by E A Price
“He was probably just trying to read my t-shirt.”
It said ‘what the frak?’
She tried holding the phone above her head. Nope, not even a freaking bar. Considering the hotel didn’t offer free wi-fi – or even wi-fi you had to pay for – that was a little disconcerting. Jessie had barely been outside of arms reach of a mobile device since she was twelve.
“He was probably thinking that the slogan on your t-shirt got in the way of him trying to look at your perfect breasts.”
“Ooh, do you think he thought they were perfect too?”
Gerry snarled, and her inner squirrel chided her for teasing their mate. Jessie leaned up and kissed him. “Relax, honey,” she cooed. “Nobody’s looking at me. Let’s just enjoy our mini vacation.”
Gerry softened slightly, and his arms slid around her. “Yes, of course.”
Jessie wriggled happily in his arms. The two of them were spending Valentine’s in a romantic hotel, miles from home and work, and miles from any cell tower apparently. Gerry was a snake shifter and a director at the SEA, while Jessie was a squirrel shifter who worked as a technical assistant to one of the investigative teams. The two of them were chalk and cheese, oil and vinegar, Deep Space Nine and The Next Generation, but they adored one another.
Gerry scowled as the hotel receptionist returned. They had been waiting for their room key for twenty minutes, and her honey snake was getting a wee bit impatient.
Blushing under Gerry’s glare, he said, “I’m sorry, but I have a Mr. and Mrs. Christiansen booked in for this room.”
Gerry tapped his foot impatiently. “Yes, I called yesterday to inform you it was now Mr. and Mrs. Sanders.”
“Our friends won this trip,” explained Jessie, “but they have triplets, so we’re here instead.”
The triplets weren’t apparently conducive to a romantic weekend away, and they didn’t want to leave them for that long, so Erin gladly donated the reservation to them. With the requirement that they provided free babysitting in the future.
“Oh, well… umm… It doesn’t seem…” the receptionist trailed away in the face of Gerry’s glare and quickly got them the key. “Okay then.”
He mumbled about getting them someone to carry their bags
“No need,” grumbled Gerry, hefting the bags into his arms. “After you, darling.”
“Thank you, honey,” chirped Jessie.
Gerry was always considerate, but since she was pregnant… Yep, it wasn’t planned, but both she and Gerry were happy at the news and looking forward to their little squirrel, or perhaps their little snake addition to their family.
Everyone was just as thrilled. Well, to be more precise, all of their friends and Jessie’s family had been overwhelming. In particular, her parents stopped by every day to see them, and the questions and nagging were incessant. Gerry, coming from a family who considered swapping birthday cards to be the height of affection, was being sorely tested. Even Jessie, so used to having a big family who knew everyone’s business and was remorselessly nosey, was feeling a mite smothered.
So when the opportunity came up for a getaway at a romantic hotel, they jumped at the chance. It was Valentine’s, and they were determined to enjoy a few days alone. No work. No cell phones. Just the two of them. Besides, although Gerry was happy they were having a baby, she thought he was a little worried. Probably to be expected – she was a little apprehensive too. But Gerry was trying to hide it from her, and she thought this mini vacation would be a good time for the two of them to put any worries to bed.
Jessie pushed her way into their room and gasped. Speaking of a bed… Oh, it was so perfect. Four poster bed, view of an apple orchard, open fire… Wow – it was like something out of a romance novel. She guessed anyway, she didn’t read them.
Jessie started to walk over and check out the shower situation – there should always be a shower big enough for two - when two warm hands snaked their way around her and rested on her stomach.
“There’ll be time to explore later,” he crooned into her ear.
Jessie chuckled and snuggled back against his growing erection.
“Feeling a wee bit horny are we, Mr. Sanders?”
“You have no idea,” he grumbled.
“Oh, I think I may.”
Yes, with all the visits from family members, their alone time had been just a little thin on the ground. Her squirrel mewled as Gerry kissed her bonding mark. His kisses were sending darts of pleasure directly to her sex, and oh, when he pressed his teeth into her skin, she trembled.
Carefully, so as not to dislodge his lips, she slipped out of her shoes and started trying to shuck out of her clothes. Unfortunately, it meant pulling her sweater over her head. She did it quickly and got it stuck on the top of her head, covering her eyes and snaring her arms.
“Eep! I’m trapped.” Jessie shrugged and wriggled and pulled, but that sucker was on tight.
Gerry chuckled deeply. His hands leisurely traveled up from her waist, taking in the swells of her breasts, and he easily dislodged her from the sweater. She was amazed to find Gerry already naked behind her.
“Goodness, you’re a wizard,” she breathed.
He let out a lusty sound and shimmied her out of her remaining clothes. She flung herself on the bed, grinning at her mate. Gerry gave her a predatory, lustful expression and stalked to the bed, kissing his way up her body until his lips met hers.
His body nestled into hers with his rock-hard manhood nudging at her entrance.
“Love you,” he murmured as he pushed inside her heat.
Jessie rippled around him, shuddering at his hugeness, delighting as her muscles clutched at him, stretching and tingling. Oh, every time with him felt so wonderful, so perfect with him - her big, strong, sexy mate. He thrust into her and she moaned as he rumbled passionately. She curled herself around him as he plunged inside her over and over.
It had taken them a lot of patience, and a little heartache, to get them where they were, but it was so worth it. Always a genial person, she had turned into one of those annoying people who were happy all the time – she knew because her grouchier friends told her. But how could she not be thrilled with her life? It was so wonderful – he was so wonderful. He was kind and generous and loved her fiercely, and she felt the same way in return. She sent a wave of her feelings through their bond and Gerry howled in delight, his eyes filtering to the black of his beast as he took her harder and faster.
She could feel him rubbing against her inner muscles, kindling the fire of her release. Jessie curled her fingers into his shoulders, rocking and rolling her body against his, urging the boiling pleasure inside her. The warmth within her blossomed until she could no longer bear it.
“I love you too,” she breathed as the most heavenly feeling in the world cascaded through her body
At her words, Gerry threw back his head, howling as he exploded inside her.
His lips caught hers, and they kissed as they slowly came back down to earth. Mine.
*
Gerry groaned as the noises from next door became increasingly difficult to ignore. His snake hissed in irritation. The giggling, the thumping, the growls – it was far too much.
Jessie was still snoozing, the last thing she needed to hear was the randy couple next door destroying their room.
He lightly kissed her shoulder and slipped out of bed, pulling on one of the hotel robes. He left his room as quietly as possible before banging on the door of the next room.
He was about to hiss at the occupants to shut the hell up, but the sight of someone he knew flummoxed him. Agent Diaz opened the door wearing nothing but a pair of worn jeans and a smirk. Course, he lost the smirk when he found himself toe to toe with his boss in nothing but a robe.
“Aww, shit,” mumbled Diaz.
“Is that the beer, babe?”
Diaz’s penguin shifter mate Penny bounced into view. She appeared to be wearing Diaz’s shirt. Either that or she liked wearing t-shir
ts that swamped her petite figure with the slogan sex panther emblazoned over the chest.
Unlike Diaz, she didn’t lose her smile. Nope, she burst into laughter.
“OMG, Gerry, what are you doing here?”
“Vacation,” he said between gritted teeth.
“Us too. Well, actually, Lucie won the weekend away, but since Rosie’s so young, they didn’t want to take her away from home and also Cutter doesn’t do well in hotels. So they gave it to us.”
“So long as we promised to babysit in future,” muttered Cutter.
Gerry registered it as odd that two people he knew had won weekend getaways to the same place, but he was more concerned about his quiet vacation with his mate being ruined.
His snake slithered in annoyance. “Look, just keep it down, Jessie’s sleeping.”
Penny nodded. “Oh, right, yes, how is she? Maybe I should just…”
Gerry held up a hand to stop her. “I don’t want to offend you,” but he would if necessary.
Diaz pulled Penny back to him. “We’ll stay out your way if you stay out of ours.”
Gerry nodded shortly and walked away before Penny could voice her objections. This was his vacation with his mate, and he wanted to spend it alone with her.
*
Diaz groaned as the waitress led Jessie and Gerry over to their table.
“I hope you don’t mind sharing,” she said in a chirpy voice.
Penny smirked and kicked him under the table. Who said small feet don’t hurt? Probably nobody. Diaz pouted at her and rubbed his shin.
Gerry scowled, but Jessie immediately said it was fine and started happily chatting with Penny about anything and everything.
Diaz grunted at Gerry who regarded him through hooded eyes. Gerry could hardly blame him for them being forced to sit together, though he seemed to be trying. Did he think Diaz wanted this? No, he had envisioned a long, lazy few days spent with his perpetually naked little mate. He wasn’t planning on letting her out of bed for the first day at least. But then Gerry and Jessie had to show up, and now he would keep running into his boss during his sexy weekend.
Diaz rolled his shoulders, and his inner jaguar grunted. Diaz was a jaguar shifter and his little mate a penguin shifter. They met when they were tied together during a hostage situation, and they had been inseparable ever since. They were mated and married and even considering have a cub or a perhaps a penguin chick. Not that there was any rush. They were content for now.
He looked at his little mate, from her long black hair to her small rosebud mouth. Ah well. Maybe it wasn’t so bad having his boss around. He had his Pingu and an all-expenses-paid trip to a fancy little hotel. He could just ignore Gerry.
“Achoo!” Penny let out a Godzilla-sized sneeze.
“You okay, Pingu?” asked Diaz. He was a lot of things, but he made sure he was an attentive mate.
Jessie handed Penny a tissue, and she blew her nose.
“Yeah, just a few allergies – I think I’m allergic to nature,” she said just a tad grumpily.
“Maybe we should go back up to our room,” he suggested hopefully. He’d barely had her naked at all, and they’d already been there for four whole hours.
Penny kicked him again under the table while she sneezed a few more times.
The waitress came and went, and Gerry seemed to be growing increasingly annoyed by the fact that Jessie was chattering non-stop to Penny. Diaz was happy to just listen to Penny talk. His jaguar could just happily relax and listen to her chatter about anything.
Gerry let out a grunt and Jessie gave him a small smile.
“So this place is nice – so quaint, so peaceful,” she said, trying to drag her mate into the conversation.
“Most of the time,” grumbled Gerry eyeing Diaz.
“Lots of happy couples here.”
“And that one creep in the corner,” added Diaz.
He had noticed him when they came in. He seemed to give Penny a long look, and then Jessie a long look when she came in. Then he disappeared after they ordered for about ten minutes and had just come back. His jaguar was tempted to growl at him and tell him to stop looking at Penny, but she’d probably just kick him for overreacting.
“Maybe his significant other is upstairs, he or she could be coming down at any moment,” suggested Jessie.
Diaz gave the thin, pale man a speculative look. “I think he’s diddling himself under the table.”
That earned him another kick and an eye roll from Jessie.
Diaz couldn’t really put his finger on what was wrong with the guy. He just seemed to be behaving furtively.
“Ooh, goody our entrees are here!” declared Penny clapping her hands.
The waitress placed two orders of duck in front of Diaz and Gerry, and soup for Penny and Jessie.
“Mmm, this smells delicious,” moaned his mate.
Diaz leered at her, and she smiled knowingly. She had the sexiest little moans. His mate inhaled deeply, almost putting her nose into the soup – her bird couldn’t smell things, and Penny’s own sense of smell was pretty dull. She wrinkled her pretty nose and froze for a moment before letting out a huge sneeze all over her soup and Jessie’s soup.
“Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry – my allergies,” babbled Penny.
Diaz took his napkin and wiped his mate’s face, failing to conceal his laughter as he did it. Penny glared at him through drops of soup.
“It’s fine,” said Jessie in amusement, “but I think I’ll give my soup a miss.” She pushed the bowl away.
Gerry huffed and snapped his fingers for the waitress to take away the soup. Diaz noticed that the creepy guy appeared to have gone.
*
Gerry smiled and squeezed his mate’s hand. Alone at last.
He swore Penny and Diaz had sex all night long. They were quieter than before, but he could still hear it. It was interspersed with sneezes from Penny and chuckles from Diaz. But he could put his grumpiness aside. He and his mate had a packed picnic courtesy of the hotel, and they were going to...
Son of a snake!
Diaz and Penny were already at the picnic ground, giggling while Penny threw grapes into Diaz’s mouth. Penny grinned when she spotted them and waved. “Hey, guys!”
Diaz shrugged. “Great minds, huh?”
Gerry narrowed his eyes as his beast hissed. “Indeed.”
Jessie bit her lip. “Penny, are you okay?”
Her nose was a little red, and her eyes looked slightly puffy, but Penny didn’t seem particularly bothered. She waved her hand, currently holding a bunch of grapes. “I’m fine. It’s just my allergies.”
Diaz gave his mate a mildly censorious look. “Yeah, I told her we should just stay in bed for the whole vacation…”
“But I do need to eat,” finished Penny, giving him a deceptively sweet smile.
Diaz muttered something about how they could eat in bed.
“Plus,” said Penny, “free picnic – I couldn’t say no to that.”
“Us too,” gushed Jessie, putting their rug down right next to Penny, and dropping onto the ground.
Gerry was going to suggest they find somewhere else, but apparently, that wasn’t happening. Humph. With a muted sigh, he put the food down and sat down next to his mate.
“How is the picnic?” asked Jessie.
“Oh, we haven’t got past the grapes yet,” giggled Penny.
Gerry passed Jessie a sandwich, and she smiled at him and sent him a wave of love through their bond. Okay, so sharing a picnic with Diaz and Penny wasn’t so bad. It wasn’t like he was about to ravish Jessie in the middle of the picnic ground – nope, he preferred privacy for all his ravishings.
They were about to eat when Penny let out a squawk.
“Get away from me!” she cried.
His snake snapped, and Gerry looked up in alarm. Was someone hurting Penny? Was his own mate in danger?
Nope, it was just Penny trying to bat away a couple of persistent bees from her coke.
“Stop it!” she cried.
Three more bees joined and Diaz, who was only now hiccupping with laughter, started trying to shoo them away from his mate.
“Ugh, nature hates me!” squealed Penny as more bees joined in, buzzing around her head.
Penny leaped to her feet and ran right through their picnics, crushing their food. Then Diaz followed her, destroying the food that hadn’t already been obliterated by Penny.
Gerry threw his sandwich onto the detritus of their picnic. “Let’s go find a restaurant in town.”
Jessie snickered. “Sounds good.”
*
Gerry peeked out of their bedroom door. The coast was clear and free of either Penny or Diaz. Naturally, when they found a nice little pizzeria in town, Penny and Diaz also showed up. Jessie didn’t object to them sitting with them, so he was forced to put up with Penny’s sneezes and Diaz’s leers throughout lunch. At least Penny didn’t stomp all over that meal.
“Okay,” he said, and Jessie gave him a sly look.
“It’s not a big deal that they’re here. They’re not stopping us from enjoying ourselves.”
Gerry grunted, and his snake slithered.
“What’s that?” she asked peering past him.
He looked down and saw that the hotel had apparently left them a tray with a bowl of strawberries and cream cheese.
“Ooh, yum,” cooed his little mate.
Gerry grinned. Yes, they could have a lot of fun with those… He stiffened as he heard voices from the next room.
The door flung open.
“Seriously, I’m fine,” scolded Penny, “My eyes aren’t that swollen. I can see perfectly – eek!”
Penny tripped over the identical bowl of strawberries in front of her door, and crashed to the ground, landing on theirs as well.
“Pingu!” snarled Diaz.
“Uh, I’m fine,” said Penny, rubbing her elbow.
He made sure his mate was okay while Jessie tried not to kill herself laughing. So much for the strawberries.
Grrr.
*
“How you doing, Pingu?”
Diaz peered at his mate while his jaguar let out a concerned yowl. His pretty penguin’s nose was bright red and her eyes swollen. She must be sick; she hadn’t even touched the complimentary chocolates he found outside their room.