Adam: The Whitfield Rancher – Erotic Tiger Shapeshifter Romance

by Kathi Barton

  Adam touched her everywhere, or so it felt like he had. And when he took her breast into his mouth, nibbling on the tip before taking it entirely into his mouth, she held on to him, keeping him there. Ivy never wanted him to stop what he was doing. Nor did she want him to leave her.

  When he pulled back from her, she whimpered. The cool breeze that blew across her breast made her nipple tighten even more. Her body warmed to an almost molten feeling. And when he took a step back from her, giving her the feeling that he was rejecting her, Ivy felt her temper snap. She was sure now that it had been her own insecurities that had her doing that.

  “I told you I wasn’t good at this. The least you could have done was not to—” Her feet slipped out from under her when Adam pulled her to him for another devasting kiss. Ivy held onto him, fearful that she’d burst apart if he rejected her again.

  “I want you with every beat of my heart. I will never turn you away, ever, when we come together. I pulled away because we’re about to have company.” The doorbell sounded then, the loveliest melody she’d ever heard for such a thing. “I can smell them, if you’re wondering. One of them is your sister, the other my mom. I do not want to be caught necking in the kitchen with you. You have no idea how much I’d like to send them away and take you right here on this counter.”

  She’d been flustered when she made her way into the living room where his family was. Her sister looked so happy, Ivy was actually envious of whatever had made her that way. Knowing that they both had had some issues—her with her job and Meghan being upset with her about little things that they had no control over—Ivy wanted her to be just as happy as she was.

  Taking a seat in the overstuffed chair that had been claimed by her as soon as she sat in it, she tried not to think about what had just happened. Or what hadn’t happened because of the interruption. Eve had smiled at her, and Ivy thought that she knew somehow. That her and Adam had come so close to having sex that she was embarrassed by it.

  “Are you paying attention?” She looked at the man that was sitting across her desk from her. She did not remember his name, or how he’d gotten into her office. “I was asking you if you were planning to hang around here.”

  “I’m still trying to figure that out.” The man, when he smiled reminded her of the shark specials that she and Meghan watched every year. He seemed to be all teeth and no heart.

  Ivy wasn’t sure where that had come from. She never judged people based on a first impressions, but this man made her skin crawl. Ivy was suddenly afraid. While she didn’t know where that feeling had come from, it shook her confidence level a great deal.

  “That’s good. I’d hate for this hospital to not have you around here.” The little touch that seemed to be behind his eyes startled her when Sunny spoke to her.

  I’m on my way to your office. If he asks, which I don’t think he will, you and I are going out to do a little baby shopping, then going home. Ivy knew from experience that she only had to think of the other person and she could converse with them. However, she’d no idea why Sunny could do it. I’m magical. Seriously, I’m going to have to show you the things I can— Never mind. I’m on my way now.

  When she stepped into the office, her hand on her large belly, the man with her disappeared. Ivy stood up, then sat back down. Lightheaded, she was glad that someone was there to help her. Sunny was holding her head down between her legs as she cursed. She was good at it too. Some of the words she used, Ivy was sure, hadn’t been meant to string together.

  “I’m all right now.” When she lifted her head, Sunny took the seat that the man had been in. “Either you killed him with your magical shit or he was a vampire. Did you kill him?”

  “What made you jump there, I wonder? I didn’t, just so you know. But I was ready to do the deed. He’s gone because he knew as soon as he smelled me that he was up the creek without a motor.” Ivy told her with a laugh that she’d said it wrong. “No matter. He’s gone, but I have a feeling that he’ll be back.”

  “Why? Who is he, and what have I done to have him coming here to my office?” Sunny said that she didn’t know but would get something from the chair. Ivy looked at the chair, then back at her. “I told you the other day, you would not believe the shit I can do now. I died, did you know that? This vampire guy, Tanner, brought me back, then helped guide me to the Whitfields. I think that he and his fae live in the lower levels of Carter’s home. Though I’m not sure of that. He moves—”

  “I think you’re getting off subject here. I could be wrong, but I think we were talking about my visitor.” Sunny smiled at her, and Ivy smiled as well. “I know that I’m going to hate myself for asking this, but what do you mean, smelled you?”

  “I’m working on changing the subject so that you can calm down. Your heart rate was pretty high and I didn’t want you to pass out.” Ivy told her that she was much better now. “Good. The vampire that was here, he was sent. I’m working on figuring out who did it. It’s a little harder to trace a young one, because they’re colder blooded. That guy, he was only about two hundred years old.”

  “I do hope that you realize that two hundred years old is very old to me.” Sunny smiled again. “Or was this a way to calm me again? I assure you, I’m just fine now.”

  “It’s not. He is young at two hundred. However, and you’ll have to meet him soon, Tanner is a good deal older. By like thousands of years older.” Ivy wasn’t sure how to process that, so she asked her if she’d gotten anything from the chair yet. “Not yet, no, but I’m going to ask Tanner to come here. He will know the scent, as well as some background on the other man. Then I can work with the rest.”

  “The rest how?” Sunny told her. “So, you have this, and I quote here, ‘freaky shit going on in your mind.’ And that makes it so you can track a person and anyone that they’ve had contact with as well. I don’t know if you’re aware of this or not, but this isn’t helping me. That guy was sent here for some reason, by someone you don’t know, and you’re going to find him with help from an old vampire.”

  “See, I knew that you’d get it.” Ivy just shook her head. “Okay, the vampire, Tanner, is coming to meet you. And I’d advise you to give him just a taste of your blood. I know that you’ve shared with Adam, and you should with him as well. This way, if anything were to happen to you, myself or Tanner would be able to find you—”

  “Hold on there a minute. I didn’t let Adam have any of my blood.” Her face got red when she thought of the kitchen again. “I think I’d remember that, don’t you?”

  “Did you have sex with him?” A personal question, but Ivy shook her head, sort of nervous about what Sunny would tell her. “You did something with him. I’m not saying that to embarrass you or anything, but we can all smell him on you. And he must have—I don’t know, necked with you some, and he might have nipped your skin without you knowing it.”

  “And him doing that, it makes us bonded?” Sunny explained. “Oh. I didn’t.... So, without having sex with him, I’d never be fully bonded to him. We’ll be mated yes, but not fully bonded.”

  “That’s right. I’m not telling you to run home and have sex with him—and you should know that the Whitfield men really know how to have sex—but it wouldn’t hurt you. It might even let a little steam off from you both.” Sunny smiled at her. “Like I said, you’ll certainly get more out of it than you’d ever thought of.”

  “I don’t feel good about this subject.” Sunny stood up, her smile plastered all over her face. “I don’t think I like you overly much right now.”

  “Sure you do. I’m lovely and cuddly.” She seemed to consider it, her hand on her chin and all. “Nah, not cuddly, but I am one person that you’d want to have at your side if shit ever hits the fan. The others would be any one of the Whitfields. The mates included.”

  “Is there a reason that I might need them or you by my side?” Sunny’s smile fell from her face. It was as if someone had pulled a shade over her good humor. “If you know something,
I’d like to know about it. I like to be prepared when it comes for me.”

  “Joshua has been doing some research on you and your sister. Not just your personal things, but people who might have had a grudge against the two of you.” Ivy asked her what he’d found about them. “Not you two, not directly I guess, but your past, he told me, is about to come up and bite you in the ass if we’re not there for you. I was headed to his office when I felt that you needed me.”

  “How can you feel that since we’ve never exchanged blood, nor have I touched you that I can remember?” Sunny told her that she didn’t need to touch her because she had Adam. “I don’t understand that. Oh, it’s that tracking thing you can do. I’m assuming since you touched Adam, or perhaps Eve, or either of the Ollie men, then you have a tag of me.”

  “Yes, that’s part of it.” Sunny looked out the door before talking again. “You have other people to meet, other beings that will help you. You’re going to need it. And not just for you, but for your sister too.”

  “How do you know?” Sunny shrugged. “Are you not telling me because you don’t know? Or are you afraid of me freaking out? I can assure you, I’m made of stronger stuff than that.”

  “Yes, you are. But your sister is not.” When she left her, Ivy started to think. Her sister, she was in trouble. From whom? She had no idea. But she’d fucking find out, and Ivy would protect her with her life.

  No longer in the mood to think about what she wanted to do in her office in the way of décor or even just curtains or shades, Ivy left the hospital and decided to go and find Adam. He’d told her last night that he couldn’t lie to her. She was going to test that now.

  Chapter 6

  Adrian answered all the questions put to him as he waited his turn to go to the podium. Yesterday had been a nightmare. Not for him, but for the people that had come into the meeting with him and the four board members. In addition to Henry, the Feds had come in to help with clean up and fall out, as well as a couple of other people from the White House.

  It was said to anyone who asked that they were there on behalf of the president. Adrian didn’t inquire but let the events of the last twenty-four hours roll around in his head. And now, here he was again, in front of a lot of people, and he was going to inform them of what they’d found from his investigation. Dylan and Grandda were standing with him.

  “There sure are a lot of people out there. Why, they’re lined up about butt hole to belly button.” Adrian asked his grandda, not for the first time, if there was a book of his quotes where someone could read them. “I don’t know, son. I just call it like I sees it. You have to admit, it’s about as true as it can be.”

  “Yes, it is. However, if you could refrain from projecting the hillbilly for a while, I’ll be forever grateful to you.” He just laughed, and Adrian shook his head. “I don’t know why this is being made to be such a big deal. I mean, they’ve arrested Lily and charged her with a lot of things I didn’t even know about. And the hospital is getting a major overhaul when it comes to not just the board but finding more doctors and nurses.”

  “They have to have this out in the open. Let the people know that they’re not going not put up with this shit anymore.” Adrian just looked at Carter. “What? You don’t believe me?”

  “No, I believe you. But still, this didn’t need this much fanfare, I don’t think.” His name was called, and he went up to the podium, and waited while it seemed like fifty lights from cameras went off in front of him. “Good afternoon. My name is Adrian Whitfield, acting governor for the state of Ohio. I’m here to ask—”

  “What do you have to say about the parents of one of your sisters-in-law?” “Have you found out anymore about the missing men?” “I’d like for you to tell me when the rest of the state is going to see you.”

  Adrian didn’t bother answering the questions that were thrown to him. They had nothing to do with what he was there for, so Dylan told him to ignore them. What he said up here now, it was going to set the tone for the rest of his elections. And he didn’t want that haunting him.

  “Mercy Hospital has been closed down for an upgrade for the next month or so. My sister-in-law was working there when she met my brother. Because of her explanations of things that she’d encountered, I and some of my family did a detailed investigation into some other allegations that have been put before the board there. What we found was far more than we had expected.” He looked down at the list of things that had been found and the marks next to the ones that he could share. The police department, as well as some people from the White House, had gone over everything. “Yesterday, late yesterday afternoon, I came here on behalf of Doctor Ivy Walton Whitfield, surgeon. She was being harassed by Lily Donaldson, the head of the hospital and boss of Doctor Whitfield. In the investigation of her ill treatment of her, it was discovered that not only had she been skimming money from the hospital, she was also taking advantage of her position here.”

  A woman stood up; she had neither paper nor microphone as most of the others did. She told them her name, Victoria James, ER doctor. After clearing her throat several times, she began to talk.

  “I worked at Mercy, like a great many other people that are here today. Most of the others were fired or were forced to quit when Donaldson decided that we could no longer have vacation time. Also, we were forbidden to treat a certain clientele. Additionally, we had to make sure that they had insurance as well as money before treating them.” She looked around the room, then back up at him. “I lost my husband because of her. He wouldn’t be there for me when I could no longer be there even for myself. I was working, as many of us were required to do, eighty to a hundred hours per week. Most of the time triple shifts, because so many of the others left. Ivy, she was one of the best surgeons that I’ve had the pleasure of working with and stood up for the nurses several times—until such time that they had to ask her to stop, as it was harder for them, you see. Donaldson would make it horrendous for them. I would like to thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your making a difference around here. You will have my vote at whatever you do, Mr. Whitfield.”

  Adrian hadn’t expected that. He admired the woman for realizing why he’d done this. Adrian asked her to please find one of his staff when this was over to see if the accounting that they had on Donaldson was accurate about unpaid time.

  He turned questions that he didn’t know the answer to over to the men from the different agencies that were helping look into this. Adrian did answer a lot of them, mostly about how the things had been found, and after that, how he had reported it to the proper people so that justice could be found.

  Another hour went by, and he was beginning to feel like, for some reason, he’d failed these people. Adrian knew that he’d not been in charge of such things, and had it not been for Ivy, he wouldn’t have known either, but someone should have. And he wanted to find out why they hadn’t.

  People started whispering when he was coming off the stage. He would have thought he’d not be able to hear people whispering, but with so many in the room, butt hole to belly button as Grandda had said, the whole of it would be loud. He was called back to the podium when he recognized Henry standing there waiting for him.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, if you were to give me a moment or two of your time now, I’d very much appreciate it.” Everyone seemed to be blown away by the president coming to their town. “I cannot stay long—I have a few things going on right now.” The twitter of laughter had Adrian relaxing a little. “When I heard what was going on here in this fine town, I knew that I had to have a closer look at things. Adrian’s name, as you can well imagine, has been coming to me for the last month or so. But with this, I felt that it was something that I’d have to thank him for myself. He’s done you all very proud with this. No town should ever be without a medical unit nearby.”

  Adrian shook his hand, then was pulled in for one of those manly hugs. He hadn’t expected Henry to be there, nor did he think that anyone else had
. After Henry shook the hand of his grandda and Carter, he waved to the crowd of people and left the building. Adrian just stood there feeling like he’d been hit between the eyes. Then the questions began anew.

  They asked how long he’d known the president. Did he endorse him going to the senate? A few people even asked if he was going to run for president when the time came. He smiled at the crowd and knew that this was what Henry had planned when he’d come here today. Henry wanted him to throw his hat into the race for presidency soon.

  “Yes, I do plan to run for senate. And President Cobb has been a good friend of the family for some time. He has encouraged me to run not just for the governor seat that came up, but also for other things that would get me to the White House.” The questions then were too many, and with all of them being shouted toward him, Adrian didn’t know how to answer them. Grandda joined him at the podium then, and simply put his hand up and the room quieted.

  “Most of you know me. And my family.” A lot of people shouted that they were good people. “Thank you. Me and my family, we sure do thank you for making Adrian here feel so welcome. And we’re thankful that he’s working so hard to make this state a place where others might like to live.”

  After a little more of Grandda talking him up, he led him off the stage and into the awaiting car. They were expected home, the three of them. Adrian leaned back in his seat as soon as Carter joined them.

  “You did good up there, Adrian.” He asked Carter if she’d known that Henry had been going to join them. “Sure, I did. And the reason I didn’t tell you is, I wanted you to look just as surprised as the rest of them were. It plays better on the television that way.”

  Adrian would have gladly strangled her if he wasn’t so afraid she’d hurt him. When she laughed, he knew that she was invading his mind and let her see how he was going to hurt her. Not that he would. He loved this woman as much as he did his brothers. She was just a pain in his ass.