My Kind of Town Read online

  “Don’t even think about leaving,” his deep voice replied from the darkness as he easily moved around the house with absolutely no light to see by.

  She really hated when he got that tone. “Look, I’m just trying to protect your egotistical ass. It’s not safe for me to be here.”

  “I don’t need your protection. And you couldn’t be safer.”

  Emma looked at the open door and wondered about making a run for it. Then she heard the howling.

  “Wh … what was that?” Was it that thing coming for her?

  “Wolves. Nothing to worry about.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Very.”

  “Aren’t they dangerous? I thought they were … uh, predators or something.”

  “They like to think so, but I consider them more scavengers myself.”

  After several moments, a match flared and met paper. The fireplace burned to life, and Emma looked at the room she stood in for the first time.

  “Wow,” she muttered as she examined what she could see. “This is really cute.”

  Kyle stood and walked over to her. “Cute? I wasn’t going for cute, darlin’. I was going for rugged and manly.”

  This didn’t surprise Emma. All made from highly polished and gorgeously put-together wood, the floors, ceiling, and furniture looked as if they could handle any abuse. One big picture window looked out over the forest surrounding Kyle’s property, with smaller windows dotting the rest of the house. Not a big place at all, with the living room flowing into the dining room, which flowed right into the kitchen, a hallway led off, and she assumed that it led to Kyle’s bedroom. The enormous couches and chairs were plush and begged her to stretch out and take a quick nap.

  Yeah, this place wasn’t big or fancy, but it was beautiful.

  “Well …” she teased, trying to lighten a mood that could definitely turn sour, “you definitely managed cute.”

  Grinning, he stepped around her and closed the door. “You must be freezing.”

  “No. Just a little chilled.” She stepped over to the fireplace and looked at the pictures that were on the mantel. The first one that grabbed her eye was the picture of Kyle with his arm around a young woman. Since it still was kind of dark, Emma leaned in closer, trying to get a good look without setting herself on fire by falling into the fireplace. Who the hell was this woman? And why the hell did Emma care?

  “That’s my baby sister,” Kyle’s voice announced in her ear.

  Emma barely stopped herself from jumping out of her skin. The man moved without making a sound. She found it unsettling.

  “Um … yeah. I can tell,” she lied. “You two look alike.”

  “Actually, she looks more like Tully. She’s our half-sister. Born after my parents got married.”

  “She’s really cute.”

  “Yup.”

  Clearing her throat, Emma looked at the other pictures. “Wow,” she exclaimed again. “Did you get this at a wildlife reserve or something?”

  She took the picture off the mantel and crouched in front of the fireplace for a better look. She’d never seen anything like it. Two wolves. Two black panthers. And one … Her eyes squinted. Jesus, what is that thing? It kind of looked like a big cat, but its ears were weird and it had a bit of a snaggletooth problem. Whatever it was, they were all together. Practically snuggling. She’d never seen panthers and wolves “snuggle”.

  Kyle crouched next to her and smiled at the picture. “Reserve? Yeah, something like that.”

  “It’s just … I’ve never seen these kinds of animals together in one picture. And this wolf looks like he’s … posing?” She could almost hear it growling, “Cheese!”

  Her eyes narrowed. “What’s on that wolf’s ear? Is that an earring?”

  With an awkward laugh, Kyle took hold of the frame. “Yeah. Sure. Like a pirate dog.” He stood and carefully placed the picture back on his mantel.

  “So,” he said, staring down at her, “you’re a witch.”

  That wasn’t really a question, now was it?

  “Whatever gave you that idea?” She tried to make that sound light and airy, like Seneca would have. Of course, that girl could talk herself out of any situation. That’s how they got out of hell. From what they knew, Satan still spoke of Sen kindly.

  “What gave me that idea? I saw you manipulate lightning.”

  “Oh.” She waved that away. “That’s like juggling.”

  “Juggling? You expect me to believe that?”

  With a deep sigh, Emma walked over to one of Kyle’s couches and dropped onto it. “No. I don’t expect you to believe it.”

  He crouched in front of her, his big fingers touching her cheek gently. “Then tell me what’s going on, Emma.”

  Nine

  Kyle reared back. “What do you mean, no?”

  “I mean no. I’m not telling you anything.”

  “Why the hell not?”

  Emma stood and walked around him. “Because it’s none of your business.”

  “It is now.”

  Rubbing her hands over her face, she said, “Kyle … don’t make this difficult.”

  She hadn’t called him by his first name since that hot dream. He liked when she said his name. Even when she snarled it.

  “Emma, I wish you would trust me.”

  “You don’t trust me.”

  He cringed inside and worried about where this might be going. “What do you mean?”

  “Oh, come on.” She turned around and faced him. “Do I look stupid to you?”

  “No, but—”

  “I know what’s going on.”

  “You do?”

  “Yeah.” She raised herself on her toes so she could look him squarely in the neck. “Government. Experiment.”

  It took him a second, but when he laughed in her face … no, she didn’t take that well at all.

  “I’m leaving.”

  “And going where?” he demanded as she snatched open the front door. And just as quickly she closed it again.

  “There’s a wolf in front of your porch.”

  Kyle cleared his throat. “Yeah?”

  Her eyes narrowed and she growled between clenched teeth, “Government. Experiment.”

  “This is not a government experiment. It’s the South. There’s a lot of nature and … stuff around.”

  “Nature and stuff?” Nope. She didn’t sound like she believed him at all. “Do I look like an idiot to you?”

  “Of course not.”

  Kyle’s phone went off, and he snatched it off his jeans.

  Emma held her hand out. “That’s for me.”

  Now Kyle narrowed his eyes and answered. “Hello?”

  “Hello. Can I speak to Emma, please?” said a female voice.

  He handed the phone over and Emma took it from his hand and walked out of the room. The bathroom door slammed shut, and he was about to go over there and shove it open, since he had no locks on his doors anyway, when his landline rang.

  “Yeah?”

  “Hey, big brother.”

  Kyle smiled. “Kit-Kat. What’s up, darlin’?”

  “Bear wanted me to let you know everything’s okay. That thing … at the hospital. She fried it.”

  “But it was still fighting. It came after us.”

  “It did,” his sister agreed. “Until I took a shovel to its head. Again and again and again. Then it stopped fighting completely. Miss Sophie and Miss Addie are heading over here now to deal with the remains, which I have to say … smell damn funky.”

  Kyle’s smile turned into a grin. He absolutely loved his baby sister.

  “Aren’t you just the handy girl.”

  “I am. Now the question is, are you all right? Heard you were the white knight and rescued our little Miss Emma.”

  “Something like that.”

  “Well, you can tell her the coast is clear.”

  Kyle frowned. He knew if he told Emma that, she’d leave. And he didn’t want her to. “Mayb
e. Sure. But she isn’t feeling real friendly at the moment.”

  Katie took a deep breath. “Kyle, I’ve heard rumors.”

  “What rumors?”

  “Well, I’m sure you’ve figured out she’s a witch.”

  “Duh.”

  “The Coven and the Elders are fighting it out. The Coven wants your little helpless victim and her coven to take over for them.”

  “She’s hardly helpless. And what do the Elders have to do with who takes over and who doesn’t?”

  “That’s what I was thinking. But it turns out that this new coven don’t worship that wood nymph goddess. Artie something?”

  Kyle rolled his eyes. “Artemis?”

  “Yeah. Her.”

  “You never did pay attention in mythology class.”

  “Boring. Anyway, they apparently worship the darker goddesses. Which I find damn fascinating.”

  Of course she did. Katie loved trouble.

  “The Elders aren’t happy, but the Coven is standing firm.”

  “All right. Thanks for letting me know what’s going on.”

  “You going to tell her the truth?”

  “What truth?”

  “About why this town needs a coven.”

  “No. That’s not my responsibility.”

  “Kyle—”

  “No. ‘Cause to be honest, baby sister, I don’t think she has any intention of staying. And it’ll be a cold day in hell when I tell a Yankee anything that could put my town at risk.”

  “Suit yourself. But Tully says you like her.”

  “You and Tully mind your own damn business.”

  “Fine. Be that way.” His sister hung up the phone, and Kyle sighed.

  Damn family.

  “Why did I suddenly roll out of bed?”

  Emma closed the bathroom door. “Bad dreams?”

  “Emma.”

  “Okay. Okay. That thing that tried to kill me. It tried again. I think I got it, but I had to pull some mighty power to make it happen.”

  “What did you use?”

  “Lightning.”

  “Ooh. Using nature. Good move.” Jamie could be entertained by the strangest things.

  “I don’t know if I killed it, though. And I don’t know if we conjured that thing.”

  “How bad is this?”

  Emma took a breath. “I’d say not that bad ‘cause I know we could handle it, except for one thing.”

  “Which is?”

  “Another coven. An older one. Living here. Came to the hospital to check me out. And I don’t know why.”

  “Maybe they wanted to make sure you wouldn’t be any trouble. You know, protecting their town.”

  “Maybe. Only it didn’t feel that way. I’d swear they were expecting me.”

  “Really?” She could hear the interest in Jamie’s voice. “I’m not liking the sound of that, sweetie.”

  Cringing, Emma said, “You’re coming down here, aren’t you?”

  “What do you think?”

  Emma thought about it a moment, then nodded. “It’s probably for the best. Even if I killed this thing, Jamie, we need to make sure there’s no more.”

  “You’re worried about that little town.”

  “It’s a nice place. Weird. But nice. If we unleashed something here … we have to clean it up. We have to fix it.”

  “We will. I promise. Look for us tomorrow. We’ll be there.”

  “I know you will.”

  “Are you okay?”

  Emma closed her eyes. “I feel raw. Angry.”

  “It’s all that power you used, combined with the fear. What you’re feeling is normal. It’ll dissipate.”

  “When? ‘Cause I don’t like it.”

  “Hard to tell. Jogging helps, though. Or sometimes I do yoga.”

  “Yoga? Did you just recommend yoga to me?” Even as she said the words, Emma could hear herself getting louder and could feel more anger than she normally ever had to deal with bubbling up inside her.

  “Uh … Em?”

  “Is there anything about me that says I like to twist myself into a pretzel? Seriously. Because I’d like to know.”

  “Well, sweetie, it was just a suggestion.”

  “A stupid suggestion.”

  “Okay. On that note, I’m going to let you go get some rest or something before we get into a really ugly fight and hex each other over the phone.”

  “Fine. Whatever.” Emma slapped the phone closed and tried to get control of her running emotions. Tomorrow she’d have to apologize to Jamie, but at the moment, if the woman happened to be standing right in front of her, Emma felt pretty confident she’d punch her lights out.

  Liking the idea way more than she should, Emma snatched the bathroom door open to find Kyle standing there.

  And that’s when she absolutely lost it.

  Emma pushed past Kyle and stormed back into the living room. “Were you listening to my phone conversation?”

  “No,” he answered honestly. “I wanted to see if you were hungry. Or if you needed some dry clothes.”

  She spun on him and threw his phone right at his chest. “Don’t lie to me!”

  Kyle took a deep breath. “Emma, I know you’ve had a long night.”

  “Yeah. And?”

  “So maybe you should calm down.”

  Emma marched up to him, her small but surprisingly strong forefinger slamming into his chest, punctuating each word she spoke. “Don’t. Tell. Me. To. Calm. Down!”

  “Don’t yell at me, and stop poking me with that damn tiny finger.”

  Emma’s eye twitched, and Kyle watched as she took her forefinger and slowly moved it toward his chest.

  What the hell is she doing?

  After what seemed like hours, Emma’s small finger poked his chest. Hard.

  Kyle lightly slapped her hand away, getting good and pissed off himself. “Stop it, Emma.”

  She poked him again.

  “I said stop it.”

  And again. “If it’s annoying you so much”—and again—“then stop me your damn self.”

  And again.

  Like that, Kyle’s control snapped like dry wood during a summer heat wave.

  Without thought, only animal instinct, he grabbed hold of Emma’s hand and yanked her close. She gave a startled gasp but said nothing else. He needed her to say “Stop.” He needed her to say it before it didn’t matter what the hell she said.

  Instead, she looked up at him, her lips slightly parted.

  “Emma.” He growled her name. Snarled it. She didn’t run. Didn’t try and pull away. No. Instead, the crazy little Yankee raised herself the smallest bit on her toes, her eyes staring straight at his mouth.

  “Damn it!” was the last thing he said before he claimed her mouth with his. Like everything else about their relationship, even their kiss was a fight. Their tongues sparred for dominance while Emma pushed that soft little body against his and wrapped her arms around his neck.

  The last thing his rational mind thought or, in this case, prayed, “Please, Lord. Don’t let her change her mind.”

  Asshole, asshole, asshole. Kyle Treharne was such an asshole. Didn’t stop her from wanting him, though. She wanted the man more than she’d ever wanted anything before in her life.

  She especially wanted him like this. Kind of wild and out of control. Emma had never had a guy treat her like he couldn’t wait to fuck her. She’d always had polite, kind sex with polite, kind guys who acted like they couldn’t wait for her to meet their mother. Taking her to bed seemed perfunctory, not something they had to do before they lost their minds.

  Kyle pulled out of their kiss with an angry snarl that should have had her running back out into the storm. Instead, she worried he might be trying to bail on her. He pushed her back several feet until the back of her legs hit the couch. With one shove, she landed on the big sectional. Before she had a chance to get back up, he was on top of her, his mouth devouring hers, his hands damn near everywhere on her body
. She felt completely naked but she still wore her wet oversized sweats.

  Big hands slipped under her sweatshirt, pushing the thick cotton up until her breasts were exposed. Never really needing a bra before anyway, she’d decided to forgo one during her hospital stay. Kind of Emma’s way of running wild. So worth it, if Kyle’s groan of appreciation told her anything.

  His mouth skimmed across her upper chest, his rough tongue leaving a wet trail along her heated flesh. The tip of Kyle’s nose tickled her already-hard nipples and she couldn’t help but giggle. Then he sucked one into his so-warm mouth and Emma gasped, her back arching, pushing her closer to him. Her hands, originally gripping the arm of the couch, now gripped the back of Kyle’s head, forcing him closer to her, demanding what he seemed more than ready to give.

  A rumbling purr resonated from him and right into her, setting her entire body on fire. She wrapped her legs around Kyle’s waist and her hips pushed against his like he was already fucking her. Like he was already inside of her, buried deep.

  Releasing one breast, he leaned up and kissed her again, stopping only to pull her sweatshirt completely off. Then he went to her other breast, and Emma wondered exactly how much more she could take. Her need to come was nearly wiping out her sanity, and yet he kept playing with her.

  He slid his fingers down her stomach, under the sweatpants, and under her panties. Two fingers pushed inside her, and Emma cried out, clinging to him tighter, one hand still digging into his scalp, the other leaving nail marks in his shoulder.

  His fingers fucked her hard, not remotely gentle. And she didn’t want him to be. She wanted him to fuck her so hard she would scream his name and promise to buy him a Florida condo. She wanted the son of a bitch to fuck her raw. She knew he would, too.

  “God, Kyle!”

  Her plea ripped another growl from him, and he released her long enough to sit back on his haunches so he could pull down her sweatpants. He got them down as far as he needed them to be, then he reached for her.

  She grabbed his hands and he snarled at her. “What?” His voice might sound like he was pissed off, but his light eyes were begging her not to stop him. Pleading.

  “Con … condoms,” she stammered out.

  He blinked, like he’d suddenly come back into the room. Then he scrambled off her and disappeared into the blackness. She’d never seen a man move so fast—and, even more importantly, he was moving that fast for her.