Kitten Around (Shifting Hearts Dating Agency Book 3) Page 5

  Fucking Alpha male with his washboard abs and thighs like freaking tree trunks.

  Paige knew what it was when shifters connected. It was very often an instant reaction via the animals within. Hell, she arranged matings for a living, damn it. So why was this jerk making her think of things she hadn’t thought about since a chance meeting she’d had a few years ago right before her mother introduced her to Javier.

  She wanted love. He wanted a familiar with benefits who could help him spell cast his way to the top. She’d taken him into her bed and into her body with the hope that he would see her as a woman and not a pet. Goddess, how wrong she had been.

  But this man…when he turned his searing eyes toward her, all she felt was a longing so deep it made her quake in her proverbial boots.

  Getting her thrills? Sure. That’s what Ventures was for. Safe. Secure. And a whole lot of rules between you and the people you played with—unless you wanted it different. She should know. Walking in the building, she’d seen at least three of the dominants who had warmed her ass with their paddles but none of them made her feel this out of control.

  Paddles. Paige shivered, trying to imagine what Master Blackburn could do if he chose to give her a spanking.

  Goddess, even his name reminded her of the guy. Had it been Blackburn?

  Whatever. Daydreams were daydreams and right now she wanted it to involve his hand stroking her ass.

  And maybe his teeth marking her as his as his cock slid inside of her.

  Paige faltered in her steps as the visual clicked in place. What the hell was wrong with her? And why did he seem so damned familiar? Like she’d met him before somewhere but couldn’t immediately place it. He reminded her a little of the dominant from her first experience at the convention a few years ago. Only, he had been patient. This guy had been a total ass.

  So why the heat wave?

  It was just hormones. It had to be.

  No other man had ever made her feel that way. Before or since.

  Shut up you stupid cat.

  She had to get the hell out of there.

  Everyone else had already left the classroom area by the stage and had walked over to the beautiful wooden benches, leaving the two of them alone.

  “Stop.”

  Alarm skittered down her spine. If she followed him over to the benches, there was a good chance the magic would break free.

  Her nose itched and she rubbed at it, the change close to the surface with her emotional upheaval.

  “No. I can’t…”

  “May I remind you that you signed up for this class. Not only were you late but you have held up the remaining thirty minutes with these antics. I had hoped, after observing you on the main floor, that you were better trained than this.”

  Goddess. He thought she was being a brat. Tears pricked at her eyelids as she realized that was better than him understanding what was really going on. She wasn’t going to shift. Not for him or any other man. Her cat was on her own terms and that was final.

  Embarrassment gnawed at her but there was no fighting the fine black hairs sprouting on her arms or the claws edging out from beneath her fingernails. It was against club rules to be in anything but human form.

  “I’m sorry.” She responded as she yanked her purse off the floor and darted up the aisle toward the door.

  “Fine,” he snapped, his voice trailing after her. “I’ll inform your instructor that you chose to drop the class rather than confront whatever it is that’s bothering you. I would, however, request you be at the charity auction tomorrow. If you can manage it.”

  Paige paused a few steps from the door and tried to get her breathing under control as the tears she’d been trying to hold back streamed down her cheeks.

  And without another word, he gathered his notes and pushed past her toward where the rest of the class gathered near the spanking benches. That was when her memory of him slammed into place and why his name seemed familiar.

  Spanking benches.

  Holy rocking shit balls.

  It was him.

  Chapter Four

  “C ome on Uncle Tyler, you gonna fall asleep?” Pepper waved her pint-sized hand in front of him and he tried to focus on where he was instead of pondering the run in he’d just had with the sexy submissive in his class.

  Correction.

  His one time favor for Lucas and Jonathan. Even if she had been the girl from a few years ago, she obviously hadn’t been as affected by him as he had by her. After their stint at the convention, he’d done everything to try and find out who she was with no success. Then today, she simply appeared.

  His niece flopped down in her chair, her bright green eyes watching him intently.

  “Sorry, kiddo. How was school?”

  “Fine, I guess.”

  The scent of baking bread and the spicy aroma of Italian cooking made his stomach rumble. There was nothing like his mother and sister at work in the kitchen. The only thing he regretted was Marc not being here to share it. He missed the light in his sister’s eyes whenever he came into the room. She’d been through a lot in the past ten years but lately he’d noticed something in her had lifted.

  Thunder boomed from outside and he thought of the upcoming auction. It was for a good cause and if the storm went on much longer, the town was looking at potential flooding. The rain hadn’t let up. If anything, it had gotten stronger. His phone buzzed on his hip with what was most likely yet another flash flood warning.

  Sheree brought the tray of lasagna into the dining room.

  “Don’t pester your uncle. Give him a moment to catch his breath. Put out the silverware like I asked you to, please.” Sheree shot her daughter a look as she placed the lasagna on the table.

  “I’m surprised they haven’t cancelled school yet. I guess they’re waiting to see how the storm progresses over the next couple of days.” Tyler replied.

  “I know. The weather reports aren’t good. Did you get the bid on the old Walters place?”

  “I did.” He reached for a soft roll and palmed it before his sister could slap his hands. With two bites, it was gone.

  “Tyler.”

  “What? I’m hungry. I thought we were supposed to be eating by now.”

  ET, their cat, otherwise known as Evil Troll, trotted in from the living room, his beady little orbs assessing the situation. He’d never met such an obnoxious little shit. His only redeeming quality was his devotion to Pepper.

  “We are.” Sheree replied, crossing her arms. “If Pepper will do as I asked her, we won’t have to eat with our fingers.”

  Pepper scowled, scrunching up her napkin as she pushed back from the table. ET vanished underneath the table and he felt the little monster brush his leg on his way to follow the girl.

  She snatched the pile of silverware and thumped the appropriate utensils down next to each plate, all without uttering so much as a word.

  Something was going on.

  Tyler counted the plates around the table. Mom. Sheree. Pepper. Him. So what was the other plate doing there? God, he hoped they weren’t matchmaking again. The last woman they set him up with had been a ferret with a couple of kids she’d forgotten to mention.

  “She’s okay, sis.”

  His mother bustled in, a bowl of salad and a carafe of salad dressing in her hand. “Is he here yet?”

  Sheree sighed. “Not yet, mother. I’m sure the weather is holding him up.”

  Him?

  What the actual hell was going on?

  Glancing out the front curtains, Sheree beamed. “He’s here. Just pulled up in the driveway.”

  She removed her apron, ran her hands down her jeans, and scurried for the door.

  “Hey. Sorry I’m late.” A boisterous male voice sounded from the hall. A uniformed police officer ambled into the entryway to the dining room. Military styled brown hair and eyes that crinkled at the edges gave him a friendly, yet firm demeanor. The hug he gave Sheree gave Tyler’s blood pressure a run for its money.<
br />
  His little sister had a date.

  Words failed him, but he scrambled up out of the chair and offered the other man a hand. “Hey, man. I’m Tyler.”

  “Jake. Nice to finally meet you.” He clasped his hand in a firm grip. “Your mom and sister have told me so much about you.”

  They had?

  “Funny.” Tyler replied, searching for the right response. “They haven’t told me a thing about you.”

  Why hadn’t they told him they were having company?

  Human.

  The guy was fucking human.

  His gaze whipped toward Sheree but she studiously avoided catching his gaze.

  “We’re glad you made it, Jake.” His mother said, ushering the other man toward a chair. “The food just came out of the oven.”

  “I’d like to change first if you don’t mind, Mrs. Blackburn. I’m soaked to the bone. Three rescues in the last four hours and I feel like my feet might never dry out.” Jake kissed Sheree on the cheek and vanished down the hallway that led to the master bedroom.

  A growl slipped from Tyler’s lips before he realized it. Sheree took an abrupt step towards him, her cat shining in her eyes.

  “It’s not what you think.”

  “Really?” He replied. “Cause from here it sure looks like it. You have a human living here and you didn’t even have the decency to tell me first?”

  “Tyler…” His mother gave him a warning look, casting a meaningful eyebrow lift in Pepper’s direction.

  “I’m not hiding anything from my niece.” Tyler shot back. He was furious. “Is this what you asked me over for? To announce you have a live in?”

  “Not exactly.” Came his sister’s reply. She rubbed her hands down her jeans and sucked in a deep breath. “Just give me a minute, Tyler. I want Jake here when we do this, okay?”

  Moments later, Jake emerged, freshly changed into a pair of jeans and a tee shirt. “Sorry to hold everyone up.”

  “It’s fine.” Sheree moved away from Tyler, her jaw tight.

  The other man took in the body language and tension in the room and sighed.

  “My guess is it’s not.” Jake held Tyler’s gaze. “Look, man, I wanted to meet you before this all went down but things just went faster than anyone planned.”

  “Why don’t we all sit down?” His mother ushered them toward the table, giving Tyler a stern expression.

  He slid back into his chair and reached for the serving spoon. Hefting out a portion of lasagna, he handed the spoon to Pepper.

  “Do you want to tell them now or wait until after we eat?” Jake lowered himself into his chair, his eyes never leaving Sheree.

  Huh. At least he was an attentive son of a bitch.

  “If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather get it out in the open. I won’t be able to eat a thing otherwise.”

  “Fine. Talk.” Tyler put his fork down and waited, but not without a mournful look at the hot lasagna on his plate. Odds were, whatever was happening, it wouldn’t be hot when things got hashed out. Not by a long shot.

  Sheree’s gaze flickered toward Pepper, then back to Jake. The other man reached out and captured her hand in his.

  “Okay. I’ll do it.” Jake cleared his throat. “I met your sister at a function at work. We hit it off pretty well and started dating off and on about six months ago. To be honest, I was still getting over losing my wife and wasn’t really ready for a relationship.”

  “Neither of us were,” Sheree corrected. “But it happened.”

  “What aren’t you telling us?” Tyler narrowed his eyes and his cat responded. Her scent was…different.

  Then he remembered why. The glow when he looked at her lately. The sense that something was lighter. Freer. He’d only seen her like this one other time in her life. His sister was moving on and he didn’t know how he felt about that. And in one of the biggest ways possible.

  “You’re pregnant.”

  It came out before he could stop the words from erupting, immediately sorry when he saw the guilty flush creep across Sheree’s cheeks.

  “Tyler Blackburn. Watch your tongue.” His mother snapped back, a look of disbelief on her face.

  How could she have hidden it from their mother? That didn’t make sense. The sense of betrayal to Marc’s memory scraped raw but the vulnerable look in his sister’s eyes told him she wasn’t the only one thinking about him.

  “It’s true.” Sheree said, her voice small. “I wanted to be sure before I told everyone. We only just found out today.”

  Their mother clucked her tongue, dinner forgotten. “Honey…”

  By her expression, Tyler couldn’t tell if his Mom was going to blow or start to cry. This was not what any shifter mother wanted for her offspring.

  “I’m sorry, Mom. It wasn’t exactly expected.”

  Jake rose from the table and moved to stand next to Sheree.

  “Family is important. Sheree and I know we have a lot of differences to overcome. But I want this to work. For the baby. For us. Sheree tells me that I am her mate. I’ll try to live up to your expectations.”

  Jake was Sheree’s mate?

  Fuck. What did that even mean? Mated with a human? He couldn’t even wrap his head around it. Had she been marked? Had his sister marked him? What did that mean for Jake being human? Would he become a shifter? Tyler had heard of it happening before when some humans mated with their kind but it was never an absolute.

  None of that escaped his niece and when he turned to measure her reaction, he was met with Pepper’s dinner sailing through the air to explode on the wall behind him.

  Magic sparked in the air and the scent of ozone settled in the room.

  Here we go.

  “You’re having a baby?” Pepper exploded, as what was happening set in. “Why, Mom? Aren’t I enough?”

  “Oh, baby. Come here.”

  “No. You told me when he moved in that I wouldn’t be replaced. But that’s exactly what you’re doing.” Angry tears welled in Pepper’s eyes. She bolted from the table and Tyler heard the telltale stomping up the stairs. ET stalked along behind her, his tail twitching at his mistress’s distress. The loud slam of her bedroom door closing was the final protest.

  “That went well.”

  “Shut up, Tyler.” Sheree put her hands to her temples and groaned.

  “He does have a point. We should have had this conversation with Pepper later.” Jake sighed and rubbed Sheree’s shoulders.

  “I’m sure there’ll be many conversations. Leave your plates when you’re done. I’m going upstairs.” Lips pressed together in what he knew was going to be a wicked discussion with Sheree later, his mother headed down the hallway.

  “Oh boy.”

  “Yeah.” Tyler took a bite of his now cold dinner and sighed. Outside, the storm raged on but that was nothing compared to the one inside.

  Chapter Five

  P aige sat in her car in the parking lot at Ventures, the rain steadily pelting the windows. The auction was set to start in a little while. Part of her hoped it would get cancelled due to the storm, but the other part wanted to confront that pompous Dom and give him a piece of her mind. Yesterday’s class had left her seething. But she also couldn’t get the dark eyed dominant out of her head.

  A night of restless dreams filled with a fuck ton of erotic spankings, and a midnight interlude with her battery operated boyfriend hadn’t helped either.

  Mate.

  “Shut up, you stupid cat.” She growled and closed her eyes. She had to go in there and find out if what her traitorous cat was feeling might actually have merit. Was it him? There was only one way to find out.

  Her phone alarm went off, wailing about yet another flash flood warning. She’d been afraid it was another of Javier’s texts. The man needed to learn over meant over and no amount of texting was going to change her mind.

  Call me.

  Right. When hell froze over and pigs flew.

  She was about to shut it off when her p
hone buzzed again, this time with her mother’s own personal Godzilla dinosaur roar ring tone.

  It figured. Because tonight was already awesome.

  “Hello, mother.”

  “Paige.” Her mother said. “I’m glad you answered.”

  “I’m a little busy, Mom. What’s up?”

  “Have you heard from Javier?”

  Oh that was rich. Don’t ask about the storm or how she was, but definitely inquire about her ex finance. Brilliant. Hell, they were part of the same coven.

  “I haven’t talked to him, if that’s what you mean.”

  “Hmmm.” Her mother made a thoughtful noise.

  “What, Mom? You probably see him way more than I did.” Paige said, annoyed. The rain picked up and soon it was a dull roar, the car windows fogging up.

  “I want you to speak with him.”

  “Why? There’s nothing left to say. I’m not going to be leveraged as anyone’s familiar, Mom. I’m sorry that ruined the family’s plans but I can’t. I won’t.”

  “This isn’t about that.” She hedged. “Well, at least not exactly.”

  Paige sighed. This conversation needed to be over. The butterfly nerves in her stomach were becoming ping pong balls.

  “He’s been acting…off. And I think he might have headed in your direction. If the weather is any indicator.” Her mother said, a note of hesitation in her voice.

  “What do you mean, off?”

  “Hexen.”

  “Like, the terrorist group?”

  “Yes.”

  Oh. Oh, shit.

  “How do you know this, Mom?”

  Paige heard the sigh through the phone. “I shouldn’t be talking to you about coven business, since you’re no longer a part of it, but there are some of us, a very few of us who don’t believe in what they are doing. Resorting to violence is no way to make any group do what you want. Not in the long run. Shifters and witches have worked side by side for centuries.”

  “But not always by choice, Mom.”

  “You do what is right for the family. Marrying into a good witching house would have helped us. But now…”