Jamie sat on her couch with her feet up on the coffee table, Rico asleep on the bookcase with all her reference books, a good episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit on her TV, and a nice, large bowl of pasta to help her mood.
If nothing else, it was a quiet night. There’d been nothing waiting for her when she got home. No screams, bangs, or door slamming. And that was all because of Tully.
Tully. She wondered how far and fast that wolf would run, now that he’d seen how far she’d go. She should feel guilt. She should feel something. But other than mild annoyance that she had to shower, wash her hair, and do a load of laundry to get that damn patchouli funk out, she didn’t. That was why she was in a mood, because she didn’t feel any remorse about what she’d done and she knew she should.
Shouldn’t she?
But she’d worry about all that tomorrow. Not tonight. Tonight she was going to eat her delicious pasta, watch one of her favorite shows, and relax all by her—
Jamie sat up when she heard her front door open and close. Her locked front door. After a few moments, the wolf walked in to her living room. She knew it was Tully from the earring, but she had the feeling that she’d know it was Tully without it, too. He wandered into the living room, his bushy tail twitching behind him, and came right up and onto the couch. He moved in close to her, pushing up against her side. And that’s when he shifted.
She didn’t know why he was here. While she was standing in the hotel kitchen, bagging the blood and hair from Wanda for future use—only if necessary, of course—their shifter guests had walked in and right back out through the swinging door without saying a word to her or Mac. She and her cousin had passed quick glances, both of them thinking the same thing, How long before they ask us to leave? but neither had said it. Why bother?
But here Tully was, eyeing her pasta in a most territorial way. “Can I help you with something?” she asked.
“I smelled food.” He leaned over her bowl of sautéed pasta. “Dang that smells good.”
“Sorry. I only made enough for one bowl.”
“No problem.” He took her fork out of her hand and the bowl out of her lap. “We can share.” And then he began to eat.
“Shouldn’t you be outside with your Pack…killing something?”
“They can hunt on their own,” he said around his food. “Or just go to McDonald’s. We don’t need fresh deer every night.”
“I see.”
After what should have taken a lot longer, the fork he held scraped the bottom of the bowl, and those strange-colored eyes peered up at her through long lashes. “I finished your pasta.”
“Yeah, ya did.”
“Sure there’s no more?”
“Are you asking for you or me?”
“Both. I’m still hungry.”
“Too bad for you. That was it.”
He placed the bowl on the coffee table and settled in next to Jamie. “Buck’s gone.”
“For now. He’ll be back.”
She saw him smile from the corner of her eye. “We know.”
“He’ll be back for you.” She wanted him to understand how bad this was. She needed him to understand it. The thought of something happening to him…
“And you,” he said casually. “I reckon he hates both of us now.”
She took in a breath, let it out slowly. “Should I have done things differently?”
He shook his head. “No. We needed to find out how far he’d go. Now we know.”
“And you know how far I’ll go.”
“Is it supposed to bother me?”
“Does it?”
“You protected my momma, this town, and your coven. That’s all I want.”
He suddenly moved away from her and stood. He didn’t walk out, though. He held his hand out. “I’m tired, beautiful. Let’s get some sleep. We can discuss the moral ins and outs of gut molesting tomorrow. Not tonight.”
Jamie took his hand and let him lead her to her bedroom. He crawled under the covers and tugged her in with him, wrapping his arms around her, tucking his bent leg between her thighs, and resting her head against his chest. She fell asleep moments later, understanding that everything had changed…for her.
Tully slipped out of bed before Jamie woke up, went home, showered, and then headed to his parents’ house. His momma was out, having gone shopping bright and early but his daddy was there.
“What’s wrong with you?” Jack asked.
“I love her.”
Jack sighed, rolled his eyes. “I knew it. As soon as she stuck her arm in that woman and twisted her organs around like she was squeezing melons to see if they were ripe, I knew you’d be keeping her. ’Cause God forbid you should get a nice gal, like your momma.”
“Momma likes her.”
“ ’Cause your momma’s nice. She’d find a reason to like anybody.”
“Jamie says she doesn’t want to be attached. That she doesn’t want to go through that again.”
He saw Jack smile. “Your momma gave me the same speech the night I asked her out.”
“And you got her, despite my earnest attempts to ensure that you didn’t.”
“You were such a little bastard, too,” Jack muttered, shaking his head, but Tully knew it was a compliment.
“So tell me what to do, Daddy. Tell me how I can get Jamie and keep her?”
“Well…Lord knows you don’t have my charm.”
“Or your disturbing cat-stare.”
His daddy gave a little snarl and flashed a fang before he finished with, “But I’ll help ya. ’Cause any woman crazy enough and strong enough to stand up against Buck Smith and live to tell about it is definitely a keeper.”
Chapter Sixteen
She was grabbed off the street and dragged in to the local salon that she never used because she knew they could never handle her or her cousin’s hair. And there, waiting for her, were her coven, Katie, Miss Millie, and the sow who’d grabbed her, Miss Gwen.
“Could you really be that stupid?” Miss Gwen snapped at her. A lovely woman unless you startled her or made annoying sounds.
“It’s possible since I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
That’s when Katie suddenly lunged for her and Miss Millie had to snatch her back. “Sweet girl,” Millie said to Jamie, “we understand you’re a little…confused.”
“I am?”
“It’s all right. Gwenie and I have been there. Emma’s been there. Now it’s your turn.”
Needing help, she looked to her coven—who were so busy snickering at her, they turned out to be no help at all.
“Maybe you could tell me clearly what you’re talking about.”
“If we tell you,” Miss Millie explained, exasperated, “then it’s like we’re telling you what to do. We won’t know if it’s what you want.”
Taking a breath, Jamie said, “But if I’m not clear on what you’re asking me about—”
“What is wrong with you?” Katie demanded from behind Millie.
Jamie stared at Tully’s sister for a moment and then said, “Snaggle.”
“Oh!” Katie stormed around her mother. “Let me just slap her around a little, Momma. Then she’ll get it!”
Miss Gwen caught Katie by her ponytail and yanked her back. “Beatin’ her up is not gonna help if she’s this dumb.”
Then they all stared at her, waiting. And she still didn’t know what they were talking about. Jamie would be the first to admit it. She didn’t get women talk. Movies with a bunch of broads sitting around, talking about life and men, never made sense to her and she ended up rolling her eyes or sleeping until the credits rolled. So sure, some other female may know what they were all going on about, but Jamie wasn’t some other female.
She was about to simply walk out when she saw Bear walking by the wide store window. She opened the door, grabbed his humongous forearm, and pulled him in.
Okay. She was lying about that part. She actually tried to pull him in to the store. What she
ended up doing was leaning so far back, it looked like she was in the middle of a hurricane. Bear only stared at her, too. That permanent frown etched into his face somehow growing more frown-y.
“What are you doing?”
“Need your help. In here.” So he started walking inside and then grabbed her before she could hit the floor.
Once he got her back on her feet, she pushed the hair off her face and said, “They’re yelling at me and I don’t know why. They won’t tell me. I don’t know why. I’m beginning to panic…but I know it’s because of them.”
Bear glanced around the salon, his eyes briefly lingering on Mac for two seconds longer than he gave to anyone else before he returned to Jamie and said, “Probably ’bout Tully.”
“What about him?” she asked with all sincerity and Katie lunged at her again. This time Bear stopped the psychotic hybrid, the palm of his hand pressing against her forehead as she swung at Jamie wildly. If Jamie weren’t the focus of the insane stray’s attacks, she’d find the whole thing pretty damn humorous. “What did I say now?”
Bear sighed. “Y’all make this so complicated,” he muttered to everyone before saying to Jamie, “How do you feel about Tully?”
“Tully?”
“Yeah. Tully. The canine who’s been sleeping at your house every night the past week.”
“All up in my business,” Jamie sneered.
“Unless you want me to let this one off leash”—he gestured to Katie with a tilt of his big grizzly head—“you’ll answer my question.”
“Fine. I love him. Okay?” And then she felt bad when Miss Millie and Miss Gwen looked so happy, that she quickly added, “But I don’t think he feels the same way about me.”
This time Bear had to catch Katie around the waist and take her over to the other side of the room.
“Lord, you are dumb!” Katie snarled. “The dumbest Yankee this side of the Mason-Dixon!”
“Katie, please!” Miss Millie snapped before she focused back on Jamie. “Now, sweetheart, what makes you think Tully’s not interested?”
Was Jamie really supposed to tell the man’s mother that he hadn’t fucked her in more than a week? That he’d treated her like a good friend since the face-off with Buck? She’d thought maybe seeing her torture a woman had turned off any sexual feelings Tully’d had for her, but saving his mother had made him feel a sense of loyalty. She figured he was easing his way out of her life and since she’d insisted on no attachments, she didn’t think it was right to argue. Yet Jamie was pretty sure that saying any of that to Tully’s mother would be considered inappropriate.
And to solidify that feeling, Kenny leaned forward and said, “Awkward moment, Scene one, Take one. Action!” Jamie glared at the geek and watched as she jumped behind Mac.
After clearing her throat, “Look, Miss Millie, I appreciate—”
Miss Gwen patted Millie’s arm. “I bet he stopped fucking her.”
Bear jerked tall, his head nearly colliding with the salon ceiling. “Momma!”
“Hush now, Bear,” Gwen chided. “Is that it, sweetie? Has he been giving you ‘space’?” And she used air quotes.
Horrified where this conversation had led them, Jamie said, “I didn’t really ask—”
“Bet he got that from Jack,” Miss Gwen singsonged to Millie.
Millie rolled her eyes. “Lord, tell me that boy isn’t taking love advice from that man. Don’t get me wrong,” she said to Jamie, “I love Jack more than I knew was possible but I wasn’t ready to have another male in my life after I’d finally gotten Buck out of it.”
“Which Jack thankfully had enough brains to figure out on his own.”
“Tricky felines,” Millie joked and the two women giggled like schoolgirls. “Now, dearest girl, this is what you’re going to do. You’re going to go to Tully’s place and you’re going to make him dinner. Something hearty that’ll stick to his ribs. Pretend like you need to talk about something, and he’ll think this is his moment to get it all out in the open, which trust me, you don’t wanna do. Too much talking just ruins a relationship.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” Gwen muttered, sounding a lot like her son.
“And then, when he’s all relaxed and comfortable from the food, you’re gonna pounce! And you’re gonna fuck the living hell out of that boy!”
“Momma!” Katie barked, her hands covering her mouth, the fight no longer in her. Bear took off his cap, running his hands through his hair, and his big brown eyes scanning the room for emergency exits. And Jamie’s coven laughed. Clearly they were having the best time ever.
“Hush now, Katie.” Miss Millie took Jamie’s right arm and Miss Gwen took her left, they dragged her to the front door, the bell over it ringing when they pulled it open. “You go on and get what you need and be at his place around six. That’s usually when he gets home from work. And you do as I tell ya now. You work him.”
“Work him,” Miss Gwen added, “like you ain’t never worked a man before. Hard. Real hard.”
“Uh…”
“Go on now. Don’t keep my boy waitin’. Life’s too short.”
Then they closed the door in her face.
Tully had given her a lot of space the past few days. Well, as much space as he was willing to allow.
Every morning Tully ambled on over to the hotel to have breakfast with Jamie and her coven. Mac usually made the hot food and Jamie usually made the pastries. Kyle and Katie were usually there, too, and that helped to keep Tully from grabbing Jamie and walking off with her. After breakfast Tully would go off and get some work done or amble around town to see if there was anything that needed doing. When the sun went down, he’d get a little hunting in with his Pack and maybe Kyle, before he’d head on over to Jamie’s for a late night supper. He stayed every night but they never had sex. Not yet. Not until she faced the truth about them. Not until she realized she’d fallen in love with him as much as he’d fallen in love with her.
He knew it was driving her crazy, and to be honest, his cock hated him at the moment. Not that he blamed it. His need to be inside Jamie was tearing at him from the inside out. But Tully resisted because he knew he had to and because his daddy told him, “If you wanna keep her, you’re going to have to give her up a little.” And Tully understood the logic. He knew if he’d taken her that night after they’d run Buck off, she’d dismiss everything as “the heat of the moment.” It wasn’t. What happened between Jamie and his father may have opened Tully’s eyes, but that was it.
Still, Jamie was as stubborn as Tully. She refused to accept the fact that she was crazy in love with him and he refused to give in to their needs because she was refusing to accept the fact she was crazy in love with him.
Did she even comprehend how different everything was now? Not only between them but between Jamie and the town? And it was different for one simple reason. Because she’d gone toe-to-toe with Buck Smith to protect Millie. That was something his neighbors would never forget.
It was funny, the day he’d met Jamie he knew her only concern at the time was protecting herself and her coven. Ten months later, though, the entire town of Smithville had done what only true Southerners managed to do when they were of a mind…they’d burrowed their way into Jamie’s cold witch’s heart and made it home. Now she would protect everyone in Smithville the way she would protect her coven.
Did she even realize she was already “attached” and not just to him? Probably not. For a smart girl, she could be kind of dumb sometimes when things were real obvious. Her coven had caught it, though. The way the men tipped their hats at them or smiled while opening a door. The way the ladies started gossiping with them at the coffeehouse or explaining their “Pride’s secret recipe” for chitlins. They knew something big had changed, but Jamie was still in the dark. So pretty but dumb as a six-legged piranha when it came to her own feelings. But Tully was determined to get her to understand. Not hard for him, when he’d already made up his mind about her. When he already knew he lov
ed her.
But Lord…a few more days of this and something was going to snap. He simply wasn’t strong enough to resist her soul-devouring little charms anymore.
He’d talk to her tonight. He had to. Before his cock found a way to strangle him.
In sight of his house, Tully stopped when his phone rang.
“This is Tully,” he answered.
“Boy.”
Tully smiled. “Hey, Uncle Bub. What’cha need?”
“I don’t need nothin’, but you need to keep your eyes open. Word is Buck’s heading back to Smithville with his Pack.”
“It’s a dumb move. The town’s ready for him.”
“Good.” Bubba took in a breath, then said, “And I’m gonna make this real clear for ya, boy. So there’s no misunderstandings later. If he does come back there, if he steps on Smith territory…you feel free to end it, if it comes to that. You understand me?”
Tully closed his eyes, but answered, “Yes, sir.”
“No more games, and no guilt. The rest of the family has already agreed to this, and understands. It ain’t like he left you much choice and sometimes it’s just gotta be done. Understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
The call ended as abruptly as it started and Tully walked to his house. As soon as he stepped inside, he knew she was there. He went straight to the kitchen—since he could smell the food cooking—and found her sitting on his kitchen table, reading a magazine and eating cut-up pieces of apple.
He stood in the doorway a moment, wondering how much longer he’d have to wait before he could come home to this sight every day, and said, “That smells good.”
She grinned without looking up from her magazine. “Beef stew. Much better than Mac’s, although she’s still in denial on that topic.”
“You two…like cats in a bag.”
“Some say.” She placed the magazine down and lifted her gaze to his. “You out hunting tonight?”
“No set plans. Why?”
“I thought maybe we should…talk.”
And that’s when his phone rang again. “Dang it!” He answered. “Yeah?”
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