I was just getting home from work and my first stop was Heather and Warren’s to pick up Ame, but there was something about Heather’s smile that had my hackles up. I didn’t trust that grin, not at all.
“Parker Pettit called. She invited you to a party at Mimi’s tonight.” My sister saw I was about to protest and held up a hand. “I already told her you were coming, so I suggest you go and get changed. Maybe take a shower. You smell like dog.”
“I’m not leaving you alone with Ame. You’ve already had her all day.”
Warren cleared his throat from the doorway. Ame was seated on his lap and tucked into the crook of one arm while he rolled his chair with the other. “What the hell do you think I am, smelly dog? Wallpaper?”
I threw my hands up dramatically. “Go ahead, insult me. Both of you.”
Warren had good days and bad days. As I discreetly surveyed him, I determined today was one of his better days. “Fine, I think I will go out. Leave y’all to think about what an asset I am to have around.”
“Did he say he was an ass all around?” Warren chuckled. “First thing he’s said today that made any sense.”
I grinned and kissed Heather on the forehead before hurrying over and pecking Ame on the cheek. “You’re a couple of ungrateful relatives, you know that?”
I left them there, both smiling, and headed next door to my place. I felt guilty for leaving them with the baby for any longer than was necessary, but it would be worse if I stayed home.
I could sense that if Heather and Warren watched me leave for a night out, it would convince them far more than my words could that they weren’t a burden on me and neither was Ame, that I could be here for my family when they needed me and still have a life of my own—or pretend to when they were watching. I didn’t want to go anywhere, but they needed me to.
I took a shower and changed into clean clothes before taking my time walking across Main Street to Mimi’s Cabana. I had no intention of staying long. I’d just make an appearance and have a drink or two so I could be home in time to give Ame a bath and put her to bed. I didn’t want to risk waking her up when I carried her home to my place for the night.
Mimi was a wild card, and her place was always a good time. The woman kept everyone on their toes with her coconut bra and sailor’s vocabulary. I made sure to wave and blow her a kiss before scanning the place looking for the party. Instead of a party, I found Parker and Maxim sitting side by side in a booth talking to whoever was across the table from them. I couldn’t tell from where I stood.
One step closer, though, just one step, and I knew.
It was her—my mate.
Bells were going off like a five-alarm back at the station. I wanted to turn and run. I’d told Parker repeatedly that I had way too much on my plate. The last thing I needed or wanted was a mate. After finding out my mate was human, that statement held tenfold.
Damn, that woman was a meddler.
How the hell had I fallen for this again? Parker had tricked me into a blind date once before. It could have been a total disaster too if the woman, Elin, hadn’t also been conned into a date she wanted no part of. We ended up having an enjoyable dinner together and leaving as friends.
Okay, I had to give Parker credit. She did hit the nail on the head this time. Despite being one hundred percent human, the woman she chose was one hundred percent my mate.
I didn’t even know her name. After getting her down from Walter, she hadn’t stuck around long enough for me to ask. I’d say that was a telltale sign she wanted little to do with me either. How the hell had Parker found her and gotten her to the bar?
I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about my mate since I watched her race down Main Street in the opposite direction. Not that it was a good excuse, but that was a major reason I’d been on edge and had been so quick to lash out at Jenny.
I should turn around and leave. Just go.
But my wolf was going crazy trying to get at her, and I was strung so tightly I felt I might snap in two.
Maybe a quick glimpse of her…
As I stepped closer, my mate’s head snapped around. When she spotted me, her eyes grew wide. That’s when I knew. She was an innocent victim here too. She’d had no idea this was a setup.
Her jaw fell and her tongue darted out to nervously lick her lips.
“Mac! So glad you could make it. I understand you and Mel are acquainted?” Parker’s devious grin said it all. Maxim just shook his head and took a drink of his beer.
Mel. So that was her name.
I stood staring at the empty spot next to her like poisonous spikes might sprout out of the pleather and lodge themselves in the ass of an unsuspecting patron who happened to sit there.
“We ran into each other.”
Mel looked past me, at the door. She was going to bolt. The look in her eyes said it all. My wolf didn’t want her going anywhere, the masochist. Before my rational brain could talk my crazed libido out of it, I sank into the booth next to her—impaling myself with the spikes of destiny.
When our thighs touched, my jaw locked and my fists balled.
“Well, the party ended up being a lot smaller than I expected.” Parker shrugged.
The woman had no shame.
When Maxim snorted, Parker shot him a warning scowl. Then, she turned to us and, sweet as sugar, moved on.
“I ran into Mel at Rise and Shine this morning. She’s singing at the wedding tomorrow night. Flynn and Arden’s?”
I couldn’t help turning my head to look at her. She was a singer. With a sultry speaking voice like hers, it was likely she had an amazing singing voice. Fuck, her scent was messing with my head. Everyone was looking at me. Why? Was I supposed to say something?
“Er…that’s nice.”
Maxim snorted into his beer and, when attention turned to him, tried to hide a knowing grin.
9
Mel
My entire body overheated the moment my firefighter appeared.
No, not my firefighter. A firefighter.
He didn’t belong to me.
He was his own firefighter, not mine.
Mac. His name was Mac. Tonight he wasn’t in uniform. He wore a white T-shirt that clung to his wide shoulders and sculpted pecs like a second skin, medium-wash jeans, and scuffed work boots. His hair was still damp from the shower. He looked masculine and sexy and powerful all at once.
I wanted to blame the Florida temperatures for the heat wave that rolled through me. But I’d been just fine, cool as a cucumber, until Mac sat down and his thigh brushed mine. Then, hello, thermometer. Mercury shot through the roof.
His thigh was all I could focus on. It was so distracting.
That and his smell. Why did he smell so good? Like a bonfire on the beach at night, wrapped in a blanket under the stars. It didn’t make sense the things this man did to my body.
Could what I was feeling be gratitude? I mean, what woman wasn’t turned on by her own knight in shining armor?
No. That wasn’t it.
Mac helped me and all, but it wasn’t as though he’d saved my life or risked his own in the process. I would have gotten down eventually.
I needed to remember one thing, though, and cool my jet skis. Just because I was enjoying some solo vacation time did not mean I was single. I had a boyfriend, Aaron.
I mean Adam!
I was committed to Adam, and if there was one thing I despised, it was people who didn’t honor their commitments.
One’s word was one’s bond. I’d always believed that.
I was not in the market for a new man, despite Parker and her devious machinations.
But sitting next to Mac was slow torture.
He seemed to be as shocked to see me as I was to see him, which meant Parker had pulled the same setup on him. He probably didn’t even want to be here.
“Mac is actually from Ohio, Mel. He only recently moved here.” Parker blinked innocently and smiled. “And Mac, Mel here was a big recording artist
twenty or so years ago. You’ve probably heard of her, Melody Manes.”
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. When my thigh rubbed against Mac’s again, fire shot straight to my core and I had to bite my lip to keep a moan from escaping.
This was wrong. No matter how right it felt. My stomach twisted itself in a knot. I looped the strap of my purse over my shoulder and spoke to Mac without making eye contact. “Could you let me out, please? I’m not feeling well.”
“Oh no! What’s wrong?” Parker’s frown was genuine.
Mac moved immediately, allowing me to slide out of the booth and stand on somewhat shaky legs. When he took a step back and his eyes passed over me, he wore an odd expression. Something I didn’t recognize.
“I’m sorry. I have to go.”
And that was how I ran from Mac the hulky firefighter for the second time in twenty-four hours.
I probably should’ve been embarrassed, and maybe later I would be, but at that moment I was just relieved to get away. There was something about Mac that made me want to cross all kinds of boundaries and compromise my morals in all sorts of ways.
I quickly made my way down Main Street, crossed over to the west side of the island, and strolled back along the beach. My nerves were jangled. I felt too raw and exposed to want to return to my room and stare at the walls just yet.
When my phone buzzed, I prayed it wasn’t Adam. I wasn’t in the mood to talk to him right then, not with my thoughts going haywire.
The screen said Ben, which meant it was either my brother Pierce or my cousin Ben. They were an overprotective couple of idiots, and since the two of them were always together, they often used each other’s phones.
“Is this Thing One or Thing Two?”
“Rude. If I didn’t love you so much, I might not like you.” It was Ben.
“Good comeback.”
Ben grunted. “You want my come back, you’ll have to scrape it off yo’ mama’s teeth.”
“Ew, gross! That’s your aunt, you freak.” I grinned. “I’m scarred for life now from that mental image.”
I found a shady spot under a couple of palm trees and plopped down in the sand. “Let me see… Before you ask, yes, I’ve been locking my door. No, there’s no one I find creepy. No, I don’t feel in danger. Yes, the town seems safe. Yes, I’m eating and practicing self-care. No, I haven’t had unprotected sex and gotten knocked up by a total stranger.” I didn’t mention that there seemed to be a perfect candidate on the island.
“Well, thank you for easing my mind, but that wasn’t why I called.”
Grinning, I hugged my knees and stared out at the ocean. “What do you want, then?”
“Just checking in.”
“Ben?”
“Fine. We heard that you and Adam are having troubles.”
“Oh, why don’t you two mind your own damn business?” The fact that Ben and Pierce were acquaintances of Adam’s and thought he walked on water was another thing tying me to the man. He was the first guy they welcomed. Probably because they hadn’t yet seen through his big bank account and phony bologna charm.
They were way too protective of a fully capable, adult woman, but due to my past, I had difficulty convincing them I wasn’t as naive as they seemed to think I was.
When I’d shot to fame as a recording artist almost overnight, I very quickly found myself isolated and protected from the outside world by my family. If I did go anywhere, I had bodyguards. I hated every second of it. As my contract went up for renewal, neither the record company nor my agent was at all pleased when I decided that the limelight wasn’t for me and I bowed out. Pierce and Ben, however, stood beside me, and for that I’d always be grateful.
I had found it stressful living the life of a celebrity and had longed for a normal life—fixing dinner for my husband, reading bedtime stories to our children, PTA meetings, and family vacations. I got rid of the celebrity status but, at over forty, I hadn’t achieved that life I’d envisioned.
“I’ve got to go.”
“Fine, but I also wanted to remind you to pick us up in the morning. Our flight gets in at 11.”
“Whatever. I’ll think about it.”
I hung up. Ben’s call helped distract me a little, but thoughts about Mac were still running rampant in my brain. Inhaling deeply, I filled my lungs with salty ocean air. Ugh! Even the scent of the sea reminded me of Mac.
He is a stranger!
This obsession with him was ridiculous. And it wasn’t right. I should be thinking about Adam, not Mac. I was supposed to feel this way about—
I groaned aloud. Of course. It was probably my dissatisfaction with Adam and our relationship that had me manufacturing this extreme attraction to a man I barely knew. Sure, Mac was hot and all, but simply put, Mac was the grass on the other side of the fence. He looked greener, but eventually he’d need fertilizer too.
The sound of water splashing nearby caused my head to swing in its direction just in time to witness a polar bear break the surface and lumber out of the ocean onto the sand. Nice.
Wait, what?
Heart jackhammering in my chest, I slid farther under the cover of shade. My breath caught in my throat. I would have screamed, but I was too afraid. I was going to be eaten by a polar bear.
Wait, why was there a polar bear in the tropics?
I thought back to the only beverage I’d consumed at Mimi’s Cabana, a diet coke. Had it been spiked with something? Some sort of hallucinogen? It hadn’t tasted funny.
The blood rushed to my head. I was going to pass out.
My stomach did a flip. I was going to throw up.
Then, before I could either pass out or throw up, the polar bear vanished—just vanished—and right where he’d been standing was a naked man.
Blink... Blink… Blink…
The man stretched, yawned, scratched under his ball sack, then jogged off down the beach.
Blink... Blink… Blink…
What did I just see? My brain felt like an old Commodore 64 with dial-up internet. I was not computing. Polar bears didn’t live in Florida. A polar bear should not be emerging from the Gulf of Mexico. But that wasn’t at all weird compared to seeing a polar bear turn into a man.
I rubbed my forehead. Polar bears did not turn into men, Mel. That could not have really happened.
I felt dizzy. Confused. Dizzy with confusion.
Was I hyperglycemic? Hallucinations could be a symptom of dangerously high blood sugar. I rifled around in my purse for my monitor and checked my sugar: 90 mg/dL, normal.
Struggling to my feet, I stumbled toward the bed and breakfast, still rubbing my forehead. I knew what I saw. I had very definitely seen a large polar bear. Then, I had very definitely seen that large polar bear turn into a nude man.
I let myself into my room, locked the door, and leaned back, resting against it. Barring hyperglycemia or being slipped a mickey, what else could have caused me to hallucinate such an unusual sight?
A stroke? I was only in my early forties and while, as Ingrid pointed out, I didn’t exercise consistently, I wasn’t in terrible physical shape either.
A tumor? That was a possibility. I’d had a yearly checkup not too long ago, but still.
It took me a while to move from that spot, but when I did, I went into the bathroom and stared at myself in the mirror. I splashed cold water on my face.
I would just go to sleep and when I woke up, maybe I’d have answers. Only when my head hit my pillow, my brain would not allow sleep. No, it wanted to think about the polar bear.
Then my brain started skipping from the polar bear to Mac.
Then, not only was my brain awake, my body was right there with it.
Sunkissed Key was a strange place. I rolled over and fluffed my pillow, silently begging my brain to turn off.
No go.
It was laser focused.
On Mac.
Mac with the strong thighs and delicious scent. Mac with the large, capable hands and steel beams for arm
s that could easily rescue a damsel in distress, like, oh, say, one stuck in a tree.
Mac with the very evident, very prominent, and very large bulge in his pants when he escorted said damsel down the ladder and said damsel’s butt cheek happened to graze the front of his uniform.
Rolling over again, I groaned. I had to get some sleep tonight. I had a big day tomorrow and needed to be well rested.
It didn’t happen.
No matter how much I wanted my body to relax, sleep continued to evade me.
I tossed and turned and stared at the ceiling.
I tossed and turned and stared at the wall.
I tossed and turned until I began to imagine that the polar bear didn’t transform into a random man at all, but into Mac. Then, I imagined, instead of jogging off down the beach, Mac spotted me watching in the shadows and came closer, dropping to his knees, pulling me into his arms…
10
Mel
I hadn’t gotten a lick of sleep. I was exhausted and cranky. Instead of sitting in the dining room surrounded by people, I piled a plate high with bacon, added a cinnamon roll, and snuck back to my room. Jacob had kindly gotten me a thermal carafe of coffee from the kitchen to take upstairs.
I had an hour before I needed to pick up Ingrid and the guys. I nibbled on the bacon and cinnamon roll as I guzzled the coffee like it was the last pot I’d ever see.
The drive to the airport was uneventful except, of course, for the bathroom breaks every twenty minutes.
By the time I arrived, the little group of people I loved most in the world was standing at the curb, waiting for me.
Even though I’d just seen them all a few days prior, I was so happy to see them, I parked at the curb and jumped out to hug each of them.
Ingrid held me the tightest and then kept a grip on my arms as she pushed back and stared at me. “You’ve a tan already! And you look positively glowing! What is going on here?”
Pierce grunted. “You should be wearing sunscreen.”
“I was, Mom.”
He ruffled my hair and started loading their things in the trunk. “You do look good, sis.”
Craved Mate: Cybermates Page 4
