I needed to know more about why they were still a little bit together even though they were divorced. Most people split the company up and say goodbye to their step kids. These two had bought houses next to each other.
“Did you buy first, or did your ex?”
“I bought my house and moved out first, and then he bought the one next to me. I was pissed, at first, but it’s worked out okay. The kids needed me to be closer, and he needed help being a single parent. I set up ground rules and boundaries, and we’ve adjusted them as needed. He’s a good man, we’re just wrong for each other. Cats and dogs, right? Shoulda figured that shit out ahead of time.”
No more difficult than cats and birds, but I hoped she wouldn’t think of that.
“What did you tell him while you were spending so much time at the clubhouse?”
Those brilliant green eyes met my gaze head on, but she had her emotions locked down behind a screen of defiance. “Told him I was getting an itch scratched, I was safe, and he didn’t need to know more.”
“And he left it at that?”
“Yeah.” There was a challenge in the answer. She’d keep answering questions, but was I sure I wanted her to?
I looked at her plate. I was ahead of her, since I’d kept eating while she went to the bathroom. “Eat up. Our fourth course will arrive soon and you’re behind.”
“I’m good. Why so many questions about my ex?”
“Just tryin’ to understand. I take it you haven’t had men sleep over too much?”
“Not at all, actually.”
“You gonna let me pick you up the next time we go out?”
“Is there going to be a next time?”
“I thought maybe we could ride into the Little River Canyon Saturday and make a day of it. I can pick you up at your house with an extra helmet. You got a leather jacket?”
“In the summer?”
I didn’t have to read her micro-expressions to understand she was really asking if I’d lost my mind. Both of our animals prefer cold climates, which means Birmingham in the summer is especially miserable. There are worse things than the heat, though.
“Road rash is a bitch. Even if you can change to heal, it’s hours before you’ll have a chance, usually.”
“Yes, I have a leather jacket. You’re really gonna take me for a ride?”
The waitress brought our brisket orders out, and I dumped the rest of my fries onto the new plate and set the old one to the side. “Yeah. Text me your address and I’ll pick you up at nine Saturday morning. We’ll make a day of it.”
For a minute, I thought she was going to tell me to pick her up somewhere else, but then she shrugged, swallowed, and said, “Okay, but you can’t come home with me tonight. Nora’s staying with me.”
“Hadn’t planned on it.”
She rearranged her food to get it all on one plate, and I could tell she was considering whether to say something. Debating with herself.
“Just say it.”
“You gonna go back to the clubhouse and fuck someone else tonight?”
“Would it be a problem if I did?”
“No, and that’s why I’d decided not to ask, and yet, I guess I kind of want to know. I mean, if I’m not gonna fuck you then there’s no reason you can’t fuck someone else. My cat doesn’t get uptight about monogamy.”
“Is that gonna be the rule? You get first dibs at me, but if you don’t want me, I can go fuck someone else?”
She shrugged. “So long as the rule goes both ways, I’m probably good with that.”
“The old goose and gander thing?”
“More like owl and lynx, but whatever works for you. Aren’t you running crews on Saturday?”
“I am, and I haven’t had a Saturday off in too long. It’s time I let my foremen have a day without supervision. See what happens.”
Though, I didn’t intend to let any of them know I wasn’t going to randomly show up on each jobsite to check on them. I’d have from seven until eight-forty to get them started before I left.
“Should I pack a picnic lunch, or will we stop somewhere and eat?” she asked.
“Oh, I have somewhere for us to stop and eat. Little mom-and-pop place — southern cooking from scratch. Do you have hiking boots?”
“Yeah.”
“Wear them. Also, sturdy jeans.’
She lifted a brow. “Bossy.”
I grinned. “Yep.”
And there it was. Pupils slightly larger. Increased blood flow in her eye. A hint of a flush in the rest of her face that only a bird would see. She was good enough to control what scents she released, but she couldn’t control her micro-reactions.
My bossiness turned her on.
Chapter Five
Cheyenne
He’d called me Cheyenne when we’d said goodbye. He’d put me in my car, watched me fasten my seatbelt, closed my door, and walked to his bike. He hadn’t even offered to kiss me.
“See you Saturday, Cheyenne.”
I’d always been Banshee to him. Why the change?
When I parked in my driveway ten minutes later, Gil was curled up on my front porch. He was in his wolf form, and he didn’t look happy with me.
I seriously considered just leaning the seat back and sleeping in my car. Fuck.
I knew what was going to happen. He’d come to me and sniff me all over. In human form, I’d punch him, but kicking the wolf is… I can’t do it, and he knows it.
There was also a good chance he’d change to human when I got on the porch, and then expect to stand there naked and ask me about my date. Awkward.
But two could play that game. I pulled my shirt, bra, shoes, and socks off while sitting in the driver’s seat. Within ten seconds of exiting the car, I was naked. I tossed my clothes into the car, closed the door, and shifted into my cat.
Smell this, motherfucker.
The cat picked the human’s purse up from the ground, walked to the gate leading into the backyard, leapt up onto a tree branch, then another, then another, sprang over the top of the wall to land in another tree, and made her way to the ground.
The wolf couldn’t do that. He could punch in the code if he changed to human, but he wouldn’t.
The cat carefully placed the purse near the back door and then ran a few laps just inside the tall fence, until she was winded. Eventually, the cat bedded down in a little den area the human had made from downed logs.
I changed back to human when the sun rose the next morning, collected my purse, and keyed the code into the backdoor so I could fix breakfast. I heard and smelled Nora in the shower, so I made enough for us both. I also put a robe on, since I was making bacon.
Nora didn’t bother with polite greetings, she took her seat at the table and said, “You didn’t want to talk to Daddy.”
“He didn’t want to talk, either. He was the wolf.”
“Well, yeah, because sitting on your porch waiting for you in human form would be creepy.”
“It’s just as creepy when he’s the wolf.”
She considered that a few moments. “Okay, maybe, but the wolf feels less stalkerish. I’m sorry I told him about your date.”
“Never apologize for being open and honest with your dad. I’d have told him what was going on in the next day or two. It’s fine.”
“So, what’s going on?”
Excellent question. I wished I knew the answer. I had to give her something, so I said, “We have another date this weekend.” I could sense another question coming, so I added, “Dinner was nice. That’s all you need to know.”
“Did he kiss you?”
“Did Marty James kiss you during or after the Winter Dance?”
She crossed her arms. “You don’t play fair.”
“Nora, you can talk to me about anything. I don’t know why you don’t want to tell me what happened with Marty, but that’s okay — you’re entitled to your privacy so long as you didn’t do anything dangerous, or anything that could get you pregnant, which I hav
e to tell you would be dangerous for Marty James, because I’m pretty sure your dad would either kill him or make him wish he was dead.”
“And you’re entitled to your privacy, too? Is that what you’re saying?”
“Yes. You’ll need to stay at your dad’s house from Friday evening until Sunday afternoon this week. I’ll plan to cook a huge meal for you and your brothers Sunday evening unless your dad’s already planned something.”
“You can talk to me. I promise not to tell Daddy.”
“No deal. You never promise not to tell your father something, understand? If anyone ever asks you to, you should see huge red flags all over the place, with background music screaming DANGER, DANGER!”
She rolled her eyes while she buttered the biscuits. “You’re weird sometimes.”
“Just sometimes? I was going for most of the time.”
At least I didn’t have to stress over what to wear Saturday. I pulled a white spaghetti-strap shirt on over a white sports bra, my thickest denim jeans, hiking boots, and a light tan leather jacket I’d picked up in a store just outside the mall two years before. My cat hates the mall, so I try to avoid going whenever possible.
I pulled the things I needed from my purse and put them into a brown leather mini-backpack, and added a brush, mascara, eyeliner, and homemade chapstick. Once my hair was in a ponytail, it felt like I needed to contour more, so I did.
My hair is mostly medium brown, but with some light rust streaks. It happens to look stylish now, but I’d dyed it all-brown during high school and then art school. I’d looked like a freak if I didn’t, back then.
I heard Frost’s motorcycle from at least a mile away, so I was sitting on my front porch steps when he arrived, and damn if my libido didn’t try to jump into high gear, just watching him on the damned motorcycle.
He killed the engine and took his helmet off, but stayed seated. “I’m not going to be invited in?”
“You were invited to pick me up at home. Baby steps.”
He breathed in, slow and deep, and I knew he was smelling for nearby wolves. He also visually scanned the area, and I figured he’d pick up as much or more that way, but I wasn’t certain. Either way, no wolves were close — I’d already checked.
When he’d assured himself we were alone, he twisted around to remove the extra helmet he’d brought.
“Come here, Cheyenne. Let me get it strapped on right. Have you ridden before?”
I walked to him and wished his voice hadn’t made me want him even worse. I could scent my own arousal. He’d caught me off guard with that come here order.
I looked into his clear blue eyes, and it seemed they might be a deeper blue, but maybe it was because we were outside. “You’re using my real name.”
“I am. The old name doesn’t fit — you aren’t that girl anymore. I don’t want you to be her. I want to get to know you.”
“But that was me. Maybe more of me than I want to admit, but it was. I mean, sure, I was figuring out my shit as a single woman. I guess it was my way of liberating myself? I don’t know, but it was me.” I stopped a few feet away. “I don’t want to go back, though, and I’m not sure how that works. I can’t argue that I developed feelings for you, but you’re part of the club. I don’t know how this works if I don’t…” I stopped talking because it felt wrong to say I didn’t intend to go back to the clubhouse.
“If you stay away from the club?”
I shrugged.
“Mad Dog said we’ll figure shit out if you want to come back as mine. I got the feeling he’ll keep it to a minimum. Squatch isn’t out for blood, so it’ll be me doing whatever it is. You showed Mad Dog some respect before you left. If you’d just said fuck you and left, it’d be different. No one hates you, Cheyenne.”
I took a step, grabbed the helmet from him, and put it on.
He turned me and tucked my hair into my shirt. “You know how a flag’s ends get tattered in a rough wind? The ends of your hair will look like that if you leave them loose. You want to keep them tucked in as much as possible.”
I reached back, braided the ponytail, and pulled another hairband from my wrist to secure the end. It was easier to tuck the braid away than a loose ponytail.
While I put my jacket on and buttoned it, he adjusted the chin strap. It felt cozy. Familiar.
I breathed in. “I don’t smell anyone else on the helmet.”
“I bought it new. It’s yours. I hope you get a lot of use out of it.”
He put his helmet on, pulled his face shield down, pushed mine down, and I jumped when he talked because I heard his voice inside my helmet. He reached up and stuck his finger in the side of his own helmet, behind his ear. “Feel here. There’s a plus and a minus; that’s your volume control.”
I mirrored him, and he shook his head, so I used my other hand and felt what he was talking about.
“Don’t turn it down yet. I won’t talk too much until we get rolling. You’ll want it turned up once we’re moving.”
When I finally threw my leg over his bike and sat behind him, I hadn’t expected it to feel so intimate. The scent of owl, and Frost, so close. So warm. My arms around him, holding him, his rock-hard abs under my hands. And, because I knew how fat his dick is, I couldn’t help but think I only needed to reach down a little and it would be right there.
Once we were moving, his voice in my helmet talked me through how to lean with him. By the time we reached the canyon’s curvy mountain roads, I had the hang of it. It’s like we were in synch with each other, doing a kind of dance on the road, moving along this rolling, flowing charcoal ribbon that wove its way through the vibrant green forest.
I’d been to the largest waterfall in the canyon before, of course. It’s right on the road. Or rather, under it. You can easily see the water spilling over the top of the falls from upstream, but you need to get out and walk to get the pretty view looking back at it from downstream. Most people walk down the trail far enough to look down on the falls, but Frost kept going, and we took the trail down into the canyon. Not many humans do this, since it’s treacherous in places, but it was no problem for us.
We walked up to the base of the falls, and then rock-hopped our way until we were in the spray. I turned to speak to him, and the next thing I knew the heat of his mouth was on mine, and the world spun around us. The thundering falls, the mist, his mouth, his invading tongue, the clear blue sky I couldn’t see because my eyes were closed, and the strength of his arms, wrapped around me, holding me.
Nothing else existed. I fell into his universe, full of white noise and warm hands. The kiss lasted an eternity, and yet it wasn’t long enough. I breathed him in, along with the clean mist around us. The scent of the forest.
And then, when he pulled away, complete and total lust slammed into me. I lifted my right leg and looped it around his waist. My arms had been around his neck, and I pulled a hand back to caress his cheek. I felt as if I should say something, but my scrambled brain couldn’t form words.
Finally, I came back to my senses, put my right foot back on the ground, and told him, “We’ve kissed before, but never like that. It’s like those others didn’t count, and that was our first kiss.”
He kissed my forehead. “Agreed. I’ve never kissed Cheyenne before. Everything’s going to be new for us.”
We’d put our jackets into the bike’s sidesaddles when we parked. I was wearing a spaghetti-strap shirt, so my arms were bare and the sun felt wonderful on them. I sat and unlaced my boots. “Need to be barefoot here. Need to feel the rocks.”
He let me climb on the boulders and the cliffs to my heart’s content. He stuck with me for a while, but then seemed happy to sit on a boulder and watch me play. When I came back to him, he’d hold me, or give me a casual kiss, but he didn’t turn my world inside out again while we were there. I think he knew I needed time to process whatever-the-fuck had happened during that first kiss.
Chapter Six
Frost
I’d been a lit
tle too pleased to learn she’d never ridden on the back of a bike before. She quickly picked up on how to work with me and the bike, and not against us. I think her inner cat protested at first, but the kitty eventually enjoyed it as much as the woman.
And now, watching her play on the face of the slippery cliff, barefoot and completely balanced, as sure-footed as the feline, it felt like life was nearly complete. The kiss had almost undone me, but that was okay because it seemed to affect her the same.
She was coming back towards me when something caught my eye and my head swung around. My inner owl spotted the squirrel before I did, and I had to hold him back to keep him from trying to fly after it. I could see Cheyenne with my peripheral vision, and she’d done the exact same thing, though it was her cat wanting to run and pounce on it, instead of flying to it.
We looked back at each other, realized we’d both wanted to eat the squirrel, and grinned.
“Maybe we should go eat now?” I asked. I wasn’t sure if she could hear me over the roar of the falls, but she laughed and nodded, so she’d either heard me or read my lips.
She put her socks and boots back on, and we made our way to the bike.
Once we were on the way, I told her, “The place we’re headed has excellent chicken-and-dumplings, but their country fried steak is also really good. We have a couple of long, sweeping curves coming up. I really like this section of road.”
“Thanks for today. I mean, I know it isn’t over yet, but I’m having fun.”
My heart warmed. I’d known she was enjoying herself, but it was good to hear her say it. “You’re welcome. Thanks for coming with me.”
We ate, and then we rode a while, keeping to the forest, away from civilization, and I debated whether to take her to the cabin. I’d rented one just outside the national preserve, but I hadn’t known for sure if we’d go or not. Something told me she wasn’t ready for sex yet, and that was fine, but she might be in a few hours. Even if we didn’t stay the night, though, it would give us a place to sit and talk, or to explore together. I’d never seen her cat. Would she show me?
Frost (Rolling Thunder MC Birmingham Book 3) Page 3
