I had started to dry and expected shivers would come next, not the opposite. My skin grew flushed, and my sex clenched at the sight of Tanner’s growing erection.
“And I don’t like it that your past contains so many mysteries, including what you just said. I mean, who says stuff like that when they’re naked in the shower with someone who just…who just came on their fingers?” I had to use both hands to sluice away the water blocking my eyes. “You’re not just one story, Tanner. It’s like you’re multiple volumes, and Jessamyne’s this pain in my ass recurring character and I am so ready for her to be edited out.”
Ugh. Exes were just the worst. And being a little pissed off lit the tinder of my desire, soaked as it was with the water continuing to cascade over my body.
Then and there, I kneeled on the white porcelain surface of the tub, bringing my mouth level with Tanner’s erection. He palmed his balls, hooked his thumb over the base, and traced my lips as he worked himself into my mouth. He shifted his grip to my hair once my hands were on the backs of his thighs.
Tanner widened his stance, leaned forward, propping his free hand against the wall. We found a rhythm, fast and hard. I had to hold him with my hand to keep from choking as he picked up his pace.
“Calli, fuck, I’m coming,” he said.
Everywhere I was touching him trembled. I lifted my mouth at the last moment, finished him off with both hands, and collapsed against his thighs. Our ragged, unmatched breathing echoed through the enclosed area.
Tanner bent over, slid a hand under my armpit, and lifted me. “We have to rinse off.”
“I think I’m waterlogged,” I said, giggling as I wrapped my arms around his waist.
“You surprise me, Calliope Jones.”
“I surprise myself. I didn’t know feeling kind of mad also made me feel kind of like…”
“Like doing that?”
“Yeah, that.” My giggling turned into a full laugh. I opened my mouth, filled it with water, and squirted Tanner. “There, we’re even.”
He fumbled for my face again and kissed me, before reaching for the faucets. “You never told me why you want a tattoo.”
I swept the shower curtain to the side and stepped out. “I think I might have a protector spirit. A bear.”
“A bear,” he repeated, joining me on the bathmat. I dried my feet and lower legs and reached for my bathrobe.
“Mm-hmm. I first felt the presence of a bear as a hazy memory from my childhood. The bear lifted me onto its shoulders, and I have this strong, visceral recall of feeling its fur.” I spread my fingers, present to the memory of the fur’s texture. “The bear showed up again that day the Apple Witch contacted me when I was alone at the house.”
Tanner listened intently as he dried off, wrapped his towel around his waist, and used my brush to detangle his hair.
“That day, Bear—I call it Bear, original, I know—showed up as a presence behind me, and then it literally pushed me to get into the house as fast as I could.”
“Has Bear shown up since then?”
I nodded. “I have this pin of my mother’s. I have a lot of them. She was in the Witchling Way, and I found her sash and all the buttons she earned for her achievements. I wore the bear button the night I had my first portal ride—”
“I’m going to interrupt you here to remind you, you haven’t shared the full story with me yet.” He wiped the teeth of my brush and replaced it on the shelf. “I’m jealous. I wanted to give you your first portal ride.”
“You’ve given me other firsts,” I said. Our gazes met in the mirror, and I was flat-out blushing. “Including shower shenanigans.”
“I want to give you more.”
Okay, blushing harder.
A honk from the driveway startled our gazes away from the mirror and toward the door.
“Bedroom,” Tanner said. “Quick.”
I tore down the hall, Tanner at my heels, as the front door opened and voices hollered into house “Mom, we’re home!” and “Calliope, Tanner, got leftovers for you.”
“Be right there,” I yelled. My cheeks were aflame. “Here’s the short version of the portal story. I met a Portal Keeper. His name is Alabastair, he’s on the island to apprentice with Maritza, and one of the portals he’s here to fix, or so he says, sits at my crabapple tree.” I had to stop talking to appreciate the sight of Tanner dressing. “I think your other clothes got washed and dried. Look on the shelf in the laundry closet.”
“Thanks,” he said, drawing his hair into a low ponytail. “You mentioned you stopped in Seattle. Where else did you go?”
“You’re not going to like this.” I was in my closet, sweeping shirts on hangers to the side in my search for something nicer than a T-shirt.
“What did you say?” Tanner asked, lounging against the doorway and appraising my almost-naked body. He was back to wearing the pouch.
“You’re not going to like where we went.” I found a pale pink-and-white-striped short-sleeve shirt and turned to face the druid blocking the way to my bureau and a bra. “The Flechette estate, in Victoria. Alabastair said it was a rescue mission. We found two fairies. And while Bas was taking them to the Pearmains’, Doug and Roger showed up.”
Tanner pivoted, arms crossing his chest.
I slipped my arms through the bra straps, fastened the front closure, and put on the shirt. “I was scared. And that’s when Bear showed up.”
“I was hoping you’d get to the point. Who’s Bas?”
“The Portal Keeper.”
“And the fairies?”
I shook my head. “This is where the whole story gets even more ‘you can’t
