by Cat Johnson
CAT SNIPS
a short story collection by Cat Johnson
Black Cat
Lar has existed as a cat for a thousand years, with all the discomforts and indignities that go along with it. But when he’s adopted by Belinda and wakes up no longer a cat, but as a man and in her bed, can his curse finally be at an end? For more about the characters of Grace and Donna from Black Cat, look for Just Desserts by Cat Johnson.
Friends With Benefits
Meg thinks she’s getting the best of both worlds when she and her friend Jeff decide to start having sex with no strings attached, until Meg suddenly finds that, strings or not, she’s become attached to Jeff. The question is, does Jeff feel the same, or is there a new woman in his life?
Fireworks
The last thing Brad wants to do is attend leadership school over the 4th of July holiday. How could the Army think it was a good idea to schedule training in Georgia in July? When his roommate Joe suggests they go see the fireworks and they run into Mary Jo, Joe’s first love there, Brad soon realizes things are only going to get a whole lot hotter. Especially once he discovers that Joe likes to share.
The Soldier and the Siren
After having his heart torn out by a Dear John letter while deployed, David returns home without much hope of things getting better. Then he heard her voice and his whole world changed.
The Rookie (a Studs in Spurs series deleted scene)
This 2,500 word deleted scene from Bucked (Studs in Spurs, Book 2) features Mustang, Chase and one lucky woman who gets to know them better. It’s not a complete story, nor is it a happily-ever-after romance, but it is a smoking hot threesome scene fans of the series, and readers of Bucked will love.
Eight Second Ride (a Studs in Spurs series short story)
Young pro bull rider Chase Reese learns a lesson about women the hard way, but makes a friend in the process in this high energy, action packed 3,000 word single scene. Written as a "thank you" to the fans of the Studs in Spurs series who requested more of Chase. See more of Chase and his fellow bull riders Slade and Mustang in the Studs in Spurs series by Cat Johnson and don’t miss Chase’s book Ride (Studs in Spurs, Book 3).
CAT SNIPS
Copyright 2011 by CAT JOHNSON
License Statement
This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Table of Contents
Black Cat
Friends With Benefits
Fireworks
The Soldier and the Siren
The Rookie (a Studs in Spurs series deleted scene)
Eight Second Ride (a Studs in Spurs series short story)
About the Author
BLACK CAT
Prologue
1,000 years ago
Someone was singing, a woman. Sweet and melodic.
Well, that settled it. He must be in heaven. But then why did his head ache so? His arm too, now that he thought about it. There shouldn’t be pain in heaven. Then his blurred brain realized. He must be in hell.
It shouldn’t surprise him, really. He was a warrior. Killing was part of his life. And even though it was in the name of his king, killing was killing. He remembered now the battle that had finally ended his life. The sound of horses’ hooves thundering around him, vibrating his skull as he lay helplessly on the cold October ground. The pungent mingled smells of earth, sweat, and fresh blood, his own and that of others, increasing the ever present throbbing in his head. Seeing from his vantage point on the ground other bodies strewn across the field of battle. The slow moving human vultures as they preyed upon the fallen, one by one.
He had tried to push himself up with his one arm that wasn’t broken, but his chain mail was too heavy and his body too weakened from his injuries. Finally, accepting his fate, he had simply closed his eyes. He’d said a quick prayer as the blessed darkness took over and erased his pain…and his life.
Now the pain was back. He was surely in hell. So be it. If he were in hell, he would just have to learn to live with it, so to speak.
But that still didn’t explain the singing. He pried open one eye. Even just the light of the flickering flame of the fire felt like a knife cutting through his brain. If this pain were to be his fate for eternity, it would be extremely unpleasant, to say the least.
His vision cleared enough for him to take in his surroundings. Apparently hell, for him anyway, was a small cottage filled with many cats and lots of herbs hanging from the ceiling. A woman faced away from him, cooking something in a cauldron over the fire in the hearth.
Odd. The priests who preached of hell had mentioned fire and brimstone, but not this deceivingly domestic scene. Although whatever the woman was cooking smelled like it could only have originated in hell. He wrinkled his nose against the foul odor.
She ceased her singing and turned. “Ah, finally he wakes.” She came closer and peered at him. One work-roughened hand grasped his chin so she could angle his face toward the light.
“Tell me my fate, oh mistress of hell.” He squinted his eyes against the pain in his head and noted that the neckline of her dress was cut so low he could almost see the tops of her nipples. Hm? But of course, hell wouldn’t be filled with virtuous women, now would it?
“Mistress of hell? That’s the thanks I get for saving your miserable life? I knew I should have taken the fat ugly one instead. The pretty ones are never grateful. Isn’t that right, Sebastian?” She seemed to be speaking now to one of the cats. She cackled, seemingly amused at her own jest, the meaning of which escaped him.
He tried to see past the agony in his skull to get a better look at her. The only way to describe her was…ageless. She didn’t seem young, but somehow she was not old either. Definitely, she was not what he would define as beautiful. Far from it. But yet, he found it impossible to look away.
Her eyes appeared as black as her hair and he couldn’t break from their gaze.
Spellbound. That was how he felt.
She ladled some of the foul smelling liquid she had been cooking into a small bone cup and used her breath to cool it. Stronger than she looked, with one arm she raised him easily into a sitting position on the bed and pressed the cup to his lips. He drank, in spite of the fact he had no desire to do so.
As he swallowed all of it, the bitter evil brew had the strangest effect upon him. Suddenly, his head no longer ached and his arm ceased its throbbing, feeling almost as good as it had before he broke it in the battle. He was just thinking that perhaps hell wasn’t going to be so bad when he felt a familiar stirring between his legs. He watched in amazement as the blanket covering his manhood rose. His face grew hot as his hands instinctively moved to hide the source of his embarrassment.
The woman only nodded, looking pleased. “Magic is strong during Samhain. My warrior is stronger than I’d hoped. Isn’t he, Sebastian? Perhaps I did pick the right one. And you know I do like them pretty.” She laughed again and pulled the blanket from him, exposing his nakedness. “Time to thank me for saving your life, warrior.”
He watched in horror, unable to move as she raised her skirts and straddled him.
“I’m not dead?” he managed to croak as she grabbed him and began stroking, intimately, almost lovingly.
“Dead? No. You’re not dead. But you are mine for as long as I wish it. So please me well and live to see another day, warrior.” She turned to the cat again, “Isn’t that right, Sebastian?”
The cat turned and walked away, but the warrior could have sworn he saw a look of human sympathy in its feline eyes.
He lay helpless, as if in a dream world. And though his mind whispered that something was wrong, that if he were really alive and well he needed to leave this strange place and return to his men immediately, his cock beneath her touch screamed for satisfaction far more loudly.
His mind and his body warred until something snapped within him, something strong enough to fight the effects of whatever was in what she had given him to drink. Finding strength he didn’t think he had, he flung the woman off of him and jumped to his feet. She landed on the floor with fire shooting from her eyes. She rose slowly, her face suddenly hideous to him as she mumbled words in a language he didn’t understand.
Her chant grew louder and stronger until it seemed to vibrate the very walls of the cottage. Clay pots fell off shelves while the cats scattered for shelter. Then a pain tore through him the likes of nothing he had ever felt before and he heard a blood curdling scream rip through the air.
He realized the scream was his own as he fell and writhed on the floor.
Then, just as suddenly as it had come, the pain was gone and he could stand again. He rose on four fur-covered feet and stood, eye-to-eye, with Sebastian.
Chapter One
Present Day
“What have you been doing to yourself, Belinda? Girl, you’ve got more knots in your shoulders than are listed in the Boy Scout handbook.”
Belinda lay face down on the masseuse table as Gene worked on a particularly painful muscle. “I haven’t done anything to myself.”
“Well, knots like these don’t come around all by themselves. There’s something going on with you. Did you stop using two pillows and only sleep with one, the way I told you last time you were here?”
“Yes,” she mumbled into the head support that was shaped disturbingly like a toilet seat.
“And have you started alternating which shoulder you carry your purse?”
“Um. Yeah.” Boy, she was a bad liar. She didn’t even believe herself.
“Liar.” Apparently, neither did Gene. But since he was the top masseuse at one of the top spas on the east coast, she should probably listen to what he had to say. Or at least feel guilty when she didn’t.
“Okay. No, I didn’t. But I just can’t switch. It’s more than habit. My bag falls off my shoulder if I try to put it on the other side. But I did empty out everything that wasn’t absolutely necessary and now it’s much lighter. I swear.” Why did she feel like she was ten years old and had been called into the principal’s office?
“All right. That’s better than nothing I suppose. So how long are you girls out for this year?”
“Four days this year. I remember when we first started this all girls spa trip ten years ago. It used to be a single ‘day of beauty’, now it takes four days. I figure in another few years, it’ll grow to be a ‘week of plastic surgery’ instead.”
He laughed. “You girls all look great.”
“Thank you, and your tip just got bigger.” She laughed too. It was good to be away. It was the second day into the trip with her two best friends and she was just starting to relax. Sometimes unwinding took awhile, she supposed.
Gene gave her a pat on the back. “You’re done. But you know, I think you’re carrying your stress in your shoulders. Try to relax more when you get home. That may help.”
“Thanks, Gene. See you next year.”
Jeez. Maybe her boyfriend Max was right when he complained she was too uptight and no fun anymore. Even Gene could see it, and he only saw her once a year.
Alone, she donned her robe and rubber spa shoes and shuffled her way past the treatment rooms and to the steam room. If anything was certain in life, it was that her friends could be found either in the steam room or at the bar. But since it was still early, she was betting on the steam room.
She hung her robe on a hook outside, wrapped a towel around herself and braved the blast of steam that hit her in the face when she opened the door. She could just make out two forms on the benches inside and hear her friends’ voices. “Hey, girls.”
“Hey, Belinda. How was your massage?” Donna’s voice came through the haze.
“Fabulous, as usual. Although Gene yelled at me for carrying my stress in my shoulders.” Belinda lay down next to them and closed her eyes, breathing in deeply the eucalyptus-scented vapor.
“He yelled at me for carrying my purse on my shoulder,” Grace added from the upper bench.
“Yeah, I got that too. I talked my way out of it. But any man with hands like that is worth the lectures.” Belinda sighed.
“Agreed.” Donna nodded and took a sip of water from her bottle. “Too bad Gene is married. You know, one of us should marry a masseuse. It would be a worthy addition to our group of friends.”
“It’s going to have to be one of you two. I’ve already got a boyfriend.” Although Belinda had to admit, Max didn’t have hands like Gene. Not that she would know.
Any rubbing that went on in their relationship seemed to be her massaging him. Hmm. She’d have to see about that when she got back.
“I’ll get right on that for you. Don’t ever say I’m not willing to take one for the team.” Grace laughed.
“And we appreciate that.” Belinda stretched with a yawn. It didn’t get much better than this. “So, what were you talking about when I came in?”
“Grace bought a book on witchcraft in the gift shop upstairs and is trying to figure out how best to use it. I think she should do a spell to get rich so we can buy a beach house with the money and all share it.” Donna screwed the top off her bottle of water and drank again.
“But I think I want to put a curse on my ex-boyfriend so that all of his hair falls out and his new girlfriend gets really fat,” Grace informed her wickedly while wiping her face on the corner of her towel.
“And I think a curse so that his penis falls off would be better. So anyway, we just haven’t figured out yet if she wants to be a good witch or a bad witch,” Donna summed up.
“I vote for bad,” Grace added.
Belinda shook her head. “I don’t know about that. I’m a firm believer in karma and that anything you do, good or bad, comes back to you threefold. So even though I don’t believe in witchcraft, as fun as it would be if it did exist and we could get a beach house, I still wouldn’t push my luck.”
“Oh, I definitely believe in karma.” Donna nodded. “Remember last year when Grace wouldn’t let me sing with her at karaoke and then that weirdo with the ‘Kill Everyone’ tattoo came up and shared the microphone with her? Karma.”
“You’re right. That was the quickest payback I’ve ever seen.” Belinda laughed.
“Oh shut up, both of you.” Grace scowled just as a giant burst of spray came out of the steam jets and hit her smack in the face. “Ow! That’s hot.”
Belinda watched in shock, then broke out laughing. “Oh my God. That was karma again.”
“Yup.” Donna laughed. “Is it time to go to the bar yet? My contact lenses are starting to melt onto my eyes.”
“As long as karma doesn’t mind, I could use a drink.” Grace sounded distinctly pissy.
It was barely eleven in the morning. She somehow always came back from these spa trips heavier, hung-over and exhausted, but Belinda wouldn’t miss it for the world. She sat up on the bench. “I guess it’s five o’clock somewhere. Let’s go.”
They changed out of their robes and, looking far from beautiful after the time spent in the steam room, went upstairs to the bar and ordered three mimosas.
As the bartender poured champagne and orange juice into three fluted glasses, Belinda turned on her cell phone and checked for messages. There weren’t any, but since she was with her two best friends, that wasn’t too strange.
She had thought that Max might call though.
“I better call Max and check in. I haven’t talked to him since we first got here.” It was Sat
urday, so he should be home in her condo. He had moved in with her six months ago when he lost his job and was looking for a new one. And since his new job involved selling software, he traveled a lot, so it just seemed silly for him to get another apartment when he was away so much. Besides, living together was one step closer to getting married, wasn’t it? And Belinda didn’t believe in that old adage about the free milk and the cow anyway.
She was about to start dialing when she looked up and saw her friends exchange looks. “What?”
Donna shrugged. “It’s just that we don’t think you should have to check in with Max.”
“I don’t have to. I want to.”
Grace dug through the bowl of bar snacks, picking out all the peanuts. “He doesn’t call you for days when he’s away on business. And then you sit there all worried about him. You should let him stew for a while and see what it feels like.”
Belinda rolled her eyes and put her phone back in her bag. “Fine. I won’t call.” At least, not in front of them anyway.
Besides, she was sure that everything was just fine. Max was probably just sitting home watching TV. And if he wasn’t home, he might be out running. That’s what he told her he was doing all those times he wasn’t in when she called his hotel rooms late at night when he was away on business. Sometimes he got insomnia and it helped if he went out. That’s all. She had nothing to worry about. She and Max were just fine. Yup, just fine. And that nagging feeling she always had when they were apart was just her being insecure and crazy, just like Max said it was.
She took a large swallow of her mimosa.
Chapter Two
Belinda opened the door to her condo and dragged in her suitcase. It seemed much heavier and fuller than when she had left. Well, she had done a bit of shopping while away. Her spa trip was only once a year, after all.
She looked around, surprised at how quiet it was. It was late Monday evening and Max should be home from work by now. She closed the door behind her and wandered around, thinking maybe she would find a note from him. What she did find was wet towels, dirty laundry, crumbs and Sunday’s newspaper strewn on the floor, but no note.