by M. L. Briers
The backpack had slid up on her back and was pushing against the back of her neck, and it was doing its damnedest to keep her head down so that she had a great view of his backside and not much else.
She gave a hearty shriek of surprise, but there wasn’t much else that she could do in that moment, other than fist the back of his jacket and hope he wasn’t as clumsy as she was.
“Now… I really don’t want you to get the wrong idea about this…” Jack bit out as he rolled his eyes in his head and knew that sounded like shutting the gate after the horse had bolted.
“What’s to get the wrong idea about,” she bit out. “Some, big, dumb, mountain man, shifter guy throws me over his damn shoulder and starts carrying me off…” she practically hissed…
“Exactly,” he nodded as he stalked back towards his truck. “I’m doing this for the right reasons.”
“Oh, mine … or yours?” She ground out.
A moment later and she was being gently dragged back down the hard length of his body to stand on her own two feet. Her backpack was pressed against the hard metal of the truck, and his warmth was like a solid log fire against her front …
She knew which feeling she preferred, but she wasn’t about to admit that to anyone, even herself, and that wasn’t really the damn point.
“Both,” Jack frowned down at her as she tipped her head back and scowled up at him.
“If you say trust me, so help me I am going to knee you right in the balls,” she almost whispered.
“O-k-a-y,” Jack considered that for a moment and stored it in his memory … the woman was a possible she-demon of the ball-breaking variety … noted … consigned to memory, and stored for future reference.
He took a breath and held it for a moment as he considered his next move. He could stash her in the trunk …
His bear growled.
Or not.
“Now, here’s where it gets tricky,” he offered and she raised just the one eyebrow.
“Here?” she snorted in disbelief. Then a chuckle of disbelief shot from inside of her. “Un … freckin’ … believable.”
“I could shove you in the trunk and drive off with you,” he said and she scowled harder, “but, let’s face it … that will just confirm your worst fears about me…”
“Ya think?” the obvious sarcasm in her tone was more than noted, it was expected.
“You could scream the mountain down, and, aside from shifters, nobody is going to hear it,” he offered.
“That fills me with such trust and wellbeing,” she scoffed, and yet, for the life of her she couldn’t understand exactly why it was that she hadn’t been screaming already…
“A warm fuzzy glow inside?” he teased and she narrowed her eyes on him. “Too soon, okay.” He nodded, dismissing that thought.
“Can we get to the part where I nut you and you lay crying real tears on the ground?” she asked, looking a little too hopeful for his liking.
“Yeah, that’s another thing that I’m hoping to avoid.”
“It’s not looking likely at this point,” she was right there with him. Tit for tat – word for word, and if this guy thought that she was going to be a pushover…
“Okay then.” He sighed. His bear grunted. “You’re hungry, I’m hungry. You’re tired, I’m tired. You’re cold, I’m … not so much, but you get the idea.”
“I’m starting too,” she hissed back.
“So, I can follow you down the road, being annoying about carrying your pack, and generally grumpy about leaving a perfectly good truck…”
“Can we get to the point, I feel like I’m aging in leaps and bounds here?”
Jack pulled up short and twisted his head on his neck.
“You’re really sarcastic…” he noted and she snorted.
“You noticed, right?”
He shook his head and dismissed that chain of thought. He digressed, and he needed to keep his momentum going before she threw him for a loop again.
“So,” he arched his eyebrows. “What say we just get in the truck and go get food? Neither one of us has to say a damn word.” He shrugged those broad shoulders and she frowned.
“What would be the odds that you could stay quiet?” She bit out.
“Pretty good,” he assured her and she sighed. “Or, you know. I could stuff you in the back and let you out when we get there?” He tossed up a hand, but there was a light of amusement in his eyes that captured her thoughts…
How many crazy serial killers smile like that before they abduct you…?
Apart from Bundy… and …
Not the point …
He doesn’t feel a threat … not in any real sense of the word…
I mean, sure, I could get lost in those dark soulful eyes …
He’s got a growl that’s strangely attractive … go figure … but then I always wanted a dog…
And I think the only real … real … danger is to my panties dropping, but isn’t that danger enough?
He’s right though … I’m in shifter land and that’s probably not good …
So, what’s a girl to do?
I could dig in my heels and tell him to go to hell …
I don’t think he’d really stuff me in the trunk, although …
Or I could take this for what it appears to be … the guy trying to help me out …
“Fine…” she sighed. She guessed that she was going to have to do something, and now might just be the time to start.
Not that she trusted him – she didn’t. He seemed genuine, but wasn’t that how everything started?
“Actually, it looks like snow,” he smiled back, a little smug.
“That’s … funny … and so not what I wanted to hear either.”
“You’ll get in the truck?”
“Yes,” she shrugged again.
“Without trying to knee me in the balls?” He hadn’t moved an inch … maybe they both had trust issues.
“Meh.”
“I’m trusting you like you’re trusting me.” He offered in all sincerity.
“But, tell me, which of us has more to lose?”
“You’d be surprised.” Jack bit out.
It might have been dangerous for her, accepting his offer, getting in the car with a strange man … a shifter, and he’d remind her of that fact once he’d wooed her, but for him … not wooing her … not winning her as his mate had to be the biggest risk of all.
CHAPTER SIX
~
Jack had watched her as her head had started to bob. He had to remember to watch the damn road too, but he was fascinated to watch the toll of the day and the sound of the engine start to lull her off into sleep.
She could barely keep her lids from closing, and he liked that her lashes were long and thick and he could see them slowly fanning downwards each time that sleep enticed her.
Then her head would start to slowly lower and she suddenly snap awake again … like one of those falling off a cliff dreams, and his heart hit his ribs each time that she did it.
Then it was finally done and she lost the battle to stay awake. That was right about the time that the snow started to fall, and he was glad that the enticing spectacle was over, because he really needed to watch the road as the weather closed in around them.
He’d make it back to his damn cabin if it was the last thing that he did. There was no way that he was going to allow her to be stuck out in the truck all night with no food and nothing to drink.
Jack lost the front wheel of the truck down a nasty pot hole that he’d been meaning to fill in for a while, just before the turn in to his cabin, and as the truck bounced, it jarred her awake…
Lorelai eyed the scene ahead of her through sleep filled eyes. She shifted in the seat and tried to focus – sleep threatened to claim her again…
She shook her head and tried to shake off the exhaustion that was stalking her. Knowing that he was there in the seat next to hers made her feel both guilty that she’d slept, and stupid for allowing it to hap
pen, and that seemed to pull her back into some sort of fuzzy reality.
The headlights showed a cabin ahead … although it looked as if someone had placed it in a life sized snow globe, and it took her a long moment to rush to panic…
“Now, hold on a damn…”
He heard the anger in her voice. He could sense a little fear and his beast didn’t like it.
They’d take her anger and indignation over fear any day of the week.
“Relax, the weather turned, and this is closer than the next town.” He tried to keep his tone level to ease her worries.
He’d lied. It was a half lie in itself.
The weather had turned, but he’d always been aiming to bring her home where she belonged and not take her over to the town.
He needed some alone time with her, and she needed food, sleep, and warmth. They could both get what they needed at the cabin – taking her into town meant that she could keep her distance and then try to go her own way … neither of those things was acceptable to him.
“That’s …” she folded her arms and sighed inwardly, “just … peachy.”
Now what? She asked herself as she stared out of the windscreen at the picture perfect cabin ahead.
It’s not like I can refuse to get out of the damn truck … well, I could, but … meh!
Freeze in the truck…
Walk off into the middle of nowhere in a snow storm…
Or accept that I was going in there … alone … with him…
Gee, decisions – decisions…
I think I just screwed myself over.
I think I need my head examined.
I think I’m going inside the bloody cabin.
“Still not an axe murdering psycho,” he grinned to show her that he was playing.
“I guess I’m about to find out exactly what you are,” she muttered back.
~
~
~
Ok, so the guy can build a log fire. No brownie points there, he is a mountain man.
But the stew from the slow cooker … wow, I’d practically hoovered that bad boy up out of the bowl, and then he’d just dumped more in.
He even looked happy that I’d eaten it.
For a psycho axe murderer – he keeps a clean home, and it’s off the beaten path and caught in a snow storm – so that’s good too. Not good if he’s an axe murderer, but, damn, never mind…
I’d have to say that I kind of landed on my feet – like a cat – but it just might be that the other shoe hasn’t dropped yet.
Not that I had choices…
“Penny for them,” Jack had watched her by firelight as she sat on the cushion on the floor and slowly sipped a beer.
She looked half-way comfortable … as if she was settling down after a fright, but not quite there yet. He wanted her to feel comfortable in her surroundings, because if he had his way then this was her new home.
“I’ll give you more if I don’t have to tell you,” Lorelai challenged him with her gaze.
“Are you still pis … miffed that I brought you here?” Jack asked.
“Rather than freeze to death in the middle of the snow storm that hit?” She eyed him for a moment. “Nope, I’m actually starting to see the benefits in not being dead.”
His bear didn’t like the image that she’d put in his head. Her lying dead in the damn snow … it made the beast sullen.
Jack didn’t like it much either, but unlike his beast, he held onto the growl that wanted to rumble through his chest.
“What were you doing on the mountain, on foot, in winter?”
“Trying to get to the other side,” she shrugged her shoulders.
“You’re evading …”
“And you’re nosy,” she shot back.
Jack frowned and turned to stare into the flickering flame that lapped around the logs. He had a need to know her story … to know everything about her, and he guessed that would all come in time, but he felt impatient.
“Can you drive?” Jack turned back to look at her.
“Some would probably say not, but I have a licence.”
“You really are sarcastic,” Jack muttered.
“Now there’s something we can agree on.” She smiled then. A real smile that lit her eyes and held his interest.
His hard length twitched inside of his jeans. It had been doing that since the first time he’d taken her scent. His body felt a rush of heat at the sight of her smiling right at him.
It felt good … damn good … it felt like progress.
“You were as quiet as a mouse in the bar…”
“Regretting picking me up on the road?” That smile didn’t waver.
“As opposed to coming across your cold dead body tomorrow?” Jack thought he’d give her a taste of that imagery so that she didn’t do anything stupid and try to leave.
Not that he’d let her. Not tonight with the snow blowing hard and fast – she’d never make it back to the road let alone across the mountain.
His beast played a sorrowful tune inside of him.
CHAPTER SEVEN
~
“Wow, let’s not sugar coat it.” Lorelai frowned, but there was still a gentle smile on her lips.
“You started it,” Jack shrugged those broad shoulders and her eyes took him in.
“You make a good stew,” she offered with a teasing look in her eyes.
“Now you’re changing the subject,” Jack frowned.
“Well, it was a dead subject,” she offered with something of an apologetic note in her voice at the bad joke.
Jack felt that little itch of frustration. They were talking, which was a good sign, but they weren’t really talking about anything, and that was bad. Bad for him because he really did have a need to know her.
“So, back to where you were going,” Jack tried again.
“This beer is so good,” She gave a small shrug and Jack felt that frustration clawing within him worse than his beast.
“It’s just beer…”
“Its good beer, hits the spot.” Lorelai didn’t know how much longer she could deflect his questions for.
“You’re not going to tell me, are you?” He frowned, and she didn’t reply, just gave him another small smile, but her eyes were alive with amusement. “Well, I guess I’ll have to hope that you talk in your sleep.” He grumbled.
“If I do, can you ask me where I left a pair of red stone earrings – couldn’t find those suckers anywhere.”
The sound of a loud, deep grunt ended that conversation. She felt a little guilty as she sat there staring into the fire.
He’d taken her in. Probably saved her life and all he wanted was a few answers.
She wasn’t sure what it was, but she was starting to feel a little more like herself around him. Like the person that she used to be before the need to be guarded had taken over.
She couldn’t let that happen.
~
~
~
“So what’s your last name?” Jack asked as he dried the bowls they’d been using for dinner, and she stood at the sink washing up.
He kind of liked the set up. He hated washing dishes, didn’t mind drying them, and then there was the whole cosy, domesticated thing that they had going on. It felt … good.
It also gave him the opportunity to study her – really take her in – as she paid attention to the plates and not him.
“Maybe you could write a list of twenty questions and I’ll go through it later?” She shot him a smile and that warmed him, but he still didn’t like how cagey she was.
“Mine’s Valentine, see it didn’t kill me to tell you that,” he growled just a little.
“Like the day?” She wrinkled her nose.
“Yeah.”
“You don’t seem the romantic type – more the bite heads off live chickens type,” she chuckled to herself as he grumbled and shuffled on his feet.
“What, you didn’t like the log fire to go with your dinner?” He grumble
d.
“Is that what those chewy bits were?” She teased and watched him shuffle on his feet. His head was dropped over the bowl that he’d just about wiped the pattern off as he’d been drying it for so long.
“So, you didn’t like the stew?” He grumbled.
“I liked the stew.” His eyes came up to hers and he narrowed them for a second … she eyed him right back. He grunted, and not in a bad way. “What just happened?”
“I was checking to see if you were lying,” he offered and watched a frown develop on her forehead.
“You guys can really do that?”
“That’s why they recruit some of us into the military – we’re great during interrogations.” He offered back, finally putting down that bowl and reaching for another one.
“I’m sure you guys are good in the military full stop,” she eyed him quickly before turning back to the sink.
“Do I scare you?” He sort of leaned back a little from the waist, and she had to chuckle … as if that little bit of distance was going to make his presence less imposing.
“You mean aside from the whole axe murderer thing you’ve got going on?”
“Yeah, aside from that.”
“I guess … not scare, more …” she considered it, “pause for thought.”
“And the conclusion when you’ve thought about it?”
He flashed her one hell of a sexy smile. She felt that smile hit her stomach, her womb, and tug just a little on her panties…
She didn’t think that was a good sign.
“You’re just another guy…” she frowned. “With a really big family pet inside.” She smiled, but didn’t turn to look at him.
“I am, right?” He chuckled, but his bear didn’t seem best pleased to be put in the same category as a yapping mutt.
“You don’t growl much.” She shrugged.
“I didn’t want to scare you,” Jack offered back.
“You growled at the bar,” she said, flicking a look at him.
“That was a territory thing, a dominance thing, a…”
“Back off before I bite your butt thing?”
Jack opened his mouth to speak, but he grinned instead. His bear snorted within him, and it was the closest the bear was going to get to laughing.