Page 17 of Ivory's Familiars

“Vaughn!” she growled, thoroughly annoyed with him. But he grabbed her arm before she could spin away.

“Wait a minute. Let me ask you this; do you like me?”

“Not at the moment,” she assured him, glaring daggers in his direction.

He merely chuckled – a wholly appealing sound, “I’ll take that as a yes. And do you like Ronan and Seth? Be honest,” he warned.

She sighed, “Yes. I like Ronan and Seth too.”

“So you like all of us,” it was a statement.

“Yes.”

“At the same time,” he clarified.

She huffed, “Yes. At the same time. But –”

“No buts. Why with the but? There will be no more buts. I like all of you at the same time too. Just like how I like bacon and ice cream at the same time.”

He said that as if it made complete sense, “Bacon and ice cream?”

“Yes. Salty and sweet. Cold and hot. They don’t oppose each other; they complement each other. It’s delicious and you should try it, but that’s not the point.”

“What is the point again?” she rubbed her forehead. Was that a headache brewing?

“This,” he answered, before reaching out, reeling her in, and capturing her lips with his own in one seamless motion.

Any protest died the moment his tongue met her own – dancing and duelling and seducing. He tasted spicy and fresh and exciting. Her arms rose up, her hands threading through the thickness of the silky strands of his blond hair. His arms wrapped around her, one large hand spanning the width of her lower back as the other boldly cupped her bottom. He lifted her higher, as if he couldn’t get close enough and she moaned, arching her back and pressing her tingling breasts against the firmness of his chest. She felt her breathing coming faster and faster now, so much so, she felt herself becoming dizzy. Worried she was going to make a total fool of herself by passing out from the sheer pleasure of just his lips against her own, she pulled back, putting an inch of space between them.

“Oh …” Was about all she could articulate.

“You can say that again.”

Vaughn’s words had her looking up into his intense green eyes. They were glazed and dazed and just a little bit feverish. His chest was pumping as if he had run a marathon and there was a fine tremor in the hands that still held her so securely. Looks like she wasn’t the only one to be thoroughly overwhelmed by the experience. The knowledge made her feel strong and she felt a saucy smile pull at her lips. Making a big man tremble was hot as hell.

“What’s that smile about, little witch?”

And just like that, the flames of lust were extinguished. She stepped out of his arms, “What did you call me?”

His brows furrowed in concern, clearly confused and worried over her reaction, “That smile – it was sexy, seductive … secretive. Made me think of a witch,” he paused as if struggling to find the right words, before sighing and running his hands through his dishevelled hair, “It was supposed to be an endearment. Next time I’ll use ‘sweetheart’, how about that?”

She felt her heart rate begin to slow again upon hearing his explanation. A term of endearment. That’s all. He couldn’t have known just how right he was and just how much his words hit home. She must have been silent for too long for he sighed loudly, the sound full of male aggravation;

“You’re thinking too hard again.”

Maybe she was. But hearing the word ‘witch’ on his lips had acted as a stark reminder that she was trying to hide here. That the whole reason Vaughn was even in her life at the moment was because she had someone stalking her and threatening the life she had built for herself. She couldn’t afford to forget that, “I’m sorry. That was a mistake.”

Anger leaped in his eyes at her words, “Bullshit. We were so hot together, I thought we were going to spontaneously combust. You liked it. I know you did.”

“I’m not denying that,”or the heat I felt in his arms, she acknowledged to herself, “But I’m your client. You’re here to do a job. We shouldn’t complicate things. We need to stay focused.”

Truth, she assured herself,that was all true. But her words seemed to piss him off even more if the stiffening of his shoulders and the rumble in his chest were any indication.

He stepped close, invading her personal space for an entirely different reason than moments before, “My first priority is keeping you safe. I would never do anything to jeopardise your safety – none of us would. Never doubt that.”

She swallowed, feeling a little ashamed. She didn’t doubt that. They were men of honour with strong protective drives, champions for those weaker than themselves and defenders of justice. She felt safer with them than she had anywhere in her whole life and she had no doubt they would discover who was tormenting her and eliminate the threat. Her only problem was, she was terrified they would discover what she was hiding too. And then they would hate her – or worse – fear her. Witches? Magic? The supernatural world tended to freak out most people. Needing to soothe her insult, she placed a gentle hand on his rigid arm;

“I know that, Vaughn. I trust all of you to keep me safe without reservation.”

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