by Neely Powell
“There’s still some of the book to go through,” Fiona said.
“The answer won’t be there.” Brenna looked certain, and her sister and cousin didn’t disagree. “But we have to keep looking. Remember what Willow told us today.”
“You talked to Willow?”
The women told him about the puzzling visit from the faerie as they cleared the table. Their quick teamwork amazed Jake. Like magic, leftovers were stowed in the fridge and the dishwasher loaded in half the time it would have taken him. Maybe it was magic, he thought, grinning as he watched them from his seat at the table. He could get used to witches in his kitchen.
“You cook, we clean,” Fiona said, as she smiled back. “When you come over for dinner at my place, you’ll be doing dishes.”
Eva Grace sighed as she crossed the kitchen. “I’m really tired, guys. Aren’t you?”
Jake looked at her in concern. Eva Grace was pale and drawn. He got to his feet, reaching for her arm. “You need to sit down. You’re worn out.”
“And you took all of my pain.” Realization breaking across her face, Brenna crossed the room to her cousin’s side. “No wonder I’m not feeling like I was punched in the face. For the second time in three days, you took my hurt away. Eva Grace, you can’t do that—”
“It’s what I do,” Eva Grace said, though she looked a little shaky as she sat in Jake’s chair. “I’m not going to let you suffer, Brenna. I couldn’t do that. And something terrible is after you. The same thing that took Garth.” She put her head in her hands.
The rest of them stood in awkward silence, looking at her. For once neither Brenna nor Fiona seemed to know what to do or say as their cousin fought for control of her emotions.
Eva Grace didn’t give into tears, Jake observed with admiration. She drew in a deep breath, and then looked up at them. A brave smile played about her lips. “I think I’m done for this day, folks.”
“You were going to go to the shop today,” Brenna said with even more guilt. “And I made you spend the day on all of this instead.”
“All of this is life or death,” Eva Grace replied with firmness. “Because we were together, we have valuable information we didn’t have before.”
“And we got the book in good working shape for Mom and Dad to look at it,” Fiona added.
Brenna’s frown didn’t escape Jake’s notice. She still wasn’t keen on her parents coming, but he could tell Fiona and Eva Grace didn’t share her feelings. Wisely, she didn’t pursue the subject now.
Jake assured Fiona and Eva Grace he would get Brenna’s car out of his yard or take her home himself. The two of them left in Eva Grace’s smart little convertible.
Night sounds closed in around Jake and Brenna as they stood together on his front porch. Moonlight slanted through the trees. The scent of pine was heavy in the humid summer air.
“I imagine you’re as tired as Eva Grace,” he said when the quiet stretched a little too long.
“Not really.”
Silence again bloomed between them. Jake felt awkward. All night he’d wanted to be alone with Brenna, but now what? They had already discussed what a bad idea it would be to give into their attraction. So how could he reach out to her again without seeming like a jerk?
“I guess you noticed what I’m wearing for you,” she said, surprising him.
“I did notice the dress.” Jake allowed his gaze to slip down her ripe figure and up again. “I didn’t know it was for me.”
Her laughter was low and throaty. “That’s the kind of statement that always infuriates females because it had to cross your mind that I dressed up for you.”
He felt trapped. If he said he thought her sexy outfit was for his benefit, he could sound conceited. If he lied, she might be insulted.
“You seem uncertain,” Brenna said. “Don’t you like the dress?”
“Very much,” Jake admitted, thinking he couldn’t go wrong with an outright compliment. “You look beautiful.”
“I’ve been thinking about you.” She trailed a hand down the porch railing as she walked to the end of the porch. “About us.”
“I thought we agreed there can’t be an ‘us.’”
She sighed. “I know that’s for the best, but I’ve still been thinking about us.”
“Have you reached any conclusions?”
Standing at the railing, she looked over her shoulder and smiled. “I think that’s what I’m trying to do right now.”
Jake knew an invitation when it was extended. He was cautious about all females, but turning Brenna down as she smiled in the moonlight was beyond him. He stepped close and drew her into his arms.
Chapter Fourteen
Brenna knew she was being impulsive. Although she had chosen her dress with deliberate care and imagined Jake admiring her in it, she also told herself nothing was going to happen. She was not getting involved with the shifter.
Or was she?
The question picked at her as Jake kissed her. Oh, and he could kiss. The preliminary kisses they shared paled in comparison to this deep, searching, yearning kiss. It wasn’t casual or fun. It wasn’t the sort of kiss she usually sought. Just as this intense shifter wasn’t the kind of companion she usually picked. Jake violated all her rules.
That thought made her break away from him. “I think you lied to me the other night.”
He frowned. “About what?”
“You said you spent a lot of years avoiding females. But no one kisses like you without a lot of practice.”
His answer was another kiss. His lips trailed down her neck, and his sound of satisfaction was a deep purr that culminated in a growl.
He jerked back and looked at her, alarmed.
“Your animal side doesn’t bother me,” she said. “I know who you are, Jake.”
“Not really,” he said as he stepped away. “We don’t know each other. This is a bad idea.”
“Are you usually this concerned when you growl at a female?”
“I don’t growl often.”
“Oh, please.” She laughed. “Don’t tell me you’re a celibate loner. I don’t buy that for a minute.”
He shrugged. “I’m not celibate, but I am a loner. Male tigers don’t really want nor need companions.”
“But you’re not all tiger. Part of you is human.” She reached out and took his hand. “I’m not afraid of you.”
“Maybe you should be.”
She was perplexed by his reaction. He had wanted her last night. He called her today. She had abandoned her trepidation about her attraction for him because she wanted him, too. Even Fiona and Eva Grace knew something was building between them, but now he backed off? Maybe he didn’t understand what she was looking for.
“Jake, I’m not trying to marry you.”
Her words startled him. “I didn’t say you were. What do you mean?”
“How could I be the slightest bit interested in long-term planning when my life is on the line from the Woman in White?” She turned back to the moonlit yard. “All I’m saying is that despite my best efforts at resistance, I’m attracted to you. I thought you felt the same toward me. I just decided…” She hugged her arms to her middle. “I guess I made a mistake. Let me get my purse and if you’ll get my car out of the yard I’ll go home.”
She headed for the front door.
Jake stopped her with an outstretched hand. “I’m not rejecting you, Brenna. I’m just being cautious. It’s the way I have to live my life.”
She tipped her head to the side, studying his expression in the dim light. “So you never do anything on impulse? You never take a chance?”
“Being a shifter requires control. I learned that the hard way when I was a boy. The wrong move and my wild side takes control.”
Brenna sensed the pain in his voice. Something bad had happened to make him this way. But who could understand better than she did living under tight constraints?
“I do know how you feel,” she told him, her voice soft. “Only I
’m just the opposite of you. I’ve spent a lot of time taking chances because of what I learned about myself at a young age. When you find out some crazy spirit is likely to take your life before you’re thirty, you are often tempted to throw caution to the wind. I was following my wild side tonight when I wore this dress and decided to seduce you.”
Jake drew in a deep breath. “Maybe our wild sides aren’t meant to align.”
She was close enough to feel the warmth of his body. Like most shifters, he gave off plenty of heat. Her pulse quickened in reaction. The dreams from last night teased her memory. Him and her. Naked. In the woods under the moon.
“Jake,” she breathed out his name. She felt his yearning and his dread. “You can be yourself with me.” She reached out, took his hands and threaded her fingers through his. “I have magic, remember? I’m very well armed, even against shifters.”
Jake lifted his hands to her shoulders. “I’m very tempted by you.” His fingers trailed up and down her arms, making her shiver.
She pressed her body to his. “That’s good to hear. You could hurt my feelings, you know. And an insulted witch is not the kind you want for a friend.”
“Are we friends?”
“Well, we’re not enemies.”
“It seemed to start that way.”
“I was preoccupied by the family curse.”
“And now?”
“Maybe I want a distraction. Just a distraction. You can keep your loner ways intact, tiger.” She framed his face with her hands, intrigued by the way his eyes turned silvery in the moonlight. “We’re both adults and we’ve got no commitments. We’re not making any commitments, either.”
“You know entanglements are never simple,” Jake replied, still holding back from her. “And I’m the sheriff now—”
She threw back her head and laughed. “Are you standing here, telling me you’re worried about your reputation?”
“That’s not what I meant.” He sighed, his arms closing around her, pulling her close. “There’s so much happening, and your family is at the center of most of it. I need to keep my perspective.”
She laughed again and he smothered the sound with his kiss. He could claim reluctance all he wanted, but there was nothing tentative about the way his mouth claimed hers. From the heat of his body, she thought he had only one perspective on his mind at the moment.
She broke away, her laughter teasing. “If you think I’m trying to bribe a public official with sex, you can be assured that I don’t expect any special treatment. Except maybe in bed. Unless you’re still thinking this is a bad idea.”
She turned and he pulled her back, his touch not so gentle now. “Don’t tease me, Brenna.” Another deep growl rumbled from him. This time he didn’t pull away.
Brenna molded her body to his. “See. You can be yourself with me. I’m up for a little snarling and scratching.”
She planted her lips firmly on his. By the time her tongue slipped between his lips, she was pressed against his obvious arousal.
He pulled back and tried one more time. “Brenna, I think—”
“That’s the problem.” She reached behind her and unzipped her sexy little red dress. “You’re thinking way too much.”
As her dress slipped from her shoulders, his eyes widened. She thanked the goddess for the sheer red bra she had dug out of her still unpacked boxes. She laughed out loud at Jake’s expression when the dress fell from her hips to reveal the matching red thong.
He actually swayed on his feet. His growl was full of blatant need, a demand for satisfaction. Instead of denying that part of him, Jake now seemed eager.
Brenna opened the front door and tossed her dress inside. Framed in Jake’s doorway, she posed in her revealing underwear and black, strappy sandals. “Are you going to take me to bed or what?”
“Ah, geez” he moaned and pulled her to him. “I give up.”
Brenna laughed as he lifted her, his big hands closing on her soft behind. She wrapped her legs around his waist. “Can we get on with this, tiger?”
He kissed her all the way to the bedroom as he carried her effortlessly. At his bed, he dropped to his knees with Brenna’s legs still wrapped around his waist. He kissed her as they eased down on the pillows.
When they finally broke apart, he looked at her with a touch of sadness in his eyes.
“I didn’t mean for this to happen.”
“Oh, come on,” she murmured as she began pushing his T-shirt up. “You know you’ve been picturing this since that first night in the woods.”
He pulled the shirt over his head and threw it aside. “Are you psychic as well as a witch?”
She grinned, pleased she had been the object of his sexual fantasies.
Jake stood to strip off his jeans.
Brenna unhooked her bra and was rewarded by his sigh of appreciation as her generous breasts tumbled free. For a moment, his eyes gleamed as the tiger’s had in the woods, when she stood skyclad for his study.
“You are amazing,” Jake told her.
He shed his underwear. This time Brenna sighed in appreciation. She kneeled on the bed and wrapped her hand around his length. He grew even more rigid at her touch and she grinned at his indrawn breath. She liked the power of arousing him.
With a growl, Jake kissed her until they were both breathless. His hands were on her breasts, a gentle stroke of fingertips against nipples that strained to his touch.
Brenna broke away to move her kisses down his neck to his chest. She kept going down until she took him in her mouth and he went still. With abandon and enthusiasm she pleasured him until he yanked her up and devoured her mouth.
He peeled her thong down her thighs, and then slipped a hand between them. She jerked in response to the easy pressure of his stroke, her release trembling just beyond her reach. She pushed the thong the rest of the way off. Jake slid his fingers inside her. Deeper. With more confidence. Her hands fell to her sides as she closed her eyes and gave in to the sensations his movements created.
“God,” she said on a gasp. “You’ll have me purring in a minute.”
She melted against his hand, her breath stopping as her body bowed and an orgasm washed through her. Her hands fisted on his shoulders. Hands on her bottom, Jake lifted her again. He entered her and began moving in a steady rhythm.
She pulled him back on the bed and he filled her. She met his thrusts with eagerness. Warm, familiar magic began at her throat and traveled out to her fingers as she pulled his hips against hers. Her release was a blast of heat and color. Their cries filled the room as her magic rose up and sparkled above them.
Closing her eyes, Brenna clung to Jake as her body bloomed with desire and her skin vibrated with each touch. He kissed her tenderly, going deeper with each thrust. A soft pink light swirled around them.
Brenna was startled. She’d had her share of lovers, but her magic never had anything to do with them. What was it about this shifter? Before she could think further, her body took over and she lost herself in Jake’s caresses. She rose to climax once more, and he called her name as she shuddered and the glow around them became bright red. When Brenna closed herself tighter around him, he pulled her against him and had his own release.
They lay on the bed with chests heaving for several moments. Brenna ran a hand down Jake’s arm and grinned at him. “Any regrets?” she teased.
He moved like lightning, pushing her back on the bed with an ease that was all cat. His weight covered her from head to toe with a pleasant, male heaviness. He growled against the base of her throat. “No. How about you?”
“No regrets,” she murmured as she pulled a hand through his damp, dark hair. “No complaints, either.”
“So you don’t think we just ruined a nice friendship?”
“Sex doesn’t have to spoil a friendship. It can make it better.”
“Although I’ve known sex to ruin a good thing before, I’m not in any position to argue that right now,” he said and kissed her.
She smiled up at him. “We do share a similar jaded view of the world.”
“You don’t seem all that jaded to me.”
“But I am. I’m usually thinking about how a relationship will end, even at the beginning.”
He eased to her side, his expression thoughtful. “Yeah, I do that, for sure.”
She cuddled against him, feeling content, an emotion she wasn’t used to. At this point with most men in her past, she was wondering when she could leave. Right now, she wanted to spend the night right where she was. She wasn’t sure that was such a good thing.
Jake said, “I get you, too, Brenna. You’re used to living in the moment because of the curse.”
“And my parents.” When he looked puzzled, she explained, “I dated a psychology graduate student while I was in college. He said my inability to commit was clearly a result of being abandoned by my parents. He called me a textbook study in abandonment issues.”
“I imagine he’d have said the same thing about me.” Jake’s brow furrowed and his eyes darkened.
Brenna felt guilty, remembering his parents died when he was young. He had no family at all, while she had more than enough despite the absence of her parents. This discussion was getting too heavy, so she tried to lighten the mood. “I broke up with that guy, of course. I didn’t want to be a case study for him.”
“And by breaking up you proved his theory right.”
She agreed with a laugh. “He was also pretty boring.”
“I imagine it’s not easy to keep a witch entertained. You can do magic, after all.”
“He never knew that. In fact, I’ve not shared my talents with many outsiders.”
“Neither have I,” Jake agreed. “That’s why being here in New Mourne has been so freeing.”
She sighed. “We have to find a way to break the curse, so the town will stay that way.”
His phone rang. “Damn,” Jake muttered. “I want to ignore that, but I can’t.” He got up and scrambled through the pile of clothes to get the phone out of the pocket of his jeans.
She curled onto her side and admired his taut buttocks and strong torso.