“Luc? It’s damn early to be calling a body.”
“No,” she said. “It’s Ainsley. Luc said to tell you he’s gone after him.”
“Fuck!” She knew the voice was Deputy Conrad’s. He’d talked to her all the way to town the night he’d brought her to the bar.
He hung up, leaving her staring at the phone.
A wolf howled outside and then another.
She shivered. Were those things after Luc? Could a bear survive a wolf attack and—No she remembered the growl. The tiger the night she crashed.
Luc had told her about shifters who sometimes lost their humanity when they stayed in animal form too long. From what he’d said on the phone the other day, she’d surmised that the tiger used to live in town but had run away for some reason. Now it was back, and it had been watching her through the window.
A slithery chill slid across her shoulders and down her spine.
Was she some kind of prey it was mad it had lost? Maybe he wanted to eat her that night on the road, but the deputy had interrupted the kill.
Shivering she crawled into Luc’s bed and gathered the pillows he slept on to her. His scent calmed her. She closed her eyes and willed her breathing to slow.
Luc was out there with a maniac and he might get killed. More than anything she wanted to run after him with some kind of weapon, but there wasn’t any. At least not in the bar or his apartment. Not that she’d been looking for that when she’d snooped around the day before, but she hadn’t seen a gun.
She folded her hands together and for the first time in her life, she prayed.
“God, please bring Luc back safe. I know I don’t deserve his kindness, but I need him. I didn’t realize just how much until this moment. I don’t care that he’s a bear or any of that stuff. In his heart, he’s a loving, caring man and you know better than I do how hard those are to find. It’d be nice to have at least one person in the world who was in my corner, and that I could trust.”
A loud screech of an animal in pain interrupted her prayer. It was if it were being torn in two. Stomach turning bile rose in her throat. Then the sound of a gun, a big one echoed through the town. A mournful howl followed by several others.
Oh, hell.
Luc you better be alive or I’m going to kill you myself.
Chapter Eight
Luc stared down at his friend, Ian. It had been almost a year since he’d seen him as anything but a tiger. After his sister’s death and the accident with the woman on the side of the road, Ian had taken off without a word. And everyone had expected him to go away until his head was right. In the same way Luc had when he lost his family.
“Get him up in the back of the truck,” Doc ordered Luc and the Deputy. “I don’t know how long that tranq will keep him still. If he wakes up he might shift immediately.”
“He’s pretty beat up,” Luc said as he waved away the Deputy and picked up the two hundred and fifty pound man and put him over his shoulder. Conrad jumped in the back of the truck and helped Luc position Ian on the blankets before they wrapped him up like a burrito.
“Yep,” Doc said. “His back is full of scars and it looks like something took a good bite out of his right thigh.” The doc sat with Luc in the back of the truck while the Deputy drove the truck to the hospital. It wasn’t like most animal hospitals. This one had a hospital for humans as well. Until he could remember who he was, Ian would live in a padded cell in the psych ward. It saddened Luc that his friend was in such a bad state.
But he wouldn’t be alone. Mental illness was something that plagued their community. Some said it was in the genes; others blamed the long, harsh winters. But they had more than their fair share of crazy. It didn’t help that this was a sanctuary for his kind where the bruised and beaten came to rest and revive.
“Did he recognize you at all?” The Doc asked.
Luc frowned. “For a moment, just before he lunged for me. His ears were up and he listened to my voice, as if he recognized it somehow. But when Conrad’s truck came into view, well, you saw what happened. He went ape shit. Or tiger shit as the case may be.”
The doc pulled out a syringe and filled it with liquid from one of the vials. “We’ll need to keep him sedated for the first few days and pump some fluids through him. It’s amazing he’s lived this long with this level of dehydration. Almost as if he were trying to die.” The Doc poked the big syringe into Ian’s neck, but his friend didn’t budge.
Luc knew that feeling. For months he’d wandered the wilderness praying he’d have the courage to jump into the river and let it take him under as it had his family. But he’d pulled himself out of the severe depression by sheer determination. Knowing his dad would be pissed if Luc gave up was the only thing that kept him going.
As they drove by the bar on the way to the hospital, he saw Ainsley in the window.
She gave a tiny wave as they passed. Her eyes were rimmed with red as if she’d been crying.
Was she worried about him?
She cared about him. When he’d kissed her, she’d wanted it just as much as he did.
Bad, bad idea. Kissing, no matter how much he wanted to do it again, might lead to sex. Luc wasn’t sure he’d be able to keep his promise to Ainsley if things went that far. There was a good chance he’d lose control and he might hurt her. Other shifters mated with humans fairly easily, but the strength of the bear, and shear weight, could be dangerous.
He glanced down at Ian trying to get his mind to think about something else.
Why had he come back? Did he know he was dying?
A few more days, the Doc had said earlier and Ian would have died of dehydration.
The Doc stared up at Luc as it dawned on them at the same time. Ian had come back instinctually because he wanted to live.
That might be enough to save his friend from insanity.
…
Since it was Sunday, the bar was closed. In the summer, Luc told her that he opened about eight at night and closed at one in the morning every day. But in the winter, he was tired and he needed his rest.
She’d wanted to ask about hibernation and the winter but she’d been too embarrassed. There had to be books about his kind somewhere. So far she hadn’t ventured further than the bar.
Now that the tiger had been captured, she wondered if it would be safe to venture outside. Deciding a little fresh air would be worth it, she pulled on her coat determined to explore.
She had to admit she was curious about this place Luc chose as his home. The man was such a dichotomy. He had a way of warming her heart that had nothing to do with his awesome baking skills.
He’d only been gone a short while and already she missed him. But she couldn’t let her feelings rule her heart. Right now there was too much at stake with her family to allow herself the luxury of having any kind of relationship. Who knew what her life would become once the embezzlement mess was settled? Her world consisted of art galleries in Beverly Hills and her beloved foundation. Luc’s world was here in Clarksville.
Safety in Luc’s arms was temporary. And would she be safe if they…?
No. Making love to a bear—even one in human form—was beyond her comfort zone, by about ten million miles.
What if the claws came out or he bit her? She’d seen enough werewolf movies to know that one small scratch and she could be howling at the moon, or whatever the hell bears did.
Fresh air was now imperative.
Unlocking the backdoor, she stepped outside on to the small patio. The frigid air accosted her lungs but it felt good to be out of the bar. She didn’t want to leave the door unlocked, but with no key there was no choice. She pulled it closed and peeked around the corner of the building.
The sun broke through the clouds and shone down on the little village. It reminded her of the quaint New England towns she’d visited. There was a general store, laundry mat, clothing boutique, antiques store and several other buildings. Each was painted red, white or blue.
It wasn�
��t exactly the kind of place one would expect to find humans who turned into animals. Certainly not a place where tigers and bears roamed.
“Where are you going?” Luc asked suspiciously.
She squeaked and slid on the sidewalk her arms going one way and her feet another. Tumbling backward, she landed in the snow on her butt.
“This is why they didn’t name me Grace,” she joked as Luc reached a hand down to help her up but he didn’t smile.
“What’s wrong?” She asked worried something bad had happened to him. “Are you hurt?” She leaned forward checking his arms and torso, the very distracting torso, and his legs. She didn’t see any blood.
“Where were you going?” He asked again, his voice cold like the first night she’d met him. He’d kept telling her that she had to go away.
“I haven’t been outside since I came here. I wanted to see what the town looked like in the daylight. Yesterday and the night I came in, it snowed so hard I couldn’t see anything else. And to be honest, well, I don’t like the cold or the outside, but I think I’m getting cabin fever.
“I couldn’t stop thinking about you—I mean, uh—that you might be hurt. I did what you asked and stayed locked in the apartment but when I heard that horrible screeching sound—” She shook her head. “I’d have been really pissed if you died, Luc. Really pissed.”
A grin spread across his face.
“Why are you smiling? I’m serious. You ran out of here like a mad man with hardly any clothes on. No shoes, and I don’t care if you’re a bear and you don’t feel the cold, you should wear shoes—”
He stopped her with a kiss. The heat of it warmed her frozen nose and fingers. When he lifted his head they both panted.
“Luc?” She sniffled, the cold playing havoc with her nose.
“Yeah?” he said as wrapped his arm around her, guiding her back to the bar and into the kitchen.
“Is there a bookstore in town?”
“Uh, Mr. Winkle has some books at the grocery. But the library’s even better. We do a lot of reading in the winter months when the weather gets bad and even the satellites don’t work.”
“Is it open on Sunday?”
“Nah. But I think they open at nine on Monday. If you’re that desperate for something to read—wait. What exactly are you looking for?” He pulled her jacket off of her shoulders.
“Why does it matter?”
“Well, I was going to tell you that I have about six bookcases full of books upstairs. You just push on the panels at the end of the fireplace. Anything in particular you wanted?”
He warmed her hands in his as they stood at the foot of the stairs. Shivering, this time with pleasure from his touch, she made a decision.
Mortified, she didn’t see anyway around it. She wasn’t going into the situation blind.
“I need to know how to make love to a bear.”
Chapter Nine
Faking a cough, Luc turned away from her crazy comment. The woman never failed to surprise him. When he’d seen her sneaking out the back door in her coat, he thought she might be trying to run away. But she was in search of a book to find out how to make love…to him. He could just imagine Imogene Lao’s face when Ainsley asked for that book. Though knowing Imogene and her thrill for shocking people, she probably would have said, full-on bear or half –bear? The old woman had a wicked sense of humor.
Luc studied Ainsley’s face for a full minute. Before he asked, “Do you really want to know?”
She chewed on her lip, but she nodded.
God, she was sexy. Even with her hair piled in a ponytail and her baggy jeans, he couldn’t get enough of her.
“Do you trust me?” Luc reached out his hand.
She took it but didn’t say anything as she followed him upstairs. Smiling to himself, he opened the door and then locked it behind them.
The hand in his shook a little and he knew she was scared.
“Sit down,” he said as he motioned to the couch. “There are some things I need to explain.”
She drew her knees up to her chin in a protective stance, as if she were waiting for a full on assault.
“I’m a man, not a bear,” he said simply. “Yes, I can shift into a bear but I was born a man in every way.”
“I sort of noticed that last night,” she smirked.
“I want to make love to you—many, many times—but there are rules. And it could get dangerous.”
This time she eyed him suspiciously. “How so?”
“First, there is a chance I might accidentally hurt you. If I lose control, well, that wouldn’t be good for either of us.”
She chewed on her lip. “Like you might turn into a bear and bite me.”
He rolled his eyes. “No, I can control the bear. It’s my strength I’m worried about. I might break a bone or put too much, uh, pressure in the wrong place.”
Why in the hell were they even discussing this? He’d made up his mind that this would not happen. But he’d kissed her—again—and now he was giving her information about having sex with him like it could possibly happen. He’d lost his mind.
Smelling of pheromones, she squirmed on the couch.
“I, uh, can control the animal instinct, but there are times when it might be difficult. I may hit something. A wall, a pillow, but I wouldn’t hurt you—ever. At least not on purpose.”
“You’re not exactly making me feel comfortable.”
Reaching over, he pulled her poor lip from her teeth. She was about to draw blood.
Oh, hell.
No way he could make love to her with the ribs and her hand. Leaning toward her, he took the bandaged hand and examined it.
“We can’t do it,” he said trying to keep the frustration from his voice. Damn he wanted this woman in the worst way.
“You said you were a man? And I know there’s nothing wrong with your wonk.”
He chuckled. “Wonk?”
She shrugged, a wicked gleam in her green eyes. “When I was a kid we called penises winkies, but there’s nothing dinky or winky about yours. It’s absolutely wonk.”
“There’s nothing wrong with my—” He threw up his hands when broke into a grin. “It’s you I’m worried about. You seem to forget that just forty-eight hours ago you crushed your truck into a tree.”
Lifting her chin, she met his eyes. “Technically, it was the tiger’s fault. And I don’t hurt that bad. If things get too rough, I’ll tell you.”
Luc twisted a strand of her silky brown hair around his finger. “If I hurt you, it would rip me up,” he said. “I won’t risk that. And I want you so much that no matter how hard I try, it’s going to be rough.”
“So we have a safe word like the kinks do?”
This time he was the one who frowned. “The kinks?”
“Fetish, bondage, you know. I hang around with an artsy crowd in L.A. They’re into all sorts of sexual adventures.”
“Ah. A safe word. We can try.” He couldn’t believe he was actually considering going through with this. Even as his head said no, his cock throbbed yes.
He ran his gaze over Ainsley’s beautiful face and generous feminine curves.
Hell yes.
He’d have to keep himself in check. He could do it, even though his body had screamed for her for two solid days. He’d come twice in the shower that morning just thinking about her wrapping her legs around him as he fucked the hell out of her.
“Bananas,” she laughed. “That has to be our word.”
“Why?”
“Because we are bananas for doing this. There’s no way you would ever leave Clarksville. And eventually I hope to be able to go back to Beverly Hills. But the chemistry is bananas between us. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a—hell, I don’t even know what to call it. But if we don’t have sex soon, I’m going to become one of those women who screeches and beats people.”
“We can’t have that.”
“Right. So we are two people who haven’t been laid in a while,
and we’re going to help each other out. While I’m here that is. When I leave, no probs, we just go on our merry way.” She stuck out her hand.
No way in hell would he be able to let her go that easily, but he shook her hand.
They stared at one another.
“Okay,” she said as she stood up. “Now it’s weird.” She tapped her finger against her lips as if contemplating something. “I know what! Go outside on the landing and shut the door. Give me two minutes and then knock.”
“Talk about bananas.”
“Just do it,” she pointed a finger toward the door. “We’re going to pretend this is my place and I’ve invited you over for lunch.”
Luc rolled his eyes but let her push him through the door.
“Two minutes.” He said as he grabbed his phone off the fireplace so he could tell when the time was up.
She nodded.
On the other side of the door he heard her say, “And then I’m going to ride you hard Luc. You won’t know what hit you.”
Luc smiled.
That can go both ways, babe.
…
She was about to throw herself at a man who was a bear. One who adored her curves, and couldn’t wait to make love to her. Or fuck her. She didn’t really care. She just wanted him inside of her.
Tossing off her clothes, except for her bra and panties, she put on his t-shirt. She’d seen the way he looked at her as if she wore a five hundred dollar negligee. There was something about her wearing his shirt that turned him on.
She smiled wickedly. After quickly swishing with mouthwash, and spritzing some of her honey and vanilla perfume on her wrists and a few other places, she waited by the door.
And waited. And waited.
“What the hell?” She said out loud. “If he left, I swear I will chase him down and—” there was a knock.
This had to be one of her lamer ideas. But she needed a moment, just one to prepare herself.
This would be the first time she had sex with someone that she hadn’t been in a relationship with first. She’d never understood the casual sex her friends were into. They didn’t care where they woke up, as long as they got laid. But Ainsley had always needed some kind of connection.
Lions, Tigers, and Sexy Bears, Oh My! Page 7