Wyvern and Company (30 page)

I wanted to listen when he did.

"Star Cove is going to be a jewel in the coastal
communities," Winkler said. "We can start building next week."

"That sounds good, boss," I grinned and lifted the
phone. I had people to call. I'd let them know that Winkler had too many
commitments and couldn't consider running for congress.

* * *

Justin's Journal

Dinner was amazing. Teddy came with Beth and Mr. Walters. I
was beginning to see him as husband material for her; I think Mack was coming
around, too. It was easy to see she cared about him—her eyes shone whenever he
paid attention to her, and that happened a lot.

Gina, well, I was beginning to see the same thing in her eyes.
In fact, I was paying so much attention to Gina that Mack asked me three times
to pass the platter of fish so he could get thirds.

Darzi had cooked the best fish I'd ever eaten. Mom didn't make
fish often, and nothing like this. Darzi made a sauce that complimented the
fish perfectly, and there was fish stew as a beginning course.

Mom got a vegetarian noodle and sauce dish that was
outstanding—I tried a bite of it and it was excellent. Darzi could cook anytime
he wanted, in my opinion. He was quite humble about the whole thing when
everybody complimented him, saying the recipes were borrowed and not his.

I didn't care whose recipes they were; Darzi did a wonderful
job preparing them.

Gina touched my hand several times under the table, so I went
ahead and cleared the movie idea with Dad and Mom—Gina's mother could drive my
old Honda home, and I'd drive Gina home after the movie.

Sure, we could watch a movie from Joey's big king-sized bed,
but my mind would be far from the movie, I think.

The Princess Bride is on my DVR
, Joey sent mindspeech.
So
your movie watching won't be a lie
, he added.

He knew that movie was a favorite of mine. Mack's, too.

That's perfect
, I responded.
I can quote that one in
my sleep
.

I don't think you'll be sleeping
, Joey said.

You got that right
, I replied.

Chapter 16
 

Justin's Journal

"Are you sure this is okay?" Gina asked as I led her
through Joey's house. It was always neat and tidy—Joey didn't like clutter. I
knew the sheets and bedding would be spotless, too, or he wouldn't have invited
me to use the bed.

"Oh, yeah," I said.

"This is a nice place," Gina breathed as I led her
through Joey's media room. He had a huge screen covering one wall. The thing
was, he used that one more for game design than he ever did for watching
television.

"The bedroom's just as nice," I took her hand and
kissed it before offering a lop-sided grin. "And we can watch
The
Princess Bride
on DVR."

"I love that movie," Gina smiled shyly.

"Good. We'll watch that, then," I said and pulled
her toward the hallway and Joey's bedroom. If we needed a distraction for her
so she'd be comfortable, then one would be provided.

Joey's bedroom is decorated in rich greens, golds and browns.
Wood floors were covered in a soft, thick rug that made Gina sigh happily the
moment she kicked off her shoes and scrunched her toes into it.

"This is your Uncle Joey's house? He has good
taste," Gina smiled at me. I didn't tell her that he'd learned most of his
interior decorating from my Dad, who has impeccable taste.

"Yeah," I leaned in to kiss her. She wrapped her
arms around my neck, so I stepped closer and held her tightly. The kiss went on
for a while.

Merrill told me it wasn't just a mashing of lips, if you
wanted to keep your girl. I sucked on her lip, then tickled her mouth with my
tongue.

Make love to her with your mouth
, Merrill said. I was
doing my best.

She tasted good—and she liked what I was doing, meeting my
tongue tentatively with hers. That almost drove me wild.

I had no idea my body might get as hard as it did, either. If
I didn't slow down, I'd last the predicted ten seconds, just as Merrill said.

"Movie," I mumbled, realizing I needed the
distraction as much or more than Gina did.

"Oh, sure," Gina pulled away. I didn't want her to
go, so I stole another kiss before lifting her easily in my arms and carrying her
to the bed. The pupils of her eyes were wide and dark as she smiled at me.

"You're so strong," she whispered. "Nobody ever
picked me up and carried me before."

"First of many, baby," I settled her carefully on
the bed and kissed her again.

Fumbling with the remote for a few minutes, I got the movie
pulled up and started on the DVR before climbing on the bed and pulling Gina
into my arms. For ten minutes, maybe, we sat like that, watching the movie.
Gina lifted her face to me, silently asking me to kiss her.

I obliged before letting a hand wander to a breast. Her nipple
hardened beneath my fingers—I could feel it through the thin fabric of her
blouse. I wanted my mouth on that.

I told her so.

"Yes," she said, her words breathless.

Don't fumble
, I kept telling myself as I took my time
removing her blouse and unhooking a pretty bra. I'd been instructed to reveal
things slowly, although my brain was panting with impatience and my body
certainly wanted everything as quickly as possible.

Sucking gently on a nipple the moment I lifted the bra away
made Gina moan.
A moan was good. An ouch meant I'd gone too far
. She
moaned again when I gave a careful nip. That was as far as I could go. Somehow,
I knew that.

My hand wandered to the button of her jeans. Taking my time
once more, I unbuttoned them without a hitch.

Great
.

Zipper next
.

"Your shirt, Justin. Please take it off," Gina's
hands touched my face then wandered beneath the fabric of my pullover.

That felt good
.

"Anything for you, baby," I breathed against her neck
before kissing her there.

The shirt came off, but I didn't rush it.

Her palms lay against my chest. "I've watched you at
football practice, playing without your shirt," Gina sighed. "You put
those other guys to shame with this," her hands wandered down my body.
Yeah, I have a six-pack. I figured it was a combination of sports and working
on construction sites for Dad.

Lately, it was fighting spawn, but that was something Gina
couldn't know.

My body had never really been a concern and the truth was, Mack
was just as built, he was just shorter—at least for the moment. I figured the
wolf would see to that. Mack had run track in junior high and high school, and
had a few trophies on the shelf in his bedroom. I figured the wolf had helped
out with that, too, we just didn't realize it before.

Gina's hand wandered to the button on my jeans.

"Want that open, baby?" I breathed, covering her
hand with mine.

"Yes," she mumbled, closing her eyes when I kissed
her.

"You got it." I pulled the fabric loop from the button,
leaving the zipper up. I let her do that herself.

The second she touched my cock, I thought I was going to come.
With a force of will I had no idea I possessed, I kept it from happening.

Her fingers, wrapped around my shaft, drove me wild.

"Justin, this—I've never seen anyone this big," Gina
breathed against my mouth. I was desperately attempting to distract her—to keep
her from stroking me.

"Your fault," I mumbled against her lips. "All
your fault."

"You won't mind that I'm not," she began. She was
worried I'd think less of her because she wasn't a virgin.

"Baby, that has nothing to do with us," I said,
leaning away. "Now, if you keep touching me there, I'm gonna come, and
that means you won't be satisfied like I want to satisfy you. Okay?"

"Can we save it for later, then?"

"Oh, yeah."

I think we made love as Westley rescued Buttercup in the fire swamp.
In a way, it was fitting—I dived beneath the covers the moment Westley drew a
breath and dived into the lightning sand to save his true love.

Gina came—twice—before I stopped pleasuring her with my mouth.
We joined then—after the ceremony of the condom was completed. She did it for
me while I watched, her hands sending messages to my body and my brain as I
watched it roll down my length.

Her hand guided me into her body after that, and I was
grateful not to fumble that.

It couldn't have been more perfect, and my satisfaction was
complete at the end of it.

* * *

While Gina acted shy after we dressed later, I pulled her chin
up so I could see her eyes. "This is our love, Gina," I said.
"That means there's nothing to be shy about or feel ashamed of. Nothing is
different between us. I just hope you enjoyed it as much as I did."

"I did. Justin, that was—incredible. I really don't have
a better word, and there should be one," she said. I kissed her for that.

"It's late and we should go," I said. The credits
had rolled half an hour earlier, and I didn't want to keep her out too late.

"Yeah. Mom might worry," she acknowledged.
"Thank you, Justin. This was the perfect night."

I drove her home after that, walked her to the door of my old
house and kissed her there on the doorstep. The porch light was on, but I
didn't care if her mother saw me kissing Gina.

She was my girl.

* * *

I handed house keys back to Joey the following morning. He
nodded and never said a word. Maybe he knew it went well. Maybe he knew it
wasn't any of his business. We didn't discuss it, and that was the right thing
to do.

It was Sunday; Mack and I had homework to do—Joey did remind
me of that. We had a calculus assignment to turn in and a writing assignment in
history for Bearcat.

Lately, that was the story of our lives—punctuating the
absolute terror of fighting spawn and kapiri with mundane high school homework.

"Dude, I need to do laundry," I handed the
saltshaker to Mack over breakfast that morning. "Almost out of clean
jeans."

"Yeah. Sometimes Beth does my stuff at home, but
now," Mack shrugged.

"Come on. Grab your stuff and we'll get it done while we
do calculus homework."

"Is this how it'll be in college?" Mack grumped.

"I figure it will," Mom walked in and patted Mack's
shoulder. "I'm thinking of hiring somebody to help clean this house. I
can't do it all myself, especially since I don't have any power at the
moment."

I studied Mom—the baby bump looked slightly larger. "Your
dad's birthday is coming up," Mom reminded me. "Have you done
anything about that?"

"Oh, crap," I said, rubbing my forehead. "It's
next Saturday, isn't it?"

"Yep."

"What do you have planned?" I blinked at Mom.
"I mean, he already got the cufflinks you ordered for him."

"Before your autocratic father demanded cufflinks, I'd
already bought something for him," Mom huffed. "It's not returnable,
either, or I might have tried that."

"What's not returnable?" Dad wandered in, a cup of
tea in his hand.

"Your real birthday present," I said before Mom
could shush me.

"Sweetheart, those cufflinks are worth a king's
ransom," Dad began.

"I already bought you something, before you demanded
those," Mom said. "Don't ask me about it. I can't return it—you're
getting it. End of story."

"How much is a king's ransom?" Mack asked. He and I
were curious about how much Tiralian crystal was actually worth.

"Those cufflinks together have six carats of Tiralian
crystal," Mom said. "The raw stones are worth twelve million dollars.
That doesn't include the cutting, shaping and spelling by Grey House, so you
can add another eight million to that. That's what your father got for his
birthday," Mom snapped and flounced out of the room.

"Damn," Mack breathed. "Twenty million dollar
cufflinks. Well done, Mr. G."

I bent over laughing.

* * *

Adam's Journal

If I'd been anyone else, I'd have bought extra insurance and
an alarm system for the house—after installing a hidden safe.

With the multiple shields around the house, the other things
were not only unnecessary, they'd be redundant.

I suspected the cufflinks were expensive. I just hadn't
estimated twenty million dollars' worth.

It made me wonder about the other gifts—while they weren't
made of Tiralian crystal, they were gray jewels crafted by Grey House and
included gold, platinum and in the case of the boys' watches, chaugis-skin
bands. Chaugis skin was highly prized and the species was protected, therefore,
only the skin of the naturally deceased animals could be used for anything,
including shoes, boots and watchbands.

Those watches were likely worth eight million apiece; I just
didn't want the boys to know—they might take them off. They were built to
protect their owners, after all, and spelled against wear and tear.

"Dad?" Justin said, bringing me away from my
thoughts, "Mack and I need to run errands this afternoon, when we finish
laundry and homework. Is there anything you want us to pick up? Flowers,
maybe?"

I lifted an eyebrow at my son before nodding. Yes—I owed my
wife flowers, in addition to many other things.

"Here," I pulled out my wallet and handed Justin a
wad of cash. "Get as many roses as you can carry in that Jeep of yours
when you're done with your errands," I said. "I want to fill the pool
with rose petals. I can place a stasis spell, so they'll stay fresh as long as
I want."

"A stasis spell? That's kind of amazing," Mack said.
"Wish I'd known that before I dumped the expired chicken salad last
week."

"You—homework," I pointed toward the hall leading to
their bedrooms. Mack and Justin snickered as they walked away.

* * *

Justin's Journal

Gina had to work, so we didn't get to take her shopping when
we went. I had to find something Dad would like—he was picky about his clothes,
ties and shoes.

"How about a special box—for his twenty-million-dollar
cufflinks?" Mack suggested as we made a second round through the mall.

"You know, you don't get nearly enough credit for being
an almost-genius," I teased.

"I have my moments," Mack grinned. "There's
that little specialty shop down at the end, let's go see what they have."

They had plenty, as it turned out. Boxes carved from all kinds
of wood, plus a few made of semiprecious stone. Those looked too small to me,
so we studied the ones made of wood.

That's where he found us. With everything else that had
happened, I'd almost forgotten Randall Pierce. Yes, he was a fugitive who'd
broken out of jail, yet here he was, strutting into a small shop at the mall as
if he weren't a wanted criminal.

I did the first thing I could think to do under the
circumstances. I couldn't attack him—that could get me arrested right along
with the asshat who stood three feet away wearing a malicious grin.

Dad,
I sent,
Randall Pierce is here at the mall. I
don't think he wants to be friendly and apologize, either
.

"Better check all your friends," Randall sneered.
Mack growled low in his throat.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I snapped.

"Some we couldn't get to. Not all of them, though,"
Randall's voice became a snarl. If I hadn't held Mack back at that moment, his
wolf would have shredded Randall. As it was, Dad and Uncle Dragon walked into
the shop, followed by Officers Francis and Barton.

"You think that jail is gonna hold me a second
time?" Randall spat at us as he was handcuffed.

Dad, I think he's done something terrible, or knows about
it
, I sent while Randall continued to grin at me.

He intended to hurt me in some way. Gina was my first thought,
so I texted her immediately.

Justin, I just got to work
, her return text read.
I'm
fine
.