Sebastian crammed the letter back in the book and stripped off his pants. It made sense why Marcus Fuller would send Bug here; lack of felines being first and foremost, but also so that Bug would be with someone of her own species and not be totally alone so far from home. Yet, she wouldn’t have been alone if he had simply sent Mary Beth with her to whatever destination they had chosen. It wouldn’t have been here, that was for sure as Marcus was not a stupid enough to put his eldest daughter within Sebastian’s reach, but the question remained – why send Bug to him specifically? And where was Mary Beth?
He shook his head, shifted to fur and set off out of the cabin at a lope.
On the way back to town Susan was pensive as she looked out the truck window. The man in that cabin was not the Sebastian Black she had known. This man was rude, surly, and unapproachable. Her Sebastian would have greeted her with a big smile; maybe not a hug, but at least a pat on the back or shoulder, he may have even rumpled her hair. He would have immediately invited them in and made some good natured comment about the shabbiness of his accommodations. Instead, he’d glared, rumbled, and his body language was like a flashing neon sign that said STAY AWAY.
“I’m sorry about what’s happening in your town, and for those women. That can’t be easy.” Jacob said, breaking the silence.
Susan nodded, but didn’t speak, not sure what to say. It was a tragedy, what had happened to those women and now with the war officially begun, how many more lives would be lost? At least here, in this small town of shifters she could compartmentalize her feelings and tuck them away. This town wasn’t at war and she wouldn’t be reminded of it daily.
“Are there any other shifter species near your town?”
Jacob shook his head. “There are several bear sleuths in New Hampshire, Maine, and Canada and another wolf pack in Maine and Canada as well, but no feline territory on this side of the country, so you don’t have to worry about that. We do have two feline females who live in town that were on the run from their pride, but you don’t need to worry about Lily and Daisy, they’re nice ladies.”
Susan’s forehead scrunched in a frown. “Two felines and a bear – well, two bears now – on pack land. How does that happen?”
Jacob chuckled and pulled back onto the main town road. “Mom says we have a habit of taking in strays.” He shrugged a shoulder. “Maybe she’s right.” And then he changed the subject as he cleared his throat. “Are you hungry? I’d be more than happy to go with you to the diner for some dinner.”
Susan was exhausted, her long day of travelling and emotional upheaval starting to catch up with her but she was really hungry too. “Dinner would be great, but I think I need to take it to go.” She said around a yawn. “I’m afraid I’ll fall asleep in my plate.”
Jacob looked disappointed, but he pulled into a parking space in front of the diner.
Chapter Four
The next morning Susan was still in her pajamas of pink tank top and pink plaid boxer shorts and wishing she had bought some thick, fleecy, full length footy pajamas with how cold it was. She had a toothbrush stuck in her mouth, and her hair in a messy top knot when she heard a knock on the door to her room. Assuming it was either Margaret Tully, the owner, or her daughter Constance to tell her breakfast was ready, she pulled the door open.
Her toothbrush nearly hit the floor when her mouth dropped open. Sebastian was standing outside her door. He was dressed today in a ratty gray pull-over hoodie with a ripped front pocket, stained and threadbare jeans that were nearly white from fading and heavily scuffed and stained work boots. His hair and beard was still a matted bush that had her fingers itching for a pair of scissors and a brush.
Despite his own appearance, Susan hated that he was seeing her with messy hair, no makeup and toothpaste foam surrounding her mouth when she had so badly wanted to make a good impression. She backed up to run to the bathroom but stopped when she heard a rumble deep in his chest. Her eyes went to his only to discover that his gaze had zoned in on her ample breasts; prominently displayed by the low scoop of the tank top.
“Those are new.” He said gruffly and she nearly choked. She could feel all of the blood in her body moving rapidly upward to scald her cheeks but didn’t fail to notice that his cheeks also bloomed with color as his eyes widened. “Um, sorry… I…” He stopped speaking and cleared his throat as he tipped his head back to stare at the ceiling. It was obvious he hadn’t meant to say the words out loud and was embarrassed. Good. Why should she be the only one with pink cheeks?
Yes, she had definitely filled out since he’d last seen her when she was fifteen. In fact it was just a few months before he had left that he had witnessed one of her most embarrassing moments. She had gone to the county fair with a group of her friends; excited because it was the first year she hadn’t had to tag along with her parents and had taken extra care with her appearance. When she had spotted Sebastian standing in a group with some of his buddies she told her own group who were playing the ring toss that she would be right back. She then flipped her hair over her shoulders and proceeded to walk past Sebastian’s group using her sexiest strut; head up, breasts thrust forward, hips swinging. Unfortunately, while she was endeavoring to pretend she hadn’t seen Sebastian, she was watching him from the corner of her eye to make sure he noticed her and wasn’t paying attention to where she was stepping. As such, she didn’t notice the cables stretching across her path and the next thing she knew, she was face down on the ground. The impact of the fall didn’t hurt near as much as her stinging pride, knowing that he – and all his friends – had witnessed the whole thing.
Being the gentleman he was Sebastian had immediately come over to help her up. “Are you all right?” He asked true concern evident on his face.
Susan hadn’t been able to form words, her embarrassment practically choking her, but she had nodded.
She avoided eye contact, just wanting to escape but Sebastian cleared his throat, his hand raised to her chest level and he made a circular motion with his finger as he said, “You have something – ah,”
Susan had looked down and noticed a silky scrap of white lace with a tiny pink tag had worked its way from the scoop neck; the white stark against her black top. She had been amazed her head hadn’t exploded in a ball of flame she was so mortified.
Then to make matters worse, Mary Beth had popped her head around Sebastian’s shoulder. “What’s going on?” She had demanded and then turned her attention to Susan. “What’s this?” She asked as she grabbed the scrap of white and plucked it from Susan’s top. Holding the material aloft between her thumb and forefinger she stared at it for a moment in confusion before her face cleared and then filled with disgust. She screeched “Susan Marie Fuller, did you stuff your bra with underwear?!”
Mary Beth had been loud enough that Susan wouldn’t have been surprised if the entire county had heard her. She had wanted to die. Instead she had run away.
Susan pushed the memory aside. At least she would never have to worry about stuffing her bra again. Her breasts had then gone from barely a B to double D’s and had drawn far too much unwanted attention. Considering right now she wasn’t wearing a bra and it was cold in the room, she turned her back on Sebastian.
She pulled the toothbrush out of her mouth and motioned for him to come in and sit while she practically lunged toward the bathroom to rinse her mouth and splash cold water on her overheated face. Once she felt a bit more in control and the blood had returned to her limbs, she hurried to pull warm clothes on and brush her hair. She raised her voice to ask, “Do you want to go get some breakfast and talk? I was planning to eat here, but we could go over to the diner.”
“I like Lucy’s pie.” He said and she blanked for a moment before she remembered Lucy was the waitress at the diner who had tried to radio Sebastian for her.
He hadn’t really answered her question but she ran with it. “Um, okay, it’s kind of early for pie for me, but you can certainly have some. I’m thinking I’ll go
the more traditional route.”
“I scare people.” He said and she poked her head out the bathroom door to get a look at him. He was staring at his hands which were clasped together in his lap.
She went to him and crouched before him to try to gain his focus. “Are you banned from the diner?” She asked gently.
He shook his head, his gaze taking in her new turtleneck sweater which completely hid her cleavage. “You covered them.” He grumbled.
She couldn’t hold back the laugh that rolled from her lips despite her cheeks heating again. “It’s a little too cold for the girls,” she said with a grin.
He seemed to study her face for several long, slow beats of her heart. She wondered what he was thinking of when he looked at her, but he didn’t keep her in suspense for long. “So many changes, you look so different but you still look like you.”
She gave his knee a couple of pats and stood. “I grew up, Seb. Now let’s go get some food in my belly before I’m the one scaring people.”
When they walked out the front door of The Cedars, Susan took a deep breath of air. It hit her lungs with chilly force and nearly caused her to gasp; her exhale blooming before her in a visible cloud. The town had been coated overnight in a pristine blanket of fluffy white snow that glittered in the weak morning sun. The roads hadn’t been plowed and everything looked fresh and new. It was beautiful. She promised herself that she would make snow angels as soon as they were done with breakfast; the blanket of white was just begging for it, but she didn’t want to sit in a diner in wet clothes.
The porch and front steps of the bed and breakfast had been shoveled and a thick layer of rock salt had been laid down for the safety of the boarders, but Susan seized the opportunity to grip Sebastian’s well-muscled arm to pick her way down the steps. They walked over to the diner with her hand still wrapped around his arm and every head turned to stare as they came through the door. Susan didn’t see outright fear, mostly curiosity, but whether it was aimed at her or Sebastian, she had no idea. She picked a booth toward the back, hoping it would discourage eavesdropping.
Lucy immediately came over to greet them. “Miss Fuller, I see you were finally able to catch up with Mr. Black.” She said with a nod. “Can I get you both some coffee?”
Susan smiled. “Please, call me Susan, and I would love some coffee. Sebastian?”
Seb just grunted the word “pie” as he glared around the room at the patrons who continued to stare.
Susan smiled hoping to divert Lucy’s attention from Sebastian’s rudeness. “Okay, so I guess we’re just going to go right ahead and order; he’ll have pie and I’ll have scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast, Lucy. Thank you.”
As soon as Lucy left the table, Susan lowered her voice to a whisper. “You know, the people probably wouldn’t be so scared of you if you would stop glaring at them. You look like you’re plotting their demise.”
He stopped glaring at the townspeople to glare at her so she gave him a cheeky grin. His brow lifted and he looked a bit confused rather than menacing. “You got your braces off.” He said, as if he just realized.
Susan chuckled. “Yes, ten years is an awfully long time for someone to wear braces don’t you think? My teeth weren’t that bad.” And then, “actually, they came off a few months after you left. I still had to wear a retainer for a while, but my teeth are all nice and even now.”
“What else has changed?” He grumbled.
Susan thought about it for a moment, “Let’s see, Marcia Ritter – you remember her – well, she-“
“Not her, not them, you,” Sebastian interrupted gruffly and Susan couldn’t help but be pleased in his interest. She tucked her lips between her teeth for a moment to hide her smile and then cleared her throat.
Lucy arrived with two mugs of coffee, creamer tubs, and napkin wrapped flatware, and Susan was grateful for the interruption as the waitress said, “I have apple and blueberry pie ready right now, Sebastian.”
Sebastian turned an irritated look at the waitress and Lucy took a slight step back. “Fine” he said, and Susan wanted to smack him in the head. Would it kill him to be polite?
“Fine?” Lucy repeated. “Which would you like?”
“Both” he grumbled.
“A piece of each?” Lucy asked trying to clarify.
“No. Both pies.”
“Um, okay,” poor Lucy mumbled before hurrying away from the rude bear.
Susan raised an eyebrow. “Do you have a thorn in your paw?” She asked referring to the well-known story from Aesop’s Fables.
He raised his eyebrow as well and grunted “no”, so she lifted her butt off the seat, leaned across the table and got two inches from his face to glare into his dark eyes and quietly whispered, “Then you need to pull that giant stick out of your ass, Sebastian Black and start acting like the man I know you are instead of this caveman you’re pretending to be. It’s not attractive.”
She sat back in her seat with a huff and he grunted before clearing his throat. “You were telling me what has changed with you.” He prompted.
Susan took a sip of her coffee and thought for a moment. “Well, after I finished high school, I went to college to be an elementary school teacher. Boy, did Dad ever throw a fit about that!” She chuckled. “He wanted me to follow in his footsteps and become a lawyer and work with him at his firm. Lord knows Mary Beth certainly didn’t give him any hope of…” She stopped when she saw Sebastian’s frown and cleared her throat. “But I didn’t want to be a lawyer, I’d always wanted to be a teacher; a teacher and someday a mother to a whole bunch of kids.” She ended with a grin.
Lucy arrived with Sebastian’s two pies and Susan’s plate piled high with eggs, bacon, and triangles of buttered toast. Susan smiled brightly at the waitress hoping to change the look of uncertainty on the woman’s face. Lucy shot her a grateful smile and avoided looking at Sebastian at all. “Can I get you folks anything else?”
Susan glanced at Seb and saw that the pies had his complete attention. He sniffed them with what almost seemed like longing as he picked up his fork. Susan chuckled, “No, I think we’re all set. Thank you, Lucy.”
She nodded. “Just give a holler if you need anything,” she said backing away from their table, eager to escape. Susan just smiled and nodded before turning her attention to her food.
She’d taken about three bites when Sebastian prompted around a mouthful of pie, “So you’re a teacher now?”
Susan wiped her mouth with her napkin and then gave him a nod and a smile. “I am and I love it but I’m currently on leave.”
“Because of the war?” Sebastian asked.
“Not at first. The school I worked at had a pipe rupture and it did massive damage between the flooding and the electrical system. It was a huge mess and pretty much everything needed to be replaced. The kids have been transferred to another school temporarily and I helped out where needed but then the war hit.” She grimaced. “It’s pretty much brought everything to a standstill.”
“We need teachers here,” Sebastian said. “Malsum Pass kids have to get up really early so they can be bussed to the next town.”
Susan wondered if he was hinting that he’d like her to stay but then dismissed it as wishful thinking on her part. More than likely it was nothing more than an observation purely to add to the conversation. She looked at him and noticed his eyes were on her left hand resting on the table. She glanced at it too to see if she had dribbled butter or picked up a smudge, but she didn’t see anything unusual. His next words cleared up the mystery, “You said you wanted lots of kids but I don’t see a wedding ring.”
She blushed not wanting to admit that she had built him up so much in her mind over the years that she’d never found a man to compare to the wonderful Sebastian Black. Anytime she had even considered giving another man a chance by going out on a date she would spend the entire evening comparing the poor man to Sebastian; not tall enough, eyes not dark enough, not as interesting… Dating was just a
lesson in frustration so she’d given up for the most part. She’d never given up hope however that Sebastian would return to her someday; a foolish, childish fantasy that she just couldn’t seem to let go of. She shrugged, “I just haven’t met the right guy I guess,” she answered evasively.
Susan was relieved when he changed the subject. “Do I have nieces and nephews?”
“No,” she said gently, “Christian and Mary Beth never had any children.”
He grunted and then returned his attention to the pie. She contemplated telling him that his brother’s marriage had not been ideal, that they had both taken a string of lovers over the years and that Mary Beth had sworn she would never have children because she hadn’t wanted them to destroy her figure or interfere with her social life. She decided it was best to hold her tongue since he didn’t react well to any unsolicited information regarding his past. They were both silent for the rest of the meal.
Until You: A Malsum Pass Novel Page 3
