And both brothers growled.
Chapter 23
With his brother off taking a nap and Sissy shopping, Mitch had two hours before practice, and that was simply too much time to sit around and think. So he went in search of food.
When he walked into the pie shop, he was surprised at how welcoming the aunts were. They kind of treated him like he was family, and he enjoyed it.
“Sit here, baby-boy.” Francine pulled out a chair and patted it with her hand. He smiled and sat down at the table.
“My mom calls me that sometimes.”
“I met her at the wedding, right?” When Mitch nodded, Francine smiled. “I liked her. My kind of woman. Not snooty like some of your kind can be. Now what kind of pie you want today, darlin’?”
“The lemon meringue was so good.”
“Lemon meringue it is.”
It was Janette who brought the pie. And not a slice either. The entire enormous thing, putting it in front of him with a pie cutter, fork, and plate. She cut the first slice for him, and Darla poured him a glass of milk from the gallon jug she’d placed on the table.
When he started eating, the four sisters sat down and watched him. It was mid-afternoon, and the place was deserted. But that wouldn’t last. They got their busiest at the end of the day when people were getting desserts to go with their meals.
“So what’s wrong, darlin’?” Francine asked, her elbow propped on the table, her chin resting in her palm. She watched him with warm, friendly eyes.
“Nothing. Just a lot on my mind.”
“Any of that have to do with our Sissy?”
Mitch didn’t see a point in lying. “Yeah. It does.”
“You in love with her?”
Ducking his head, Mitch focused on his food. “Some might say.”
“Is she in love with you?”
“God,” Mitch muttered, reaching toward the pie to cut another slice, “I hope not.”
And like that, the pie was pulled away. “What do ya mean, you hope not? You trying to tell us our Sissy isn’t good enough for you?”
Mitch let out an annoyed sigh. “Of course I’m not telling you that. If I had my way, I’d give Sissy anything she wanted. Do you think I want to end my time with her? There are so many things I want to do with her, but that’s just not possible.”
“If you could do anything with Sissy,” Janette asked, “what would it be? And keep it clean.”
Mitch smiled. “Anything? I’d take her on a date. We’ve never been on a date.”
“Mitchell, darlin’, I don’t understand what the problem is.” Francine huffed a little. “This whole thing with you and these ... what did you call them the other day?”
“Scumbags.”
“Yes. These scumbags. That can’t go on forever. They’ll catch whoever tried to hurt you.”
“It won’t make a difference, Miss Francine. When this is all over—when I leave here—I’ll be going into Witness Protection.”
Francine sat up straight. “You’re doing what?”
“I really thought you knew. I thought I told you.” Mitch rested his elbows on the table. “Maybe I didn’t. I don’t know anymore. There’s so much going on right now. Someone’s trying to kill me, I’m in love with your niece, the game is coming up ...”
A big slice of pie was pushed in front of him and another glass of milk.
Francine reached over and petted his cheek. “I want you to tell us everything, darlin’.”
Sissy ignored Dee’s laughter as she showed off her new leather jacket. “Look, heifer, fringe will never be out of style.”
She yanked the jacket off, unceremoniously shoved it back into the bag, and snatched a beer out of Ronnie’s hand.
Dee glanced at Sissy as she sat down next to her on the bleachers. “Rumor is,” her cousin murmured beside her, “whoever tried to kill Mitch may be heading this way.”
“May be. No one knows for sure. But the sheriff’s department and the Elders are on alert.” Sissy looked at her cousin and blinked.
“What?”
Sissy thought for a moment and then realized it couldn’t hurt to ask, “You know, they say it’s a lioness who did this.”
“Yeah? And?”
“Dez thinks she’s military.”
Dee’s gaze moved across the field, and she asked, “Is that right? And what makes her think that?”
“The shot this female made, nailing Mitch from where she did ... she had to be well-trained. But other than her scent, she’s left nothing. No hair, no fibers—nothing that our kind can usually find when no one else can.”
Sissy knew she was touching on a sensitive subject here. She hadn’t asked her cousin about what she’d done for the military because she already kind of knew from Bobby Ray. Dee’s unit handled full-humans who knew of their kind and made hunting them a sport. They were usually rich, secretive, and extremely dangerous. Not only to those they hunted, but to Sissy’s kind in general. And Dee hunted the hunters. She was very good at what she did, but the last time Sissy had seen her, she could tell the whole thing had been wearing on her cousin.
Really ... there was only so long a body could do that job and keep her sanity.
Dee nodded. “I’ll make some calls to old friends.”
“Thanks.”
Her cousin grunted as Travis called a break and sent them off the field. Mitch came right over to her, but before Sissy could stand up and drag him away to her chosen spot, he crouched in front of her, pulling off his helmet.
“Hey.”
“Hey.” She smiled. “Look, I found a place—”
“I was thinking we should go on a date tonight.”
Sissy stopped talking abruptly, her words tumbling to a halt. “Uh ... what?”
“A date. You and me. It’ll be nice.”
“Nice?” And Sissy couldn’t keep the disgust out of her voice. “I don’t do nice.”
“Would it kill you to try?”
“Possibly.”
Mitch grinned. “I’ll pick you up at your parents’ house. We’ll go out to dinner, so dress nice.”
“I don’t dress nice.”
“Start.” He kissed her cheek and headed back to the other players and Gatorade.
“Did he just ask me on a date?”
Ronnie nodded. “Sounds like it.”
“Well, what’s going on?”
“Why are you asking me? I was with you until practice started.”
“Dee-Ann?” But Dee had done her ghost thing and was nowhere in sight. Sissy would have to find out how she did that.
“Are you gonna go?” Ronnie asked, taking Sissy’s beer and gulping down half of it.
“I guess. I mean ... a date? Me?”
“We better leave now then. Who knows what we’ll have to put together to get you dressed proper.”
Mitch drank the bottled water his brother handed him.
“Where’s Sissy and Ronnie going?” Bren asked, frowning.
“Home, I guess. I’m taking Sissy on a date.”
It was like the world stopped. All the players gaped at him. Even Sissy’s brothers. Which seemed odd since everyone seemed to know he and Sissy were fucking.
“What?”
“You’re taking Sissy out on a date?”
“Yeah.” Mitch shrugged at Travis’s question. “So?”
“To be honest, I don’t think she’s ever been on a date.”
“And it’s not like you have to wine and dine her to get what you want,” Jackie said laughingly ... until Mitch slammed his helmet into Jackie’s face. Jackie went down crying, holding his nose, too.
“Anyone else got anything to say?” Mitch asked lightly. The team shook their heads. “All right then. I say we get back to practice since I have to get ready for my date.”
Sissy walked out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself. She quickly combed her hair and stepped into the hallway.
“Okay, Ronnie, let’s ...” She stared down the length of the
hall. Her aunts were at the other end, and they were waiting. . . for her.
“Wha ... what are you guys doing here? Where’s Ronnie?”
“That nice young man wants to take you out for a nice meal,” Francine explained calmly. “And we wanted to make sure you didn’t walk out the door looking like the local ho.”
Sissy blinked. Then she tried to make a run for it.
Mitch stepped out of Ronnie’s car and cracked his neck, his gaze focused on the house. It kind of amazed him how this all had come about. Sitting in the pie shop, eating and talking to Sissy’s aunts, telling them things he’d never told anyone—not even Sissy. He blamed the pie. The more they fed him those delicious pies, the more he talked. But they were so sweet and understanding. It really made him feel better.
And when they had sent him off, they told him, “Make sure to ask Sissy out on a date. She deserves it.” And she did, too.
Mitch reached back into the car and pulled out the bouquet of red roses. He knew it was breaking Sissy’s boundaries, but she’d have to get over it. You simply didn’t go to pick up a woman for a first date empty-handed. His mother would have his ass.
Taking a deep breath, Mitch walked up the porch stairs and to the front door. He raised his hand to knock, but he heard glass breaking and cursing.
“Sissy?” he said through the door.
And like that, all the noise coming from inside the house stopped.
“Sissy?” Mitch said again and reached for the doorknob.
“Hold on a minute.” That sounded like one of her aunts. Darla maybe?
Leaning close, Mitch could hear whispers and what sounded like a scuffle.
Then he heard Sissy say, “No, no, no!”
Mitch stood back to kick the door in when it opened on its own and Sissy’s aunts shoved her out onto the porch. Sissy spun around to get back inside, but they slammed the door in her face and locked it.
Taking another step back and looking Sissy over, Mitch said, “Sissy?” Slowly, she turned around, and he smiled. “God, it is you.”
“Not a word, Mitchell Shaw. Not. One. Word.”
“You look—”
“What? I look what?”
Mitch shrugged. “Adorable.”
Sissy’s eyes narrowed. “You bastard,” she hissed before she stormed off toward the car.
“Wait.”
“No!”
He caught her hand on the car door before she could yank it open. “Look, don’t be mad. I’ve just never seen you”—Mitch dragged his gaze from her head to her feet—“in a sundress before.”
A white sundress no less, with tiny blue polka dots, blue sandals with straps and three-inch heels, and—the killer—a matching blue headband to hold her hair back.
She looked as far from the Sissy Mae Smith he knew as humanly possible.
“You never have before, and you never will again. Now, get me out of here before I start kill—” Sissy turned back to him, but her body froze when she caught sight of the flowers in his hand. “What are those?”
“Flowers. For you.”
Sissy stomped her foot and made that damn outline of a box again with her forefingers. “Boundaries,” she hissed.
Imitating the box outline with his own fingers, Mitch snapped back, “Date. Now get in the friggin’ car.”
She snatched the flowers out of his hand and got into the passenger side of the car. Chuckling, Mitch walked around the vehicle and got into the driver’s side.
Once inside, he smiled and said, “I do have to admit, you look pretty hot in that I-was-a-thirty-year-old virgin outfit.”
“Shut up.”
“All I wanna do is dirty you up with my love nectar.”
Sissy finally smiled. “Stop calling it that!”
Sissy didn’t know what was more awkward. The shoes, which were tragically a size too small? The sun dress with the tiny little ties that kept untying? The motherfucking headband?
Or this goddamn conversation?
For thirty minutes, they’d sat and tried to find something to talk about. Sissy couldn’t believe it. This was Mitch. Mitch who she’d had eight-hour-long conversations with while watching really bad late-night cable, only to realize it was dawn so they’d head out to the local diner for breakfast and another two-hour conversation. That Mitch she suddenly had nothing to say to.
And he wasn’t doing much better. He kept tapping the table with his fingers, and she briefly debated biting them off.
She’d known this would be a bad idea.
This sucks.
“What? Your shrimp cocktail?”
Shit. Sissy hadn’t realized she’d said that out loud, and now she had those gold eyes watching her.
“No. This.” She dropped the shrimp she’d been holding for the last ten minutes back onto its plate. “We have nothing to say to each other, and considering we are two of the chattiest people I’ve known, that is saying a lot.”
Mitch let out a sigh. “I know. I feel awkward. I never feel awkward.” He briefly frowned and added, “I make other people feel awkward.”
Sissy reached across the table and patted his hand. “And you’re really good at that, too.”
He pushed his plate of potato skins away. “Okay. So what’s the problem?”
“We are. This isn’t us. I mean, I look like goddamn Gidget, and you’re acting like ... like ...”
“Like what?”
“Like Brendon.”
Mitch winced. “Ew.”
“I mean, are you comfortable in that sports jacket?”
“Do I look comfortable? It’s freakin’ hundred and two degrees outside, and he made me wear this goddamn thing. He tried to make me wear a suit.”
“Why?” Sissy asked dryly. “Are you planning on going to a funeral after our date?”
Finally, Mitch grinned. “Not unless it’s my own.”
“Take it off, Mitchell.”
“Okay.” He was already pulling the jacket off his big shoulders. “And you take off the dress.”
Sissy’s hands were reaching for the ties when she stopped and smirked at him. “Smooth.”
His grin grew wider. “Can’t blame a cat for trying.”
“Bastard.” But this time, she wasn’t mad.
“Okay. Keep the dress on, but that headband ...”
Sissy tore it off before he could finish and shook her hair out. “Better?”
“Oh, yeah.”
And Sissy liked how he said that. Like the lust was getting to him.
Resting her elbows on the table, she leaned way over and tried to peek down at his pants. “You sportin’ a lead pipe there, hoss?”
“At the moment, I could start my own plumbing company.”
Sissy laughed, and she knew the snotty cats and bears were staring at her, but she didn’t care. They’d left Smithtown and come into Taylor County. Mostly oblivious full-humans lived here, and it was considered neutral territory for the breeds. Of course, this fancy steakhouse got most of their business from the local cats, dogs, and bears. They did have a really good steak and gave very healthy portions.
“All right,” Mitch said as the waiter took their half-finished appetizers away. “You’ve gotta tell me how your aunts got you in that dress.”
“They wrestled me into it. Francine damn near broke my arm ... what are you doin’?”
Mitch had his head back and his eyes closed. “I’m replacing your aunts—lovely as they are—with Ronnie and Dee-Ann. There.” He looked at her and motioned for her to continue. “Go on. I’ve got the whole scenario set. It’s like one of those women in prison movies from the seventies.”
“There are oils involved, aren’t there?”
“Baby, there are always oils involved.”
The shoes eventually came off, too, tossed carelessly under the table, and Sissy’s feet were tucked up under her as she offered Mitch some of her New York strip steak. Like him, she preferred her meat medium rare.
“So explain to me how we got he
re tonight. The aunts wouldn’t tell me a damn thing.”
“I wanted to go on a date with you.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it. Sorry that I wasn’t a little more interesting.”
“It’s not uninteresting. But I’m not usually the first girl guys think of when they want to go to a fancy dinner.”
“You are to me. I like you, Sissy. And if you draw that damn box again with your fingers, I’m breaking them.”
She quickly looked down at her food, but he got the feeling she was smiling. “Fine. Be like that. I’m only trying to keep us from getting ourselves into trouble.”
“It’s a little late for that.”
“I know.”
Mitch put down his knife and fork. “Okay, let’s look at some hard, cold facts. The whole boundaries thing doesn’t work for two people who spend their whole lives fucking with other people’s boundaries.”
“Oh, my God.” Sissy started laughing. “You’re right.”
“So let’s deal with realities. I’ll be going back to Philly next week. I testify, and then I’m gone. For good.”
Sissy looked up at him and nodded. “I know.”
“Then let’s really enjoy the time we have together.”
Sissy put her hand over his, and his cock became instantly hard from the innocent action. “You do understand you’ll never get over me, right? Every woman you’re with from now on, you’ll compare to me and find them lacking.”
She was joking, but he had the distinct feeling she was absolutely right. But Mitch was a take-your-enjoyment-where-you-can kind of guy. He wouldn’t be Mr. Hero and cut their time together short. Instead, he would enjoy every moment, every second.
“And you’ll never find a guy who’ll do you the way I do. You’ll be so unsatisfied in bed unless you’re fantasizing about me. I hope you’re ready for that.”
“I guess I’ll just have to suffer about that.”
“And suffer you will.” Mitch leaned across the table a bit. “But not yet.”
Sissy smiled. “I, uh, put something in your pocket when we were coming into the restaurant.”