The Bare Witch Project

by Celeste Hall

Chapter Eight

  Morgan woke up feeling warm and flushed.

  All night she’d had erotic dreams about the man resting with one strong arm draped intimately over her hip, the heat of his chest and abs molded perfectly down the length of her back.

  They were touching everywhere, her body fully embraced by his, as if they’d fallen asleep as lovers rather than… hell, she didn’t even know how to describe their relationship.

  Although he’d originally come to her in the form of a cat, she no longer felt comfortable calling him her pet. Yet calling him a friend felt too impersonal now, with the sensual caress of his breath sending a wash of delicious shivers against the back of her neck.

  Then her heart crashed against her ribs and she was jolting straight up in bed.

  “What’s wrong?” Leo asked, instantly awake and alert to the dread filling her eyes.

  “I heard something,” she whispered fearfully. “I think someone is inside the house.”

  They both fell silent, listening to the early morning birds outside the window and the pregnant silence within the building.

  Then it came again, the creak of a floorboard downstairs.

  Leo was out of the bed in a flash, reaching the bedroom door before either of them realized that his towel had remained partially trapped beneath her on the mattress.

  “No!” She commanded, seeing him hesitate on the threshold of racing downstairs to confront the intruder while both naked and defenseless.

  Although he’d managed to escape unscathed the day before, he might not be so lucky this time.

  “Lock the door and stay here with me.” She pleaded. “I’ll call the police.”

  Leo didn’t look happy, but he gave a curt nod and flipped the lock on the handle.

  As she reached for the phone, someone began to climb the stairs.

  Apparently, the intruder had heard Leo’s heavy weight strike the floor and move towards the door. Whoever it was, they were on their way up to find her.

  “Hey sweetie?” A familiar voice called from the other side of wooden barrier, causing Morgan’s eyes to widen in surprise, “Are you awake?”

  “Heidi?”

  Even as she spoke, Morgan was gesturing wildly at Leo.

  “Cat… cat…. cat!” She whispered frantically, not ready to explain why there was a naked man in her bedroom this early in the morning.

  For his part, Leo folded thick arms over his chest and gave her a disapproving frown.

  When he’d told her that he wanted her to spend time with him in his human form, he’d been serious. But she hadn’t expected her friends to show up before she’d had a chance to find him some clothing.

  “Please?” She mouthed almost silently as Heidi rattled the locked handle.

  “Are you alright?” Her visitor was asking in growing concern. “Since when did you start locking the bedroom door?”

  “Give me just a second. I need to get dressed. I fell asleep in my underwear.”

  “Yeah, so what? I’ve see you in your undies before.”

  Morgan was getting desperate.

  Scrambling out of bed she hurried across the floor to where Leo was standing. It was hard to ignore the impish grin sneaking over his lips as she was forced to stand on her toes, and lean in close, to whisper directly into his ear. But this was no time for a lecture on chivalry.

  “I promise, I’ll introduce you as soon as you have clothes. I’ll even let you take me on a date.”

  “Deal,” his warm breath feathered over her ear, sending a fresh wash of shivers tickling along her neck. Then he closed his eyes, and changed. His body slipping away from hers, growing lithe and feline in shape, until he was only a large black cat at her feet.

  “Thank you,” she whispered, reaching out to unlock and open the door.

  Heidi was scowling as Morgan peeked around the edge of the barrier and offered an apologetic smile.

  “Hey, what are you doing here? Don’t you have work today?”

  “Yeah, I do.” The redhead ignored her attempts at modesty and shouldered her way into the room.

  There was a suspicious gleam in her eyes as she systematically began searching the closets, the bathroom and every other place large enough for a person to hide inside or under.

  Leo jumped up onto the bed while Heidi was looking under it. His tail twitching and bright green eyes glowing with silent feline laughter.

  Morgan made a face at him, but the cat only offered her a gravelly meow in return.

  “Are you satisfied?” She asked as Heidi finally straightened, her hands on her hips and a disappointed look on her face.

  “No.” The redhead growled in disgust. “I would have been happier if I’d found your incredibly sexy, naked ‘friend’ hiding in here somewhere. You know, the guy that saved your life yesterday.”

  Leo meowed and offered something that sounded like a sneeze. Or a chuckle.

  “So, who is he?” Heidi demanded. “Why haven’t we seen him before, and why isn’t he here now, protecting you like a good hero should?”

  Morgan gave the cat a dark scowl as he also turned demanding eyes in her direction.

  “He needed a fresh change of clothes,” she growled pointedly in his direction.

  “Ah ha!’ Heidi crowed, “So you did sleep with him! Go on, give me all the dirty details.”

  Morgan sighed.

  “It wasn’t like that,” she argued. And even if it had been, she wasn’t about to discuss anything with Leo sitting right there listening to every word. But her attempts to avoid the truth made her friend consider some frightening possibilities.

  “He doesn’t have anything to do with Craig, does he?” Heidi’s voice dropped to something just above a whisper, and cracked as she spoke the man’s name.

  “No,” Morgan hurried to soothe the redhead, then glanced towards Leo on the bed. “He was actually here for his cat.”

  She mentally patted herself on the back for coming up with such a creative version of the truth.

  “Are you serious?” Heidi asked. “Why was he naked?”

  Morgan quickly racked her brain for an answer.

  “He’s a witch. I mean… a warlock? I’m not really sure what the male versions call themselves. Anyhow, he was right in the middle of a ritual when a big dog went after his cat. Leo ran straight here, just like last time. That’s when he saw the guy coming after me and jumped in to help.”

  She paused, repeating the whole story over in her head, looking for any possible flaws, but it actually sounded credible. Maybe she wasn’t such a bad liar after all? Was that something to be proud of?

  Heidi glanced at the clock, aware of the commute still ahead of her, but loath to leave before she had the answer to all her questions.

  “Did you get his name?”

  Morgan shook her head.

  “I didn’t have time to ask. He was in a hurry to change before the cops saw him.”

  Heidi sighed.

  “Damn. Do you think he’ll ever come back? Maybe we can ask around and find out where he lives. You could tell him you just wanted to say thanks for saving your life.”

  Morgan gestured towards Leo.

  “I still have his cat,” she pointed out. “Sooner or later I’m sure you’ll get a chance to meet him.”

  “Hey, yeah! You’re right! He has to come back for his cat.” The redhead started to reach out, as if she might pet the dark feline watching her from the bed. But his green eyes narrowed just a fraction and the girl wisely withdrew the offer.

  “I better get to work,” she sighed, looking towards the bed table clock once more. “I’m already running a bit behind, but I wanted to check on you and drop off some breakfast.”

  “You don’t cook.” Morgan pointed out with a skeptical glance towards the doorway.

  “Nope, but I’m an expert at drive-thru windows,” Heidi laughed, but it faded quickly and she looked worried again. “Be safe okay? Keep the doors locked and don’t go anywhere alone. Rachel i
s going to stop by tonight with dinner.”

  “I’ll be fine,” Morgan assured her. “The police took the guy to jail. I doubt Craig will be able to summon up another emissary of evil in such a short period of time.”

  A thin groan of distress escaped the redhead.

  “Rachel didn’t tell you.”

  “Tell me what?”

  “The guy that attacked you yesterday is already out. The police released him this morning. He was told to stay away from you or he could go back to jail, but we both know that won’t stop him.”

  Leo let out a low hiss that was only partially muffled by Morgan’s cry of outrage.

  “Are you serious? Wasn’t the guy just recently paroled? How could they release him after breaking and entering, and attacking a defenseless woman inside her own home? Don’t those things somehow revoke his freedom? What the hell was the judge thinking?”

  “He was on post-release supervision, not parole. Rachel claims there’s a difference. Anyhow, they said they can’t get him back in front of the judge until next week and that house arrest was the best they could push for in the interim, but even that didn’t stick.”

  Heidi paused uncomfortably.

  “There’s more,” Morgan guessed and her friend offered a miserable nod.

  “Since the guy never actually hurt you, and there’s no sign of forced entry at any of your doors, Matt says the judge will probably just give him a warning. They can’t prove that he did anything wrong. But you can file for a restraining order.”

  “That worked so well against Craig.”

  Heidi looked like she was about to cry.

  “Come stay with me. It would make all of us feel better.”

  Leo meowed unhappily, jumping off the bed and padding over to bump his head against Morgan’s leg. She reflexively reached down to scoop him up, holding him close to her chest and taking some comfort when he began a deep rumbling purr.

  She thought of how warm and safe she’d felt in his arms only moments before, and regretted that he couldn’t offer her that sense of security now. But she knew that he would remain in his feline form until Heidi was gone.

  “I’ll be okay,” she assured Heidi with a confidence she really didn’t feel. “I just have to get through this weekend. The alarm system will be installed on Monday.”

  “I was afraid you’d say something like that.” Heidi cast a dark glower at the clock before throwing up her hands in frustration.

  “This conversation is not over,” the redhead warned. “It’s only being postponed until I get back from work. I’m already late. Be safe!”

  Heidi took the stairs down two at a time. Racing out the front door, she slammed it behind her with a resounding boom that shook the windows. She was obviously not happy to be leaving her best friend unaccompanied under such circumstances.

  But Morgan wasn’t really as alone as the girl thought. Before the car was even out of the driveway, Leo was leaping out of her arms and performing his body altering magic.

  “Towel!” Morgan immediately ordered, turning away as she waited for him to cover up.

  She didn’t allow his soft chuckling to dissuade her for one minute. It was hard enough sharing such close proximity with a man. The last thing she needed was a constant refresher on how incredibly sexy he looked naked.

  “I suppose you heard everything?”

  “Yeah,” he growled, startling her when his hands abruptly caught her waist and turned her around to face him. “I think we need to work on your escape plan.”

  “What….?”

  She didn’t get to finish the question. His lips closed over hers, wrecking her train of thought and causing the entire world to whirl off its axis.

  For a moment, she was certain that her heart stopped beating. Then it kick started into overdrive, crashing wildly into her ribs and shooting little sparks of white hot desire ricocheting through her body.

  For just one incredible moment she closed her eyes and allowed herself to drown within the pleasure he aroused.

  He nibbled and teased at her mouth until she opened for him, allowing him to thrust his tongue inside. Instantly her body shivered, as if his kiss alone had awakened the first illicit waves of ecstasy.

  She couldn’t remember the last time a man had kissed her this way. As if he needed her more than he needed to take his next breath.

  Nothing else in the world mattered but the sensual crush of his lips against hers and the erotic exploration of her mouth with his tongue.

  Of one thing she was certain, she had never been so tempted to throw caution to the wind and follow the passion, no matter how it might destroy her.

  As Craig had nearly destroyed her.

  Just like that, the moment was shattered.