by Sadie Sears
Damini giggled, and I turned to see her with a note in her hand. She glanced up at me, dangling a small foil packet between her fingers.
“Your friends are very considerate,” she said. I snatched the note from her hand, growing embarrassed as I read it.
I think you could use this more than me. Be safe, have fun.
Cameron
Damini pulled the letter from between my fingers, laying it on the nightstand. She batted her eyelashes as she looked up at me. “You should probably do as he says. He is your elder, right?”
“Technically, they’re all older than me,” I replied.
Taking the obvious invitation, however, I leaned in and softly pressed my lips to hers. She tugged my shirt over my head, smoothing her hands across my chest before pulling me into her. Wrapping her legs around me, she met my eyes.
“I love you, Vince.” Her thumb traced across my cheek. “And I need you right now.”
Our lips crashed together desperately. I pressed against her, hard as soon as I saw the condom packet in her hand. Her shirt joined mine on the floor, and the sweet, tangy apple scent that was uniquely her surrounded me. We fought to get each other’s pants undone.
We were wild, delirious in our need to be closer. My pants pooled around my ankles, and I kicked them away, then lifted her hips and pulled hers off, panties and all. My mouth watered at the sight of her, and I craved her taste. She scooted back on the bed, crooking her finger at me with half-lidded eyes. I followed, crawling toward her like a predator.
Stopping short, I delved my tongue down into her sex. Her legs spread instinctively, and she moaned loudly. She was as wet as I was hard, and I didn’t think either one of us could last long. We both wanted to be joined in the most intimate way, so I stayed just long enough to get her worked up and writhing beneath me.
When I finally released her, she already had the wrapper open and waved it like a flag. I crawled along her body until I was straddling her chest, getting close enough that she could put it on. She licked her lips as she stared at my dick, then she closed her mouth over it and sucked hard. I braced myself on the headboard as my breath puffed out.
Damn, that felt too good. She knew what I liked and how I liked it as her tongue rolled and curled in the best ways.
All too soon, her warmth was gone, and she rolled the condom down my length, gripping it hard as soon as it was covered. I slid back down slowly, holding eye contact with her. She wrapped her legs around my waist and pulled my face down to hers.
“I love you so much,” I whispered, kissing her.
“Then prove it.” She tightened her legs around me and I grinned against her mouth.
I sank into her wet heat as if it had been waiting for me to come home. And that was exactly what she was to me: home. She was where my heart had always lived, and if I had my way, always would. I filled her over and over again, as slowly as I could, savoring the reunion until she got impatient.
She rolled our weight and leaned down over me, biting her lip. So damn sexy. I lifted her ass and slammed into her from underneath. She cried out and braced one hand on the headboard. I grabbed her thighs and built up the brutal pace that she loved. Pressing one hand to her back, I pulled her down far enough to tease her nipples with my mouth.
“Vince, yes!”
My grip on her thigh tightened as her voice got louder. She panted heavily and shoved her fingers down between us, circling and teasing herself. The sight was erotic and mesmerizing, but I didn’t ease up. As her passage clenched down around me, I knew we were both close.
I grabbed her ass again with both hands, smacking her cheeks lightly and spreading them. She moaned and kept up her attention on her clit. Her muscles contracted as she came around me, and my pace became unhinged until I followed behind her, a roar ripping from my lungs. It had been so long since I’d had any real relief, and nothing—not even foreplay—had done it quite like making love to Damini.
Damini was home to me.
9
Damini
My phone beeped me awake. Rolling over, I grabbed it, hoping for news from my parents, but it was a text from Jessica. Lunch at the Snowshoe?
That was the little restaurant I’d met her at before. I knew where it was. Sounds great, I replied.
“What’s that?” Vince asked in a sleepy voice.
“I’m going to have lunch with Jessica.” I smiled as his eyes popped open.
“Oh,” he said. “That means I don’t have much time to show you around town.” He launched from the bed. “Come on, I want you to see it all.”
Chuckling, I followed at a slower pace, being careful still of my ankle. It twinged at me every now and then, reminding me to keep it wrapped and not go crazy on it. The painting had been enough, and I’d kept my weight on my other foot as much as possible.
That was part of why I’d been so tired last night. My one leg had been exhausted.
After both of us taking quick showers, Vince pulled his truck around, so I didn’t have to walk far.
With the engine of the old truck rumbling underneath me, I waited for him to walk around the front. “Well,” he said once he hopped in. “I’d wanted to walk you all around town, but I think not with that foot.”
I nodded and flexed it slightly. “I wrapped it again.” He knew that. He’d seen me. “But I think babying it for another day is a good idea.”
“Then I’ll have to drive you around.” Vince winked and put it in drive. “This house belonged to Sophie, who you met yesterday. I was worried about her daughter, Shae, reacting when we started remodeling, but apparently, her dad, who died several years ago, has been sending her good omens along the way.”
I watched him drive, turning my head away from the snowy beauty that lined his driveway. “Good… omens?”
Glancing at me, he chuckled. “Yeah, you might as well get used to hearing about stuff like that. You get it a lot here. The town is full of those with extra powers. The other.”
Get used to it. He was thinking about me staying. I’d been thinking about it, too. The freedom of being out from under my parents’ thumbs had been amazing. I wasn’t sure I wanted to go back to living near them, running their businesses, and having my life controlled. But if I didn’t do that, what would I do?
I pushed that looming question out of my head and watched the scenery pass by. “This is the entrance to the town gardens.” He pointed to a small gate with little piles of snow on each rung. “I wanted to walk through there. They keep the paths cleared, and it’s peaceful with all the snow.”
He drove on, stopping in front of a row of shops. “That’s Sacred Spaces, which Lila and Sophie run. They do yoga, tarot readings, and now that Sophie is dabbling in spells, she’s been selling some potions and charms.”
I raised my eyebrows and looked into the shop windows. It wasn’t open yet, but a sense of peace and harmony radiated from it.
Putting the truck in drive, he rolled down a bit. “That’s the local museum. I found it especially cool because there’s a lot of supernatural history to this town. The witches have been here for centuries, and so have a local wolf pack that we haven’t had all that much to do with. Would you like to go in?” he asked. “It’s very small.”
I grinned and nodded, so he put it in park. The town was fairly deserted, even for nine in the morning on a Monday. Warmth enveloped us as we walked into the museum, and we spent a good hour looking at old farm tools and cooking utensils, as well as little objects that were supposed to be imbibed with magic. It was cute and fun, all the more enjoyable thanks to Vince. It was easy to be with him. More than easy, it was alluring. Compelling. I didn’t want to be anywhere else in the world besides this dinky museum with Vince.
My mate. Wow. What a thought.
When we’d seen every nook and cranny of the small, three-room museum, we went back out to the truck. “Let’s rest that ankle,” Vince said as he opened the door for me. “I’ll show you where Cam lives, and we’ll pick him up. He’
s going with me to get your truck while you have lunch.”
I shrugged. “That sounds nice.” I wanted a chance to dish about him without him right there, anyway.
He drove to the end of the street and turned around. I practically had my face plastered to the window as we drove through the main part of the town again, this time in the other direction. The shops were so quaint, they made my credit card burn in my pocket. Well, in my purse, but still, I wanted to go buy all the things.
We passed the little park again, then he crossed a street and pulled into a driveway that was also full of trees and snow. A huge Victorian house, looking a lot like a real-life gingerbread house with all the snow and holiday lights hung around it, appeared from between the trees.
Vince pulled around to the back, where big lumps in the snow told me there were a bunch of bushes back there. “Wow,” I whispered. “This place is sublime.”
“Yeah, I used to live here with Cam. It turns out it’s Sophie’s old family home and she didn’t even know it.” He turned off the truck and smiled at me. “Come in with me?”
“Sure,” I said. “Wait. Sophie, as in Cam’s fated mate?” I was still getting everyone’s names straight.
“That’s the one.” Vince slammed the door shut and hurried around, opening my door, then slipping his hands under my knees. He lifted me from the truck. “Come on, my lady.”
Slapping his arms, I giggled. “Put me down, you nut. My ankle is much better. I don’t think it was truly sprained. Just, I don’t know, irritated.”
He grunted and walked up the stairs. “Maybe we should have Gretta take a look at it to be sure.” He finally set me down and pressed the doorbell. “Feels weird not to walk right in.”
Shae opened the door with a big smile on her face. “Vince!” she yelled. “Come in. Look at what I’m making.”
He shot me a smile and hurried inside, leaving me to follow. I hung back and watched as Vince made a big deal about Shae’s volcano. It was for a science fair the following week.
“But watch this,” she said. “Glenda helped me.” She picked up a small bowl and sprinkled some herbs down in the volcano as Cam bounded down the stairs.
“Here we go again,” he said and stood back. “Do the force field. I’m not cleaning this kitchen again.” He hurried over to stand beside me. “Be prepared to duck,” he whispered. “She’s not good at force fields, as she calls them. It’s just a tiny little ward.”
Shae grinned at us and waved her left hand. She kept it splayed and pointed sort of at the volcano. “What’s she doing?” I whispered to Cam.
“We can’t see it, but she’s put a sort of a bubble around the volcano. She’s holding it steady with her left hand. She can’t yet create it and leave it to stay.”
Shae picked up a vial of liquid and handed it to Vince. “Pour that in quickly and then jump back behind me,” she said.
Vince glanced back and grinned wickedly at me. “Ready?”
I shrugged and nodded, then inched further behind Cam. “Go for it.”
Radiating excited energy, Vince sloshed the liquid into the top of the volcano, then jumped backward. He didn’t pay close enough attention to where he was going, apparently, and slammed right into Shae.
Both of them tumbled to the floor as the volcano erupted, spraying not just foam, but neon green foam, what looked like glitter, and lights—how? —everywhere. I squealed and ducked behind Cam, pressing my face to his back and clutching his shirt.
As I squished my nose against the strong muscles of his back, I realized never in a million years would I have gotten that close to a man who was virtually a stranger to me. But he didn’t feel like a stranger. He felt like a friend. Like family. Nothing about the closeness or touching felt inappropriate in any way.
How odd.
“What in the world is going on here?” a strong female voice thundered.
I was still bent over, keeping my body behind Cam, but I leaned to the side to see Sophie had entered the kitchen from the opposite side.
Neon foam covered pretty much every surface. I inched around Cam, clutching my shirt front nervously, then waved at Sophie.
She winked at me, then turned stern eyes down where my Vince and her Shae lay in the middle of the floor, covered from head to toe in green goop, glitter, and little round flashing lights. In front of my eyes, the lights flickered out and disappeared in puffs of smoke.
“What did you two do?” Sophie asked in the best mom-voice I’d ever heard. It resonated around the room and even made me flinch.
“She put power into it,” Cam said out of the corner of his mouth. I looked at him and gasped, laughter bubbling up my throat. He was covered from head to toe as well and still frozen the way he’d been when he kept me from getting hit. I didn’t have a drop on me. Even where I stood now, behind the kitchen island, was clean.
Sophie bared her teeth at Vince and Shae, and Shae buried her face in Vince’s chest. He wrapped his arms around her. “Spare her, kind woman! She knows not what she do. Doos. Did.”
Both of them collapsed on the slippery floor in giggles.
“If I didn’t know that you guys need to go get Damini’s truck and that she has a lunch date, I’d make the two of you clean this up. As it is…” She focused on the room and held out her hands. In a few seconds, all the foamy slime and glitter and mess lifted from the floor, the table, all the surfaces, including Vince, Shae, and Cam, and collected in a big ball in the middle of the room. Sophie walked forward and moved her fingers. The ball of goop moved through the air right past my head, then settled in the sink, where Sophie turned on the water and it rinsed away.
Looking around the room in awe, I couldn’t help but think how cool that was. “I wish I could do that,” I whispered.
Shae glanced at her mom’s back, then grinned at me. “It’s great for cleaning my room, but I’m not very good at it yet.”
Sophie snorted. “Obviously.”
“Okay!” Vince jumped up off the floor. “That was fun, but we do need to go.” He ruffled his hand over Shae’s curls. “See you later, kid.”
“Bye, Vince,” she called.
Cam gave Sophie a kiss, and we walked out to the back porch.
If this was what life was like here, I didn’t know that I wanted to leave at all. But it couldn’t always be snowfalls and science fairs. Sometimes bad things happened to anyone.
“I’m so glad to see you,” Jessica squealed when I walked into the Snowshoe. “You’ve got to fill me in on everything.”
I laughed and sat across from her in the booth. “So, from the beginning, I guess.” I told her about the money first.
When I finished, she sat back with a smug look on her face. “I told you. I mean, I hate to be the one to say I told you so, but I told you so.”
I held up my hands in surrender. “I know. I wish I’d listened. So much.”
“Well, what happened while you were trapped in the storm?” she asked. We waited for the server to take our orders, then I told her all about it, including leaning forward and whispering about the naughty parts. “Of course, I didn’t have my birth control with me, so I couldn’t risk not using a condom.”
She slapped her hand over her face. “That sucks!”
“But that made last night all that much better,” I said in an excited whisper. We squealed quietly and she grabbed my hand.
“I’m so happy for you, Damini. I can’t tell you how much.”
The server returned with our sandwiches and chips, interrupting. When she walked away again, Jessica popped a chip in her mouth. “What about the dragon thing?” she asked. “Does that freak you out?”
I shook my head. “No, that’s the least of my worries. I’m more concerned about my family. They dislike anything to do with magic or shifters, but they really hate dragons. They believe the old tales about dragons being greedy and stealing wealth. That’s why they wanted us separated to begin with.”
I sighed and took a bite of my sandwich, ch
ewing thoughtfully. “I wish I’d stayed. Finished my degree. I would’ve already had my career, had this amazing life.” I shook my head and stared dejectedly at my plate. I’d lost my appetite. “It’s too late now. There’s too much wasted time.”
Jessica set her sandwich down. “You’re crazy. It’s never too late.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “Are you going to eat that?”
I shook my head. “No, I’m suddenly not hungry.”
Turning to the counter, Jessica waved at the server, who hurried over. “Can we get to-go boxes?” she asked.
In no time, we were walking down the sidewalk. “I have someone I want you to meet.” She walked into a door several businesses down from Sacred Spaces. I stepped back and looked up at the shingle.
Spruce Gazette.
Oh, geez. I knew what she was doing. But it was too late to stop her now.
I couldn’t imagine they had much in the way of a news department, but I was never against checking out a newspaper.
Jessica waved at the woman at the front counter, then walked through a door. “Hey, Belle,” she called. A slender, Asian woman with long, long hair stood.
She shifted her body to move her hair behind her as she walked forward. “Hey, Jessica. What’re you up to?”
“I brought my friend Damini to meet you. Have you got a minute?”
I stepped forward and held out my hand. “Pleasure,” I said softly.
“Likewise.” She smiled at Jessica. “I’ve always got a minute for you.”
Jessica walked toward a desk and plopped down across from it. Belle gave her an amused look and joined her. “Please, Damini, sit.”
I smiled gratefully, not used to Jessica’s informality like I had been when we lived together. My family was professional and polite at all times. Nothing like Jessica at all.
“So, Belle here heads up the investigative journalism team here at the Gazette,” Jessica said. “Belle, would you care to expand on that for Damini?”
She brightened. “I love talking about it, of course. We investigate suspected supernatural occurrences in West Vermont. We look into all sorts of things, from good to bad, and everywhere in between.”