Species Interaction (17 page)

Giving them as much privacy as I could, I chomped into my muffin.

"Good morning, Shyanne." Ducian's voice startled me.

Glancing up, I found they had separated enough for him to take a seat. He reached out, grabbed Charity, and pulled her down on his lap. She wiggled. He groaned.

"Hi, Ducian." They both stared at me, and I squirmed. "I hear you had a… loud… errr… busy night." The words blurted from my lips.

Charity grinned as if recalling some of the finer moments, but no crimson stain of embarrassment appeared.

Ducian's smile widened enough to show off his fangs. "Shy is a closet voyeur."

"What?" I sputtered and coughed, grabbing for a nearby towel to wipe my mouth. "I am not."

He chuckled, wrapping an arm tightly around Charity. Taking her cue from him, she spoke up. "I would say you were quite noisy yourself."

Blinking, my mouth opened and shut a couple of times before my overwhelmed brain kicked back into gear. "No. Oh, no. That wasn't me. That was the porn on TV."

"Sure it was," Ducian answered with sarcasm.

"It was! I could hear the noise in your room and didn't want to have those images implanted into my memory. So I felt it best to turn on the porn channel."

"So you watched porn half the night? I never pegged you for a porn addict."

Gasping and sputtering, I swallowed loudly. "I'm not a porn addict. Good grief. I simply thought it was better to watch and hear strangers having sex instead of listening to people that I sorta know and had to face the next day."

Ducian threw his head back and guffawed. "See! I told you she was a closet voyeur." He smiled at Charity, who nodded in agreement.

"Ohhhh. I am not, you deranged skunk's butt. I thought I would be horribly embarrassed to face you the next morning after hearing all the… action… that took place last night. My therapy bill is high enough, thank you very much." I crossed my arms over my chest for emphasis.

Charity giggled. Ducian snickered.

I snorted. "Baboon."

"I would have called him something worse, but baboon will do."

I turned to see Meat heading straight for me. He had pulled on his jeans from last night, leaving the top button open. His drool-worthy chest remained bare, showing off his delicious abs, wide frame, and powerful arms.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Charity's appraisal of my boyfriend. Her eyes latched, not onto his body as I expected, but on his face instead.
Now that was odd
. In the real world, when a half dressed, studly, exotic dancer stands before you, his face would be the last part you actually see. I tilted my head enough to catch Meat's first impression of her.

He paused next to me and fixated on Charity. Not in the way a man looks over a pretty woman, but in a deeper manner. A spark of something flew across his features before quickly disappearing. If I didn't know better, I would say her presence surprised him. Not for her looks or her current apparel, but for some entirely bigger reason.

Charity scoped him out for a moment more before dropping her eyes. Her shoulders relaxed as she pulled out a small smile.

I hadn't realized how tense she had become when Meat arrived until seeing the release of tight muscles. What reason did she have to be so concerned about this initial meeting? Meat could be frightening when growling, but in his present state, I couldn't see fear as the reason behind her odd reaction. Maybe she knew him from before? The theory seemed to hold a bit more merit. Maybe she slept with him in the past? Hopefully not. That could be awkward.

Ducian must have caught the unease too as he pulled her tighter against his body, keeping a close eye on Meat while doing so. His face spoke of confusion and perplexity at both reactions.

"So you're the woman who Ducian's been talking about. Charity… is it?" Meat inquired, while stepping behind me to rest his hands on my shoulders. They held a bit more tension than I would expect, considering how lax he should feel after last night.

My "something is up" radar pinged loudly.

Charity lost her playfulness and quickly shrank into a quiet, coy woman. She nodded in answer to his question, but her eyes remained lowered.

From the moment I saw Charity, submissive isn't a word that came to mind. Yet, here she sat with body language shouting that she was no threat to the alpha male. I had watched enough Wild Kingdom episodes to know docile behavior when I saw it. The question remained why.

Oh, yeah. I was going to drag Mr Pervy off soon and get some answers. The real answers, not dancing around the fact ones.

Ducian broke the uncomfortable silence. "I think I need a shower. Going to join me, Charity?"

She stood up and took his hand. "I would love to. In fact, I'll even wash your back for you."

Ducian stood, took her hand, and led her back to their bedroom. "You better wash more than just my back…"

No sooner than they were gone, then I turned on Meat. "Okay. What's going on?"

He sighed, taking the seat next to mine. "Nothing." Grabbing a muffin, he began to munch down.

"Uh huh." I sat back, choosing my words carefully. "You know her, don't you?"

He chewed and gave a quick shrug. "Maybe."

"So?" I prompted. Stubborn mule didn't take the hint.

"So what?"

"So where do you know her from?"

He glanced up at me as he pulled another muffin from the basket. "I'm not sure."

Ohhh, good grief
. At this rate, my inquisition would include some beating to pry the answers out of his closed mouth. I grabbed a melon ring and chomped down.

Meat's eyes sparked while his hand tunneled under my borrowed shirt to rub over my panties.

"Hey!" I smacked at his hand.

He shot me an innocent look. "What?"

My eyebrows furrowed. "First, I'm starving. You forgot to feed me last night."

"Oh, you ate last night. All kinds of things. Melon rings. Gummi rings. My…"

I slapped a hand over his mouth. "You're so bad!"

A wide grin appeared as he tugged my hand away from his face, pausing to flip it over and kiss the palm. "And you love it." That hand dropped to its previous position, questing a bit farther.

"Uh uh." Grabbing his wrist, I tugged it away from the promised land. He tilted his head in question. "Secondly, I need a bath." I wiggled and felt the overused muscles protest. "Make that a long soak."

At least the change in topic seemed to ease his tension.

Meat leaned in, placing a gentle kiss to my forehead. "Good thing this suite has a hot tub, then." His eyebrows waggled.

"You're sore, too?" I blinked up at him.
Who knew men got sore?

He chuckled and scooped me up. "Nah. But I can help get those kinks out. All of them." The low rumble of a promise sent shivers down my spine.

Oh, boy.

Several minutes later, we both sat in the steamy hot tub, absorbing the warmth. My head tilted back as I focused on easing each and every muscle into Jell-O-hood. Meat sat across from me, stretched out with his eyes closed.

I pondered his naked body for a few minutes, enjoying the scenery, but something continued to nag me.

No matter how he tried to hide it, I could feel the simmering just underneath. Something about Charity set off his bristling feline alter ego. Lust? No. That puzzle piece didn't seem to fit. Surprise? Well, certainly at first. However, that quickly evaporated into some other emotion that brewed deep inside. Anger? More than likely. It clicked better.

But none of that made sense to me. Why would he be angry with Charity? Even if he knew her before this weekend, which I suspected was the case, why be upset seeing her?

I considered all possible reasons. If he knew her beforehand, maybe they dated and it ended badly? Possible. After all, with his looks and profession, I expected him to have tons of women. Maybe they slept together, too. I could see how that might be a bit awkward and a shock at seeing her in the same hotel suite with his vampire friend. He might even be concerned that I would find out about their past relationship. That wouldn't be a complication, though. I wasn't naïve enough to believe he lived a celibate life before I happened along. Even if they had been a couple or a one-night stand, that really wouldn't interfere with our relationship.

I had to be missing something big and important.

Catching my appraisal of him, Meat sent me a sultry grin and glided my direction through the heated water.

"Enjoying the view?" he softly asked, leaning in to nibble my ear lobe.

Boy howdy, did I. All my goody spots waited with ease in accessibility, eager to receive their allotted share of attention. The only down side was the fact I couldn't hold an in-depth conversation while one big bad kitty took free rein to explore sensitive areas. Heck, I couldn't think straight once Meat began an earnest exploration of my more than willing body. But I wanted to get to the bottom of the Charity mystery, darn it. Unfortunately, Shy parts had their own agenda. One that didn't require brain involvement.

A nibble here, a soft massage there. Our mouths fused as his fingers tickled over every one of my hot spots. Next thing I knew, Meat lifted me up, whispering naughty things in my ear as he joined our bodies. I set my teeth into his shoulder, as the still tender muscles down below raised a token protest.

"Okay?"

I nodded.

He leaned back to nuzzle my cheek. "Don't worry. We'll take this slow and easy."

Ducian's voice carried through the small room. "There's plenty of room for all of us. Besides, Shy, being a closet voyeur, won't mind the company."

I squeaked and coughed, trying to spin around to see who walked in.

Meat released a loud masculine groan and grabbed my hips to keep me from twisting farther. His face scrunched into what appeared to be the glorious moment of release or one of excruciating pain. I took it was the latter.

"Oh, sorry," I whispered, plastering my front to his chest.

He puffed a couple of deep breaths before opening his eyes once more. Not bothering to look toward the interlopers, he addressed them with a throaty tone, "We're busy. Come back later. Much later." The last words were muffled as he rained kisses along my jaw.

I hid my heated face against Meat's neck, hoping somehow to mesh with him enough to be invisible.

Ducian plodded over and knelt down, getting level with me. I stared back at him, noting the way his eyes sparked with mischief. At least he wore what looked to be boxers. Bright red attention grabbing ones that did nothing to hide his endowment.

Charity, clad only in an oversized emerald green fluffy robe, followed suit. Her bare toes sparkled with hot sauce red nail polish.

"It's about time I saw Shy naked and hot for me." Ducian reached for my partially exposed breast.

I yelped. Meat growled. And I landed with a loud thump on a tiled floor. It took a moment for me to realize I had poofed us both out of the tub and to who knew where.

The all too familiar sound of a toilet flushing told me more than I wanted to know about our location.

"Shyanne!" Meat hissed as he disengaged his body from mine. A moment later, loose sweats covered both of our bodies even as we sat on the cold floor.

"Oh, my. If you're the one calling, I can be Shyanne for you." A withered old lady with purple hair grinned from the doorway of the bathroom stall. She looked all of eighty pounds, from what her hanging housedress hinted at. Her eyes raked over Meat while a wide smile appeared on her face. "I haven't had a stud like you since the Forties. What a time. Bet I haven't lost a beat, though."

She toddled closer, while I scrambled to get on my feet. Meat sighed loudly and glowered in my direction.

"Come here, stud muffin. Let me put you through your paces." She reached out to grab Meat's rear, giving a good squeeze. "My, what nice honey buns."

She must have been one of those women who squeezed her Charmin, by the looks of that grip.

Meat jumped then grabbed my arm, giving it a yank.

"You're in so much trouble."

That's what I was afraid of.

A moment later, I flopped onto an oversized fancy bed. Pulling my knees up, I avoided Meat's gaze. "Maybe I should jump in the shower real quick. After all, who knows when the last time anyone mopped that bathroom floor." A quick thought entered my mind. "I sure hope no one peed on the floor since it was last cleaned. I could have old person, stinky urine all over my backside at this very moment. Icky gross."

I couldn't stop rambling. "I would hate to wear old, stinky urine on my rear. It would contaminate these silk sheets, not to mention probably start growing green mold on my butt. Green mold would be very bad and a major turn off, right?"

I paused to take a breath and look up at my boyfriend. No steam came from his ears. Always a good sign. Those deep blue eyes pegged me, holding me in place. My mouth fell open and no words came out.

"I'm going to stake that bastard myself," Meat announced, spinning to storm from the bedroom.

"Huh?" He wasn't angry at me? Goody for me. Bad for the blondie with fangs. Bastard staking might not be my favorite sport to watch, but it could prove exciting. I jumped up to follow on his heels.

He yanked open the door to the hot tub room and stormed in.

When he suddenly stopped, I plowed into his back, before taking a peek around his big frame.

"Omigod." I slapped my hand over my eyes. Unfortunately, that didn't stop the sounds of water lapping against the tub walls or a variety of other sounds related directly to their passion. "I sooooo didn't need to see that. I need therapy."

I glimpsed in those few seconds more than my poor brain could process. Unfortunately, the image burned brightly in my mind and lingered. Both Ducian and Charity lounged in the hot tub. He sat on one of the benches while she balanced on his lap, her back to his front. Both were naked and it didn't take a rocket scientist to determine that they were bodily connected at the moment.

"Have a good trip?" Charity inquired in a raspy voice, wiggling her hips enough to slosh the water. Ducian moaned in response.

How in the world could she be in the middle of the lap boogie and speak to Meat and me as if it were the middle of a boring business meeting? Not to mention, she didn't even appear concerned that others were watching the whole act. Astonishment washed over me. In the near future, I'd have to ask how she could hold a conversation and not be bothered by company at such a crucial time.