He turned back around, intending to apologize—to clear the air between them and talk about this, because he sure as hell didn’t want to leave it hanging.
And yes, he wasn’t a hypocrite. He still wanted her.
But the cabin was quiet when he got there, and so was the shop.
Deana was gone.
Chapter 11
Deana had prepared herself for Evan getting mad at her, but the actual happening left her shaken. His words reverberated in her mind, bothering her so much that she found the cabin suffocating. Before she knew it, she was already outside and walking the fields, needing the fresh air more than anything.
The moon was out tonight, making for a rather bright glow that reflected on the grass and the forest beyond. Realizing she was out in the open for anyone to see, she walked over to the forest and entered it, her heart roaring.
She hadn’t really been here due to two things: her busy flower shop life, and the general wariness she had after her encounter with the two vampires. But being friends with Joan gave her a lot of details into the vampires’ lives, and she was confident enough that they wouldn’t come here unless they were purposely seeking her out. Like Joan and Sam, vampires were surprisingly very civil, preferring to stay in their territories in order to co-exist peacefully with the shifters. Joan had repeatedly explained that those rogues were far and few, and that Deana was just really unlucky to have encountered them twice.
We’re a harmless bunch. None of us want to be kicked out of Orville.
That comforted her as she stared at her surroundings, which were filled with trees she couldn’t identify. But they were green and beautiful, so healthy that she wondered if her grandmother used to come here just to appreciate them. It wasn’t a particularly huge forest, but it was thick and lush, and Deana wondered if there were some flower bushes here she could take cuts from and plant in her own backyard—to pretty it up, because it was just so bare.
The thought lifted her mood up a bit, if not her spirit. She kept walking, deeper and deeper into the forest until the usual sounds of insects in the fields were gone, and there was nothing but the sound of her footsteps.
A prickling sensation slid through her neck, making the hair on it stand on end. The reaction was instantaneous, making her freeze instantly as she recalled where she felt it before.
She whirled around, squinting her eyes, but found no one in the forest. She stopped walking, and no sound came but the silence of her own breathing.
Even so, a chill went down her spine and had her quietly shuddering, and her heart pounded so hard in her chest that she thought it would explode. Deana frantically looked around, trying to recall despite her panicking mind what it was that would keep her safe from harm here. It was supposedly pretty general, as these creatures often faced and reacted to the same obstacles.
Fire. A private home. No invitation.
None of which she had here.
There was one thing that was supposedly a precaution, but it wasn’t one of the main ones. The chill had her shuddering again, and gut instinct told her to move now before it too late.
So, she moved—up towards one of the trees that had more branches than most, taking her slippers in her hand as she climbed on her bare feet. She hadn’t climbed a tree since she was a teenager, and that was so long ago that she felt rusty at twenty-seven. Pain singed her palms, but she ignored them as she kept climbing until she was at the very top, where there was a relatively thick branch for her to sit on.
Deana wasn’t afraid of heights, but the rush of blood as she looked down was unreal. She’d climbed higher than she anticipated, and now she didn’t know how to get down.
Silence reigned below, but the silence was different from earlier—more eerie. Part of her wanted to go down and just make a run for her cabin, but instinct told her she wouldn’t make it.
There had been something following her below—or at least, someone watching her, and it had been about to do something other than watch. The book told her climbing trees made being seen avoidable, as most supernatural creatures looked at what was in level with their gazes and didn’t really expect anything above.
So long as you didn’t make any noise.
She kept her breathing steady, her body not moving at all. Deana didn’t know how long she stayed there, but it felt like hours as her eyes endlessly searched below. No sound came, not even those small forest animals that should be around. She couldn’t very well stay up here the whole night, and really, the chill had vanished enough for her to consider taking the risk of going down.
Trying not to think too much about it, she slowly, quietly climbed down, inch by painstaking inch. Her heart pounded again as she silently prayed she wouldn’t make a misstep and break her neck, but the need to be safe was higher, and she clutched on to whatever she could clutch and didn’t let go.
Just when she was just above what could be a six footer’s head, something crunched on the ground—a footstep, so clear and defined that she froze again. Deana stopped climbing down, her position right in mid-climb that her feet were on the verge of slipping. She gritted her teeth as she adjusted them, her palms aching again. The footsteps started up once more, and the fear was so stark that it coated Deana’s throat. Her hair stood on end for the second time, and the ominous feeling she felt earlier intensified until it was suffocating her.
Then more footsteps came, this time louder. Different. Within a few seconds, she saw Evan running towards her, his golden eyes snapping as he looked at her in shock.
Her hands finally slipped, and so did her feet. But he was there to catch her, that hard body providing a comfort that had whatever panic she’d been trying to keep in finally burst out.
“There was someone here,” she whispered, her voice unsteady. Shaking. “Someone was here before you. You made it run away.”
It. Him. She couldn’t provide details, but he didn’t need them as his eyes hardened before he nodded. He set her down on shaky legs, and it looked like he was about to shift on the spot.
Her hand grabbed his arm, stopping him before he could.
“No. Just come home with me. Please. Don’t.”
She didn’t know why, but it was almost urgent for her to get home and to bring him with her—and Bingo. As if he read her mind, Evan reluctantly nodded his head. Then he turned and took her wrist, walking her back to where he came from as they trudged their way out of the forest.
*****
Bingo came right away when he was called, his eyes and body on alert. They all filed back in her cabin, where Evan insisted she sat down on the couch and asked her about the details of what exactly just happened.
She did—or at least, she tried to, because her memory was fuzzy, and she couldn’t really say much other than what she’d been feeling during that time. It was more gut instinct than anything because she hadn’t even seen anyone.
She only heard the footsteps, and she knew they were neither Evan’s nor Bingo’s.
Evan was in cop mode, grilling her until she was already repeating her answers. She told him she was tired and just wanted to rest, and she watched as he visibly wrestled the cop mode down and looked at her fully.
A hand rested on her cheek, and there was so much remorse in his voice that it made her ache.
“It’s my duty to investigate this, Deana.”
“I know. But I’m sure whoever that was is long gone. Can you…can you stay? Just for an hour or so?”
It was a big request, but the way he nodded instantly made her heart soften. He sat down beside her, and she almost asked if he wanted tea. But before she could, he was already pulling her on his lap—not for sex, but for comfort. Her body softened against his.
“I’m sorry for walking out,” he said. “You have no idea how worried I was when I found you gone when I returned.”
“Returned?”
“Yes. To apologize. I was an ass.”
“No, Evan. I started being an ass first. Let’s just…let’s explore wha
t we have. Let’s not name it and not be assholes to each other. Is that okay?”
“That’s more than okay.” He sighed, breathing her in.
She sighed back and buried her head against his shoulder, taking the comfort he offered.
Chapter 12
Searching the forest high and low and finding nothing—not a single trace of evidence—made him one very frustrated man, but Evan tried not to let it get him down. Determined to find whoever it was that had been stalking her—or worse, had he not come—he scourged the forest and her yard every night since, realizing she wasn’t as safe as he initially thought. He couldn’t even tell what kind of creature that was, which meant that if he was out for some emergency or didn’t sleep at her place, then she was an open target if ever that culprit decided to come back.
And Evan was not having that.
So, he sought out a witch, negotiating for potions like he’d never done before and promising things he’d never promised before—in this case, more freedom for the witch to navigate around her backyard and do whatever shenanigans she needed, so long as she didn’t harm anyone else. Evan then used that potion on the shop building’s backyard and the cabin’s front yard, creating a path with the potion and highlighting it with white stones so Deana would know to walk that certain path. He also used the potion on her porch. It would protect her from any outside force whenever she wanted to enter and exit both places at her leisure, and just like in a private home, she’d need to invite someone in that specific path for them to step on it and harm her.
It wasn’t much, but it would help.
A month or two after they first slept together, he was practically living at her place—and not only because of the forest incident. The first time wasn’t the only time they slept together, either, because true to her word, Deana wanted to explore.
And explore him she did.
He couldn’t say he minded. In fact, he loved how she gradually opened up to him in more ways than one, not just in trying out hot new positions, but also in sharing tiny details about her life to him: like why she moved here in the first place and what motivated her other than selling flowers.
Like what made her happy.
It was fascinating to discover her personality, to delve deeper. It was also addictive, and he found himself loving the stories as much as the sexual contact. But there were times when work called him out into the field, and it was too late to go back to her place and disturb her sleep.
Like right now.
“Come on, Bingo, this is your real home. Stop whining and get in,” Evan muttered, eyeing the dog pointedly.
Bingo kept whining, anyway, and it took some more convincing before the dog stepped in. Evan stepped in after him, eyeing his apartment. It was a typical bachelor’s pad with little to no furniture and modern interior design, located near the borders of their territory. But whereas he loved it before, now it just felt…empty.
It was lacking a certain warmth, and there was no denying what that warmth was. Or who. Even when he used to bring women here, they were gone after a while, and he hadn’t really missed anyone.
Now here he was, missing Deana like a goddamn teenager when he’d only seen her yesterday.
He sighed, sitting on the couch. Then he dialed Deana’s number, knowing it wouldn’t ring loud and she’d let voicemail pick it up when she was asleep. But surprise filled him when it didn’t reach voicemail. Deana answered on the third ring, her pleasant voice filling his senses.
“You’re still awake?” he asked.
“I was about to go to sleep,” she said. “Got ready and all. And…”
“Did you wait up for me?”
“Maybe…” she whispered, almost teasingly.
Evan grinned. Somewhere in the kitchen, he could hear Bingo’s steady breathing. “You know, that kind of statement would normally get me up and running there already.” He sighed. “But Bingo’s already asleep.”
“Oh, poor baby,” she cooed. “Was he tired?”
“We both were. It was a pretty tiring kind of day. And you?”
“Pretty tiring, too.” She sighed, and it was the kind of sigh that made him think things. Evan settled down on the couch, adjusting his pillow below his head.
“I should have been there to warm you up.”
“But you’d do more than warm me up, and we’re both already tired,” she said pointedly.
That had him chuckling. “You think too dirty.”
“Oh, my God. That’s you.”
“I miss you, Deana,” he admitted, unable to help himself.
“Oh, yeah?” she teased. “What do you miss about me?”
“Your surprisingly dorky laugh.” He grinned when she laughed on cue, the sound like music to his ears. “Your fun personality. Your hot, hot body. I want to kiss it all over.”
She gasped at the last part, and he expected another amused laugh to come out. Instead, a shaky breath came from her, and realization slid in that she was aroused. Not only that…
“Are you touching yourself, Deana?”
He’d caught her doing so once, and it had been the hottest sight he’d seen in his life. When no denial came from her, Evan groaned.
“Evan…” she trailed off.
“What are you thinking?” he asked, not teasing her or anything like that—just letting her do as she pleased. “Tell me.”
“You’ll laugh at me.”
“No. Please, Deana. What is it?”
“I’m imagining.”
“Imagining what?”
The next words came in a whisper, but the impact didn’t lessen at all. “Sucking you.”
His breath caught in his throat at her admission—and before he knew it, his hand was going down to unbuckle his belt and slide inside. As expected, he was already hard, pulsing to life when his fingers wrapped around his reaction. A soft groan escaped his lips, one that had her breathing deeper on the other line.
“Yes. I’m touching myself, too,” he rasped. She gasped but didn’t sound scandalized. In fact, he could practically hear the eagerness in her breathing, something that had his body tingling. “Keep touching yourself.”
“I am.”
“Breathe for me. Touch yourself and think of me.”
“I am,” she said, her voice full of need. “This is…I’ve never done…”
But she couldn’t even finish her own sentence because she was already too into it. Evan stroked himself slowly, letting his groan travel through. It encouraged her as he expected, and an answering moan came from her, one that was soft and full of hunger.
They did that back and forth, making sounds to express the pleasure they felt. They whispered all the dirty things they wanted to do to each other, and the way she slowly opened up for him until she forgot all about being shy had his pleasure intensifying. Soon, her moans were more open, and he could hear her wetness as she touched herself faster. Deeper.
He stroked himself deeper, too, stilling when he heard it—that final cry of pleasure that indicated Deana had come on the other end. He let it fill his ears, let it fill his soul, right before he gave himself a few more strokes.
Then he was joining her into that explosion of indescribable pleasure.
They stayed in that high for a long time, letting it consume them. When he finally came down from it, he stretched on the couch before grabbing a box of wet tissues to wipe himself clean. He could hear the same thing happening on the other end and grinned.
“I hope I did you some good service,” he said.
She laughed, and the sound made him content.
“I’ll be over this weekend,” he promised. “We’ll…do things. Cook dinner together. All other things.”
She laughed again, but to his surprise, this one almost sounded forced. “I’d love that, but I can’t. I’m leaving town for a bit.”
He sat up. “You are? What for? Flowers? I can drive you over to pick them out.”
There was silence on the other end, indicating that this wa
s more than just picking flowers. Evan forced himself to stay calm as he remembered what she kept reminding him before—that she wouldn’t be staying here for good. He even braced himself for it, tried to be open and accepting of when her decision finally came to fruition.
He just hadn’t expected it to be this fast.
Or for it to hurt this much.
“No. I’m actually going back to Los Angeles to find an apartment and scope out a place to start up a business. I’ve been thinking about it, and…”
“And?”
She took a deep breath. Then she let it out.
“I think it’s time for me to move out in a month or two. Sell this place and start over somewhere else.”
Chapter 13
Evan had been decidedly quiet after she delivered her news, but it wasn’t the bitter kind of quiet. In fact, it was surprising how he was so accepting of her news, even going as far as offering to drive her to the airport, which was an hour or two away. She expected a fight, maybe even some sarcastic words like he’d dealt her with so stealthily after they first slept together.
But there was nothing, and there was nothing forced about his response. He sounded so like his easygoing and cheerful self that she felt a pang in her heart.
When they hung up and he wished her sweet dreams, she couldn’t even manage a joke or two with how bothered she felt. She tossed and turned in bed, thinking about it still even minutes later that she realized sleep was a long time coming, and she might as well find something to keep herself occupied.
She stood up and got out of her bedroom, heading to the kitchen to get a glass of cold water. Then she took out a tub of ice cream, sat on the couch and ate to her heart’s content, her mind a whirl of thoughts.
It wasn’t like she’d made any promises here—and really, Deana was as stubborn as they came to matters like this. She’d made her decision to come here for a breath of fresh air, and she made it happen. Now her time was done, and she had made herself a decent income.
And it was time to leave, just as she originally planned.
Bear Guards: A Paranormal Romance Page 6