Witches Get Stitches

by Juliette Cross

  Something about this gentle gesture gave me a pinching sting at the center of my chest. It was so sweet, so tender, so serious.

  To lighten whatever heavy emotion weighed the room down, I cleared my throat and clenched my fingers in his hair then pulled his head back so he’d look up at me. “If you think you’re getting this on all work breaks, you’re out of your damn mind.”

  He chuckled then nipped the bare flesh on my belly with his teeth.

  “Ow!” I jumped.

  He soothed with his thumb but looked anything but remorseful. He got to his feet and found my shirt. He handed it over rather than helped me back into it, for which I was glad. We were in unfamiliar territory, and I wasn’t sure how to behave.

  It was sex, but it also more. I definitely understood that when I’d interpreted the Tarot cards correctly. And I didn’t know what to do with more.

  He kept a hand on the doorknob while he waited for me to get my shirt back on. “Come to my house for dinner.”

  “Why?” I asked lightly.

  “Why do you think?” He frowned, his gaze watching every move I made while I slipped on my shirt. “So we can do that again properly.”

  “What, like missionary style?” I goaded.

  His scowl deepened, but there was amusement twinkling in his eyes. “Thoroughly,” he corrected.

  “Ah.” I propped my hands on my hips, my shirt back on. “Should I make a list of what I consider thorough?”

  His eyes darkened, heating again. A throb between my legs pulsed in response.

  Holy hell.

  My body was ready again. His nostrils flared, and he arched a brow.

  “Yes,” he finally answered, husky voice telling me he knew exactly what was going on in my panties. “A detailed list.”

  He opened the door and gestured for me to go first. As I passed, he planted his palm on my stomach to stop me, leaning down close to my ear, his hot breath sending a shiver over my skin. “Text me the list.”

  I stepped forward and glanced up at him. “Maybe.” I was pretending I wasn’t as affected as I was about sending him a list of what I wanted him to do to me tonight.

  As I sashayed by him with a wicked smile, I turned to find Sean at the counter, leaning forward on his forearms, staring at us both. And the shit-eating grin on his face told me he just sat there and heard everything that had happened.

  “Enjoy the show?” I snapped snarkily.

  He winked. “Magical supply closet, eh?”

  “Fuck off, Sean,” I called before storming off to my workspace.

  But then I heard Nico answer him as he headed across the lobby to leave. “Yeah, it is.”

  My heart fluttered, and I grinned like an idiot the rest of the day, mentally making my list.

  Chapter 18

  ~NICO~

  * * *

  Fucking finally! To say today was a good day was the understatement of the year. Of the last two years actually. I knew it would take a little push to make Violet give in to me. I felt a twinge of guilt for flirting with Lindsey and letting her think I was interested just to get a rise out of her.

  But when I’d heard Violet hovering at the door while Lindsey was doing all the flirting, I couldn’t resist encouraging it a little, hoping it would have the exact effect that it did.

  As soon as Lindsey pulled her sweater down, I’d gently told her that we could only be friends. Was it an honorable thing to lead Lindsey on? Not at all. But I wasn’t what Lindsey really wanted or needed. And winning Violet would take a little deviousness, and perhaps a firm hand as well.

  I clenched my jaw at the thought of her moaning response when I slapped her ass with that firm hand. Not only did she not mind my overbearing dominance during sex, she seemed to love it. And truth be told, I was still restraining myself. Damn, that woman was made for me. The wolf rumbled in my chest, completely agreeing.

  As of now, Violet might think this was just sex, but I was pretty sure the only way to get close to Violet’s heart was through her panties. She was a sexual creature. Christ. So sensual and responsive.

  I was half-hard just thinking about the look on her gorgeous face when she came beneath me. I finished setting the food I’d picked up for dinner aside, then glanced at my watch. Still thirty minutes before she’d be here. I set out the Old Smokey Salted Caramel whiskey, thinking she might enjoy this one.

  Picking up my phone, I then flipped back to the list she’d texted me today, grinning at the screen like a fool.

  Oral sex (reciprocal)

  Doggy style (scratch that; don’t want to offend your wolf)

  Wall sex

  Cowgirl

  Reverse cowgirl

  Sixty-nine

  Shower sex

  Whips (no chains, please)

  Blindfolded

  Tied up

  Chocolate syrup (or anything you’d like to lick off of me)

  Sex swing (can save this for later; here’s a link on Amazon)

  She’d ended her list with nothing but a smiley face. I swear, if I wasn’t in love with her already, I would be now.

  My phone buzzed as I was holding it, Layla’s name flashing on the screen. Video call. My sister rarely spontaneously video called.

  “Hey,” I answered hurriedly.

  “Hey.” She looked and sounded down.

  My protective instincts kicked in at once. “What’s wrong?”

  “Oh, nothing too terrible. It’s just Gigi. She had a bad day. I didn’t realize it was daddy/daughter lunch day at her school, so I wasn’t able to get my father-in-law to go and sit in for Daniel.”

  Fuck. My heart sank. This was the kind of thing I wished I could do for Layla. Should do for her. Especially since she lived in Baton Rouge, only an hour away. Other than her elderly father-in-law who wasn’t getting around so well these days, I was the only family she had.

  After Daniel died, she relied on her father-in-law to help out. This was actually another reason I felt guilty for not visiting. Since the incident with Ty, I was terrified of something setting me off and accidentally hurting Layla or Gigi.

  “What’s she doing now?”

  “Moping. Curled up on the sofa with Mr. Bobo.”

  I was already heading upstairs to grab my guitar. “Let me sing her something.”

  Layla sighed with relief. “That’s what I was hoping. Thank you!”

  I saw her walking through her house as I picked up my guitar then set the phone on my nightstand. I was tuning a string when Gigi’s angel face popped on screen.

  Layla was saying, “He wants to sing you a lullaby.”

  Her sad blue eyes sparkled with joy when she saw me. The phone screen wobbled as she seemed to be getting comfortable on the sofa.

  “Hey, Uncle Nico.”

  “Hello, my sweetheart.” I gave her my brightest smile. “I’ve been missing you.”

  “Me, too. When are you going to come and visit?”

  Another sharp pang stabbed me in the chest. “I will as soon as I can.” As soon as I could trust myself. “I promise. How about your favorite song for now?”

  Her chubby cheeks puffed when she smiled wide. “Please, please!”

  “You and Mr. Bobo settle down. Here we go.”

  I strummed the opening chords, then launched into “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” singing the words I’d sung a hundred times for her since she was a baby in the crib.

  Her sweet smile and bright eyes melted my heart. Especially when she mouthed the words where trouble melts like lemon drops as I sang them. She squeezed Mr. Bobo tighter, his floppy ears bent as she squished her cheek against his. When I ended the song, I got close to the screen.

  “Is Mr. Bobo asleep yet?”

  She glanced at her bunny then turned back to me and shook her head. “Not yet. One more!”

  Knowing that would be the answer, I laughed and strummed some soft chords, moving into something slower.

  “One more. Then you have to promise to go to sleep and dream about happy
things.”

  “Okay. I promise.”

  I heard footsteps on the stairs and had actually smelled her as soon as she’d entered my house. I kept playing, feeling her draw closer. I sensed her leaning against the doorjamb, watching me. I glanced over and gave her a smile, still singing Gigi’s song.

  There was a surprised and sort of sad expression on Violet’s face. A little stricken, I focused back on Gigi with a smile as I sang the final chorus.

  “Yay!” She clapped then made Bobo clap with his bunny paws.

  “You feel better, sweetheart?”

  “Way better.”

  “Here’s a big kiss.” I leaned in and blew her a kiss. “Now get to sleep and you better keep your promise.”

  “I will. Goodnight, Uncle Nico!”

  “Sweet dreams, angel.”

  I ended the call and turned to Violet. Her expression had morphed into one I’d never seen her wear. If adoration had a face, it was the one Violet was giving me right now. My heartrate tripled in speed.

  “That’s my niece,” I said quietly.

  She glanced down and cleared her throat before saying, “You sing lullabies to your little niece.”

  “As often as I can.” I stood and leaned my guitar on its stand in the corner.

  “Layla is your sister?”

  “Actually, she’s my mother’s granddaughter by her second husband. My mother was human.”

  “How’s that?” she asked.

  “You do know I’m a hundred and seven, right?”

  “Old man. You’re robbing the cradle with me.” She smirked playfully.

  “But yes, she is like a sister to me. Her husband died in an incident working offshore, so I try to help out and keep in touch when I can.”

  She took a step into the room and put both hands into the back pockets of her jeans then huffed out an embarrassed laugh.

  “What?”

  “I, um…” She tilted her head to the side, a guilty smile on her face. “I saw the picture of y’all downstairs and her name on your phone when she called the other day and thought she was maybe an ex-girlfriend. Or wife.”

  My brows shot up as I stalked closer. “You thought I had an ex-wife and a child I didn’t tell you about?”

  I spanned my hands along her waist. She curled her index fingers into the belt loops on the side of my jeans.

  “Well, you’ve never talked about a sister,” she accused. “And Mateo never said anything about another cousin.”

  “That’s because she isn’t related to Mateo. My mother left my dad. She had to.” I swallowed the lump in my throat, thinking about how she’d left me behind, too. For my own good as well as hers.

  “Why?” she asked quietly, probably thinking I wouldn’t answer.

  What Violet didn’t understand was that I’d tell her anything. I wanted her to know me, wanted to bind her to me in every way.

  “My father had trouble controlling his temper. And his beast. He, uh, hurt her one too many times after shifting when he lost control.”

  I slid my hands under the hem of her loose button-up shirt, needing to feel her skin, needing it to ground me. I settled my palms on her waist again.

  “When she left him, he agreed it was the best thing to do.”

  My poor father wasn’t a perfect man, but he never could control his temper. For a wolf, that could be deadly for others. I didn’t tell Violet that the last time he was violent, my mother was hospitalized with multiple lacerations and a broken arm.

  “But how did you end up being raised with Mateo? Your mom—” She stopped, obviously realizing the truth.

  “She had to leave me. A human woman can’t raise a werewolf on her own. She had no idea how to teach me what to do, how to cover up what I was. She ended up moving to Florida and remarrying a good man. A human.”

  I couldn’t keep the regret from my voice. Losing my mother had ruined my father, though he knew she had to leave. I remember him sitting on the back porch every afternoon, drinking a beer and staring off into space. He withdrew further and further until he went away one day on a trip to Montana. He didn’t return home.

  Mateo’s dad and our grandfather found him deep in the woods in human form, naked. And dead. He had gashes all over, deep wounds on his stomach. He’d obviously gotten into a fight with a bear or wolves and had lost.

  “And to be honest, I was afraid to go with her. I’d started shifting and understood the danger for her.” I swallowed hard, my gaze sweeping her delicate collarbone. “I’d never forgive myself if I’d hurt my mother the way he had.”

  She slid her slender fingers under my shirt and swept them over my abdomen. I tightened at the sweet sensation.

  “You did see her though, right?”

  I nodded.

  “Of course. Till it was obvious to her family that I wasn’t aging. And after she passed, I lost touch with her daughter.”

  “Layla’s mother.”

  I nodded. “But then I get this call one day, and she tells me she’s my mom’s granddaughter. Apparently, my mother had pictures and letters of her and my father she’d passed down. Layla was happily married at the time with a baby girl and not much family still alive. But she’d wanted to meet me since I was almost all she had left except for her father. I suppose, technically, she’s my niece, but I’ve always thought of her as a sister.”

  “Where does she live?”

  “Baton Rouge.”

  “What? That’s so close. Is that why you moved to New Orleans?”

  I stared down at her, dumbfounded at that question. “No, Violet. She isn’t the reason I came here.” I wasn’t hiding anymore. “But I guess it’s another reason for me to stay.”

  She licked her lips and toyed with the button at the top of my button-down. “But you get to see her a lot more now, right?”

  “Not as much as I’d like,” I admitted, tucking a lock of her purple-blonde hair behind her ear.

  “Because you’re afraid you might shift or something? You don’t have a hot temper, Nico. You’re the coolest guy I know. As in calm and collected.”

  “Most of the time, yes. But there are times I’ve lost it.”

  Ty’s terrified and bloody face flashed into my mind. I squeezed my eyes shut for a second.

  “That boy in the Blood Moon pack?”

  I nodded stiffly, ready to move away from this conversation. This wasn’t what I had planned for our first date.

  “Well, good thing you know a very crafty witch who’s going to help you with that problem.”

  “Good thing,” I agreed before leaning down to kiss those sweet lips.

  I sampled her mouth for a long, lingering moment, tasting with just a little tongue. And that was all it took for me to reorganize our date night. I started unbuttoning her blouse.

  She huffed. “Aren’t we going to talk about this?”

  Since our hard fuck in the supply closet, we hadn’t exchanged a word besides the text she’d sent me.

  “Do you want to talk?” I continued kissing and unbuttoning.

  She pulled back, watching my hands descend. “Don’t I even get dinner first?

  “I’ll feed you after round one.”

  When I slid her arms out of the blouse, she noticed the set-up on my dresser. Then she burst out laughing.

  I grinned, not even glancing back as I unfastened and removed her bra, unable to look away from her beautiful body. I’d set out an array of items I’d picked up today, including a blindfold, fuzzy pink handcuffs, and a giant bottle of Hershey’s syrup.

  She turned her attention back to me since I already had her jeans halfway down her legs. She obliged and stepped out after I pulled off her socks and shoes.

  “A man of action, wolfie. I like it.”

  I grabbed her waist and lifted. She immediately wrapped those long, sexy legs around me, and then I kissed the fuck out of her as I walked to the wall.

  “Number three already?” she asked, all breathy.

  Her pulse had quickened, a
nd I could scent the wetness between her thighs. One thing I noticed in that supply closet was how well Violet responded to my dominant nature. With every command I ordered, she became more turned on. I also knew that I didn’t want to hold back with her. Not in any possible way.

  With a strong-willed woman like Violet, that meant pushing a few boundaries to show her I was no ordinary lay. I was going to be her only one from here on out. She just didn’t know it yet.

  “No,” I finally answered, dropping her on her feet. Wrapping my hand around her nape, I slid my tongue along her lower lip then bit it with a little force. “Number one.”

  I straightened as I gripped her shoulders and pressed her down. She followed my lead, sliding down the wall till she was on her knees. Those big blue eyes stared up at me with a little shock and a lot of arousal.

  I cupped the side of her face, grazing my thumb across her cheekbone, her skin like silk. My wolf was already looking out from my eyes, siting his prey, wanting to bite and claim her in every way, but I held the leash. We were doing this my way, the only way to capture the heart of a witch like Violet. Her mouth was partly open, her pupils blown wide, black swamping her irises, leaving only a ring of vibrant blue.

  “What are you waiting for?” My voice was gravel-deep, my question a command.

  Her eyes fell to my crotch before she started unbuckling my belt with quick fingers. I brushed the pad of my thumb over her bottom lip, back and forth, as she panted lightly and pulled out my dick.

  “You have any idea how long I’ve wanted to fuck this pretty mouth?”

  She whimpered at my words, wasting no time in gripping the base of my dick and wrapping her lips around my head.

  “Fuck.” A feral groan rumbled deep in my chest.

  Placing my palm under her chin, I held her jaw lightly then eased her back till her head hit the wall. Then I started to slide deeper. She sunk her nails into my jeans at my thighs to hold on as I slowly pumped into her mouth, nice and shallow but going deeper with each thrust.

  “Suck me.”

  She did. With enthusiasm, those gorgeous eyes looking up at me. I draped my forearm against the wall, still cupping her jaw in place with the other hand, then dropped my head to watch and spread my legs wider so I could fuck her mouth properly. No. Thoroughly.