Free Cat's First Kiss by Stephanie Julian

 
    Beginning
     
    “Sweetheart. What are you
doing?”
    “Nothing.”
    Kyle Rossini stopped in the
doorway to his daughter’s room and watched his beautiful Cat stare
at the ceiling.
    She lay on the bed he’d
built for her more than fifteen years ago, when her life had been
so much easier. Today, at nineteen, her life must seem like an
out-of-control carnival ride.
    She’d been spending a lot
of time at his house lately, ever since she’d taken the mantle of
power from the previous Etruscan Goddess of the Moon. He still
found it impossible to believe his baby had become a goddess.
Everyone—from her mother and second father to the woman who’d held
the mantle before her—were trying to figure out exactly what that
meant.
    No one had come up with an
answer.
    But while Cat’s mom,
Margie, and Kyle’s mate, Tamra, worried and fretted and stewed and
tried not to show it, Kyle blocked it all out. He stuffed the
gut-gnawing frustration and fear down deep, until it was nothing
more than a tiny ache somewhere in the middle of his
chest.
    He knew it was there but he
also knew he couldn’t fix this for her. He couldn’t make it better.
Hell, he couldn’t even come up with the words to talk about it with
her.
    “Since you’re not doing
anything, I need your help.”
    She turned, staring at him
with beautiful blue eyes dulled by the turmoil that’d taken over
her life.
    “I’m not really in the
mood, Dad.”
    It hurt his heart to hear
the strain in her voice. She needed a distraction. And he needed
his daughter.
    He crossed his arms over
his chest. “Tough. Get your butt out of bed. Now.”
    Her eyes widened. He hadn’t
spoken to her in that tone in years and even then he’d only used it
once or twice. He’d never had to. She’d always been so easy-going,
so sweet-natured. She’d wrapped him around her finger from the
moment of her birth and he never wanted to lose that closeness.
Recently, though, he’d felt like an ocean divided them.
    And he’d had
enough.
    He saw her bite her lip and
knew she was about to defy him. Then she took a deep breath, and
another, and finally sat up. Long auburn hair draped over her
shoulders and, even in jeans and a plain blue t-shirt, she was
stunning. It was no wonder Tivr, God of the Moon, couldn’t take his
eyes off her. But God or not, if the guy hurt her, Kyle would rip
his heart out. Of course, Ty, being Ty, might just let
him.
    For just a second, she
looked like a typical teenager, wary and stubborn. Then he saw the
young woman she was becoming peek out as she stood, shoving all the
turmoil away.
    That strength made him so
fucking proud of her.
    “You might want to change
into something old. I want to get started on that old
Indian.”
    The motorcycle had been
sitting in pieces in his garage for years, since he’d bought it at
auction. He’d been bidding on parts for the Mustang he’d been
rebuilding at the time. His first Mustang, which he’d sold to buy
the Shelby he now owned.
    Cat’s gaze narrowed and he
thought she might tell him no or at least ask why he wanted to
start now, considering he hadn’t touched the bike in
years.
    When she nodded and dug
into the bottom of her chest for her stained jeans and an ancient
Springsteen shirt she’d appropriated from him years ago, he
breathed a silent sigh of relief and headed out to the
kitchen.
    Tam sat at the table,
bright head bent over her books. He leaned over her, brushing the
short hair away from her neck so he could settle his mouth on the
exact spot that made her shiver.
    “Hmm.” She turned her head
so she could smile up at him. “I like that. Did you coax her out of
her room?”
    He bit her, just a nibble
really, before he straightened then went to the fridge for two
bottles of water and into the cupboard for a bag of Cat’s peanut
M&Ms. “Yeah. We’re gonna work on that old Indian bike. Should
keep us busy for a while.”
    Abandoning her books, his
mate followed him into the living room of the house