Chapter 15
SEAN
Playing defense for the Spriggans required agility and the ability to stay two steps ahead of your opponent. Sean excelled at both, so he liked to think he was ready for anything. He was not prepared for that kiss.
There was no good reason for this. For the last several weeks, he’d stayed close.
He’d kept things easy but still tactile between them, and he’d noticed when she stopped pulling away.
Things were improving, and he’d been gauging the pace, not wanting to spook her.
Weird how quickly the tables could turn.
And it was a serious kiss, too. So serious, he fell back on a foot, then she turned him, flattening his back against the bathroom door.
She leaned her weight against him and laced her fingers through his own.
She lifted his arms above his head, or as far as she could lift them, him being six inches taller.
It was a weird reversal for him, playing the submissive as she had her way with him, but as foreign as it felt, he couldn’t deny how much he liked having her lips on his, her tongue in his mouth, her breasts pressed against his chest…
If this was how she liked it, yeah, he could play it this way. At least for a while.
She released his hands and slid her fingers through his hair, from the roots all the way down to the ends, then over his chest, digging in with the pads of her fingertips. Oh, yeah. He liked this a lot.
He lowered his arms, slid his hands over the curve of her ass and squeezed.
Fuck. It was such a great kiss, they were soon going at it like teenagers.
He loved how she tasted, and he felt like a starving man with no guarantee of his next meal.
All he could think was how to get more without seeming too greedy, then his body suddenly bowed forward as she unexpectedly backed away.
It wasn’t a retreat necessarily, more like a surprised gasp for air.
“Oh my god,” she said.
“You can say that again.” He could see the hard nubs of her nipples even through the thick knit of her uber-soft sweater.
“Oh my god,” she repeated. She was still staring at him like…he didn’t know what.
“Jesus, Kiera. You sure know how to use your mouth.”
She continued to gaze up at him with those sweet lips parted and her chest heaving.
Sean’s own skin tingled with anticipation. His cock was rock hard and impatient, but it was just going to have to settle. Too much, too soon, and Kiera would run. He knew it.
But then the corners of her eyes crinkled. She grinned, and she slapped her hand over her mouth, saying for the third time, this time with humor, “Oh my god!”
“You always go on the attack?” he asked, genuinely curious because, as mentioned, he didn’t mind. Not in the slightest.
“No.”
“Often, though?”
“No,” she said, laughing again. “I must have had a moment of demonic possession.”
“That was no demon from hell, babe. More like heaven.”
“You’re a good kisser.”
“If you didn’t get my meaning,” he said, “so are you.”
“It was a bad idea.”
And there it was. She was getting ready to bolt.
“How about we both take a breather?” he suggested. “It’s getting chilly. I’ve been holding off on the furnace, but I could build a fire. Make more cocoa? I’ve got peppermint Schnapps. It’ll warm you up.”
“I actually feel pretty warm.”
“Same. But if we’re not going to be doing that again anytime soon, you’ll appreciate the heat. I still need to add more insulation to the attic. I meant to do it in the off-season but didn’t.”
“A breather, a fire, and a peppermint hot chocolate sounds great. And…um…while you’re getting the fire started, would you mind if I checked in with Elli?”
“You want to call her now?”
“Do you mind?” she asked. “You were right. I owe her an explanation.”
“Of course I don’t mind. Go right ahead.”
She glanced around, probably looking for a private place to have a phone conversation. Finding none in his one-room cabin, she wandered over to the bed, sat on the end of the mattress, and faced the wall.
Sean got a twinge in his balls, seeing her there, in his bed (again). Or maybe not in it, but on it was close enough. He wondered, if they were ever in it together, if she’d insist on being on top.
He wouldn’t mind that either.
He pulled some kindling from the box where he kept his firewood and leaned some small sticks together so there’d be good air flow. He offered up a few words of gratitude to the trees, then struck a match.
KIERA
“Kiera?” Elli asked, her worried voice coming over the phone line.
“Yeah, chickie. It’s me.”
“Where are you?” she demanded.
I glanced over my shoulder to where Sean was adding a few small pieces of wood to the fire. “Sean’s cabin.”
Elli let out a breath. “That’s what Lukas assumed, but we didn’t know for sure, and you weren’t answering my texts.”
I glanced down at my phone and realized that, after reading Jen’s text, I’d missed three from Elli. “Sorry about that. I…got distracted.”
There was a beat of silence, then she asked, “Distracted?”
“Yeah.”
“By what?”
I let my eyes drift toward the ceiling and since they were already up there, I said a prayer that I wouldn’t be forced into a play-by-play while Sean was still in earshot. “By…things.”
“What things?” There was an almost gleeful tone in her voice.
“You know,” I whispered. “Things.”
“Things of the dryad variety?”
I looked down at my lap. “Maybe.”
Elli stifled a shriek of excitement. “If you’re saying what I think you’re saying, thank God something good came out of all of this.”
“Yeah, about ‘all of this…’” I said, preparing to explain everything about the bodega.
Elli, however, jumped in first. “Can I assume that Sean told you about the warehouse?”
“Oh. Um…yeah.”
“How much?” she asked.
“I think all of it.” I certainly hoped Sean hadn’t left anything out. The story was bad enough as it was.
“I didn’t know how to tell you,” Elli said. “I didn’t want to scare you. I didn’t want you to think badly of my brother. And it didn’t turn into anything bigger, so I didn’t see the point. It’s been pretty quiet ever since.”
“Until today,” I reminded her.
“Yeah,” she agreed. “Until today.”
“Do you know what they did to that guy?” I asked.
“I can guess. And, honestly, it’s better if we don’t know.”
A shiver ran along my arms, and I pulled the sleeves of my sweater down over my hands. She was probably right about that.
“And I’m so sorry,” she said. “I don’t know why he would come to your apartment. It’s not like he knew we were going to be there. We didn’t even know we were going to be there until you got the text about those packages.”
I took a second to process that. Apparently Lukas hadn’t told her anything, and I was impressed he’d kept his promise under the circumstances.
“He came to my apartment,” I explained, “because he was looking for money.”
“I know,” she said. “I heard him say that. But I had no idea what he was talking about, and—”
“I have the money,” I said quickly. “Or rather…I had the money, then I lost it.”
“What money?” Elli whispered.
“Remember when Braden called when we were at the bakery?”
“Yeah?”
From there, I filled her in on the last forty-eight hours, and I didn’t leave anything out. I told her about the call, about waiting all day for the delivery, about how Sean showed up and opened the bag and what was in it.
I told her about the bodega, how my car was smashed and the bag was stolen. Then I told her about almost getting shot.
“Though the guy at the bodega wasn’t the same guy who came to my apartment, the same guy who hurt you.”
“But there’s a connection between our two things,” Elli concluded.
“I have no idea what it is.” I rubbed my fingers against Sean’s green patchwork quilt. “Neither does Sean.”
“I’m going to have to tell Lukas about the bodega.”
“He already knows.”
“He what?” she asked, and I got the strong impression she was shooting Lukas an accusatory death glare.
“Don’t be mad. He wanted me to tell you myself.”
“Well, I’m glad you did,” she said, softening.
“Should I tell the others?”
“I think we both should,” she said. “Getting totally blindsided today couldn’t have been much fun for them. You and I at least had an inkling about what was going on.”
“True. But honestly, I think Jen might get off on a little bit of drama.”
Elli laughed. “That she does.” Then she got serious again. “You’re okay though? You’re safe?”
“Safe enough,” I said even though, with Sean, I was in an altogether different kind of danger: the danger of losing my heart.
“I’m glad you’re with Murph,” she said. “Because if anyone can help us through this…”
“A bunch of hockey players can?”
She laughed. “Yeah. Hockey players. But Q is so slippery he can shed his own skin. Rafe is a hell hound. Bjorn’s a berserker bear. Lukas, a berserker wolf. And Sean can tilt and make himself invisible.”
“What?” My research into any potential mind-tilting skills hadn’t led to anything about invisibility.
“Well, not invisible exactly. But…you know…camouflage.”
I glanced over my shoulder again and narrowed my eyes at Sean because no. I did not know anything about camouflage.
He was lounging in front of the fire with his striped, wool-stockinged feet up and his shoes off. He looked so relaxed, so confident and self-assured. And who the hell could make thick wool socks look sexy? Sean Murphy, that’s who. That seemed particularly unfair.
He raised his eyebrows at me, as if to ask, “What?”
“Meaning,” Elli continued, “we’re in good hands.”
“Yeah,” I said, recalling the literal feeling of being in Sean’s hands, which lay relaxed and loose on the arms of the recliner. He had sexy hands, too. Even better than his stockinged feet.
“I’ll talk to you later,” I said.
“Soon,” she replied.
“I may be here for a while.”
Sean smiled, obviously liking the sound of that.
“I’ll ask Rafe to bring you some clothes,” Elli said. “He can tilt them out to the cabin.”
“You think he’d do that for me?”
“Girl,” she said, in a way that meant, don’t be an idiot. “We’d all do a helluva lot more for you than pack a bag. You know that, right?”
Yeah. I was coming to the realization that maybe Sean had been right. I had friends. And they had my back.
“Thanks, chickie.”
“No problem. Now, go back to that distraction of yours.”
I smiled even as her insinuation sent a flutter of nervous butterflies rabbling through my belly. “Okay. Goodbye.”
“Bye now.”
I hung up as Sean lifted one of the two mugs of cocoa to his lips.
I got up from the bed and walked to him. The fire crackled in the fireplace. My own steaming mug sat on the small table between the two chairs. Just like last time, it was mounded with mini marshmallows.
I smiled. “You really do like your sweets, don’t you?”
His eyes lowered to my lips. “Sweet is where it’s at.”