by J. H. Croix
Vivi’s eyes had fallen, but she lifted them again. Her gaze was clear and direct. “How long is too damn long?” she asked.
He thought for a moment. “Well, there are two answers to that. There’s the one where I tell you maybe I thought about kissing you back when you were still in high school.” When her eyes widened, he couldn’t help the smile that curled the corner of his mouth. “There’s the other one where I tell you I thought about more than that this last year or so. I haven’t really been in a place to do anything about it until now.”
His chest tightened at what his own words meant. When he heard them aloud, they held a potency he hadn’t contemplated.
Vivi was quiet for several beats, a flush staining her cheeks. One of her hands fell from his chest. She started fiddling with the silver charm bracelet on her wrist. She took a gulp of air before she spoke. “Okay then. That clears it up.”
“How about you?”
Another few beats passed, and she took another deep breath. “Okay, you were honest, so I’ll be honest. I suppose I have two answers as well. The first is I might have had more than a few times when I thought about kissing you back in high school. The second is life happened and then…” She paused, the soft clink of the charms on her bracelet audible as she looked up at him. “You came home again…and I’ve thought about it a lot more since then.”
What he wanted to do was lift her in his arms and find the first place he could to bury himself inside of her, but he wasn’t after quick satisfaction. Not with Vivi. He wanted the time to see what lay between them and if it meant as much as he suspected. If his cat had anything to say about it, he wouldn’t be waiting at all. Alas, human reason managed to filter through. So, he shackled his impulses and slowly eased his hand off her waist.
“Are you walking home?” he asked.
At her nod, he continued. “I’ll walk with you.”
They walked through the quiet night. At some point along the way, he reached for her hand. When they walked up the steps to her house, he looked down and allowed himself one small moment. He dipped his head and caught her lips in a quick kiss. Just that, and it took all of his willpower to pull back.
After she closed the door and locked it behind him, he walked down the stairs and returned to where he’d left his car. His lion simmered, the shackling of his desire went against every grain of the lion side of his shifter self. The chilly, quiet night settled him and by the time he made it to his car, the heat inside had begun to abate.
Chapter 2
Vivi held a toothbrush in one hand, vigorously scrubbing her teeth while she clipped her hair back in a barrette with the other hand. She ran the faucet and rinsed her mouth. Just as she turned the water off, a loud thump came from the kitchen.
“Julianna!” she called out, snatching a towel and drying her hands as she raced down the hallway.
Julianna looked up, her dark brown eyes wide. A milk carton lay on its side with milk spreading in a pool by Julianna’s feet. Julianna glanced up with a grimace. “Sorry, Mom.”
A blur of black and white caught Vivi’s eyes. Jax, Julianna’s beloved young cat, dashed across the kitchen and skidded into the puddle of milk. Impatience rose inside Vivi. Every morning felt like a race. Small accidents like this only added to the hurry. Vivi strode quickly to Jax’s side and promptly dropped the towel in her hands on the milk. “Sorry Jax. No time to let you try to clean this up.” Jax sat on his haunches and set to cleaning his wet paws, unperturbed.
“Mom! That’s a bathroom towel!”
Vivi shrugged. “So what?” She brushed Julianna’s brown hair out of her eyes and dropped a kiss on her forehead. When she looked back at the floor, the towel had already absorbed the milk. “See, it’s all gone,” she said as she picked up the towel and carried it to the sink to wring it out. “Pick up the milk carton please.”
Julianna immediately picked it up and started to carry it to the trash. “Hey, give me that,” Vivi said, turning and holding her hand out.
Julianna looked up, her eyes confused.
“Hey, if there’s any milk left in there, we can still drink it,” Vivi said with a grin.
Julianna smiled doubtfully, but she carried the carton over and handed it to her mother. Vivi shook it, feeling almost nothing swishing back and forth in the bottom. “Oh well, it was worth checking.” She handed it back to Julianna who quickly dropped it in the trash before she slid into a chair at the kitchen table.
Vivi opened the fridge, hoping she’d find an extra carton of milk, so Julianna could have her cereal, and she could have a dash of milk in her coffee. No such luck. She tended to live day to day when it came to shopping and anything that cost money. She wouldn’t trade her life for anything, but being a single mother meant money was tight all the time. When she got pregnant with Julianna, her landscaping business had been in full swing. It was a small business, but it paid the bills and she loved it. Once she had Julianna, she quickly realized her money didn’t stretch as far. Her business kept her afloat and a few shifts a week at Quinn’s filled the gaps.
Back before Julianna came along, she’d fancied herself in love with Chris Barnett, a shifter who she’d met when he spent a summer in Painter. Chris had been fun and showered her with attention, up until the day she told him about her unexpected pregnancy. Before she’d even had a chance to consider what she wanted to do, he made it clear he expected her to not have the baby. He’d also turned cold and distant.
To this day, she didn’t know if her choice to have Julianna had been spurred by his arrogant assumption she wouldn’t have her. It didn’t matter because Vivi loved Julianna to pieces and wouldn’t have changed the course of events even if she could’ve. It would have been nice for Julianna to have a father who was a part of her life, but if Vivi had learned one thing, it was that learning to be at peace with circumstances beyond her control made life a lot easier.
For now, she grabbed a yogurt and a banana. Moments later, she set the bowl down in front of Julianna. “Maple yogurt with bananas!” she announced with a mock bow. “Breakfast of the champions.”
Julianna giggled and immediately lifted her spoon to start eating. A while later, Vivi watched the bus drive away, bright yellow in the misty gray rain of the morning. She sat down at the kitchen table with a sigh. By some small miracle, there were only a few dishes piled up by the sink. Her eyes traveled around the kitchen. Her house was a small bungalow, like many of the homes in her neighborhood. The kitchen had counters with cabinets above lining two walls with the refrigerator tucked into a corner. The sink was situated in the center of one wall and a stove on the other. There was just enough room for a small round table by the archway that led into the living room. On a clear day, the windows let sun in that streamed all the way into the kitchen. With today being rainy, the light was dim inside.
She pushed her chair back and strode into the living room. The mountains loomed in the distance, partially obscured by the clouds. Painter was nestled high in the mountains of Colorado. Vivi loved it here. The shifter side of her only felt at home in the mountains and skirting the edge of wilderness. She loved where her house was because she could see the mountains everyday, her best friend lived a few houses down the street, and downtown Painter was within walking distance.
Her eyes landed on one of the ferns hanging in the window. She quickly snagged the watering can off the table by the wall and filled it. After she watered her plants, she tossed her raincoat on and grabbed her purse before heading out the door. She jogged down the porch stairs and stopped by her car, considering for a second whether to drive. She quickly decided against it and headed for a walk through the drizzle.
As she turned onto Main Street and saw the bright red lettering for Mile High Grounds, her favorite coffee shop, which happened to be owned by her best friend, Heath strolled through her thoughts for the hundredth time since last night’s unexpected kiss. She found herself constantly batting the thoughts away—it was almost too mu
ch to think about what happened. There was a good chance she might run into him at Mile High. He was there as often as she was, seeing as Sophia was his sister. Just thinking about him sent flutters twirling through her belly. She could hardly believe their kiss had even happened. Normally she’d have called Sophia to babble about something like that, but she couldn’t. Not now. She’d successfully hidden her crush on Heath from Sophia way back when they were in high school together. While he’d been away in the military, she’d simply let it go. Chris had come along and sort of swept her off her feet. After that blew up, she was too busy being a mother to think of anything remotely resembling romance.
Then, Heath came home. His first year home had been a doozy. Between his car accident, grueling recovery, falling into the trap of painkiller addiction and then brushing up against the shifter smuggling network, he’d had more than his share of troubles. Through it all, Vivi had fought against the tide of feeling welling up for him. She reached Mile High Grounds and pushed through the swinging door. The scent of coffee filled the small space. It was mid-morning and the coffee shop was in full swing. The tables were full and a line of customers waited by the counter. She glanced around and breathed a silent sigh of relief to find Heath wasn’t there. Her relief was immediately followed by a twinge of disappointment. She wanted to see him again, but she didn’t want to see him again. The silly, hopeful side of herself wanted to see if sparks flew again when she saw him. While her rational brain reminded her she couldn’t get all romantic and hopeful. Too many complications. With a shake of her head to knock Heath out of her thoughts, she went to stand in line by the counter.
***
Heath swung his truck into a parking spot on Main Street. As he walked across the street, he turned around quickly, realizing he’d forgotten to lock it. He hit the button on his remote key and paused where he stood. The truck he drove now was shiny and black. It was similar to the one he’d had for years, albeit quite a few years younger. That truck had been totaled when he’d slid off the icy highway that cold night over a year ago. That truck had felt like an old friend because it had sat waiting for him after years away in the military. This one was too shiny, too new. He took a breath and savored the sharpness of his thoughts. After a year of living in the fog of pain and painkillers, he appreciated every moment he could think clearly. He’d had a good six months of clarity and was still grateful for every second. Turning on his heel, he strode down the sidewalk and pushed through the door of Mile High Grounds. Sophia had opened this coffee shop while he was away and it had become the hottest spot in town for coffee. He was damn proud of his sister.
He took a few steps into the café and awareness prickled over his skin. He lifted his head to find Vivi standing by the counter. With her hip leaned against it, she gestured with her hand as she spoke to Sophia. Sophia’s dark hair was pulled back on one side with a barrette. She wore charcoal gray leggings with a stretchy black mini skirt over them. Her navy raincoat hung over her shoulders. A bolt of heat shot through him, and his body tightened merely at the sight of her. He was going to have to play this cool. He might have let desire get ahead of him the other night, but he had enough sense to know he had to proceed carefully.
Vivi couldn’t just be a fling. Aside from the fact that she was Sophia’s best friend and Sophia would kill him if he treated Vivi with anything but the utmost respect, she meant too much to him. For now, he yanked on the reins of his control and walked slowly up to the counter. Tommy Dawson, one of Sophia’s employees, saw him first. “Hey man, what’ll it be today?” Tommy asked, his brown eyes crinkling at the corners with his smile.
“I’ll take straight coffee today.”
At Heath’s reply, Vivi turned, her blue eyes slamming into his. He nodded in her direction. Sophia glanced his way as well. “Hey Heath! No mocha today?”
Heath shrugged. “They’re good, but I’m not in the mood for anything sweet right now. Straight black coffee is what I need.”
“Coming right up,” Tommy said before he stepped back from the counter to get the coffee in question.
Heath found his eyes wandering to Vivi. Her jacket was unzipped, revealing the snug white t-shirt she wore. She had a penchant for those fitted cotton shirts, which drove him half out of his mind. The shirt pulled tight across her full breasts and traced the dip at her waist. Lust jolted through him, and he tore his eyes away from her. They landed on Tommy who was returning to the counter, coffee in hand. Tommy’s eyes bounced from Vivi to Heath, a glimmer of speculation in them. He slid the coffee across the counter to Heath.
Heath grabbed it and took a gulp. He tugged his wallet out and tossed a five-dollar bill on the counter. Before Sophia had a chance to say anything, he spoke up. “If you won’t ring me up, put it in the tip jar.”
Tommy chuckled and swiped the bill, stuffing it in the tip jar. “She won’t ring you up.”
Sophia’s mock glare flicked between them. “I get to let family have coffee on the house if I want!”
Heath shrugged. “Either way is fine with me. Coffee’s excellent.” He took another gulp and chanced a look in Vivi’s direction again. She’d turned away and was asking Sophia something.
“Did Daniel hear anything else from Roger after they searched those properties in Wyoming?”
Heath stepped closer, moving out of the way of a customer who approached the counter. A subtle hint of lavender drifted to him. The scent reminded him of how Vivi felt close against him the other night. It had only lasted mere minutes, but he’d replayed it over and over on a loop in his brain. He took another swallow of coffee and focused his mind on the moment.
“Any news from Roger?” he asked, referencing Vivi’s question. Roger was a local police officer in Painter and one of the shifters helping lead the investigation into the shifter drug smuggling network. Last fall had brought a big break in the years-long investigation when the ringleader had been uncovered. Nelson Weaver was on the lam and the police were systematically searching massive tracts of land owned by Daniel Hayes. Daniel happened to be Nelson’s long-lost nephew who’d returned to Painter and swept Sophia off her feet.
Nelson had been using his family’s old logging properties as waypoints and storage locations for the smuggling network. Mountain lion shifters were sadly ideal to smuggle drugs because they could cover a lot of ground and no one would ever suspect them. Nelson had turned sour and bitter after the death of his other nephew, Daniel’s brother. That death echoed through Painter because it had put shifters at risk. Daniel’s brother, at the young age of ten, had shifted in a public park and been shot. His family fled Painter under a cloud of pain and shame. Nelson turned to drink and drugs and somewhere along the way decided he could make good money by organizing shifters to smuggle drugs.
Aside from the obvious reasons any community would want to put a stop to drug smuggling, Painter had held the secret existence of shifters close for centuries. With shifters involved in drug smuggling, the entire community was at risk. Any involvement in illegal activities shook the foundation of shifter secrecy. Painter was one of many shifter communities and sadly, the shifter smuggling network had spread its tentacles all the way across the country. Other areas had successfully quashed it, but it had been like chasing ghosts in Painter. Only when they discovered Nelson’s role and how he’d used his family’s logging properties, which were spread far and wide in the West and into the edges of the Midwest, did the shifter community finally feel like they had a chance to wipe the network out. Nelson had disappeared after a fight in the woods a few months ago.
Sophia looked toward Heath with a shrug. “Not much. Daniel said all Roger had to offer was they’d searched several more areas and turned up no sign of Nelson. They’ve found more storage locations on almost every property and torn them down. Problem is those old logging properties are massive. They’re fanning out, but if they want to truly cover every inch, they need to use air support. That would draw attention we don’t want.”
&n
bsp; “Yeah, it’s not like we can say we’re searching for a mountain lion and a man. If he’s in the woods and moving, he’s most likely in lion form,” Heath added. He shook his head and sighed, leaning his hip against the counter. “They will find him. It’s just matter of how long it takes. No matter what, Nelson can only dodge for so long. I stopped by to see Roger last week, and he mentioned they’ve alerted the police in every shifter community. There’s no way for him to hide out too long anywhere.”
Vivi finally looked over at Heath. She twisted the elastic cord on her raincoat around her index finger. “I keep trying to remember that. I’m just worried they’ll eventually stop looking.”
“Vivi, they’re not going to stop looking,” Sophia said with a shake of her head.
“Maybe, maybe not. It’s already been a few months since Nelson took off and everyone’s getting complacent. I hear all the gossip at Quinn’s. Not many shifters are worried about it anymore.”
“The police are committed, so I’m pretty sure they’ll keep looking. If they don’t, we will,” Heath said.
Vivi’s blue eyes swung to his. She held his gaze for a long moment before she released the elastic cord she’d wound tightly around her finger. “Right,” she said softly.
Chapter 3
A few days later, Vivi carefully set the peony plant in the hole she’d prepared in the flowerbed. After sifting soil over it, she added mulch and watered it. She stood up and knocked the loose soil off of her work gloves. After taking a step back, she surveyed the work she’d done. She’d mulched and planted flowerbeds surrounding the house. These were her favorite jobs because she loved flowers and enjoyed when customers gave her free rein to be artistic with them. It would be another year or two before the flowers would settle and show enough growth to fill the area.