up the fight completely. He was hers to do with as she pleased.
She took hold of his hands and pressed them above his head on the mattress. “Don’t move.” He gulped.
Crawling higher up his torso, she still straddled him but now when she leaned over, the glorious points of her breasts were right before him. With a sensual grace, she performed a sexy ballet on his skin, dragging her peaked nipples back and forth across his face. With her long hair cloaking them, she teased, even letting the hard nubs drift across his lips. When he caught one, she held still as he grunted his appreciation for her magnificent tits and suckled wildly.
It went on like that. She stroked every millimeter of his chest with her bad girl boobs. When their nipples connected, she played with his composure using a tease and withdraw motion that drove him wild. But those peaked nips circling his navel? Holy. Fucking. Shit. How had he not known how erotic that could be?
While this went on, he wasn’t completely on the bed. When she pushed him back and straddled his torso, Cal’s legs bent at the knee and his feet remained on the floor. Once she’d teased his belly button and reduced him to a quivering, moaning slab of overexcited man-flesh, she hopped off, landed on her feet and as she stood between his thighs, stared down at him.
He didn’t need bright lights to see the lascivious gleam in her eyes. ‘tessa. Charlize. Charlie. Whatever. His Wilde woman was turned on. Big time.
She stepped back slightly. He heard the distinctive sound of her jeans unsnapping, followed by the rasp of a zipper peeling open. Keeping his hands where she wanted them, he raised his head and looked down his body. All he saw was an eager cock tenting his sweats, her swaying tits and the masses of her long blonde hair spread around her shoulders. She looked angelic. And wicked. His heart began thumping heavily.
She turned around and not even the darkness could disguise her sexy as fuck ass when she bent over and peeled the jeans down her legs. He saw the silly unicorn slippers go flying and then he spied a scrap of white. His groan was very real and quite loud. He didn’t care what others said about thongs and g-strings. Yeah, they were awesome. But nothing was sexier than an unexpected stripping that unveiled a pair of sensible white panties.
It was right about then when he realized she hadn’t kissed him. Not once. Her mouth was busy, that’s for damn sure, but there was no kissing. Since kissing was something they did pretty well—after all, hadn’t they been kissing downstairs in front of the fire? The peculiar lack of mouth-to-mouth contact worried him. If he was right and she was making a statement by not allowing it, he was in deeper shit than he wanted to admit.
Her hands slid into the waistband of his sweats and pulled them off in one over eager yank.
“You’re right,” she cackled. The sound struck him as dangerous. And full of hurt. Hers. “They ARE easy to get off.”
Fuck.
My.
Life.
His wicked angel wrapped her hand around his erection. His fists clenched above his head. She was mapping him with clinical thoroughness.
“Mr. Merrill,” she purred. �
��You possess a very big, um,” she snicker-giggled. “Cock.” Her hand gently squeezed. “Wish there was more light, though. I’d like to inspect your equipment for flaws. Make sure no modifications are needed.”
He had no idea what the hell that meant and didn’t care. ‘tessa’s expressive hand manipulating his manhood was all his brain could handle.
And then she let go.
“Scoot back,” she commanded sternly. “Middle of the bed.”
Cal complied so fast he bounced a couple of times before finding the right spot. His poor cock bobbed from the effort and he swore to fucking God that the cool air hitting his desperate flesh only made him harder.
When he was in place, he waited but she didn’t join him. Damn the pitch darkness. The only hope he had of staying even half-a-length ahead of her was if he could see her face. Read what was going on in her expression.
He growled her name. “Charlize.”
“Oh, sorry,” she sniggered. “Just deciding what I wanted to do. So many options, y’know?”
The detached, humorless quality to her voice worried the fuck out of him. He didn’t want her to emotionally withdraw. They’d never get back to square one if she did.
Some part of him wished he were surprised when she crawled on the bed and pushed his legs apart. He wasn’t. She was trying to establish her dominance. Whatfuckingever. But on this one thing, he was going to stick to his guns. Had to. He didn’t want to use her that way which, as fucked up and crazy as it sounded, was what kept him from letting her mouth within a yard of his dick before. She didn’t wanna kiss him? Fine. Then he didn’t want her to suck him off. Maybe a taste of her own medicine was what she needed to break the impasse.
Bolting upright, he blindly reached and took hold of a handful of her hair. Somehow he managed to stop her before her mouth stole his sanity.
“No,” he growled. He pulled her toward him. “Kiss me.”
She resisted his hold. He pulled harder. “No.”
Well, shit. That hadn’t gone as he hoped. She had her hands on his shoulders. His stayed wound in her hair. They stared in the darkness, barely more than a foot separating their faces.
Wilde Magic (Wilde Women Book 3) Page 31