Diablo Lake: Moonstruck (8 page)

Jace started to respond that he’d get them but Nadine’s fingers dug into his arm so he shut his mouth.

When she disappeared around the corner, Nadine turned to Jace. “This is going to be a problem. Dooley wolves have my daughter on their land and Pembry wolves aren’t going to like that. I expect a call, you hear me? If any of those dumbasses show up, I want to know about it.”

“Jace, I’m standing here at the front door pretending you aren’t talking about me with my momma. It’s time to go,” Katie Faith called out.

He wanted to tell them he had it all in hand, but that was Katie Faith’s story to tell her parents. Instead he went with, “Your girl is a handful. Darrell will know that.” Jace kissed Nadine’s cheek and shook Avery’s hand.

“And that won’t sit right with him,” Avery said.

Jace hated it, but he knew Avery was right.

“No. But it doesn’t have to. His opinion doesn’t matter to me, or her. If he does anything other than have an opinion, he and I will come to an understanding. Any lesson he needs to learn, I’m happy to help with.” Jace showed enough teeth to make it clear where he stood on the issue.

Nadine gave him a long look until she patted Avery’s arm. “You were right.”

“I’m also right that ice cream goes great with peach pie,” Avery muttered.

“Before the pie wars begin anew, I’m going to get Katie Faith home. You take care.” Jace double-timed it out of there before he got embroiled in that argument.

Chapter Nine

Katie Faith wanted to kick something, but instead she fumed while watching the town go by. Which took less than two minutes.

“My condo in Chattanooga was so pretty. I lived within walking distance from five different restaurants that were open past nine at night. Another few blocks there were two movie theaters. Clothing stores. A cupcake shop. God, I miss cupcakes.”

Jace made a sound, torn between confusion and annoyance. She couldn’t help but smile.

“You can make cupcakes. Hell, Katie Faith you can hop on down to a bake sale in a few weeks and buy dozens of them. There’s a movie theater here. Plus, if you want to see movies, I have that big screen TV.”

He pulled up behind the mercantile and parked. Feeling nice for the time being, she let him come around and open her door.

“Never seen Mabel Peterson make pineapple upside down cupcakes,” she said as he helped her out.

“They make those?” He carried the box of her books up to her door so naturally she invited him in.

“They do. You can’t even imagine how many flavors of cupcakes there are.” She paused. “Come on inside and close the door. I’m going to have a beer so unless you want everyone in town to know it, close your mouth and the door.”

She sashayed from the room, hanging her coat up in the hall closet. “Make yourself at home. I’ll be right back.”

In her room she pressed a hand to her belly and struggled for breath. The entire day, heck, the entire time she’d been back home everything had been catawampus. Her father’s health, running the Counter, all this crazy stuff with the Pembrys.

Without a doubt, the man in her living room was a huge part of what sent her reeling. A month before he was the guy she knew and crushed on.

Then he’d been her neighbor and her friend and now...well now he was more and though she’d tried not to look at it too closely, the fact was, she was well on her way to being ass over teakettle for him.

She wanted to be near him. So much she’d deliberately taken on the choice of living on Dooley land. Knowing it would be a pain in her butt. Understanding what Jace was.

But she hadn’t really understood. Not until he’d kissed her that first time in the starshine and moonlight. He made every part of her vibrate. Like a tuning fork only like sex and attraction.

There was no halfway for them.

When she’d been outside her parents’ house and lowered her gaze she’d done it on purpose. Done it understanding the step she was taking.

He wasn’t just some hot dude she was going to be dating. It never could be that simple between them. He seemed to unlock her magic in unique ways and if she wasn’t wrong, it was the same for him. Their connection was intense on several levels. Alpha to alpha. Witch to wolf like a key in a lock.

Without a doubt, given all the politics and history between the parties involved there’d be trouble over their involvement. Beef between the wolves, between wolves and witches, between individuals jockeying for power—all of that would toss obstacles at them.

And still, she also had no doubt the trouble he brought was the good kind. So good she’d felt confident enough to take this leap with him.

Maybe. Maybe it was more like she’d been
driven
to take that leap. Scared, yes. Because her judgment was suspect. Hell, she’d planned to marry Darrell! But at the same time, she knew in her gut—and her heart—that things were totally different this time.

He was the one. The. One.

She’d gone into her bedroom to get herself together and had rocked her own damned world instead.

And that was before she went back out to find him sitting on her couch, shoes off, wearing faded jeans and a very soft T-shirt. He must have run over to his place to change. To remove the armor of his uniform and be vulnerable because he trusted her.

He looked so damned good. All tousled and sexy, wearing a grin that told her he was very satisfied with his own appeal indeed. Her heart stuttered in her chest. She licked suddenly dry lips and nearly fanned herself.

“You are a hundred kinds of delicious, Jace Dooley,” she said. Out loud.

She wanted to laugh or something, but he studied her so intently she got caught up in it. Stilled. Not sure if it was because she was afraid or thrilled. Knowing it was both for lots of reasons.

Her pulse thundered and she let it. Understanding he’d hear. Giving that to him. He pushed from the couch in one fluid movement, stalking toward her. Her hormones danced, swayed with his walk. His gaze locked on hers, she caught sight of the wolf that was his other half.

She took a breath and he was there, against her, the heat of his body washing over her skin.

Katie Faith wanted everything. With Jace.

Swallowing hard, she let her head fall back, exposing the long line of her neck to him. Against her body, his hardened, he drew her to him snug. He dipped slowly until he pressed his lips to the hollow below her ear and breathed deep.

He growled and she went weak in the knees.

“I think
you’re
the delicious one.” He licked up her throat, nipping here and there, sending goose pimples blooming from the point of contact. Little earthquakes of sensation rolled through her body and she just held on.

His lips landed on hers, she sighed and then gasped as his tongue wandered in. It was the kind of kiss a person read about in
Cosmo
. The kind of kiss women argued the existence of. His taste was just right, as it had been the other times he’d kissed her, but this was more.

Things were different and that was all just fine with her.

They’d be different still once they took this next step.

Oh, she knew she was playing with fire. He was a very alpha male. He wore a laid back skin. Most of the time. It was part of his strength. His magnetism.

“Are you really all right?” Jace asked her again, locking his gaze with hers. “Because, I have to tell you, I’m not entirely sure I am.”

Katie Faith pressed kisses over his furrowed brow and down his temple.

“I’m going to be honest with you and it’s going to push all your werewolf buttons. But I want you to hold back until I get a few sentences in where the story turns and you know there’s a happy ending. Okay?”

“I can’t promise not to react. That’s not a fair thing to ask of me.”

He was so serious. She kissed him again on the spot between his eyes.

“You need me around to lighten things up, Dooley. Just know that.” Katie Faith smiled quick and circled back to the topic. “At least promise to make your very best effort to be patient enough to hear the whole of it before you react,” she demanded.

“You’re bossy,” he muttered. “Okay. Fine. I can promise that.”

Katie Faith let herself be there with him. Let herself feel safe. Made sure he understood that as well.

“He scared me. And then that pissed me off. When I got mad and reached for my magic it was just right
there
. It jumped to me eagerly and then it whipped out and sent him up, at least two feet and then about six or so feet away from me. Into the street. He could have gotten hit by a car.” Katie Faith shrugged. “But I don’t really care at this point. He came at me and I held my ground.” Then again, the wall had been at her back so she couldn’t move anyway. She preferred to think on that as a minor detail. “You though, well, you may as well have worn a sandwich board on Diablo Lake Avenue saying you and I are...dating? Whatever you guys call it.”

He let out a trembling breath that got surer by the end. “I wanted to beat him bloody.” Jace’s voice had gone down an octave, roughened, wild at the edges. “We guys call it, ‘
you’re my woman
,
Katie Faith
.’ Period.”

She allowed herself a satisfied smirk. “That seems like it would suck if your name wasn’t Katie Faith, though.”

He snorted before leaning in to nip at her throat. “My ability to be amused is seriously impaired at the moment.” Tipping her chin up with a fingertip, he caught her attention. Giving her his in return. “I’m not Darrell. I want you and once we take this step—together—things will change. This isn’t some fun, casual thing we’ll do until the other gets bored and we move on. This is forever.”

Her pulse seemed to boom in her head. Jace said nothing, only looked at her, waiting patiently for a response.

“I guess that means you like me, like me.” She aimed at a tease, but it wasn’t. Not really. Because it was true and it was awesome.

“It also means I come with politics and they’ll be yours too.”

She nodded. “I know. But, truth be told, it’d be politics no matter what. No matter who I choose. Or who you choose for that matter, there’d be someone with something to say about it. It may as well be you and me against all that.”

She dove in for more, giving, taking, falling into the rhythm they made with their chemicals. Swarming all around them, filling the air with heady magic of fur and energy. It was so sexy she had to moan, arched into him to get more because there was simply need she had to fill and he was the man who could give it to her.

Fuck.
This woman fired every damned circuit in his body. He wanted to take her to the carpet and strip her bare to his touch. He wanted to lick every inch of that pretty skin. Her mouth on his was like a dream, a dream he’d had over and over for years and he realized, damn it all, that she’d been the one, the reason he’d held back with other women. Lovely women all, but none of them were Katie Faith. It was that simple and whoa Nelly was that something he’d have to parse over later.

He managed to maneuver them back to the couch and he settled her on his lap, facing him. All without breaking the kiss because she held on and apparently wasn’t going to let go without a fight.

She fit against him perfectly. Her body was made to be against his.

The heat of her through her jeans drove him. Her softness, the cushion of her breasts against his chest brought him higher.

“This is your last chance before I get to ravishing. Once that happens there’s no turning back.”

She grabbed the hem of her sweater and tossed it over her head, leaving her bare except for her bra. He gulped like a cartoon character and began to sweat like one too.

“No turning back why? Because you’re so amazing in bed no one wants to leave?” A smile played at the corner of her mouth.

What it meant that she teased him the way she did! He’d never had that sort of ease with a woman before. She knew what he was, respected that, but trusted him to tease and play. Trusted that he would never hurt her. A gift. “Course. But I meant once I’m in you, you’re mine. I may have entered into, erm, casual-type relations with women before and all, but I suck at sharing. And I don’t want to share you and there’s not a casual thing about the way you make me feel.”

Need crawled through him like broken glass, but he wanted her to understand the choice she was making and to make it with no doubts. She hadn’t had a choice before, hadn’t truly known the stakes when she’d hooked up with Darrell. But those stakes were a million times higher at that point because there would be major problems and a shift in power dynamics between the packs once Katie Faith was considered part of the Dooley pack.

Especially
now that she’d proven herself to be a powerful witch with the way she tossed Pembry’s ass into traffic.

She tipped her head, sobering. “I do believe you’re sweet on me.” Then a smile, pretty as anything he’d ever seen, swept over her lips and she leaned in just enough to give him a happy smacking kiss.

What else could he do but laugh? “You’re gonna cause me some big amount of tribulation before this ends, aren’t you?” he murmured against her neck where he’d let himself taste her pulse.

“Only the best kind of trouble, Jace Dooley.” The happy, sweet smile turned sultry and he felt himself react to that siren song of body language.

He stood and she wrapped her legs around him like a monkey. As she kissed his neck, he headed back toward the bedroom.

“Jace, are you in there?”

The bellow came from across the hall, the pounding fist on his door. He growled in annoyance, but kept on going. She sighed against his shoulder. “You should see who that is.”

“No.” He dumped her on the bed. The pounding got louder. “I have plans for you that don’t include any family nonsense. They’ve interrupted us enough over the last week.”

Then the knocking sounded on Katie Faith’s door. “I know you’re in there, Jace,” Damon called out.

“I don’t care,” he called back. “Go away.”

Katie Faith just lay there, looking up at him. He wanted to gobble her up. He got one knee on the mattress before Damon started in again.

“The station called because your phone is off. They need you,” he yelled through the door.

Jace slumped over with a groan.

“I guarantee this is Pembry bullshit,” he muttered as he forced himself to step away from the bed and the gorgeous witch in it.

“If it is, punch Darrell extra hard for me, okay?” she teased. “I’m not going anywhere. Deal with your job. Come back when you finish so we can finish.”

“I’m not even on call tonight. Hopefully it’ll be quick,” he tried to reassure her as he headed out. If he touched her again, even just to kiss her goodbye, he’d never find the strength to leave.

“I guess this is what it’s like to be in a relationship with a cop, huh?”

He growled. “Better get used to it, darlin’. I’ll be back.” He underlined that with a look that told her just exactly what she’d get when he returned. She smiled.

“I’ll be waiting. Be careful.”

Katie Faith watched his spectacular butt as he hurried out, snarling and grumpy. He walked with a slight limp, which probably was due to his hard-on. She was frustrated too, but at least she didn’t have to walk around with a giant cock all the time.

With a sigh, she rolled out of bed to wander out to the living room once more. It smelled like him in there and it made her smile. Even as she recalled the events of the evening before they started—yet again—to get busy, she let this thing with Jace stay in the forefront of her attention. It was better than any crap with the Pembrys and the gossip that most likely already burned through Diablo Lake like wildfire.