by E A Price
As soon as he could, he shifted to his wolf and prowled the edges of the construction site. He told himself he was doing it to make sure nothing else happened at the site, but deep down he knew the truth. He just wanted to see her. Everyone else had gone home, and Val had stayed and worked for hour after hour. He had huffed, puffed and growled. She shouldn’t work such long hours; it wasn’t healthy. The protective part of him wanted to burst right in there and drag her out, but the logical side of him realized that he really couldn’t do that. That would really make her mad, and as much as he enjoyed that side of her, he didn’t want to push her too far.
It had been a relief when she finally did leave. She didn’t see him, but he ran alongside her car, back to the cabin. He’d been a little disturbed when she arrived at the cabin and took a phone call. His hackles had risen as he smelt the fear suddenly emanating from her, and for a second, as her head whipped round searching the woods, he’d thought she knew he was there. But no, after a few seconds, she relaxed. He hadn’t heard that call, but he could tell it had upset her.
He had snarled lightly, irritated that he didn’t know what it was about and that he wasn’t in a position to find out.
He waited until all the lights went out in the cabin, and then waited another hour after that. By then, he was satisfied that she was asleep. Still a little disconcerted by her reaction to her phone call, he spread his scent around the area to ward off other predators, and went as far as to shift back to his human self and check all her windows and her door was locked. He wasn’t overly happy about leaving her, and would much prefer to take her back to his house, to his bed… but he really couldn’t do that. Yet.
For now, this would have to do. But who knows what might happen tomorrow.
*
Val crossed her legs as the sheriff pushed open the door to her cell. His eyes raked over her body, lingering on her hips and breasts. She shuddered, and the corner of his mouth lifted in amusement.
Slowly, deliberately, he stalked towards her, never taking his eyes off her, lest she try to get away. She was truly prey to his predator.
He flexed his muscles, and she clenched her thighs together harder, trying to hide the scent of her wet arousal. He sniffed the air and chuckled roughly. He knew she wanted him, and if the immensely huge bulge in the front of his trousers was anything to go by, he wanted her too.
“You’ve been a bad girl, Valentine,” he rumbled huskily.
Val bit her lip and blushed prettily. “Indeed I have.”
“What am I going to do with you?”
She ran a finger over the neckline of her dress. “Whatever you want.”
The sheriff let out a small growl and ate up the ground between them. Val squealed in delight as he grabbed her and pushed her against the wall. She wrapped her legs around him and clutched her small hands to his wide shoulders.
His mouth met hers; their tongues tangled ferociously, and she squeaked as she felt his hand dip into her thong. She wrenched her mouth from his.
“Sheriff, this is so sudden,” she panted excitedly as his fingers caressed her slit, bathing in her honey.
“No, I’ve been waiting for you my whole life,” he murmured.
With that, he thrust his fingers into her channel, and she came apart screaming for him.
*
Val trembled as the orgasm wracked her body. She sat up in bed, chest heaving and disorientated, she looked around the darkened room wildly. She calmed a little when she remembered where she was, but soon felt her chest tightening as she realized what had just happened.
Holy cow! She’d just had a sex dream about the sheriff and had come in her sleep!
Damn, she felt like a freaking teenager! Actually, no, even when she was a teenager she’d never orgasmed because of a dream. This was something new, and it was all because of that disgustingly sexy sheriff. This was all his fault! She tried to make herself feel annoyed at him, to blame him for her unexplainable attraction, but she couldn’t. She was annoyed at herself. She’d never felt anything like this for any man before – even the media mogul – and it had to be for a random wolf shifter in the middle of nowhere. Completely unexplainable attraction!
Okay, so it wasn’t exactly unexplainable. There was his body, his face, his dominance, the power he exuded – she was a lowly human and even she could sense it! She imagined shifter women would fall all over their perfectly toned long legs just to see him smile at them. Bitches! Val hated them all!
With alarm, she realized she was clenching her fists. What the heck was happening? She was getting angry over imaginary women being interested in her sheriff. No, not her sheriff. He didn’t belong to her… no, definitely not. She definitely didn’t want to be in relationship with him. Nuh-uh, no way. Just because dreaming of him had blessed her with the most intense climax she had ever been given, didn’t mean a thing. Just because thinking about him gave her more sexual satisfaction than all of her former partners put together…
Val let out a mewl of disgust as she realized her bed sheets were wet. Ugh, she really was like a teenager!
She clambered out of bed and muttered angrily as she quickly changed her sheets. Thank heavens that the holiday cottage actually came equipped with its own washer dryer. She didn’t really want to explain this away to anyone in town.
She stripped off her nightshirt and threw it in the washer. She smoothed her hands over her skin and was shocked at how hot she was.
Stepping into the shower, she turned the water to as cold as she could stand, and rubbed body gel all over herself. Val moaned as her fingers brushed over her sensitive clit, and images of the handsome sheriff flashed before her.
Lord, she was horny again!
As frustrating as she found her current condition, she was a little relieved and surprised to find that her body felt fine. All the aches that had been plaguing her over the last few days had disappeared, and she felt great.
No, now she was assaulted by an ache of an altogether different kind.
*
Jake flicked through the channels on the TV, trying to find something to take his mind off a certain fiery woman. He settled on the news and dropped the remote on the coffee table.
He took over his house when he moved to the pack. It previously belonged to Felicity and Ford Carver’s parents. They retired to Florida, and Jake bought their house fully furnished. He wondered if Val would like his house? When he bought the house the Carvers had hinted at him finding a mate and raising a family there like they had… he hadn’t liked to disillusion the sweet couple, but neither of those things had ever been on his radar. He’d always thought that having a family was overrated. Perhaps until now.
He wondered if Val wanted kids. His wolf panted at the thought. He’d never really cared about children before. They mostly just irritated him, but the thought of having his own kids, with Val, was different.
The TV caught his attention as his ex-wife sauntered on screen. Agent Robyn Foreman of the SEA. Yeah, for some reason she had chosen to keep his name. He wondered about that, but never cared enough to ask.
He turned up the volume as she coldly, and professionally gave out details of a murder that had occurred in Ursa, Georgia. That was where she transferred after their divorce. She didn’t give out many details, the SEA tried to remain very tight-lipped where the public was concerned, but the victim was a shifter female, and they were asking for information.
Dang, it must have been bad if they were already trying to get the public involved. From experience, the tip line generally only invited nut jobs to make crazy reports about aliens. They only publically asked for tips if they were really stumped or if the murder was so horrific that they wanted it wrapped up because they feared another murder of the same ilk.
He flashed back to Morgan. The sick fucker had ritualistically killed eight people before Jake had shot him. Almost nine. It took a long time before Astrid could even step outside her front door without shaking after the hell Morgan put her through.
He should call Astrid tomorrow and see how she was getting on. They kept in touch as often as they could; he would tell her about life in the pack, and she would complain about her boss and boyfriend. Jake felt like her protective older brother and was always ready to rush to her to help her with her obnoxious boss or dumbass boyfriend. She always told him not to, of course, but Jake knew she just liked the fact that he cared enough to offer. Yes, he would call her tomorrow and see how she was getting on.
He watched rather than listened to what Robyn was saying. She looked serious, but he could tell she was enjoying herself. This was always the part of the job she loved. The glory. Jake could never consider giving a press conference and admitting to the world that a killer was roaming free to be glorious. But no, Robyn wanted the recognition. Jake had always wanted to be left alone to do his job. Not that it mattered anymore; he wouldn’t change what he had in Rose for the world. Although he could think of one thing that would make his life just a little more enjoyable, well, one woman, rather…
Chapter Seven
The next day, Val decided to go on a charm offensive. Following some more dirty – but highly enjoyable – dreams, it was clear that just ignoring the sheriff wasn’t going to work. She felt herself flush with pleasure at just the thought of him, and, lord help her, his gruff, no-nonsense attitude just seemed to make her hotter.
Maybe, just maybe, if she could find a way to make friends with him, he would stop acting so sexily! Maybe she could find out something about him that made him less hot. Like if he had all his ex-girlfriends buried in his back yard… That seemed unlikely, but she’d take what she could get.
Val made her way into the town cake shop, Cake Moon, after having stared at their delicious looking window display for a good ten minutes. Mmmm, lemon meringue cupcakes – yum.
She was immediately greeted by a man and a woman who were very young and very attractive. Darn it! What were they feeding them in Rose? These two looked like Barbie and Ken! They were both so tall, toned and healthy looking that Val guessed they were both shifters.
The young woman introduced herself as Darcy, and with a playful punch to his arm, introduced the man as Casey.
With her small, curvy figure, and bags under her eyes from a lack of sleep, Val felt very inadequate next to these two.
A smaller woman bustled in, and Val actually felt a bit of relief. Although she was pretty, she was much more of what Val would consider to be a ‘normal woman.’ She was a couple of inches shorter than Val, but they had a similar set of curves. Finally! Someone who actually looked like they ate some of the goodies they sold there!
The small woman beamed. “Hi, I’m Carly! You must be Val.”
Val blinked, dumbfounded. “How did you…”
“Small town.”
Carly giggled and started putting out some red velvet cupcakes decorated with hearts onto a stand. Val tried not to moan at how lovely they looked.
“So, what can I get for you?” asked Darcy.
Val almost pressed her nose against the glass of the display case. “I was going to ask you what was good, but darn, it all looks good.”
Darcy winked. “Oh, it is.”
Val eyed all the cakes on display and tried not to drool. Since starting her doomed quest to find a man through Intimate Connections, she’d foregone cakes and candy in the hope of losing a few pounds. Thank the stars – that was over now.
She tapped a finger against her lips. “Okay, I’ll take two peanut butter chip blondies, two mint choc chip brownies, two oatmeal and raisin cookie sandwiches, two carrot cake muffins, two pumpkin cupcakes, two slices of coconut loaf and, hmmm, what are those?”
Val tapped her fingernail against the display case.
“Oh, we call those crownies…”
“Brookies,” interrupted Casey.
“Crownies,” reiterated Darcy giving the young man the evil eye. “They have brownie on the bottom and cookie on the top, so – crownies.”
“Brookies,” muttered Casey.
Silly names aside, Val tried not to salivate. A brownie and a cookie? Heavenly! Almost as heavenly as the gorgeous sheriff - damnit! She managed to go at least thirty seconds without thinking about him before she ruined it. Focus on the sweet treats.
“So, yeah, and two of the crownies slash brookies. And then, in a separate box, can I have a red velvet cookie, a pecan pie bar, a slice of banana loaf, a lemon meringue cupcake and definitely throw in a crownie slash brookie.”
Okay, that should tie her over until lunch.
Darcy smiled sweetly as she started boxing up the numerous cakes and pastries. It was really unfair at just how gorgeous this girl was.
“Special occasion?”
Val smiled wryly. “More like a peace offering.”
“To Jake?” asked Carly softly.
Val cocked her head on one side. “Who?”
“The sheriff.”
Oh, Jake. Hmmm, why was this woman calling him by his first name? Val felt her hackles rise and then immediately felt ridiculous. One confrontation with him and she was getting jealous over every other woman in time. For pity’s sake! He could be married or have a girlfriend or even be gay!
“How did you know?” asked Val sheepishly.
Carly shrugged and smiled genially. “Like I say, it’s a small town, just about everyone knows each other’s business. And my mate tells me everything that happens; he’s a deputy.”
She looked inordinately proud and, although she was thoroughly annoyed at herself, Val felt relieved that pretty little Carly was actually off the market.
“I wouldn’t worry, Jake’s not one to hold a grudge.”
“You know him pretty well,” commented Val.
“He’s a pack mate.”
“You’re a wolf shifter?” asked Val incredulously and then was immediately awash with guilt when Carly’s face fell. “I’m sorry…” she stammered.
Carly held up her hands. “No, don’t be, I don’t know why, but I thought you were a shifter too, so I thought you knew. I was just surprised.”
Val blinked at her. “You thought I was a shifter?”
That was definitely the strangest thing someone had accused her of being. Not offensive, just surprising.
“I guess I’m just a little off today.” Carly rubbed her neck. “I’m the pack Omega, I can sense emotions, and shifters’ feelings are usually different to humans. I can usually tell just by sense and because of your perfume I couldn’t tell your species… I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s fine; I’m just surprised too. So, right, yeah, you’re a wolf, like Jake… umm, the sheriff.”
Carly nodded. “Yeah, he’s a great guy.”
Casey snorted and then muttered a word that sounded suspiciously like ‘asshole.’
Val’s suspicions were confirmed when Darcy elbowed him and told him to be nice. “He’s just jealous about Jake and Deanna,” Darcy told her in explanation.
Oh, the cute little blonde deputy, who looked like the lovechild of a young Mia Farrow and Scarlett Johannson. Val felt a stab of disappointment at the thought of Jake and the young deputy together.
“Oh, are they dating?”
Casey slammed a fist down on the counter. “No, they damn well are not!”
Darcy shook her head. “Deanna is Casey’s mate, but before they got together she had a crush on Jake.”
Casey scowled at the young woman, who seemed completely unfazed by the murderous glint in his eye.
“What? It’s not like it’s a secret? And Jake never touched her. He’s a great guy.”
Val frowned as Darcy told her that in earnest. Why were all these women falling over themselves to tell her he was great? Did they know something she didn’t?
She was quickly distracted as the enormous deputy from the day before pushed his way into the shop. Carly almost bounced up and down.
“Ooh,” twittered Carly, “you’re looking mighty fine today, Deputy Moran.”
The huge g
uy completely ignored everyone else in the shop and beamed at Carly. “Oh, beautiful, you always look fine.”
Carly flushed pleasurably and sauntered back into the kitchen, casting a heated look over her shoulder. The deputy let out a throaty chuckle and followed her.
Val gaped at the direction they disappeared. That huge guy and that tiny woman… surely he’d roll over and crush her in the night! It defied logic.
“Don’t have sex in there; it’s unhygienic,” called Casey, trying not to laugh.
His only reply was a deep rumbling growl that Val assumed came from the huge deputy. At least she hoped it did…
“Don’t mind Cain and Carly, they’re still in their honeymoon phase,” chuckled Darcy.
Val leaned over the counter, trying to block out the giggles and smooching sounds emanating from the kitchen. “Can I ask you something? What’s the sheriff’s favorite cake?”
Darcy tried not to smirk and pointed at it.
“I’ll take all of them, please.”
*
Ten minutes later, the occupants of the sheriff’s station were milling around the sweet treats Val had supplied.
The small blonde, Deanna, whom Val now knew to be Casey’s mate, was nibbling on a blondie. The pregnant wolf, Delilah had already devoured a cookie sandwich and was working her way through a pumpkin cupcake. While two other deputies, a dark, smallish woman about her age and a strapping man with muscles to rival the sheriff, were deliberating over their choices.
Delilah shook her head. “Just pick one, Susie,” she said in between bites. “They’re all good.”
The small deputy sighed. “I’m watching my figure.”
“Oh, one can’t hurt,” encouraged Val. “Treat yourself.”
Reluctantly, and with a belabored sigh, she picked up a carrot cake muffin and started munching. The strapping man grabbed three cakes, and they were gone within a minute.
Yeesh, he practically inhaled them.
He smiled at her. “Thanks for these.”
She gave him her flashiest smile. “You’re very welcome.”
He stuck out his hand. “I’m Ford, by the way, Ford Carver.”