Holiday Mates: Supernatural Enforcers Agency Short Stories (29 page)

Sigh
.

Marlene grumbled - constantly, but Ariadne ignored her.  Marlene, another witch from her coven, wasn’t a people person and had barely tolerated Jay.

Oh, Jay…
  That reminded her, she needed to find a replacement for Calisto.  Her daughter may claim she didn’t care about the dance, but she did.  Too many broken promises from her own father had taken their toll on her – no eleven-year-old should be so jaded about men, that was supposed to come later after being on the dating scene for a few years.

No, Calisto was going to that dance, and she was going to be made to see that there are some good men in the world.  Even if Ariadne was still having trouble coming to terms with that concept.

While waiting for some honey buns to bake, Ariadne took out her phone and scrolled through her contact list. 
Whole lot of nothing coming up
.

With an exaggerated sigh, she settled on Roger, the investment banker who loved her cooking.  A bit of a bore but has two kids and is good with them.  Nice enough guy, until he left her to go back to remarry his ex – didn’t even say goodbye when he dumped her.  She had to find out through his marriage announcement in a local paper. 
Humph
.

She peered out of the kitchen to see Dr. Gorgeous delivering a three-tiered plate of cakes to the over seventies ladies book club – they used the bakery as a meeting place and were very generous when it came to tips.  They invited Ariadne to join the club, but she begged off.  It wasn’t the age thing, no, more like the choice of erotic, S&M literature that they only read to give them ideas.  The ladies all lived in a home and were extremely oversexed. 
Who said older ladies had to behave?

The ladies patted Rick on his taut rear, and he grinned as he caught Ariadne’s scowl.  He blew her a kiss and the ladies giggled.

“Hello,” came the gruff voice down the phone.

“Oh, hi, Roger.”

“Who is this?  How did you get my number?”

“It’s Ariadne.”

“Who?”

“Umm, Ariadne Black.”

Silence.

“We dated.” 
For eight damn months.

“I’m sorry, I don’t recall the name, and I’m very busy.  If you want an appointment, I suggest you call my secretary.”

He hung up, and Ariadne stared at the phone.  Seriously?  Was she so forgettable that he didn’t even recall her name?  For eight months they went on numerous dates, vacationed in the Poconos and had lots of bouts of sweaty – somewhat reasonable sex.  He even met her mother.  Surely he can’t have forgotten
her
– nobody forgets Aphrodite Black.

“Who was that?” demanded Rick.

She started as she found herself eye to muscular chest with a very cheesed off lion shifter.

“I heard a male voice.”

“Just an ex.”

Rick narrowed his eyes, flashing with the wildness of his inner animal.  He leaned down, his breath fanning over her heated cheeks and his massive frame towering over her five foot nothing curves.

“I don’t like you talking to other males.”

She smiled before she managed to stop herself.  No, she should not be enjoying his darkly possessive tone.  Although maybe she’d just enjoy it for just a few more minutes.

“Careful kitten or I’ll get the newspaper,” she whispered against his muscles.

He chuckled, his huge shoulders heaving.  “You would as well, wouldn’t you?”

“I’m a witch; I have a lot of experience in taming cats.”

“Must be why fate sent me to you.”

Except fate didn’t.  It was her wonky magic.  Ariadne sighed and gently pushed him away.

“We better get back to work.”

He stared at her for a few seconds before nodding and sauntering back towards the shop.  A couple of the ladies had accidentally on purpose dropped a cake on the floor.  They and Ariadne took great pleasure in watching Rick bend over to clean the floor.

Okay so wonky magic did have its perks.  She now had enough material to cover eight months of erotic fantasies.  More time with him and she’d be going for a year.

*

Rick frowned as he made his way to his car.  His lion growled in displeasure.  He’d enjoyed his day in the bakery more than he could say, more than he would admit to Ariadne.  But hadn’t he done it on the basis that Ariadne would have dinner with him?

Yet, at the end of the day, all attempts to persuade her had fallen on interested ears.  Yes, she had turned him down, and no matter how much he cajoled, purred and flattered, she was resolute.  Sure, she couched her dismissal in protests that she was too tired, it had been a long day, she wouldn’t be able to find a babysitter –
yadda yadda yadda
, but he could see the reticence was from her.

No matter.  His lion perked up as his mood lifted.  He could be persistent.  He did not manage to evade all his crazy lioness mother’s matchmaking attempts without gaining a streak of determination.

Rick slid into his car and sped away, enjoying the luxury of his new Lexus.

Ariadne would be his, of that he was sure.  And she was just what he wanted - sweet, funny, utterly adorable and domestic.  It may be old-fashioned and somewhat chauvinistic, but yes, he wanted a mate who could cook and keep a nice home.  Before he arrived in Los Lobos, he spent his time dating cat shifters who either just wanted a good time or saw him as some kind of golden ticket to trophy wifedom.  Their idea of domesticity was ordering a maid to cook something, and instead of washing clothes they just bought new ones – in other words, they were slightly less scary versions of his mother.

But on arriving in Los Lobos, he decided to turn over a new leaf and find the woman he really wanted.  He’d started by flirting with his nurse – Lucie - but that was a non-starter.  She was already hung up on the idiot wolf who didn’t deserve her.  But now he was glad about that.

Lucie for all her plusses wasn’t nearly as appealing as Ariadne.  Whether the sly little witch was teasing him on his frilly apron or bantering with customers, she was luminous - he couldn’t take her eyes off her.

Ariadne was an amazing cook and had a beautiful house – she was just perfect, and definitely not immune to his charm.  She was just playing hard to get.  His lion virtually laughed – a waste of time because ultimately she would be his, but he did admire her spirit.

Course he also needed to charm her daughter – particularly if they were going to the dance together.  He wasn’t worried - kids loved him.  At least his nieces and nephews did.  But then those cubs loved anyone who bought them candy bars.  His sister wasn’t so thrilled about their resulting sugar highs.

Rick eased the brake pedal and grunted as nothing happened.  He slammed his foot down and still nothing.

The car careened down the road as his beast roared.

*

Bang bang bang bang.

“Why do we even have a doorbell?” grumbled Ariadne.

Calisto ran to the door, again not bothering with the spy hole.  Ariadne sensed another lecture brewing inside her.

“Mom, Rick the guy who definitely
isn’t
your boyfriend is here,” giggled the usually sullen Calisto.

“What?”

Ariadne ran to the door and found a disheveled Rick giving her such a pathetic pout she almost giggled herself.  He looked quite rumpled, and if she didn’t know better, she’d think a bruise was swelling on his head.

“Rick, are you okay?”

“I was in a car accident.”

Oh!  Her insides clenched as a flash of a drab world not containing Rick came to mind.  “Come in, sit down, take your shirt off – your jacket!  Jacket!”

Rick allowed her to lead him into her house, barely even grinning at her damn slip of the tongue.  Calisto watched them with interest.
Too much interest.

“Callie baby, go fetch my friend a glass of water.”  Emphasis on
friend
.

“Sure,” she said reluctantly, flitting away, rushing to ensure she didn’t miss anything.

Ariadne settled him on her couch and fussed over the deepening bruise on his face.  “What happened?”

He paused as Calisto returned, and graciously thanked her, sipping at the water.  She smiled in a way Ariadne hadn’t seen since her Grandmother had taken her to New York for her birthday.  Ariadne’s mother was very generous – to her granddaughter at least, spoiling Calisto rotten was a point of contention between the two women.

“The brakes on my car failed,” he explained.  “I crashed into a tree to bring myself to a stop.  He tapped his forehead.  “Airbag was in working order anyway.”

“My goodness, what are you doing here?  You should be at a hospital.”

“I wanted to see a friendly face,” he said with a frank, boyish expression.

She didn’t want to think too much about that, particularly as Calisto was smirking at her.  “Well, I’m taking you to the hospital.”

Rick snagged her hand as she tried to move away from him.  “I’m not keen to get in another car.”  He sank further into the couch.  “I’m quite comfortable here.”

“I’ll bet,” she muttered.  Cats could be comfortable
anywhere
.

“I’ll set another place for dinner,” said Calisto, far too happily as she skipped into the kitchen.

“No, wait…”

“Thank you,” called Rick.

“Do you like spaghetti?” called the imp in the kitchen.

“Now hold on…” started Ariadne.

“Love it,” chuckled the lion shifter, looking more like the Cheshire Cat.

Ariadne felt the situation slipping away from her.  A part of her wanted it.  Liked the homey feel of having him here, having dinner with her daughter.  In two minutes, Rick had managed to ingratiate himself into their family quicker than numerous ex-boyfriends had after months of dating.  Gave her the warm and fuzzy feeling of having a man she could depend on that she’d always wanted.

But a part of her knew it wouldn’t last and couldn’t bear the thought of Calisto becoming attached to someone who would ultimately walk out of their lives without a second glance.   Someone who would probably sue Ariadne for casting a spell over him, come to think of it.  She was actually lucky that the SEA only gave her a warning and a summons to attend a mandatory session entitled ‘controling witchly urges’ – her mother would be mortified if she knew.  But she couldn’t blame them; the SEA frowned over compulsion spells, and this one could have ended badly.  Hopefully, the only thing likely to be damaged in this affair was her poor heart.

*

Rick whistled as he cashed up the register.  Yep, the summer he spent working at that hardware store when he was a teenager was paying off.  Course he’d only done it to irritate his mother – who claimed that lions didn’t do manual labor and was trying to get him an internship with a shady senator – but it had been worthwhile on so many levels.

His little witch made a nice little profit today.  And no wonder.  She really was talented in the kitchen, and friendly in the store. 
Wonder what she’s like in the bedroom thought his horny lion
.

Yes, he couldn’t wait to peel back that conservative sweater and kiss her delicious little body all over.  Or perhaps have her kiss him all over.  That little pink mouth was far too sensual for her own good.  She tried to hide her luscious lips through scowls and frowns – all directed at him and him alone, but she couldn’t hide her sexiness.

Dinner at her home could not have gone better.  He hadn’t intended to invade her family dinner, but still woozy from the crash, he’d instinctively made his way to her, needing the soothing touch of his mate.

And her daughter was terrific.  The sassy little creature would enjoy mingling with his nieces and nephews at family gatherings.  He was sure she’d keep the cubs in check.

Ariadne, still trying to resist him had tried to sour the dinner but her attempts had been half-hearted, and the stories she told to put him off did nothing of the kind.  As if a c-section scar would bother him.  No, when she lifted her shirt to show him, the sliver of flesh he glanced merely enticed and aroused him further.  Truly, she underestimated her own allure.  Although, given that when she caught his lusty stare and her pink tongue darted out to wet her lips, perhaps she did know.  If he hadn’t been such a gentleman – and if Calisto weren’t present – he’d have taken her on her kitchen table, and at that moment, he believed she would have let him.

But, sadly, he was kicked out after Calisto was sent to do her homework.  And he hadn’t been particularly welcomed when he arrived at the bakery the following day.  Marlene clearly despised him – something he couldn’t be bothered to investigate.  But as to why Ariadne fought her obvious attraction to him was a mystery.  Perhaps it had something to do with the myriad of useless males she had dated before he arrived to make all her dreams come true.  No matter, more time with him would completely erase them from her memory.

Rick was somewhat concerned by the news that his car, upon inspection, was in perfect working order – apart from the huge, tree-sized dent in the front of it.  There was no way he had imagined the brakes failing.