Click. Click. Click.
I turned to find Maggie trotting up to me, her nose pushing into my hand. Behind her, Zoe was stepping from my bedroom, and the hair on my arms stood up as her presence altered gravity and the electrical pull between Earth and moon.
Damn. She looked good, her hair a mad tangle around her face. Even the bruises and red scratches couldn’t detract from how naturally lovely she was. And her legs. Jesus.
My cock fired to life, pulsing in the thin cotton of the sleeping pants I wore. Shit. I turned back to the snow and stuffed my hands in my pockets. “Good morning.”
I felt her approach, the way magnets must feel the presence of their opposite being pulled to them, and electricity crackled over my skin.
“Oh, my heavens.” Beside me now, she gaped in wide-eyed wonder at the snow. She looked up at me, those green eyes dancing as a smile spread over her face. “That doesn’t even seem real.”
“Come help me dig out a place for Maggie to do her business, and you’ll learn exactly how real this is.”
She laughed, her fingers moving to the window. To help her stay steady, I realized, as she swayed just a bit.
“How are you feeling?”
She wrinkled her nose. “My head feels a little less like a ticking bomb sitting on my shoulders, so I’m calling that a win.”
Leaning against the glass, I captured her chin in my hand. “Let me see.” Mimicking my position, she looked up at me. Her pupils were still unevenly dilated, which was concerning but not abnormal after such a blow. “Close.” Without hesitating, she closed her eyes, her long dark lashes fanning her cheeks. “Open.” Still uneven, but not as dilated as last night. I smiled down at her and dropped my hand to my side, stuffing it back in my pocket. “They look better.” So did the wound on her head. It was closing up nicely.
She smirked. “I thought my black eye looked pretty incredible. Purple was always one of my best colors.”
In spite of my efforts to not touch her, I reached up and stroked the bruised skin with my thumb. “It’s a good one for sure.”
The atmosphere pulsed, thickened. My eyes fell to her lips and…
Meow-eek.
Zoe exhaled, pushed her hair back from her face, and took a step away from me, although each move appeared to have cost her much effort. In the center of the room, the white furball squatted and peed more urine than an animal that small could possibly contain. “Oh no.”
Still staggery, Zoe picked him up, got a few hissing whacks in return while I headed to the kitchen for paper towels. “This is where you go,” she singsonged to the little shit as she sat him in the makeshift litter box. He immediately jumped out and pounced on the belt of her robe. When she stood, he went up with her, his sharp little claws hanging on.
I chuckled. I couldn’t help it. The damn thing was bipolar, but cute.
Maggie whined, regaining my attention. She was once again giving me her please look.
I looked outside at the continuing storm, then pointed at the litter box. “Want to try that, girl?” She didn’t look amused. I knew I was defeated when she gave me that look again. “Alright. You win.” I looked at Zoe. “I’m going to have to dig her out a spot. Eat whatever sounds good, or I’ll make something when I get back. All the appliances run on gas, except the microwave and coffee maker. If you want caffeine, you’ll have to use the press sitting next to it, and if you want anything zapped, you’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way.”
She raised an eyebrow and gave a pointed stare at the massive six burner stove. “Old-fashioned, huh? I’ll tell that to my heroines who are cooking a cut up rabbit on a spit over the fire.”
I grinned. Damn. My face was starting to hurt from smiling so much. “It’s all relative.”
Maggie whined again, reminding me that I needed to be digging instead of flirting. I gave her a little salute and headed to my closet to suit up.
When I got back to the living room, I found that the kitten had climbed onto Zoe’s shoulder and was whacking at her hair. She seemed to be enjoying the momentarily playful creature. Maggie just looked desperate.
“Come on, girl.”
“Be careful, dear,” Zoe teased, her green eyes alight with mischief. “I’ll have coffee brewing if I can ever figure this percolator contraption out.”
“It’s a French press. The manual is in the drawer in the laundry room if you need help.”
The kitten was trying to climb on top of her head, and when she pulled it off, he hung on for dear life, taking about half of her hair with him. Crazy cat. At least the little shit wasn’t taking a swipe at her face.
Thoroughly annoyed with me, Maggie jumped and put her paws on the door. I pulled my gaze away from Zoe and headed that way. When I opened the door, the icy wind was like a full body slap.
“Oh my heavens.”
I looked back to see Zoe’s robe flying away from her legs, her hair sweeping behind her from the force of the wind tunneling into the cabin. The kitten went nuts in her hands as he tried to figure out what was happening. The look on the goddess’s face was priceless as she attempted to contain the squirming creature and not get cut to ribbons in the process.
I was laughing when I pulled the door closed, having to fight the strong wind to do so. As I shoveled, I realized I was still smiling. Hell, I was even humming. Humming. When I ran back through the tune I’d been singing, I realized it was “Sex on Fire.”
Damn, the goddess was under my skin.
When I’d dug out enough space for Maggie to do her business, I turned my back so she’d jump off the porch. The sweet girl was modest. She didn’t care so much about peeing, but pooping was a different story. She even looked embarrassed by her occasional farts and would often slink off when she let one loose, leaving me to deal with the smelly aftermath.
When I heard Mags digging to cover the evidence, I turned back around. “Feel better, girl?”
In response, she woofed and bounded into a pile of snow, completely disappearing. Then she was off, jumping and playing like a puppy as I got back to work. I chuckled. A good shit could do that for a person, or animal.
Nearly an hour later, I’d done enough and was nearly frozen to the core. I’d made a path to the garage and that was good enough.
Stomping my boots off on the porch, I waited for Mags to shake off some of the snow and ice stuck to her fur before opening the door. She trotted inside and went immediately to the fire, plopping down on her favorite rug. The kitten, who’d been watching us warily from the hearth, went into a fit of hissing and jumping before scampering under the couch like the devil himself was about to take a huge chunk out of his ass.