Page 20 of Blue Moon Mistress

“We all have lives to lead, Johnny,” I place the creamer on the counter beside the rosemary and press a now-cold hand to his chest. “We can’t ignore them, just because we’d rather be—”

I hear the clatter and screech of the door handle and flinch, turning sharply enough it hurts my head.

“Good morning!”

The little old lady who has just dragged the back door open lets out a squeak of surprise and blinks at me. “Oh!”

Anger passes over her wrinkled brow for a moment, and then it disappears and she smiles widely at Johnny before setting a bag down on the island. “I was just headed into church, wanted to see if any of you boys wanted to join me today. I didn’t realize you had company.”

“Mrs. Miller,” Johnny says her name instead of ‘good morning’ and his words are definitely more of a growl than a greeting. “We’ve asked you before. Please knock before you come in.”

“Oh nonsense. What are neighbors for if they don’t check in on each other?” Again her gaze slips to me and there’s something cold in her tone.

She looks like the kind Christian grandmother type. A vigilant warrior looking to save souls.

I wouldn’t try to stop her.

The way she looks at Johnny, I have no doubt she thinks of these “boys” as her adopted children and here I am, a vile snake in their pure sheets.

I managed to not laugh.

Those sheets were plenty filthy before I got here.

Johnny needed to get her out of here before she realized he wasn’t the only one I slept with last night.

“I’ll just ask Thomas.” She started for the doorway to the living room, and thankfully, Johnny had the good sense to intercept her.

Massive as he is, there’s no chance she’d get around him. But her new position gives her a full view of me, and sheinhales sharply before turning away—my bare legs, apparently, too much for her.

I take the opportunity to pour coffee into the two mugs Johnny pulled down for us, and I listen to him slowly back her out of the house as I fix mine… three dashes of rosemary, more cream than I would normally use, a generous squeeze of honey, and a few words while stirring clockwise.

One long drink later, and I start to feel like myself again.

“Sorry about her,” Johnny says, looking sheepish as he puts the creamer back in the fridge and drinks his coffee black. “She’s pretty much convinced we need a mother, and as none of us have been mean enough to tell her to get lost…”

“It’s fine. I’m sure she’ll pray for you all today.” And I have a feeling she’ll pray that her God would smite me. “But maybe you should be better about locking that door. Especially on full moon nights.”

He picks me up, setting me on the counter and I shiver as the cool tile touches my skin.

He steps close, the position spreading my legs and placing mere inches between us. I could just imagine telling him to take me, here and now… and having Mrs. Miller come back in an attempt to defend his virtue, only to get an eyeful.

It’s terribly tempting, but when Johnny nips my lower lip, I know he isn’t thinking about sex.

“That’s not the door we worry about on the full moon. And we don’t have to do that any more, do we?”

“Not for a while.”

His brows pinch, but before he can question me on timelines, the others stirred in the living room.

Joshua joins us first. He’d put boxers on late last night, but they were gone now, the cargo shorts he wore were slung low enough I could be sure of that.

“Good morning,” he says as Johnny moved out of the way.

His big hand grasping the back of my head, he pulls me forward, kissing my forehead before moving to the refrigerator and pulling out four enormous steaks. “Do you want one?”

“No thanks. I’m actually a vegetarian.”

Hand over the packaging, he freezes. So does Johnny, and the other two who’ve just appeared in the doorway.

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