Frosty Relations
Page 7
He poked her shoulder with his index finger. “Are you done sleeping yet?”
“No.” She growled. “It’s been fifteen minutes.”
Closer to twenty, but who was counting? “They teach poor children in D.C., too, by the way.”
Without lifting her lids, she reached over and covered his mouth. “Shh….”
He lifted her wrist and moved her arm to his waist. How could she ignore him when they had something important to discuss? “Did you hear what I said?”
“If you ever want to have sex again, you’ll shut up.”
He rolled his eyes at the empty threat. She’d enjoyed it at least as much as he had. Besides, after capping off round three in the bath, even his penis needed a break. “I said you don’t need to move to stupid Detroit for that program. I googled it. They do the same stuff here, too.”
She pinched his abs. “I already know. Shush.”
He rubbed the spot. The injury warranted retaliation. With a smirk, he moved his left arm out from under her face.
Her eyes snapped open. “I’m going to kill you.”
Lying on his side, he propped his head up on one elbow. “Then who’ll get you strawberries and chocolate fondue in ten minutes?”
The promise seemed to mollify her. She mirrored his position and grabbed his hand. “Teach for America was a way for me to move. My life here has gotten difficult.”
“Because of your thieving brother, who’s since skipped town.”
She sighed. “Which has created even more problems.”
He grunted. “I’m pretty sure those gangsters learned their lesson. If not, there’s this organization called the police, which you can contact by dialing 9-1-1. If all else fails, I’ll freeze off sections of Chinatown. Any other excuses for leaving?”
“Besides not having a reason to stay?”
“What am I, chopped liver?” When she lifted her eyebrows and responded with slow blink, he cleared his throat. “We’re friends, aren’t we?”
She drummed her fingers on his knuckles but said nothing. He hated it when she used silence as a form of psychological warfare. It had something to do with it always working.
“We’re…like…closer friends than normal.” A chill skittered down his spine as he said the words.
Judging from the half-dimples on her cheeks, he suspected she suppressed a smile. He could feel beads of moisture form on his forehead. He never sweated. “I consider you…my best bud since Leo’s gone AWOL.”
She bit her lower lip, which continued to quiver despite the clamping row of neat white teeth.
“And I want us to hang out together more, maybe do dinner…and lunch…and breakfast…which we can’t do, if you’re in another state.”
She batted her eyelashes. “No sex?”
“Of course, sex.” The possibility of jeopardizing that threatened to give him a panic attack. “Lots of sex.”
“I see.” She drew circles on the back of his hand. “Should we still also try to have sex with other people?”
He resisted the urge to massage his throat, which had turned into the Sahara. “You might not want to, you know. After you’ve got a taste of the primo stuff, other dudes won’t cut it.”
The throaty sound she made was somewhere between a cough and a laugh. “And you?”
He shuddered. “Do you have any idea how much money and effort goes into getting laid? Why would I go through the trouble if I can get much better sex from you for free?”
She shook her head and looked up at the ceiling. “You have a way with words, you know that?”
Detecting sarcasm, he admitted defeat and switched tactics. He’d always been better at showing than telling. With a wave of his hand, a small storm formed above them, the ice crystals coalescing until a thick, solid, glacial trunk grew to twice his height. Grabbing her by the waist, he rolled them until she lay nestled against his chest, her face turned up to watch the magic.
Smoothing his hand over her hair, he added individual needles and pinecones. Once an entire tree floated in the air, he lowered it a few feet away from their heads so the bottommost branch hovered mere inches above their faces.
She brushed the intricate network of frost with her fingertips. “Wow.”
He pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Spend Christmas with me.”
She turned and perched on his chest. As she stared into his eyes, her dark hair fell to curtain the sides of her face. Spreading his fingers over on the back of her neck, he pulled her down so he could capture her lips. When the slow, sipping kiss ended, she smiled and rested her forehead on his. “Just this one?”
He slid his hands under her shirt and circled her waist, allowing her to sense what he wasn’t yet ready to admit. “No. Not just this one.”
~A Letter from Tara Quan~
Dear Reader,
Thank you for picking up the second book in my paranormal series, A Witch’s Night Out. I’ve always been a huge fan of witches and their feline friends, and I’ve had loads of fun creating my own. I keep my stories lighthearted, the angst to a minimum, and the sex just hot enough to make your face grow warm. In all my romances, I aim for a few laughs, a handful of clever twists, and a scorching happily ever after.
After Jack Frost appeared in Flirting with Fire as the hero’s best friend, I couldn’t wait to tell his story. This warlock is the quintessential bad boy, whose abrasive personality and command over ice masks a soft spot for his firm’s human resources assistant, cat familiar and empath Mina Mao. To get these two clueless lovers together, Madame Eve works her magic so this modern day prince can sweep his witch off her feet in his white Lamborghini on Christmas Eve.
If I managed to keep a smile on your face for the past few hours, then my goal as a writer is met. I love hearing from readers, so feel free to drop me a line at taraquan@outlook.com. You can find out more about my other books and various social media haunts at www.taraquan.com.
~Tara Quan
Flirting With Fire
Apprentice witch Catalina Gato is prohibited from assuming her human form in front of her new employer without his express permission. Since he doesn’t know he’s a warlock, he can’t give it, leaving her in a familiar’s limbo. To make matters worse, she’s barred from leaving his house, and her attempts to enlighten him of his true nature results in burnt notes, charred walls, and exploding laptops.
On All Hallow’s Eve, she gets one night of freedom. Deciding some no-strings-attached sex might take the edge off the intense attraction she feels for her clueless boss, she signs up for Madame Eve’s service. When she meets her masked mystery date at the Castillo Capital, she realizes she might have gotten much more than she bargained for.
After being gifted a one-night stand from his annoying best friend, attorney Leo Difuoco reluctantly ventures to the Castillo Capital to celebrate Halloween. When he meets his oddly familiar green-eyed date in a Cat Woman costume, flames literally ignite, sparks magically fly, and life as he knows it changes forever.
Coming Soon!
Fireworks at Midnight
Welcome to Washington, D.C., where a destitute college graduate must combat drunk hooligans and magical mayhem. On New Year’s Eve, part-time witch Dulcina Gato seeks distraction from Mikal Knight, her best friend’s older brother and the Enforcement agent determined to curb her vigilante ways. But Madame Eve’s 1-Night Stand service has a knack for matching reluctant lovers, and this cat familiar ends up in the arms of the one warlock she tries to avoid.