Cat Snips - a Short Story Collection by Cat Johnson (5 page)

“
I rid myself of Max.”

“
I rid myself of not having
enough money for a beach house.”

They collectively threw the
papers into the fondue pot and watched them burn. And then watched
the fire alarm lights in the apartment begin to flash as the sound
deafened them.

“
Uh, oh. What do I do?”
Donna’s eyes opened wide.

“
Douse it, I guess.”
Belinda turned toward the kitchen to get some water just as Donna
flung her cider into the pot to douse the flames, but apparently rum
mixed with cider wasn’t good for fighting fires and the flames
shot higher.

While Donna spun in circles
looking for something else to throw onto the flames and Grace stood
and watched, Belinda ran to the kitchen and soaked a dishtowel in
water. She ran back and threw it over the pot.

By the time the firemen were
banging on the door, the fire was out, although the smoke remained.

Donna went to open the door as
Belinda and Grace peeked under the towel to make sure the fire was
really out. But their attention was definitely no longer on the pot
when they heard Donna say, “Well, hello there.”

Belinda looked up to find two of
the cutest firemen she had ever seen, suited up in full fire fighting
gear, pushing their way passed Donna and into the apartment. She held
up her hand to stop them. “It’s out. Everything is fine.”

At that, one hunk used his radio
to call down to the truck to tell them the fire was out as Grace
pushed her way forward, her hand extended to the other hunk.

“
Thank you so much for
coming. Let me introduce myself. I’m Grace. That’s Donna
and this is Belinda. And you are?”

Belinda elbowed her. “This
isn’t a cocktail party.”

He smiled at them. “I’m
Antonio and that’s Troy.”

Then he looked down at the table
where candles, incense, herbs, a spell book, chocolate, mugs of cider
and a bottle of rum surrounded the still smoking and scorched fondue
pot. “What exactly happened in here?”

Donna rushed forward. “We
were cleansing.”

The one introduced as Troy, who
had
O’Donnell
written on his jacket, waved the smoke away and took a look into the
pot. “Looks like it didn’t work.”

“
Yeah. Sorry we brought you
all the way here for nothing,” Belinda began.

“
Yes, it would be a shame
to waste a trip,” Donna interrupted her. “Would you like
something to drink?”

Troy looked at her like she had
offered to have his first born. With widened eyes, he blurted, “I’m
engaged.”

The other one laughed at his
fellow firefighter’s reaction until he realized that the
attention had now turned to him. He held up both hands in defense.
“I’m practically engaged, but thanks anyway. We, uh,
gotta get going.”

“
Maybe another time. Thanks
for coming.” Donna called out the door after their hastily
retreating figures, and then sighed. “We should have gone down
to the truck to thank the rest of them personally.”

“
Good idea. Do you think we
can get down there before they leave?” Grace agreed, rummaging
through her purse and applying the lipstick she’d found.

Belinda laughed. “You guys
are crazy. And it’s late. I think I’m going to get going.
It’s making me very nervous that Max hasn’t called in a
huff yet.”

Donna hugged her at the door.
“You be careful and call us if you need anything.”

“
Here, take my pepper spray
just in case.” Grace dug through her purse some more and handed
it to her.

Belinda took it, doubting she
would need it against Max, but you never knew. Better safe than
sorry.

When she arrived at her door
later, she realized she wouldn’t need the spray or anything
else against Max because he’d never come home.
She found his stuff still
in the hall and a voicemail inside telling her he was working late
and might not make it back at all that night.

Yeah, sure. She knew what he was
working
on and it wasn’t work. At least she wouldn’t have to deal
with him tonight. And it was with that thought in her mind that she
fell into a deep dream-filled sleep.

Chapter Six

The man turned cat often dreamed.
And when he did, it was almost always of his life before the witch
had cursed him. The battles in which he had fought. The women he had
bedded. His family. His childhood. More recently, in the time since
his woman had taken him home, he dreamed of her. What it would be
like to touch her with human hands. How her breasts would tighten and
pucker under his mouth. How tight and warm she would feel surrounding
him. And how she would cry out when he brought her to climax, over
and over again.

Sometimes in his dreams he’d
place her on her hands and knees and take her from behind. Other
times she would sit above him and ride him like a wild horse. Once he
even dreamed they had showered together and made love in the hot
steam of the bathroom. He wondered what a shower would feel like
against human skin. Certainly like nothing he had ever experienced as
a man a thousand years ago, back in the days of bathing in cold
streams between battles.

But this dream, this was the most
vivid dream he had ever experienced as man or beast. He could have
sworn he was awake, but he couldn’t be. He couldn’t be
awake, because he was a man, and he lay next to his woman, on her
large bed with the fluffy coverings.

The Max-man was not there,
probably would never be there again. He had seen to that. Since the
Max-man was no more, last night he had jumped up onto the bed and
snuggled next to his woman’s breast. Breathing in her scent,
he’d fallen sound asleep.
And then, in his dream, he
woke and being a man, in his dream, he took his hand and stroked her
face, brushing away a stray strand of her silken hair.

Her face felt warm beneath his
touch and he craved a kiss. He touched his human mouth to hers,
softly. He felt her breath as it caught in her throat, and her eyes
opened. Her hand came up to touch his face, then tangled in his hair
as she pulled his mouth down again to meet hers.

He kissed her deeper, letting his
tongue explore her mouth. She tasted of mint for some reason. Perhaps
that was what those commercials for toothpaste meant when they said
‘minty fresh’. Hmm. This truly was a vivid dream and he
intended on enjoying every moment of it.

He let his hand wander down to
her breast and felt the weight of it in his hand. She responded to
his touch by pulling off her nightshirt, allowing him full access to
her warm, naked body. He was briefly torn between taking her now, in
case he awoke, and prolonging this ecstasy for as long as possible.

He decided fairly quickly on the
latter and searched hidden, forbidden places with his fingers. She
moaned and allowed him access to wherever he chose to go, and he
chose to go many, many places.

She spread her legs for him as he
lowered his head and tasted her. His fingers filled her. He heard her
breath quicken, felt her muscles tighten around his fingers. His
dreams had never been this real before. Her body gripped him as her
orgasm quickened within her. He felt every hair in his head as she
tugged at it with both hands to pull his mouth closer to her as she
cried out.

When she calmed and finally
released her hold on his head, he let his tongue explore further to
find the puckered entrance lower. Perhaps next dream, he’d take
her there. He considered what that would be like as he let his finger
dip inside her tight hole. She tightened, but then relaxed for him.

He loved how she trusted him
completely to not hurt her. He took that trust very seriously, even
in his dreams, and made sure his touch was gentle as he pushed deeper
and her body accepted him. He’d pretty much acknowledged that
this was just one hell of a dream and didn’t think too much
about the fact that he could feel each and every band of muscle
within her as he breached them with his finger. All he cared was that
it was extremely nice, dream or not.

But right now he wanted to be
buried hilt deep within her and thrusting, so he crawled back up her
body.

Kissing his way as he went, he
raised himself above her.

His cock ached for her, and he
let said appendage find its own way between her legs, sliding easily
into her slick channel. He loved it that she was ready for him. In
his dreams, she was always ready for him, but never had he felt so
completely her warmth or so vividly smelled her scent.

Not like this.

She sighed as he raised her legs
and sank deeper. He closed his eyes and held himself there. God, he
never wanted this dream to end. But it would, they all did
eventually. And before that happened, he fully intended on taking his
own gratification.

With that in mind, he drove
himself home over and over, hard, fast, until she cried out again in
pleasure. Her fingers raked down his back, and he felt each and every
scratch she left behind. Finally he exploded, spilling his seed deep
within her. Panting as he lay on top of her he thought again, this
was one hell of a dream.

She awoke in her king-sized bed
tangled in the sheets and feeling extremely satisfied…and
actually, a bit sore.

God, she’d had one hell of
a dream. It must have been a combination of the rum, the thoughts of
love spells and those two hunky fireman. Although, the man starring
in her dream last night didn’t look like either one of them.

This one was a strong, dark
haired man with the hard body and muscles of a warrior.

She’d have to tell Grace
that her red candle caused extremely vivid sex dreams. She remembered
tangling her hands in his long hair, seeing those piercing blue eyes
bore into hers as he loved her.

She rolled from her side to her
back and smacked into a warm hard body. “Sorry, Black Cat,”
she mumbled.

“
No problem.” A man’s
deep voice answered her. Her eyes opened wide. That was not Max’s
voice. And that was definitely not Black Cat. A scream ripped from
her throat, followed by many more.

The man leapt from the bed.
Looking down at himself, his face showed as much shock as she felt.
“What in the bloody hell…?”

She did take a moment to consider
his odd accent as she scrambled from the bed and sprinted for the
door, still screaming.

He finally sprang to action. He
grabbed her around the waist and covered her mouth with one very
large, strong hand.

“
Hush, woman. I can’t
think with all your screaming.” He breathed in deep. “How
the hell did this happen?”

Heart pounding, she watched him
look over at the rumpled bed that still smelled of sex. He shook his
head, still holding her tightly, and whispered, “It wasn’t
a dream.”

She was nearing the point of
hyperventilation when he turned his attention back to her. “Please
don’t be frightened. I would never hurt you.” He glanced
back at the bed again. “And as for that. I would never have
done that either. I thought it was just a dream. An exceptionally
good dream.”

She tried to ask a question,
which came out only as a mumble from behind his hand.

He slowly uncovered her mouth,
but kept his hand close by. She didn’t scream again. Instead,
she asked, “Who are you? How did you get in here?”

“
My name is Lar. And as for
how I got here, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
He laughed.

The phone rang, startling her. He
continued to hold her tightly through the five long rings until the
machine picked up. Belinda heard her own voice recite the outgoing
message. Then, following the beep, she heard Donna’s voice say,
“Oh my God. Belinda, you will never believe this. I got into
work this morning, and found out that I won five hundred dollars in
the baby pool. Everyone put in twenty bucks and then guessed what day
the receptionist’s baby would be born. I said midnight on
Halloween and I won.
I
think that money spell we did last night actually worked. I’m
going out right now to buy a lottery ticket. I’ll try you at
work. Bye.”

Belinda wasn’t actually
convinced that Donna winning the baby pool proved their spell had
worked. Although, she had wished for love over a red passion candle
and was currently being held by a naked man who had been quite
passionate.

Her heart still pounded with
fear, but he made no move to hurt her. But he also had not told her
how he got in.

The phone rang again. She looked
longingly at it. If only he would release his grip enough so she
could break free and grab it to yell for help.

She heard Grace’s voice.
“Belinda. Call Donna or me, we’re worried about you.
Those stupid spells we did last night actually worked. I got into
work this morning to find my boss cleaning out her desk and crying.
She got fired. And you were right. Karma is punishing me for cursing
her. They just gave me her entire workload. I’m probably going
to be here all night trying to just sort through it. I’ll try
your cell phone. Call us.”