Sassy Ever After_All That Sass Read online

  Fitting, since they were the royal witch family.

  He’d walked hallways lined with family pictures dating back generations, and Avery chatted about her childhood, her sisters, and answered every question he had with a smile.

  But it wasn’t enough. He needed more.

  “Where are you right now?” Avery asked, offering him a glass.

  He took a large gulp.

  “I’m wondering what might have happened had I chased you down when I saw you at my last performance with the ballet.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He took her by the hand, leading her to the sofa. “My heart ached when I got on the plane for New York. I told myself I could handle it. That I’d be back in a few years, but I always wondered if you had been old enough… maybe things would be different now.”

  “With the spell?” She leaned back, lifting her feet and resting them on his lap. “We’d still be facing the same problem.”

  “But we might have had a few years of getting to know each other before that curse kicked in.”

  She took a lock of her hair and twirled it through her fingers. “Don’t be all doom and gloom. Positive energy ignites auras, giving them energy, where negative—”

  He held up his hand. “Say no more.” Two large boxes next to the door into the actual bedroom caught his attention. “What’s in there?”

  She glanced in the other direction and her lips parted. “Oh, God. I can’t believe my mother actually thought we wanted to see that.”

  “See what?” he asked, tracing the bottom of her foot, enjoying how her toes curled.

  “Dance stuff that either she kept, or I did.”

  “So, you’ve got my posters in there from when I was with the Los Angeles Ballet as the lead male? The ones your father said you had plastered on your walls.”

  She groaned.

  “I’m flattered.”

  She jabbed him with her foot. “You should be.”

  “Let’s go check it out.” He went to stand, but before he knew it, she was on her knees, holding him down on the sofa.

  “I’d rather we didn’t.”

  “Well, now I have to.” He skirted out from under her and raced to the other side with her following. Laughter filled the room and for a moment, he felt something akin to hope.

  “Why does everyone insist on embarrassing me?”

  “I can only speak for myself, but your cheeks turn this flushed red color and your nose crinkles and it…well, it turns me on.”

  “And that’s supposed to make me want to let you rummage through my pile of childhood memories?” She sat cross-legged on the floor, tucking her hair behind her ears.

  He nodded, leaning forward, their mouths so close he could taste her vanilla lip gloss. “I want to know everything about you, Avery. I watched you from a distance since you became an understudy. I flew home so I could attend your first performance. I sat in the—”

  “You did what?” She stared at him with wide eyes. Her lashes fluttered in rapid succession.

  “I’d heard you were having your first shot as principal, and I had to see it. I watched from the balcony.” He palmed her cheek. “I almost didn’t go back to New York.”

  “What would have happened if you approached me then?”

  “This.” He pressed his lips against hers, teasing softly. A low growl formed deep in his throat. “Maybe a date, or two, but I wanted you to chase your dream, and if I pursued you then, you might not have done that.”

  She let out a long sigh, pulling back. “It’s hard for me to reconcile that you didn’t ask me out before your pack got sick.”

  “I haven’t asked you out at all.”

  She cocked her head and pursed her lips, obviously not amused by his off-beat humor this time.

  “I took the job as lead choreographer before my father died. Before we knew about the spell and with your career winding down—”

  “Excuse me,” she said, folding her arms. “I think your chances of getting lucky were just cut in half.”

  “How old was the principal dancer you replaced?”

  Avery scowled. “Not the point.”

  “It’s exactly the point, and you know it. Even though the pain you’ve been feeling has to do with the spell cast on me, your body is changing. You are getting older, and Olivia is good. Really good. As in principal dancer good.”

  “She’s a pain in the ass,” Avery muttered. “And she’s not ready.”

  “But she will be in a year’s time. Help her make the transition and make your retiring about style and grace, not about being pushed out like what happened to the dancer you replaced.”

  Avery glanced away, rubbing a finger under her eye. When he retired, it was easy. He’d rather be doing almost anything other than performing in front of an audience, where she still enjoyed it. Giving her a moment, he opened one of the boxes and pulled out a framed picture.

  The one of them dancing.

  In full color.

  “I want to dance with you again,” he whispered, emotion choking his throat. He didn’t want to be on stage or have anyone watching. He just wanted to glide across the wood floor in an effortless motion of love. “I want to choreograph with you.”

  “You think that’s what I should do? Hang up my pointe shoes and teach?” She snapped her head, giving him a scathing look as if he’d just cut the bottom of her legs off.

  He arched a brow. “Being a choreographer is a very different job than a teacher, not that there is anything wrong with the latter, but it takes vision and a deeper understanding of the art to do the former. Any one of those girls who never made the company could have easily become teachers, but, like being the one principal dancer, very few could make it as a choreographer.”

  She let out a puff of air, slumping her shoulders. “I didn’t mean it that way.”

  “I know,” he said, setting the picture of them aside, twisting his body so he faced her directly. “I’m not saying you should quit right now. Finish the season, but then, think about working with me, if we’re still kicking—”

  “I’ll think about it if you stop talking like that.”

  With his hands on her thighs, he stared into her ocean pools of blue and green. Her eyes were an invitation to her spirit. “Okay, but I need to say one thing.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I’m a selfish bastard, and I want you, even if it’s only for a short period of time. I want to know what it’s like to be with you in every way.”

  The corners of her mouth drifted up into a heart-melting smile. “I’d say if we didn’t take advantage of the time we do have, we’d be waving our middle finger at fate, and you know, karma, it’s a bitch.”

  “We don’t want to upset karma,” he mused, melding his mouth against hers, drawing her tongue in, swirling and tasting her sweetness. His biceps tensed under her tender touch. He tried to bite back a groan as he lifted her into his arms, the ache in his joints seeming to worsen with every minute that ticked by.

  “Put me down,” she whispered into his neck as she plastered his skin with soft kisses.

  “I will, on the bed,” he said, carrying her across the room, ignoring the coldness shooting across his bones. Had it not been for her father casting the same spell on him and Avery that his friends cast on his entire pack, he probably wouldn’t even consider taking Avery to bed.

  But their symptoms would halt for the next three days.

  Gently, he laid on the plush, light-green comforter. He drizzled kisses on her cheeks and nibbled on her earlobes. Her thin body hid her strong, lean muscles from years of training. A ballerina’s body was deceiving, not that he’d ever seen one naked. He’d shied away from anyone that reminded him of Avery, which left him sexless in the last two years.

  Oddly, it hadn’t ever bothered him. His dreams were filled with visions of Avery. He’d completely given his heart at his last performance when he’d seen her in the lobby.

  He untucked her shirt from her form-fi
tting jeans, her stomach quivering under his fingertips. As he raised it higher, she lifted up on her elbows, then pushed to a seated position, tugging the thin fabric over her head, revealing a lacy, white bra. Her tiny mounds peeked out over the fabric.

  His throat tightened as his breaths came short and his pulse raced. He’d been with beautiful women, but never one he loved.

  Could he say the words now?

  No. It was too soon. While he felt it deep in his core, they needed time, which they potentially had little of, but still, better to wait right now.

  He unhooked the front clasp of her tiny scrap of sexy fabric hiding her from his gaze and tossed it aside while he gawked. It was as if he’d never seen breasts before. Her hair curled over her shoulders, just above her tight nipple.

  Everything in the background faded to a blur. Nothing existed but her and this moment.

  He traced a path from her navel to her areola, which puckered as she sucked in a breath as she bit her lower lip. Her chest heaved out into the palm of his hand. Her soft skin felt like warm oil gliding over his body. Bending over, he sucked her nipple into his mouth.

  Her fingers dug into his scalp as he let out a wild moan which only reminded him that his pants had become a bit too small at the moment.

  Running his hands down her back, cupping her ass, he parted her legs, lifting her to his waist, letting her feel the magnitude of the effect she had over him.

  He lowered her back to the bed, kissing her other nipple, scraping it with his teeth. She rewarded him with the rolling of her hips and louder groans.

  “Let’s get you out of these pants,” he murmured.

  “Only if we can get you out of yours.”

  “I’m not going to argue that point.” He fumbled with the button of her jeans and then yanked them down to her ankles. Once again, he found himself staring at Avery. Not just her nakedness, but the woman inside. The kind soul he knew her to be, even though they’d essentially just met.

  “Your turn,” she cooed, her petite fingers curling inside his jeans.

  He ripped off his shirt, tossing it across the room.

  Her lips sizzled on his chest as her hands worked on his zipper. He growled behind gritted teeth as she pulled him from his pants, stroking softly.

  In his dreams, she came to him filled with need and desire.

  This was better than anything he’d ever fantasized about.

  She looked up at him, lashes fluttering over her lust-filled orbs. Her pink tongue flicked over the tip of him. “Have you ever pictured me in your mind doing this?”

  He watched himself disappear into her hot mouth. “Among other things,” he said, fisting her hair, tugging gently, keeping her from robbing him of what little control he had left.

  She rolled his jeans over his hips.

  “Wait,” he managed as he pulled back, shedding the rest of his clothing while snagging his wallet. “Condom.”

  She arched a brow. “Confident, huh?”

  “Hopeful,” he said, taking her hand, wrapping her fingers around his hard shaft before taking her nipple and twisting it, running his thumb over it as it tightened even more.

  “Good call, because we would have had a problem.”

  He let out a chuckle which was caught short when she cupped him and took all of him in her mouth. Her tongue twisted and twirled over his sensitive skin.

  “Jesus Christ. Where the hell did you learn how to do that?” he asked, dropping his head back. “Don’t answer that.” He shut his eyes tight as a deep howl bellowed from deep in his gut. Propping himself up on the pillows, he gripped the comforter with one hand and fisted her hair with the other. His muscles tightened and with every breath, his lungs burned with the purest of passion.

  She licked him like he was her favorite ice cream and if he wasn’t careful, he’d melt all over her.

  “Stop,” he commanded, tugging her hair a little too harshly.

  Lifting her head, she smiled, her eyes glistening with the power she knew she held over him like a jib sail catching the wind, hurling the boat forward.

  “A little more than you can handle?”

  “You could say that.” He draped her body over his, kissing her mouth wildly, his tongue in search of her soul. Of everything that made her the most incredible woman the world had ever seen. The fact that fate had deemed him worthy of her, humbled him.

  He rolled her to her back, settling his face between her legs, inhaling an intoxicating scent that reminded him of coconut milk. He made no effort to tease and toy. Instead, his mission was to satisfy in the most primal way. His lips kissed. His tongue swirled and flicked. His fingers stroked and pinched.

  Her hips rolled with his movement, and her fingers dug into his scalp, encouraging him to go deeper.

  Harder.

  Faster.

  “Oh, yes,” she said with a panting moan. “Mmmmmmm.”

  Wanting to see her face, he knelt between her legs. Two fingers glided in and out while he rubbed his thumb over her hard nub.

  “Yes…, oh, God,” she said, her head bobbing back and forth as she clutched her breasts. Her body jerked and bucked as her legs drew closed.

  With a surge of urgency, he guided her open, his feather light touch loving, yet insistent. “Don’t stop,” he whispered, pressing himself against her tight opening. So tight he worried he might be hurting her, but she accepted him with a raise of her hips as her hands cupped his ass, pulling him deep inside her.

  He couldn’t maintain control if he tried. So, he didn’t. His entire life came down to this tiny sliver in time. The idea that the rest of his life with Avery could be cut short not only angered him but made him want to savor every second he had with her.

  And her family.

  “Avery,” he whispered into her neck as his release exploded in her heat. He thrust inside her, trying to swallow his howl that could wake the dead. She did things to him no woman had ever been capable of and it wasn’t physical.

  Though that turned out to be a really wicked side effect.

  With her legs wrapped around his waist, he collapsed on top of her, spent from the most mind-blowing experience he could have ever imagined. It was bigger than the first time he’d gotten a standing ovation for his choreography. Everything he’d done in life had led him to one place.

  One person.

  Avery.

  “Darrell,” she whispered as her hand gently ran up and down his back. “We have a problem.”

  “What’s that?”

  “We forgot the protection.”

  He froze. He’d made a point of putting the condom on the bed so he wouldn’t forget. Not that he ever had. “Shit,” he mumbled, only he really didn’t care. He wanted the world with Avery, if she’d let him have it.

  Chapter 7

  “Good morning, Dad,” Avery said as she poured herself a cup of steaming hot coffee.

  “Where’s Darrell?”

  “Just getting out of the shower. He’ll be down in a minute.” That’s two sentences she never thought she’d say.

  To her father.

  In her parents’ home.

  “And how are things going?”

  She burned her throat as she swallowed the scalding liquid, trying to cover a cough. “Oh, they’re going.”

  “What does that mean?” her father asked.

  Sometimes coming from a close-knit family sucked. She remembered when her sister Amanda had moved in with Jackson so they could protect each other from black magic. Her father had the nerve to bet how long it would take before they were sleeping together.

  He won that bet, but no one would ever tell him that.

  “It means we’re getting to know one another, but there is this big, dark cloud hovering over us like a nasty pimple that won’t go away.”

  “He seems like a good man.”

  “You’ve spent one meal with him. What do you know?” She set her mug on the counter and sucked in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “I’m sorry, Dad. It’s
just that this is overwhelming, and as soon as I think I’ve processed it, my mind goes bonkers and my emotions run wild.”

  “Come here.” Her father held out his strong arms, and she succumbed to the need to be daddy’s little girl, even if for only a few precious minutes. He kissed the top of her head as he held her close. “I don’t mean to push you so hard when it comes to Darrell, but I suspect he’s been waiting years to be with you and he’s scared. He won’t admit it, but he’s afraid he’s going to fail as Alpha.” Her father tipped her chin. “And fail you. That’s a lot for a young man to take on, and he needs you.”

  “I know. And I need him too, but it’s happening so fast, it’s making my head spin. It’s like we’re packing years of dating into a few days.”

  “We break the spell, you can put the brakes on and take all the time you need. But until then, you’re the thread that is holding him together.”

  She bit back the sob that threatened to roar from deep in her throat. Last night had changed her life forever. She’d given herself completely to Darrell. Nothing could change that, and she didn’t want to. “I don’t want to let him down.”

  “You won’t.” Her father squeezed her biceps.

  Footsteps echoed from down the hallway.

  “I’ll put some coffee in to-go cups, and Mom baked banana chocolate chip muffins for the trip,” her father said, stepping around her.

  He greeted Darrell with a nod. “Good morning, son.”

  “Sir,” Darrell said.

  Her father laughed. “Keep calling me that, and I’ll turn you into a toad.”

  “Then Avery can kiss me, and I’ll turn into a prince,” Darrell said as he puffed out his chest and smiled with pride.

  “That’s only if I turn you into a frog,” her father said, handing Darrell a covered mug. “I’m guessing that you’re a cream and sugar kind of guy.”

  “What gave me away?” Darrell sipped his coffee, looping his free arm around her waist. Their hips bumped. Being around him sent her heart racing. As comfortable as she was in his arms, there was this raw energy that rattled her nerves, making her a bit self-conscious.