Page 21 of The Witch's Werewolf
Cherry jumps when she sees me.
“Timber! What are you doing here?” Her hands are busy stocking a new supply of pomegranate lime jar candles, and the smell is too strong for my liking. Residual canine scent glands.
“I was going to ask you the same thing. What are you doing here on a Sunday?” I ask, setting down the drink tray. Cherry’scoworkers take the drinks with an overture of thanks. “Don’t you spend the day with your grandma?”
She straightens out the row of candles she’s just stocked, making sure all the labels face forward. “I decided to pick up an extra shift to keep my mind off certain things. So, what’s your reason for being here?”
“I wanted to bring you a coffee,” I say, handing her the last remaining drink. She doesn’t take it, so I set it on the counter by the register. “And I need to talk to you.”
Cherry turns to face me.
“I-I need to talk to you too,” she says, a pink flush coloring her cheeks.
I nod. “You first, then.”
“I think we should stop seeing each other. I make bad decisions every time I’m with you. Now you go.”
I don’t stop to allow myself to have feelings about what she’s just said.
“If that’s the case, you need to promise me that tonight, you’ll stay home and lock your doors. No exceptions. No excuses. I don’t want to see you out and about tonight at all.”
Cherry crosses her arms. “I can control myself around you, you know.”
I don’t visibly disagree, though we both know that’s a lie. It’s more important to let her have some dignity than for me to be right.
“If I see you tonight, neither of us will be in control.”
“Well, Alma’s going to work on some more protection spells with me tonight, so I already have plans, if you must know.”
I nod and smile at her attempt at being haughty with me. Still so fucking adorable. “I’m glad,” I say, then lower my voice for only her to hear. “Because last night, I triggered your heat. I can smell it in your pheromone secretions right now.”
A snort sounds from the coworkers in the corner, sipping their coffee and watching us.
Guess I didn’t lower my voice enough.
“That’s ridiculous,” Cherry says, her eyes cutting toward her coworkers self-consciously. Her scent of arousal enhances even though she’s embarrassed. “Humans don’t come with that feature.”
“They do. And also, may I remind you, you’re not a typical human. Why do you think those two over there are called normies?”
Cherry shakes her head. “Okay, okay. I’ll stay in tonight. Just please never say the word ‘secretions’ to me again.”
“It’s a deal.”
I turn to go, feeling proud of myself that I’ve kept it platonic between us in the moment. That we can have a rational conversation in public without our physical needs taking over.
But as I go to leave, she jumps me.
Blurting out, “Screw it,” Cherry’s hands reach for my shirt, and she pulls me back to her, landing a frantic, demanding kiss to my lips.
I growl into her mouth and pull her hips toward me, just for a moment.
The kiss is not as soft and playful as the first time we kissed. Her tongue licks into my mouth, and mine does the same to hers. She tastes like candy corn and pumpkin spice. Her breath hitches as I bring her in tighter, fully pressing her body to mine.
I need to feel every inch of her, and I might just do it in public, right in front of her coworkers, forgetting the conversation we just had about restraint.
“Oh goddess. You’d better go,” she says, pushing me away as I laugh. “I’ve gotta call Alma.”
It’sall I can do to leave, and I haven’t even marked her as mine.
