Licking His Cane (4 page)

Rex walked up behind her. “Now, keep an eye on the temperature once the bubbling starts and move the paddle slowly through the sugar.”

He wrapped his arms around her and helped her move the paddle in the proper motion.

She grinned and enjoyed the moment.

He taught her how to stir, how to check and, finally, how to shift the dangerous mass to the cooling table. Working with the pallet knives was difficult, but after a little practice, she got the hang of it.

Her phone chirped, but she ignored it.

Rex chuckled. “Don’t you have to get that?”

“Nope. I am my own boss. They can leave a message and I will get back to them when I am done here. This is fun.” She grinned.

“We are making another batch of blueberry. It is surprisingly popular. So, how did you end up as a mechanic?”

“I was always mechanically inclined and born near the beginning of the industrial revolution. It was a time when new discoveries were everywhere, including my being a shapeshifter.”

She worked carefully and folded the sugar over on itself.

“How did that happen?”

She shrugged and kept working. “I don’t know. Even Santa was never able to tell us. All he said was that it was fate, that we had a purpose and only we could keep the magic of Christmas going. My family didn’t really follow Christmas, but they knew a calling when they heard one, and the horns kind of gave it away.” She chuckled. “The first time I met Ru, the horns appeared.”

“I thought she was the youngest.”

“The most recently born, but she has been with Santa the longest. She was on all our recruitments. She came to us and we changed, some for the first time, others not. When our families gave us up, they took us to the workshop. When we were all grown, we became part of the team and have been for hundreds of years now.”

“I thought the team grew over time.” He corrected her grip on the knife, and she was able to flip more on the next sweep.

“It did. We didn’t all grow up at the same time. You know that time doesn’t work properly at the workshop. It is why the reindeer got so bored. It is an eternity of filing reports from the naughty-or-nice list.”

She looked to him and pointed to the mass. “I think it is ready for flavouring.”

He chuckled. “First, cut the sections to be coloured. Use either the shears or the knives.”

He helped her to separate the sections, and she mixed the colours into the hot mass, the gloves barely protected her. She could handle heat, but she didn’t know how human hands could get used to it.

The rest of the cane was a little more awkward. It wasn’t due to weight but, rather, the necessity of going up on tippy toes to reach the hook.

“Let me guess. You make all the candy canes?”

He chuckled. “The hook will lower when I leave.”

She sighed. “Okay, you finish it.”

“I will pull the candy. You are going to need to test your repair work on the crank mold. Get the colours.”

She retrieved the coloured pieces from near the fire and handed them to him, a few pulls and he had something that was more ivory and purple than anything else.

“You crank and I feed?” She bit her lip.

“Other way around. I trust you not to crush me.” He smiled, and the blueberry mass wobbled in his grasp.

She darted over to the machine and started a slow crank. The candy pressed through the molded rollers and came out the bottom, embossed with a reindeer’s head.

Rex balanced the still-hot candy, and she kept a steady, strong crank on the handle. She swept the cooling pieces away as the area under the press filled up.

They worked together for five minutes until the mound of candy was huge and the press had proved that it was completely fixed.

Rex dusted the candy with powdered sugar and cracked the small, round pieces apart. He ran his hands over them until the layer was one candy thick.

“Now, we do some packaging. If you have time.”

Bel smiled. “In for a penny, in for a pound.”

“Don’t you have to be getting to your other client?”

She shrugged. “I am due for a break, and this is more fun than napping. It is probably the sugar, but I feel energized.”

Rex laughed, and they spent the next hour packaging all the candy he had made that evening.

The fleeting kiss was lost in the banter between them, and it wasn’t until he walked her to the door with another candy cane in her grasp that she remembered it.

“Your lips have turned blue.” He grinned.

She smiled and licked her lips. “I suppose it is an inevitable side effect.”

He moved close and kissed her slowly. “That does taste good.”

She blinked and tried to be clever. “You make a good product.”

He grinned. “I wasn’t talking about the candy cane.”

She blushed hotly. “Is this part of the convincing?”

“This whole evening has been about that. The kiss was about what you tasted like.” He stroked her cheek with a slightly sticky thumb.

Her phone went off again, and she sighed. “I think that is my cue to run away.”

“I won’t chase you, Bel, but you know where I am. Come here day or night and I will be here.”

“Isn’t that a little rough on the system?”

He chuckled. “I sleep above the shop. I know your scent now. When you arrive, I will be down in moments.”

Bel nodded and swallowed. “Good to know. I will work on that. Uh, I am still sending an invoice for the press.”

He grinned. “Of course.”

Right. She turned and scampered into her truck, setting her toolkit down behind her seat. She checked her messages, and one of the calls was desperate. It seemed like a simple repair, and it was on the way home.

If she were wrong about the simplicity, a little bit of magic would soon have her in her own bed. Too bad she was going alone.

You couldn’t grow up in times past with not having a passing idea of sex. Families lived in rooms, not bedrooms. Parents cuddled together in winter under the covers. It was wasteful to heat an entire house when only one room was needed to keep everyone safe and healthy for the night. Sex happened.

The odd thing for Bel was that she hadn’t thought anything of it. It was part of life. Here, in the modern age, it was something to be alternately hidden and flaunted, but never treated as normal.

With her fascination with Rex’s body foremost in her mind, she tried to put thoughts of sex away, but Ru did say that she was supposed to pursue what made her happy. Bedding the wolf definitely belonged in that category.

It was two days before she could get back to Rex’s Candies. She was wearing normal street clothes and got in line with the rest of the patrons. Rex came out in three minutes, lifted her up, squealing and protesting, as he hauled her into the back.

The laughter that rippled behind them filled Bel’s cheeks with a solid blush.

The heavy scent of chocolate was in the air as he walked through the work area and up a set of well-hidden stairs.

“You weren’t kidding. You sleep above the shop.”

He was silent until he set her down on a chair. “Two days, Bel. You made me wait two days.”

She blinked and stifled a laugh. His fangs were out. His words were carefully enunciated. The frustration in his gaze was unmistakable.

Bel smiled and stroked his cheek. “I had to work and sleep. I came when I could.”

Rex sighed and knelt on the floor, his head between her breasts.

Bel was startled. She gently wrapped her arms around his head, running her fingers along his hair and gently stroking his ears. She murmured softly, no words, just sounds. He wrapped his arms around her hips and simply breathed her in.

He shuddered. “This is harder than I thought it would be.”

There were a number of connotations she could draw from that, but she whispered, “What is?”

“Finding a mate. We get one shot at it. One woman to be ours for eternity. Wolf-fey are highly monogamous.” He shuddered again, finally looking up at her.

His pupils were flaring with magic. The snowflakes inside his grey eyes gave it away.

“How did the magic know?” She stroked his cheek again.

“It is what it is, as we are what we are. We are where we are supposed to be, as uncomfortable as it is.” He sighed.

The slight touch of her hand seemed to sooth him; he relaxed and his feral demeanour diminished a little.

She leaned in to kiss him, and he pressed her back in her chair.

Bel stroked his tongue with hers and carefully made it past the sharp teeth. His hands tightened on her hips, and he got to his feet, holding her above him as he walked across the loft to his bedroom.

She continued to kiss him, stroking his shoulders and kneading his neck. Her hands plucked at his t-shirt, and she shuddered herself. He gradually lowered her until she was on her feet, and then, he pulled her leather jacket off.

Her clothing disappeared in a swirl of magic, and she didn’t know if it was hers or his.

His clothing disappeared a moment later.

She opened her eyes and stared at him. “Oh, wow.”

His body was covered with tattoos, marks of swirling snow. It covered his shoulders, the hard furry planes of his chest and cascaded over his belly to swirl in a flurry around his groin.

She grinned. “I think it is trying to tell me something.”

She followed the spirals of silver and black down until she caressed the length of his cock and smiled. “Do the marks cover your back as well?”

He gently removed her hand from him and turned. The marks did, indeed, start at his shoulders and narrow toward his tailbone. Wide spirals on his buttocks made her want to trace the pattern with her fingers, so she did.

The muscles flexed, and he shuddered. “Are you teasing me?”

“Exploring. I only have three days left before I head back to the workshop, so I am getting all the experience in that I can.”

He froze and turned at a glacial pace. He scowled. “What do you mean?”

“Going back. You know, for Christmas Eve. All of us reindeer are heading back on the twenty-third. It was part of our plan.”

“Did Santa know?” He gripped her arms and scowled.

She used magic and snapped their hair down. Two wild things above a candy shop. “I don’t know. If he didn’t know, he expected you to get us home, and you will. If he did know, he sacrificed his elves to the reindeer. Either way, I get time in the human world and the touch of a man whose voice makes me wet.”

Apparently, that was a magic word. She was lifted again and tossed lightly on the bed; the air came out of her when he thumped down on top of her.

He lifted up almost immediately, and he rubbed his lips against her neck, moving down her body and inhaling her scent as he went. He smelled like butter and chocolate today. It was a heady and delightful combination. “Fudge today?”

He parted her legs, and his scenting continued with one thigh draped on his shoulder.

He licked at her skin, and she was as wet as she had promised. His light forays of tasting broke down as he feasted on her, his tongue sliding and jabbing inside while she twisted to take him deeper.

She arched in a bow when her orgasm hit. A tiny squeak left her lungs.

Rex’s lapping slowed, but didn’t stop. She breathed heavily as the tension started to build one more time.

He muttered something against her and worked his way back up her body. He nuzzled the side of her neck, and she heard him whisper, “Even better than a kiss.”

She knew he was talking about her taste, but she kept herself from saying something snarky. With a slight adjustment to both of them, he pressed between her thighs.

Bel gasped as the length and girth filled her slowly. Rex wove a hand through her hair and held her head so the only place her gaze could go was him.

It was a bit of an effort and a snug fit, but he did fit completely and without any pain.

He kissed her and moved his hips, thrusting and retreating with increasing ferocity. The gentle motions became harder, and soon, she was holding onto the headboard to stop her upward movement.

He nipped her neck and shoulders while she battled with controlling her position on the bed and his position within her.

Wild cascades of pleasure ran between them. She felt her magic rising to the surface, and after a moment of fighting the panic, she let it come.

His markings glowed as sweat coated them. They worked to find release together, and as with the candy making, they achieved it with a bit of effort and sweat.

She gasped and would have cried out, but he put his mouth over hers. She got his groan and felt the sharp jerks into her as he took his turn.

Rex moved his head to her neck, and Bel came back to herself as he slowly lapped at her skin.

“Blitzen, is there any part of you that isn’t tasty?”

Rex grinned against her skin before lifting his head, and there was a relaxed and satisfied expression in his eyes. He had gone from wolf to puppy in an orgasm.

“I don’t know. I haven’t licked myself recently.”

“You should. I could spend all day and night doing just that.”

She grinned. “I was going to ask you out for a burger.”

“I think that a little protein would go a long way. My treat.”

She looked up at him. “We are going to have to separate if you want to get dressed. My clothing went into the ether.”

“I want to stay here forever, but the thought of a burger is tempting.”

Bel sighed. “We can go have a burger and come back and have sex again?”

He was off her in a second, and her body was clean and clothing was back in place a moment later.

Laughing, she got up and went out for a first date with her lover.

With a cheeseburger in front of her, she was content.

“So, what did you do to your repair business?”

“I closed it, and forwarded my number to an alternate repair service that can do a good job and pick up the slack. Generally, bought myself some time off. A last few days in the world.”

He looked at her with a small smile. “A last few days with me?”

She sighed and propped her head on her fist. “Yes. That’s it exactly.”

He reached for her free hand. “That gives me more hope than you walking through my door today. Did you want to help in the shop?”