Love Nip Read online

  Love Nip

  By

  Mary Whitten

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Love Nip

  © 2013 Mary

  ISBN: 978-1482313727

  Cover Design by: Regina Wamba www.maeidesign.com

  Editing by: There for You Editing & Review http://www.facebook.com/thereforyou.editing

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied for reviews.

  Published by: Createspace.com

  First Printing: February 2013

  Acknowledgments

  A special thanks to all of my friends, family, and supporters out there, this has been a crazy experience and I never would have made it to this point without all of you! You guys rock!

  Thank you to my favorite person in the world Kimmy, you light up my life! And to Deanna, you are a very special person, thanks for pushing me!

  To my mother, you are an extremely brave, compassionate, and amazing person! I don’t know what I would do without you, I love you!

  Jamie, thank you for never giving up on me, even when I gave up on myself! You truly are my soul mate, I love you forever!

  Chapter One

  “Ezra, please,” I begged, a pout forming on my lips.

  “I don’t know if she’s ready, it could be dangerous,” Ezra replied, giving me a warning glare. The look sent shivers down my spine. He ran a hand though his recently shortened, dirty blond hair.

  “You promised to let me make my own decisions from now on,” I argued.

  Shaking his head, he sighed. He was cracking. As usual, we were fighting about Kimmy. I had been begging him for the past two months to let me visit my best friend. She was locked up at the FBI headquarters in downtown Baton Rouge, home of my new job. My name is Emily Sullivan. Ezra is my coworker, as well as my lovely vampire boy-toy. He’s tall, light, and handsome. His smooth, milky-colored skin and bright blue eyes make every woman drool. He’s mesmerizing.

  He groaned, giving up. Kimmy didn’t do anything illegal to get locked in the slammer. She was in there because she was kidnapped and turned into a vampire. She likes to call it ‘Kim-napped’. Nonetheless, a greedy vampire named Damon turned her into a vampire and forced me to perform a spell on him. It was a spell to make him extremely powerful. Unfortunately for him, the spell backfired and I ended up with the power. He ended up dead. I hadn’t seen Kimmy since that day, even though I worked in the building she was kept in. The prison was deep in the basement of the building. I tried to break in a few times, but security is tighter than a lid on a pickle jar.

  He sighed and shook his head. “I am so going to regret this.”

  I jumped off of my couch with glee, ran over, and pulled him into a tight embrace. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Can we go right now?” I asked, smiling ear to ear.

  “I have to speak with Robert first,” he stated, releasing the hug and leaving an awkward feeling between us. Ever since I started working with the agency Ezra has been distant. He can’t stay away, but that doesn’t stop him from trying.

  “Robert schmobert. He has nothing to do with this. You are Kimmy’s adoptive daddy now,” I teased with a smile. Robert is my father, and my boss. I met Robert for the first time only a few months before. He left my mother the moment he discovered she was pregnant, supposedly to protect me from the supernatural world. A lot of good that did … He was a warlock, and yet I still have no idea what that entails. I just know he is powerful and everyone fears him. He is slightly taller than my 5’5”, and we could almost pass as brother and sister. He didn’t look a day over thirty, but yet he was old enough to be my father. It’s difficult to process, and like many things in my life, this is also a mystery. Like me, he has blond hair with strawberry tinted highlights and bright blue eyes. Of course my locks are much longer than his.

  “Emily, I’m not her daddy and please never mention that in front of her. I would never hear the end of it,” Ezra replied as he sat down on my couch, hiding his face in his hands. He had a point. Kimmy was … different. That’s probably a good word for it. I loved Kimmy to death, literally. She is not only my best friend, she is the closest thing I have to a sister. I’ve only known her for a few years, but it feels like a lifetime. If she heard that I called Ezra her daddy she would annoy him till he staked himself.

  I stared down at Ezra. “What’s wrong with you? Why are you so crabby?”

  “I just have a lot on my mind, and I’m not feeling good,” he answered, inspecting his hands.

  “Okay, don’t feed me that load of crap. You’re a vampire. Vampires never get sick. Seriously, what is wrong?” I asked, suddenly becoming worried. He was lying to me and I had to find out why.

  “I have a case I’m working on that I can’t crack and Robert is becoming impatient,” he stated, a look of fear plastered on his face. He couldn’t possibly think Robert was going to fire him; Ezra is the poster boy of the agency. They would be making a huge mistake if they ever let him go.

  “Is there anything I can do to help?” I asked. If Ezra couldn’t figure it out, there was no way I could, but I had to offer. It is the polite thing to do, and I’m a nice person … most days.

  “Actually, now that you mention it, you can,” he stated, sounding hopeful.

  “Name it,” I insisted, taking a seat beside him on the couch.

  “Will you come into work with me and look at the file? I could use a fresh set of eyes on the evidence. Maybe you could even do a spell and find some answers.” He chuckled. As I said earlier, I have only recently acquired my powers. Ezra was mocking me.

  Gavin, a co-worker of ours, is a wizard. For the past few months he has been trying to teach me the ropes. Needless to say, I wasn’t catching on. I threw a jail cell door off its hinges and exploded a vampire with my mind the moment I developed my powers, but since then I haven’t been able to do any magic. Gavin has been going on for weeks about how I’ve always had powers but I don’t believe that. Gavin is hard to work with. He’s seriously sexy and a sweetheart. His short hair is jet black with matching black eyes. They aren’t actually black, but when I look into his dark eyes my world starts disappearing.

  “Hardy, har, har. So you mean I’ll actually be going to work for once? Wow, I wonder what that’s like,” I said sarcastically. Robert wouldn’t let me touch a case until I could find my powers. I knew the bastard had enough daddy shame for not being in my life, and that’s the only reason he hadn’t fired me yet. Well, there is also the fact that three of his finest men are madly in love with me, so he gets to keep tabs on my life. Madly in love might be a stretch, but a girl can dream.

  “Seriously, Em, when are you going to let me help find your magic?” he whispered, nuzzling into my neck. He meant magic in terms of sex. We had decided to just be friends since we had a rough relationship before. We couldn’t stop fighting long enough to be together. Since the Damon situation, we had both been so busy that we rarely saw each other. I was surprised when he knocked on my door earlier that day saying he wanted to hang out, now I understood what he meant by hang out. His kisses left a cool sensation on my neck. My eyes rolled into the back of my head as my mouth fell open. I giggled, snapping myself back into reality.

  “Yeah, so about the case …” I started, putting a stop to his advances. He groaned and plopped back into my couch.

  “We have nothing better to do right now,” he teased, running a hand through his locks.

  “Oh, yes! I want the
first time we have sex to happen because we had nothing better to do at that moment,” I complained.

  “Touché,” he replied, sighing. It was easy to win fights with Ezra. Before I acquired powers he could read my mind, which made our love life fall to crumbles. It felt great to have my own private thoughts again.

  “Plus, weren’t you just babbling about a case you wanted help with?” I asked. He was acting so strange. The normal Ezra was a man that didn’t take no for an answer. He fought till the bitter end. I was beginning to dislike this side of him.

  “Yes. Get dressed, and let’s go,” he stated. I looked down at my wardrobe. My jean shorts and t-shirt hugged my body just right. I went into my bedroom, and thankfully he stayed put. I found a pair of jeans lying on the floor and switched out my bottoms. Next I went to my closet, found a hoodie, and quickly pulled it over my tee. I ran a brush through my mane and put some make-up on my face.

  “Better?” I asked as I returned to the living room.

  “Nice,” he replied, giving me a mischievous smile. Seriously, all men think about is one thing and it had nothing to do with sports. Shoes and purse in hand, I attempted to lock the door quietly. Gavin lived directly across the hall from me and I didn’t want him to know I was leaving with Ezra. More than likely that would start a game of twenty questions, and some of those questions I just didn’t have an answer for. Ezra laughed at me as I crept down the stairs.

  Cupping his hands to his mouth he yelled, “Later, Gavin.”

  I hit him in the arm and started scrambling to his car. He had a black BMW, which he had parked next to my own car. I crawled in, looking around to ensure Gavin wasn’t following me.

  “Nice car. Can I drive?” I asked Ezra with a big smile. A few months prior Ezra had a gorgeous silver BMW. I borrowed it one day … okay, stole it. Now he had a black one; I guess I might have damaged it slightly when I drove it.

  “I had a device installed into the ignition that takes a fingerprint sample. If anyone without my fingerprint starts it, this baby is set to blow up,” he stated, glaring at me.

  “Holy smokes, is that true?” I asked, excited about the new invention.

  “I can neither confirm nor deny.” Smiling, he peeled out of the apartment complex.

  “Well, that just means I have to cut your finger off next time I steal it,” I explained. I hopefully would never have to do that again. I had been seconds away from death, but was still more scared of what Ezra would do to me when he found me. Thankfully, he wasn’t mad about the car. He was more upset about me putting my life in danger. He loved me.

  He scoffed, “Good luck with that.”

  “Excuse me? If I can take on the little teenager Damon, I could take you on,” I stated, feeling proud of myself.

  “You mean you scared Damon off,” he corrected me. I made that bitch combust, but Robert has sworn everyone to secrecy about the subject, including me. We are supposed to pretend that Damon ran off and I was drenched in spider blood or something.

  “Whatever,” I said looking out the window. Talking about it always made me grumpy. Everyone was on me about not being able to do magic, and no one could mention the one thrilling performance I had put on.

  “Emily, don’t do this again. It’s for the best, you know that,” he explained. I rolled my eyes. Everyone treated me like they knew what was best for me. The pressure of not performing was terrifying. I felt like a loser. Everyone I worked with had supernatural powers and I was the errand girl. We spent the rest of the car ride in silence.

  Excitement set in as we pulled into the parking lot. “So do I get to see Kimmy while we’re here?”

  Ezra threw me a glare as he pulled into his very own parking spot. He and Robert were the only two of the group that had a designated space. My second week working I parked in his spot as a joke. He had my car towed by lunch and brought back to my apartment. Thankfully I hitched a ride home with Gavin that day, and never tried that again.

  “That just depends on how good you are today,” he replied, stepping out of the car.

  “Says the employee of the month,” I teased, pointing to the sign.

  “It pays to be good, baby,” he joked.

  “Uh, you sound like Axle,” I nagged. Axle was not only a coworker, he was also a werewolf. Just like Robert, I had yet to see him do much of anything. Except eat, boy could that man pack away some grub.

  Ezra’s only reply was a warning glare.

  “If you’re not careful, Ezra, your face is going to stick like that one day,” I added as he held the front door to the building.

  “Mr. Boyd, Miss Sullivan, good afternoon,” Bob, the security guard at the front desk, greeted us.

  “Bob, how many times do I have to tell you? Call me Emily,” I fussed at him as we walked up.

  “Yes, ma’am,” he replied. I shook my head at him. I said the same thing to him every day and he had yet to catch on. I took time to get to know good ole Bobby. He had a wife and two kids. Sarah was eight and Nathan was five. He was a really great guy.

  We stepped into the elevator and I noticed Ezra was smiling at me.

  “What?” I asked. He swiped his access card into the elevator wall and tapped the down button.

  “Nothing,” he remarked, still smiling.

  “Ezra, you’re being weird. Did Axle die or something? You’re awfully happy for a Saturday,” I asked.

  “I just think you are a really nice girl,” he stated.

  His statement took me by surprise. I couldn’t decide if it was because he called me nice or because he called me a girl. Either way, it left a funny taste in my mouth. The elevator dinged, letting us know we had arrived.

  “Let’s just get this over with so I can get home and go back to doing nothing,” I stated, stepping out of the doors.

  “Surprise!” the room full of people yelled as someone flicked on the lights. There were balloons scattered all around. A desk had been cleared and filled with food and cake.

  “What is the surprise for?” I whispered to Ezra while giving my best fake smile.

  He smiled down at me proudly. “Your birthday.”

  My heart skipped a beat with excitement. I felt like a normal human being. “My birthday isn’t until next Saturday,” I explained as everyone started filing towards me for hugs.

  “Dammit, Ezra! How could you get the date wrong?” Axle teased. From the look on Ezra’s face he didn’t think the joke was funny. Axle looked absolutely mouthwatering in his dark jeans and tight, dark green t-shirt. He is over six feet tall, dark skin, and has huge muscles. I can barely get my arms around him when he hugs me. He has hungry golden brown eyes that could burn a hole straight through a girl’s underpants.

  “We know when your birthday is, but we figured next weekend it would be impossible for any of us to steal you from your apartment,” Gavin stated as he hugged me.

  “Happy Birthday, Emily,” Robert said as he gave me a hug, which I returned. We hadn’t worked on our father-daughter relationship since we met, but we had an unwritten agreement that we would stay cordial to each other.

  “Thanks, Robert,” I answered. I spotted Axle behind Robert, waiting for his hug. Axle was dangerous in more ways than one. I could handle Gavin’s hotness because he never tried anything with me. Axle, on the other hand, never sugar-coated his feelings for me. Unfortunately for him, I still had feelings for Ezra.

  “Happy Birthday, pumpkin,” Axle said as he grabbed my face and planted a quick kiss on my cheek. I shot him a glare and playfully pushed him away. I couldn’t help but smile again before I noticed Ezra had caught our greeting. I just shrugged at him, saying that it was no big deal. Ezra made it very clear that he didn’t want to be exclusive. I knew Ezra wasn’t dating anyone else, but it still hurt that he didn’t care if he was the only guy in my life.

  “Wow, thank you all so much for this,” I said. Someone standing in the back caught my attention. I had never seen a girl in the agency before so it took me by surprise.

 
; “Ezra, who is the new chick by my desk?” I asked curiously.

  He glanced toward her and answered, “We just hired her.”

  “You guys didn’t even talk to me about it?” I asked, furious. We had discussed when I started working that this was a team. If we added a new person we had to decide together. I felt offended that I had been left out of the decision.

  “Emily, you’ve been working downstairs on your magic. We didn’t think you would care,” he replied.

  “I wouldn’t care? Are you on drugs? We have enough female hormones going on here with me and I don’t even have hormones,” I fussed. I wasn’t sure why, but I had never in my life been visited by “Aunt Flo” if you catch my drift. Chalk it up as yet another mystery in my life.

  “That’s good, because she doesn’t really have female hormones either. She’s a vampire. Can you just meet her before judging her?” he begged. I was not happy about it. I was mad they would offer a vampire the job before Kimmy.

  “If anyone should get a job here, it should be Kimmy. Especially after everything that girl has been through,” I stated, stepping closer to the new girl. I was hoping she would hear me and understand that I wasn’t going to be as welcoming as the rest of the crew. Ezra squeezed my hand in response. As we got close, I decided I needed to check out the competition. I looked up and almost fell over.

  “Holy shitake mushrooms, Kimmy!” I yelled and flung myself onto her. Ezra still had not let go of my arm as I hugged her. She looked completely different. Her once crazy curly brown hair was now shiny and straight reaching her lower back. Bright blues replaced her once chocolate eyes. Her tan skin had faded to the same fair complexion as Ezra’s.

  “Ezra, back off! This isn’t a three way. I’m just hugging her,” I fussed at him, trying to pry his hand off of my arm.

  “Emily, it’s okay,” Kimmy said softly. This was the first time I had ever heard her say anything that wasn’t completely uncalled for.