Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 71843 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71843 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
“And you think what, that I need to be rewarded for that or something?”
“No,” I said with a sigh. “What I think is that I’m the only one who Sam Kage loves and wants and can’t do without, and what a rush that is.”
“I think you’ve got that backwards,” he said softly, and I could tell he was touched.
“No.”
“So you what, want me under your power?”
“Yes,” I husked, lifting my long-sleeved T-shirt and trying to pull it up over my head, but my wrist hurt, and so did my other arm.
He was around the bed fast, helping me, and when he gently eased me out of it, I immediately reached for his towel.
“You always have me under your power,” he said, letting me tug the towel loose as he took my face in his hands, tipped my head back, and bent and kissed me.
I melted into the kiss, sucking on his tongue before I rubbed mine over his, lifting up, stretching to wrap my arms around his neck as he slid my sweats and underwear down over my hips. I finally had Sam Kage all over me, touching my skin, erasing what had been done, and between the heat and desire, nothing else mattered.
He was gentle, I was not, and the smile I got later, when I was panting in his arms, made me finally feel like me. I knew who I was, always, but it never hurt to have the person that loved me most look at me with the same love back.
Since going downstairs covered in sweat and smelling like sex was not about to happen, once we were both presentable, I got a piggyback to the kitchen, where food preparation was happening. Specifically, cookies.
“Uhm,” I said, looking at Jake as he attempted to roll out sugar cookie dough, “how did you get that much flour on you, buddy?”
“What?” he asked, turning his head to me, which made some of it float in the air like snow. It was sort of pretty.
“You look like you should be doing Kabuki,” I commented.
Kola, who was behind him, at the oven, pulling cookie sheets out and putting more in, rolled his eyes. “Hannah said some flour, and he looks like an extra from Scarface.”
I snorted.
“I told him he didn’t need to use the flour sifter,” he apprised me, “but he was like no, Hannah uses it.”
“Where is Hannah?” I asked him.
“She and Harper are pouring the Yule candles downstairs. We’ll be on decoration duty in about an hour.”
“The rest of us, not your father,” Sam decreed, and then turned me around to face him. “You get to go veg on the couch.”
“But I like decorating candles, and this is the last sabbat of the year.”
“Imbolc is right around the corner,” he assured me.
“I love how on top of all the Wiccan holidays you are, Chief Deputy.”
“Shuddup,” he ordered, sweeping me off my feet and depositing me gently on the couch before handing me the remote. I got a kiss on the forehead before he left me. As I turned on the TV, I heard him ask who was going with him to pick up Chinese food.
“Me and Harper’ll go get it,” Kola informed his father. “You stay here with Pa.”
“Nope,” Sam told his son, “it’s a weird night. It’s a Friday night, and I don’t trust it. No one’s going anywhere without me. So whoever’s riding shotgun, except for the cookie king over here, let’s go.”
“What?” Jake whined.
“Don’t forget to stop and get whipped cream.” I called out.
“I’m on it,” Sam promised when he came to kiss me goodbye.
Since the candles were done being poured downstairs, Harper and Kola both went with Sam, and after Hannah came up and laughed herself silly—she could barely breathe—she used the Dustbuster in the kitchen and vacuumed Jake off. Normally I would have swept, but my wrist wouldn’t allow that. Jake got the bulk of the flour with the broom, and then Hannah went over it with the Dyson, using the attachments on the hard-to-reach places. I got up and out the Swiffer when she was done, before anyone could stop me, because yeah, it was that bad.I took a seat at the kitchen table and watched as she mopped.
“I wanted you to be impressed with my cookie game,” Jake mumbled. “I wanted to help you.”
“Oh, honey, you so did,” she cooed, leaning in to kiss him, once and then again, her smile full of adoration for him. “You were a big help.”
As he washed his hands, she turned and gestured at the chaos that was oddly shaped, strangely decorated holiday cookies.
I mouthed the words, we’ll fix it.
“I still think I could’ve been a bigger help with the candles,” he said as he scrubbed wet dough off his hands.
Her eyes were huge as she shot me a look of horror. I stifled the laugh, understanding at once why Harper had been helping her instead. Having Jake destroy cookies was preferable to having him mess up beeswax that was less forgiving as it heated and was then poured.