Wynn appeared neither intimidated nor particularly impressed. “No, you did not, but you didn’t get a chance, did you? I knew it all right from the start, so hiding the facts never would have gotten you anywhere with me.”
“I hide nothing,” Dag cut in, his tone angry and expression stony. “But whatever I choose to do is no business of yours, witch. I can handle my life however I see fit.”
“Um, excuse me?” Kylie found herself raising her hand in her own kitchen and tried not to think too hard about the implications of that. “Anyone care to fill me in on what the hell is going on?”
Wynn opened her mouth, Knox shook his head, Dag bared a fang, and the witch backed off, mumbling, “Apparently not,” half under her breath.
“Dag is correct,” Knox said, laying a hand on his fiancée’s shoulder. “He has the right to conduct himself however he feels is most appropriate. And we all have more important matters to deal with. Perhaps we should simply agree to ‘table’ this discussion, I believe one would say, and focus on the reason why we have all come together here.”
Kylie took note of the similarities in Dag’s and Wynn’s disgruntled expressions. Then she spied Knox’s determination and realized no one was likely to explain what the heck had just happened anytime soon, so she bit back a growl and jumped off her stool.
“Fine,” she said, setting her soda aside with a click. “In that case, I’ll show you guys your room, and then I’m hopping in the shower. We can all use the time to decide what we want for dinner, and we’ll start work when it gets here. Follow me.”
She stalked toward the stairs, not really caring if they obeyed or not. The house wasn’t that big. Eventually, they’d find the only spare room with a bed in it and put two and two together. With the mood she was in, Kylie would even let them find the bedding she’d piled on the nightstand and make their own damned bed.
She just hoped they didn’t stumble across her torn panties in the process.
Crap, she swore as she picked up the pace and raced ahead to retrieve her discarded undergarments. Next time, they get a hotel.
Or, you know, I keep my legs together. Whatever works.
*
Kylie quickly discovered that her state-of-the-art shower-head lacked a setting for self-flagellation, so she turned it to massage and tried to content herself with a mild pummeling. Even the addition of the body jets and the cross-spray couldn’t give her the beating she so richly deserved, but at least the water was hot. Didn’t Christians think sin could be burned away? Wasn’t that the whole rationale behind burning witches?
At the moment, Kylie entertained a fond thought involving one particular witch and a book of matches, but that was probably because she just wasn’t a very nice person. Oh, she used to be, but that was before she got mugged by demon worshippers and entered the Fabulous Land of Make meBelievei’mcrazy. Now, she was finding out she had homicidal tendencies and the morals of a big ol’ slut. Lo, how the mighty were fallen.
Good thing she was so short. It cut down on the trip.
A puff of cool air had her opening her eyes and frowning at the shower settings, but before she could even focus on the temperature gauge, a thickly muscled arm curled around her from behind. It pressed against her just below her breasts, a more effective restraint than a roller-coaster harness. She shrieked loud enough for her bubbeh to hear her.
In Connecticut.
“Hush,” Dag said, hugging her to his naked body. “It is just me.”
Kylie pressed both palms against his forearm and shoved. “Well, just you wasn’t invited, bub, so get out of my shower!”
“No. You are angry with me,” he said, “and while I deserve some of your ire for not protecting you better, I will not allow others to come between us. We must discuss what was said.”
“I’m not interested in a discussion,” Kylie said through clenched teeth. Not only did his arm refuse to budge, but the baseball bat pressing against her lower back told her the rest of him didn’t want to go anywhere, either. “I’m also not interested in anything else you might be thinking about, so I repeat, get. Out.”
“I do not believe that statement to be entirely truthful,” he purred into her ear. His second arm snaked around, and he laid his hand against her belly just above her mound. “Shall I show you why, little human?”
“If you think seducing me is going to do anything but make me more eager to rip your balls off, I have some very important information to share,” she ground out, her teeth clenched together at least as hard as her thighs.
Dag’s hands didn’t move, but then, neither did the rest of him. Well, part of him twitched against her skin, but she didn’t think he could help that. Those things tended to have minds of their own.