Oak & Thorns Read online

  “Luck of the draw. But I’m not the one who’s beautiful here.” His gaze was fastened on me, the words rolling off his tongue like honey.

  I slowly edged my way over to him, taking my time, enjoying the sight of his naked body. It’d taken us a month before we actually slept together, even though both of us wanted to jump in bed right away. But we gave it time. We went on dates, went out to dinner, to movies. By the time we were ready, we knew that what we were feeling was real. The chemistry had sizzled, and it still did.

  I reached for my tank to pull it off, but he shook his head.

  “Let me.” His voice was husky, ragged with lust.

  I stopped just in front of him, and held up my arms. He took hold of the hem of my tank top, slowly stripping it from my body, the material brushing my skin as he removed it, then tossed it on one of the chairs.

  “Turn around,” he ordered, and I obeyed.

  He unhooked my bra, and my breasts bounced lightly as he slipped it off and tossed it on top of the tank top. The sudden coolness in the air chilled me, and my nipples stiffened.

  Still standing behind me, he reached around with both hands, cupping my breasts, his fingers running lightly over my nipples. I moaned as I leaned against him. His erection pressed against my back, hard and thick and demanding.

  He squeezed my breasts, almost hard enough to hurt, burying his face in my hair as he nuzzled it aside to kiss my neck. Then his hands slowly slid down to my stomach, coming to rest on my belt. I trembled as he unbuckled it, sliding it out from the belt loops and dropping it on the floor. I tried to stand still, though I wanted to squirm, to turn around and press against him.

  “Don’t move,” he whispered as he began to unzip my jeans. “Not a muscle.”

  I was shaking with hunger as he pushed the material down my hips, just enough so that he could slide his hand down the front of my stomach, down to the thatch of hair between my legs.

  “Don’t stop—” I started to say, but he hushed me.

  “Be quiet.” His voice was firm and commanding.

  I fell silent, reveling in the touch of his fingers on my skin. He lowered his hand, sliding it between my legs to slip between the folds of my labia. With one finger, he began rubbing my clit, slowly at first, circling the nub, then harder.

  I let out a faint cry as I pressed back against him, against his erection, and he shifted position.

  “Spread your legs.”

  I did as he asked, and the next moment he slipped his cock deep into me from behind, his girth stretching me wide, filling me so incredibly full that there was no spot inside me that he wasn’t touching.

  I leaned forward, resting my hands on the arm of the wingback, as he began to pump, thrusting deeply into me, holding my hips as he slid in and out, at first slowly and then speeding up. My breasts bounced with the rhythm of his thrusts, and I reached up to finger my nipples as Herne shifted, changing angles. I groaned again as he hit that perfect spot.

  After a few moments, he slowly withdrew, his body sweaty against mine. “On the bed, woman. Ride me.” He stretched out on the daybed on his back.

  I straddled him, holding his gaze as I growled, feeling feral and wild and on the prowl. Herne was my prey, now, and I was the hunter.

  He gripped his cock, holding it erect, his eyes glowing.

  I lowered myself onto his shaft. As he penetrated me, his girth once again making me gasp, he reached up to squeeze my breasts. I leaned one hand against the wall to brace myself, and with the other, I slowly fingered my clit, dropping my head back as I exposed my throat.

  “Ride me,” he ordered, his voice hoarse and thick. “Fuck me hard.”

  And so I rode him, bouncing up and down as he bucked beneath me. He brought his hands to my waist, holding me tight, lifting me up and down on his cock. I was wet, slick from hunger, and I picked up speed, leaning forward so my breasts raked his chest.

  “I’m close,” I whispered, breathing hard as I tried to focus.

  But the edge was near, and all around me I could feel the wild forest. And Herne was the silver stag, Lord of the Forest. Lord of my forest. The world spiraled around me, the distant sound of drums echoing with my heartbeat. And then I came, hard and fast and strong, hot tears catching in my throat as the orgasm hit me.

  Herne was right behind. He stiffened, holding me still as he thrust one last time, so deep that it felt like he had penetrated every cell of my body. He let out a roar, then thrust again and once more, as I fell across his chest. Finally, we sprawled in a pool of sweat, exhausted and satiated.

  “You good?” he whispered after a moment.

  “I’m good,” I whispered back. And then, he kissed me, deep and loving, with all the tenderness in the world.

  Chapter 5

  BY THE TIME I got home, Angel was packed. She had started a bag for me, too. She took one look at me as I entered the door and laughed.

  “You got lucky tonight.” She pointed toward the kitchen. “I already ate, but I left some for you. I made up a quick spaghetti and if there’s any left, we can freeze it till we get back.”

  “You’re kidding, right?” The aroma of garlic and meat sauce filled the condo, and my mouth began to water. As much as I had enjoyed my time with Herne, now I was starving. “If there’s any left, I’ll eat it for breakfast.” I loved cold spaghetti for breakfast. Cold pizza, too.

  “I started packing for you, but I wasn’t sure what you wanted to take. By the way, Talia called. She made arrangements with her pet sitter to swing by tomorrow morning before we leave. So we need to get up by six. I have a good feeling about the woman, just from the way Talia talks about her. So I don’t think you’ll have to worry about Mr. Rumblebutt.” She peeked around the arch into the kitchen, then leaned against the wall. “By the way, thank you.”

  “For what?” I asked, licking a drop of sauce off my finger as I forked a large serving of spaghetti onto a plate.

  “For coming with me to see DJ. To tell you the truth, I was afraid he might be angry at me. Sometimes I think he blames me for Mama J.’s death.” She said the latter so softly that I almost didn’t register her words.

  “What the hell? Of course he doesn’t. Mama J. was hit by a drunk driver.”

  “Yeah, but she wouldn’t have been on the road except for me. She wanted me to come over that night, but I didn’t have time. I told her I’d meet her at a coffee shop for a few minutes, because I had to work late. She was on the way when the accident happened.”

  I suddenly began to understand. Angel had never told me this and I realized that she blamed herself.

  She shook her head, a strained look on her face. “The last thing she told DJ was that I needed to see her and she’d be back later. There was one point last year, where DJ and I were arguing. I think it was over him hanging out with a kid that I didn’t like—the boy was trouble. Anyway, in the heat of the argument, DJ told me point-blank, ‘It’s your fault Mama’s dead. If she hadn’t been going to see you, she’d still be alive.’ Since then, those words have been running through my mind. I keep wondering, did he really mean it? He apologized later, but sometimes when we blurt out things, that’s when our true feelings show.”

  I wasn’t sure what to say. There was no way on earth that anybody could blame Angel for Mama J.’s death. But when you were ten years old and you had lost your mother, it wasn’t so clear. On the surface, I doubted DJ meant a word of it. But somewhere inside his broken heart, I could see how he might think that when he was hurting enough.

  “DJ loves you, Angel. Whether or not he meant it—and if he did, I’m sure it was only at that moment—DJ loves you. He trusts you, and he knows you’ve done the best you could for him. Of that much, I’m positive.”

  She held on to the edge of the counter, gazing at the refrigerator. She was blinking back tears, and I realized that as hard as it had been on DJ, it was just as hard on Angel. I understood. The anniversary of my parents’ death was never
easy for me, but in some ways I had blurred out as much as I could, and it had been fifteen years ago, compared to only one for Angel and DJ. And as close as my parents and I had been, we were never as tight as Mama J. had been with her children. I wrapped my arms around Angel’s shoulders, giving her a tight hug.

  “Cry if you need to. It’s better out than in.”

  At that, she turned and wept against my shoulder. I rubbed her back, rocking her gently, until the sobs began to subside. Another moment later, and she stood back, wiping her eyes. She gave me a fragile smile.

  “I guess I’ve needed that for the past couple of days. I’ve been pushing it away and pushing it away, trying to pretend that I was too busy to pay attention. It’s just—her death still feels so close.” She wrapped her arms around her stomach, leaning back against the counter. “In some ways it feels like it’s been a thousand years. It’s been tough, taking care of DJ and trying to figure out what to do. And yet, some days, I think it happened just yesterday.” She looked up at me. “Do you know what I mean?”

  I popped my dish into the microwave to heat up. “Yeah, I do. Sometimes, it feels like it was just yesterday that I opened the door and found my parents. There are images, you know? Ones I’ll never forget. Like, I remember there was a little frog sitting on a rock outside the door when I came home. I looked at it, and thought how cute it was, and I remember thinking that I was going to tell my father about it. And then, I opened the door, which—well, it was already open, I just pushed it a little more—but I entered the kitchen. Even though my mother was sprawled out there on the floor, the first thing I remembered seeing was a plate of cookies on the counter. My first thought was over, she made chocolate chip cookies. And the next second, I was screaming, and there was blood, and then the world changed.”

  I carried my plate to the table after the bell dinged, stopping at the refrigerator for a glass of milk. Angel followed me, a mug of tea in hand. Every day she used a different mug before bed, or at least it seemed like it. She had picked up new ones after her home had been destroyed, and by now she had at least a dozen. Each one had a cute picture or saying on it. Tonight, she was carrying one that read Look for the light.

  “I suppose over the years I’ll get used to this. I know it will never be easy. But the immediate pain will fade. I just didn’t expect it to still be so cutting. Let’s talk about something else, okay?” she asked. “How was tonight? You have fun?”

  I blushed despite myself. “Sex has never been so good. I mean, a couple of my boyfriends were spot on, but Herne… He’s the son of a god and I can really tell that when he’s inside me.”

  “So are you Goldilocks? And was he just right?” She gave me a nudge and I broke out in a loud guffaw.

  “You’re lucky I wasn’t eating or you might be performing the Heimlich maneuver on me. Yes, trust me, he’s just right.” I finished eating, polishing off the rest of the spaghetti, and we moved on to packing. By ten thirty, we were both exhausted. We took our showers, and then after saying good night, headed to bed. Mr. Rumblebutt came bouncing out of Angel’s room, landing on the bottom of my bed. As he crawled onto my side, I curled my arm around him and pulled him close.

  “Tomorrow you’re going to have a pet sitter. Talia made arrangements for me, so no complaints about a dirty litter box. I want you to behave for her, okay? I’m going to miss you, you goober.”

  In response, Mr. Rumblebutt reached out and gave me a long lick on my nose. Then he settled down to washing his paws, purring as I drifted off to sleep.

  RONNIE ARCHWOOD SHOWED up right on time, at six thirty. I was bleary-eyed, drinking the quint-shot mocha that Angel had prepared for me. She had also somehow managed to fix toasted sausage-cheese muffins, and I was plowing my way through my second when Ronnie knocked at the door. I let her in, surprised to see that she was Fae. Light Fae, if I didn’t miss my guess. I steeled myself, expecting her to give me the usual look that most of my mother’s people had over the years. But it didn’t come.

  “Hi, I’m Ronnie. Talia sent me.” Her eyes were clear and the smile on her face seemed genuine.

  I shook her hand, smiling graciously. “I’m Ember Kearney. Come on in. Thank you for coming over at such short notice. I didn’t realize that I was going to be away for more than a couple of days. Mr. Rumblebutt is fine on his own for a day or two, but I don’t want to leave him alone longer than that.”

  I escorted her into the living room, where we sat on the sofa. Mr. Rumblebutt came running out of my bedroom, down the hall, and bounced on the sofa between us, staring up at Ronnie expectantly. He wasn’t usually so excited about visitors.

  “Well, he seems to like you. Mr. Rumblebutt doesn’t usually take to people at first meeting.” I scratched him between the ears.

  “I have a way with animals,” Ronnie said. “You know the term ‘animal whisperer’? That seems to be my main talent. So I decided to put it to good use and become a pet sitter.” She paused, then glanced at me over Mr. Rumblebutt’s head. “I might as well get this out of the way. You know I’m Light Fae. And I know that you are what is crudely known as tralaeth, but that doesn’t matter to me. I was kicked out of my family a long time ago. I don’t circulate within either court. I’ve been ostracized from my people for quite a while.”

  I had to give it to her for being blunt—even more than I was. “What happened? If you don’t want to answer, that’s fine. It’s obvious why I’m not welcome in either court.”

  “I fell in love with a woman.”

  “But the Fae have no problem with any sort of sexuality or gender-identification. At least, I thought so. I really don’t know much about either side of my heritage, since my parents didn’t talk about it a lot while they were alive.”

  “It wouldn’t be a problem if she were Fae. No, I fell in love with a human. I chose to live in her world, rather than the world of my people. This was over 150 years ago, and Sara is long dead, but I couldn’t go back. My mother told me they’d welcome me home if I would admit I had screwed up. But since they wouldn’t accept my relationship as valid while Sara was alive, I wasn’t about to go back once she was dead and pretend that it was a mistake. I’ve been living on my own since then.” She ducked her head, shrugging. “What can I say?”

  I wasn’t sure what to say either, except that I admired her for standing her ground.

  “I’m sorry that happened. In an odd way, that gives us some common ground.” And that was about all there was to say about that.

  “Tell me about your kitty.” She scratched him behind the ears and he began to purr, basking in the attention.

  “So, this is Mr. Rumblebutt. He gets fed twice a day. Rather, he gets wet food twice a day. He gets free feed kibble. He loves to play with feather toys, and he loves to be snuggled.” As if to prove my point, Mr. Rumblebutt decided that he’d climb on her lap. Paws against her chest, he stood, staring her in the face. He licked her nose, then turned around to look at me as if asking, Why are you still here? Leave me alone with my new friend. I relaxed, realizing that Talia had been spot on about Ronnie. I could leave Mr. Rumblebutt in her care with no worries.

  “How long do you think you’ll be gone?”

  “At least three or four days. Possibly a week. We have a case taking us to Whidbey Island. I can come back if there’s a problem, but I feel safer knowing he’s got somebody here just in case I can’t get back to town right away.”

  I pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled my permission for her to take him to the vet in case of emergency, then I wrote down the vet’s name and the address and phone number.

  “Here you go. I will try to remember to call them later today and let them know that I’ve given you permission to bring him in, just as an added security measure. Here’s a key, and I ask that you don’t touch any of the weapons around here. Feel free to make yourself a snack, we’ve got some food in the refrigerator that will go bad by the time we come back. So eat if you want. Can you check on him
twice a day?”

  “I’ll come in the morning at around eight a.m., and in the evening at about six thirty, and I can stay for about an hour each time. Will that work?” She scratched him behind the ears again, and he purred, then turned around and bounced back into my lap as if he knew I was getting ready to leave.

  I gave him a tight squeeze and kissed his head. Mr. Rumblebutt had been my friend for quite a while, ever since I had moved into the condo, and he was the one person—so to speak—besides Angel that I trusted in this world.

  “That will work,” I said, sliding him off my lap and standing up. “We have to leave now. There’s plenty of food in the cupboards for him.”

  Angel was standing by the table. She had placed our bags on the floor by the door. I joined her, leaving Ronnie to visit for a while with Mr. Rumblebutt. As we left, I realized that I wasn’t worried. For once, I actually trusted one of my own.

  BY THE TIME we got downtown to the office, everybody else was already there. Morning traffic was a bitch, as usual, and I had to take four detours just to avoid collisions. It was raining, not unusual for Seattle, but apparently a few days of sun had managed to wipe out any common sense about driving on wet pavement.

  “Talia, thank you for sending Ronnie over. She’s perfect.”

  “I didn’t want to tell you she was Fae until you had a chance to meet her,” she said, grinning. “I wasn’t sure how you would react.”

  “Probably a good thing.” I knew when to admit my prejudices.

  “I’m glad she set your mind at ease. She’s never failed me yet.”

  “Mr. Rumblebutt took to her immediately.” I paused as Herne entered the break room.

  “Everybody ready?” he asked, casting his gaze around. As he met my eyes, he blew me a kiss. Everybody snickered, but I didn’t mind. The sex last night had been too good to just ignore.

  I held up my hand. “Okay, enough. Yeah, I’m sleeping with the boss man. We all know it.”