The Accidental Familiar (Accidentally Paranormal Series Book 14) (23 page)

Rick lifted himself up onto his palms and stared down at her, poising at her entry, but she didn’t need to ask what he wanted to know. She simply knew.

Without a word, she wrapped her legs around his waist, hooking her ankles together and bracketing his face with her hands before pressing her lips to his once again.

Their gasps mingled, their hands entwined as Rick drove into her, stilling, settling, letting her adjust to him.

And it was amazing. A revelation. A multitude of roller coaster emotions she decided not to question or analyze. In this moment, Rick was deeply imbedded in her, and she wanted him like no other before.

Pressing her body into his, Rick drove his tongue into her mouth in time with his thrusts, stroking, pushing, giving, taking, until the swell of orgasm began its upward climb.

Her hands went to his back, kneading the thick cord of bunched muscles, digging her fingers into his flesh as the white-hot heat of release called to her.

Another slick thrust and Rick was tensing, too, their bodies rocking, his hips pressed tightly to hers. He ground against her, tearing his lips from hers and burying his face in her neck as they drove toward completion.

And when she came, her chest heaving against Rick’s, the scrape of her nipples against his smooth skin driving her mad, she cried out, bucking against him in a wild thrash of light and color.

Rick tensed then, too, his thighs, crushed to hers, flexing and releasing as he took one last thrust before groaning out his pleasure at release.

Driving her arms up under his, Poppy burrowed against him and sighed, closing her eyes and smiling.

* * * *

Buttoning her flannel shirt, Poppy realized she had one more thing to do, and she hated doing it, but in the interest of forewarned, she was going to plow forward.

As she looked at his perfect body, reveled in the amazing lovemaking they’d shared, she sighed. “There’s something else I need to talk to you about.”

He gestured to his throat, still unable to talk. Which, in this case, might be a good thing…still odd, but nonetheless, a good thing.

Cupping his jaw, she ran her thumb over the stubble there, loving the feel of his skin against her fingertips, wishing they could stay like this a while longer. “I have a bigger dilemma than even the one I’m having with your hot self. And by the way, I’m not holding you to the dirty-dirty sex we just had. Even though it was pretty damn good.”

He chuckled, but it came out as a dry hiss as he grabbed at her fingers and kissed the tips.

She wasn’t sure if his chuckle meant this was a great way to pass the time, and he was okay with her backing out of their warlock/familiar relationship or he had something else to say.

So she reiterated. “I mean that. No strings, no promises whatever. I mean we just met. Maybe this was just a thing I needed to get out of my system? Either way, I’m an adult. You’re an adult. That’s not what I need to get off my chest right now. But I do need to get something off my chest.”

He shook his head, running his hand over her arm affectionately—which again, she wasn’t sure meant he was down with no strings attached, or against it, but that was neither here nor there at this point. Or it wouldn’t be in a minute.

“Okay, so can I get you to lend me your ear?”

Rick rolled his eyes and smiled as if to say, he had nothing but an ear to lend.

“It’s about Avis,” she broached with cautious care.

His head cocked at an angle as he, too, sat up and pulled on his sweater. As though he thought they needed to be dressed to have this conversation. Once he’d fully dressed, he held out his wide palm and gestured for her to continue.

Zipping her jeans, she slipped on her clogs and looked down at the floor. “Boy, I suck at dicking around. Look, I’m just going to be straightforward with you and get right to the point.”

He grinned his consent by grabbing her fingers and leaning down to press another delicious kiss on her lips, almost deterring her from telling him what was on her mind.

But a sense of urgency took over. Looking up at him, she planted a hand on his wide chest and said, “I don’t like Avis. He’s not a good person.”

Now he frowned, dropping her hand. “Mmm?”

“You heard right. He’s not a good person. Call it intuition, call it my gut, but I know I’m right. I can’t prove it. I don’t know why I feel this way, but trust me, he’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

She avoided adjectives like “misogynistic shitface” and “twatwaffle” out of respect for Rick, but they were certainly on the tip of her tongue.

His eyes narrowed as he planted his hands on his lean hips and gave her a questioning glare.

“I know, I know. You want proof. I don’t have any. I’m just telling you, it’s what I’ve felt from the moment I met him. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t understand it. I still mostly don’t. But I’m right. He’s no good for you. He’s shady, Rick.”

He grabbed his phone and punched something in before lifting his hard jaw. She saw all the things he wanted to say but couldn’t. She saw his denial. She saw the words of support he would use if he hadn’t lost his voice. She saw the defense she knew he’d use in favor of Avis. But it didn’t matter.

Avis was bad mojo.

But her heart began to thrash even as she planned to stick to her guns. The sour look Rick gave her, the look of utter surprise, sliced right through her. So she attempted to soften the blow. “Look, I know he’s been your best friend since college. I know he’s like family, but—”

She stopped talking then when her phone pinged an incoming text—but there was no point in finishing. Rick’s face, if not his text, said it all. His disappointment, his hurt was plain to see. He loved Avis. She was saying shitty things about someone who’d been in his life for a very long time.

But his next words, written calmly and meticulously, chilled her. “I need to wrap my head around this, Poppy, and right now, I don’t think I can.”

Then he turned on his heel and walked his perfectly perfect ass right out of her apartment door.

End conversation.

“
Y
ou okay, Kitten?” Wanda asked, dropping down beside her on Rick’s lush patio couch, where she sat in companionable silence with Carl, watching leaves fall by the outdoor fireplace.

Wanda held up a blanket with a smile, encouraging Poppy to sit under it with her. “Poppy?”

Weeell, I just had sex with my assignment. Incredible sex. But when all was said and done, and I told him I was feeling some weird feelings about Avis, he got a little bent out of shape, and we had a fight—a very quiet one, but a fight nonetheless—and then he left early this morning without speaking a word to me.

But she wasn’t ready to talk about their encounter yesterday yet. She’d spent all night long fretting over it, fretting over Rick’s reaction to her feelings about Avis.

Today was Halloween and this blood moon everyone kept talking about was happening. After tonight, she could go off to Familiar Central with January and fix what was broken. Then everyone could go back to their families.

She snuggled under the blanket and sighed. “I’m fine. Really. Who wouldn’t be fine with Carl for company? Does it get any more handsome than this?”

Carl thumped her arm and grinned his crooked grin before pushing his hands back into the pocket of his hoodie. “Nicccce,” he husked out.

Impulsively, Poppy leaned up and kissed his lean cheek. “Thank you, Carl. Let’s always be friends, okay?”

He placed his dark head against hers. “Yesss.”

Nina’s head poked out of the shed then, her face full of worry. “Carl? Where the hell are you, buddy? Jesus and lost and found, you gotta stop running off!”

“He’s with us, Vampire!” Wanda called out before pointing to the shed. “Better go see what she needs, sweetie.”

Carl slipped from the couch, leaving just her and Wanda.

“Wanna talk about what’s upsetting you so?”

When she’d awakened this morning, one of those instincts she was still adjusting to, had struck her and it had to do with Wanda’s relationship with both Nina and Calamity. It had to do with Wanda dismissively pooh-poohing Nina’s concerns about over indulging Calamity’s misbehavior and why she was giving the adorable feline such enormous leeway.

Tucking the blanket around Wanda’s chin, she said, “Nope, but I do wanna talk. Got a minute?”

“I always have a minute, Poppy. What’s up?”

She’d been feeling this weary sort of worn-out vibe from Wanda since they’d met, and she had this crazy idea she wanted to share. “You’re sad, Wanda. Mind if I ask why?”

Poppy didn’t want to intrude, they’d only known each other a scant few days, but for once, outside of Nina’s riveting, though almost-comical outbursts and Marty’s beautiful but chaotic swirl of activity, Wanda deserved someone to see she was in need.

She’d never say as much. In her eyes, that was complaining, and Wanda Schwartz-Jefferson didn’t complain.

She was grateful for her life, her world and everything in it. In fact, she experienced extreme discomfort when she even considered saying what she was feeling out loud in order to avoid appearing ungrateful.

Wanda sighed with a small smile before she said, “This intuition thing is definitely your bag, Poppy McGuillicuddy.”

She smiled and grabbed her new friend’s hand. “Yeah, tell that to the boss. He seems to think I’m a complete moron for calling his douchebag business partner a lying dick. If I could just prove he’s a lying dick…” Poppy shook her head. This was about Wanda. “Forget that and talk to me. I feel a deep disturbance in you, but I can’t pinpoint what’s causing so much unrest.”

Her shoulders sagged, and she patted Poppy’s hand with her gloved one. “You know, sometimes, I don’t even know if I can pinpoint it. It comes and goes. Lately, it comes a lot more than it goes. I’m supposed to be the nurturer—the peacemaker. It’s a label I’ve had since we all hooked up. Somehow, I’m just compelled to keep Marty and Nina from killing one another. It’s what I do. It’s what I’ve always done since we met almost nine years ago. But I find more and more, I want to kill them rather than fix them.”

“So you’re tired? Maybe not so much of the role, but of the lack of appreciation they give that role? Because I want you to know, they respect the hell out of you for putting up with them. Still, I can only imagine what it’s like to get between a werewolf and a vampire when they want to eat each other’s faces off.”

Wanda barked a laugh and squeezed her hand as the crisp autumn air whirled around them. “They don’t really want to eat each other’s faces off. They love each other. I love them. I love them maybe even more than some of my own family except my sister, Casey. But I need something, Poppy. Something more I can’t put my finger on.
Something
right on the tip of my tongue…I just don’t know what. I mean, I have so many amazing things in my life. I want for literally nothing. I have an incredible husband, the girls, and the tons of friends we’ve made along the way while we cobbled together OOPS. It’s selfish to consider I need anything else.”

“Yeah. You’re the most selfish person I’ve ever encountered, Wanda. I mean, all selfish people drop everything they’re doing and rush to the aid of someone they don’t even know in order to help them. God, when will you ever think about anyone else?” Poppy teased.

Wanda’s smile, so elegant and beautiful, wisped across her face before she sobered. “I guess I don’t think about that as being unselfish.”

“Maybe that’s why you’re where you are now.”

Wanda looked at her, her unlined eyes confused. “I don’t get it.”

Poppy knew what Wanda needed—knew it in her soul. But as taught by Calamity, she was only a guide to an end game. She couldn’t force the answers down Wanda’s throat. Wanda had to find them on her own.

“Maybe you need something just for Wanda sometimes, and I’m not talking about shopping or a dress or even a hobby. I’m talking about something that fills you up, makes you want to get out of bed each morning.”

“I thought OOPS did that for me. I love helping people. I’m not as crazy about the scrapes and bruises and the occasional ruined outfit, but there’s almost nothing that gives me greater satisfaction than getting people through a paranormal crisis in one piece, helping them find their fates, leaving them happy and healthy. I’ve made so many wonderful friends because of it. How can I feel anything else but fulfilled, Poppy?”

Poppy smiled now, too, leaning back against the bench they sat on, watching the bright colors of fall drift to the ground in the swirls of leaves. “Yeah. You’re amazing at it, too. If I could choose a mother outside of my own, the very awesome, though sometimes smothering Rose McGuillicuddy, I’d choose
you
, Wanda. You’re smart and funny, and above all, you’re nurturing and supportive.”

Wanda cocked her head, her eyes far away. “We can’t have children. As wonderful as my life is, it’s the one thing I wish were different.”

“You’d make an incredible mother.”

“You think?”

Wrapping an arm around her slender shoulders, inhaling the scent of Wanda’s lightly floral perfume, Poppy nodded. “Oh, I don’t just think, Wanda. I
know
. I know you’re all things good—all things kind. Maybe you just need to hear someone say it out loud.”

As they sat together and watched the leaves drift and the chilly midday wind blew, a tear slid from Wanda’s eye. One she didn’t bother to dismiss or ignore. One from deep within, from the core of her enormous heart.

Wanda was realizing it was time to tweak the direction of her life. Maybe take a small detour and see what was around the bend.

And that was exactly as the universe planned.

* * * *

What in all of fuck had happened to his voice?

As he scribbled out his signature on yet another work order for the demolition of Littleton, he used his eyes to apologize to one of the demo guys.

But the hearty man with shoulders as wide as a redwood slapped his back. “No worries, Boss.”

Running a hand through his hair, Rick tried once more to speak but could do nothing more than hiss a crackly response. Which brought him back to his conversation yesterday with Poppy.