Bite Me (The Transfigured Ones Book 2) (13 page)

“The couch,” she said, as if it made all the sense in the world to ignore the perfectly good bed in the other room. “That way when I'm watching hour upon hour of that mind-numbing car show with you I can fondly remember the time I fucked you senseless on the couch.”

“You don't like my car show? I wonder if you feel anything like I do when you make me watch those rude American girls that like to fight with each other and drink. I'm all for liberated women, but it's a bit much.”

Caroline laughed as she undid his belt. “I'm sure it's exactly like that.”

Magnus hissed when she slid her hand down the front of his jeans and briefs to wrap her hand around his cock. “I'm too on edge. I have been since I started licking that beautiful cunt of yours.”

Together they pushed his pants and briefs down. He kicked them off and then asked, “Where do you want me?”

“Oh, I can think of a number of places, but if you'd just sit down on the couch...”

He raised an eyebrow and sat down. He'd clearly need to file that bit of information away for later. Settling in, he stroked a hand over his cock trying to relieve some of the pressure.

Caroline quickly straddled his lap, and adjusted herself until she was poised over his cock. She reached down and lined it up with her opening. Rather than pressing down on him, she swiped the head of his cock through her wet slit.

“Oh,” he groaned. “Let me inside that tight little pussy. I'm a dying man, Caroline.”

Biting her lip, Caroline slowly slid down until he was fully buried inside. “Fuck. I will never get over how good you feel inside me.”

“I should hope not,” he ground out as she started rotating her hips slowly. “I don't intend to let you go. Fuck, love. Ride me. Hard.”

She rose up above him, until only the tip of him remained inside her and slammed back down. He could feel the deliberate clench of her internal muscles on the down stroke. “Like that?”

“That's right. Just like that. Fuck yourself on my cock,” Magnus groaned. “Fuck. Baby, play with your clit. I'm about to lose it and I want you coming on my cock.”

“Come inside me,” she begged, rubbing furiously at her clit. “Fill me up with it.”

Any inclination to let her control the pace disappeared. His fingertips digging into her hips, he held her stationary and fucked her from below. He was seconds from losing it. “Give it to me, Caroline. I can feel you fluttering around my cock!”

“I'm so close!”

No longer able to hold on, Magnus slammed her down on his cock one last time and sank his teeth into her neck. The warm coppery liquid filled his mouth as he exploded inside her. He swallowed and felt her whole body shudder against him as her pussy clamped down on his cock.

Caroline cried out his name and then slumped forward against him, her body going lax with pleasure. “God. Damn.”

“I lost it there at the end,” he apologized, his tongue swiping at the blood droplets on her neck.

“Mm,” she laughed. “No need to be sorry. I'm never going to look at that stupid car show the same, now.”

“I'm still going to hate every minute of that reality television crap you like to watch so much,” he mumbled. “But I will definitely remember this moment very fondly.”

“I'm fond of my Aunt Sara's cat, Magnus. I think you can do better than that,” she accused.

“I love you,” he said, pressing a quick kiss to her lips. “Madly. How's that?”

“Perfect.” Leaning her head down on his shoulder, she smiled and said, “I love you too, Magnus. Desperately.”

Chapter Fourteen

“Hey there. Got a second?” Lilly asked, hovering in the doorway of her office, an uncertain look on her face.

Caroline looked up at her and frowned. “Yeah, boss. What's up? Is everything okay?”

              A pained look on Lilly's face, she sighed. “No. It's not okay. I didn't want anyone to bring this up and blindside you. One of the blogs that reviewed the event... Uh. It's not good. I think you need to read this.”

Caroline took the print out from her and read by by-line. “I don't even remember giving this interview. This must've been the one Magnus handled the day after the party.”

“I'd say he handled it, alright.”

Cautiously, she continued to read. The introduction was standard. Usquebaugh. Fantastic ambiance. Delightful food. Unique and well-designed additions to the drink menu. Then she saw what Lilly was talking about. Magnus had not only taken credit for the whole idea of the drink and Prix Fixe menu but he'd gone so far as to say that some of the drinks had been his doing. He thought the flavor combinations had been somewhat uninspired, so he fixed them. Later in the piece, when asked about the scene, he'd said, 'It was inappropriate and I was bloody embarrassed. It's a place of business at the end of the day.'”

There were some of his other normal comments woven in there. He talked about how it was difficult to not believe the hype about yourself. His thoughts about the disconnect between the front and the back of the house was mentioned.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” Caroline said, setting down the paper without finishing the article.  “It's one thing to throw me under the bus professionally,” she said, her voice cracking. “Why would he have said that about my family? Fuck, Lilly.”

“On a personal level, I'd like to kick his ass. On a professional level, I can't fire him for being a dickhead. I'm tempted though.”

“Lilly. I told my parents to fuck off for him.”

Lilly arched an eyebrow in the same way that Talan was prone to doing. “You did that for him?”

“For me, too. Mostly for me. The fact that my mother was so unforgivably rude to him was the final straw, basically. Jesus. How could I have been so stupid?  He joked with me about things. Being an egomaniac or whatever. I didn't think he was serious,” Caroline said, her forehead resting on her forearms.

“I don't know what the hell happened. I think you need to have a long talk with him, though. This isn't the way to start out a relationship.”

“I just gave notice at my apartment. He asked me to move in the other day. I was going to wait until December, but I talked to my landlord last week and he said he'd let me out early because there was a tenant in need of a two bedroom. Fuck!”

“I saw the way he looked at you, honey. This doesn't make sense. I don't know what happened but I find it hard to believe that he'd be so callous. Magnus can be a jerk sometimes, but this is really extreme.”

Caroline took a shaky breath and said, “Maybe you're right. Maybe it's a misunderstanding. I'll ask him about it and see what he says.”

“I waffled over showing you this when the planner sent it to me, but I didn't want you to stumble onto it. I know you've been reading all the reviews.”

They'd talked about several of them, so it made sense. “Thanks for giving me the heads up, Lilly. Really.”

Lilly waddled over and squeezed her shoulder. “If you need to talk, then I'm here.”

“Thanks,” Caroline said, her heart aching.

Lilly left with a somber wave, leaving Caroline alone with her thoughts.  How the hell could she have screwed up so badly? Magnus had been a bit of an asshole during their first meeting but he'd redeemed himself. At least, it seemed like he had.

Maybe Lilly was right. Maybe there was some sort of explanation for this. Magnus was kind of a dick to the media. Perhaps he'd pissed the reporter off. But, that didn't really make sense because she would have trashed the food, right?

Caroline checked the byline one more time. Kathleen Church. She turned to her computer and quickly typed her name into a search engine. Several articles popped up, including the one written about Usquebaugh. She clicked on it.

She scanned the article in the vain hope that it was a misprint, but it wasn't. It was all there in black and white, along with some artfully taken pictures of the food and drinks. If she overlooked the quotes from Magnus, it was a glowing piece.

Impulsively, she clicked on the contact link and filled it out. She'd never gotten to speak to Kathleen and didn't have any real contact information. The last thing she wanted to do was to ask Lilly's party planner for the information. How would she even explain that?
“Well, I really just wanted to find out whether my boyfriend really said all of this awful shit and I was hoping she'd be able to tell me.”
Yeah. That wasn't exactly professional.

She explained in the body of the message who she was and that she had some questions about the interview and gave a phone number. Hopefully the woman would call her back before she talked to Magnus about this.

Maybe it was a mistake. No. It had to be some sort of mistake. Caroline found it difficult to believe that Magnus would say those things. Not after he'd asked her to move in with him. He'd told her that he loved her. The other morning, after the interview, he'd come upstairs and told her he was never letting her go.

Granted that was during sex, but still. He didn't seem like the type to say anything in the heat of the moment that he hadn't thought long and hard about. They were planning a future together. Why would he trash it in some stupid blog article? This had to be some sort of mistake.

In her heart, she couldn't believe he'd do something like this to her. It just didn't make any sense. Above all things, Magnus was a logical man.

Caroline sighed and ran a hand through her hair. Folding up the paper, she stuck it under her keyboard, then she grabbed the inventory list off the printer. It was Tuesday, so at least she'd have the joys of inventory to keep her occupied until closing. She'd start in the secret booze room and work her way forward.

About an hour later in the main bar's storage closet, she was digging through a case of Chivas Regal 14 Year, looking for what she hoped was a misplaced bottle of Chivas 18, when her cell phone rang. Reading the display, she saw it was an unknown number.

“Hello?”

“Hi. May I speak with Caroline Lundquist?”

“This is Caroline,” she answered carefully.

“Hi there. Kathleen Church. I got your message. How can I help you?”

Abandoning the paperwork, Caroline left the supply closet. “I'm sorry. I'm just heading back to my office. It'll only take me a moment. I was calling because, um. I had some questions about the piece you wrote on the restaurant recently.”

“Okay. Sure. I'm a little confused, though. Normally I only get phone calls when it's a bad review,” Kathleen answered.

“I'm sorry to bother you. I just wanted to verify some of the quotes. Did Magnus really tell you that he helped me with the drink menu? He said the flavors were uninspired?”

“I thought that was a little bit harsh when he said it, but the quote is accurate. He was a little distracted. He kept checking his phone for messages, and he had a work call during the interview. Maybe that's what it was,” Kathleen said kindly.

“Maybe,” Caroline answered doubtfully.

“I have the tapes if you'd like to hear them. I recorded the whole interview.”

“No, that won't be necessary,” Caroline assured her, her heart dropping.

“Are you saying that what he told me was untrue?” she asked, her voice perking up. “Would you like to share your side of the story for the readers?”

“Not at all.”

“Well. I hope I didn't get him in trouble,” Kathleen said. Then she amended herself. “Actually I kind of do. He was a little bit of scumbag. At the end of the interview, he hit on me. He's a good looking guy, so I was kind of flattered.”

“Did he?” Caroline asked, the blood in her veins turning to pure ice.

“Then he told me I was much thinner than his girlfriend. I have no idea who this poor woman is, but what a thing to say!”

Caroline asked, her face flushing. “That's really interesting because I'm his girlfriend. Or I was. He
seriously
said that to you?”

“Shit! I'm so sorry! I never would have shared that with you if I'd realized,” she said, her voice apologetic. “But he did. Ugh. What a creep!”

“Yep,” she agreed.  “Thanks for talking with me. I need to go now. Bye.”

Caroline hung up the phone and slumped down in her desk chair. How the fuck could she have been so wrong about him?

She took a shuddering breath and got up. On autopilot she walked down the hall to Lilly's office and knocked on the door when she saw Lilly was alone. “I just talked to the reporter. She confirmed the quotes and even offered to let me listen to the tape.”

“Shit.”

“It gets worse. Apparently at the end of the interview he hit on her. He apparently told her that she was much thinner than his girlfriend. I swear to god, I'm going to punch him in the face, Lilly.”

“Can I punch him in the balls? Please let me punch him in the balls for you!”

“Get in line,” Caroline said sarcastically. “How could I have been so freaking wrong about him, Lilly? Fuck. I need to find a new place to live now. And get my stuff from his place.”

“Take the day,” Lilly said. “Go get your stuff, work out your housing situation. I'm outraged on your behalf, but please don't confront him at work about this.”

She winced. “Ugh. God no. I would never do that. I've embarrassed myself enough over this. Are you sure the bar will be okay?”

“It's fine. I promise you. Go. Get your stuff. Get started on the whole apartment thing.”

“Thank you.”

“For what it's worth, I'm really sorry. I thought... It doesn't matter what I thought. Just go handle your business.”

With one last grateful look, she collected her things from her office and headed upstairs. Magnus had given her a key. She didn't suppose she'd need that anymore. While she waited for the elevator, she checked her phone. Crap. She was supposed to meet Magnus for lunch in a few minutes.

She would need to get in and out of his place quickly. There was no way she'd be able to face him. What could she say that would matter anyway? What could
he
say that would matter? She'd been letting people treat her like shit her whole life. But no more. She was done.

A scant ten minutes later she was in her car, gym bag in the seat next to her. She'd left the blog post on his kitchen counter along with her key. If it was a little passive aggressive to scrawl 'Thanks' across the top in red pen, who could blame her? He was lucky she hadn't punched him in the throat.

Waiting for him to get off work so they could talk about it would have been the mature thing to do. Fuck maturity. She wasn't certain why he'd chosen this particular arena to tell her, but she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry. She was angry and hurt, but she'd deal with it on her own. Just like every other goddamned thing in her life.