by Tate James
“Oh, don’t get me wrong, Kitty Kat. This is one of the best things he has ever drawn, but he’s still a dick.” Caleb smiled at me. “You didn’t see it yet, huh?”
“See what?” I demanded, peering down at my stunning new ink.
“Here.” Caleb ran his finger over a section of the little butterflies. “Look closely at the negative space between butterflies.”
I stared hard at the patch he was talking about, but it felt like I was doing one of those eye-spy games. Those 3D images that you needed to squint and tilt your head to see what the picture was.
Caleb sighed, and traced the negative space he was talking about. “Right here, the space between butterflies spells A-U-S-T-I-N. Babe, he tattooed his name on you.”
That... asshole. I’m going to kill him! My initial reaction was what I expected of myself, but somehow I couldn’t seem to summon the anger to back it up. The tattoo was still a work of art, regardless of Austin-fucking-King’s sneaky hidden message.
Now if only I could work out what that message was actually trying to tell me.
21
“Bingo!” Wesley crowed, jumping up from the table where he’d been sitting at his laptop for the past few hours.
“Bingo?” I repeated, stirring the pasta sauce I was making. Cooking was not one of my talents, but I did make a passable spaghetti bolognese, so that’s what we were having for dinner. Having the boys constantly cook for me was irritating my inner independent woman, so I’d pushed them all out of the kitchen for once.
“Bingo,” he repeated, coming over to me and presenting his laptop for me to look at. On the screen was a news article from a tabloid-style magazine with the title image of a diamond necklace.
“What am I looking at here?” I asked him, dipping my pinky into the red sauce and tasting it. Needed more garlic.
“Here, I’ll read it.” He flipped the computer back around to face himself. “Um, okay, blah blah ‘this stunning showcase of antique jewelery will be on display throughout the gala event and will include pieces such as’ blah blah old lady names ‘and a Victorian-era gold and sapphire ring belonging to Amelia Liath.’” Wesley’s excited face popped up from the screen, and I froze with my spoon halfway to my mouth.
“No, surely not.” I whispered. “It can’t be that easy.”
“Easy?” Wesley spluttered. “I’ve been scouring the internet for a week looking for this information!”
“Sorry, I know you have; I just meant...” I shrugged helplessly. Paranoia was getting the better of me that I considered this to be an easy win.
“Yeah, I know. Anyway, the gala isn’t for another three weeks, so there’s heaps of time to plan and research further.” He scratched his nose in an absent-minded gesture. He’d made the switch to contacts a few days ago, so he didn’t have his glasses on to fiddle with like he often did when he was feeling nervous.
“Hey,” I said, hooking my finger in the pocket of his hoody and pulling him closer to me. “Good work.” I grinned, then leaned up on my tiptoes to kiss him.
“Mmm, I might have to find leads for you more often if this is my thank you,” he murmured with a cheeky grin and kissed me back. His hand cupped the back of my neck as his mouth slanted over mine, and desire flushed through me, making me almost want to abandon dinner in favor of other activities. Unfortunately—or fortunately—the pot of pasta chose that moment to bubble over and hiss against the burner.
“Here, try this; tell me what you think,” I said, reluctantly peeling my hands from Wesley’s waist and dipping a spoon in the meat sauce. Raising it to his lips, I couldn’t help the rush of heat to my belly and the shortening of breath as I watch him lick the food from the spoon.
It had been a strange sort of week so far, attending spy school like any other recruit with nothing blowing up or crashing into us. The quiet was almost making me more nervous than the attempts on our lives had been.
The only incident of any suspicion had been earlier in the day, when another of the recruits in my class had fallen from a high ropes course and badly broken his leg. As far as he knew, though, it had just been a bad sprain. When it had happened, I’d acted without thought. Luckily for me, it was Austin’s day to guard me, and he’d pulled me away after only healing the break and nothing further.
“That’s really delicious, sweetheart,” Wesley murmured, licking his lips and stroking a thumb over the soft skin behind my ear. He hadn’t taken his hands off me since our kiss, and I didn’t want him too, either.
Our physical relationship was a bit of a slow progression for a couple of reasons. One being how often we seemed to be interrupted, which couldn’t be a coincidence. The other being that I wasn’t totally sure Wesley wasn’t a virgin, and I badly didn’t want to rush him into anything. He seemed pretty interested in taking things slowly too, which made me think sex was a bit of a bigger deal for him than for some guys.
On top of that, I’d been sleeping “alone” every night knowing that Caleb would inevitably crawl into bed with me at some ungodly hour after meeting with whoever was helping him control his magic.
“So a gala, huh?” I asked, nodding to his laptop, abandoned on the counter. “Guess I’m going to need a dress, then!”
“Um, yeah. I’ll have to work out a proper mission plan with River, but yeah I’d say so. Maybe you and Lucy should go shopping some time?” he suggested with a really faint, pink blush staining his cheeks. “Give her something to do other than annoy me about my software programs.”
“Hey! I heard that!” my rainbow-haired best friend snapped, strutting into the kitchen and pulling up a bar stool. “I told you I’d show you mine if you showed me yours.”
“You showed me a crappy shell program that you created when you were sixteen,” Wesley retorted, letting go of me to grab plates and cutlery for dinner.
“Never specified which of mine I’d show you,” she grumbled. “But sure, shopping sounds great. What are we shopping for, and can we please go without any of your bodyguards? No offense to the big, hunky men in your life, but I’d actually quite like to talk to you about said big, hunky men. And for that, we need privacy.”
“Um, I can’t see why not.” I raised a brow at Wesley, and he shook his head.
“Nope, do not look at me. That’s a question for Alpha, and you know it.” He cracked a grin. “Good luck, though.”
“Oh, please,” Lucy scoffed when I shrugged helplessly at her. “Just have a private chat with your other boyfriend after dinner, maybe let him spank you a bit. You’ll have him agreeing in no time. We can go tomorrow, seeing as it’s Saturday.”
Wesley made a choked sort of noise and blushed a deeper shade of pink. “Sorry, what?”
“Oh, come on,” my loud-mouthed bestie continued. “As if you didn’t already know River likes a bit of power play in the bedroom.”
“Uh, yeah. Common knowledge.” Wesley quirked a curious grin at me. “But did she just call River your boyfriend?”
“You’re not seriously shocked by that, are you, Cupcake?” Lucy snickered, and Wes rolled his eyes at her.
“I just didn’t know you’re, you know, using labels.” His blush deepened, and he dodged my eye contact, looking down at the plates he was laying out on the table.
“Oh, labels. That’s cute,” Lucy teased, and I whacked her with a dish towel.
“Shut it, Lucy,” I hissed. “Wes, ignore her. She’s being a brat because she hasn’t seen Finn in a few days.”
“Finn? I thought you were into chicks.” He squinted at her, and she grinned.
“I’m into hot. I don’t discriminate like you heteros do.” She hopped up from her stool and went to grab a soda from our fridge, cocking an eyebrow at Wes. “So, did I just make this all super-awkward between you two? I just figured, seeing as River and Cole were down with the BF label, then you and Cal were too. No? Overstepped my mark?”
My eyes narrowed at her in a threat of pain. She knew damn well I hadn’t had that discussion with Wes yet
, and she was forcing the issue.
“I’m going to use your bathroom, babe,” Lucy informed me and quickly disappeared out of the kitchen. Bitch.
“So you’re using the boyfriend label with Cole and River, huh?” Wesley asked in a dry voice, his cheeks still stained pink but his gaze more confident now that is was just the two of us.
“Um, yeah. I don’t know. It just sort of slipped out one day, and I don’t really know what else to call... you know, all of us.” I nibbled at my lip, watching him from under my lashes. “Would you, um, be okay using labels, too? It’s totally cool if you’re not. This whole conversation is really juvenile; it’s just sort of uncharted territory for me, you know? Like I’ve never really had an official boyfriend before, let alone four...” I trailed off when I realized Wesley was grinning at me like he was just barely holding back laughter.
“Kit,” he finally chuckled, saving me from doing more rambling. “If you’re asking if I want to be your boyfriend, er one of your boyfriends, then the answer is yes.”
“Oh,” I sighed. “Good.”
He smiled at me like I’d done something really cute and kissed me lightly on the lips.
“Oh, God,” Austin interrupted us again. “You two are going public now too? Great, more PDA around the apartment.”
“Eat a dick, Austin,” I snapped back, dropping a bowl of noodles and one of meat sauce on the table. “Also, serve yourselves. I’ll go see if Cole and River are up.”
Cole and River had done some sort of night shift job for Jonathan and hadn’t been home before I’d left for class in the morning. When I’d arrived home a couple of hours ago, they were both asleep.
Wesley caught my arm on my way past him. “I have something else I need to talk to you about too. Can we talk after dinner? I’ll be gone before Caleb gets home. Promise.”
“Of course. My room after dinner?” I offered and he nodded. The curiosity was going to eat at me all through dinner, though. Somehow I knew this wasn’t just an excuse to make out a bit.
Much to my frustration, after dinner Wesley had gotten called onto a comms shift to help out another team and still wasn’t back in the morning. Lucy had messaged me saying she’d be ready to leave for our shopping trip in an hour, but I still hadn’t spoken to River about going alone.
“River?” I called out, tapping on the door to his room, then opening it a crack. It sounded like he was in the shower, so I let myself in and knocked on his bathroom door. Maybe if I could catch him off guard, he’d say yes without thinking about it too hard.
“Hey, River?” I called through the door. “Can you hear me?”
No answer came back, so I cracked the door open and tried again.
“Kitten?” he replied over the sound of pounding water. “I can’t hear you; just come inside.”
“Okay,” I muttered under my breath, mentally reminding myself that I was here to get him to say yes to me. Not the other way around.
Must not fall for sexy British accent. Must stay strong.
“What did you say?” he asked once I’d stepped inside the small ensuite bathroom and perched my butt on the vanity.
“I wanted to check with you if it’d be okay for me and Lucy to go shopping today. Wesley mentioned I might need a dress for this gala thing, so Luce thought we could have a girls day out.” I phrased it as casually as I could. If I didn’t make it out to be a big deal, then it wouldn’t be. Right?
“I can’t see why that’d be a problem,” River replied. “See if Cole can go with you; otherwise, I can get someone to cover me and I’ll come. Cole would be your best bet though, as he truly doesn’t mind women’s shopping.”
“Ah, no, that’s okay. We were planning just a girls day. Just me and Luce. I’ll let Cole know he’s off the hook; Okay thanks, River; I’ll see you tonight!” I hopped off the vanity, planning on making a quick exit before River could disagree, but his wet hand burst out from behind the shower curtain and grabbed me by the wrist with surprising accuracy.
All I had time to do was let out a short squeak of protest before I was hauled under the hot spray with a very strong, very naked Englishman.
“Kitten,” he scolded, running hungry eyes over me as the water turned my sleep shirt see through. “You didn’t really think you’d get away with that, did you?”
“It was worth a try,” I sulked. “Come on, Alpha. It’s daytime, and I’m a crazy, bad ass magical being. What harm can a bit of shopping do?”
“No,” he said firmly, shaking his head. “There have been far too many attempts on your life lately. I couldn’t live with myself if I let you go unprotected and something happened. I’m sorry, love. The answer is no.”
“River,” I coaxed. “Sir, we are going to have to agree to disagree on this one. Don’t make me simply slip out when you’re not looking again.”
At this mention of the last time I’d slipped out past his guard, his golden eyes blazed with emotion, and he pinned me to the shower wall with his strong body.
“Don’t ever do that to us again, Kitten,” he demanded, but it sounded more like a plea. “You have no idea how worried I was about you. Anything could have happened. Please, love. Please never do that again.”
“Hey.” I smoothed a hand up his rough jaw, tipping his face up to meet my gaze. How self-centered was I that I hadn’t even considered how they would react when they found me gone? Considering it had only been a few weeks since I’d been kidnapped for real, it had been a pretty asshole move on my part to just take off without a word.
“I’m sorry, River,” I whispered. “I never meant to worry you. That message from Austin sounded so...”
“I know; you thought he was in trouble and you panicked.” He shook his head. “Please just come to me first next time. I don’t care if they say not to; you’re a part of me now. I honestly don’t think I would survive if anything happened to you. I don’t think any of us would.”
“River,” I sighed. “I feel the same way about you. All of you. So, I get it. If you really don’t want me and Lucy dress shopping alone, then we won’t.” Pulling his face down to me, I kissed his lips softly, and he stood dead still for a moment, letting me kiss him.
“Kitten,” he murmured in a voice so soft I could barely hear it over the sound of the shower. “I feel like I’m falling in love with you.”
Before I had a chance to pick my jaw up off the ground, let alone formulate the thought pattern or words necessary for a response to that, he was kissing me like it was the last time—or maybe the first. Either way, every touch of our lips, every stroke of our tongues was overflowing with so much emotion it felt like I was on the verge of tears.
River’s hands made quick work of my soaking sleep shirt, tossing it aside is a wet heap, and my panties soon followed. Once naked, my arms wrapped around his neck and his hands lifted me up, his hips driving his hot, hard cock straight into me while my legs crossed behind him.
“Fuck, love,” he swore, grunting as his shaft bottomed out, his hips flush to mine, and I groaned with the exquisite feeling of fullness. He pulled back out just an inch before pumping back into me a couple of times slowly, allowing my pussy to stretch and accommodate his sudden entry.
“Yes,” I gasped, grinding against him, wanting more. “Harder.”
“Harder... what?” he teased with a smoldering smile on his lips.
“Harder, sir,” I panted, and he delivered. Taking my arms from around his neck, he pinned my wrists above my head using his damaged arm, which was now in a sort of waterproof sports-brace thing. His other hand gripped me under my ass and held me aloft while he drove into me with an intensity built from emotion. Every hard thrust of his rigid shaft, I could almost feel him repeating those words. Falling in love with you.
My body clenched and spasmed around his punishing cock as I came, moaning my release and silently returning the words to him. He followed only moments later, finding his own release deep inside me with a long, drawn out groan.
“Um,
River?” I panted, as he gently slid me down the shower wall and withdrew from within me. “Did you just say—”
“Shh,” he cut me off, kissing me once more for a good long moment while we stood under the warm water. “If you and Luce really want to go alone, then I guess there can’t be too much harm. But only for a few hours, and you keep your phone on you at all times, okay?”
“Deal.” I grinned, kissing him again quickly, then pushing him back to grab his soap. “Seeing as I’m in here now, I may as well shower properly.”
“Mmm, I think I can help you with that,” he offered with a wicked glint in his eye, and I just knew that I was going to be late for meeting Lucy.
Some things were worth it though.
22
Shopping with Lucy was successful, as shopping with Lucy and a black card always tended to be. I’d picked up several different dress options and would see what the guys thought when we got home.
“So tell me about this thing with Finn,” I prompted when we stopped for a late lunch. We’d been gone way longer than the couple of hours I’d promised River, but I had been sure to stay in touch with him, and he didn’t seem to be freaking out too badly. Yet.
“Not much to tell really,” she hedged, stirring her iced tea with a long spoon. She loved those things, but I seriously didn’t see the appeal. Cold tea? Gross. I’d stick with my coffee any and every day, thank you.
“I know you’re suspicious of him because he was in the labs, but he’s been really good to me, Kit.” She looked up and met my eyes with open sincerity. “I did speak to him about it. Briefly. He admitted to being a supernatural but wouldn’t tell me what he is exactly, which I guess is his prerogative and all.”
“I see.” I was actually really surprised that he’d been up front about that much. “And he is making out like it’s just a big coincidence that he ended up as your physical therapist?”