Cougar Magic

by Terry Spear

  "He did," Addie said. "And the guy you killed? He was the one implicated in the drug dealer's murder, but it could never be proven."

  "And the other guy?" Nina asked.

  "The other cousin? Him too." Addie wrapped her arm around Dan's waist. "They're just the kind of cougars we terminate."

  "Are you absolutely sure about staying here alone tonight?" Dan asked.

  "Yeah," Nina said this time.

  Then Addie and Dan said goodnight and left.

  Stryker locked the door after them and then scooped Nina up in his arms and carried her to bed.

  "This was the best New Year's Eve party ever," Stryker said and set her on the floor in front of the bed.

  "And the best start to a new year ever." Nina ran her hand up his bare chest.

  He was past ready to yank off his jacket the rest of the way and have her hands all over him, just like he wanted to have his hands all over her.

  He was disappointed that the pharmacist and his cousin hadn't tried to infiltrate the New Year's Eve party so that any one of the law enforcement officers could have eliminated them, but Stryker had halfway suspected Rudy and his cousin wouldn't be that bold.

  Stryker helped Nina out of her high-heeled sandals and she helped him out of his boots and socks.

  Then he pulled her tight against his body, moving to the music in his head and she began to pull his jacket off his shoulders, her pretty blue eyes darkening with intrigue. It was like they were listening to the same music playing at the Watering Hole, the beat, the rhythm, the mood moving them against each other as he allowed his jacket to fall to the floor. Then her hands were on his bare shoulders and she was kissing the sides of his neck, her hair falling over his chest.

  He cupped her buttocks and pressed her tighter, loving the way her body moved against his and turned his furnace up to high.

  "Hot enough for you?" she asked, licking his neck and cupping his crotch.

  "Hell, yeah." She was hot! And she was setting him ablaze. He lifted her dress to her waist and slid his hands down her panties, cupping her bare ass.

  They started to kiss, lips pressing against lips, tongues touching, moist lips caressing, pressing harder. Their breathing was more ragged, their bodies rubbing. Then they deepened the kiss, his tongue tangling with hers.

  There was no more time for dancing. He slid her dress over her head and tossed it on a chair. She tackled his belt and unfastened it. Then she did a hot number on his zipper, pressing her finger down his swollen cock first, finally unzipping his pants and pulling them down.

  She placed her hand firmly on his steel-hard cock still confined, and he groaned out loud. She was killing him. She smiled, the vixen, then she pulled off his boxer briefs. He unfastened her strapless bra and leaned down to kiss her breasts that had been pressed against him the whole time they'd been dancing, her nipples erect. Her lush delectable curves were a feast, caressed by the clinging dress she'd been wearing when he was ready to do the honors. Now she was nearly naked, and he pulled off her lacy black panties, and ran his hands over her breasts. Then he lavished them with kisses and suckled her rigid nipples. She moaned, her hands on his shoulders, holding on as if she were ready to fall.

  He yanked the covers aside and they ended up in bed, a tangle of legs, and then they renewed the kissing. Their musky scents told him all there was to say. She was ready for him just as much as he was for her. He began to stroke her swollen nubbin. She was barely breathing, her look intense, until she started to writhe under his touch.

  "Oh, God, do it!" she groaned out and he smiled.

  He was working on it! And then she cried out with joy and he pressed his engorged cock between her legs, seated himself, and began to thrust. He kissed her mouth, enjoying the taste of her, the feel of her, the scent of her, everything about her. She was his cougar and he couldn't be any happier.

  She moved her legs over his hips and he dragged her legs over his shoulders and pumped into her hard, deep, thrusting, loving her.

  He couldn't hold on any longer, knowing this was only the beginning of the new year and what a wonderful beginning. He found release and kissed her deeply, wanting her to know just how much she meant to him. He released her legs and she just lay there, spread to him, smiling.

  "Shower time?" she asked.

  He smiled. "Hell, yeah."

  Early the next morning, way before Stryker was ready to go to work with Nina, they finally showered after making love again, and she made omelets for them. He was impressed. "I figured we'd have the obligatory donuts from Mrs. Fitz's bakery."

  Nina laughed. "We can have those too. But then we'll have to run them off."

  "I'm certainly game."

  He was wearing his jeans and white shirt and boots, his normal duty uniform. Nina was wearing a warm, ecru, wool sweater and a pair of jeans, and boots that were made for stomping through snow and kicking some serious butt. He smiled at her.

  "I'd wear a black sweater, but I didn't have one with me. Black clothes make me seem more bad-ass."

  He chuckled. "Your little black dress is amazing."

  She smiled at him. "You don't think black clothes make a statement? If I'd been wearing black when I took you down at my aunt and uncle's house, you would have had a lot more respect for my authority.”

  They cleaned up the breakfast dishes and he pulled her in for a kiss. "I have total respect for your authority. Though I have to admit when I saw you naked, you had me totally under your power."

  She laughed. "I love you."

  "Oh, I love you right back." They kissed, and then headed over to the sheriff's office to do their job.

  He couldn't think of a better way to spend his New Year's Day working at the office. He figured everyone would want to be with family. But now, his mother was coming over to have New Year's dinner with them after having New Year's lunch with Leyton, Kate, and their kids, so Stryker was glad for that.

  Mrs. Fitz came bright and early with cinnamon buns to the sheriff's office. She hung around and talked with them about how glad she was that Nina and Stryker had met and mated. Nina swore she was hanging around for even longer because she was offering extra protection.

  "Well, the bakery is probably calling my name. I need to head on over there." She gave Nina a hug, then headed out, pulling her phone from her pocket, and calling someone.

  "That was sweet of her."

  "Must be because of it being New Year's Day and our being newly mated. I've never had such special treatment. See? It was totally worth mating you," Stryker said

  Nina smiled. "You don't think she was here to help protect me? She was armed. I saw her holstered Glock when she leaned over to get some more coffee."

  "That may be."

  Nina heard someone else pull up outside the sheriff's office, and she figured they were finally getting some sheriffing business, but it was Dan and Addie. "Well, Dan and Addie are here."

  "Maybe they have some news."

  Nina welcomed them. "I figured you all would be enjoying your day off."

  "We came over to see if you needed anything." Addie had brought a tray of vegetable and fruit snacks. "The guys are always bringing over donuts, so I try to add some fruits and vegetables to the mix."

  Nina smiled. "That's great."

  "Tracey's bringing you lunch, on account of it's New Year's Day," Dan said, taking a seat in the main waiting area.

  Nina wasn't surprised, but she really wondered if there was more to it than that.

  Stryker winked at Nina, then got a call, and everyone waited to hear what it was about. "Okay, I'll see if I can get ahold of a plumber. Thanks for letting us know."

  Dan already had his phone out. "Who's got plumbing problems?"

  "A family on a ski trip. One of the men living near them saw water coming out of an outdoor faucet. He shut off the valve, but the rest of the pipes need to be checked." Stryker gave Dan the name of the family concerned.

  Dan called a plumber and sent him out to check on the
place.

  Nina loved how everyone helped everyone. Addie was alternately checking stuff on one of the computers and glancing out the window. Looking for any sign of the bad guys? Nina really didn't think they'd try storming the sheriff's office.

  When Stryker had to go out on a traffic accident call, Dan went with him and Addie and Nina stayed at the office.

  "I really don't think Rudy and his cousin will try to do anything here, do you?" Nina asked Addie.

  "I don't think so, but this worked out well for Stryker to handle the traffic accident, and me to take care of anything that arises. You're not on the payroll yet, but I'll show you how to log into the computer while we're at it. This can be your first-day of training. I'll make sure Dan pays you for it."

  Nina smiled. She wasn't about to argue with that.

  Then they got another call and she took it this time.

  "I'm Samuel Red, the owner of Red's Liquor Store, on the highway to Loveland. I've had an altercation with a man who tried to rob me."

  "Are you all right? Is anyone injured?" Nina was scribbling notes for Addie to let her know what was going on.

  "As soon as I brought out my shotgun, they hightailed it out of here. But I got their license plate number." He gave it to her and she wrote it down for Addie, who began typing it into her computer.

  "Stolen in Austin," Addie said.

  "Do you have any camera footage of the man?" Nina asked, figuring the man had to be Rudy or his cousin.

  "Yeah, I'll send it to the office. I've never heard of you before. Who are you?"

  "Deputy Sheriff Nina Lamar, in training."

  "Who else is there with you?"

  "Addie."

  "Okay, good to hear they've hired some more help."

  "You said they, but you said only one man came into the store."

  "Yeah, the other was driving."

  "A man also?"

  "Yeah, couldn't see much of what he looked like. They were both wearing black ski masks."

  "Okay." So that wasn't going to help them much. Unless Ava could identify the man's voice. Still, she had dated the cousin they'd killed, and she'd worked with Rudy, so she might not know what this guy's voice sounded like, if it was Judd's.

  "I'll call Dan to have him run by the liquor store and check it out," Addie said, and Nina relayed the information to the liquor store owner. Then they quit the call.

  "I'm going to have Ava listen to the video to see is she recognizes the man's voice," Nina told Addie.

  "Great idea."

  Nina texted her sister, and Ava got right back with her. "Hey, how was your New Year's Eve party? Bridget said you didn't have any trouble. We didn't either, thankfully, though I'd like to know that these men won't be a problem any longer."

  "I'm working at the sheriff's office and we had an attempted armed robbery at Red's Liquor Store out of town. The car they were driving was stolen from Austin. I'm sending you a video to see if you recognize the man's voice. He's wearing a mask, so you might not recognize his face," Nina said.

  "Oh, okay, sure, send it." After a couple of minutes, Ava said, "That's Rudy! Judd must have been driving. Why would they pull a job on a liquor store? It's kind of risky, isn't it?"

  "Yeah, it is. Guess they needed more liquor to celebrate New Year's. Maybe they were afraid to use a credit card at the place or were afraid to be on video in case we had notified everyone in the area to be on the lookout for these men."

  "Everyone has been," Addie said.

  "Okay, thanks, Ava. How was your New Year's Eve?"

  "Fantastic. Some guy named Chet Kensington came over to say hi to Bridget and Travis, but I thought he looked rather anxious to meet me. He shouldn't have been. He's one of the good guys. I fall for all the wrong types. Good guys just don't appeal."

  Nina shook her head. "Too bad." Ava was always going to get herself into trouble then. "We had a lovely time. I've got to go though."

  "Okay, catch them, will you? Everyone's trying not to look like they're on edge, but they are."

  "We're trying."

  They wished each other a happy New Year, and then ended the call.

  "Dan's on his way over to the liquor store. Stryker's almost finished with the traffic mishap. There are still a lot of icy patches in the more rural areas. People won't slow down." The phone rang and Addie automatically answered it. She smiled at Nina. "Sorry," she mouthed, for grabbing the phone so quickly and not letting Nina get the training in.

  Nina just smiled at her and got the next call. It was from Stryker and she was thrilled to hear his voice.

  "Hey, I'm headed back. Addie just sent out the alert about the stolen car from Austin," Stryker said.

  "I had Ava verify the man who tried to rob the liquor store was Rudy."

  "Okay, good job, honey. Then everyone needs to know that too." Stryker soon walked in the door, bringing with him a cold gust of snow-chilled air. He came over to the desk and gave her a kiss.

  "PDA," Addie said to him, not bothering to look up from her monitor.

  He chuckled.

  Addie said, "That's all I heard from Stryker once I started working here with Dan and the rest of them."

  Nina laughed.

  Dan finally returned to pick Addie up. "These guys have to be stopped before they hurt someone. We're going on home. Call us if you need any backup."

  "Thanks, you too," Stryker said and Nina thanked them too.

  Once they'd left, Nina sat on Stryker's lap at his desk. "I didn't think we'd ever have any alone time at work."

  Stryker kissed her neck. "I didn't think we would either." Then they heard another car pull up. "That's Tracey's car."

  "Lunchtime then." Smiling, Nina got off his lap.

  Tracey and Hal came in and set up a feast in the lunchroom. "I get to visit with the two of you, while Hal mans the office, since he's a deputy sheriff, and I'm not."

  Yet, Nina knew if there was any trouble, Tracey, as a gun-toting agent, was ready for any situation too.

  When they left an hour and half later, Bridget and Travis dropped by with fresh cheesecake topped with cherries from Mrs. Fitz's bakery. They visited while Stryker took care of most of the minor problems—drunk driving, someone parking in front of a fire hydrant, and drunk and disorderly conduct in the square.

  After they wished them well, Chase arrived to take over duty and Amy Mayflower showed up as the dispatcher to take care of calls whenever he was called away.

  "Hey, give us a ring if you see anything that seems suspicious," Chase said. "These guys aren't leaving the area, I'm sure, until they get what they want."

  "I wish we could just turn the videos that Ava took of them over to the police who think she's the one who stole the drugs," Nina said, "though I know we can't. We have to terminate Rudy and his cousin."

  "I agree," Chase said. "I'd like to get her name cleared. Take it easy."

  Amy got a call, and then Chase did, and Stryker and Nina headed back home.

  19

  Stryker wanted to take Nina back to bed when they got home, but they needed to straighten up the place for his mother's arrival and plan the dinner. It would take about four and a half hours to cook the roast.

  "That was some workday," Nina said, getting the roast ready for the oven. "I'm sure it won't always be like that, but it was fun and I got my feet wet on the new job."

  "Yeah, I think everyone worried that I'd be off working the job and you'd be left alone at the office. But I really don't think those guys were going to come anywhere near there. At least we knew they were north of town when they tried to rob the liquor store."

  They began to work on straightening things up, and Nina gave notice at her apartment complex. Luckily, the manager was always on-call.

  "We'll need to move all your things here," Stryker said.

  "Yeah, no furniture. I was just renting it. I just have some personal effects and clothes there. We could box it up in a weekend when we're off."

  "Dan will give us the time of
f, no problem."

  They actually had time for a nap, but about a half hour into it, Nina woke and bolted upright. Stryker sat up and was getting ready to throw on some clothes, sure that Nina had heard something that had disturbed her.

  She rubbed her forehead. "I had a vision. We were locking the cougar doors at my aunt and uncle's house."

  "We forgot to do that when we left."

  "Yeah, we need to return there and lock them."

  Stryker glanced at the clock on the bedside table. "We have plenty of time before my mother comes to eat dinner with us." He began getting dressed.

  Nina climbed out of bed and hurried to throw on some warm clothes too.

  It had stopped snowing at least and the roads had been plowed, thankfully. He and Nina headed over to the Robinson's home, finally reached it, and drove into the driveway.

  They both got out, both sniffing for skunks. She turned to Stryker and hugged him. "I never thought I'd be mating a cougar because he'd rescued me from skunks."

  He laughed. "Not when you have all your training that means you could handle anything, just about, on your own."

  With guns readied, he unlocked the house and then they went inside to make sure that no rogue cougars had slipped in sometime after he and Nina had left the Robinson's house earlier.

  They found no sign of anyone in the house. He went to the back door to lock the cougar door and she locked the front cougar door.

  "Do you always have visions about things you need to do?" he asked, wondering if that was so, it could be useful.

  She glanced outside. "No. Usually, it's like an insight into something. Like seeing your birth certificate."

  "And yet, without seeing that, none of this would have occurred. It's almost like it helps you to get the ball rolling."

  "Not always, but in that case and this one, it seems to be."

  "That's why you had the vision of the cougar doors being left unlocked?"

  "Sometimes I just get an idea, a reminder, that I haven't done something I needed to. And when I fully wake, I believe it was a vision."

  He wondered, because when she'd sat up so suddenly, that wasn’t like it was a reminder, but something else. He turned on the light out back over the porch and looked at the snow-covered patio. "Cougar and men's tracks. And it has to have been since the snowstorm we just had."