by Rhian Cahill
“When?”
She squirmed as his mouth trailed wet kisses along her jaw. “What?”
“When can I nibble on you all day?” He licked the shell of her ear. “It can’t be today but it has to be soon.”
Gordie couldn’t think. He was licking and biting and kissing every erogenous zone on her head. “Umm…”
“Christmas.” More kisses. “Can I have you for Christmas dinner?” He stroked his tongue down to her shoulder, along her collarbone. “Spread out on my table with all the trimmings.”
Oh God. He would kill her. “Please.”
“Please what, Doc?” His teeth scraped over the slope of her breast.
“Anything,” she gasped. “Everything.”
He smiled against her skin. “Mmm, I can’t wait for Christmas dinner.”
Steve rolled her beneath him and sucked her nipple into his mouth. The cold floor at her back made her shiver. The heat of his body covering her front made her melt. He thrust his hips, his hard cock pressing into her thigh. She parted her legs, wrapped them around his waist and dug her heels into his ass to pull him closer. A growl vibrated over her breast a second before his teeth pinched the puckered tip and his cock entered her in one plunge.
“Ah, yes.” Gordie’s head tossed from side to side, the hard cold tile going unheeded as a blazing fire devoured her. He drove into her pussy and his erection rubbed over inflamed walls, sending her into sensory overload. Pleasure and pain. Pain and pleasure. Raw nerves no longer able to distinguish the difference, no longer cared, only needed to be taken. To give him everything he demanded.
Steve buried his face against Doc’s damp neck. He’d locked his elbows and braced his knees, but he struggled to keep his weight off her. His coyote was closer to breaking free than any other time they’d come together as satisfaction flowed through him. It amazed him that his wild side had been so quiet. The bizarre thing was he thought he understood why.
Doc had never run with any of the pack members that he knew of. Other than when Anthony had turned her and she’d run with the newly shifting teenagers of the pack, Steve couldn’t recall her ever shifting. They’d change that over the next week. She needed to connect with that side of herself before his coyote could.
“When was the last time you shifted?” His lips brushed her skin and she shivered beneath him. “Shit. You’re cold.”
He rolled to the side and got to his feet. Reaching down he offered her his hand and pulled her from the floor. With her tucked into his side, he reached in and turned the shower on. In no time the water heated and steam billowed out to surround them. Gently, he nudged her in ahead of him.
“Come on, let’s get clean and warm and then we can talk.” He grabbed the soap and quickly lathered his hands.
Steve passed the bar to Doc and while she soaped up her hands he set to work washing her down. He didn’t linger, couldn’t afford to or his body would demand more of hers and neither of them needed that right now. If they weren’t careful they’d wear each other out. A smile tipped his lips.
“What are you smiling at?” Her hands were busy cleaning his chest.
“Us. We’re gonna kill each other with sex if we don’t stop.” Steve slid his hands over the curves of her hips.
“You started it.”
“I didn’t hear you complaining at all.” He ran his hands up the inside of her thighs and she flinched. “Sore?”
“Tender. No, actually more sensitive, really, not sore.”
Her delicate fingers trailed over his abs and he sucked in a breath, his cock pulsing with interest. “Jesus. We need to get some clothes on.”
He stepped back out of temptation’s touch and finished scrubbing himself down. Doc took the hint and did the same. Steve ignored the knowing smile on her lips and blanked out the wet, naked body in front of him. They really did need to head on back to his place where they’d have no interruptions and certainly no reason other than fatigue to keep their hands off each other.
Steve waited for Doc to step out and grab a towel. He couldn’t stop his gaze from dropping to watch her sexy ass as she walked away from him. Mesmerized by the sight it took him a moment to realize she’d turned to offer him a towel and was in the process of covering up. With a sigh of disappointment he pulled it together and joined her on the bathmat.
“Why’d you ask about me shifting?” Doc had wrapped a second towel around her head and was vigorously rubbing the water from her hair.
“Because just now my coyote was closer to the surface than any other time we’ve had sex and it got me thinking about how quiet that side of me has been.” Dry, he reached for his clothes.
“I don’t shift very much.”
“Why?”
She shrugged. “It’s hard to explain, but after Anthony I kind of shut that side of myself down. And I guess because I was so newly turned I hadn’t made that big of a connection with my coyote.”
“Understandable. And now?”
“Around you or because we’re together?”
“Both.”
“Being around you always stirs me up, human and coyote, that’s why I stayed away for so long. But after you moved away my coyote wouldn’t let me stay too far. Hence the walks up in the forest near your place. Just being close to you calms her.”
“So your coyote side is making its presence known.” He slipped into his pants. “When we get home I’d like to shift together. I think we need to do that.”
Gordie stumbled as she stepped into the borrowed sweats, she couldn’t wait to be given the all clear to get into her room so she could grab some of her own clothes to wear. “Why?”
“Because it’s part of who we are and I want to see you in coyote form. I’ve never seen you.” Steve reached over and cupped her face in his hands. “And because I think you need to fully connect with your coyote side. I don’t think you ever really have and the more we’re together, the more our coyotes are going to want to bond.”
She stared at him, her gaze searching his. He could feel her pulse beating against the heels of his hands. Steve waited, breath held, until she nodded. Releasing his breath in a slow stream, he bent forward and planted his mouth on hers. The kiss was nothing more than skin on skin, but he felt it to his bones and knew she did too. Her eyelids lowered and he took them deeper.
Her arms slid around his neck and her body pressed to his. Steve ran his tongue over the seam of her lips, pushed until she opened and let him inside. He explored the moist depths, licked and stroked and tasted every part of her. Breathless, he backed off, slowed his caresses and eased them out of the lush mating of their mouths.
Pulling back, he laid his forehead on hers and breathed deep. Her breathing came as harsh as his and her eyes remained closed. When her lids lifted to reveal her brown eyes he could see she’d fortified her emotions.
“No. No holding back, Doc. We agreed, no more arm’s length. Talk to me.” He moved back, gave her room to breathe.
“I’m scared.”
“Why? What could possibly be frightening about shifting together?”
“I’ve never done it before.”
“What? Shifted in front of another coyote?” That couldn’t be right, surely she and Anthony had run together.
“I’m not good at it. It takes me ages to make the change. And I haven’t run with anyone since Anthony turned me and I ran with the coming-of-age coyotes.”
“You never shifted and ran with him?”
She bit her lip and shook her head.
“Ah, Doc.” He tugged her close, nestled her face against his chest and wrapped his arms around her. “It’s not hard and I don’t care if it takes all day for you to shift into coyote form. Don’t worry about it now. We’ll deal with that side of us when we don’t have any distractions.”
He smoothed his hands up and down her spine, waited until he felt her tense muscles soften under his touch. A shuddery breath rattled her chest and her arms gave his waist one hard squeeze before she slipped from his embrace.
/> “I know I’m being irrational. I’m an educated woman, probably too educated, but I can’t help the feelings inside me. I’ve felt like an outcast in this town my whole life. I always knew I was different even when I didn’t understand why.” She held up her hand to stop the protest he would have made. “I get that no one tried to make me feel that way, even those against half-bloods and non-bloods didn’t single me out any more than anyone else, but that clawing desperation to be like everyone around me is what led me to accept a proposal I had no right to. I can’t help thinking every decision I’ve made in these mountains has been a bad one.”
“You never did anything wrong, Doc.”
“I know that, really I do, but it’ll play on my mind forever regardless of what I or anyone else thinks and I can’t stop that from affecting the way I relate to my coyote. I hated that side of myself for years when I was away from here. It took me a long time to come to terms with who and what I am. Neither of us can expect me to come to terms with us and what that means quickly, Steve.” She gripped his hand, curled her fingers between his. “I guess I’m asking you to be patient and in return I promise to try harder to connect to both you and myself.”
Steve brushed a fingertip down her cheek. “Gordie, I think once you come to accept yourself there’ll be no stopping us. And I think that will be the easy part of all of this.”
“Hey.” Dale banged on the bathroom door. “You two coming out anytime soon? Tatum’s here with our lunch.”
Doc smiled at him. “This seems to be turning into a habit.”
“Yeah, it looks that way,” he spoke softly. “We’ll be out in a second,” he called out to Dale.
“We’ll be in the dining room. Kat sent over a feast and I’m starving so we’re starting without you in five minutes,” Tatum yelled.
Holding Doc’s hand, Steve stepped over to the door and pulled her with him. “Come on or they’ll eat all the good stuff before we get downstairs.”
She laughed. “This is Kat’s food, it’s all good stuff.”
Steve had to agree. Kat might grate on his nerves but she could cook better than anyone he’d ever known and that made up for every other flaw the woman had. Plus she was Doc’s sister and he’d put up with anything and anyone to be with her.
They found Tatum and Dale already seated and loading their plates. He pulled out a chair for Doc and sat next to her as he grabbed the first bowl of food. It only took a few minutes to fill their plates and start eating. Nobody spoke until most of the food was polished off and their hunger abated.
Tatum pushed her chair back and laid a hand on her huge belly. “Damn that was good.”
“You sure you’ve had enough?” Dale asked.
“Yep. I already ate a piece of chicken pie with potato and gravy while I waited for Kat to put the food together.”
“You ate twice what I ate just now. Where the hell do you put it all? Other than that beach ball under your sweater there’s nothing to you,” Doc said.
Tatum grinned. “I know. I’m hoping that means I’ll be back to my normal size once these two are born.”
“Here. Drink some more tea.” Dale refilled Tatum’s cup. “You need fluids as well as food.”
“Thanks.”
Steve eyed his friend and wondered what he’d missed. Not twenty-four hours ago Dale and Tatum had been at each other’s throats and now here they were getting on like the best of friends. He glanced at Doc but she only shrugged and kept on eating.
“I finished upstairs, Gordie. You can clean it up whenever you’re ready,” Dale said.
“Oh. Okay, thanks.” She reached for her drink and took a sip. “Find anything?”
“No, nothing more than I expected to anyway. Both rooms had prints all over them but they could belong to anyone who’s been in here over the last few months. I’ll need to wait for the lab results before I can tell you anything else.”
“I’ve bundled up the dresses. I’ll take them out to Gramps’ and see if Grammy can do anything about the stains. If anyone can fix them, it’s Grammy,” Tatum said.
“Thank you, Tatum. I’ll let Rowan and El know.” Doc leaned back in her chair with a sigh. “I’ll have to ring Mom and tell her too.”
“You don’t have to ring her. Wait until she gets here,” Steve offered.
“I guess it won’t matter either way, will it? It’s still going to hurt.”
Steve placed his hand on her thigh. “Yeah, it will and I’m sure she’d rather hear it in person than over the phone.”
“You’re right. I’ll wait until she gets here.” Doc stood and began stacking plates. “Tatum, are you staying out at your grandparent’s now that you’ve moved back home?”
“Um, no, I can’t exactly expect Grammy and Gramps to put me and the babies up. Besides, I’ll need to be closer to the clinic for work. I’m living in town.”
Dale stood suddenly. “I’ll give you a lift to the garage so you can pick up your car, Tatum.”
“Oh. Okay. Do you mind if we leave you with the dishes, Doc? It’s just that Harry said he’d be closing up right after lunch and I don’t want to be without my car or my bags.”
“Sure, go on. Steve will help clean up.”
He swallowed the bite he’d just taken. “Do I have a choice?”
“Not really, but go ahead and finish eating. I’ll wait.” Doc grinned at him.
“Very polite of you,” he grumbled.
“I know. My manners are impeccable.” She left the plates on the table, patted him on the shoulder and walked toward the front of the house. “Don’t worry about getting up, Steve, I’ll see our guests out.”
Steve could hear the laughter in her voice but had no intention of calling her on her cheek because she’d called them our guests. She probably didn’t realize what she’d done. Without thought Gordie had tied them together in front of their friends. As far as he was concerned it was one huge step in the right direction.
Gordie helped Tatum button up her coat and slip on her snow boots. “Did you want to start at the clinic after New Year? I know we said mid-to-late January but if you want to come in and get a feel for the place I’ll be opening the doors again on the second.”
“That would be great. I know a lot of the older generation but I’d like to meet everyone before I start taking over some of their care.” Tatum took her handbag from Dale. “I’ve got your phone number so I’ll ring you after Christmas and we can talk more about what it is you want and don’t want.”
“No need for that. We’ll just get it all sorted when you start.” She gave the other woman a hug. “Be sure to ring me if you have any concerns about your pregnancy. I worried about you changing doctors this far along but I’m thrilled that you feel safe enough to have these babies under my care.”
“I’ll be in touch if I get any lab results back but I doubt we’ll hear anything before the New Year. There’ll only be a skeleton staff on over the holidays.” Dale opened the door and gestured for Tatum to precede him. “If anything else happens you know how to get hold of me.”
“I do and thank you for everything you’ve done so far.”
“It’s my job, Gordie, but I’d be here even if it wasn’t.” He saluted and pulled the door closed as he stepped over the threshold.
“Alone at last.”
Gordie jumped when Steve sneaked up behind her. “Jeez, don’t do that.”
“Sorry.” He slid his arms around her waist. “We’re not expecting any visitors for the rest of the day. It’s a nice feeling having you all to myself.”
She leaned back. “Yeah, but we’ll be too busy cleaning to notice.” Gordie sighed. “I don’t know where to start.”
“Kitchen. We’ll tidy up the lunch dishes, check out what Kat sent over for dinner and breakfast before we tackle upstairs.” Steve spun her to face him. “It won’t take the two of us long and then we can start packing up some of your things.”
“Are we still staying here tonight?”
“Did you
not look outside when the others left? It’s snowing again. The storm is supposed to be short lived but I doubt we’ll be finished before dark so I thought we’d stick around here, have breakfast in the morning and then head over to The Den for lunch and then on home after that. Sound good?”
“Kat’s expecting us to be at the dinner table on Christmas day.”
“Not going to happen. The storm they’re predicting for Christmas morning will keep everyone inside for a couple of days. That’s why I thought we could appease her with lunch tomorrow.”
“Okay.” She sucked in a deep breath. “I guess we should get this over with.”
Steve let her go. “Lead the way.”
It didn’t take them long in the kitchen and all too soon she had to deal with the mess upstairs. They started in Kat’s room and Gordie cried the whole time she put piece after piece of her sister’s doll collection into the garbage bags they were using. The wall would need repainting after she’d used a good paint stripper on it, although it might be worth ripping the drywall down and having new boards fitted.
She took a bag out of the room and went to get the vacuum. There were thousands of shards from the shattered porcelain embedded in the carpet. Gordie wasn’t sure, but she wouldn’t be surprised if the carpet would need to be replaced. Steve took the cord and plugged it in before shooing her out of the room.
“I’ll do this. You go get clean sheets so you can make the bed when I’m done.”
They’d stripped what was left of the bedding, the quilt had been an old one and rather than attempt to remove the slivers of ceramic she’d chosen to throw it out. She’d have to do the same with the one in her room. The thought made her cry all over again. Her Grandmother Monroe had made the quilt for her when she’d first come to live in Whispering Springs. Gordie had only gotten four years with her before she’d died, but Granny Roe had been the only grandparent she’d ever had.
Gordie pulled linen from the cupboard, the smell of her mother’s favorite scent billowing out to surround her. It was a comfort, made her feel as though her mother was there with her, giving her a hug. Arms loaded up, she went back to Kat’s old room and leaned against the doorjamb. Steve worked the vacuum as if he did it every day. Watching him do something so domestic gave her heart a jolt. He kept surprising her with his strength and his willingness to stand beside her no matter what.
