by Linda Wisdom
“No pillow.” Jake rested a knee on the bed and gently tugged it from her, then stripped off her sweatshirt and jeans but allowed her to keep her bra and panties on.
“Black lace. Very sexy.” He pressed his mouth against her shoulder, and then gently nipped the skin, leaving the barest of impressions. “I can see you in black lace, black stilettos, and nothing else.”
She tipped her head back, allowing him maximum access. “I’m glad you like it. Although I would think you’d seen it this morning when I got dressed.”
“I tried not to peek.” His words were muffled against her skin. “But now I want to do more than just savor the sight.” He pushed a bra strap down her arm and trailed kisses after it while he worked a hand behind her back and released the catch. “Although more and more I think I’d rather touch than look.” He still took his time, dragging her bra across her body and throwing it over his shoulder.
Blair twisted her hips, feeling the heat of his kisses and rough-fingered touch make its way down her body. She returned the favor by burying her face against his shoulder and nipping the skin, then lapping it with her tongue. Jake’s moan told her he liked what she was doing.
“It’s much nicer this way,” she whispered.
“We’ve got a lot of time to make up for.”
“I’m up for it. And it seems you are, too.” She wrapped her fingers around his cock feeling the hot, satiny skin throb under her touch. Jake didn’t go near her panties that she swore were getting tighter, and wetter, by the second.
“Beautiful.” He turned his attention to her breasts, rolling a dusky pink nipple with his tongue until it turned a darker color, moist from his mouth.
“Sexy.” She carefully cradled his sac in her palm, feeling the heat come off his skin.
“Mine.” He covered her mound with his hand, feeling the dampness through the silk of her panties, her heat, and the musky scent of her arousal. A passion that he knew was meant for him only. He wanted to howl with delight that this witch wanted him as badly as he wanted her, and he wanted to take her with a ferocity he couldn’t remember ever feeling. Instead, he forced himself to slow down and make this a night neither of them would ever forget. He slid down the bed and covered the black silk with his mouth.
“Whoa!” Blair arched up against his nibbling kiss.
“This is just the start.” This time he slid the silk down and tossed it in the direction of his briefs, then returned to the crisp red curls that fascinated him to no end, along with the pink plump folds that hid what fascinated him even more. He blew gently on the curls then nuzzled the folds, lapping at the moisture that seeped out. He ignored her sighs and whimpers and lapped again, then pressed his mouth against her and hummed.
The vibrations just about sent Blair flying off the bed, or at least levitating, but Jake’s hands on her hips kept her firmly in place.
“No fair!” she gasped. “I don’t get a chance at you.”
“That will come, but not until after you do.” He grinned and returned to driving his hexster insane with arousal.
But Jake forgot that Blair had more than her share of tricks up her sleeve, so to speak. She easily twisted in his embrace until she could wrap her hand around his cock and lower her lips onto it. If Jake thought humming against her center was wild, her sending vibrations that thrummed with magick went beyond that. He twisted her hair around his hands as he dug his fingers into her scalp, keeping her head secure as she took him deep into her throat. When she finally lifted her head, she was smiling and she moved up his body to kiss him, their tongues dancing, blending their tastes together, as she sank down onto him.
Jake hissed at the exquisite sensation as her inner muscles gripped him as tightly as a glove and she moved with sensually slow movements that heightened the sexual spell that wove around them. There was no magick involved between the witch and the Were, only the magick between a man and woman who couldn’t keep their hands off each other.
Blair felt Jake’s body tightening and knew it wouldn’t be long now. She increased the rhythm as he lifted the upper half of his body and kept his arms around her, steadying her and kissing her deeply until their bodies seemed to explode around them.
If Jake hadn’t been holding her she would have collapsed onto the bed. Instead, he slowly lowered them both back down among the covers and nestled her face against his shoulder. She felt boneless in his embrace and wasn’t ready to move any time soon. She was content to lie against his chest and listen to his rapid heartbeat under her ear.
“You can kidnap me and carry me off to your house any time you like,” she said finally, feeling the urge to fall asleep, but too happy with the moment to close her eyes and succumb to post-coital exhaustion.
His chuckle rumbled under her face. “I think we embarrassed the guys.”
“What?” She lifted her head then turned her head to look down their bodies to see Fluff and Puff hiding their eyes with their ears and uttering whimpering sounds. “Then leave,” she told them. “Just get off my ankle and go downstairs.” She sighed at their reply. “No, I won’t return you to Jazz ahead of time. Sheesh, one of the few times I don’t lie and they don’t believe me.” She slid off Jake’s body and pulled the sheet up; her overheated body was finally feeling the chilly air. She looked at the ceiling fashioned of heavy glass. The clear, star-studded night sky twinkled down on them. “It must be miserable to heat this place with all the glass you have.”
“Our Were natures prefer the outdoors and this is close to it,” he explained. “I don’t get as cold as you would.”
“But there’s no windows in your workshop,” she pointed out. “Where do you get any ventilation?”
“You didn’t look up. There are a lot of skylights that I can even open if I like.”
She thought about the dollhouse and various sketches she saw there. “Why do you build dollhouses? I mean, you’re a wonderful carpenter and you never seem to lack for work around here. Come to think of it, why do you work as a handyman when your dollhouses must give you more than enough money?” She rolled over onto her side and propped her head up on her hand.
“It takes a lot of time to build the houses and I have to pay the people who make the furniture, figurines, and clothing and any other fabric items in there. A lot goes into those houses—they’re worth the expense. Odd jobs help even out the cash flow.”
“And why you build them?”
Jake lay back against the pillows, one arm crooked behind his head as he stared upward. “I guess you’d have to say because of Jen. When I was just a pup, a lot of the females in the Pack,”—Blair didn’t miss that he didn’t say my Pack—“were athletic and tomboys, but Jen was always your typical girl. She had a pretty impressive doll collection and loved to put on tea parties. She’s a pretty finicky wolf; she didn’t even like getting her paws wet. When she was eight, her mom gave her this elaborate dollhouse that resembled a British country house complete with antique-looking furniture and figurines dressed in period clothing. Even then I was fascinated by all the details, the authenticity. I liked to play around with hammer and nails as a kid, so I tried making a dollhouse.”
“And?” she softly prompted.
“And my old man said no whelp of his plays with girl toys and he took a sledgehammer to the house. Then he beat me bloody.”
Blair stroked his arm from wrist to shoulder then back down again. “Too bad your dad’s dead. I’d love to put that collar on him.”
He smiled. “I’d like to see you do that.”
“Hey, big bad witch here,” she teased, nibbling kisses along his lower lip. “I could turn him into a whimpering puppy.”
“You did a pretty good job of doing that to me a few minutes ago.”
“Yeah, well, you liked what I did, he wouldn’t. My da wasn’t a mean man, but he wasn’t always kind, either. He was a farmer with more rocks than crops, but I can’t remember his ever demeaning any of us. No true beatings, but more than a few cuffs at the ears.”
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“How many siblings?”
She was so quiet he thought she wasn’t going to answer.
“Three brothers and two sisters. Another four that didn’t live beyond six months of age. My brothers worked in the fields as soon as they could walk and my sisters and I spun yarn and wove wool, which we sold in the village.”
“What about your magick?”
“That showed up when I was six; my mother was frightened out of her wits when I lit the fire without using flint. It wasn’t long after that that Eurydice visited our cottage and told them what a better life I could have at the Witches’ Academy. My da said it was one less mouth to feed and worry about marrying off. So I went with Eurydice that very day and she took me to the Witches’ Academy,” she said softly. “For the first time in my life I was scrubbed from head to toe, fed a large meal, and wore clothing that wasn’t patched. The scholars at the Academy tested me and put me in classes to learn how to control my gift, along with being taught about all forms of magick.”
“Story is, you were all expelled.”
She nodded. “It was our last year at the Academy and there were thirteen of us. One of us cast a spell on a local nobleman’s son, a spell that was pretty nasty, if I do say so myself. Except it wasn’t allowed, and since none of us would admit to casting the spell, we were all banished from the Academy. We all agreed the punishment would be dealt out to all of us. To this day, I don’t know who cast the spell, and it doesn’t matter. The bastard deserved that and much more, so he got off lightly. And we were sent out into the mortal world.”
“For one hundred years.” He grinned. “I’ve heard most of the story, but not from anyone who was there at the time.
“For one hundred years—and we could then return to the Academy as long as we behaved, but it seemed our idea of good behavior wasn’t the same as theirs. After all, we’re still out here seven hundred years later. And I’m glad we are.” She traced idle patterns on his chest. “Stasi thinks it’s deliberate. That they feel we should be out here and additional years are added to our banishment just for show.”
“What do you think?” He grasped her hand and held it against his chest.
“That there was a good reason why Stasi was the top student.” She snuggled up against him and looked up at the glass ceiling. “A clear night and lots of stars just for us,” she murmured. “It’s been a good day.”
“It has for me.” He laughed as Fluff and Puff began to chatter enthusiastically. “Okay, guys, while I can’t understand a word you say, I do get your meaning. And thanks. You’re awesome.”
“Terrific, now their heads will be so swelled my ankle will be lopsided.” She tipped her head to one side to look at him. “So tell me, Jake Harrison, are you over this crazy idea that we aren’t meant to be together?”
“If I’m not?”
She held one hand up in the air and started tracing figures in the air with her finger. The figures began to move and dance their way down to Jake’s lower body.
“Okay!” He almost yelped. “Yes, you win.”
“That’s better.” She kissed him. “The witch is always right.”
“I’ll make a note of it.” He couldn’t help smiling, but then, Blair had a way of bringing smiles to his face.
“And while you’re at it, make a note of this, my sexy puppy.” She wiggled her way on top of him and leaned down for a kiss. Her whisper bathed his lips. “I always get my way.”
And she did.
Chapter 16
“So, we now have life back to normal.” Blair was in the process of whipping up a couple of ham and cheese omelets and had toast browning. She was wearing one of Jake’s flannel shirts, which hung to her knees. She wished she had her 1930s hot pink silk robe and matching high-heeled, marabou-trimmed mules, but this morning, nothing bothered her. After she and Jake finally crawled out of bed, her body felt as if she’d been sentenced to a year’s worth of high impact aerobics classes. But she knew the internal aches would soon ease—plus they were worth it. Jake was a very attentive lover. She felt the smile on her face grow larger.
“You keep that up and we’ll be back in bed before you can say ‘abracadabra.’” Jake moved up behind her and wrapped his arms around her while he buried his face against her neck. “Um, you smell good.”
She felt that liquid feeling again, but ordered Ms. Happy to behave until after breakfast.
“We have to finish setting up everything for the carnival, remember? If it wasn’t for Agnes being so involved with the elves, she’d be on the phone with us every five minutes.”
“She really did a great job with them.” He nibbled on her neck. “Hmmm, you’re tasty, too.”
Blair closed her eyes and just allowed the sensation to liquefy her bones. “You’re very bad.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t seem to mind last night.”
High-pitched chatter interrupted what might have happened next.
“They claim their eyes are bleeding,” Blair translated.
“At one point it looked like they were taking notes.”
Blair’s jaw dropped. She looked down at the bunny slipper tattoo. They tried to look innocent but were far from that emotion. “If you relay one thing to Horace or Felix, I will make your lives a living hell and don’t think I can’t,” she threatened. “Or that Jazz will stop me. She’d probably even help. That bunny jail you were in will be like paradise compared to what I’ll come up with.” She laughed as tiny bits of paper flew into the air. “Good idea.” She used a spatula to ease the omelets onto plates while Jake retrieved the toast and carried plates over to the breakfast nook. Jake opened the café curtains so they had a picture perfect view of morning snow and trees beyond. Blair slid across the curved bench seat and surveyed the food with hunger.
“You know Roan will be there, too,” Jake said, his features tightening.
“If he behaves, so will I—and believe me, that’s saying a lot.” She smiled as he refilled their coffee mugs. “And he better not think about ruining the carnival. This is one of Agnes’s favorite activities next to her Christmas plans.”
“Don’t remind me of that tree we put up in front of the town center,” Jake groaned. “I about threw my back out helping with that.”
“I’m amazed Agnes didn’t think about bringing elves up then. Although she probably already has them scheduled for next December.” She forked up her omelet and nibbled away before she tackled the subject she really wanted to ignore. “Do you think Roan will try anything to ruin the carnival?”
Jake worked on his food for a bit before replying. “Honestly? I don’t know. He was always Alpha material and between Vera and Baxter he’s even more like them. Our old man was bad enough but Baxter made him look like a puppy.”
“So what would they do?”
He took his time smothering his toast with razzleberry jam. “Baxter would mow you down… literally. He likes to use muscle. No subtlety at all and it’s served him well for many years. Vera’s subtler with her attacks. She’d rather find a way to undermine you in such a way you’d be left a shell of your former self.” He grinned. “And she’s always hated tattoos.” His eyes briefly lowered. “She thinks they’re low class.”
“I figured that when she saw the guys that morning. You know what? She’s the one with low self-esteem issues.”
Jake almost spewed his coffee across the table. “There’s no way we’re talking about the same Vera.”
“She tries anything else, I’m siccing Eurydice on her. That’ll fix her because my money would be on Eurydice. Actually,” she warmed to her subject, “that’s something I’d really like to see.” She glanced at the clock and started eating faster. “We need to get over to the lake and now I’ll have to explain why I don’t have the dog with me. At this rate, I might have to get a real Border Collie.”
Jake shook his head. “Most dogs don’t like me. My Were nature bothers them. Same with cats.” He quickly finished his food and stood up, taking his plate and Bl
air’s. “I think the only reason Bogie tolerates me is because he’s magickal.”
“I need to get home and change.”
“I’ll do the dishes and stop by for you.”
“What a keeper! And he does dishes, too.” She went upstairs to change into the clothing she’d worn the night before, once downstairs paused long enough to give him a quick kiss, and ran out the back door.
Jake watched her trot down the path and realized just how much his life had turned around.
“The good thing is, I’m in love with a witch. The bad thing is, I’m in love with a witch—because for reasons unknown to me and her I’m putting her in danger. Although knowing her, she’d just dive in and do what she does best and damn the consequences.”
***
“I can’t believe we’re the first ones here.” Blair looked around at the booths that ringed the lake. She smiled at the iridescent snowflakes that had been painted on the sides and front and the darker blue glitter paint that detailed in elegant script what each booth was for. “How cute! These are even nicer than the ones we made last year.”
“The kids must have done the extra decorations. They did good work.” Jake walked around each booth, making sure they were secure even though he had directed the construction of each small structure.
Blair looked out over the lake. It had been cold enough that a thin layer of ice had formed over the surface. She frowned as a flash of black seemed to streak underneath.
“Did you see that?”
“See what?” Jake took hold of one booth’s side wall and shook it, pleased to see it was good and solid.
She frowned as she held her hand shading her eyes and studied the lake, but whatever she saw had now disappeared.
“I guess it was probably a trick of the sunlight.” But she couldn’t get the feeling out of her head that she actually had seen something in the water that wasn’t a fish.