To Catch a Snake: Book Three - Supernatural Bounty Hunter Romance Novellas

by E A Price

Marcus dropped his hand and leaned forward. Ling scooted over in her seat, parting her lips in expectation. His eyes suddenly hardened, and he tensed, looking past her. She frowned and looked round to see a middle-aged woman smiling at them through the passenger window.

  Ling shrieked in surprise and threw herself as far into Marcus’ arms as she could. The older woman tapped on the window and held up what appeared to be a plate of brownies.

  “What the ffff…” exclaimed Ling.

  Marcus rubbed her back soothingly and cracked the passenger window a couple of inches. He glared at the woman, but she just kept on smiling.

  “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I was wondering if you might like some brownies.” She held up the plate to the window and in spite of her thundering heart, Ling did have to admit that they looked good.

  “Go away,” ordered Marcus gruffly.

  The woman didn’t take offence. “Are you sure, they’re really delicious. I saw you out here, sitting in your car, and just thought you might be hungry.”

  Marcus sniffed the air and roared at the woman. He carefully extricated himself from Ling and leapt out of the car, running in the direction of the apartment block they had been neglecting to watch.

  Ling looked between the woman, Marcus’ retreating figure and the brownies in confusion. “What’s happening?”

  The woman shrugged unconcernedly. “He’s probably looking for Norman.”

  Okay, that didn’t clear up anything. “Who’s Norman?”

  “My son, the man your boyfriend is trying to catch. I was supposed to come down here and distract you so Norman could get away. Poor boy, prison wouldn’t suit him, he’s a delicate soul.”

  It was probably the wrong thing to focus on, but Ling’s panda was flushed with delight at what the woman said. “You think Marcus is my boyfriend? Do you think we go together?” she asked earnestly.

  The woman nodded her head fervently. “You make a lovely couple, here, have a brownie.” She slipped one through the crack in the window.

  “Aww, thanks, and don’t mind if I do.” Ling greedily bit into the cake and moaned at the deliciously moist treat. “Mmmm, it’s delicious, but it’s got an unusual flavor.”

  “Secret recipe,” said the woman, eyes twinkling.

  She finished it and then gladly scarfed the next two the woman passed her. Marcus strode back to the car with a ferocious look on his face. He slipped into the car and slammed the door.

  “Get away from my car!” he barked at the woman.

  Ling rubbed his bicep. “Don’t be angry at her, she was just trying to help her son. Here, have a brownie.”

  She passed him one, and he sniffed it. His angry expression was soon replaced with one of worry. “Uh, Ling, how many of these have you eaten?”

  She licked her fingers clean. “Umm, one or two I think.”

  Marcus narrowed his eyes at Norman’s mother. “These are pot brownies, aren’t they?”

  She nodded. “Made with the finest marijuana in Playa Lunar, my Norman gives me a regular supply,” she told them proudly. “I have bad arthritis in my hip and it would be hell if Norman didn’t help me out.”

  Ling’s eyes widened. “Oh, crap! I’ve eaten about six of them!”

  “Seven,” corrected Norman’s mother.

  “Oh lord!” wailed Ling.

  “We best get you home,” said Marcus quietly before giving Norman’s mother another deadly glower.

  “It was nice to meet you,” called the woman as Marcus drove away.

  Chapter Eleven

  Ling stretched out and blinked awake. Why could she taste fried chicken? She sat up and groaned at her muggy head. What the heck had she been doing?

  She licked her lips as her panda finally started waking up too. Thinking back, she had gone on a boring blind date, check. Been rescued by Marcus, mmm, happy check. He told her he liked her, extremely happy check. Then she ate a ton of pot-laden brownies and spent the evening stoned. Crap.

  Uh, and things had been going so well! It was kind of hazy, but she did recall Marcus driving her home and staying with her for a while. She remembered wanting some fried chicken, but he didn’t think it was a good idea, so she snuck into the bathroom and ordered it when he wasn’t watching her. Hmmm, big mistake.

  Considering it was the first time she had ever taken the drug, she didn’t feel too bad. She felt herself brightening by the second. Thank you, shifter genes. And she was still sort of elated about what happened with Marcus, even if it didn’t end spectacularly well.

  Once, in college, she and Carly went to a party and partook of what the host told them was a ‘special’ brownie. They were in college; they thought they’d experiment. After eating it, they got very excited and started streaking around campus. As it turned out, it was actually just a really tasty, sweet brownie. And the effect it had was partly due to the sugar rush, the alcohol they’d consumed and their own imaginations. They went back the next day and got the recipe for the brownie from the host.

  Ling stilled as she heard a soft snore. Her eyes flicked to the armchair in the corner of her bedroom, and there, sprawled over it sleeping, was Marcus. He was still fully clothed, which was kind of disappointing, but he was sleeping in her room. Awww, he must have stayed the night to make sure she was okay, but was too gentlemanly to sleep in her bed. She and her beast twittered like southern belles at that. Not that she would have minded him crawling into bed with her…

  With a start, she realized she was only in her underwear. Hell, she prayed she hadn’t tried to seduce him by doing a striptease. It was kind of her signature move when she was drunk. Seeing her stumbling around naked trying to pull her stockings off was enough to turn Don Juan off.

  She eased out of bed and held still listening to his breathing. He was sound asleep. Nimbly, she ran into the bathroom. She shed her underwear and splashed water on her cheeks before giving her teeth a thorough brush. She teased her hair, so that it was a bit more attractive than the rats nest shape it had molded itself into overnight, but not so much to make him think she had been styling it. She dabbed a touch of illuminating powder on her cheeks to make them glow, and a lick of tinted balm on her lips. There, she looked like she’d just woken up. Sleeping Beauty eat your heart out.

  Ling froze and her panda yapped as she heard her front door open and close. She peered back into her bedroom; Marcus was still sleeping soundly. Ugh, it was probably her mother wanting to talk about last night’s date. She really needed to get her key back from her mother.

  She pulled on a robe and quickly padded downstairs. She needed to get her mother out of the house without waking Marcus. She needed her mother gone and Marcus to stay, so they could pick up where they left off last night.

  She barreled into the kitchen, fully prepared to tell her mother to get out, but you know, politely, when she came up short. It was much worse than she thought. It wasn’t her mother. It was her asshole ex-husband, Robert. He currently seemed to wrestling with her blender.

  “What are you doing?” she snapped.

  He jumped back with a guilty look on his face, before his normal, smarmy smile slithered back into place. Ugh, what had she ever seen in him? He was nice looking, if a little average, and had a tendency to wear socks in bed. So not sexy.

  Oh, yeah, and he was a total shifter groupie. There were a number of humans who virtually worshipped shifters and thought that they were incredible. Just like there were a number who thought they were abominations. But those who loved them were complete groupies and hung around shifter friendly bars hoping to hook-up with them. Some of them got a kick out of bedding different species.

  Robert seemed to have an obsession with bedding rare and unusual shifters. Foxes, wolves, bears and snakes, they were a dime a dozen, but you really didn’t see many red pandas running along the streets of Playa Lunar. Which, Ling found out during the divorce, was one of the main reasons he married her. She’d caught him with an octopus shifter, but there had apparently been others she didn’t
know about. Like the zebra shifter, the wildebeest shifter, the koala… it went on and on, she stopped listening to the details when she discovered that he also enjoyed seeing different species getting it on with one another. When he was begging her not to go through with the divorce, he claimed it wasn’t his fault he cheated. He said he had a medical condition, a compulsion that forced him to copulate with rare shifters. Yeah, Ling didn’t buy it. He was a pervy groupie, and that was it.

  What the hell he was doing in her house was another matter.

  “I came to retrieve my blender,” he said smoothly.

  She put her hands on her hips and jutted her chin. Her beast yowled ready to shift and lunge at the arrogant dick. “It’s my blender, just like this is my house. You have no reason just to break into my house and steal my blender. I could very well call the cops on you.”

  She wouldn’t be that mean. Well, she might have if Marcus wasn’t dozing upstairs, she didn’t want him to get free.

  “I bought and paid for this house and this blender,” he replied haughtily.

  She snorted indelicately. “I paid for this house by being married to you.”

  Robert’s face took on a wounded look, and she rolled her eyes. She tapped her foot. “Look, why don’t you buy yourself a new blender? That one was only forty bucks, and it gets overheated all the time, I’m sure you can afford a better blender.”

  “I like this blender. Just because something isn’t working doesn’t mean you give up on it. Nothing in life is perfect, but you have to learn to live with the imperfections and move on.”

  He gave her a meaningful look. He was talking about their marriage. He was actually comparing their marriage to a crappy blender. Yep, that seemed about right.

  Great, the last thing she wanted was a reconciliation attempt before she’d even had her coffee.

  She brightened, and her lips curled up. “I had no idea the blender was so important to you. I never use it so you might as well take it; I don’t even like the blender. I used to like it, but my tastes have changed. I’m going to get a new, better blender.”

  Robert gave her an uncertain look. He was wondering whether she really was talking about the blender or if she had actually caught onto his oh-so-subtle metaphor.

  “I think you should go,” she said softly.

  He looked around the kitchen. “But… I… I want the Panini press too, and the popcorn maker.”

  Ling shrugged. “Fine, take them.”

  He frowned at her. They’d been playing this game ever since they divorced. He did something unreasonable; she blew up and screamed at him. He thought he was creating sexual tension; she thought he was creating a reason for justified homicide. But, today she wasn’t going to be riled. Today, all she cared about was getting him the hell out of her house. She did, however, make a mental note to change the locks on the door. She didn’t like the idea that Robert was walking around with a key to her house, although she suspected he got it from her mother. She needed to have words with her mother, or at least beg her mother not to keep throwing Robert at her while trying not to cower too much.

  Robert tried to come up with objections as she piled the kitchen appliances into his arms, and started pushing him toward the door. He made it all the way outside when there was a thump from her bedroom.

  His eyes widened, and he looked absolutely furious. “Have you got another man in your bedroom?”

  She scoffed. “So what if I have?”

  “How dare you bring another man into our house?”

  Ling blinked at him incredulously as her panda roared, somewhat ferociously. But Ling calmed and beamed at him beatifically. “It’s not another man; it’s a whole football team; we’ve spent the entire night having an orgy. Now if you will excuse me, I’d like to go upstairs and pick up where we left off.”

  With a satisfying slam, she shut the door in his enraged face. Ugh, asshole!

  She heard a melodious chuckle from the stairs and turned bright red when she found Marcus watching her. He had an amused smile on his lips. “An orgy, huh?”

  She rubbed her neck. “I’m sorry you had to hear that.”

  He rolled his shoulders. “I’ve heard worse.”

  “That was my ex-husband. He just dropped by.”

  Marcus’ nostrils flared. “Does he do that often?”

  Ling chewed her lip. “Hmmm, often enough that I don’t stop hating him, but not so often that I actually try to stab him in the heart with a kitchen knife.”

  Marcus nodded but still looked put-out.

  “Do you want a cup of coffee?” she offered.

  “Sure.”

  He followed her into the kitchen, watching the sway of her delicious curves.

  She smiled at him as she bustled around. “I hope I didn’t embarrass myself last night.”

  “Not at all,” he said quickly. She had been a little rambunctious in trying to perform a striptease, asking the takeaway delivery boy if he wanted to arm wrestle and then giving Marcus a demonstration of belly dancing, but he hadn’t actually found it embarrassing.

  “Thank you for making sure I was okay.”

  Marcus shook his head. “My pleasure.” It had actually been pretty torturous being so close to her and not being able to touch her. Not that she hadn’t offered, she’d made it explicitly clear that he was very welcome to join her, but, much to his snake’s frustration, he had declined. He refused to take advantage of her. Or rather, he wanted to wait until she would definitely remember their time together. It hadn’t been easy.

  Ling reached up to the top shelf, and her robe slipped open a few inches. Marcus took in the smooth expanse of flesh and almost groaned. He inhaled her sweet jasmine scent and god, it was too much for him. All of her teasing last night, watching her sleep – it was too much.

  He swiftly moved around the kitchen and slid a hand around her waist. He cupped her cheek and brought her lips to his. She gasped in surprise, and he pushed his tongue into her mouth, tasting and tangling with hers.

  Ling dropped the coffee beans and melted into his passionate embrace; she curled her fingers into his shirt and sighed as heat cascaded through her body.

  His snake rumbled in satisfaction as her panda bounced up and down joyfully.

  She panted as he finally drew back from her. “I’m sorry,” he breathed, “I couldn’t help myself. I’ve been dying to do that again.”

  Ling buried her nose in his shoulder and inhaled his fresh, citrus scent. “Mmmm, I’ve been dying to let you.”

  She pressed her lips to his neck and placed butterfly kisses down the V of his shirt. She mewled as his grip on her loosened.

  “Maybe we’re moving too fast,” he said reluctantly.

  “Maybe we’re not moving fast enough,” she countered, pouting slightly.

  He ran a hand through her hair and gently cradled her head while he kissed her temples. She almost melted at his tenderness.

  “I just don’t want to rush things and ruin things with you.”

  Ling nodded, seemingly in acceptance. Carefully extricating herself from his arms she let her robe drop to the floor.

  His heart almost stopped at seeing her stood before him in all her naked glory. He let out a lusty rumble as his snake went absolutely wild. She was even better than he could have imagined, with her soft curves and achingly lovely breasts.

  She gifted him with an innocent little smile. “I’m just going to have a shower, and given that you kind of smell like fried chicken, I think that you should have one too. And to save water, I really think we should share the shower.”

  “Well, it would be better for the environment,” he murmured, arms instinctively reaching toward her.

  “Exactly, and since we’re both concerned about the environment, and since we both do need a shower, I hardly think we can be considered as rushing things.”

  Marcus could not find a single thing wrong with her logic. In fact, that seemed like the smartest thing he had ever heard in his life. Of course, mos
t of his blood had recently travelled south, and he wasn’t really using his brain to think anymore.

  Ling took his hand and led him upstairs. Her phone started ringing, and she purred at him to ignore it. She could care less what was happening with the outside world; at that moment in time all she cared about was what was happening in her shower.

  Chapter Twelve

  Ling flicked needy little glances in Marcus’ direction as they drove to work in Marcus’ car. Their interlude in the shower had been… superlative? Magnificent? Earth-shattering? The best she ever had? Yep, any of those would do.

  She’d expected Marcus to be a little reticent, but no, when she got him up to that shower, he was in charge. End of story.

  He maneuvered her into the shower and started by washing every inch of her body. He held her hands over her head and ordered her to stay still. She teasingly asked what would happen if she moved her arms. He pinned her with a coldly lustful smile and told her she didn’t want to know.

  Part of her did, but another part of her, her primal, beastly part, got a thrill over being dominated by him. Damn, she was a twisted little panda. Maybe next time she would move her arms, just to see what happened…

  With agonizingly slow sweeps, he ran his hands all over her and just as he came to her sex… he moved onto another area of her body. She mewled and whined at him, but it did no good. She tried bucking her hips, seeking his hand, but he moved away and shook his head.

  After what felt like forever, his mouth sought her breasts, laving the tender nubs and gently teasing them between his teeth. His hand travelled between her folds and eagerly sought her channel, twisting and twirling his fingers inside her as his mouth suckled at her flesh. Her fingers dug into her palms as he expertly coaxed her to orgasm. She cried out, and her body tried to jerk against him, but she was careful to remain in the pose he placed her in. Her panda yipped contentedly. It was exquisite torture not just to collapse on the floor into a quivering heap as the aftershocks wracked her body.

  “You can move now,” he purred at her.

  Ling collapsed into his arms and met him for an almost feral kiss. He pushed her back against the shower wall. Gripping her thigh, he pushed it up against the wall and mercilessly slid his thick manhood inside her.