Free Teasing the Wildcat by Mina Carter & Bethany J. Barnes by Mina Carter

Teasing the Wildcat

    “ Bonded? Is that like
being married?” Tangling her legs with his, Summer King wiggled
closer to her Sargosian husband until there was no space separating
them. “Sounds like your old ways are very much like the way the
humans’ were, back on Earth, hundreds of years ago…and still are,
to some extent. Get married, build a life together, start a
family.”
    "Yeah, in a way. That shawl I gave
you? That's a bond shawl. It means you’re my main wife." Roz Taren
flashed a quick grin. "So when I take more wives, you get to boss
'em around."
    Stillness settled over her for a few
seconds as she counted to ten…and then to twenty. Pushing up on her
elbow to look down at him, she tried to keep a straight face as if
they were merely discussing the weather. Her mind bounced back and
forth between the red haze of anger and the green fog of jealousy.
Untangling her legs from his, she debated between leaving and
punching him. Leave? Punch? Her gaze slid to the door before
turning back to him. Her fists were clenched, nails digging into
her palms.
    Breathe chica, don’t lose
it yet. “ More wives?”
    Roz looked at her, his expression
serious. He had to be joking…surely? His lips quirked, then broke
into a full, wide smile. A laugh followed right on its heels. "You
should see your face. If I were serious, I'd be a dead
man."
    “ Oh, so you’re joking? I
thought jokes were supposed to be funny. So tell me? Do I get to have
more husbands to see to my needs…if you’re to take on more wives?”
she challenged, while staring him down.
    He went still, but the smile was still
on his face. "Oh, no, it only works like that for men. Women can
only marry once in our culture.”
    She was up in a flash, meaning to bolt
out of the room, but she changed directions, a split second after
gaining her feet. Spinning, she balled her fist and punched him in
the stomach as hard as she could. He grunted, but she’d seen Roz
and his men in training. For them, the hardest punch she could
manage would be little more than a love tap. He lay on his back for
a moment, watching her with a quizzical expression.
    She sighed. Men, so dumb, whatever the
species.
    “ That’s for lying to me sweetums. Think I can’t tell when
you’re lying? I don’t believe you! What a shit!” She carried on
muttering and cursing a blue streak, gesturing wildly with her
hands the entire time. “You’ve got some nerve…” She then went on to
invent a few new combinations of curse words. “More wives my
ass…”
    Turning her back on him, she crossed
her arms and prayed she hadn’t gone too far.
    "Summer? Sweetheart, I was playing.
You know you're the only woman for me," Roz said from behind her,
his voice concerned.
    Biting her lip hard to keep from
giving away the fact that she was laughing instead of crying, she
shook her head, sending her hair flying around her head and
shoulders in denial. Of what though, she didn’t say. She wouldn’t
let him off the hook that easily… As it was, her first instinct was
to ask if he was okay…to check that she hadn’t really hurt
him.
    If he thought he was the only one that
could play jokes of this sort, then he was wrong…though she would
never intentionally hurt him. Not his heart, not ever. Making him
sweat was different and completely acceptable. She waited, sensing
his approach.
    "Summer?"
    Dropping her center of gravity lower
than normal, she spun and shoved off from her back foot. There
wasn’t much distance between them, so she had to put every bit of
her weight behind the move. Wrapping her arms around his torso just
above his waist, she tackled him. At the same time, she stepped
behind one of his legs and pushed to fold it, hoping to knock him
off balance…just enough.
    He must’ve been surprised, because
they ended up on the bed with her sprawled on top of him. Wasting
no time, she aimed her fingers at his sides, his armpits, in an
all-out assault. A search and destroy mission bent on