Chapter Eight
“Okay so I didn’t tell you this last night, because it happened late and I figured you and your husband would be doing filthy things to one another.” Aimee grinned as she waggled her brows at her best friend. She’d come into the Counter, the soda fountain Katie Faith’s family owned and ran, to dish a little on the way to her next home visit. “I have a date. Tonight. With Mac Pembry.”
Katie Faith’s eyes got wide as she said, “Get out! I want to know every single detail right this very moment.”
“He showed up at my door after that whole thing outside city hall. To apologize, though I was mean to him at first.”
“You were not. You snapped at him I bet. But you’re not mean.” Katie Faith said it with so much conviction it made her smile.
“Well, he said how I was nice to other people and it made me mad. So I told him I was nice to people but that I wasn’t a doormat. And then he came in and we made out for like twenty minutes. Oh my God.”
“You’re very nice!” Katie Faith sniffed her annoyance before her tone went a little lower. “Is he a good kisser? Duh. I bet he is. You wouldn’t tolerate a bad kisser. Plus, look at him. He just looks like he’d lay one on you that had you making very bad choices.”
“Right? He’s such a good kisser and he takes charge.” She fanned her face with her hand a moment at the memory. “He held me by the back of my neck and got all growly. It was...dominant. Not underrated.”
Katie Faith’s knowing look made Aimee want to giggle with glee. So she did. “Like Christmas and my birthday all at once.”
Katie Faith gave her a thumbs-up. “I always thought bossy guys were idiots like Darrell. Bluster and pecker measuring to deal with their various complexes and stuff. But Jace, well, he’s as bossy and dominant as they come and it’s not to deal with any complex. He’s the real thing. Which means he’s also protective and loyal and courageous. And for me? He’s a big giant softhearted dude and that’s pretty freaking cool.”
It was, as a matter of fact.
“So he asked me to dinner tonight. He’s picking me up at seven,” Aimee continued.
“Wow. I’m so giddy. I have a werewolf and now you will too.”
Aimee snickered. “Hit the brakes there. It’s a date, not marriage.”
“But now that you’ve made out with him you’re going to go back for more. And if he can’t keep you that’s on him.” Katie Faith nodded as she finished.
“I’m not sure, but I think you just said I was easy,” Aimee teased.
“Only when you want to be. Which is the best kind, in my opinion,” Katie Faith said.
“Okay, that I can get on board with.” There was no reason to be ashamed of liking sex. She had this attraction with a really smoking-hot guy. If they got horizontal—or vertical, he seemed the stand-up-sex type—she had no reason to pretend she didn’t want it.
“But this is going to be in public. Which seems, uh, a bold choice. What do you think?” Her judgment felt strange. She wasn’t used to questioning it, but that was before she’d found out about Bob.
“I think he’s a werewolf and you’re a powerful witch and he’s going to want to show you off. I like Mac. I always have. I’m not a fan of some of his family, but he’s always been good to me. Where are you going? Do you know?” Katie Faith handed a Vanilla Coke her way.
“I don’t. But it’s Diablo Lake. There are two places that seem likely so the pub or Salt & Pepper. Why? Are you going to show up with Jace and be all, oh my, what a surprise?”
“Of course I am. I think it could actually be a good thing for us all to be seen together being cordial. The town could use some stability. Also I’m nosy and I want to be there to see how hard he puts on the woo. It’ll keep Jace on his toes too.” Katie Faith snickered.
Aimee snorted. “It’s a good thing that boy has superpowers. You’re a trial. Anyway. I can call you when I find out. But if I tell you to go, you best take your pretty butt away. I can’t get at all his good parts if you get him all worked up in the bad way.”
But Katie Faith was right about it being a positive thing if they were all seen with each other.
“And you need to tell Jace before you arrive. I don’t want you springing this on him in the middle of my date.” You had to set limits with Katie Faith or she got a little wild sometimes.
But there was no doubt her life would be so much worse without Katie Faith in it.
“I need to get to work.” Aimee finished up her soda and dropped money on the counter. Katie Faith just glared at her, but she knew not to argue. Aimee was going to pay and that’s all there was to it. “Talk to you later.” She blew Katie Faith a kiss as she left.
* * *
He brushed his palms down the front of his thighs before he got out of his car. Mac loved this neighborhood. The houses were small with prodigious, heady-scented gardens. He paused before knocking on her door, breathing deep. Pine and roses. The wall of trees just beyond her back door lent the pine and the trellis and porch columns were covered in fragrant climbing roses in full bloom.
A witch lived there, that much was for sure. But there was more. It was her. It was the magic, that unique scent and energy that only Aimee had.
He knocked and hadn’t succeeded in wiping the smile off his face before she answered.
She smiled back immediately. “Right on time.”
He got the feeling she was a punctual person. He bet she’d never been tardy for class.
Then he noticed what she was wearing. A bright blue shirt. Snug enough to highlight her curves. Her skirt similarly hugged her long legs leading down to boots that managed to be sexy and practical at the same time.
“Wow.” He studied her face. Her eyes had been made up to emphasize the color. The lipstick. “I like red lipstick.” He grinned and her smile got bigger.
There she stood looking like delicious temptation. Bold and totally in charge.
“I find it incredibly sexy that you’re so confident,” he murmured as he bent to brush his lips against hers.
“Now it’s my turn to say wow.” Her voice trembled slightly, inciting his wolf. “You look great.”
He’d gone for a button-down shirt and jeans, so he was glad she approved. Also because he’d spent an inordinate amount of time deciding what to wear. And changing twice.
“You want to come in or are we pressed for time?” Her mouth tipped up at the corner. “This is kiss-proof lipstick. We could test it. It comes with a money-back guarantee so you’d be doing it for science.”
“Why, Miss Benton, you’re quite the temptress this evening.” He followed her into her front room where she closed the door and turned to face him.
“I’m glad it’s working.”
He backed her against the door, his body just shy of hers. “It works, all right.”
Hands on her hips, he bent his knees and kissed her long and slow, tasting her carefully.
“Yeah, so I think this lipstick is a keeper,” she managed to say after he broke away. She had no idea if it had smeared on her or not, but it wasn’t on his mouth and if it attracted kisses like the one he just laid on her, it was definitely a keeper.
He grinned and then his stomach growled really loudly.
“Okay I get it. You’re hungry. And Katie Faith has called me already three times to see where you’re taking me and telling me how hungry she is too. I should have said, oh, by the way, there’s probably no way to avoid Katie Faith and Jace showing up wherever we’re going tonight. She’s nosy and bossy and my best friend. Plus she thinks it’ll be good for the town if we’re all seen together not fighting in the middle of the street. My only excuse is the kiss you laid on me made me loopy. Er. Loopier than usual.”
“So this is a double date?”
“No. Well. I told her no. You’ve met Katie Faith so it’s a roll of the dice really. I let her know I’d call when I was ready to have her show up. I don’t think we need them at our table for dinner. Maybe for pie after? I mean, Jace isn’t a bad guy. Maybe you know that. You probably do because you were in school and you’re both alpha wolves and I’m babbling now.”
He kissed her again because it pleased him to do it and she tasted so good. “Babbling is okay. We can have dinner with them at the pub. That’s where I figured we could go. They can leave after pie though. How’s that plan instead?”
She laughed. “That sounds like a very good plan.”