Winter Awakening (Wyoming Fever Book 4)

by Elizabeth Lennox

  “That’s your area of expertise.”

  She was almost bouncing beside him with excitement. “What are your criteria?”

  “It has to be comfortable.”

  She waited, but that was it. Mack kept on walking. “That’s…it?” she asked, surprised. “That’s all that you need? Something comfortable?”

  He pulled the door open, looking down at her with a confused expression. “What else would there be?”

  She laughed, rolling her eyes as she walked through the door. “Well, comfort is a given,” she said, heading towards the first sofa in the area. “But there’s also the style, the feel of the room. What kind of feel are you looking for?”

  “Comfortable,” he repeated, stuffing his thumbs into the belt loops of his jeans.

  Kate sighed, shaking her head. “Okay, well then what type of fabric do you want?”

  He blinked at her, his face completely devoid of expression. “Something that keeps the stuffing in?” he offered.

  They headed towards a big leather sofa. “What about this one?”

  He sat down in it and looked up at her expectantly. “Do you like this one?”

  Kate shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest. “No way, Mack. This will be your sofa. My opinion doesn’t matter.”

  His lips compressed ever so slightly, but other than that, he didn’t respond. He settled back and stretched his arms along the back, looking up at her. “Will this one work in the house?”

  Kate’s mouth twisted as she looked down at the sofa. Hmmm…perhaps she wasn’t looking at the sofa. She was looking at Mack. At his long legs. His flat stomach. His muscular arms. He looked like a superhero stretched out as he gazed benevolently out at his people.

  “It’s…um…” she had to blink to evict the images of Mack sitting there, naked, from her mind. “It’s a good sofa. Is it comfortable?”

  “Why don’t you come over here and find out?”

  She hesitated for only a moment, remembering the other night when he’d held her in his arms. She’d loved feeling him like that. His arms were the best! And leaning against his chest? Yeah, that had been pretty darn nice!

  “I can see the sofa better from here.”

  His eyebrow lifted slightly. “You’re looking, but you don’t know what it feels like.”

  She laughed, shaking her head. “You only asked me to come along for aesthetic opinions. This is your sofa. You determine if it feels right to you.”

  He glanced down at the leather, then shook his head. “No, this one isn’t right.”

  They tried out several sofas and he went through the same ritual, including trying to entice her to try it with him. But she refused every time. She remembered so many nights when she and Mack would be “doing homework” in the family room while her mother was in the kitchen, cooking dinner. But she and Mack hadn’t even cracked open the text books. They’d come home from school and he’d pull her onto the couch and kiss her. From that moment until her mother called her in for dinner, he’d sneak kisses or touches or…just looked at her, if Kate’s mother was too close.

  Ugh! Those memories needed to stay in the past. No need to make painful new ones. Well, they wouldn’t be painful now, but they would be when she went back to Miami.

  Why did the thought of going back to Florida fill her with a sense of dread? The warm weather, the beach, the ocean…she loved Florida. Didn’t she?

  Following Mack as he moved among the displayed furniture, Kate thought about her small condo. It wasn’t her dream home, but…her dream home was that old Victorian, where Mack lived.

  Woah! Where had that thought come from? She looked up at him, his dark eyes studying her as if he could read her mind somehow. He couldn’t know that she’d just been thinking their long conversations in that abandoned house. Could he?

  “That one,” she declared, pointing to a big, deep sofa covered in white canvas. It had an easy to remove cover, so it could be washed, and it looked cozy and casual.

  “Why that one?” he asked, moving towards it. He eyed it for a long moment, then turned to sit, pulling her down with him.

  The sofa was even more comfortable than she’d thought. The cushions were filled with a mixture of foam and down that cupped her body.

  But all of that comfort was negated because half of her body was heated by Mack. Hips, thighs, shoulders…she felt hot suddenly.

  “Kate?” he prompted.

  She turned her head and noticed the small flecks of gold in his dark eyes. The lines around his eyes hadn’t been there twelve years ago, but they worked on him. They might have made him look a bit craggier, but she liked that. It was all part of his rugged persona.

  He blinked. She blinked. Time seemed to slow down. She watched as he leaned forward. Kate knew what was about to happen. In her mind, he was already kissing her. She should have anticipated this. It was inevitable.

  And yet, when he brushed his lips against hers, the electric shock was still surprising. She pulled away, but not far. Looking up at Mack, she recognized the surprise in his eyes as well. Then she felt his hand on the back of her head, his mouth moving closer, moving towards her. She braced herself for that shock, and it was even more intense this time. His lips brushed against hers and she melted in his arms. He shifted so that she was on her back as her arms wrapped around his neck while they kissed. It didn’t matter that they were in the middle of a furniture showroom. It didn’t matter that twelve years had passed. They were together again and he was kissing her and it was beautiful and amazing, familiar but different, and if he stopped, she was going to…she didn’t even know what she might do! That’s when his lips drifted from her lips to her earlobe and…oh dear heaven, that felt so incredibly good.

  Someone cleared his throat pointedly and they froze. Mack lifted his head, gazing down at her with flames of desire glowing in his eyes for a long moment. Suddenly, their arms still wrapped around each other, they both realized where they were.

  Slowly, as if it hurt him to do so, Mack sat up, pulling her with him as he turned to the sales person. “We’ll take this couch,” he announced.

  The salesman, a stiff, fussy man in a three piece suit and a bow tie, morphed from a disapproving disciplinarian and broke into a pleased smile. “Excellent!” he replied. “Would you like to finance the sofa?”

  Mack stood up, grabbing her hand but he threw his arm over her shoulder. “Nope, no need. I do want the matching chairs and this coffee table though.”

  Kate glanced down at the coffee table. It was a wood and iron thing that looked like one of those industrial type deals. And it was perfect for Mack. She knew that he liked to stretch his legs out while watching television. So any coffee table needed to be strong and sturdy, tough enough for a pair of heavy boots. Kate liked it because it was a bit…avant-garde in a weird sort of way. She could already picture the books she’d lay out over the top and…she stopped imagining and turned to look up at Mack, then snorted with laughter.

  “What?” he prompted, pausing in mid-sentence of his conversation with the salesman.

  She shook her head. “I was just thinking about how you could put colorful pillows on the sofa, and change them out for each season.”

  His eyebrows lowered, as if what she was saying didn’t make sense. He even turned to glance at the sofa, then at Kate. Obviously, her comment went right over his head.

  “Never mind,” she told him, waving her comment away.

  The salesperson lifted his hand, as if he were in a classroom. “We have an excellent selection of pillows along the back wall if you’d like to peruse the options.”

  Mack shot her a look that said, “See what you’ve done?”

  Which only made her laugh harder. She turned to the salesman, humor sparkling in her eyes as she asked, “Can you honestly picture this guy choosing pillows?”

  The salesperson adjusted his bow tie as he looked Mack over. “No,” he replied, his lips pursing in disapproval. “I suppose not.” He looked hope
fully at Kate. “But if you’d like to steer him in the right direction, just let me know.” He went on to explain the benefits and quality of the pillow materials. Kate glanced at Mack. She even opened her mouth to say something, but he growled low in his throat and clapped a hand over her mouth. “Don’t you dare!” he growled into her ear.

  Which only made her laugh harder.

  Twenty minutes later, the salesperson beamed and handed Mack the receipt. “When would you like us to schedule delivery?”

  “No need.”

  The salesperson frowned, confused, and looked out at the parking lot, obviously looking for a moving van.

  Instead, he saw three big men walk into the store and his mouth fell open.

  Mack tilted his head in their direction. “My friends have pickup trucks. They’ll handle the delivery.”

  The salesperson nodded politely at the men. “Good evening gentlemen. I’ll go arrange for the pieces to be moved to our loading dock.”

  Mack shot a grin at his friends.

  “Kate, this is Simon, Arik, and Dean. They are my fellow detectives on the homicide team, and they moonlight as a cheap delivery team.” He winked at Kate.

  The men snorted, but politely extended their hands to shake Kate’s hand. “We’re not cheap,” the one with green eyes said. They were a handsome bunch, in a testosterone-laden way. They were big and muscular and all had the same look in their eyes. The look that warned her that they saw everything, including what she wanted to keep hidden. For some reason, she inched closer to Mack after shaking each of their hands. It wasn’t that Mack was less dangerous. But…well, he was her kind of danger.

  Which was another ridiculous thought that didn’t make sense. But she gave herself a break; she’d just been kissed silly by Mack. His kisses were utterly intoxicating.

  One of them, Kate thought his name was Dean, punched Mack’s shoulder playfully. “So the call finally makes sense!”

  The other two men chuckled in agreement.

  “What?” Mack grumbled. “Are you going to stand around shooting the shit or are you going to help me get my new furniture back to my house?” he asked. “You’ve all nagged me about furniture for a while now. I finally do it and all you can do is stand around, looking like idiots.”

  That caused the three men to laugh harder. “Now he’s edgy,” Simon said.

  “All the signs,” the big guy named Arik added with a knowing nod.

  Mack huffed with irritation. “Seriously, the guy who sold me this sofa is going to toss it into the dumpster.” He glanced over at Kate, then quickly away. “He didn’t like my selection process.”

  All three sets of eyes turned to Kate, who turned a painful shade of red.

  “Ah!” Arik said, nodding his head as if he really did understand much more than Kate might want him to. “Okay, let’s do this. The ladies are already coordinating a celebration.”

  Mack shifted his glare. “To celebrate what?”

  But the three men were already heading back out the door, ignoring Mack, who continued to glare daggers at their backs. He sighed in frustration when his friends didn’t bother to be wounded by his look and turned to Kate. “Come on,” he grumbled, putting a hand to the small of her back as he shoved the furniture receipt into his pocket.

  Fifteen minutes later, the sofa, two chairs, and coffee table were loaded into the pickup trucks and SUVs. Twenty minutes after that, the four men were carrying everything inside Mack’s house.

  All four of them turned to look at Kate. “What?” she asked, not sure what they were asking. Or not asking. Didn’t they know that words helped?

  “Where do you want these?” Simon asked, gesturing in the general direction of the furniture.

  Even Mack waited expectantly for her direction. “It’s your house!” she told him, even though she loved this house with all of her heart. And the guys had put the furniture in a stupid place. The sofa should be…nope! Not her house!

  “Yeah, but you’re the expert,” Mack replied smoothly, resting his hands on his hips. “Where do they go?”

  Kate eyed the four men, then the furniture, then her gaze moved back to Mack. They were waiting for her to tell them how to position his furniture!

  “Okay, fine,” she sighed, throwing her hands in the air with resignation. “The sofa needs to go along that wall. The chairs should be in front of them.

  The men shifted everything around. Then they looked at her. Waiting.

  Kate moved around the room, evaluating the setting. After a moment, she shook her head. “No, this isn’t right.” She asked them to try it with the sofa to one side, then the chairs in front of the sofa. The men moved the furniture into place, then stopped and waited.

  Kate looked at the setup, her finger tapping her lower lip thoughtfully as she gauged the flow of the room. “Yep! Perfect!”

  The men nodded and disappeared into the kitchen, and she heard the clinking of bottles. A knock sounded at the front door. But instead of waiting for the door to be answered, the door opened and two beautiful blonds and a brunette looked in. “Hello?!”

  Before Kate could respond, the ladies stepped inside, each carrying a six pack of beer and something food related in their arms. And each gasped in delight at the sight of the furniture.

  “Oh my gosh! Simon wasn’t kidding!” one of the blonds gushed as she circled the furniture.

  The beer was plucked out of her arms by two masculine hands. Then the food was removed from her grasp by a second pair of rough hands. The blond woman didn’t even blink at the rudeness. She continued to admire the furniture.

  The other blond went through the same ritual, although different male hands collected her food bounty before disappearing. But she stood next to the first blond and Kate was struck by how similar they both were. Vibrant green eyes and curly blond hair…but nope, that’s where the similarity ended. Their chins were alike, but the two women were different. Even the shade of their hair was different. Both blond, but one’s was darker. One was vibrant and energetic, the other a bit calmer. But both were stunning beauties! The brunette was just as gloriously lovely. She stood back a bit, standing closer to Kate. The food and beer were already gone from her arms, but the humor remained in her eyes. “I can’t believe that Mack finally got furniture!”

  The blond women nodded, their mouths still slightly open. “When Simon told me what was going on, I didn’t believe him.”

  The second blond lifted her hand. “Skeptic as well!” she laughed. “But this…!”

  “Pillows!” the brunette announced.

  The blond women nodded in agreement. “He could switch out the pillows for each season!” the second blond announced, clearly thrilled.

  There was a snort from the right and the women turned to find the men were standing in the wide archway, each holding a beer, watching the scene with typical male perplexity.

  One of the blonds looked up, smiled dazzlingly, and stepped closer to Kate. “I’m Jade, by the way. I’m married to that one.” She pointed to the man in question as the second blond stepped closer. “I’m Sage. And yeah,” she pointed to Arik who lifted his beer in acknowledgement, adding a cheeky wink as well, “that one suckered me into marrying him.”

  The last lovely woman stepped forward. “And I’m Sylvie. Dean convinced me that he was worth it.” She shook her head with mock sadness. “He lied,” she added in a stage whisper.

  The man in question, tall and handsome, with a determined look in his piercing blue eyes, came into the room and swept the woman into his arms. “You love me,” he said, perfectly balancing the beers as Sylvie laughed up at him.

  “Yeah,” she whispered, her hands sliding up his chest. “I do.”

  There was a brief kiss before Dean pulled back, keeping Sylvie against him as he turned to Kate. “So you’re the one who finally convinced that idiot to furnish his house?” He handed one of the beers to his wife, but kept his arm wrapped around Sylvie’s shoulders. “I’m impressed! How did you do it?” />
  Kate glanced over at Mack, who was leaning against the archway. “I don’t think I had anything to do with it, really. He just…asked me for help. And since he’d helped me the other night, I figured it was only fair.” Her eyes narrowed slightly as she continued, “Although I had no idea what I was in for.”

  Mack’s features didn’t move, but his eyes sparkled with amusement.

  “Anyone hungry?” Jade interrupted, clapping her hands. “We brought taco fixings!”

  A masculine groan of hunger echoed through the room. Everyone moved around the kitchen counters, setting up platters and opening bags of chips.

  When everything was laid out and plates loaded up, the group was silent for a long moment as everyone devoured the delicious chicken and beef with grilled peppers and onions, shredded cheese, sour cream, and guacamole, which was better than anything Kate had ever tasted.

  “Oh this is amazing!” she mumbled as she took another handful of chips. “Who made the guac?”

  “That would be me,” Jade announced, lifting a hand. “It’s really just avocado mixed with salsa. But you gotta get the right salsa.” The men all nodded their agreement. Mack walked over to the fridge and pulled out beers for everyone, even handing Kate a fresh bottle with the top twisted off.

  She looked up at him, then froze for a long moment as the electricity zinged between them.

  Someone called out to Mack and the moment ended, but Kate was startled by the intensity of it.

  No one had more than two beers, but the food was pretty much gone by the time everyone left around ten o’clock.

  Kate smiled and waved to everyone as they departed, then she hurried through the clean up process. On the one hand, she didn’t want to leave Mack to clean up. But on the other hand, she knew she really needed to get out of there. That fission of awareness earlier scared her. Plus, the sofa! The kissing! It was…she was very confused.

  She’d just put the last container in the fridge when Mack entered the kitchen. “Thanks for all of that,” he said, his gravelly voice skimming over her body, making her hyper aware of Mack and the silence now that everyone was gone.