Monster mash, p.58
Monster Mash, page 58
“I hate to break it to you, baby, but you’re going to have to catch a later flight. I’m going to take you back to the cabin and spend the rest of the day on my knees apologizing.”
“Oh.” His face flushed bright red.
I arched an eyebrow. “Any objections?”
He laughed and buried his face in my neck. “None at all.”
One Year Later…
The Aspen Holiday Charity Invitational was one of the biggest events of the winter season. Everybody who was anybody was on the slopes or down at the Superpipe. It’d always been a who’s who event for anyone involved in the Xtreme Sportz League. Even if you didn’t compete in the winter games, you showed up to rub elbows with those who did.
I zipped up my coat and glanced around, spotting a group of my sisters on the other side with their GoPros and their cell phones. They were ribbing each other and gawking at all the celebrities like they hadn’t already met half of them before.
Marshall Wallace from Xtra Sports picked his way across the snow-covered landscape with his cameraman and a microphone, clearly headed my way. “Vic! Hey Victor! A moment of your time? I have just a few questions.”
I put on my best smile and turned to greet him. “Sure. Always time for my biggest fans.”
He turned to the camera, adjusting how his tentacles curled around the microphone and clearing his throat before gesturing to the cameraman. “I’m here with former frontrunner Vic Amares, just moments before his return to the games after a six-month hiatus. Vic, how does it feel to be back?”
“Feels good,” I said simply. “Nothing in the world like competing, and Aspen is one of my favorite cities. Plus, it’s all for a good cause. I’m thrilled to be here.”
“You’ve been MIA for a while. Both you and Rebel Rhail. Is it coincidence that you both made the Aspen Charity Invitational your return?”
I smiled and shook my head. “Oh, I don’t believe in coincidence, Marshall. You know that.”
“Anything to say concerning the rumors that the two of you are more than friends?” He pushed the microphone in my face.
Before I could answer, who else but Rebel would come skiing right up to the edge next to me? He was all decked out in his white coat, all the stickers for his new sponsors displayed proudly, both on his back and on the poles. He wore his long, red beard braided now with green and red ribbons in it. Not only was it adorable, but the look softened him a little and provided an easy entry to conversation so he didn’t seem so unapproachable.
Rebel slid to a stop next to me, throwing a little snow at Marshall and the cameraman from how he stopped. “Hey, babe. Sorry to interrupt, but you left your lucky goggles in my pocket.” He grinned and held them out to me, dangling from a finger.
“Aw, that’s so sweet of you to bring them to me.” I took the goggles and planted a kiss on his cheek, lingering there longer than I needed to. “You all ready for the Big Air Competition, love?”
Rebel snorted and lowered his own goggles. “You know it. Been looking forward to beating your record all season.”
I shifted away from the camera to help him adjust how the goggles sat on his face. “I hope you do. It’ll give me something to strive for next season.”
I gasped when his gloved hand came down on my ass with a muffled smack.
He grinned, and no doubt winked at me behind those tinted goggles of his. “If I beat your record, you’ll do that thing I like with your tentacle?”
“If you beat my record,” I agreed and gripped him by the collar, purring, “So you’d better make me proud.”
His name came over the loudspeaker, summoning him into place.
“Okay, love you! Wish me luck!” He pressed another kiss to my cheek before skiing off.
When I turned back to Marshall, the camera was still rolling, but Marshall’s jaw was hanging open in disbelief.
“Oh, no,” I said, feigning embarrassment. “We’re not live, are we? You might have to edit that last bit out. Or did you have more intrusive questions about what we do in our spare time?”
Marshall just stared at me, at a loss for words for once in his life.
I smiled pleasantly and pulled on my lucky goggles. “Well, it’s been fun, gentlemen. Enjoy the show. I’m needed below presently to cheer on my fiancé.”
I left Marshall behind, skiing down the side of the slopes to where a sweet little old lady waited in enough warm layers that she looked like a cozy human meatball.
“Oh, there you are, Vic,” she said, smiling at me and holding out a steaming cup of cocoa. “I was worried you wouldn’t make it in time for Rebel’s big comeback.”
I kissed Gran’s cheek. “I wouldn’t miss that for the world.”
“That reminds me. When’s your event? You’re doing that downhill…thing, aren’t you?”
A smile touched my lips, and I nodded. That was how we’d decided to work things out. Before the season started, we drew slips of paper from a jar, dividing up what events each of us would do. Initially, I’d drawn the Big Air event, but I happily surrendered it to Rebel when it became clear he wanted to do it. After all, there was always next year. In return, he’d given me both the Slope Style event and the Knuckle Huck. Sometimes, it paid to be generous.
“My events aren’t until tomorrow,” I told her, putting my arm around her. “Where’s your blanket, Gran? I promised Rebel I’d keep you warm. Don’t make a liar out of me.”
She chuckled as I adjusted the blanket over her shoulders.
The final announcement for Rebel’s Big Air run came over the loudspeakers and the crowd cheered. You could feel the excitement in the air as Rebel came down the slope toward the ramp. I tensed and leaned forward as he hit it.
Rebel sailed into the air, executing a flawless switch, and the twist getting enough rotation to pull it off. He locked in the grab at the perfect moment. It was the cleanest triple cork 1440 I’d ever seen.
He landed, and the crowd exploded with cheers so loud I couldn’t even hear the announcer. It didn’t matter if he’d broken my record or not. With moves like that? I was so giving him whatever he wanted.
Rebel skied smoothly over to us, wearing a big, bright smile. With the crowd cheering, he stopped in front of me, put an arm around my back, and pulled me in for a breathtaking kiss. The cheering grew louder, but I barely heard it. There was no bigger adrenaline rush in the world than Rebel’s kiss.
Culinary Creatures Shorts
A collection of short stories from the universe
L Eveland
Contents
1. Only Human
2. Toy Shopping and Wolf Topping
3. Afterglow
Inzo
“Inzo, have you seen my red tie?” Adam’s sweet voice echoed into the kitchen from all the way upstairs.
I finished layering the blackberry coulis over two dishes of perfect panna cotta and called up, “I haven’t, and you don’t need a tie tonight. In fact, you don’t need to wear anything.”
“I know that look,” came Adam’s reply from the doorway. He lowered his hand from the door frame and came into the kitchen, planting a gentle kiss against my cheek. “I don’t need it for kinky sex, Inzo. I want to wear it tomorrow when I go to the airport to meet your parents.”
I snorted and shook my head. It was adorable how nervous he was about meeting them. Despite my efforts to talk him down, he’d changed his mind about what he was going to wear three times. I’d already explained they would be exhausted from their long flight in from Naples, and jet lagged enough that interactions would be brief. Still, he was obsessed with this idea that saying…
“I only get one chance to give a first impression,” he recited for the umpteenth time. “I want to make sure it’s a good one.”
“Polpetto, my father once conducted business with the Roman senator in a communal toilet. And this was in the age before civilized contraptions as bidets, my love. They had sponges. On sticks. And had to share.”
“I love modern plumbing.” Adam shuddered and reached for one of the orange wedges.
I smacked his hand away with my tail. “At any rate, if he didn’t form a poor opinion of him after that, I don’t think it will matter if you wear a tie or not.”
Adam lowered his hand. “Yeah, but Roman senators weren’t…” He gestured to himself. “You know.”
My eyes flicked up, appraising him. “Human?”
His cheeks flushed, and he nodded slightly.
Ah, so that was where all his worry was rooted. Once upon a time, humans didn’t mix with other species. They lived in their little human shanty towns and completed menial tasks for wealthy incubi, naiads, minotaurs, or kraken. Until the Human Equality Act roughly a hundred years ago, they’d been second-class citizens. Our wedding would have been not only frowned upon, but illegal.
But just because it was on the books that way didn’t mean everyone agreed with it. My parents were old as dirt, but even they recognized humans should be treated with the same respect as everyone else.
I placed the mint leaves, blueberries, and the orange wedge garnish in the glasses for our evening snack before cupping my fiancée’s cheek. No. He was more than that to me. Adam was the lost part of my soul. He made me whole. Anyone who didn’t see that could fuck off. “They will love you as I do,” I assured him.
Adam sighed, closed his eyes, and leaned into my touch. “I wish I had your confidence.”
“Perhaps something sweet will calm your nerves.” I held out the dish of panna cotta.
He frowned at it and I immediately wanted to destroy whatever he didn’t like about it. “I’m sorry, Inzo. I’m sure it’s delicious, and I know you’ve been working on it all day, but my nerves are too bad to eat.”
I carefully put some cling wrap over the panna cotta dishes and shoved them in the fridge. They wouldn’t be as good tomorrow, but Adam’s happiness was much more important than perfect panna cotta. At least, at home. At the restaurant… Well, we weren’t at the restaurant.
“How about a distraction instead?” I closed the refrigerator with my tail and wrapped my arms around Adam.
He gasped as I yanked him closer, tilting him so that his feet didn’t touch the floor.
My heart jumped at the mix of fear and lust in his features. “Did I scare you, polpetto?” I purred.
His throat worked and his pale cheeks blushed. “N-n-no.”
Then he yelped when I snapped my tail against his ass. “You’re not a very good liar, Adam. Your pulse jumps when you lie.”
He bit his bottom lip, eyes darkening. “You can sense my pulse?”
“Of course I can. I wouldn’t be a very effective incubus if I didn’t know when your heart rate, blood pressure, and hormones all spiked.”
“For a second, I almost forgot that you were a creature honed for feeding on weak little humans like me. You’re bigger, stronger…” Adam put a hand against my chest, right over my heart.
“Faster, too,” I promised and gripped his chin. “I choose to be a chef, Adam, but make no mistake. Beneath this civilized exterior, I am an apex predator. Long before we built cities and lived together in peace, my kind hunted yours in the primordial jungles and vast plains of the world.”
A sultry smirk decorated his beautiful face. “Maybe it’s time you reminded me of that.”
I released him. His eyes widened as he fell, but I didn’t let him hit the ground, holding him up with my tail as I folded my hands behind my back. “Let’s make a deal. If you can make it all the way to the bed and get under the covers, I’ll let you wear one of my ties tomorrow. But if you don’t…” I lifted him back to his feet and leaned in to whisper in his ear. “You’re going to take the knobgoblin and my cock tonight. At the same time.”
The knobgoblin was our pet name for the dildo that had rolled out of his backpack during one of our early cooking lessons. I had since adopted a slight fondness for it, especially the sounds Adam made when I had him sit on it for me.
His eyes widened and he let out a little whimper of worry, though the outline of his rigid cock was clearly visible in his pajama pants.
I smirked and retracted my tail. “Well? Don’t just stand there, Adam. Run.”
Adam
For a minute, I stayed where I was, rooted to the spot, too shocked to move. But then Inzo bared his fangs and snarled in a deep voice I rarely heard outside of the bedroom or when he was really pissed off at the restaurant.
“Run, Adam.”
I bolted, scrambling for the door with the sound of Inzo’s snicker hot on my heels. Luckily, I knew my way from the kitchen to the bedroom like the back of my hand. We traveled that path often enough, I could probably get there in my sleep. I didn’t know if I was faster than Inzo, but maybe I had a chance.
Until the power went out.
I slid to a stop in the hallway. My breath caught in my throat as I was suddenly plunged into darkness. The hairs on my arms stood on end, and the weight of predatory eyes settled on the back of my neck. I turned around, desperately searching the darkness for any sign of where I was in relation to the stairs. It had seemed like they were right there, but when I turned, I only found the wall.
“Your heart is beating so fast,” Inzo said from nowhere and everywhere all around me at once. “It’s almost as if you want me to catch you, polpetto.”
I turned when I saw movement in the corner of my eye. A shadow jerked in the shape of a pointed tail and I backed away, grinning in the dark. “I’m going to make you work for it, at least.”
I grunted when I backed into something solid. A hand from behind gripped my chin and familiar sharp nails bit into my skin. I turned my head, expecting the familiar warmth of Inzo’s lips, but there was no one there. It was as if he had somehow dissipated into smoke.
Or maybe I was imagining things.
I threw my hands out and stumbled forward in the darkness two steps, almost running right into something hard. My fingers wandered carefully up a sloped wooden surface. The banister. A mix of disappointment and relief filled me when I found the stairs, but my adrenaline spiked at the sound of an inhuman growl right behind me.
I gripped the banister and took the stairs up two at a time, whirling to the right when I reached the top. Inzo’s tail snapped against my thigh and I yelped, toe-walking the next few steps.
“I thought I was going to work for it,” he said with a snort.
Despite the sting and the chase—or maybe because of them—my cock was hard as stone. Distractingly hard as I broke into a run down the corridor. Sweat dampened my chest and under my arms. Without the air on, it was unbearably hot in there. Or maybe I just needed to work out more.
I threw a glance behind me as I ran. There was a large window at the opposite end of the hallway, and the moonlight came straight through it, illuminating Inzo’s otherworldly silhouette as he calmly stood at the other end. My heart and my cock both jumped when his glowing red eyes lit up the darkness. He took a step. Shadows danced at his feet and he was gone.
Fuck. How did he do that?
And how many doors had I passed? I paused, trying to gauge how far down the hall I’d gone. Was I next to the office or the bedroom? Screw it. I had to make a choice, so I made one, turning to the right.
I fumbled to find the doorknob, palms too sweaty to get a good grip. Weight slammed into the door on either side of me and heat came to rest against my back, the feeling of Inzo caging me in the place. Fuck, he’d always been bigger than me, but in the dark, that was amplified. I felt so tiny trapped against that door.
Hot breaths fell against my neck. Every inch of skin buzzed, awake and aware of everything, more so than usual thanks to the adrenaline spike. White fangs gleamed.
I finally found my sense and twisted the doorknob. We fell through it together with Inzo landing in a heap on top of me. I’d made it to the bedroom, but I was far from safe. I still had to get to the bed.
I fought to get free of him, grinning in the dark as he made a show of trying to hold me down. As much as I wanted him to win, he’d sparked my competitive spirit, and I wasn’t just going to lie there and let him have his victory.
Somehow, I squirmed out from under him and threw myself toward the bed, arms out.
Inzo pounced and a monstrous snarl tore open the dark. Strong arms wrapped around me, and he tackled me to the bed.
“No!” I shrieked, fighting the urge to laugh. “Oh, come on! I was so close!”
“You were only as close as I let you get, my polpetto,” he purred, nuzzling against my chin. “I could have had you at any moment.”
I snorted. “Only because you cheated by hitting the breaker.”
“It’s not cheating if there’s no rule against it. Besides, this says you wanted me to catch you.”
I bit my lip when he palmed my dick through my pants. “Okay, you got me there.”
Inzo sat up and snarled. I imagined his lip twitching with irritation. I gasped as he hooked a clawed finger in the waistband of my sleeping pants and tore them in half.
“You are entirely too well dressed,” Inzo declared.
I started to protest, since that was the fourth pair of pajama pants he’d shredded that week, but as soon as I opened my mouth, he shoved his tail inside.
“Get that nice and wet for me, would you darling?” Inzo said, his voice betraying his wicked smile.
I groaned around the shape of his tail in my mouth, my eyes rolling back. There was just something so deliciously dirty about the way he had me do this. Knowing what was coming only made me want it more. I licked up the thick ridge in the center of his tail, diligently coating it in my saliva like he ordered. He rolled his tail around inside my mouth, caressing my tongue with it. I closed my lips around it and sucked deeply, drawing a moan out of Inzo.
“That’s quite enough of that,” he growled, pulling his tail free.
Strong, sure hands gripped my hip and flipped me over as if I were nothing but a pancake to him. I pulled my knees up under me, letting my thighs fall apart and presenting my ass like a dog in heat.
