“Baby,” he growled, walked straight up to me, hauled me into his arms and laid a wet one on me.
And I knew instantly it was not Tor because whoever the hell this guy was, he kissed weird.
Which meant my body turned to stone.
He lifted his head and looked down at me.
Yep, not Tor. I hadn’t noticed it but he didn’t have a scar.
“Hey, princess, what’s goin’ on?” His eyes travelled down to my chest then shot up to my face. “And what’s with that ratty-assed sweatshirt?”
Holy crap. Holy crap. Holy crap!
Cora had found this world’s Tor! Why? How? Why?
“Uh… Tor?” I asked.
“What?” he asked back.
“Tor?” I tried again.
“What the fuck you talkin’ about, babe?”
Oh shit.
“Noctorno?” I tried yet again.
“That’s me, Cory, Noc, your man. What the fuck? You okay?”
He called himself Noc?
Oh boy.
“Uh...”
“Checkin’ in,” he gave me a gentle shake, his eyes scanning my face, they were alert as if he was looking for something, “wonderin’ if we’re goin’ out tonight?”
“Out?”
“To the tables, babe. Out.”
The tables?
“What tables?”
He stared down at me. Then he dipped his face close, “Shit, babe, you don’t look too good. What happened? You got a headache or something?”
I latched onto that. “Yes, actually, yes. A bad one.”
He looked at the door then down to my hands carrying plastic bags then back at me. “Then what were doin’ outside?” he asked, letting me go, taking the bags and dumping them on the dining room table saying, “You don’t feel good, you don’t go outside. You call your man, I come and take care of you.” He came back to me and his arms circled me again when he finished, “That’s the gig.”
I stared up at him.
Wow. Cold, bitchy Cora had this guy wrapped around her finger.
In two months.
And Tor fell in love with her on sight.
How did she do that?
“Cora, baby, hello? You with me?” he called.
“I’m, um… with you. Listen, what tables were you talking about?”
His brows grew together. Then he answered with a scary, “Poker.”
Poker?
The money in my TV cabinet.
Oh shit!
Cora, or this guy, was earning money, lots of it, playing poker.
“Right, yes, right, poker tables.” I shook my head. “Sorry, um… I’m kind of fuzzy. My head really hurt this morning when I got up and now I’m feeling weird.”
“Shit, babe,” he muttered then his face was in my neck, “that’s what happens when you sleep alone.” I felt his lips on my neck and I shivered (not like Tor made me shiver, another kind of shiver) at the same time I prayed Tor wouldn’t walk in the door.
“No, actually, that’s what happens when…” Damn! What did I say? Then I hit on it, the perfect excuse. “I get my period.”
His head shot up. “What?”
“I’ve got my period.”
But I didn’t. In fact, I hadn’t had one in…
My body turned to stone again.
Oh.
Shit!
“Babe, you had your period last week,” he said suspiciously.
Fuck!
Clearly Cora of the other world and I didn’t share the same cycles.
Or, damn and blast, maybe we did.
“Um…” I muttered, my mind awhirl, trying to recall when I had my last period but knowing whenever it was, it was in this world, not Tor’s.
Oh dear.
“What’s goin’ on?” he asked.
“Nothing,” I said quickly. “It just… gets like this. I’m, uh… irregular. It, um… sucks.”
“Sucks?”
“Yes, sucks.”
He studied me. Then he noted, “Cory, baby, never heard you use that word before.” Uh-oh. “You speak proper,” he went on and I stared up at him. Then he grinned and his voice dropped low. “Why I like you. Thought you were an uppity bitch and you are, cold as ice but with me…” He dipped his head and whispered in my ear, “Wildcat.”
Cora was a wildcat for this guy?
Whoa.
I had to get it together and I had to play this right. Until I could figure out what was going on in my life and play him out of it that was.
And I also needed to go get a freaking pregnancy test. Stat.
I wrapped my hand around his neck and whispered in his ear, “I’m sorry, um… my love. I just, well… I’m not myself.”
He lifted his head and looked at me. Then he lifted his hand and cupped my cheek.
“Can I get you something?” he asked.
Damn, this guy was kind of sweet. How did Cora latch onto him, seeing as she was such a bitch?
“No, love, just… I need to rest.”
“Fine, I’ll come by later and –”
“No!” I cried, his brows shot together and I hurried on. “No, uh, my sweet, just… I need some alone time. I’m not me. I just feel… not myself. Can you call me later?”
His eyes narrowed and he informed me, “This is two nights you’ve wanted to be alone. Babe, my clothes are in your closet. You get what that means?”
Did he live at my place?
He, luckily, went on, “I’m happy to give you space, you need it, I got my own. But, you got issues, we need to sort them out. You with me?”
Shoo. He had his own space. All was not lost.
“I’m with you. And I don’t have any issues.” Yeah, right. “It’s… um, I just don’t feel good, Noc. Can you give me some time? When I feel better, everything will be okay.”
Fat chance of that.
His eyes moved over my face. Then he said softly, “Yeah, baby, I can give you some time.”
Damn, he was sweet.
“Thanks,” I whispered.
“You’ll call me, you need anything?”
