by V. Vaughn
“You always make pie crust from scratch?” he asked.
Jen stared at him in puzzlement. She nodded. “Of course. That store bought stuff is expensive and tastes like cardboard.”
Zeke grunted. Heaven. He’d found heaven. A woman who baked and who looked like an angel. He had to think of how best to woo this perfect woman. What he said was, “How come you’re single.”
She blushed. Her head bent over the ball of dough she was shaping into a ball. “This is a small community,” she said stiffly. He heard her swallow. “And you?”
“I’m single.”
“Widowed? Divorced?” she asked. Well, he might be a bear, but he was from away.
“Bachelor,” he said hoarsely. “You?”
She folded plastic wrap around two balls of dough and put them in her fridge. “I’ve never been married,” she said softly.
Men around these parts must be blind. “Good,” he said. “That’s good.”
“Tell me about your family,” she said her face as resolute as if she were about to parachute into enemy territory.
“What do you want to know?” He didn’t want to explain about Jeremy and his wives. Or about Clive.
“Are your parents still living? Why didn’t you spend your leave with them this Christmas? That sort of thing.” Jen rinsed pastry from her dishrag and wiped her counter one more time.
“My mom’s dead. My father’s living. He’s remarried.”
Her head came up at that. Her big blue eyes were round and startled. “Really?” she said dubiously. “When did your mom pass?”
“I was just a toddler. Thirty-three, thirty-four years ago.” Zeke shrugged. “Why?”
“I’m sorry for your loss,” she said automatically. “Do you like your stepmom?”
“Which one?” he drawled, before he remembered he didn’t want to discuss his dysfunctional family.
“You’ve had more than one!”
“Three.”
“Your daddy married three more times!” There was horror in that sweet voice.
Zeke shrugged. “Jeremy has a roving eye,” he admitted.
Jenna shook her head in disbelief. “I never heard of any bear, let alone a Bascom, marrying up four times.”
“I guess you do that bear bond stuff here in the woods?” he sneered.
“You bet. Bears love but once,” she told him. “Might as well be our family motto.”
“How quaint,” he jibed. “My family traditions are a little different.”
Jenna’s whole body slumped. Her eyes blinked. She tried to smile but her mouth wobbled. Zeke realized what he had done too late. She was hurrying out of the kitchen and heading to the other bedroom. He followed wishing he had held his tongue.
“I’m sorry,” he said, taking her into his arms. “I shouldn’t have snapped at you.”
Jenna’s eyes were full of anguish. Zeke felt his heart clench. “I can’t make you any promises,” he admitted, “But I don’t want to let you go.” He bent his head and took her mouth with his.
It was foolish, worse than foolish, to paper over the gap between their outlook on love with sex, but Jenna responded instantly to that hard, questing mouth. She returned Zeke’s kiss with interest. If this snowbound interlude was all she would ever have of love, she should make the most of it. She knew in her heart of hearts that he was her one and only. If he abandoned her, she would be alone for the rest of her life.
But what chance did they have if he didn’t understand that bears mated for life?
15
“I need more wood,” Jenna announced after lunch.
“From where?” Zeke asked.
“I’ve got a couple of faces of cord wood in the lean-to beside the garage,” Jen said. “But the lean-to and garage are still covered in snow.”
Zeke looked more sour than ever. “Can you manage clearing the snow?” he growled. Great, now he had to sit indoors while his woman did the heavy lifting.
“If you give me a hand.” Jen headed for the kitchen. “You take bear and I’ll come behind with the shovel. The garage is that big old hillock.” She pointed out the side window where a small mountain of snow looked like nothing in particular. “If you take bear and scoop the snow off the garage, I’ll get out the snow blower and clear the path from the house to the shed.”
This time, she stayed in with him as he undressed. It didn’t feel like any sort of sexy striptease to him. Maybe if he hadn’t been dressed like a clown, but in this ridiculous get up he felt like a freak. But her blue eyes were round, and he could smell her arousal. His spirits lifted and so did his favorite organ. He went outdoors in his bare skin and began the painful shift to bear.
Jen watched as her big, muscular lover morphed into a Black. He was about as large as Matt or Nick, she thought. Probably a good five hundred and fifty pounds. But he lacked their golden muzzles. His was a dark brown like the fringe of his round ears. He looked ferocious and formidable, without even the illusion of cuddliness. But he didn’t frighten her.
She pulled on her snowsuit and fastened her tall boots snuggly to the knee. Heavy gloves and a warm hat and she was good. The temperature had risen, but was not yet high enough yet to melt the snow. She began to scrape at the concrete slabs that marked the route from cabin to garage. She didn’t have an attached garage because Lenny, who was captain of the French Town Fire Department, thought they were a fire hazard.
Zeke was doggedly breaking a path to the garage. Poor guy didn’t seem to know how to have fun. He was using his massive forelegs to dig out the pavers, changing direction when he hit grass instead of concrete slabs. But there was no joy in his movements, just determination.
She hoped that was just part of his depression and not a fundamental characteristic. Because she probably couldn’t cope long term with a guy who lacked the capacity for joy. She scooped snow energetically and tossed it overhead to form a high wall either side of her. Where the heck had all this snow come from? In the Pacific Northwest, they didn’t get eight feet of snow. Climate change was a weird and powerful thing.
Zeke had reached the big double-wide garage door. He was scooping snow from in front of it, and as he did so, the snow cascaded down on top of him from the roof and rendered his work useless. He backed up and contemplated his task. Jen had never seen a shifter look so intense in bear. But having a problem to solve, and the hard work to get the job done, was exactly what this wounded soul needed.
She retreated to the lean-to to fetch her broom and waded around the cabin to sweep her windows clear. The roof had about six new inches of snow. She figured she could leave that in place. But her front path should be opened up and the door cleaned off.
After a couple of hours Jen thought they had earned themselves some play. The wood supply had been topped up. The paths were clear. Her drive was bare right down to the road. Once the snow plow came by, she could take her truck out. Her cell was still silent. Power was still off. Internet still down. Might as well enjoy herself.
Zeke was standing watching her. His bear was snowy and alert. She didn’t think he was worn out by his exertions. Although he still looked pissed off. He took life too seriously, she decided.
She stripped off in the lean-to and took bear herself. Zeke had been looking in the door and he was startled by her shift. He backed off moaning and sat down abruptly on his haunches. Jenna charged, bowled him over onto his back. She leapt over his supine body, in one vigorous bound, and headed into the woods.
It took Zeke a moment to realize what had happened. In his whole life he had never met a bear who was so easy in her bearskin. Growing up, adults seldom ever talked about their bears. When he and Patrick hit puberty his father had warned them never to shift where they would be seen.
Particularly not in front of stepmom number two. That had been Susan. She wasn’t a bear, and didn’t even know Jeremy was a shifter. Most emphatically the twins were not to let her have an inkling, of a whisper, of a shadow of their bears.
Uncle Gi
l had taken them camping and helped them learn how to shift and control their bears. But he too told them to make sure they kept it a secret. “Folks won’t like it,” he warned. “You don’t want to scare someone into shooting you.”
Well, no. It wasn’t until the army that he had met other shifters. The services had plenty of shifters, not just bears, but cougars and wolves. He guessed they were like him, desperate for adventure and the adrenaline rush of danger. But, of course, you never, ever talked about being a shifter in the Army. It was just that you could hardly miss the scent of bear or wolf or mountain cat. Not when you were one yourself.
This blithe rambunctiousness of Jenna’s was something new to his experience. Even when he and Patrick had been boys, he had never played games in bear. But Jenna had obviously taken bear simply in order to play. She was standing by the tree line, bouncing a little and huffing at him. She tossed her head invitingly and bolted as she had done the day before.
Once again, he reacted without thought and gave chase. Didn’t she realize he outweighed her, was twice as big, and his legs twice as long.? And yet she had disappeared! She dropped down onto his back from above and used his prostrate bear to launch herself into a flat out gallop. Her huffs were louder and sounded suspiciously like laughter to him.
He caught her underneath the drooping boughs of a snow covered Douglas fir. She was crouched underneath the snowy tent wiggling ecstatically on the needles that covered the snowless ground at the base of the trunk. Her eyes were sparkling under her golden eye spots and her mouth was open in an ursine half-smile.
She submitted to his bigger bulk and let him sniff her head and flanks. She smelled delicious. He had never even met a female shifter other than his cousin Laura. And Laura had never smelled like this around him. This was some ambrosial combination of human Jenna and female bearshifter mingled with the ripeness of desire.
She smelled even better than she had yesterday. Jenna took advantage of his lapse in concentration to gather her limbs and break away from him. She led him as merry a chase as she had the day before. She dashed through the trees, circling back to bump his forelimbs with her round flanks, and once sneaking up from behind to nip his rump.
He had no idea how long they frolicked together. He only knew he was becoming more and more aroused. And he was pretty sure Jenna had no intention of letting him mount her while they were both in bear. How would that work anyway? But this didn’t stop him from feeling the excitement of the hunt and rampant desire.
He was almost relieved when she led the way back to her cabin and pelted down the path to the lean-to. He followed his frisky mate right to the door and watched her take human. She was fast. Much faster than he was. Her body morphed at speed and seemingly without the agony a shift produced in his body.
Her eyes were sparkling and she stood tall and proud and styled herself for him. She posed so her luscious breasts lifted, proud and round, and her spicy sex wafted her earthy scent to his twitching nostrils. She was blushing, but she held his eyes.
While he watched her, he was taking human without conscious thought for the first time in his life. He wasn’t aware that his bear fur was retreating or that his muzzle was shortening. He was only aware of the gorgeous, shapely Amazon before him. Her glorious breasts were tipped with juicy red nipples that puckered in the cold, and her long round legs led straight to that dark brown delta that lured him.
Zeke had lifted Jenna and was headed for the shower room before he realized he had taken human form. She was chuckling softly and burying her face in the curve of his neck. She sniffed at him and bit him lightly, then soothed the little nip with a warm, wet tongue.
Somehow he managed to get the water on and spraying down without dropping his treasure. She mustn’t take a chill. Once the water was warming them both he captured her giggling mouth with his and felt something that was more than happiness when she pulled his head closer and mated her tongue with his.
He was frantic to claim her. He tested her snug depths with one long forefinger and found her slippery and swollen. He rammed his engorged jackhammer home and urged her legs to grasp him close. Jenna obliged with an ardent shimmy and her passage clenched and unclenched as he pounded into her.
It was over all too soon. He heard his roar as his cum filled her up. His need was assuaged by his powerful climax. The best ever. Jenna was shivering in his arms, although the water was still hot. Her lips covered his face with little kisses and she laughed with apparent glee.
She didn’t seem to care that he had taken her without finesse. She was a warm, relaxed bundle in his arms and as he let her slide down his body she was chuckling happily. Didn’t she care that he was no better than an animal?
16
Jenna looked so clean and wholesome in her blue sweater and jeans and crisp apron she made him ache for all the things he had never had. Her competent hands was making short work of a pile of apples. The oven was heating. The kitchen was warm. This felt like all the things a soldier held at the back of his mind when he was overseas waiting for the shelling to start.
“Tell me about the Army,” she said startling him out of his brooding.
“What do you want to know?”
“We could start with your rank,” she teased.
“Major.” Zeke gulped and swallowed his pride. “Well, I was a major.”
“Was?”
“I’m on terminal leave.” They said confession was good for the soul. Made his soul feel like crap.
She nodded. “Sounds like you don’t want to retire,” she said softly.
He grunted. There was no way in hell he was going to tell her about the mess he had made of his last mission. Or that the Army thought he was crazy.
“What will you do now?” She sounded interested.
Like she thought he had options.
“I don’t know. My father wants me to join the family business,” slipped out before he knew it.
Jenna smiled hugely. She took the two pastry balls she had made earlier out of the fridge and plopped them on the counter. “Hmm,” she said, her back to him as she stooped to get a rolling pin out of the bottom drawer. “That could go either way. Do you want to?”
“Hell, no,” he growled. “I don’t want a desk job.”
“What does your dad do?”
“Oil. We’re B and B Oil.” It didn’t seem likely, but maybe if she knew he had money, she’d be more inclined to keep him around.
“Oh, yes,” she said vaguely. “What are you trained to do?”
“Kill people. I’m real good at killing people.”
The face she turned towards him was sorrowful. “You know that’s not true,” she said compassionately. She waved a floury hand. “I don’t meant that you aren’t a highly trained soldier. And I know you didn’t get to be a Ranger because you were just an average grunt. Rangers are our elite troops.
“But what you were trained to do was defend your country against its enemies. Not to kill. That’s a distinction you have to remember. Millions of Americans don’t like to think about the reality of how democracy is preserved. But you’ve spent a career on the front lines, and it isn’t anything to be ashamed of.”
“Huh.”
Jenna fit a circle of dough into her pie plate and deftly eased it down to the bottom with her fingers, before rolling out the other ball. “What’s your specialty? If you’re an officer, you have a degree, what’s it in?”
“Electrical engineering with a specialty in computer and systems engineering.” The words were dragged out of him.
“Cool,” she said. She dumped sugared apples on top of the bottom crust and adjusted them with a spoon. She cut tiny knobs of butter and dotted them over the apples and wet the edges of the pastry with a beaten egg. “Does that mean you could figure out how to improve my internet signal?”
“Well, sure. If I was hired by your provider.”
“Consider yourself hired.” Jenna added the top crust and cut the ragged edges with a knife. She folded th
e two edges together and began to flute the rim with her thumb and forefinger.
“I think your provider might have a thing or two to say about that.” Zeke smiled unwillingly.
“Nah.” Jen painted the entire top of the pie with her egg wash and began to cut five slits into a star in the top. “The Yakima Ridge Internet Service is owned by the community. If I tell them I have a tame engineer who can tweak our system, you won’t be allowed to leave until you’ve given it your best shot. Mind, you’ll be paid in pie and lodging.” She grinned cheekily at him, put the pie onto a cookie sheet and tucked it into the oven.
He was laughing now. “I get to stay if I make myself useful?”
“Even if you don’t.” She was perfectly serious. “Could be that with our existing set up there’s nothing to be done. But it goes down the minute we really need it — like before, during and after this bad storm.”
Jenna sighed. “I have patients all over the Ridge who can’t get hold of me. Haven’t been able to since New Year’s. Maybe you could improve things, so that didn’t happen so often? Although, like as not, it will take real money to get it to withstand bad weather. And we wouldn’t blame you for that.”
She was blushing and wiping the counters, paying way too much attention to removing the sticky pastry from the mottled surface. Zeke came up behind her and slipped his arms around her waist. He nudged her braid aside and kissed the back of her neck.
“I’d like to stay around,” he whispered into her nape. “I’d like it a lot. How long before that pie is baked?”
“An hour. But I have to turn the oven down in ten minutes.”
“Okay,” Zeke kissed her again. “I can wait.” He returned to his stool. “You can tell me about your life while we’re waiting. What exactly is your job?”
