by Ever Coming
“But you will show me how to use it.” He wasn’t asking, he was telling her. He really wanted to know. Jason was not going to be a Where’s my sandwich? kind of lover. Heck, he might be the one making the sandwiches. Or better yet, maybe they would not even leave the bedroom for days at a time.
“Heck yeah, I will.” She stood from the bed, wanting more than anything to jump right back into his lap. She loved how she could sit there on his lap, not at all self-conscious about her weight. The last time she sat on a lovers lap was … well, never. It was a first, and that made her smile. “No way am I washing all of your dirty socks all of the time.” As she walked to the dryer, she turned her head to catch him unashamedly ogling her ass. “I have things to do, you know.” His eye remained planted on her ass, and she gave it a little shake. “Did you not see the piles of paper everywhere?” His chuckle filled her ears as she made record time switching the wash. She had snuggling to do.
Waiting All Kinds of Sucks and Not in the Fun Way
“What about you?” Snuggling in bed, half asleep was a beautiful place to be. It was also dangerous. She had been thinking about his plans in her head, and then boom, the question fell from her lips.
“What about me?” He sounded as if he, too, were halfway to slumber.
“What are your plans? You know for after the estate is settled.”
“Is that what you were thinking about? I thought we were having brainless snuggle time.” He was behind her with his arm wrapped around her middle, and he pulled her in a bit closer. Not all of him was in slumber.
“We were, but then my brainless snuggle turned into replaying the rest of the day over again in my mind. And we started this conversation and then …” She rolled over so that she could look at him as they spoke. “Boom ... hormones, so we never finished.” She put her hand on his cheek. Some stubble had started to grow in, and her stomach clenched as she imagined the roughness on her inner thighs as he brought her to orgasm. Yeah, they would need to try that.
“And …”
“Sorry, I got distracted.” He moved his cheek against her hand before dropping his sight between them. Oh yeah, he knew exactly what she had been thinking. “And, I guess what I want to know is, where are you staying?”
“Here.” He brought his eyes back to hers as his hand moved down her back to cup her ass. “I hope.”
“What about Oregon? What about your job?” They had never discussed his home, but those Oregon plates wouldn’t leave her mind. Oregon was not at all close to Indiana. Not. At. All.
“Eh, Oregon was just a stopping ground. I was only there for a few months.”
“And the job?” She had no idea what he did, but the truck was nice enough. He seemed to have no interest in his aunt’s money, so he must have a semi-decent one.
“I can do that anywhere.”
“What are you, a tech millionaire?” she teased.
“Pretty much, yeah.” At first she thought he was playing along, but then she saw the seriousness in his eyes. Holy. Crap. He wasn’t kidding.
“For serious?” She knew he was, but she was at a loss for what else to say.
“Yeah, for serious.”
“But you drove here?”
“I am not a fan of flying. My unicorn likes to be close to the ground.” That made so much sense. Unicorns, unlike jaguars, were not climbers.
“So this house is basically a shack to you?” She looked around the tiny bedroom. If he was even a thousandaire, this was shack-like.
“A bit small, yes, but a shack, not at all.”
“So you are going to give up a life of luxury to live in the middle of the woods in a tiny invisible cabin with someone you just met?” It sounded too good to be true.
“I lived in the middle of the woods in Oregon.”
She didn’t miss his use of the past tense. He was serious. “In a cabin?”
“Define cabin.” Oh yeah, it was no cabin. It probably belonged in one of those television shows where people are trying to find their perfect home with a budget of only four million dollars and nothing decent was in their budget.
“Made of logs?” Amber queried. She always loved log cabins, and as much as she called this place a cabin, it was more of a home in the woods in her mind. A true cabin needed logs.
He nodded, but didn’t meet her eyes.
“How many logs?” Amber met his eyes as she asked. He probably cleared a whole forest the way he was being so unforthcoming with information. It made sense though. A young hot guy was probably used to hiding his wealth if for no other reason than to avoid the gold diggers.
“About ten times as many as this place would have used.” He looked almost embarrassed by that.
“A log mansion?” She rolled him onto his front and began to explore his back, massaging him as she did. The conversation was getting too serious and that made her need to touch him.
“Yeah, something like that.” She straddled him to get a better angle. “That feels amazing.”
He was not wrong. Feeling his muscles under her hands did feel amazing. “And you want to live here?”
“For now.” It was like a bucket of cold water was dumped on her head. She kept her hands moving, happy that he couldn’t see how much his words crushed her.
“I understand.” She tried to keep her voice firm and confident as she spoke. She failed.
“I don’t think you actually do.” He somehow managed to roll them over in one movement and her back was now on the bed. His weight settled on her and his eyes were boring a hole through hers.
“Explain.” She more mouthed the word than spoke it. She was so quiet that she didn’t even hear it.
“I want to live here for now as we figure out what is going on with us.” He rubbed his thumb below her eyes. Stinks, she actually shed a tear. Her emotions were a hot mess of hormonal induced insanity. “If we find I am right and this is more than a lust induced delirium, then we will decide together where we want to live: be it here or in Oregon or on a deserted island somewhere.”
“And if we are just in a lust induced stupor?” That was her biggest fear in all of this. She wanted it to be real so badly. Why couldn’t true fated mates be more than just lore?
“Then I will leave you be and head on my way.”
“Leave me be?” Her jaguar popped up for a second. She didn’t seem to like that, not one bit.
“That was her.” She nodded. “Did she come out for me?”
“I … I don’t know. She doesn’t ever come out. She has come out more since I met you than she has in the past twenty years.”
“What did she seem to be telling you? That she didn’t want me to let you be?” She nodded, still trying to process it all. “My unicorn did the same thing.”
“He did?” Could their animals truly be on the same page?
“Yes.”
“Okay, I’m trying to wrap my head around all this. First, are you saying that my staying here is not contingent upon us sleeping together?” She never felt like it was conditional, but in the back of her mind she had wondered. Hormones and lust had a way of people promising more than they meant to. It was just how it was, and she wouldn’t have judged him for it.
“Of course. Did you think it was?”
Crap, she hurt his feelings. That was not at all what she wanted to do. “Not at all.” She reached up and caressed his cheek, once again enjoying the feel of his stubble. “Just trying to lay this all out in my mind. It is kind of a lot.”
“It is.” He rolled off of her and took her with him until they were both lying on their sides, face to face. It was somehow more intimate than only moments ago.
“Second, are you saying that your unicorn wants me?” She wished she understood what a healthy connection with a shifter’s animal felt like. Hearing people talk about it, wasn’t the same.
“Heck yeah, he does.” Jason leaned forward and kissed her cheek before whispering in her ear, “He wants you as badly as I do. Possibly more.”
&nbs
p; “Does he want women often?” Amber felt Jason stiffen up beside her. Leave it to her to say the wrong thing. “Sorry,” she mumbled. “My jaguar is MIA, so I don’t completely understand all of this.” That seemed to relax him a bit.
“Never be sorry for making sure you understand where I am coming from.” Jason rested his hand on her hip. “To answer your question, he has never wanted a woman before. He never seemed to care either way. He just was there. With you, though, he is always close to the surface.” She wanted that with her jaguar. Why did she have to be so broken?
“As far as staying here, the cabin is the location of the business, so really it is yours to do with what you will. You deserve it.” Oh crap, she had forgotten how this conversation started. No wonder he was slightly on edge. “Rosemary was sad when no one in our family seemed to have a knack for healing. I am guessing that is why she moved here. She must have been excited when you picked it up.”
“I think you are right about her being happy. She mentioned numerous time how quickly I picked things up and how easy it was making her life.”
The buzz of the dryer was glorious.
“Your clothes are ready. Did you want to take a quick shower while I get them?”
“Or you could take a quick shower and I could get them and then take my shower.” They both sat up. As much as she would have loved to spend the day snuggling with him, they needed to get to the store so they could buy condoms they weren’t going to use. For some reason that amused her to no end.
“Fine, be stubborn. You will be sorry you were.” No use fighting, she would pop in and take the world’s fastest shower and hope there was enough water left for him.
She left him on the bed and cleaned up as fast as she could. He had already seen her a sopping wet mess, so she skipped the make-up and opted for a loose pony tail. They had places to be, after all.
“Shower is all yours,” she announced, standing there in her towel.
His jaw dropped. Oh yeah, he liked what he saw.
“Give me three minutes.” She could have sworn she heard him mumbling that the store was too far away for his liking. She couldn’t agree more.
Errands
“Our shoes are squishy.” Amber could hear each of their steps as they walked through the muddy woods. She only had the one pair, and he had left his extra duffle bag in his truck.
“You need more shoes.” He wasn’t wrong.
“These are really good shoes when dry and it’s not as if a witch-induced storm is a normal occurrence, not even in Woodland Creek.” She didn’t want to get into money. He had a butt ton and any comment she made would only highlight that discrepancy.
“But you should at least have a pair of muck boots for when you have to travel through the mud.” She wasn’t about to tell him that she had a pair that were currently held together with duct tape.
“Normally, I would just stay home when it is like this.” Normally, she would just stay home period.
“Not today, though.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulder, and she nestled into his side, looking down the entire time to avoid tripping on one of the plethora of tree limbs scattered in the clearing they were now entering.
“Oh no, not today.” She kicked a larger limb from their path. “Today, I have an errand that needs a runnin’.” She would have been all for skipping the errand and staying home, but she understood his rationale and would never push him, just as she was sure he would never push her.
“Errands.” He pulled her to the left, so they could avoid one of the larger limbs. “We also need to pick up new shoes.”
“Oh, I assumed you had a second pair in your truck.”
“I do.” He pulled her to the right. “Darn branches,” he mumbled, his foot sunk into the mud in his maneuver to avoid yet another branch. “I meant we need to get shoes for you”.
“Yeah, that is not on my list for today.” It wasn’t actually on her list for the near future.
“Are you seriously going to let this turn into a silly argument?”
“I didn’t realize that was the direction we were heading.” She pulled her foot from the mud … again. Amber couldn’t wait to get to the pavement. “In all seriousness, do you want to drive to the next town to get shoes? Unless, of course, you are thinking I should get come fuck me heels from Delilah's Delights.” She heard him gasp. Oh, he liked the sound of that. She never understood guys liking heels in the bedroom, but heck she was game. Maybe she would pick up a cheap pair online after her next round of shipments went out. “I’m thinking those are even less practical than the squishy sneakers I am currently sporting, though.”
“Delilah’s Delight?” His voice slightly cracked. Oh yeah, his mind was still in the bedroom.
“Down boy.” She pushed into his side. “You missed my point.”
“Ohhh, I think I got your point, my mind was just wandering … elsewhere.” She knew where, because hers was visiting there also.
“Well, bring your mind back. We are just about to town, and I kind of would like to keep that,” she stopped and cupped his erection, which had to be painful pressing against his fly, —maybe that was why he used button fly jeans instead of zippers, “to myself. I’m not one for sharing.”
“That works for me because I’m not one to share either.” Great, now they were both on fire for each other and they’d be in town before they knew it.
“So, aside from Krieger’s and getting your truck, do you need anything else while we are here?
“Krieger’s?”
“The grocery store.”
“No, I think that works, unless you wanted to grab a bite to eat while we are here.”
She was hungry, but that could wait. “I say we just grab a rotisserie chicken and call it good.” They would have to eat it on the porch, but sometimes sacrifices needed to be made. She would make the kitchen counter and the table a priority tomorrow. Today, she was making naked time tops on her list.
“Impatient are we?” he teased.
“You have no idea,” she growled. Wait was that? He pulled her into a hug. It was. Her jaguar growled.
“Me too.” He spoke into her ear, the heat of his breath bringing all of her lust back in full force. “Her too.” Heck yeah, he felt it too. She still didn’t stay long, but she made a noise and that was a first.
“Your truck …” Amber panted. The darn man had her panting with just the heat of his breath—oh, tonight was going to be fun. “… is closest, so let’s go snag it.”
They raced to his truck. When they got to Drake’s, however, all they saw was a crowd of people, a fire truck, and some construction looking vehicles. They rounded the corner to where he left the truck and the cause for the commotion became clear. The truck was sitting exactly where they left it, but unlike when they left, it was now under a telephone pole.
“Fucking witch,” she mumbled. His truck was a mess.
“Hey, this your truck?” a guy in a hardhat and orange vest called out.
“It is,” Jason answered. He seemed far less pissed off than she was.
“We are working on getting the pole off of it. It looks like the side of the diner took more of the brunt of the fall, so it is probably drivable; although, your camping shell is pretty much toast.” The man was talking a mile a minute and gesturing to the pole, diner roof, and truck as he did.
“What kind of time are you looking at?” Jason still sounded beyond calm.
“Not really sure. We are trying to figure out how to remove it without increasing damage to either Drake’s or your truck. The sheriff is in a meeting or I would ask his advice on the best way to make a start. I just really don’t want to make things worse.” The poor man seemed so nervous. It was nice that he cared, but honestly, the damage was going to be severe either way.
“This was only a telephone pole, right? No electricity?” Jason inquired, keeping his eye on the back of his truck.
“Yeah, what a mess that would have been.”
“So I can try
to grab my bag from the back of the truck?” He said it as a question, but with such authority that she knew he was going to try regardless and was just asking out of politeness.
“I would prefer you didn’t.” It wasn’t a no.
“The tailgate is already down.” Down, fallen to the ground, same thing.
“Fine, just be careful.” The man knew he was going to lose and was a hot mess of nerves before they had even asked. He must know more about the meeting than he led on. Maybe it wasn’t a lovers’ quarrel. Not that it was her business.
“Will do.” He was able to grab the bag with ease and was back at her side in moments. She really preferred him there. “See, no harm, no fowl. Here is my card, call me when it’s available to move.” The man took the card and his eyes bugged wide when he read it. She would have to see what was so intriguing about it later.
“Yes sir, will do. I hope it is soon.” Amber was good with either really soon or much later. She had already been cock blocked multiple times, getting a broken truck out of a parking lot instead of getting it on was something she hoped to avoid.
“Ready?” Jason sounded more than ready. He must have been having similar thoughts. They were worse than horny college kids.
“Ready.” She grabbed his hand and led the way. She felt bad he had to carry his oversized duffle, but even if she thought she were strong enough to carry it, there was no way he would allow it. He came across as pretty old fashioned like that.
The grocery store was farther than she remembered and was an extra-long way, thanks to her soaking wet feet. It must have been worse for Jason; although, you would never guess it by the spring in his step.