Tethered 02 - Conjure (16 page)

“So tell me more about this Kace character.” Mom chopped up some mushrooms and added them to the pile of bell peppers and onion she’d already cut for our pizza. “How did you two meet?”

I smiled as I thought about it and stirred the homemade pizza sauce a few more times. “On the beach, actually. It was the first day me and Vera were here. His golden retriever, Dibs, nearly knocked me over.”

“How romantic.” Mom chuckled. After our earlier conversation, she’d really mellowed out and the awkwardness that had surrounded us had finally dissipated. “Are things getting serious between you two? And by serious, you know what I’m asking…are you having sex, are you using protection?”

My face flushed as red as the sauce I was stirring. Talking about sex with my mom would never be easy. “We’re being careful, promise.”

She paused in her chopping and glanced at me. “I don’t mean to embarrass you. I just want to be sure.”

“I know,” I said, leaving it at that.

“He’s cute.” She winked and then went back to chopping.

“That he is…”

I scooped up the pizza crusts off the counter and read the back until I found what temperature they were supposed to be cooked at. Making pizzas with Mom used to be my favorite when I was growing up. I glanced at her, watching as she shoveled up the thinly sliced mushrooms with the knife she’d been using and then scraped them off into the pile of other veggies. Things between us were going to be all right, even if I did stay here.

“What about Craven?” she asked. “Is that something you’ve really looked into or is it just something you said to get me off your back about coming home?”

I dipped my finger into the sauce and then put it to my mouth, tasting to see if it needed more of anything. It was perfect, just the way I remembered it. “Honestly…it was something I just said to get you off my back.”

She opened the pizza crusts and laid them out on the counter. “Figures. So, what’s the plan now?”

I poured a ladleful of sauce onto the first crust and spread it around. “I think I might actually look into it.”

“Good.”

“Good? You aren’t going to tell me you want me to go to college at home?”

“I could…and have in the past, but I’ve decided recently it might not be my place to tell you what to do anymore. You’ve grown up, Addison. It’s taken me this little trip to realize that. I think you should do whatever makes you happy.” She smiled. “And it seems like you’re pretty happy here.”

The doorbell rang and I set the ladle down to go answer it before I could respond to what my mother had said. Kace stood on the porch with Adam and Callie behind him.

“Hey, I brought soda.” Kace held up a two liter of Pepsi. “Figured your mom would like me better if I left the alcohol at home.”

“Thanks.” I gave him a chaste kiss and opened the door wide so everyone could come in.

“Smells great,” Callie said, stepping inside. “Is that the sauce?”

“Homemade sauce.” I cast a glance over my shoulder at Adam. “No magick required to make it the best you’ve ever tasted.”

He burst out laughing. “I’ll be the judge of that one, Avery.”

After stuffing our faces, I stood in the kitchen cleaning up just a bit. I knew if I didn’t, Mom would and I didn’t want that. I wanted to continue to prove to her that I was ready to live on my own. I wanted to show her I could manage to take care of even mundane tasks without her help.

Kace came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. I leaned back against him, tucking my head beneath his chin while I continued to wash the pizza pans, enjoying the warmth that swam through my veins from his touch.

“You’re so sexy when you clean,” he whispered against my ear, his warm breath causing goose bumps to erupt across my body.

“Exactly what every girl dreams of hearing a guy say to her,” I teased, trying to lighten the mood and squirm away from him.

Kace’s grip tightened on my waist. “Squirm just a little more to the left…” A bone-melting sigh of pleasure slid from his lips and sparked my libido to life.

“Oh my God.” I chuckled, feigning lack of interest. “My mom is in the next room; will you stop?” I hissed.

“Oh yeah, baby…right there…” he continued to purr in my ear.

I spun and smacked him across the chest with my soapy hand, laughing. “Seriously, stop!”

“Fine.” He flashed me a wicked grin. “I’ll stop for right now, but just know…the next chance I get, I’m going to pick up right where I left off. You know you want me to; don’t deny it.”

I couldn’t keep the grin that spread on my face off if I had tried. “Never said I didn’t,” I whispered in the sexiest voice I could muster.

“Ouch.” He made an overly dramatic face, like someone had burned him. “Good God. You’re gonna be in trouble as soon as your mom leaves tomorrow.”

“I’m counting on it,” I said, placing a hand on my hip.

I turned around and continued washing the dishes while trying to contain the smile that refused to leave my face.

It wasn’t long after I’d finished washing the dishes when Kace and everyone left, allowing Mom and me to turn in for the night. I stood in the bathroom, brushing my teeth and replying to text after text from Kace.

Still thinking about earlier in the kitchen with you…damn…

I smiled as I reread his words.

Maybe you’ll have some sweet dreams then. ;)

He replied right back.

Sweet isn’t what I’m counting on. Good night, sexy.

Good night.

I set my phone on the counter and leaned over the sink to spit. A familiar warmth that could only mean one thing—Theo was near—filled me. My eyes darted around frantically as I tried to pinpoint where he was, praying he knew my mother was in the house with me. That was all I needed right now, for him to pop up out of nowhere and scare the bejeezus out of her.

“Theo, now is not a good time,” I scolded in a whisper. “My mom is visiting.”

“I know,” his smooth, velvet voice said from somewhere near the door. “Come downstairs.” It wasn’t a question; it was a command. Nothing was ever a question with Theo.

I rinsed my toothbrush and placed it back in its holder. “Fine.”

Tiptoeing past my mother’s closed bedroom door, I headed into my room and grabbed my satin robe from off the floor. There was no way I was talking with him in a thin tank top without a bra, even if he had already seen me in it. Slipping my arms into the robe, I tiptoed downstairs. I glanced around, but didn’t see Theo anywhere.

“Take off your glamour, Jesus,” I hissed into the silence, pissed he was here at all.

I didn’t need my mom to see me talking to some guy who wasn’t Kace in the middle of the night. She’d think she’d raised a tramp for sure.

“I already have,” he said from in the living room. “It’s not my fault you didn’t look in here.”

My feet shuffled across the cool hardwood flooring as I walked into the living room. Theo sat on the couch with his feet propped up on my coffee table. He wore black sandals that looked like a dog had gotten hold of them and used them as a chew toy at some point.

“What do you want?” I asked. I came to a stop in front of him.

Wrapping my robe around myself tightly, I tied it in place and crossed my arms over my chest for more coverage. His eyes trailed over me; the warmth that went with his stare made my breath catch. I swore he could see right through my clothes and straight to the image from the other night of me in the tub with him. My cheeks flushed as I remembered what he’d looked like as well.

“I’ve found something else for us to try.”

“Nothing like the last thing, right? I’m not getting naked with you again,” I snapped in a whisper.

Theo’s lips twisted. It was always odd to see him have even the hint of a smile on his serious face. “First off, you weren’t naked, technically. And second, no, it doesn’t.”

“Well, we can’t do anything here. My mom’s here,” I said, straightening my back and ignoring his condescending tone as best I could.

“I’m aware of that,” he said simply as he stood. “I’d planned for us to go for a walk anyway.” He shouldered past me and to the front door.

“Where? I’m still in my pajamas.” I stated the obvious.

“No one will care,” he said without looking at me. “I don’t.”

I followed him to my front door, slipped on the pair of sandals I’d left there earlier, and then gently closed the door behind me. “I can’t believe I’m sneaking off in the middle of the night with you.”

Theo didn’t utter a word. Instead, he turned after he reached the bottom step and headed off in the direction of the cliff.