When that answer didn’t satisfy Ruth, she raised a brow at Jackie, cocking her head just enough to throw out a regal vibe. Jackie resisted the look for about two seconds, before she too reluctantly mumbled, “Pheromones.”
Before Ruth could hit Willow with the mom-look, she shoved her hands in the front pockets of her jeans and studied the few crumbs left on her plate, shoulders hunched against the nearly overwhelming desire to say something. She could feel Ruth’s eyes on her back, pulling the truth from her body.
“I see,” Ruth said slowly. Willow dared a glance her way, noticing the older woman was struggling to keep a straight face. “Well, it’s time to open your gifts, Tess. After though, if you wish to resume your conversation about oral sex”—Kaylie let out a choked gasp and Willow squeezed her eyes shut—“I’ll be more than happy to give you some pointers.”
Tess remained frozen until Ruth exited, then laughed so hard she doubled over. Kaylie glared at Jackie, who threw her hands up in defeat. “I couldn’t help myself. Your mom has that truth tractor beam look down pat. When you’re caught in it, you can’t lie.”
“God, I love that woman,” Tess wiped her eyes with her fingertips, her mirth easing to occasional chuckles.
“She didn’t mean it,” Willow asked Kaylie in a hushed tone, “about giving us pointers, did she?”
Kaylie smirked. “Oh, yeah. Mom’s totally open when it comes to sex talk. Tess and I knew more about puberty, sex, pregnancy, and childbirth than our sex education teachers in school. Girls in town would come to Mom with questions when they couldn’t talk to their own parents.” She sighed. “I just hope I’m as good as a mom as she is.”
Tess flung an arm around her sister. “You have the best instructor around. How could you not? Now, let’s go open my presents.”
Willow watched the women leave, telling Jackie she was getting a drink first when the doctor gave her a questioning look. As she refilled her iced tea, Willow wondered what it had been like, growing up with a mother like Ruth. Even as she felt a spurt of guilt at the touch of envy, she knew intellectually it wasn’t all a bed of roses. From earlier conversations, Willow learned Ruth and her husband had divorced when the girls were young, their father moving across country with his new wife. And while not necessarily neglectful, he had been absent, and that was something Willow never had to contend with. Her own father had been a very hands-on parent, protective and loving. She remembered her mother, on the subject of sex, only told her to keep her legs closed when it came to boys else they’d destroy her career while her father, endearingly red-faced and fidgety, had sat her down and done his best to mumble through an obviously rehearsed monologue.
She missed her dad so much. She missed his rumbling voice, his miss-buttoned shirts, and the way his beard appeared crooked because he always stroked it when in thinking mode.
Willow’s hand tightened around the glass. She knew Rome didn’t squirrel her away to Woodcliff in secret. She knew full well she was bait to lure Valen to this little town and attempt a kidnapping or, more likely, into killing Willow. And while she didn’t look forward to either option, she did look forward to an end to her isolation. Once Valen and her people were caught and behind bars, Willow could return to her father and her life back in New York.
A life that wouldn’t include dance. Or Ben Anderson.
Willow rubbed a hand on her chest, wondering why that thought not only loomed dark and dreary in her mind, but seemed to cause her heart to ache as well. She barely knew the man. She couldn’t deny she was highly attracted, and the kiss they’d shared earlier in the day had just about fried her brain circuits, but their relationship was a far cry from anything serious. Ben could just be playing with her, knowing full well Willow would leave once the situation resolved.
Maybe he’d remember her as a fond interlude.
A sudden burst of feminine laughter from the living room yanked Willow to the here and now. With a shake of her head, she cleared everything negative from her thoughts. Her time with these women had been more enjoyable than she’d dreamed and she didn’t want anything messing it up. So, tea in hand, she made her way into the living room to see Tess sitting like a queen holding court on a plush cushioned chair, a cheap tiara on her head and a sash across her chest. At her feet lay dozens of wrapped presents and glittering gift bags.
Willow eyed the decorated room, once again thinking Tess’s wedding colors of chocolate brown and emerald green an odd choice, but to each his own. The sheer number of women overflowed the sofa, loveseat, and mass collection of chairs. Kaylie waved from the floor by the stone fireplace, the hearty fire snapping as Jackie added a chunk of wood and replaced the screen. Thankful, Willow crossed the room and settled on the carpet by Kaylie’s side, Jackie lowering to sit on Kaylie’s right.
It bemused her how quickly Kaylie included Willow into her circle. Warmed, welcomed, and stuffed to her ears, Willow watched as Tess opened her multitude of presents. She oohed and aahed with the best of them and was sincerely moved to tears at the expression on Tess’s face when she opened Ruth’s gift; a fine boned china set that originally belonged to Ruth’s grandmother. Then she laughed at Kaylie’s gift. A Nerf rifle, complete with an extra set of soft suction “bullets” for those times when, as Kaylie put it, “you have the overwhelming urge to shoot your husband. Repeatedly.”
As Tess opened her last gift, a phone rang. The women looked at each other, some digging in their purses. Kaylie shoulder bumped into Willow’s. “I think it’s you.”
Willow blinked. “Oh,” she said, and fumbled in the pocket of her hoodie. She’d forgotten all about it. Pulling the device out, she saw Ben’s name on the screen and her heart leaped. She scrambled to her feet. “Sorry. Excuse me.” She slid her thumb across the screen just as Kaylie showed her on the way over, saying a husky hello as she hastened into the kitchen.
“Hey.” Ben’s voice was clear and strong over the line. “Having fun at the shower?”
“I am, actually,” Willow responded.
“You sound surprised.”
“Well.” She crossed one booted foot over the other and leaned back against the counter, her tone low so as not to be overheard. “I’m pretty much a stranger to these people.”
Ben’s soft laugh made her toes curl in pleasure. “There are no strangers to Kaylie, just people who have yet to become friends. DocCha’s a bit more reserved, but once she makes up her mind, you’re in for life.”
“DocCha?”
“Sorry. Jackie’s nickname. Short for Doctor Chavez.”
If Jackie wasn’t already happily married, Willow might have to shoot her. Secure in that knowledge, the feeling of jealous dissipated almost as quickly as it came on. “You’ve known them your whole life?”
“Kaylie and Tess, yes. Jackie only moved here some four years ago.”
Eyes trained on the archway leading to the foyer and living room, Willow sighed. “And fit in right away?”
“Pretty much. That’s the magic of small-town living. Don’t get me wrong, we’re certainly not a Stepford-type community, but for the most part we’re a tolerant and caring bunch. It’s hard not to be.”
“Why do you say that?” Willow was genuinely curious.
Ben chuckled. “We all pretty much know each other, or at least know of each other. When I was a teenager, I remember how this guy from out of state decided to build a gas station and mechanic shop just off the main road. Less than a month after completion he was running back home, tail firmly between his legs. He’d inflate prices, use cheap parts, do half-ass vehicle inspections, and at times tell an owner that something needed to be fixed or replaced when it didn’t. As soon as those he hired from town figured it out, they quit on the spot. See, it’s hard to screw over your son’s teacher, or put the only doctor in town in a ‘repaired’ vehicle that you wouldn’t let your wife drive.”
“So you watch over each other.”
“Yeah. Of course, now that we have the ski lodge, that has extended to tou
rists as well.”
Holy crap! Willow had totally forgotten about the lost snowmobile riders. “Speaking of which, I take it you found your lost riders?”
“The riders, yes. The vehicles, no.”
Willow fidgeted with the top of her sweater. “That doesn’t sound good.”
“We found them about a mile off the road, walking in the wrong direction. They’d left the trail and, somewhere in seven hundred thousand acres of forest, managed to hit a fallen tree.” Ben’s irritation with the riders was evident, his tone on the sarcastic side. Willow could understand. A trail was safe, maintained. Known. The rest of the forest, not so much. It all started to look the same once you got in far enough. Willow would have been totally lost without Ben if she’d had to make her way back to the cabin alone.
Ben continued. “First two riders were thrown off, both bruised to hell and back, one with a broken wrist. Luckily they were wearing helmets or it could have been worse. The second driver managed to slow down enough to avoid a full on collision, but still did enough damage to make the vehicle undriveable. We’re going back out to locate the runners, but I wanted to call you first, find out how you’re getting along.”
Thankfully no one was in the room, otherwise they would have seen the goofy smile on Willow’s face. “I’m good. Really. It’s nice of you to call.”
“Nice only goes so far,” Ben’s voice lowered to a husky drawl, making Willow shiver with delight. “I really wanted to make sure no male strippers were there vying for your attention. I want it all on me.”
Goofy smile and shiver morphed into an all-out body melt. “Don’t be silly, Ben. There are no strippers.”
“And your attention?”
Willow wasn’t raised to be easy. If Ben really wanted her, he’d have to work for it. And for some reason she had the urge to tease him. “On the clock. Why are you going out tonight to look for the snowmobiles? Can’t it wait until daylight?”
A few second of silence passed while Willow wondered if maybe she shouldn’t have teased Ben, but then he laughed, soft and sinfully wicked. “Playing, Will? That’s good. That’s very good. I like to play, and I have a very inventive imagination.”
Willow nearly broke out in a sweat at his suggestive words. Ben’s tone insinuated his type of play involved naked bodies and her own imagination went wild. Dark swirls of heat and lust gathered low in her belly and she instinctively clenched her thighs together to assuage the building ache between them.
She squeezed her eyes shut. Good Lord! She was practically having phone sex!
Luckily Ben moved on to answer her question because she didn’t have a darn thing in her mind. “We don’t want to leave the vehicles out overnight because of the animals. And I should be able to track them within a few hours so it’s not that big of a deal.”
Willow glanced up when Kaylie walked in the kitchen, a huge bag of trash, aka wrapping paper and other odds and ends, in her hands. “Track them?”
When Ben didn’t immediately answer, Willow had the strange feeling he was picking his words carefully. “A tracker is part of the search-and-rescue job. We follow the clues people leave behind—a broken leaf, lost mitten, sometimes even a scentand use those to find the lost. It’s an extremely useful skill up here.”
She became sidetracked when Ben mentioned scent. He could follow a scent? Like a dog? Willow’s gaze shot to Kaylie as the other woman began moving the left overs to several thick paper plates, her eyes caught by the gleaming gold tip in the center of the tiered serving tower. It was a wolf, its face raised as it howled in silence.
“Or a wolf.”
Kaylie’s head popped up just as Ben said, “What?”
Feeling pinned between the two, Willow babbled, “I was thinking you should be careful of the wolves. Some seem so tame, like the one I’ve seen the last two nights just behind the back of the cabin.”
Kaylie dropped her head to focus on her task, but not before Willow saw her lips twitch. It made her narrow her own eyes, even as muffled voices came over the line.
“Looks like we’re gassed up and ready to go, Will. And I wouldn’t go out looking for your wolf tonight. If he’s got any sense he’ll be home with his mate.”
Willow’s frown deepened. She’d never told Ben she’d gone outside to see the wolf, only that she saw one. Rome was the only person who knew, unless Ben had seen her while on guard duty.
Her face cleared. That must be it. “Be safe.”
“Dream of me,” Ben rumbled in her ear just before he clicked off.
Honestly, after everything he’d said, how could she not?
“They find those riders?” Kaylie asked as she covered plates with plastic wrap.
Willow repeated what Ben had told her, stopping and starting several times as women came into and left the kitchen, some with plates, some simply saying goodbye and one grandmotherly woman giving Willow a warm hug before departing.
When her phone rang again, it was Rome. He was outside, having come down to pick her up since it was past “curfew.” Willow rushed to get her coat on and found a plate of food thrust into her gloved hands before she knew it.
“Thanks for coming to get me,” Willow told Kaylie after she said quick goodbyes to Ruth and Tess. “I had a lot of fun. Though I feel bad I didn’t bring Tess anything.”
Kaylie shook her head. “Don’t even let the thought cross your mind, Willow. It certainly wasn’t expected.”
Feeling a bit awkward, Willow whispered, “Well, please let your sister know that if she needs any help with wedding stuff, or whatever, I’m free. I might not have any money, but I’ve got plenty of time.”
Deep in conversation with two other women, Tess suddenly looked up and zeroed in on Willow, as if she’d heard her offer.
Kaylie groaned. “Now you’re in for it.”
Willow glanced from the almost hawk-like interest on Tess’s face to Kaylie’s distorted one. “In for what?”
“Shopping.”
Chapter Ten
Much to Willow’s amazement, Rome was more than willing to see her off on a shopping expedition with Tess the next morning. As long as her bodyguards went.
The closest city, Togan, was more than forty-five minutes away and by ten, with a weak sun doing little to melt the new snow that had fallen in the night, they were on the road. Kaylie begged off the trip, too exhausted from having been awake most of the night with an unhappy baby, and Ruth was working at Dolen’s Cafe. Not only was the Gentry mother the morning cook, she was married to Dolen. Willow had yet to meet Ruth’s current husband since he’d made himself scarce last night. As Tess talked about her family, Willow found herself curious about the man who’d slowly worked his way under Ruth’s guard—Tess’s words—and finally convinced the woman he’d loved for years to marry him.
Willow ignored the awkwardness she felt as she climbed into Tess’s SUV. She was excited to get out and go shopping with another female, but she’d woken up feeling, well, just weird.
First, last night, when Rome took his customary nightly shower, Willow had wandered outside, but as Ben had predicted, saw neither head nor tail of the tan wolf.
Second, she had dreamed of Ben, strange yet tantalizingly erotic dreams that had her waking hot and so aroused that two minutes of self manipulation and she’d orgasmed, lips pinched tight to hold back the scream of pleasure that arched her hips into her hand.
And now, sitting next to Tess, watching the city come into view, she was alternately hot and cold, and her skin tingled like she had an itch just under the surface that she couldn’t scratch. She might think she was aroused if she hadn’t taken care of that particular need several hours ago, and since then she certainly hadn’t done or seen anything to pique her interest.
She didn’t feel like she was getting sick, but people didn’t stay in a state of arousal for days on end, did they? From the passenger mirror, she watched for Scott and Joe, who’d opted to follow along in their vehicle, as they turned onto a mall parking lot
.
Tess’s idea of shopping, Willow soon found out, was a mix of methodical contemplation and impulsive buys. In a craft store she found some chocolate brown ribbon and construction paper that was “the exact color of Caleb’s eyes,” providing Willow the reason behind the other woman’s wedding color choices. Willow didn’t know if she wanted to sigh or puke.
Later, at a woman’s clothing store, Tess alternately mumbled, groused, and exclaimed with glee as she went through stack after stack of pants, blouses, skirts, and dresses. Though amused at the antics, Willow drifted off, her eye caught by a long-sleeved blue dress hanging on a back wall. When she touched the material it felt like sin, soft and supple. It flowed over her hand, the color glinting as the lights of the store caught the fine silver threads interwoven into the light blue. Dreaming of wearing the luxurious garment, she glanced at the price tag and winced.
“Oh, that would look stunning on you.” Willow jumped when Tess gushed her approval a foot away. “The color almost matches your eyes. You must try it on.”
“Oh, no. I don’t think so.” Why try something on, gorgeous as it was, if she could never afford it? Talk about cruel and unusual punishment.
“I insist.” Tess ignored Willow’s protests and with a firm hand, after finding Willow’s size, marched her to the dressing room. “I want to see it on.”
In the small cubicle Willow donned the dress, and instantly wished she hadn’t. It was, indeed, beautiful. The bodice was snug, hugging her curves, the cowl-neck showing off the graceful lines of her collarbone. The floor-length skirt barely skimmed over her hips and twirled in artful waves as she spun sideways to admire herself.
With a soft sound of regret, she left the room to show Tess, who grinned madly when Willow appeared. “It’s perfect. Simply perfect,” she said, fawning over Willow. “And I have a pair of darling silver earrings that will look stunning with it.”
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