Wilde Magic (Wilde Women Book 3) (46 page)

Seriously? Her face scrunched up and she stared at him. “Did you just blame some sweat pants for what happened? What about the whole dick in the mouth and how that was a no for me but a yes for her thing? What’ve you got to say about that? Huh? Huh?” She poked him in the chest with her finger as emphasis.

Oh, he was most definitely taking liberties with her bottom.

“Again, babe. My dick was nowhere near her mouth. And for the record, me keeping that wicked tongue of yours away from my junk was one hundred percent, head-up-my-ass gentleman.” He shrugged. “Kind of figured taking your virginity was enough.”

Oh. Well. She hadn’t expected to hear anything like that. But still …

“And unless I imagined it, you got me back. Made quite a point and proved me right about that talented mouth you’re using to bitch at me.”

She gasped, huffed and shoved at his chest. “I am not bitching at you.”

“Yes, you are,” he laughed. “And I kinda like it.”

“Why do men always think calling them out on their shit is bitching?”

“It’s not?” His quiet laughter wasn’t helping.

A tremendous thud made her jump. His arms tightened. The protective reflex felt good. And then a series of loud gusts shook the Queen Anne house from rafters to basement.

“Shit. That didn’t sound good.” He eased her off his lap and onto her butt. “I better go check things out.”

His statement was followed by another loud sound. This one was jarring, creaked a bit and ended with a crashing bang. He was racing for the front door, barefoot, with a flashlight he’d picked up along the way. Charlie huddled with a blanket around her shoulders when the door flung open with a loud bang.

“Damn wind,” he grunted. Freezing cold air blasted into the room.

She watched as he shone the flashlight onto the wrap around porch. The snow was coming down heavily and even with the beam from the flashlight it was still hard to see much else but blowing white.

“What is it?” she hollered.

Closing the door, he used his shoulder to heave it shut. His expression when he came back was concerned.

“Limb from the maple tree came down and took out the overhead on the corner of the porch. All I can see is pieces hanging and the branch covered in snow.”

Her phone went off and she looked for it in the darkness. Ty drawled, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow?”

“Hand it to me, quick!”

He yanked it off the charging cord and tossed it to her. “Catch.”

Amy’s image flashed on the screen. “Shit,” she muttered. “It’s Facetime. What do I do?”

“Well, answer it, for starters.”

She stuck her tongue out. “I meant how.”

He came at her and took the phone, did something and handed it back. In a conspiratorial whisper, he told her, “Remember she can see you, okay?”

“Oh, eat shit,” she sniped.

Amy’s laugh came through the phone. “Eat shit? Is that the new hello?”

“Sorry,” Charlie muttered. “You caught me off guard. What’s up?”

“Just checking up on you. Your power’s out too, I guess. Gonna be hours before the system blows out to the coast. Hope you’re okay Charlie. Not much we can do from here. My hubs has his hands full right now.”

“Bunch of tree limbs are down but I took your advice and got ready for no electricity.”

“Hey,” Amy chirped. “Is Cal with you? Is he okay?”

“Right here, Amy,” he chimed in so she could hear him. “We’re good. Don’t worry the newlyweds if they decide to check in, okay?”

“Are you kidding? The last thing any of us need is a pregnant bride with too much worry on her hands. They’ll be gone long enough that any fixing needing to be done will be over and done with before they get back.” She laughed with a loud snort. “And Jax. Oh lord. He wanted to put in generators for the business and the house but the wedding kind of took precedent and then it started snowing. He’ll be kicking himself for waiting.”

Ty motioned something, but in the darkness she had no idea what he’d just told her.

“Listen Charlie. Glad you two are okay. No more chit chat, though. Save the charge on your phone. Give us a yell if you need anything.”

The call ended and she turned to say something, only she was alone in the room. Oh well.

The fireplace crackled. She watched the flames dance for a minute then crawled closer to stir up the embers and add another log. When she was finished and felt satisfied that the fire was burning nicely, Charlie wiped her hands on her jeans and stood up. Outside the wind was howling and she shivered on reflex. The loose, one shoulder sweater had been a good idea hours ago. It occurred to her that something warmer might be a smart move now that the only heat they had was from the fireplace.

Carefully plunking up the stairs in her unicorn slippers, she felt her way down the hallway in the pitch darkness, to the master. Feeling for the knob, she pushed open the door. Relief washed over her when a single candle, one of the little votives Brynn kept in small glass containers, was flickering on top of a tall dresser. The room wasn’t exactly flooded with light but it was enough. She was moving for the bathroom when out of the darkness Ty appeared. His shirt was off and in his hand, he held a thick hoodie and a pair of socks. He must have come up to change.

Charlie froze. Wearing nothing but the dark green sweats, he looked, well, he looked like sex on two legs. Her eyes shot to his groin—what she could see of it. The waistband on the sweats hung dangerously low on his hips, exposing not just his navel, but also the defined muscular V that disappeared into his pants.

He was easy on the eyes. Sort of like the statue of David, an observation that made a five-alarm fire break out inside her. In the flickering light, the definition of his torso made her mouth go dry. He had the chest of a Roman god, that was for sure.

She admired his shoulders. When it came to wingspan, Ty had all the bases covered. His neck, hmmm. She wanted to sink her teeth into the ridge above his collarbone. His arms moved. He crossed them and it seemed to her as if he might be taunting her. She was staring after all.

Oh God—and those arms? Holy hell. They were big, muscled and she knew from first-hand experience, strong. Powerful.

The weirdest sensation fired off in her belly. A tingling, almost an itch. It grew in intensity and radiated outward. Charlie held her breath. She was being fanciful, she knew that, but there was no denying what she felt. Her aura, the essence of who she was, the life force of Charlie she called it, was searching. And she knew what for.

When the sliver of energy from her body connected with his, she felt it like a jolt of electricity. A soft glowing corona encircled them. Right then, she didn’t care if the big bad wolf himself came and huffed, puffed and blew the house down around them.

W
HAT THE HELL WAS HAPPENING?
Cal threw the clothes he held onto the bed and reached for her, but she was way faster than him.

When he’d left her to talk to Amy, he planned to put on something warmer and grab some more blankets. The last thing he expected was for her to surprise him in the bedroom. Had she followed?

And then she devoured him with her eyes and it was all he could do to stand still and let her have a good look. Right then, all thoughts of pulling the hoodie on vanished and was replaced by how quickly he could strip them both naked. He didn’t have long to think about it. Not after she muttered something unintelligible about sweat pants and being easy. That’s when he went to grab her.

But what did she do? She rushed him, pushed Cal back until his legs hit the side of the bed and he wobbled. Her hands went around his neck and then into his hair. He moaned. She grabbed all the hair she could and yanked.

Ow, fuck. He’d be bald if she kept that up. “‘tessa,” he cautioned and whatever he planned to say next stalled completely in the face of her explosive reaction.

“No,” she growled. “No,” she yelled more urgently.

What the hell was he supposed to do? Throwing her on the bed and fucking her into tomorrow wasn’t even a consideration. He searched for option B and came up empty. Figuring out where she was coming from was no easy task—especially since the vibe he got from her landed somewhere between righteous anger and unbridled lust.

He didn’t resist when she let go of his hair and used her entire body to forcefully shove him onto the bed. Falling backward with a grunt, he started to get really nervous when she leapt on top, her legs straddling him as she put her hands on his shoulders and held him down. She was joking, right? With little effort, he could have her under him in a heartbeat.

“No,” she growled again. “If we’re gonna do this …,” she stopped and made a fierce face but left off the rest. What she came back with shut him down so fast he couldn’t think straight. “Charlize,” she bit out. “And you’re Caleb. No more ‘tessa and Ty. That wasn’t real.”

“But—”

“No!”

Uh, okay. Shit—she was worked up.

“It’s just sex, Caleb. Understand? Nothing else. No more pretend.”

Just sex? JUST SEX? Well. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. What was going on between them was shitloads more than just sex.

“Take it or leave it.”

Whoa. Her eyes were full of fire. For him. At him. A dangerous combination. She put her mouth on his neck, and he shuddered. Cal knew he wouldn’t be able to stop what her anger was starting so he reached for a straw and hoped it was enough to throw cold water on the situation. This so was not how he wanted them to move forward.

“Uh, ‘Tes…I mean Charlize,” he grumbled. “Small problem.”

She pulled back and searched his face. His mind blanked for the briefest second. Something about her holding him down and hovering overtop with her hair hanging around them like a sensual veil.

“Unless you have a box of condoms stashed in your bag, we have to stop. Now.” Her eyes flashed and, thinking he had her, added, “Doubt that Jax and his pregnant wife have a stockpile somewhere.”

‘‘tessa sat back, right on top of his groin, and stabbed him with a look. Too bad he was frantically dealing with his ready to burst cock or he might have noticed the caution sign before he drove straight into it.

“Lack of birth control. Is that your only objection?”

Fuck, man. It wasn’t his only objection—just the first one in his mind. The universe she constantly referenced must be fall-down laughing at him by this point. He was falling in love with this girl. Making love to her again was his new obsession. Not screwing for the sake of screwing. Not fucking for relief.

“It’s a pretty big objection, Tesoro.”

She backed off. He shouldn’t look so smug, but he did. And regretted it instantly.

“Well then, we’re good,” she retorted with a single arched brow. Oh, fuck. He knew that look. His mom used it on him and Jax when they did something boneheaded.

She rather boldly ran her fingers down the center of his chest. He sucked in his gut and held his breath. He needed her to move off him—now. Before he stopped giving a shit about condoms and birth control.

“Figured I was lucky—avoiding the whole knocked up thing—the last time. Especially once I realized we weren’t in any way exclusive.”

Her condemning sneer hit him straight in the heart. Score one for the sexy hippy chick.

“Started taking the pill.”

All she needed to do was lick her paws and rub one across her face to look like a cat who just drained a milky bowl of fuck you.

“You’d know this if not for …Claudia.”

The exaggerated cloud pronunciation of that fucking bitch’s name spoke volumes—no, fuck volumes. Spoke an entire library of ‘tessa’s disdain when it came to the evil troll.

Completely wrapped up in replaying the crushing scene, Cal dropped the thread for a nanosecond but it was enough to hand over complete control of this unexpected change in their tenuous relationship. Charlize was in charge and judging by the shit-eating smirk he could barely make out in the darkness, she was on a mission. One she expected to win. And she wouldn’t be taking any prisoners. For the first time, he pondered the very real possibility that he wouldn’t survive. Not with his heart intact, anyway.

She read his lack of response as consent and snickered. “Aw, what? Don’t like having the tables turned? Tough shit. Welcome to the other side Caleb. Don’t look so upset. I’m about to fuck your brains out.”