“This woman will be your instructor and tandem jump partner. You’ll need to sign a few papers. We insisted on a woman because your men would lose their shit if they smelled a male on you.” Dixie waved to the tall blonde woman standing in the hangar. “She’ll instruct you before we go up in the air. Are you up for this?”
“Will you and Penny have partners?” Leslie looked from Penny to Dixie.
“No, Penny already skydived before this, and I learned so that I could come along for the ride. You’ll have a souvenir of this jump, too. That guy over there will be filming your jump.” Dixie gestured to a man gathering the gear. “Now, listen to your instructor.”
Dixie strode over and waited. The instructor guided Leslie through what would happen, and they suited up before having her go through a few practice runs on the ground. When they neared the end, a young woman helped Dixie and Penny into their jumpsuits and the parachutes. They climbed into the plane, and it took off.
Dixie’s heart pumped and excitement curled through her. Oh, yeah, she loved this. Hopefully, it would thrill Les just as much. Leslie beamed and wriggled on the bench.
“I can’t believe you guys did this. I expected something great, but not this.” Leslie rubbed her hands together.
Soon, the instructors opened the door. Wind roared into the plane, the noise almost deafening. The instructor guided Leslie close. The videographer went to the door. A few last checks and she asked if Leslie was ready. Leslie nodded. The videographer jumped, followed by Leslie and her tandem instructor.
Another of the people on the plane waved them forward. Dixie and Penny moved forward. Penny jumped and Dixie followed. A surge of energy swelled through her. Cool air slashed across her face as she fell. The whipping air rushed by her, blocking out all sound.
The pressure of the air pushed against her body, almost feeling as if it lifted her. A calm swept through her. She pulled the cord. For a long moment, she waited. She jerked, air bursting from her as the canopy caught the wind. Dixie savored the sight of the green pasture spread out below her. She circled in slow spirals to keep close to the landing zone. She stumbled as she landed and let out a whoop. Damn, that was such a thrill.
Leslie bounced over to her, free from the tether to her tandem instructor. “Oh, fuck, that was great! Nothing can top that.”
“We don’t plan to try to top that.” Chloe strolled over. “We’ve arranged a nice relaxing end to the day and some uninterrupted girl time.”
“Yep, we thought that some time to unwind before delivering you back to your men would be a great idea.” Penny fluffed her hair. “Some music, maybe a little dancing, food, and fun.”
“Where will this happen?” Leslie put a hand on her hip.
“You’ll see as soon as you three get out of that gear.” Shonna hugged Leslie.
“We’re going.” Dixie nodded and grabbed Leslie’s hand. “We really should go. That way we can have as much time to enjoy ourselves as possible.”
Dixie, Leslie, and Penny went and removed their gear before joining the others. They piled into the cars and drove. Leslie sat in the seat and watched avidly as they drove. Dixie guided the car out of the city. They drove to the coast and parked near the docks.
“What are we doing here?” Leslie gestured to the dock. “When we came this way, I thought maybe a beach house.”
“Just come on. You’ll enjoy this.” Dixie opened the door. She led the way down the pier.
They stopped in front of the Loud Whisper tied up at the side of the pier.
“Good afternoon, ready to come aboard?” A young woman stood at the side of the boat.
“Yes, we’re ready to go out and enjoy the rest of the day.” Chloe waved. “Ready for a lazy afternoon in the sun?”
“Hell, yes, let’s go aboard. Someone promised me mimosas.” Leslie laughed.
They all climbed on board the Whisper and were led to the bow where loungers were placed. Leslie dropped onto one of the seats and took the drink a woman brought her. Dixie sat on a chair and lay back. Warm exhilaration flowed through her. They’d done it. Leslie had a great time.
Dixie smiled. That was fabulous, but the start of it had sucked like hell. Could it get any worse than her mates saying they couldn’t be with her?
Chapter Two
Another day of seeing her, but still keeping her just out of reach. Micah took a deep breath. This would drive him slowly crazy. Doing his rounds at the hospital had never been this hard before.
He shook his head. All that had been before he met his mate. It had to be this way though. At least, until they discovered who was after them.
Disinfectant tinged the air. Micah strolled down the hallway. Three patients to see, and then he could go back to the office. Two nurses stood at the nurses’ station. Movement at the end of the hall caught his eye. A blond woman in purple scrubs turned onto the hallway and immediately turned back around.
He sighed. Dixie. Avoiding him again. That couldn’t continue. This had happened too many times to be a coincidence, and sooner or later, someone would notice. She was a nurse. Patients needed care. She should know better than to walk away just because she didn’t want to see him.
He glanced down at his tablet. Visiting those three patients would wait a little while. Someone should talk to her. Since he was here, it would have to be him.
He strode down the hallway. By the time he turned into the corridor, she was nowhere to be seen. He ground his teeth. As if that would even slow him down. She must have dashed down the hallway to have disappeared this quickly. This wasn’t professional behavior at all.
He trailed her down to the first floor and out into the parking lot. A blond head with curly hair stuck up over the roof of a gleaming red Lexus. What was she doing? He hurried to catch up to her. If she ran away, she could lose her job. He paced forward until he reached the trunk of her car.
“You can’t keep doing this.” Micah rolled his shoulders. If only he could get closer, but it would be better to maintain distance. Right now, she needed to listen. They could conduct themselves as adults and work in the same hospital occasionally.
She stiffened, her back ramrod straight. “What do you want?”
“Just because we can’t be together doesn’t mean you run away every time you see one of us.” He tugged at his collar. Until the danger passed, it was best to keep her out of their lives.
“Damn, you’re one of the most conceited men on the face of the earth.” She turned and threw up her hands. Dark lashes veiled brown eyes
“I’m not blind. I’ve seen you leave the hall as soon as you noticed I was there. You have a duty to your patients, and when you run away from me, you’re shirking that.” He took a step forward. “You’ll lose your job.”
She sighed and tapped her foot. “I’m not shirking any damn thing. And I’m none of your damned business. You don’t want me, and that’s fine. If I’m not handling one of your patients, you don’t get to tell me shit.”
“Well, you’re not in there doing your job.” He raised his brows. She could try to convince herself of that all she liked. The proof was her in the parking lot instead of on the floor in the hospital.
“You know nothing about me. If you did, you’d know that I was off right now. As in not working, fucker.” She folded her arms across her chest.
He blinked. Not what he’d expected. “You were just on the floor you’re assigned to.”
“Yes, I was. I just clocked out and finished filling in the next shift of nurses about the patients. I don’t have to walk by you when I’m off work. And let me tell you that you aren’t worth losing my job.” She rolled her eyes.
Such expressive brown eyes, and they burned with the intensity of her anger. He sighed. Definitely not the way he’d thought this conversation would go.
“I think we got off on the wrong foot, and I was under the wrong impression about what you were doing today.” He held up his hand.
If this danger persisted, he’d go crazy. She
was so close. Their mate, right in the same city as them. Practically within reach and she wanted them, or had in the beginning. They’d looked for their mate for so long. Now, they’d alienated her all because of some asshole who’d decided to come after them.
If they knew who he was, it wouldn’t be so bad. They had no clue. Not even if this was just a general attack or if the person was after one of them specifically.
“I don’t think there’s a right way for a woman or man to learn that their mate doesn’t want them.” She shook her head. Blond spiral curls bobbed and swayed. Her lush pink lips trembled. “Why don’t you go away?”
“It’s not that we don’t want you, Dixie.” He sighed. He couldn’t walk away from her right now if someone was holding a gun on him. Not with her eyes glistening with unshed tears.
She looked up and gasped.
“Yes, I know your name. We all do. We had to know it, even though there’s nothing we can do about it right now.” He put his hand on the trunk of her car. “I’m Micah Conrad.”
“You have patients on the ward I work on so it would be hard not know your name. But what I know about you three doesn’t really matter since you insist you can’t do this.” She fisted her hands. “Why can’t you do anything about it right now? Or is this some bullshit excuse to get me to ‘stop avoiding you’? Which I wasn’t by the way.”
“It’s not an excuse. We have a reason to stay away from you.” He ran a hand through his hair. And the woman had avoided him at least one or two times. This wasn’t the time to get into that.
“Well, do you plan to tell me the so-called reason, or do you intend to stand there and convince me that it’s nothing more than words?” She drew in a hitching breath.
His chest tightened. That sound. Her full lips pressed into a thin line, but her big eyes glittered with pain. Maybe he shouldn’t have approached her now. Since he had, he couldn’t walk away without saying anything. That would convince her he wasn’t lying.
“It’s not safe for you to be with us.” He took a step forward. He rolled his shoulders. Getting closer was probably a mistake. His hands itched to stroke her arm, but stroking her arm would lead to taking her in his arm.
She huffed and took a step back. “You expect me to believe that? I’m not some human who knows nothing about our kind. When there’s danger, our men don’t leave their mates out in the cold where it might find them.”
He took another long step forward. A spike of possessiveness flashed through him. His mate was backing away. If she kept doing that, he’d grab her and haul her close.
He clenched his fingers. “That’s if the woman’s already in danger. As long as you’re not anywhere close to us, you should be fine.”
Hopefully. If only they had some clue about why they’d been vandalized and attacked, maybe they could be certain of it. At this point, distance was the safest bet.
“Look. I don’t know what to believe, but I know that you don’t want to have anything to do with me.” She shook her head and ran her fingers through her hair. “Until you do, I want you to stay away from me. If we have to work together, that’s fine. We can both do that with minimal interaction, but I can’t act like I’m your friend.”
He took a step forward. She straightened and narrowed her eyes at him. She asked the impossible. The only way he, Gable, and Maddox had stayed away from her was that they knew she worked here and that the chief of police kept an eye on her. They’d ensured they didn’t know her address. If they did, they’d go by once a day, if not walk right up to the door. The temptation to go to her already burned at his insides.
“I’m not asking you to go out on a date with me, but I’d like to maintain some form of communication. If you find yourself in any danger, I want to know.” He put his hand on her shoulder. One hint of danger to her, and he’d bring her home with him. “The attacks have focused on Maddox, Gable, and I, and our property. But if someone starts coming after you, we will protect you.”
She rolled her eyes. “You don’t have the right to know anything about me. You gave that up when you decided not to acknowledge that we are mates.”
“Listen, kitten…” He glided forward and hooked an arm around her.
“I’m not a kitten. I’m a full-grown bear, and I do what I want. I don’t have anyone to answer to. And you’ll have to know me a hell of a lot better before you start calling me by some endearment. But it better not be kitten.” She poked her finger against his chest.
So fierce. He laughed. “We’ll come up with something you like.”
“Yeah, if I’m still waiting around by that time.” She glared up at him.
He growled. His mate threatened to go to someone else. An urgency surged through him. “You’re our mate.”
“Yes, I know, and you don’t want me right now. I’m not some piece of jewelry to be put to the side and picked up later.” She pressed on his chest. “You three want to keep distance between you and me. Well, keep the distance. But I’m not stopping my life for men who don’t want me.”
His hands tightened. Blood pounded through his veins, and the racing beat thrummed in his ears. “You’re our mate. No one else will touch you.”
He pressed his lips to hers. She gasped. Her warmth seared him as her lips moved beneath his. He lapped at the full pouty curve. Honey sweetness lured him closer. She ran her hands up to his shoulders. Warmth blazed along the path. He grazed his teeth over her lips and thrust his tongue into her mouth.
She hummed. He tugged her closer until her stomach and thighs nudged his. Her softness nestled against him. The urge to lose himself in her blasted away the last of his reticence. He rocked against her, his cock brushing against her. A spearing jolt shot through him. Damn, so good even with their clothes on.
He lifted his head. She blinked up at him. Her brown eyes darkened. So sexy. Then her eyes widened, and she brought her hand to her lips.
“Oh my. Do you know what you’ve done?” She pushed against his chest. “You kissed me.”
A cold chill ran down his spine, and numbness washed through him. He’d kissed her. The heat. He closed his eyes and his hands fell away from her. Fuck. They could both get the fever from the kiss.
She stepped back from him. “If you don’t want me near you, why did you do that? You know what could happen. What probably will.”
He took a deep breath. “I wasn’t thinking. If I was more inclined to blame the bear part of me, I’d say that he pushed me into it. But that would be a lie. I didn’t like you denying what was between us, but when you said that you might not be waiting, I couldn’t think of much else but holding you. And everything burst out of control.”
Mating heat. Fuck. That could happen. If it did, it would change everything. They’d have no choice but to bring her to them.
“Just great. You weren’t thinking, and you want to keep me safe. Were you thinking that perhaps the one who is after you could be watching you?” She threw up her hands.
“All of the attacks come in places we’re supposed to be at times we’re supposed to be there. I don’t think the person behind this has the resources to watch us all the time. You’re safe.” He stepped back. Damn, this wasn’t what he’d intended.
“Yeah, well, why don’t you go back inside? I’m sure you have work to do.” She shook her head.
He clenched his hands. She was backing off and panicking. Might run. If he pushed, she’d probably do it.
“I’ll leave you alone for now. If anything feels off to you, call me. I know you can get my number.” He straightened and forced himself to take a step back.
She huffed. “Just go. I’m a big girl. I can handle myself.”
He blew out a breath. “I’ll talk to you again, and this isn’t over.”
She waved her hand. “You have patients, and I have things to do.”
He stiffened. “Don’t run from me anymore. Neither of us needs the stress with what’s probably coming our way, and I’m sorry about that. I didn’t intend to possibly
begin anything when we can’t be with you.”
He turned and strode back to the hospital. This wouldn’t get them anywhere. Now, he had other things to worry about. Would the kiss bring on the mating heat? With the stress and all the emotion, it was probable. Plus, that hadn’t been a short kiss.
On top of that, he had to figure out how to tell Maddox and Gable that he’d kissed her and might get mating fever. Not one of his smartest moves. When he got that close to her, his thoughts had flown away. Everything was reaction.
He walked back to the hospital and rode back up in the elevator. First, to get through the next few hours. After that, he’d think about explaining things.
* * * *
Micah pulled into the driveway of their new home, parking beside Maddox’s truck. It would be great when the workers built the garage. A large piece of property, it sat on the edge of town, and even the closest neighbors weren’t nearby. Which was good in this case, because they might get a little loud after he told Maddox and Gable what happened.
His fingers tightened on the steering wheel. Damn, they would be pissed. They’d talked about it and agreed. It was best to keep her out of it if they could. Now, they might be on a damned timetable. He smacked the console with his hand and pushed the door open. No use delaying any more. Things couldn’t be changed now.
He strode to the side door and unlocked it, before twisting the knob and heading inside. No one in the kitchen. Maybe Gable was looking at office space on the web again. He still had to transfer his business here. Maddox could be anywhere in the house. Micah grabbed a beer. He would need it.
He popped off the top and headed for the living room. Time to find them, get them both in the same room, and get this over with. This wouldn’t get easier.
Gable lounged on the black couch. He lifted his hand when Micah walked in.
“Where’s Maddox?” Micah looked into the dining room. Not there unless he was hiding behind the half wall that separated the living room from the dining room.
In Her Bears' Arms Page 2