Panther Magic

Evernight
Publishing ®

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright©
2015 Doris O’Connor

 
ISBN: 978-1-77233-378-7

Cover Artist: Sour Cherry Designs

Editor:
Karyn
White

ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or
distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.
 
No part of this book may be used or
reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the
case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters,
and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales,
organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

DEDICATION

For Kate.
Happy Birthday again, and I hope you like 'your'
story.

PANTHER MAGIC

The Projects, 5

Doris O’Connor

Copyright ©
2015

Chapter
On
e

“
Oh. My.
God.
It’s
them.” Her friend’s most unlike her screech of excitement roused Kate out of
her slumber, and she cracked one eye open to see what all the commotion was
about. Natasha had shot up from her sun lounger, and Kate caught her in the act
of putting her glasses back on, to presumably get a better look at who—or
whatever—had roused such an enthusiastic response.

Still deliciously sated and in
the warm afterglow of one of the finest wax treatments the
spa-with-a-difference had to offer, Kate couldn’t quite get her limbs to work,
especially not for what had to be the male of the species. Judging by the way
every female in their little corner of the spa’s enclosed, rooftop, tropical
swimming paradise seemed to push their boobs out and pull their tummies in it
had to be some man, or rather men, who had them all in such thrall.

Kate rolled her eyes, and
grudgingly raised herself into a half sitting position. Seriously, men were
never worth the trouble. Especially not when she could get all of her kinky
needs met quite adequately at the spa, or its attached BDSM club, should she
feel the need for some heavier play sessions.
All the fun
without the annoying males to lord it over you.

She followed the direction of the
starry eyed swoons, and caught her breath.
My, oh my.
They
were
rather pleasing on the eyes, and
Kate inwardly rolled her eyes at her annoying hormones. Identical twins,
who
stood at well over six and a half feet of lean muscle,
the two dark haired men looked back over their shoulders at some commotion by
the other side of the pool. She couldn’t hear what the slightly smaller one was
saying, but his brother laughed, rolled his eyes, used the towel flung over his
shoulder to wipe some leftover water off his face, and then froze when his gaze
connected with hers. He raised his head slightly as though he was sniffing the
air, and his chestnut gaze seemed to turn to a golden glow, as he held her
pinned in place with the sheer intensity of his gaze. When his brother followed
suit, and they both started to walk toward her, Kate had to remind herself to
breathe. This was insane. Who were these two? And why did she feel as though
she knew them?

The female sighs around her got
louder, and Natasha shot to her feet as several of the women made a beeline for
the two men.

It stopped their long legged walk
toward Kate, and she managed to draw a much needed gulp of air into her lungs,
when the throng of giggling women now surrounding them blocked them from her
view.

“
I can’t believe they’re here. This is so exciting.”
Natasha bounced on the soles of her bare feet, seemingly unable to stand still,
and Kate shook her head.

“
Okay, someone pinch me, please, to make sure I’m not
dreaming this. Why on earth
are you
this excited over
those two? I mean, sure, they’re hot, but—”

Natasha spun ‘round and, hands on
hips, glared at her.

“
Why? Why you ask? They’re only … jeez, I forget,
it’s not your thing, but those two … goodness, that’s Zeb and Arran … you know
… the magicians. Even you must have heard of them.”

Kate shook her head, and she had
to grin when her normally so levelheaded friend looked about ready to pop a
blood vessel. The only other time Natasha got that worked up was if something
went wrong with one of her beloved computer programs, which it had done far too
frequently lately, and was the main reason why they were both here on a
weekday.

Ever since Natasha had started
her super-secret work project for her new boss Cole Jackson, she had run
herself ragged. Natasha spent every waking and plenty of what should be
sleeping hours on the computer, and it had taken all of Kate’s persuasive
skills to get her roommate to agree to leave all that behind for one afternoon
at the spa.

She’d achieved her goal, and
after some gentle coaxing and hand-holding, they had both enjoyed the
introduction to wax play. Not that Kate needed the introduction. Wax play was
one of her firm favorites, and none did it better than the spa’s resident Wax
Master. It still amused Kate greatly, the range of treatments on offer to the
initiated few. No doubt most of the Giggling
Gertrudes
scrambling to get their chest signed by the two hunks, had no idea of the far
from vanilla treatments the spa also offered.

Kate rolled her eyes, when the
crowd dimmed, thanks to the lifeguards urging folks to move on, and she caught
another glimpse of the taller one of the two. He was scrawling his name on a
middle aged woman’s boobs, and Natasha sighed, and sat back down on her lounger
with dreamy expression on her face.
Lordy me, Natasha, too
?

“
Seriously, not you,
too?
Don’t tell me you want your chest signed?” Kate breathed a sigh of
relief when Natasha shook her head. Even so, the faint blush staining her
friend’s cheeks was worrying. Kate got the distinct impression that Natasha
would only be too willing for some of the same treatment as the silly woman,
who now whimpered her thanks like a fawning schoolgirl.

“’
Cause I have to tell you, I can’t see the point in
that.
What’cha
gonna
do?
Not wash ever? I thought the whole point of getting an autograph was to keep
it, so—”

“
You make a good point there. I’ve often wondered
that myself.” The deep, slightly accented voice stopped her tirade, and Kate’s
stomach flip flopped wildly.
Heavens,
that voice.
Natasha shrieked and shot back to her feet, as the owner of
that voice held out his hand to Kate, while his brother strolled up behind him,
seemingly having extricated himself out of the clutches of the
sign my
boobs
brigade
.

“
Arran Harris, nice to meet you, Miss…” He let his
words trail off, and Kate swallowed hard as his brother drew level with him.
Standing either side of her sun lounger they towered over
her,
and everything inside of Kate tightened in need when they both inhaled sharply
and smiled at her.

She couldn’t help but feel as
though she was the prey caught in the headlights under their intense scrutiny,
and this close to them, their combined scent made her, too, want to sniff the
air. It should be illegal for anyone to smell that good, and as far as her
befuddled brain could determine, it was their own unique scent, not some
expensive aftershave. Besides they’d been swimming, so it couldn’t be anything
other than their natural scent, and her mouth went dry as she let her gaze
wander over their bodies.

They had dried somewhat in the
tangle with their fans—they had fan-girls for flip’s sake—but some enticing
drops still remained. Kate followed the path of one of those drops, down
Arran’s chest, and over the rock hard abs, into the waistband of his swimming
trunks. The swimwear did nothing to hide the thickening length of his erection.

His brother’s dry chuckle made
Kate wrench her eyes upward, and away from temptation, only to be snared in
this man’s heated gaze.

“
I do hope it’s Miss?” he said.

“
Yes.” Kate managed nothing more than that somewhat
strangled squeak, and his eyes crinkled up at the corners in obvious amusement.

She belatedly took Arran’s
proffered hand, and gasped at the surge of heat that scorched her fingers. He
pulled her to her feet with such speed that she had to put her free hand out to
steady herself. Unfortunately it connected with his brother’s hard chest, and
the most curious rumble erupted under her fingertips. It vibrated up her arm
and seemed to settle straight in her clit, and Kate closed her eyes to block
out one of her senses, which seemed determined to lead her astray. Jeez, she
never reacted like that to any man, let alone someone she’d only just met. Had
she been drinking she’d have thought someone had slipped something into her
drink, but she was still on the bottle of water she’d brought with her from
home. So what the hell was with the
insta
-lust, and
perhaps more worryingly the way these two seemed to reciprocate her feelings?

Kate attracted a fair amount of
male attention, but she was no supermodel, so something was screwy here.
Unfortunately it was not her being screwed, and heat flared in her cheeks at
the direction her thoughts were taking. She sensed both men stepping closer to
her, and they sniffed the air again, in that strangely erotic way they had, and
Kate had to fight the urge to not simply allow
herself
to lean into their combined strength and heat. Like a warm, comforting blanket
her men surrounded her.
My men?

That errant thought made her eyes
fly open, and she immediately wished she had kept them shut, as she was pinned
in the force of their amber gaze. Sweet lord, they were just too much.

“
Her name is Kate, and she’s very much a Miss, and
I’m just so delighted to meet you. I love your shows.” Natasha’s excited squeal
seemed to bring them all to their senses, and Kate breathed a sigh of relief
when the two hunks released her and faced her friend. “Oh and I’m Natasha, and
I’m a huge fan. I had no idea you were in town, or I’d have tried to get
tickets. You are performing, right? I’ve been so busy with work, and…” Natasha
heaved a much needed breath into her lungs, and stood there grinning like a
fool. It was so unlike her that Kate had to remember to shut her mouth.

Arran extended his hand again,
toward Natasha this time, and a stab of completely unreasonable jealousy
assaulted Kate’s insides when her friend grabbed the man’s hand and beamed up
at him.

“
Always nice to meet a
fan, Natasha.”
If Natasha’s grin got any wider, she’d be in danger of
splitting her face in half, and her friend’s exuberance was starting to grate
on Kate’s nerves. Did she have to hold Arran’s hand this long?

And why does it bother you so
much?

Kate crossed her arms under her
bikini top, and had to make a conscious effort not to sulk when the slightly
taller Zeb’s attention diverted to Natasha, too. He took her friend’s other
hand, leaned in closer and sniffed. Yes, definitely a
sniff,
and what’s more Natasha seemed to return that strange greeting. Jeez, had they
all turned into dogs in heat, Kate included? She was uncomfortably aware of the
fact that she was far too attracted to these two, and she was this much in a
huff because she wanted them both for herself. Natasha had the advantage here.
At least she knew who they were.

“
Siberian?”
Zeb
asked, and Natasha threw a worried look at Kate, and nodded. “Unusual, I like
it. Not many left these days.”

Natasha gave a nervous laugh when
Kate raised her eyebrows at her, and tapped her foot.

“
Siberian what?” she asked, and the most curious look
passed between Natasha and the two men. It made the fine hair on Kate’s neck
stand to attention. She was missing something here, and she didn’t like that
feeling. Come to think of it, these three were giving off the same vibes as
Natasha’s work colleagues. Her new boss had dropped some data off at their flat
only last week, and Kate had sensed something then.

It was a most curious sensation
she didn’t relish. She’d dismissed it then, but it was harder to do so now,
when her whole body seemed on fire for these two guys.
Magicians,
no less.
Maybe that was why. The minute that thought entered her mind,
Kate dismissed it. There was no such thing as magic after all. It was all just
tricks and clever lighting.

She took an involuntary step back
when both men smiled down on her. Kate wasn’t small for a woman at five foot
six, but these two still towered over her by almost a foot, and there was no
denying their
presence.

It made her inner sub squirm in
barely restrained excitement, even though they were probably just here to enjoy
the swimming pool.

“
Yes, we’ve been wondering about including a Siberian
cat in our act, but then again our panthers might eat her.” Zeb’s voice had
dropped an octave, giving that whole sentence an entirely different meaning.

Natasha made a strange sound at
the back of her throat, and both men laughed. Arran winked at Natasha, and her
friend
blushed
the most interesting shade of crimson.

“
Zeb, stop scaring the
kitten.
Eating out maybe, but I fear our interests will lie elsewhere.”
He reached out to touch a strand of Kate’s long dark brown hair, lifted it to
his nose and inhaled.

Okay then, maybe she was dreaming
all this. Kate tried for her best glare, and yanking her hair out of his
fingers twisted it into a loose bun at her nape.

“
Kittens, cats?
What am I missing here?” she asked. “Don’t tell me you’re using animals in your
act. That’s just cruel.”

Another indefinable look passed
between the two men, and Natasha squirmed. There really was no other way to
describe it.

“
Cruel, you say?” Zeb’s voice held a hint of
annoyance, and Natasha shook her head so fast her glasses were in danger of
flying off her nose. Kate really had to try harder to convince her to give
contacts another go. They worked perfectly for Kate, after all, and made life
much easier.