Witching Your Step - Book Two: Paranormal Romantic Comedy Read online

  “I’m trusting you,” Delta said, eyeing him for a long moment.

  “And I appreciate it,” he said, bowing his head slightly and getting a huff in return.

  Then she about-faced and started off away from him. “Maybe I’ll bring you some cookies,” she called back over her shoulder, and the priest smiled. “Lace them with Belladonna; I hear you’re having restless sleep at night.”

  Father Wolf cleared his throat. He caught her meaning, and he didn’t like it. He liked the after-hours visits from the elder witch, the alpha, and the vampire even more.

  CHAPTER TEN

  ~

  Nancy eyed the man from beneath her lashes as he stood there watching her doing nothing more than making out she was actually doing something. Her cat had run off – again, and her stuff was sitting in the back of her car waiting for her to join it with the same intention that her cat had – run and evade capture – only, he was her stalker, and she didn’t much like her chances.

  Nancy sighed. “You know I don’t think the wall needs propping up; it’s been doing fine without your big shoulder to help it for years,” she said, snatching a glance at him to see what he was doing. He hadn’t moved.

  “I like to be helpful, and pre-emptive,” he said, and she caught the wolfish smile on his lips.

  The man was just waiting for her to make a move, try to escape his evil, probably horny clutches – and that thought made her smile until she caught herself doing it and snapped it off.

  She couldn’t get the thought of him naked out of her mind. It wasn’t as if she was a sex-hungry – in need of a man – wench, but there it was – popping in and out like an unwelcome, mischievous faerie.

  Dang him for being so hunky and full of manly muscled goodness – it wasn’t fair. And that was only one set of his charms that she had to worry about. Heaven knows how she was going to get past his teasing smile, those laughing sexy eyes, and his weirdly appealing sense of humour.

  The man could certainly give her a run for her money in the banter department, and that didn’t bode well for an attempt to wrap him around her little finger or tie him in verbal knots.

  He’d made her speechless – nobody did that! She was a female, a witch, and she could always come up with some kind of rebuttal, put down, or snarky comment whenever the mood took her – except now – and earlier – and she hated it.

  “Why don’t you pre-empt the end of the world and go make preparations for it?” she muttered.

  “Dig a hole, build a bunker for two?”

  “If that’s what floats your boat, sure.”

  “I can think of better ways to spend my time,” he said, but it was the way that he’d said it that drew her feminine attention to him, and only him.

  The thought of him naked sprang into her mind once more – like an unwelcome bunny hopping out into the path of her car. She was tempted to run it down – run him down – on her way out of town, of course.

  “Moving on,” she said, offering him the darkest of dark scowls that she could conjure up.

  “Scary look, I’m quivering inside,” he said, chuckling and teasing her some more.

  Nancy didn’t want to be teased, charmed, or wooed. She wanted to come up with a plan – any plan would be good at that point, even a bad one, just for her brain to show her it was trying. Before she ended up mated like Vivelle.

  “Not yet, but I can help with that,” she said, by way of a warning shot across his bow, and what a tight bow it was. Dang, she berated herself for thinking about his backside – again.

  “This whole thing between us…”

  “There is no us…”

  “We…”

  “You and I, not us, not we…”

  “Are you going to let me finish?” he asked, looking kind of hopeful.

  “Not if you keep using stupid words,” she grumbled.

  “Do you have an alternative dictionary that I can use, so I don’t offend you?”

  Nancy placed her hands on her hips and gave him a doubled barrelled glare with the raised eyebrows and the no-nonsense look of a woman on the edge for added effect. “How about sign language?” she asked, and promptly flipped him the middle finger.

  “Testy,” he said, grinning.

  That grin told her that she was wasting her time in trying to miff him off or offend him in some way in the hopes that he would decide she was just too much trouble for him, and walk away. She didn’t know whether to laugh like a crazy person or cry – either way he wasn’t going anywhere, so why bother?

  Nancy tossed up her hands. “Look, isn’t there a reset button I can push so you forget we met and…?”

  “Not a robot,” he said, leaning in towards her slightly. “S-h-i-f-t-e-r.”

  “Not stupid,” she hissed back, leaning in towards him. “D-e-s-p-e-r-a-t-e.”

  “Desperately seeking a good man in your life…”

  “For what? Chaos, mayhem, and insanity?”

  “Fun, laughter, and debauchery.”

  “You can keep one out of the three,” she sniped.

  Jorge frowned. “Well, okay, but without the laughter, it’s really going to be a long sixty years.”

  Nancy rallied once more. “I’m sure I said you couldn’t come in.”

  “I’m sure I was already in when you said it.”

  “And?”

  “It was a moot point.”

  “I…” she snapped her words off and gave him a little side-ways stink-eye. “You are the most…” she bit off her words again.

  “Annoyingly handsome, devilishly sexy man you’ve ever met?”

  “Yes!” she snapped, and mentally kicked her own backside. “No!”

  “Sorry, no take-backs.”

  “Ugh!” she bit out, tossing up her hands in exasperation and stalking off. Of course, he followed on her heels.

  “I’m not into the faithful puppy routine, and I’m going to the bathroom – I do not need a personal escort…” she bit out over her shoulder.

  “Are you sure, because I hear those flushes can be …” Jorge stopped talking the moment that she slammed the door shut in his face. “Don’t fall down the pan!” he called, trying to calm his wolf’s dislike of having that barrier between them.

  “Don’t you dare stand outside listening to me!” she snapped.

  “Shall I sing?” he asked. “A little toilet music to serenade…”

  “Go away!” she snapped.

  Jorge couldn’t help but chuckle. He was getting under her skin – he only hoped it was in the right way.

  ~

  “Climbing out of the stupid bathroom window is not my idea of a good day!” Nancy muttered to herself as she hung one leg down and squatted with the other, searching for the ground with her foot.

  “Your technique is all wrong,” Jorge said, standing a few feet behind her and catching the sound as she gasped in surprise. “You’re way too short to ever reach.”

  “Ugh!” Nancy bit out, trying to pull her body back up, but finding that she didn’t have the strength in her arms to pull it off.

  She was stuck – half up and half down, and feeling like the biggest bloody idiot in the world.

  Of course, the man would expect her to try to escape him – he was as cunning as she was. Now she was faced with chewing on her pride for the next however long. Worse still – she needed his help.

  “Are you stuck?” Jorge asked in a teasing tone that rattled her already shattered nerves.

  Nancy clung on for dear life and dropped her head forward for a moment as she groaned. She hated to admit it. “Yes,” she said, biting the bullet and having it explode against her already battered pride.

  Nancy squeaked just a little at the warm feeling of two large hands clutching her under her arms and lifting her with ease, up in the air and away from the window. She hated to let go, but one small tug from him sorted that out as the window slipped out of her grasp.

  “I’ve got you,” he said, and the depth of his voice beside her ear so
unded even sexier when he was that up close and personal to her. Couple that with the feel of his rock hard, warm body against her back, and boy did she think of him naked again.

  There were no words – mainly because her brain was farting out all the reasons to dwell on the moment, to embrace his warmth, his strength, maybe even him, but that wasn’t where she wanted to be – and yet, it was.

  Nancy thought that she needed to look up the word confused because she never expected it to feel like this. But then she’d never met her mate before, and all bets appeared to be off where he was concerned.

  That was unnerving, to say the least, but she needed to get her act together before she found herself mated. That just wouldn’t do.

  “P-put me down, Shrek,” she said, trying to hiss but it somehow came out like a purr. That wasn’t good either.

  “Not just yet,” Jorge said, turning her in his hands and somehow tossing her over his shoulder before her feet could touch the ground or her brain could get in the game and do something about it.

  And there was his backside again! Not naked, unfortunately, but it was literally starring her right in the face.

  Oh, the irony.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  ~

  “Sister Mary!” Viv called, catching sight of the nun as she ducked down one of the side streets of the town. The nun froze in place, and her shoulders went up around her ears like she’d been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

  Sister Mary slowly turned to look over her shoulder. With a bright smile and a small wave, the nun turned around to greet her. “I didn’t think we’d be seeing you for a good few days,” she said, all smiles and excitement.

  “Because…?” Viv was at a loss as she closed in on the nun.

  Sister Mary grinned like she knew a secret, which she did, but it was one that they both shared. “Oh, you know,” she said leaning in and whispering. “The whole matey-mate-mating thing.”

  “You mean the whole making lurve thing?”

  Sister Mary giggled like a schoolgirl at prom, which was ironic considering her outfit, and she looked anywhere but at Vivelle as her cheeks got a nice rosy glow to them. “Yes, well, that too.” She giggled some more. “So, how is it?” she asked, and Viv almost choked on her own tongue.

  “Umm?” She saw the nun fluster and then the woman spluttered more chuckles.

  “Oh not the …” she jiggled her head from side to side and rolled her eyes. “But the whole package…”

  “Package, Sister?”

  “Not his package,” she rushed out, her cheeks the colour of blood as she flustered, blustered, and tried to get her thoughts in order and the matter back on track. “That’s not what I … hmm, not at all what I…” she rushed out, shaking her head, and grimacing in dismay.

  Viv decided to let her off the hook before she had an attack of the vapours. “You mean being a mate?” Viv said, amusement and mischief playing in her eyes.

  “That’s the thing,” Sister Mary said and giggled some more.

  “Mated life is great so far,” she said and watched the nun sigh with relief that they’d finally cleared that up.

  “Moving on,” Sister Mary said, beaming an awkward smile.

  “Lets,” Viv agreed.

  “How can I help you today, or did you just want to say hello?” Sister Mary was more than grateful that she could finally take both her feet out of her mouth.

  “Hello,” Viv said, giving her a sheepish look.

  “I’m sensing an ‘and’ in there,” Sister Mary said, leaning in and urging her on.

  “And … do you know what’s going on with the supernatural element in this town, namely the elders?”

  “Elders?” Sister Mary tried to look confused, but there was a sparkle of recognition in her eyes that Viv noticed.

  “Come on, Sister, I’m sure the church has its ear to the ground…”

  “Oh, wouldn’t that be a compromising position to be in?” Sister Mary giggled again. Then she cleared her throat and looked saintly. “I know they have meetings.” She shrugged and looked as lost as Vivelle felt.

  “That’s it?” she asked.

  “All I know,” she said, shrugging again.

  “You’ve never heard anything?”

  “See no evil,” she said, putting her hands over her eyes, and then her ears, before spluttering more giggles and covering her mouth.

  Vivelle was disappointed. She had hoped that Sister Mary could shed a little light on the goings-on in the town that nobody knew about. Things that had led to her mate being tied up in a barn – and the more she thought about that, the more it miffed her off, and she wanted answers.

  “So the church isn’t involved?” Vivelle asked.

  “Well, I’m not,” Sister Mary said, shrugging once more, and Viv just felt like there were too many shrugs for her liking. “I wouldn’t presume to speak for Father Wolf,” she added, leaning in slightly. “He does keep some strange hours sometimes.”

  “Does he?” Viv mulled that little piece of information over.

  “What’s this all about? I feel like there’s an inquisition,” Sister Mary said, and when Vivelle offered her a strange look, the nun grimaced. “Too soon?”

  “Ever so slightly,” Viv said, chuckling a little in disbelief.

  “My lips are sealed,” Sister Mary said, pretending to zip them up and toss the imaginary key over her shoulder.

  “Off somewhere?” Viv asked, nodding down the side street and changing the conversation.

  “Just doing my nun duties,” she said. “Mrs Walsh is a little jittery on her feet; I like to check in.”

  “Well, I won’t keep you,” Viv said.

  “Busy, busy, a nun’s work is never done,” Sister Mary said, full of enthusiasm and sparkling with excitement.

  Vivelle could only wish that she shared the same zest for life that the nun had. In truth, the whole kidnapping her mate thing was worrying her.

  What else didn’t she know about Knowing?

  ~

  Jorge kicked the front door to his mate’s cottage closed behind them and stalked into the living room with his mate still hanging down his back. “Okay, zap-happy, you can stop now,” he said, grumbling as she zapped his backside one more time.

  Nancy lifted her head and shoulders away from his back and eyed her surroundings. She may have been sneaky and devious and had tried to escape out of the window, but there was no call for being carried over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes – it was just plain rude and wrong in her book. “Put me down, and I might consider…” she shrieked as he did just that.

  Jorge shucked her up in the air, caught her with both hands, and lowered her down against his body to her feet. That felt good – her soft body against his hard one – but he knew it couldn’t last. They hadn’t gotten to that stage in their blossoming relationship just yet – but soon.

  Nancy blew out a breath upwards, blowing her hair from her eyes and taking a moment to let the blood flow back down into her body from her brain. It was something of a head rush, and she was both grateful for the stability that his hands on her hips provided, and resentful of that touch and the tingles to her skin as her mind flooded with thoughts of him naked once more.

  The only difference this time was that she was imagining herself naked too. Oh, how she hated the mating pull, fate, and him!

  “Job done. You’re down,” Jorge said, an underlying growl rumbling along with his voice. His beast was back to being antsy again – their mate had tried to escape, and that didn’t sit well with man or wolf.

  “You big oaf!” Nancy snapped out, finally regaining enough of her brain to remember to slap his hands away from her hips and take a step back away from him.

  That step made the back of her heel catch on the low coffee table, and her eyes widened as she stumbled and titled sideways – until her mate’s hands stabilized her once more. “Stop doing that!” she snapped, slapping at his hands again.

  “Saving you?” Jorge asked, a
slow-to-boil, and sexy-as-hell smile spreading across his face.

  “Yes!” Nancy snapped and then groaned. “No! Touching me.”

  “So, to recap – I can save you, but I can’t touch you while I’m doing it?” he asked, mocking her with his eyes and his tone.

  “Yes!” she snapped once more and then bit down on her annoyance. “No!” She was getting flustered again, and that miffed her off even more.

  “Can you say; decision-making disorder?” he asked, teasing her.

  “Can you say; I’m a jerk of epic proportion who is about to get my backside fried?” she tossed back, placing her hands on her hips and offering him a steely gaze.

  “Point made…”

  “And heeded, I hope,” she said before huffing out another breath.

  “Meh,” he said, shrugging his broad shoulders.

  “If you say, where would be the fun in that,” she warned, leaving the outcome unsaid. If the man hadn’t gotten the message by now, well then it was his own stupid fault if she zapped him to kingdom come.

  “I was thinking more along the lines of – that wouldn’t help with the whole wooing thing.”

  “Wooing thing!” Boy did that sound good and horrifying at the same time?

  “Trust me…”

  “Not as far as I could throw you,” she muttered.

  “There’s a whole wooing thing going on behind the scenes here,” Jorge said, ignoring her words. His beast couldn’t ignore them – the wolf didn’t like the idea of their mate not trusting them.

  “You could have fooled me,” Nancy said.

  Jorge took that as some kind of a challenge. Coupled with the fact that his wolf had pushed forward – he wrapped a strong arm around her waist and yanked her body up against his.

  Nancy was taken aback. Her hands were still on her hips when her breasts were crushed against his chest, and her brain was already floundering – now it just kind flopped onto its back and gave up the ghost as a rush of excitement from the close contact shot through her body.