Exes and Exorcisms by Keira Blackwood (uplifting book club books .txt) 📗

even though I had planned on going back to the B&B after my phone call.

My organs felt like they were on fire, like the sun was broiling me from the inside out, even though there was snow all over the landscape. The air should have carried an icy bite, but all I could feel was the heat. I raised my hands to my cheeks. Shifters didn’t get sick. Was this what a fever felt like?

My skin was clammy in a sheen of sweat. But for some reason, I wasn’t worried about it. The little voice in the back of my head grew stronger.

Everything is peachy.

“Everything is peachy,” I said.

And suddenly I had the urge to drop down in the snow and make an angel. So I did. Right on the side of the road, I rolled around in my long-sleeved shirt and pants, soaking the fabric and making my entire backside numb. Carefree as a kitten, I waved my arms and legs in the snow in the shape of an angel. Then I climbed up off the ground and admired my work. It was nice.

Life was grand.

Happy as a clam, content as a kitten, light as a cloud, I skipped down the road.

But my shirt was wet. Wet clothes could make you sick. So I pulled off my boots, my pants, and my shirt, and I skipped down the road carrying my clothes along with me.

You know who could use a frolic in the snow more than grumpy grump old me? Kelly. I’d take her hand and we could skip together. I’d like that.

Adjusting my clothes in my arms, I reached down and grabbed a handful of icy-cold snow. Would Kelly like a snowball? No. Not unless it was to throw at me. A flower? A wolf?

A wolf would be cool.

Squishing and pushing with my fingers, I formed the body shape—loggish. Then I attempted the head and legs. They fell off.

What I was left with was curved with a bit of a mushroom top where the head was supposed to have been. It was a penis. Perfect!

So I skipped down the road in my socks and boxers with my snow-penis gift in my hand until I found myself standing on the doorstep to the tattoo parlor. With a friendly knock, I waited for her to answer.

The door opened, but it wasn’t Kelly who answered. It was Grayson.

“Hi, Grayson. I’d like to speak to Kelly, please. If that’s okay with you.”

He gave me a queer look, to which I replied with the friendliest of grins.

“Wait here,” he said, then shut the door.

So I waited.

The next person to open the door was Kelly. She was beautiful, like a midnight rose. Her blue eyes swirled with emotion, and she held herself in a guarded stance.

The feverish heat in my face burned, flashing through my arms and legs and making me tired. I needed to tell her that something was wrong. I was sick.

“Hi, Kelly,” I said. “I brought you a gift.”

I handed over the snow dick.

She quirked her lips to the side in a crooked smirk.

“I’m sorry for every wrong I ever did to you,” I said, averting my eyes from her perfect face. I deserved only to look upon her feet instead. No, her feet were too good for me. I could only look at the ground. I fell to my knees. “Please forgive me. I only wish to worship you, and serve you in any way you see fit.”

“Is this a weird sex thing?” she asked, a smile in her voice. “Because I’m kinda into it.”

Suddenly I realized how naked I was. This was completely inappropriate; no one should stand or even kneel in such a manner before a goddess.

“I am so sorry,” I said, and scrambled on my knees to find my shirt and cover myself.

Kelly grabbed my arm and guided me to my feet. She tilted my chin up. I kept my gaze averted.

“It’s true I was angry,” she said. “Furious, really. And hurt. But I don’t think you’re like them. You’re…you. Xavier Breene. And I love you. So, apology accepted. Come here, you weirdo.”

She kissed me.

My inner voice was the grumpy grump of reason. He said to tell her that nothing was right, that I was sick, and that I needed help.

But he, too, fell speechless by the taste of her tongue and the feel of her body against mine.

18

KELLY

I pushed Xavier back on the bed and he fell willingly. This was different—this was kinda fun. I could get into a submissive Xavier, who was here to let me command him.

I had a few commanding ideas, too.

“Hands above your head,” I said. “I’m going to lick your cock until you’re squirming, you naughty man.”

Wow, that felt weird to say. But he blinked up at me with a heated gaze, so I kissed his lips, then down his chin. He made a soft sound when I splayed my hands over his lower belly, next to his erect cock.

I stared up at him. “Did you just whimper?”

He shrugged. “Maybe?”

“I’ve never seen this side of you,” I said.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I only want to please you, goddess.”

This was weird...maybe a little too weird. Usually he was holding my wrists, making me writhe at his touch, making me beg and plead for what I wanted. I could understand wanting to mix it up a little, but now? And so drastically?

“What do you want to do to me?” I asked.

“I want to please you,” he said.

“Please me how?”

He shrugged again. “However you want. I am yours to command.”

I took in the beautiful forest green of his eyes, the firm curve of his jaw. His eyes showed none of the self-assurance I usually saw there. His lips were twisted in a frown.

“Where is your self-respect?” I asked him.

“I lost it,” he said.

I scrambled off of him. Xavier wouldn’t ever act this way. He might give in to me and let me take control, but never in this submissive,