“It will be.” He rolled her to her back. “Okay, bad girl. Show me what you got.”
“In the missionary position? Are you kidding?”
“Then tell me what you want.”
“You, on your back, big boy.” Anica could hardly believe the suggestions coming out of her mouth, but she liked them.
He followed orders, rolling them both the other way in a tangle of sheets.
“We need to get rid of this mess.” Scrambling to a sitting position astride his thighs, she wrenched the sheets away and tossed them to the end of the bed.
He laughed. “Won’t you get cold?”
“Not considering what we’re going to be doing.” She leaned forward, deliberately dangling her breasts in his face as she opened the bedside table drawer and took out a condom.
“Oh, I like this already.” He reached for the treats she so casually offered.
Before he could avail himself of the opportunity, she sat up again, the condom packet in her hand.
“Come back down here,” he murmured.
She ripped open the packet. “When I feel like it. First I intend to get you suited up.”
His golden eyes burned with eagerness. “I can do that.”
“Yes, but I can do it better.” Leaning down, she took his penis into her mouth.
“Anica . . .”
After giving him some playful licks and sucks, she released him and sat back on his thighs again. “That was just for starters. See how much easier the condom goes on now?” She rolled it on very, very slowly.
A quick check of his expression told her that her technique was having the desired effect. Soon she’d have him crazed with lust yet again.
“Come here.” His voice was husky as he bracketed her hips and attempted to lift her up. “I want to be inside you.”
“In due course.” She gently removed his hands. “Keep these to yourself until I say so.”
He frowned. “How soon will that be?”
“When I’m ready.” She cupped her breasts with both hands. “I’ll now proceed to get ready.”
This was uncharted territory for her, but a bad girl would have this in her repertoire, so she decided to try it. Squeezing her breasts, she pinched her nipples and moaned softly. A quick peek at Jasper encouraged her to go on. He was riveted.
Time for Act Two. Keeping one hand on her breast, she reached between her thighs.
His voice sounded strangled. “You’re not really going to . . .”
“Yes.” She gazed at him as she massaged her clit. This was more exciting than she would have thought. Before long she was whimpering, moaning and writhing against his thighs.
“That’s enough!” His hands seemed made of steel as he grabbed her and lifted her onto his cock.
She should probably scold him for jumping the gun, but she was too busy enjoying the sensation of sliding down onto the most rigid penis in the world. She’d take bets on it.
Her climax had almost arrived even before she took him deep inside her, so she knew it wouldn’t be long. Bracing both hands on his chest, she looked into his eyes and rotated her hips. “Time to ride, pardner.”
He gazed back at her, his eyes glowing with heat and his fingers pressed firmly against her bottom. “You are such a bad girl.”
“Told you. Now giddyup.”
“My pleasure.”
And with that, the two of them rode off, whooping and hollering, into the most brilliant, mind-shattering sunset imaginable.
Later, as she lay slumped over him, wishing she didn’t have to move, she turned her head just enough so that she could see the clock.
He must have felt her movement and guessed her intent, because he spoke without hesitation “What time is it?”
“Almost midnight.”
“The halfway point,” he said softly. “Damn.”
Chapter 17
Jasper tried really hard to bask in the afterglow of great sex. While he made a trip to the bathroom to get rid of the condom, Anica brought in the two beers they hadn’t bothered with the night before, along with cheese and crackers and a bowl of chips.
Ideally they should be able to picnic in bed, then brush the crumbs off the sheets and go another round. Jasper figured he had until one thirty in the morning before he reverted back to cat status. He should milk that remaining time for all it was worth. He should also read his mail, but he’d put that off until the last ten minutes or so.
The thing was, during sex with Anica, he’d forgotten about the time. Now he couldn’t seem to think about anything else, and his good mood dribbled away like the sand in an hourglass. This whole deal was so unfair.
Why couldn’t he enjoy this time in bed with Anica until morning, then get up, get dressed and go to his office? Why wasn’t there a way to lift this blasted curse? As he swigged his beer his mind kept at the topic, worrying it the way Orion toyed with his felt mouse.
He’d seen Disney movies as a kid and watched his share of movies about magic as an adult. For every spell there was always a counterspell. For every poisoned apple there was true love’s kiss. For every riddle there was an answer that would free the person trapped in the riddle’s spell.
There had to be one in this case, too. He looked at Anica, who was happily munching on chips. She was the magic expert in this room. Besides that, she’d consulted with a witch and wizard who were supposed to be like tribal elders or something.
He couldn’t shake the feeling that she was holding out on him. “Anica, I’m going to ask you straight out. Do you know what would lift this cat spell?”
She paused, a chip halfway to her mouth. Her deer-in-the-headlights expression gave her away.
“Shit, Anica!” He slammed his beer bottle onto the end table so hard it probably made a dent in the wood. He didn’t care.
Leaping out of bed, he began to pace the floor beside it. “You’re a real piece of work, you know that?” He pointed an accusing finger at her. “You’re willing to screw my brains out, but you won’t give me the most important information of my life. What’s wrong with this picture?”
“But I—”
“Is it because you want to keep me tied to you? Are you afraid if I leave, I might come back at you for hexing me in the first place?” The ugly words spilled out and he couldn’t stop them. “Or maybe you haven’t had a good fuck in a while, and me showing up for a few hours every night is taking the edge off?”
Tears filled her eyes. “Stop. Please, stop.”
The tears did it. He never had been able to deal with a woman’s tears. He’d have been happier if she’d thrown the bowl of chips at his head, but of course she wouldn’t do that. She might be getting more adventurous in bed, but he suspected at heart she was still very much a good girl.
And he’d obviously inflicted pain. He took a deep breath. “Hey, I’m sorry to make you cry. But, Anica, if you know how to break this curse and you’re not telling me, then—”
“I can’t tell you!” Her words were edged with anger and frustration equal to his. “If you think for one minute that I enjoy keeping you captive, that all I’m looking for is a love slave, then please never touch me again, because I can’t imagine what sort of horrible person you think I am.”
He wasn’t about to tell her that his hunger for her defied all logic. No matter what he thought about her character or her behavior with the hexing thing, he couldn’t seem to stop wanting her. It was life’s little joke at the moment.
He wanted to despise her for turning him into a cat, but in the first place, she was a tough person to despise. He liked her. And in the second place, how was he supposed to hold on to his rage when his cock wanted nothing more than to be eternally buried in her sweet pussy?
Instead of landing himself in that briar patch, he circled back to the first thing she’d said. “Why can’t you tell me?”
She took a ragged breath and swiped at her eyes. “If I tell you, then the counterspell won’t work.”
“What kind of cra
zy deal is that? How am I supposed to know what to do if nobody—” The light dawned. “I have to figure it out for myself?”
“Yes.”
“Shitfire.” He swiped a hand over his face. “Can you give me a hint?”
She shook her head.
“How about if you write it on a piece of paper, I read it and then we burn it? Nobody will know, right?”
“It doesn’t matter if nobody knows. It’s the nature of the spell that if you’re told how to break it, you never will be able to.”
His blood ran cold. What kind of hell would that be? They’d both be doomed. They’d be tied to each other, neither of them able to live a normal life because he’d be a man for only a few hours every night, which would be just long enough to keep her from having a relationship with someone else.
Then another horrific thought came to him. “Suppose you accidentally tell me?”
“I wouldn’t do that.”
“What do you mean, you wouldn’t? Let’s say I keep showing up every night and we keep having sex.”
“After the way you’ve spoken to me, that won’t be happening again.”
Now, there was a sucker punch to the gut. The thought of being denied was pretty much unbearable. “Anica, I lost my temper. I shouldn’t have accused you of using me for your own selfish purposes. You’re not that kind of person. I know that. I’m sorry.”
She didn’t respond, just kept gazing at him as if he was something she’d scraped off the bottom of her shoe.
He could barely believe that this was the same woman who had lovingly given him the most spectacular blow job of his life an hour and a half ago. Just thinking about that made his penis stir.
Running his fingers through his hair, he wondered how to regain some of the ground he’d lost. Somehow, even though he was the wronged party, he’d now become the villain of the piece.
To his surprise he didn’t like seeing her miserable, either. At one time, very recently, in fact, he’d imagined it would be quite satisfying to see her miserable. He’d pictured finding some way to ruin her business so that she’d lose all the money she’d invested. The punishment had seemed justified, considering what she’d done to him.
Yet now . . . maybe she was as much a victim of the situation as he was. She’d bravely tried to make the best of it by giving him some of the greatest sex of his life. Then he’d accused her of doing it because she was desperate for a decent lay. Not nice.
He sat down on the bed. “Let’s start over.”
“Where did you want to start over? At the point where we were having a lovely mutual orgasm, or at the point where you accused me of being a manipulative, scheming, not to mention horny and pathetic bitch?”
He gazed into her eyes. “I was a bastard to say those things to you.”
“Yes, you certainly were.”
“You’ve given generously of your body, and I should fall on my knees in gratitude. I should beg you to forgive me for being such an insensitive creep.”
The corner of her mouth twitched as if she might be holding back a smile. “That would be entirely appropriate.”
He took heart from that little twitch. “So I will.” Sliding off the bed, he dropped to his knees beside it and gazed up at her. “Anica, please forgive me for acting like a total idiot. I’ve loved every millisecond we’ve had sex, and after what I said to you, I completely understand if you kick me out of your bed. I hope you don’t, but you’d be absolutely justified in cutting me off.”
“Oh?” Her blue eyes sparkled with mischief. “Do you mean that literally?”
He scrambled to his feet and put both hands over his crotch. “I’m sorry, but not that sorry! Who are you, Lorena Bobbitt?”
Finally her laughter broke through. “All right, you’re forgiven.”
“Thank God.” He climbed back in bed with her, took away the bowl of chips and set it on the table next to his beer.
“I was eating those.”
“I know, but I was afraid you’d choke.” He eased her back onto the stack of pillows.
“Why would I do that?”
“Because it’s really dangerous to eat chips while I’m screwing your brains out.”
He did exactly that. Anica didn’t have a single brain cell working by the time he finished with her. That explained why she forgot to remind him to get out of bed and go read his mail.
He was the one who remembered it. They lay facing each other again, gazing into each other’s eyes. He leaned over and kissed her softly. “You have my permission to open my mail.”
“Sheesh, your mail! Let me go get it!”
“There isn’t time.”
She realized that he could see the clock on the bedside table behind her and she couldn’t. If there wasn’t time for him to read his mail, then it must be almost one thirty. Her heart squeezed.
“If anything’s urgent, like a bill, just get out my credit card and pay it that way.”
“All right.” She was determined not to fall apart on him. After all, he’d still be here. He’d just be . . . a cat. She cupped his face in both hands. “Your beard’s growing.”
“Yeah. If I keep extending my time, eventually I’ll have to shave.” A shadow crossed his face. “If I keep extending my time.”
“Maybe . . .” She stopped herself just before she said Maybe giving me a wonderful orgasm is an act of kindness. Hera’s hickeys! She’d almost blurted it out in bed, exactly as he’d been afraid she would!
“Maybe what?”
“Nothing.”
His eyes narrowed. “You almost said it, didn’t you?”
She couldn’t lie to him, not after what they’d been through. “Yes, yes I almost did!” She sat up and put her face in her hands. “Dear Zeus, you were right. I was all relaxed and happy and I almost said something, and if I had . . .” She pressed the heels of her hands against her eyes to hold back tears of frustration and despair. “We shouldn’t have sex anymore. I shouldn’t spend any time with you at all!”
“I couldn’t stand that.” He sat up and started rubbing her back. “You’re the person who keeps me going.”
“I’m the person who put you in this state!”
“Well, there’s that.” He kept rubbing her back. “Don’t blame yourself for almost messing up. The point is you didn’t mess up. I have to figure out the secret.”
“By yourself.”
“Right. But you have a ton of magic books out there in the living room. Assuming I change back tomorrow night, then that’s what I should be doing—studying those.”
She had to admit it was a good idea, although she knew the answer wouldn’t be in there. Still, he might get some ideas that would help him discover what he had to do. “All right. I’ll make you coffee and . . . do you like brownies?”
“Love ’em.”
“Then I’ll bring home fresh brownies from work.”
He put his arm around her and nuzzled behind her ear. “Just so you know, brownies and coffee won’t even begin to substitute for sex with you. But a guy has to do what a guy has to do.”
“I know.” She lifted her head and turned to gaze at him. “You’re smart. You’ll get it.”
“I absolutely will get it. If I think I know and I ask you, can you confirm it?”
“Yes.”
He let out a breath. “Good. That’s good.”
“But I don’t think we can play twenty questions. You shouldn’t ask until you’re virtually sure. I don’t know how many questions you get.”
“Can you find out?”
“I’ll find out.”
“Okay, then.” He glanced over her shoulder. “Stay here. I’m going to go look for something in the kitchen.”
She didn’t believe that for a minute. He’d seen the time and he didn’t want to change in front of her. “It’s okay, Jasper,” she said softly. “You don’t have to leave.”
“Yeah, I do.” He smiled as he climbed out of bed. “It can’t be an appealing sight, and I want you to
remember me as I am now. Underneath all this humility I’m kind of vain.”
She felt honor-bound to play along with him and keep the mood light. “Humility? You’re about as humble as The Donald.”
“One of my heroes, except I’m better-looking. Feel free to check out my ass when I leave the room.”
She watched him go, but she had trouble seeing his most excellent ass through a blur of tears. They rolled unchecked down her cheeks as she continued to stare at the door into the hallway.
As she waited she tried to comfort herself with alternate scenarios. Maybe it wouldn’t happen at one thirty, after all. Maybe the spell didn’t work the way they both thought it did, and he’d stay this way until morning. Maybe he’d walk back in the room with a glass of milk, a day-old doughnut from Wicked Brew, and a jaunty smile on his face.
When a sleek back cat appeared in the bedroom doorway, she broke down completely. “Oh, Jasper,” she sobbed. “I don’t know if I can stand this.”
The cat walked quietly over to the bed and leaped up on the mattress. Making his way over to her, he crawled into her lap, put his paws on her shoulders, and began licking the tears away.
Anica was in a terrible mood the next morning, and Jasper hated that. She’d always been such an upbeat person. He especially hated the sad way she looked at him. So before she left for work he goofed around with Orion for a while, just to see if he could make her laugh.
He’d hide behind the curtains or around a corner or behind the sofa. Then he’d leap out at Orion when he strolled by. Orion’s reaction was priceless. He’d squeak and jump straight into the air like a cartoon cat. Either Orion liked being startled or he wasn’t very smart, because he fell for the joke every time.
It took about three times before Anica laughed, but she finally did, and Jasper was proud of himself.
“You’re crazy, Jasper,” she said, and leaned down to scratch behind his ears. “Thanks.”
He purred, like he always did, but this time he didn’t resent showing that kind of contentment. He had a feeling that when he purred, she liked it, as if she wanted reassurance that he wasn’t completely miserable even though he was still a cat.
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