by Sy Walker
“You sound shocked.”
“Well yeah. Guys don’t normally put this much effort into their jobs, let alone a date.”
“Then you’ve been dating the wrong guys.”
“Apparently. You’ve already scored more brownie points than my last three boyfriends combined and I’ve known you, what? Two hours?”
Stephen chuckled and struck a match. He turned his back on Jana to get the fire going, and he was glad she couldn’t see his face. What was wrong with the male species today? All he did was take Jana out for some fresh air and that made him more impressive? Maybe he had been in the military too long.
With the little firing crackling and the coffee pot on, Stephen shuffled back to the blanket on his knees. “So how long has it been since your last relationship?” he asked.
She had a mouthful of food and swallowed hard before answering. “Um, about three weeks.”
“I’m guessing it wasn’t too long term then if you’ve already started dating again.” Stephen grabbed a pastry and tore into it.
“Not really, it was just shy of five years. What about you?”
Stephen choked on his croissant. Jana had to smack him on the back before he could speak again. “Five years? And you didn’t get married? What kind of putz did you date?” She flinched and turned away. Stephen felt like an ass. “I’m so sorry. That was out of line. It’s just that you’re so beautiful and if you haven’t been lying to me, you seem to have a lot going for you.”
Jana giggled. “You aren’t making this any better, you know,” she said playfully.
“I know. Please stop allowing me to talk.” He’d accidentally revealed his weakness: he was a nervous babbler.
“You didn’t cross a line, per se. You just caught me off guard. My ex was a putz. He was one of those who preferred to spend more time and energy on his Xbox and partying with his friends than on his relationship or you know, a job.” She dropped the chunk of melon she was eating and wiped her palms on her shorts. “But I don’t want to talk about that. I need to put Charlie as far behind me as possible.” She looked up into Stephen’s soft blue eyes and smiled weakly. “I’ve just sworn off man-children from here on out. You aren’t one of those are you?”
“You’re going to have to explain that to me. I’m not familiar with the term.”
“Really? That’s nuts! Okay, a man-child is a exactly what it sounds like. They look like a grown man on the outside, with the ability to grow facial hair and invest in the stock market, but still pursue childish past times like, playing video games, reading comic books, and/or behaving with a level of immaturity and laziness that is abhorrent to the opposite sex.”
Stephen barked a laugh. That was the craziest thing he’d ever heard. “Wow! Now I know for sure I had been in the military too long. No, I do not behave like that. If I ever did, twenty-five years in the navy had beaten it out of me. I still like to surf though, is that frowned upon?”
Jana bit her lip and shook her head. “Only as long as you still mow the lawn and pay your electric bill.”
“Whew. I’m safe then. I live in a condo close by so all of that is one payment. Done,” he declared.
Jana mixed a pair of mimosas and took a sip of hers. In the back of her mind she recalled Charlie saying something similar about being responsible over his hobbies. Worry simmered in her belly. She wanted to like Stephen, but in order to do that, she had to remind herself that he wasn’t Charlie, or anyone else she’s been out with. Hell, he wasn’t even totally the same species. “Do you mind if I ask you about being a shifter?”
Stephen paused mid-chew. It wasn’t unusual for a new person to be curious, it had just been so long since he had to explain it to anybody. “Well, ninety per cent of my time is spent human so it isn’t too different than your life. I do live in a community of other shifters though, so I suppose I’m in sort of a bubble. The only real differences besides the obvious are, I heal stupid fast, I age a little bit slower than humans do, and when we find a mate, we mate for life.”
“That explains why you still look to be about my age with gray hair,” Jana teased.
Stephen’s eyes grew wide. “I have gray hair?” Making an incredulous face, he started pulling on the longer pieces in front, trying to see what it looked like. Jana started laughing at him.
“I’ve been going gray since I was about twenty. My hair seems to have missed the age slowly memo. You have such a pretty laugh. You remind me of Tinkerbelle when you laugh.” He said as he raked the hair back in to place.
Jana blushed and looked away. “Um, thank you,” she mumbled before she popped a strawberry in her mouth.
“Is that a bad thing?”
“No, it’s not. You were being sweet. It’s no big deal, really. I, uh… thank you.”
Silence settled over them again and Jana stared out at the ocean. She could see Stephen studying her out of the corner of her eye, but she didn’t want to acknowledge him just yet.
What was the matter with her? He didn’t say anything that was wrong or not true. Charlie was never going to propose; neither were any of the other deadbeats before him. An engagement and marriage were possibilities she had never considered before, because they had never come up. At some point she must have just wrote marriage off as something that wasn’t in the cards for her and let it go.
But when Stephen mentioned that his kind partnered for life, she didn’t freak out inside like she thought she should have.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Stephen asked.
“Hmm?” Jana finally looked at him. “Oh nothing. I was just taking in this view. Seattle has a gorgeous skyline, but it can’t compare to this. I’ve been doing it wrong.”
Stephen scooted closer, but not so much that they were touching. “Would you like to go for a swim? The water might be a little chilly, but it’s nice enough weather that it shouldn’t matter too much.”
“Sure. Let’s go.”
Chapter 4
Pacific City was feeling more and more like it was meant to be for Jana. After renting her Cape Kiwanda cottage for a month, it was time to buy. She got to know the town and a few of the people. She even hooked up with one of the local real estate brokers to see if there was reciprocity between her Washington license and getting one in Oregon.
The biggest selling factor though, was Stephen. Jana had been out with him at least twice a week since their first date, and it was going better than she could have imagined. She could hardly contain her surprise when she received a text from him after their first date, asking her out on another one. She thought for sure she blew it some how.
There was one thing that bothered her. Whenever the topic of jobs or careers came up, he evaded the question by either changing the subject or answering with something vague and general like, “I was in the Navy.” She was curious about what his rank was, when he first enlisted, what was training like, any details at all, and she didn’t get any. Fingers crossed it wasn’t a red flag.
She wouldn’t let that sour her mood though, Jana was off to her first showing with some pep in her step and a smile on her face. The first showing was actually an open house within walking distance of Stephen’s condo. She was looking forward to getting back to work plus, there was nothing like an open house to get to know your community better because, they didn’t just attract buyers, oh no. They also attracted every nosy neighbor with six blocks of the property.
The open house started at nine, and the first shopper showed up at nine-oh-five. “Good morning. Here’s the sale sheet. If you have any questions, just let me know.” And so her spiel went between refreshing the muffins and pitchers of tea.
That is, until around noon. Jana was ready to call it a day, about fifty people had toured through, so she could call the last few hours a success. A dark looking man entered and glowered around in the entryway. He wore a black baseball cap, pulled low, which hid his close cropped hair, the edges were tinged with gray. The bill of the cap shadowed most of his face. His ill-fitti
ng clothes were clean, if a bit sloppy. The intensity with which he carried himself immediately put Jana off.
Like a good agent, she still had a flyer at the ready, but didn’t love the idea of turning this guy loose in a client’s home. “Good afternoon, sir. Here are the details on the house. It’s a three bedroom, two bath, and just under twelve hundred square feet. If you have any questions at all, let me know.” The man leveled an ice cold stare her way and she wanted to fade into the walls. Jana was grateful she had her phone in her back pocket instead of in the car.
The man smiled and his face transformed from menacing to warm and inviting in a flash. Jana had to blink twice to make sure she was seeing it right. He tipped his hat back away from his face to reveal the coolest colored eyes Jana had ever seen. They seemed to glow amber in the sunlight. “Will do,” he answered, and he set off to explore the house.
As soon as the man left she whipped out her phone to text Stephen.
Running a little late for lunch. Got a last minute straggler and he is creepy!
The stranger returned just as she was putting her phone away. “So, what do you think?”
He nodded, looking around the bright living room. “I like it; and the price is right.” He peered out the window to check out the street.
“Well, if that’s everything my contact information is on the sheet I gave you if you’d like to put in an offer. I’m going to have to close up now, the open house is finished.” Her tone was a little more clipped than she intended, but something about the man felt wrong and she wanted him to go.
“Thank you. I’ll be in touch soon.” And he showed himself out.
Jana heart was in her throat as she tried to get her wits about herself, but she had a hard time shaking the sinister feeling that had settled around her.
“Jana, are you alright?”
She woke up from her reverie to find Stephen standing in front of her. “When did you get here?”
“Just a minute ago. Did that guy leave?”
“Y– yeah. I’m okay.”
Stephen wasn’t buying it. Something had left her spooked and he needed to find out what it was. “Stay here while I look around. I want to be sure that guy left.”
Jana nodded and clutched her stack of flyers to her chest as Stephen started shedding his clothes.
Her eyes widened as more skin was revealed. “What are you doing?”
With a wry grin he said, “Looking around.”
Jana’s eyes were glued to the long, lean lines of his body, the way his muscles flexed and contracted as he pulled his shirt over his head sent the butterflies loose in her stomach. He kept his back turned to her, but she was dying for him to turn around so she could see the rest.
When he at last shucked his pants, he stretched and rolled his shoulders back. With a shudder, he shifted into his animal form. Jana’s jaw dropped at the sight of the timber wolf that stood where Stephen was only a minute before.
With only a single backward glance, he was gone.
Chapter 5
Keeping his nose to the ground, Stephen zig-zagged across the lawn, hot on the track of whoever it was that scared Jana. The scent trail was strong and oddly familiar, but he couldn’t place exactly why and that was going to bother him to no end later. The scent didn’t belong to a human, that much he could be sure of.
His ears perked up. An engine roared to life close by. Stephen dove into the bushes to hide and watch the street from the safety of the branches. If indeed he knew who the person was, then chances were good he or she would know him too even in his wolf form. A late model, black Toyota Tacoma crept past him, far slower than even the neighborhood speed limit required. The driver was watching and waiting, looking for someone.
I do know him. Stuck to the rear window was a decal that was only available to certain people of a certain rank. His hackles went up as the truck paused in front of the house a moment before rolling away.
Stephen waited in the bushes for several minutes after the tail lights disappeared to make sure the truck didn’t double back. It wasn’t until he was positive the coast was clear that he went back to the house.
Jana was right where he left her, leaning against the counter looking properly disturbed. He shuddered again and shifted back to human form. “Jana? Anybody home?”
“That. Was. Incredible! I’ve never seen anything like that before!” She stepped up closer and touched his face. It was warm, solid, and human skin not fur. “What’s it like?”
Stephen closed his eyes and pressed her hand to his cheek. “It’s hard to describe. You know when you get a chill and you have an involuntary, full body spasm? Shifting sort of feels like that, cranked to eleven.”
Jana stroked her fingertips down his neck, over the day’s stubble growth. “Does it hurt?” Digesting what she saw was difficult, her mind still had its head in the sand, refusing to acknowledge that her handsome man also happened to be able to go furry at will.
“Only if you fight it. Every shift is uncomfortable and not very pleasant, but the change happens so fast you don’t really have time to think about it too much.”
Jana was using the barest of touches, leaving goose bumps in the wake of her fingers. Stephen stood stock still, and it took all of his control to just stand there and take the teasing without touching her himself. Outside of some making out, they hadn’t really gotten physical yet; and he wanted to so badly.
Jana was plucked straight from his fondest wet dream. At first glance, her slim stature wouldn’t cause her to stand out from the crowd, but on a second look, he was caught like an animal in a trap. Her long legs were strong and well muscled. With the amount of time they had spent outside together he had had plenty of chances to admire them; and imagine how they feel wrapped around his waist or hooked over his shoulders.
She had snuck into his head and starred in many of his fantasies as of late and Stephen was ready to try a few of them out.
“Oh!” Jana dropped her hand. “I’m sorry. Did I go too far?”
“What?”
“You’re uh, still naked. I wasn’t paying attention. Sorry.”
Stephen glanced down to find that he wasn’t keeping his thoughts entirely to himself. He looked back at Jana with a wolfy grin. “Don’t be. I won’t do anything you’re not ready to, and I’ll be patient, but I’d like to take you to bed, Jana.” He slipped his hands around her waist, pulling her against him and just held her gaze. It was up to her to make the next move.
Jana’s breath hitched as Stephen’s hands pressed on the small of her back. Was she ready? Lord knew there were more than a few close calls between them, each opportunity came to a screeching halt when Jana pulled away. Stephen said he would be patient, but would it be fair for Jana to test that patience any more than she already had?
As she stared into the stormy depths of his eyes, she felt herself drowning in them. The storm brewing in them sucked her down deeper, pulling on her harder with each attempt she made to get air. He was getting harder to fight and she was running out of excuses, none of which had anything to do with him and all of them having to do with her.
For the last month, Jana forced Stephen to carry her baggage from Charlie and the other jackasses she dated. Stephen had proved he was nothing like them and quietly waited while Jana dealt with those insecurities so they could move forward; together.
Even though she was sorely tempted by the cock pressed against her belly, there was still just one thing she needed to know. “When you said your kind mated for life,” her voice came out rough and barely above a whisper. “How do you know when you’ve found that right person or shifter?”
Stephen smiled and leaned forward to plant a gentle kiss on her lips. “We know when we’ve found the right person when the one we’ve found fits comfortably into our lives as if they’d been there all along.” He brushed an errant blonde lock off Jana’s forehead and tucked it behind her ear. “There’s a switch that flips inside us and that’s it. We can’t see anyone else but
the one. It happens pretty fast after meeting that person.”
Jana’s heart did a little flip. She didn’t want to get her hopes up – after all the relationship was only a month old – but she couldn’t help but feel like Stephen wasn’t just talking in generalities anymore. The earnestness on his face and the way his eyes softened as he spoke, told her more than his actual words had.
She brought her hands to his neck, letting her fingers play with the soft curls at his nape. She was so done with fighting with herself. Raising up on tiptoe, she pressed her lips to his. She drank him in as her mouth moved over his, exploring, tasting, allowing herself to be claimed by him, by finally allowing him in.
Stephen tugged her blouse out of the waistband of her skirt, and ran his hands up her taut belly to cup her breasts. When Jana sighed his name, his control slipped. He tugged her skirt up around her waist, and boosted her so she could sit on the kitchen counter. Fumbling with the buttons on her blouse, he nibbled along her jawline, and down her neck. He pulled down her bra, her full breasts spilling from their restraints.
Jana leaned back on her hands, her head thrown back as Stephen devoured her. Her underwear was soaked through already. As Stephen’s mouth closed around her nipple, she thought she would come on the spot. Her hands tangled in his hair, holding him to her as he sucked, and the pink bud into attention. She gasped as he nipped at the skin of her breast. The jolt snapped her back to attention.
“Stephen! We can’t do this here.” He teased her outside of her panties. “Ah, I have to sell this,” she drew in a sharp breath as he parted her lips. “Ihavetosellthishouse!” The next words after that were choked off by a moan as Stephen slipped two fingers inside her.
Stephen quickly scanned the room. All the doors were shut and locked and the blinds were drawn. Nobody was going to know. “Don’t worry about it. No one can see in. Of course I don’t mind an audience.”