The Cougar's Pawn (12 page)

She extended her leg slowly toward the bed’s edge.

“Lie down.” Mason rolled over.

“Dammit.” She collapsed onto her belly and fell asleep plotting ways to subvert her captor.

Every day like clockwork, Mason opened his eyes at five a.m., and the next morning was no exception. Normally, he’d get up, dress, and get right to work. There were furniture orders to fill and he still had a bathroom door to fix. But, at the moment, there was a woman pinning him to the mattress.

Not that he’d complain, even with the woman being who she was.

In fact, he opened his legs and settled her a little more comfortably over his cock.

Hard as rock. Typical. That may have been compelling to a woman back in the Stone Age—his evident virility would have some lucky lady straddling him and holding on for a good time. He wasn’t convinced Ellery knew she was lucky yet. Of course, he hadn’t done much to convert her to Team Mason, either. Words weren’t working. He’d
tried
complimenting her, to no avail. Maybe it’d be easier if he shut up and let the cougar part of his brain do the wooing.

She pushed up onto her hands, opened her eyes a sliver each, and curled up her lip at him.

“You rolled onto
me
, little witch. You can’t really get indignant over what happens as a result.”

“Sleep on the floor.” She rolled off and put her back to him, hitching the blankets up to her shoulder.

“Okay.” He stood and unbuttoned his shirt. Removed his undershirt. Nudged off his socks.

She didn’t look back at him until his belt buckle jingled. “What are you doing?”

“Undressing.” He folded his jeans and laid them atop the dresser. “Not going to shift and ruin perfectly good clothes.”

He shimmied out of his boxers, and she put her back to him again.

“Oh God.”

“You surprise me. I didn’t peg you as a prude.”

“I’m a nurse. I’ve seen it all before.”

“Yeah? I like to think I’m worth a second look.”

He walked around the bed to her side just to torture her. Really, he had no intention of shifting. He’d planned on changing into his grubby work clothes, but he’d taken the underwear off just to see her blush. He stood in front of her and crossed his arms.

Her gaze tracked down his chest, settled over his groin, and then flitted back up. “Okay,” she croaked.

“Okay? Just okay?”

She shrugged that one exposed shoulder. “What do you want me to say? It’s a dick.”

“Dirty mouth for a nurse.”

She closed her eyes and made a little grunt. “Like you said. It’s the company I keep. Bad influences.”

He crawled onto the bed and straddled her hips. The cougar part of him acted on instinct, not propriety. She already thought he was a dick, so he didn’t see the harm of ruffling her feathers a bit.

She gave him the side-eye.

“Why do I get the suspicion that your influence is just as bad on them as theirs is on you?”

“I’m a good little Protestant witch. I keep my nose clean and behave myself. My influence is stellar.”

“Behave yourself?
Really
now?”

“You’ll never know, I guess.”

“Won’t I?” He leaned in and put his nose very close to the crook of her neck, inhaling her scent. Tickling her with his breath.

She sighed and rolled onto her back. She blinked a few times and smiled lazily. “Shoo, cat. I’m trying to sleep.”

“You’ll have to catch up later. Gotta get up now.”

“Why? It’s dark out.” She pouted.

“So cute.” He couldn’t help himself. He grabbed that puffy bottom lip between his teeth and pulled it.

Her hands darted out from the sheets, but she seemed unsure of where to put them. They started on his face as he brushed his tongue over her lip, moved down to his shoulders, and finally settled on his biceps. “Uh. Shoo.”

“I will, if you really want me to.” He skimmed his lips across her jaw and kissed down her neck as he let his full weight down on top of her. “You want me to?”

“Mmm.”

He nudged her collar aside and kissed her shoulder.

She smelled so good—like the best kind of aphrodisiac. There was no doubt about it that she wanted him. There was also little doubt that she was going to fight it. He could smell her arousal, her lust.

The hormonal stuff was supposed to be easy. Cougars were alluring in the bed, and every night their would-be mates spent in their lair, the more comfortable they’d become. More willing to take a chance. From the stories Mason had heard, by now she should have already been begging for him. She seemed clearheaded enough, and certainly resistant. Either her restraint was considerable, or his charm was broken. Maybe both.

“You want me to go away, Ellery?” He honestly didn’t know. Arousal didn’t always go hand in hand with consent.

“No. Yes.”

He cupped her face and tilted it up to him. “Which?”

She ground her belly against his cock.

He hissed.

She giggled. “I don’t want you to move.”

“Why not?”

“You talk too much, cat.” She trailed her fingertips up to the back of his neck and fondled the hair at his nape. “I never did like gingers.”

He bristled at that. He was hardly ginger. Not like his brothers were, anyway.

“Aw, that look on your face.” She giggled again. He’d never heard a more suspicious giggle in his life.

“My hair is auburn.”

“That’s just the politically correct way of saying dirty red. Are you red all over? I didn’t get a good look at you before, and now it’s too dark for me to tell.”

He furrowed his brow. “Are you asking if the carpet matches the drapes?”

“Does it?”

“I guess.”

“Let me see.” There was an evil gleam in her eyes. The kind of gleam that made him fear for the ongoing structural integrity of his balls. “Nah, you’ll just have to take my word for it.”

“Still worried I’ll cast a spell and make you shrivel?”

“No, I’m more worried you’ll ram your knee into my crotch. That’s pain I can actually imagine.”

“Been kicked in the junk before?”

“What guy hasn’t been?”

Her mouth opened, and he pressed his index finger against his lips. “Nope. Soccer. Not a failed mate raid.”

“So, you’ve never done this before?”

“Nope.”

“You’ve never had a girlfriend?”

He dropped his hand from her lips and twined his fingers through her hair. It was thick and curly and lush … and he was pretty sure there were still a couple of twigs in it. “I didn’t say that.”

“So, you just fuck indiscriminately until you decide to try monogamy?”

“Nope. We fuck like any other men. Some more than others. Every now and then, a guy happens upon a woman the goddess approves of while he’s doing casual dating, but we try to avoid those kinds of situations.”

“Why?”

Why? Because it was nearly impossible for a man to convince a woman he’d only known a few days to move into his house and agree to be his happily ever after. With strangers, it was easier. No connections. Harder to trace them as abductors. He couldn’t tell her that, though. It’d sounded all too clinical—as if she were just some commodity.

“It’s … complicated, Ellery.”

She rubbed her cheek against his hand.

He stroked her jaw.

She let out a contented sigh.

Odd.
He wasn’t in line to win a McArthur Genius award any time soon, but her quick one-eighty ramped up his wild kitty skepticism.

Her fingertips skipped down his back to his waist, and she ground herself against him again.

This time, he pulled up with his hiss. “You know, I like a morning romp as much as the next guy, and I’d love to get your clothes off, but your behavior is weird right now.”

“You mean, I’m not doing it right?” Her expression suddenly went very flat, as did her voice.

“Doing what right?”

“Being the lovestruck, moon-eyed Cougar mate.”

“You’re playing me. You think I’m stupid?”

She shrugged. “Had to try.”

“Why?”

“To get your guard down. You do have a nice dick, though, dirty red.” She winked.

“For fuck’s sake.” He crawled off the bed and yanked the covers off her. “Rise and shine, brat. Got a busy day ahead.”

She sighed, thrashed a few seconds, and got up. She gave his midsection a malevolent leer as she headed to the door.

“Keep those dirty looks to yourself,” he said as he righted the covers. “I know you want me, Ellery. I can smell it. It’s okay to want me.”

“Wanting to fuck you and wanting you as a person are two different things. I happen to know how to compartmentalize.”

“How about we start with one? I’m under no pretenses that it’ll lead to the other. There’s nothing wrong with a mutual mercy screw.” He fluffed his pillow and propped it up against the headboard. “I’m man enough to admit it’s been a while for me.”

Nineteen months, to be exact.

She put her hand on the doorknob and stared at the floor. Shifting her weight, she seemed to be at least considering the offer, which totally floored him. He didn’t get the impression that she was hard up, whereas at the moment, he would take what he could get. He wouldn’t be able to resist his mate for long, even if she hadn’t yet agreed to stay.

“I’ll pass,” she said softly.

Odd
. No snark. No vitriol. He didn’t know her well enough to guess what was on her mind, but given the way her scent had mellowed so quickly, he suspected it wasn’t something he should poke at.

“Let me know if you change your mind. I won’t hold it against you.”

“No, I imagine you won’t. You’d be holding
me
against
you
.”

He couldn’t help his grin, though from her end, it probably looked like a sneer. Cats tended to have to work harder on expressions. He could feel like he was smiling broadly and actually not be. “That, I would be. Cougars appreciate a good cuddle following a fuck. Keep that in mind, too. I’ll take umbrage if you roll away when you’re done, mercy screw or not.”

She opened the door to the sound of Nick’s coughing on the monitor. “Better put on some pants, dirty red. You’re on the daddy clock now.”

• • •

Mason dragged the collapsed Pack-n-Play from the corner of the woodshop and set it up behind the reception area.

Ellery sank onto the rolling chair at the desk and folded her arms over her chest. “What do you expect me to do all day long while you’re cutting wood?”

He opened the portable crib and set Nick into it. He tossed in a couple of toys and chewable books.

That should entertain him for all of fifteen minutes.

Usually, his mother kept an eye on Nick while Mason worked, but she had her hands full with Hannah and Miles at the moment. Hank and Sean still didn’t know which woman to pick. They’d seen no clues and had no dreams. At some point, Mom was probably going to make them draw straws and get it over with. Miles was fidgety, but distractible. Hannah kept running toward the door. Mom may not have been a cougar, but she was fast when she wanted to be. It also helped that Mom’s deadbolt needed a key to unlock, and Mom wore it around her neck.

Mason pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a long exhale. “If you get really bored, you can do some filing, though I don’t expect you to. We just happen to be behind on that since Mom quit being our receptionist.”

“Hmm. With you as her boss, I wonder why she’d do such a thing.”

“Very funny. Believe it or not, her world doesn’t totally revolve around her children. The ranch is hers, and she’s pretty hands-on with it. The wood business was Dad’s.”

“Good reason to be busy. I’m sure she doesn’t miss the big fat zero you paid her, too.”

“We paid her.”

She pushed up an eyebrow.
Little witchy skeptic.

He sighed. “Okay.
Usually
. Hank does most of the bookkeeping and Sean does pretty much all of the face-to-face with customers. I try to keep the shop from falling apart. Between the three of us, we usually get our act together.”

Kind of. They’d stopped reading their online reviews. They all said the same thing, more or less:
Superior product! Rude customer service. Take your blood pressure meds before phoning.

“Have you considered hiring someone to do sales and admin? Someone
pleasant
, perhaps?”

“It’s going to be a long two weeks if we can’t get through a single conversation without you insulting me.”

“But you set yourself up for it so prettily. Doesn’t he, Nick?”

Nick made a little “Ha” sound and waved a board book at her.

“I already read that one, but thank you. I highly recommend it. Just watch out for the foreshadowing on page eight. That furry monster is up to something.”

And damned if Nick didn’t open the book.
Huh.

Mason gave her a questioning look.

“What?”

“Are you using witchcraft on my kid?”

“No. My magic doesn’t affect minds. It’s physical.”

“He’s acting like he understands you.”

“Babies process more language than they can actually use. Have you tried talking to him?”

Nick looked up very pointedly at that moment and stared at Mason as if he were daring him to lie.

Mason let out a breath. “Not the way you do.”

She put her elbows on the desktop and tented her fingers. Her smile held the perfect balance of
know-it-all
and
don’t-push-me
. Typical Type A, just like Mom. No wonder he couldn’t make sense of her.

He closed the glass door between the front office and the woodshop, and knocked on the large window behind the desk to get Ellery’s attention. He made the universal sign for
I’m watching you
by pointing to his eyes, then to her, just in case she hadn’t figured out yet that running was pointless.

She just stared blankly at him. He pulled the door open. “I mean it. Don’t try to make any outgoing calls from the desk, either. We’ll see the extensions light up on the phone back here.”

“You’ve got every base covered, huh? You should consider making this kidnapping thing a career. You’d earn a pretty penny in ransom.”

“But then I would have to deal with even more women who hate me.”