Here Kitty, Kitty! (26 page)

Angie wiped the lip gloss off Miki with a tissue.  She needed to do something to distract herself from her current situation.  Sara still wasn’t telling her where she’d put Nik, Derek still hadn’t phoned her back, and Nik’s family still hadn’t contacted her.  She could imagine how angry his mother would be.  And she couldn’t quite get One-Eyed Grandma out of her head either.  She’d have to call one of her great aunts back in Brazil.  See if she could do a protection spell for the entire Pack.

“Wow.”

Angie stood and went to her makeup case.  “What’s wrong?”

Miki looked up from the laptop she’d been studying for the past hour.  “Having a baby is frikin’ expensive.”

Angie glanced at her. 
Talk about coming to the party late. 
“Yeah.  They’re expensive.”

Miki let out a deep sigh and went back to her computer.  But before Angie could ask her what her problem was, Conall muttering “hey” to one of the other wolves outside the door spurred Miki to sudden and swift action.  She jumped up and began pulling her skirt off.

“What in hell are you doing?”

“I love this skirt.”

“What?”

Conall walked in, looked at Miki, one eyebrow quirking up.

“Don’t you dare, Viking!  I love this skirt.”

He sauntered toward her, “You couldn’t love it that much.  Remember the rules?”

“Stay!”  And he did.

Wow, Nik was right.  That
does
work on dogs
.

Conall smiled and Angie watched her best friend melt.

“Come on, Miki-baby.  We’re going to pick up dinner.  I think you need a break from this house.”

“Cool.”  Miki charged off the bed, throwing her entire body at Conall.

Christ, the man is a two-hundred-year-old oak. 
Because he didn’t move a bit when she slammed into him.  He grabbed her around the waist, her ankles locking at the base of his spine.

“Wanna come, Angie?”

“No, thanks.  But bring me back something, would ya?”

“Sure.”

She followed her friends out into the hall, then returned to her own bedroom.  She closed her door, and headed to the bathroom for a shower.  As she washed the day off, she wondered if Nik had made it home yet.  She wondered if she’d ever hear from him again.  Would she hear from any of the Vorislavs?  She didn’t realize until now how much the whole family had come to mean to her.  But especially Nik.  He’d come to mean more to her than she could possibly realize…until he was gone.

Angie no longer felt any anger toward Sara and Miki.  How could she?  Miki had been right.  If this had been either Sara or Miki, she wouldn’t have been nearly as nice.  When she told Zach she wasn’t the nice one of the three, in no way had she been joking.

But she could also understand wanting nothing more to do with her or her crazy friends.  Because they were part of the package.  Part of her.  They were as much family to her as Alek and Ban were family to him.  Not a lot of people understood that.  The Pack learned but Sara didn’t give them much choice.  And Marrec always knew.  But Nik would probably never understand.

Angie shut off the water and stepped out, quickly grabbing a towel and drying off.  As she towel dried her hair, she debated whether to try Nik’s sisters one more time.  But she wasn’t sure she could handle anymore unanswered phone calls.  It was starting to hurt her feelings.

Her own cell phone went off.  She wrapped the towel around her body and rushed back into her room.

“Yeah?”

“It’s Derek.”

She fought her desire to cry in frustration.  “Well?  What did you find out?”

“Not much.  Not a lot of tiger info flowing around.”

“That is not what I want to hear, Derek.  He’s out there.  You need to find him.”

“And exactly what do you need a tiger for?”

“That’s none of your goddamn business what I need a tiger for.  I just need you to find this one.”

Angie heard a noise from below her window.  She walked over quickly and looked down.  Half the Pack as wolves ran out the back door and disappeared into the trees. 
What the hell are they hunting?
  Christ, did Nik’s people show up to do a little dog damage?  And was there anyway in hell she could stop the bloodshed?

“All right.  All right.  Calm down.”

“No, Derek.  I won’t fucking calm down.  Just do what I goddamn asked you to.  How hard can it be to find a seven-hundred-pound tiger?”

“All right, I’ll call you tomorrow.”

It felt good to finally have someone to kick around a bit.  And safe because the man wasn’t in front of her to kick around in person.  No jail time!  “No.  You’ll call me back tonight.  Understand?”

“Yeah.  Yeah.”

“Don’t give me that yeah, yeah bullshit.  You’re being lazy.”  Angie turned away from the window.  “He’s probably right under your…eep!”

The words died in her throat as she came face to face with one pissed-off hillbilly.

Chapter Seventeen

“I’m sorry?  What was that?  Right under my what?”

Angie stared at Nik.  His gold eyes, hot on her, swept down her body and back up again.  She suddenly felt like a stripper.  A really
hot
stripper who had stolen his wallet.

“I gotta go, Derek,” she could barely force the words out.

“Okay,” he chuckled.  “I’ll call you later.”

“No.  Don’t bother.”

“Yeah, but you said…,” she shut the phone closed.

She still didn’t know Nik well enough to read the expression on his face.  He sized her up almost like an animal wondering what you were doing on their property just before they went for your throat.

Barely stopping herself from flinching, she allowed Nik to take the phone from her hand.  He carefully placed it on the dresser.  Then he casually shrugged himself out of his leather bomber jacket, letting it drop to the floor.  Angie debated whether she should make a break for it.  She couldn’t read his face.  Couldn’t judge his expression.  She wasn’t scared, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t wary.

Nik stepped closer to her and Angie’s stomach clenched.  Simply having him near her turning her insides to liquid.  He still hadn’t taken his eyes off her, studying her face as if he hadn’t seen her in two years as opposed to a mere twenty hours.

He leaned in, rubbing his cheek against hers.  She held herself perfectly still, expecting more, but he did nothing else but rub his head against hers.  Like the big cat he was.  She allowed herself to relax a little.  Allowed herself to simply feel him against her.  She instinctively rubbed him back, slow circles against his neck and chin.

She felt him against her.  Knew he was safe and well.  And Angie’s sense of relief nearly blinded her.

Good God, I’m in love with a hillbilly
!

She closed her eyes tight against the enormity of her realization, willing herself not to panic.  Willing herself not to blurt out her feelings like some pathetic female.

What nut case falls for a guy after knowing him for less than a week anyway?

You know, besides my two best friends?

Nik’s right hand reached up, touching her cheek, sliding down her throat, and gliding down her body.  His fingers moved over the towel, brushing her breast.  Angie sighed at the contact, her hands reaching up to slide around Nik’s shoulders.  But, with a sudden and vicious snarl, he pulled back from her.  He looked feral again.  Like that night he’d come charging through her window.

Uh-oh.

Nik’s outward calm ended.  His hand, so gentle moments before, grabbed hold of her towel and snatched it off her body.  He looked down the length of her and growled low.  She felt that sound all the way inside her pussy, reverberating against the walls of her womb.

Grabbing her arm, he dragged her over to the bed, snatching the top bed sheet from it.  He lifted her up by the waist and threw her facedown in the middle of it.

“Hey!”

Nik ignored her, quickly ripping a strip from the bed sheet.  Angie struggled to get up, but he wrapped the Egyptian cotton around her wrist and the end to the bedpost.

Oh, he has got to be kidding!

“Can’t we talk about this?”

“Naw.”

Another strip of sheet, her other wrist tied to the bed.

“This isn’t my fault.”

“Yes it is.”

“How ya figure?”

“They’re your friends.”  She felt a strip wound around her right ankle.  He tied that off and moved to her other leg.

“No.  They’re family.  And you have to make allowances for family.”

“Naw.”  He pulled her opposite leg out tight, leaving her open and exposed.  And way vulnerable.

“Come on, Nik.  This is ridiculous.”

“Oh, so I’m Nik now am I?  I thought I was just the hillbilly.”  He finished securing her to the bed.

She tugged experimentally at the bonds, but they held tight.  She’d kill him.  If he did anything remotely funky, she’d absolutely, fucking kill him.

Of course, she couldn’t deny how damn turned on she was at the moment.  Her nipples hard and rubbing against the sheet-less bed.  Unable to close her legs.  Unable to move.

Fucking hillbilly bastard!

Nik dug through a backpack he had with him, eventually pulling out a box of condoms.  He dropped those on the side table by her head.

Apparently he was a presumptuous fucking hillbilly bastard.

“Nikolai Vorislav, I swear to God…”

“Don’t make me gag ya, Sugar.  Cause you know the mood I’m in right now…I’ll do it in a New York minute.”

Angie hissed at him as he began to take off his clothes.  First the T-shirt, then the jeans, and sneakers.  Finally the boxers.  She swallowed.  Why did his cock suddenly look ten times bigger than before?

Nik moved to the bed, staring down at her.

Anything
even a tiny bit funky and she would absolutely kill him.  No weird S-and-M shit.  No spanking.  And there better be no humiliation.  Or the man would never see the light of day again.

He climbed up onto the bed with her and she tensed, her entire body cringing, waiting for his next move.

When he made it she practically jumped out of her skin and fought the restraints like a madwoman.

“Forget it, Sugar.  My momma made sure all her boys joined the Boy Scouts.  Those knots were meant to hold.  So you might as well relax.”

“Get off me, Nik!  Right fucking now!”

He laughed at her.  Laughed!  At her!  The slimy, hillbilly son of a bitch!

He did it again.  His big fingers sliding up her ankle, her calf, to the back of her knee.  Then sliding back down again.

“Stop!  Now!”

“The more you bitch.  The longer I do this.  And your skin is so soft, I can do this forever.”

Damn hillbilly!

His fingers slid across her back, down her spine, across her shoulder blades.  Just goddamn all over.

The bastard kept touching her.  Condoms unused.  No moving toward any parts that needed to be stimulated.  Instead, he ran his hands over her flesh, again and again and again.  Why?  Because he could.  Because he wanted her to know exactly how much she belonged to him.

And fuck if she didn’t belong to the man.  Lock, stock, and Ferragamos.  And definitely her heart.  Terrified as she was to admit it, she got the feeling her heart would always belong to him.  Whether the bastard hillbilly was in her life or not.

***

Nik watched his fingers slide across her soft brown skin.  She’d been trying to find him.  It kept playing through his mind as he gently tortured her body.

She hadn’t set him up.  She didn’t even know where he was.  Hearing her order that poor schlub on the phone not only made him hard, but showed him how concerned she was for him.

The ice queen, hellcat, psychopath actually cared about
him
.

Angie buried her head in the pillow, her hands clenching and unclenching into tight fists.  Smiling, he slid his fingers between her legs and played around the lips of her pussy.  She moaned and pushed back against his hand.

He pulled his fingers away and she half moaned, half growled in anger and lust.

“What’s the matter, Sugar?  You okay?”

“
Motherfuckingsonofabitchcocksuckerbastardassholeprick
!”

He chuckled and her whole body tensed up.  “Now is that anyway to talk to me?”

“When my friends find out you’re here…”

“Naw, they’re too busy chasing tigers around their territory.  They won’t notice us for hours.”

She glared at him over her shoulder.  “Your hillbilly brothers.”

“Yup.”  He ran his fingers across the side of her breast, just grazing the nipple.  She whimpered, but he circled right back around and concentrated on her forearm for a bit.  “We used to play Find The Tiger with the Pack that lived down the way a bit from my daddy.  They hated us cause they could never find us Vorislav boys.  My brothers will have them dogs out there looking for hours.”