Witches of Three_Philomena by Temple Hogan Page A

the rest of him.
    “He seems content,” Beck said and they got to their feet. He turned out the lights as they left the room and made their way upstairs.
    In her bedroom, they silently removed their clothes and turned to face each other, their gazes roaming over each other’s nude bodies. Tenderly, he touched her throat and slid his hands down to her breasts, which he cupped before flattening his hand over her smooth belly.
    “I can’t believe you’re really in my life,” he said.
    “Nor I, you,” she answered. “It’s as if I’ve been searching for you my entire life and then you just turn up on my porch. Ever since that moment, my life hasn’t been the same and never will be again.”
    She stepped into his embrace and felt the heat of his skin, the taut smoothness of his body, the planes of his muscular frame, all familiar and dear to her now.
    He made love to her tenderly, taking his time, bringing her to one climax after another, so she drifted in the euphoria of passion. Only when her body hummed with satisfaction did he seek his own, entering her with a maddening slowness that brought her to the edge yet again. His strokes were leisurely without one shred of haste. She waited breathlessly for his culmination, knowing it would be devastating to them both. When it came, she couldn’t speak, couldn’t think, only feel.
    Just before she fell asleep, she heard the dog pad into the room and settle on the floor with a contented sigh. Somehow, like Beck, it just seemed right they were both there.

 
    Chapter Nine
     
     
     
    She woke to a warm body on either side of her, both snoring. She opened her eyes and found herself eyeball to eyeball with a creature she had always hated and feared. Well, not hated, but she’d avoided them at all cost. Now here was one lying in her bed. She was trapped between her lover and the mangy carcass of a hound that had just been chasing her hours ago with the intent of ripping her heart out. Now the dog just stared at her with wistful brown eyes.
    “Just like a male,” she muttered. “Give ‘em a steak and they’re yours forever. Get down, down.” She gestured and he complied, albeit with some reluctance. It seemed to take forever for him to haul his skinny behind off the bed. With a cowed look, he lay on the hardwood floor, his unpadded bones clunking in a way that made Phil wince.
    “You’d better not get used to the easy life,” she told him, swinging her legs out of bed and reaching for a robe. “I’ll give you one more steak, which is more than you deserve given the way you chased Charlie and me, but then you’re going to the dog pound. That’s it. I have no room in my life for dogs and—” She halted. She’d been about to say kids, but she’d thought of Emily and Emily was part of Beck. She glanced back at him. He’d awakened and was studying her with an enigmatic smile.
    “What?” she asked defensively.
    “You are such a softy,” he replied.
    “Well, I do have my limits. And I only sleep with one male at a time, and you were it last night. Tonight you may be on the floor and he can have the bed.” She started to rise, but Beck’s big warm hand caught her arm and yanked her back against him.
    “Wanna bet?” he asked and kissed her long and deeply.
    She came up breathing raggedly. “I can’t,” she said, resisting feebly. “He wants to be fed then I’m taking him to the dog pound.”
    Beck’s grin faded.
    “Do you always get rid of the males you sleep with so easily?” he asked somberly. His grip had loosened.
    “Only the four-legged kind,” she said, trying to bring back the lightness between them. When he didn’t respond, she got up and glanced at the hound.
    “Okay, buddy. You get my last steak.” She looked at Beck. “Want some cheesy scrambled eggs?”
    “Sure, if you’re making them,” he said, throwing aside the cover and rising.
    She took the opportunity to admire his naked body, every large part of it. He caught her