The Mane Attraction

  “Well, you are a cop.”

  “You’re gonna bring that up now?”

  “Don’t get snippy with me.” She paced away from him. “Clear lines. Boundaries. I’m all about the boundaries.” And to show how much she liked boundaries, she drew a little square in the air with her forefingers.

  “Right. Boundaries.”

  “There’ll be no love talk.”

  “You mean, like dirty? Like when I tell you where to put your mouth or how I want to stick my fingers—”

  “No.” She eyed him. “But I’m sensing I won’t have to worry about the love talk.”

  Mitch shrugged, still not clear on what she meant. “What else?”

  Rubbing her hands together, Sissy continued to pace, but every time she walked away, all Mitch could do was stare at her ass. The damn thing was talking to him again!

  “Outside of fucking, no signs of affection like unnecessary, non-fucking related touching. And we won’t go on dates. You won’t bring me flowers.”

  “Or chocolates?”

  “Let’s not be unreasonable.” She walked to the door and walked back. “We will keep this simple and uncomplicated. No matter how amazing the sex is, it never will be more than that.” Standing in front of him now, she placed her hands on her hips. “And do you know why, Mitchell?”

  “Why what?”

  With a sigh and a dramatic roll of her eyes, she snapped, “Why this needs to remain simple and uncomplicated?”

  “I’m sure I do, but at the moment, I am so horny I can barely manage this sentence.”

  Sissy gripped his face between her hands. “Because you, Mitchell, need a simple uncomplicated woman. Preferably full-human. And I need a male I can control so he won’t get in my way. So no matter what happens, we can’t let this get out of hand. Understand?”

  And she was right. Sissy was the kind of woman who could get him all tangled up, and he’d never get out. She was sexy and demanding and unpredictable and severely unstable. If she wasn’t starting shit, she was in the middle of it. She was beautiful and dangerous. A predator’s predator.

  But even worse, even more devastating, he was leaving. Not simply leaving Smithtown but leaving everyone he knew and cared about, including Sissy. Once he testified, his whole life would change, and Sissy would be nothing more than a sweetly weird memory. So he needed to follow her rules and stay in her boundaries.

  Yet Mitch was smart enough to know that none of that logic would matter. Because if he wasn’t really careful, he’d lose his heart to this woman and probably regret it for the rest of his life.

  “No letting it get out of hand,” he repeated back to her.

  “You agree?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Good.” She walked away again. After a few moments, “You’re staring at my ass, aren’t you?”

  Mitch threw his hands up. “Tongues!”

  She turned and faced him, her hands again on her hips. “This isn’t going to work if you can’t get control, Mitchell Shaw.”

  “Don’t tell me.” He pointed at his cock. “Tell him.”

  Sissy shook her head. “I start talking to it ... it’s going in my mouth.”

  “See? You’re not helping!”

  She held her hands up. “Sorry. Sorry.”

  Clearing her throat, Sissy walked up to him. She kept her hands down at her sides and her eyes focused on his Adam’s apple. “Would you like to partake of sexual intercourse again?”

  Mitch frowned. “What the hell are you doing?”

  She stomped her foot. “I’m trying to keep this unemotional, dumb ass. Now work with me.”

  “Okay. Okay.” Now he cleared his throat. “Yes. I’d be quite pleased to partake of sexual intercourse with you ... again.”

  Sissy nodded and took a step closer. Her breasts grazed against his chest, and Mitch fought back a shudder of pure pleasure. Leaning down, he kissed her on the mouth. She kissed him back, her mouth closed, her eyes open. That seemed safe enough. So Mitch stroked his hand down her back and rested it on her ass. He didn’t squeeze or anything, no matter how desperately he wanted to.

  Her ass was made for squeezing.

  But then suddenly, Sissy snarled, “Bastard,” and dug her hands into his hair, and her mouth was on his. She lifted up her legs until they wrapped around his waist.

  Mitch swiped another condom off the couch. He’d planned to head up the stairs, but he really couldn’t be bothered, so he slammed Sissy against the wall.

  Concentrating on her neck, his mouth sucking against the soft skin while he slid on the condom, Sissy gasped and writhed against him. “Fuck me, Mitch. God, fuck me.”

  He slammed into her so hard, Sissy’s head banged into the wall.

  “Sorry,” he muttered.

  “Yeah, yeah,” she growled, her forehead against his shoulder. “Whatever. Just fuck me.”

  Mitch pulled out and slammed back in, the sound of Sissy’s gasps and yelps against his ear. He picked up the pace, Sissy egging him on by digging her heels into his spine, her fingers into his shoulders.

  “Harder,” she begged. Actually, it was more of an order. And Mitch didn’t care. There were times in a man’s life when he just needed to do what he was told. Especially when the woman telling him was milking him dry and taking him on the ride of his life.

  But when Sissy came and her claws unleashed, tearing into his back, and Mitch roared out her name, he knew they were in the biggest trouble of their lives.

  Chapter 15

  They never even made it out of the living room. They’d tried. Several times. But they always ended up doing it on the furniture or the stairs or the floor.

  Man, she’d have a lot of cleaning up to do before her parents got home. Her father probably wouldn’t notice, but her mother ... shit.

  Sissy struggled to roll over since Mitch’s arm was across her back and it was damn heavy. By the time she rolled to her back, she looked up to see Ronnie and Dee on the other side of the picture window by the door. Ronnie was busy writing “whore” on the glass with her finger before the pair doubled over laughing.

  Idiots.

  Sissy tried to fling Mitch’s arm off, but it wasn’t moving.

  “Hey.” Nothing. “Hey!”

  Mitch’s head snapped up. “Huh? What?”

  “Move.”

  He blinked those gold eyes at her, and she felt an answering tug in her pussy. See? This would never do!

  “I’m not getting any morning nookie?” he asked.

  “No. Move.”

  “You’re cranky,” he complained as he moved his arm, slipping his hand under his cheek and closing his eyes.

  He was right, which annoyed her more. She wasn’t normally cranky in the mornings unless she’d done some serious drinking the night before. So she mumbled, “Sorry.” And got to her feet.

  Grabbing the blanket off the floor and wrapping it around her body, she went to the front door and stepped out onto the porch. “What’s up?”

  “Wanna go down to Parson’s Lake?” Parson’s Lake wasn’t attached to the lake Ralph lived in, so it had become the summer hot spot around Smithtown.

  “Yeah. Sure. Give me ten minutes.”

  Ronnie glanced inside and raised her eyebrows. “Maybe twenty would be better?”

  “Don’t start.”

  Dee’s gaze on Mitch was unflinching when she finally said, “Lord, he’s hung like a stallion.”

  Laughing, Ronnie walked toward the car, Dee behind her, and Sissy slammed the door.

  Mitch grinned. “Like a stallion, eh?”

  “Don’t start,” she repeated and headed up the stairs.

  Once in the bathroom, she turned on the shower and dropped the blanket. She looked at herself and winced a bit. She had bruises on her back, hips, ass, and shoulders. Shoulders? Then she remembered Mitch holding her by her ankles and ... forget it. If she started thinking about any of that, she’d never get out of here.

  “Are you pissed at me or something?
”

  Mitch stood in the doorway, rubbing his left eye with his fist and watching her with his right.

  “No,” she answered honestly. “I’m not pissed at you. Just hope we didn’t do something stupid.”

  “What do you mean? Like when I had you by your ankles, and I—”

  “No,” she desperately cut him off. “Not that specifically. All of it.”

  “We have boundaries, don’t we?” And he drew the little square with his fingers. “Remember? You made me swear.”

  Yeah, she had. But now she didn’t know if she could keep her own promise. Or even if she wanted to. And that only made her feel ridiculously weak.

  “Right. I remember.”

  Mitch walked up behind her and put his arms around her waist, his nose nuzzling the side of her neck. “Let’s not worry about any of that for now, okay? Let’s just enjoy what we’ve got going at the moment.”

  “Yeah. Okay.”

  His lips grazed her neck, and Sissy’s eyes crossed.

  “Mitch, I’ve gotta go.”

  “They went to get food and drinks. Ronnie says I’ve got at least half an hour before they get back. And we both need to shower.”

  Without another word, Mitch picked her up and carried her to the shower, seeming to enjoy—and ignore—Sissy’s squeal of protest.

  Mitch slammed the pillow over his sleeping brother’s face and then pressed it down using the weight of his body. Bren’s arms flailed wildly, and Mitch laughed like a mental patient until his brother pushed his hands against Mitch’s chest and shoved.

  Landing in a chair halfway across the room, Mitch only had a second to take a breath before his older brother was out of bed and coming after him.

  “Shit.” Mitch took off, making it downstairs and through the hall. But he never did make it through the front door before his brother grabbed him by the hair, yanked him back, and then slammed him forward into the wall.

  When his ears finally stopped ringing, Brendon had him pinned to the ground, his big, fat face hovering over Mitch’s.

  Mitch heard his brother make that distinctive sound. “Don’t you dare spit on—you motherfucker!”

  Ronnie Lee sat up, lowering her sunglasses to the tip of her nose. “Please tell me you didn’t give him the boundaries speech.”

  “Of course I did.”

  “Make that stupid square with your hands, too?” Dee grumbled, searching through the cooler for God knew what.

  “The visual helps. You know men are more visual than women.”

  Ronnie pushed her sunglasses back up her nose and stretched back out on the lounge chair. “Why do I bother with you?”

  “Because I’m one of the few people who tolerates your bullshit.”

  “Good point.” Ronnie readjusted her bikini bottoms. She never knew how to just settle and relax. She constantly fidgeted. It drove Sissy nuts sometimes. “I guess he agreed.”

  “Of course he did.”

  Dee, who burned pretty easily in the sun, slathered on more sunscreen. “What do you mean, ‘of course’?”

  “Because he knows a little of me is better than none at all.”

  “Not really an insecure gal, are you, Sissy Mae?”

  Sissy thought a moment before shaking her head. “Nah.”

  “Is it my imagination,” Ronnie cut in, “or is Mitch getting bigger?” When Sissy raised an eyebrow and Dee stared, Ronnie quickly shook her head. “I don’t mean that! I mean in general.”

  “The way he’s been eating, he should be getting bigger.”

  Dee tugged down her baseball hat to shield her face. “He’ll keep Gil away.”

  Sissy’s eye twitched. “Are we back here again?”

  “Who can forget their first?”

  Sissy sighed at Ronnie’s wistful tone. Since she’d fallen for Brendon Shaw, Ronnie Lee had shown a girly side to her personality Sissy was none too fond of.

  “You did,” she countered.

  “I didn’t forget him. It was Greg.”

  Dee shook her head. “No, it wasn’t.”

  “It was too.”

  Sissy sat up, readjusting her bikini top. “No. Greg ‘oh God, please make me’ Tremble was your first orgasm. Larry Crenshaw was your first lay. He, however, did not get you off. Thereby, he was quickly forgotten.”

  “I remember my first,” Dee added for no apparent reason. “I yakked all over him and his backseat.”

  “And I remember my first because you heifers won’t let me forget him.”

  “You know what really worries me?” Ronnie chewed her lip for a bit. “I worry about what he’s going to do. You don’t seem to grasp your true value to the power-hungry wolf.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Remember all those rumors about your momma and daddy’s mating?”

  “Yeah. But it’s all bullshit.”

  “But Gil is too stupid to know that.”

  “You think he’ll try and force a mating?”

  “I wouldn’t put anything past him. Of course, I’ve never trusted or liked him.”

  Sissy hadn’t thought about that. Forced matings were rare with most of the wolves, but Smiths were known to do them from time to time. In fact, there were tales of Smith wolves who’d died trying to force a mating on a strong female. And most wolves wouldn’t try it with Sissy, but if Gil was desperate enough ...

  “I’ll watch my back.”

  “Good. That’s all I want,” Ronnie said, pulling a beer out of the cooler. “That wasn’t so hard now, was it?”

  “You and Sissy kind of shot out of the bar last night. Everything ... okay?”

  “You mean, did we fuck like horny wildebeests last night?”

  “A simple ‘everything went fine’ would have been sufficient, ya know.”

  “Yeah, but not nearly as fun, bruh.”

  The brothers stood next to each other, staring into the open refrigerator.

  “Do you feel like cooking?” Mitch asked.

  “Not really. You?”

  “Nope.”

  “Cereal,” they said together and moved to the next cabinet, pulling down all the boxes and placing them on the breakfast table.

  Brendon got bowls and spoons while Mitch retrieved the milk. For thirty minutes, they ate all the cereal the Reeds had in their cupboards and finished all the milk they had in their two refrigerators.

  “So you guys had a good time, I’m guessing.”

  “Yeah. But we have definite boundaries.” And Mitch drew the little square with his fingers.

  Bren blinked. “What the hell was that?”

  “Her boundaries. She likes visuals.”

  Brendon shrugged. “Whatever. How was it for you?”

  Mitch winced. “Well, you know, Sissy is a really good friend, but I’ve gotta be honest here”—he leaned in closer, and his brother did the same—“that woman nearly fucked me blind.”

  “I’m so glad I leaned in for that information.”

  “Sucker.”

  “You think you might get serious with her? Which I find disturbing and freakish all at the same time.”

  “I don’t know. This can’t be permanent, Bren. Even if I wanted it to be.”

  “You don’t think Sissy would move to Ohio for you?”

  “Even if she would, I could never ask her. The woman is a Pack animal. I’m really glad Ronnie’s here because Sissy does not do well on her own.”

  “So you’d never take her away from her Pack.”

  “Would you? With Ronnie?”

  Bren shook his head. “No, I wouldn’t. No matter how many times I find them lurking around our apartment or waking us up in the middle of the morning to find out if there’s anything good in our fridge.”

  “See? You get it. I’ve gotta abide by Sissy’s boundaries no matter how hard it’s going to be.” And it was going to be so hard. He already knew that.

  Mitch stared at the empty boxes and milk cartons littering the table. “Bruh ... I’m still hungry.”
r />   “I’m starving.”

  “Fresh or cooked?”

  “Wanna give fresh a try?”

  Mitch stood and walked out of the kitchen and onto the porch. Several deer grazed no more than fifty feet away.

  Grinning, “Bruh ... family meal at twelve o’clock!”

  “Sissy Mae Smith, as I live and breathe.”

  Sissy stared up at the larger woman, her face purposely blank. “Uh ... hi ... uh ... Brenda!”

  “Bertha,” Ronnie hissed around her turkey sandwich.

  “Right. Bertha. Sorry.”

  Bertha rested her hands on her hips. “You just saw me last Thanksgiving.”

  Sissy gave her a big smile and a perky, “Okay.”

  “And I used to hang around you every day in high school, junior high, and grade school.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  Bertha flashed a fang. “You don’t know who the hell I am, do you?”

  “Of course I do! You’re Brenda—”

  “Bertha!” Ronnie hissed again.

  “Whatever.”

  The She-wolf snarled and marched back over to her friends.

  “You are unbelievable.”

  Sissy had to keep her head down so they couldn’t see her laughing. “I do it every time. She has got to be the dumbest canine on the planet.”

  “You need to leave her alone.”

  “But as an old friend, shouldn’t I tell her about Bobby Ray’s wedding?” The hate-hate relationship between Bertha and Jessie Ann Ward-Smith had been legendary. And long after Sissy had lost interest in torturing the little wild dog, Bertha simply wouldn’t back off. And that was for one reason and one reason only—Bertha’s thing for Bobby Ray.

  “Sissy Mae ...”

  “How beautiful the bride looked?”

  “Stop it.”

  “How happy the groom is?”

  “You’re never letting it go, huh?”

  “You mean when she sucker punched me in eighth grade? That’s ridiculous.”

  Before they could stop her, Sissy jumped to her feet and headed over to Bertha and her friends.

  “You’re going to hell,” Ronnie reminded her for the millionth time.

  Travis walked into his parents’ house and scented the air. No one around, but the whole damn house stank of cat and sex.