by Lauren Dane
“Now you’re just showing off.” She gave in and giggled because he was ridiculous and she never even stood a chance. Mercy.
He flashed her a grin. “Is it working?”
“I’m here on a Saturday morning. The sun has only been up like two hours. So I’d say yes.”
Jace slowed until she reached him. “Despite all your complaining, we’re nearly there. See that bend ahead?” He spun and turned to walk side by side with her on the trail.
If there was another mountain around that bend she was going to kick him in the balls.
“You’re not even sweating. I hate you.”
He picked her up and began to jog up the trail until he’d rounded the bend and the trail opened up with the lake down below, glittering in the sun.
“Wow.”
“You’re barely even winded. I can hear your heart rate, you know,” he said as he set her on her feet. “You’re in good shape for a city girl.”
“You clearly ignored all that wheezing this last half a mile or so.” Straight up a mountain like a Sherpa. Only she was not anywhere near that level of athleticism.
“Next time I’ll give you a piggy back ride.”
“You’re totally serious.” Katie Faith grinned as she shook her head.
“What?” He shrugged his pack free and pulled her closer. “Why be with a werewolf if you can’t enjoy all the perks?”
It shouldn’t make her all tingly. This was sort of caveman. Ish. Caveman adjacent. But it was just so...sexy when he did it.
“You make me want to take risks, Jace Dooley,” she told him.
His grin again, this time it was all utter male certainty. “Yeah?”
She nodded. Katie Faith wanted to throw her head back, laughing at the beauty of this exact moment. Exhilarated that this male in the absolute prime of his life wanted her so much.
Showed off and preened for her.
It turned her head. Big time. And did marvelous things for the other parts of her. Jace was different. Different from anyone else she’d known. Different even from the boy he’d been years ago.
“You’re the equivalent of eating dessert first.”
His smile, before he claimed her lips with his own, was delighted.
A few minutes later they sat on the blanket he’d brought, drinking coffee and eating honey buns. Those he’d brought too.
“You’re spoiling me,” she said, licking her fingertip. “Not the hiking part. Just to be clear. That’s me spoiling you.”
“Goddamn, Katie Faith.” He laughed. “I really do like you.” He flicked the pad of his thumb over her bottom lip. “I am spoiling you. Glad you noticed.”
She went still as she thought about that. Looked out over the lake as wispy clouds passed overhead here and there.
He didn’t say anything else. Giving her space to process. This was serious for him. This date, the view and the treats, they were the werewolf equivalent of candy and diamonds. He gave her some flash, some romance, a piece of something he loved. Showing her his belly in one way.
Much like the ass, his belly was spectacular.
She wanted him right back. Wanted him more than anything else she’d ever wanted. So she slid her fingers with his, palm to palm, holding on as they sat shoulder to shoulder.
She answered the question he hadn’t spoken. Are you ready for what this relationship is going to be? What I am? “Okay then.”
He snorted, squeezing her hand slightly.
Okay then.
He was next in line to be Patron. A very eligible bachelor. He’d pretty much declared his intentions to her and she’d said, okay then.
Somehow though, it seemed fitting. He liked it. Liked that she accepted what he was. Liked the speed of her pulse when he’d touched her bottom lip. She wasn’t a fawning innocent. Nope, not one bit.
She knew what she wanted. And he loved that.
What she wanted was him, which he also liked quite a bit.
“That smile you’re giving me is pretty intoxicating.” She rolled over to pick a nearby flower and in one easy movement was back at his side
He nearly choked on his tongue at how lithe the movement was. Oh and the lovely jiggle of her boobs.
“I hear you let your beard get bushier over the winter. I didn’t see that and I’m bummed. You’ll need to do it again this year so I can get a firsthand look,” she told him.
Somehow they’d gone from relationships to his beard with no real discernable transition.
“You were discussing my beard with people?”
Katie Faith kissed his neck, at the hollow behind his jaw.
“Not just your beard. You in general. Your brothers. Hotness of shifter boys with all that hair of yours. You’d never allow me to take a picture after I tucked wildflowers in your beard, right?”
“You’re amusingly random just now, Katie Faith. But as it comes with kisses, I’m going along with it.”
“No, would you? I mean, I saw someone who posted a photo of her boyfriend and he’d had all these wildflowers tucked in it. His beard, I mean. I remember thinking it was so sweet that he’d allowed it and then I laughed and thought it was probably just so he could keep on seeing her boobs.”
“Boobs are a great motivator, in my personal experience. I’m pretty simple that way. And I suppose if it got me a sight of your boobs, I might just let you tuck flowers in my beard.” If she was straddling him, shirtless as she did it. Yeah, that would be okay.
“And let me post a picture up on social media?”
He rolled her to her back, pinning her with his lower body. “Now you’re being greedy.”
“I totally am. Will you discipline me?”
He rolled his hips, grinding his cock into her so they both sighed softly. Longing.
“You’re a dirty one, huh?” God he hoped so.
She looked up at him, coy but artfully, purposefully so. “I never really thought so, but now I guess yeah. When it comes to you, I’m filthy.”
“I love that answer.” He dipped down to kiss her, a brush of lips, hers so soft and warm. Inviting. Her taste, sweet lord, the way her magic seemed to burst through his system when he slid his tongue along hers. Her sigh was as delicious as her taste.
Katie Faith slid her fingers through his hair and then did it again, this time lightly scoring her nails over his scalp until he moaned. She tugged when he tried to move away, holding him close enough to nip at his bottom lip.
A shock of sensation moved through him, driving his senses. More.
He settled in, resting in the cradle of her hips, letting himself drown in the taste and feel of her.
Magic surged between them as her eyes flew open. She arched on a gasp. “Wow.”
“Yeah.”
“More,” she said, tugging his hair to underline her point.
“Katie Faith.” He paused to suck in a breath, which didn’t help at all because all he breathed in was her and the magic they’d just made.
The pout on her mouth battered his control.
“I’m glad you know my name. Now, get back to it,” she snarled.
“Christ. You’re killing me,” he said, torn between laughing and giving in to her demand. “To be blunt, I’m not in high school anymore. If this goes on much longer it’s going to be a lot more than second base.”
She nodded. “Yes.” Again with the hair pulling.
“Out here. Outside. On a blanket,” he added.
This time her nod was more annoyed. “I’m fully aware of my surroundings. You picked a nice soft spot. The ground under the blanket is dry and if it wasn’t, I’d be on top because this hiking thing was your idea anyway so if there’s a wet spot you get it.”
Her delivery was so matter-of-fact there was nothing else he could
do but laugh. “I just thought the first time between us should be in a bed and maybe a lot more romantic.” Jace didn’t want her thinking he was going to shirk on the romance, after all.
“I’m on the pill. Shifters are blessedly STD free. You’re here with a remarkable package behind your zipper. I’m here saying use it on me, Jace. This is my ground. The magic here is good.”
To underline that, she spread her arms out wide as she smiled, breathing in deep. The magic seemed to mist around her and his wolf wanted to roll around in it.
Generations of witches had lived and worked their gifts in Diablo Lake. The land had absorbed it, been fed by it and in turn gave it back to them. Jace had understood this in his head, as he’d been raised and learned about his history and that of the town.
But he hadn’t understood the symmetry of it, the perfect symbiosis between witch and earth until right then as he looked at his gorgeous woman.
“I’ve never in all my life seen anything as beautiful as you,” he told her because the truth was easily given as a gift.
Her smile deepened. “Thank you.”
Possession seemed to fill him. Triumph that such a creature would be his.
“You can fuck me in a bed when we get back home later today,” she said and then gave him a look that had him whipping his shirt off. “That’s what I’m talking about.”
Whistling sounded a ways down the path, followed by laughter.
“Are you kidding me?” he snarled, snatching the shirt back up and getting it on before anyone came upon them. “It’s Damon and Major.” Those shitheads were the worst cockblock ever.
Katie Faith laughed. “At least they didn’t come upon us ten minutes from now.”
They stumbled around that last bend, waving and calling out greetings as they did. Jace frowned hard but they ignored him, plopping down on the blanket like pups begging for scraps.
“Why are you here?” he demanded. “I’m sure you two have a job somewhere.” It was a late summer day, with plenty of tourists still willing to pay for an experienced guide.
“We had a sunrise paddle with a tour and we just dropped them at the Mercury Falls. We figured you’d be around here somewhere.” Damon’s grin told Jace he knew exactly what he was doing.
Jace sent him a look right back that he hoped made clear just how even he was going to get with his brothers for this.
In the meantime they were eating Katie Faith’s pastries and guzzling the coffee he’d brought for her. And he was not currently having sex with her, which he would have been if those two knuckleheads hadn’t shown up.
Jace leaned down to snatch the bakery box away as his hard-on died a thousand deaths. “Those are Katie Faith’s. You don’t need to eat anything else.”
“I don’t mind sharing,” Katie Faith said.
“If you’re nice to them they’ll only stay.”
Katie Faith rolled her eyes and then smiled prettily at his brother, who’d been flattering her.
Just to poke at Jace.
Ugh.
“I think I know a few things about werewolves,” she told him as he helped her to her feet. “It’s not so bad to have them around.”
Damn.
She made him tender in ways he hadn’t known were possible.
“We were getting ready to head back anyway,” Jace told his brothers. He had a bed and a door that locked and plans to use one on her and the other on Damon and Major.
Damon showed her a patch of wild strawberries, presenting them to her with a flourish. The same ones Jace had planned to point out to her on their way back.
He mouthed, I’m going to fuck you up, to his brothers as they headed back down the trail.
Chapter Seven
Over a week later, Katie Faith still hadn’t consummated her relationship with Jace, which was frustrating, but also sort of fun.
He got delightfully annoyed when work had called, or one of the jillions of Dooleys popped over just to say hey and interrupt him when he was hurriedly trying to get her laying down or backed up against stuff.
And when he wasn’t being interrupted, she was. Katie Faith had had to make a run, two hours away, to pick up a new fridge for her parents because their old one up and died.
Aimee had helped get all their food into the cold case at the Counter while Katie Faith had gone to get the refrigerator. All in all, it had taken up most of the day and that night she had a girlfriends’ night out so if she planned to ever end up in Jace’s bed, she might have to steal him away to Knoxville or something just to have him to herself long enough to gain some carnal knowledge.
Unlike that hopeful anticipation, the dread over the looming confrontation with Darrell, rat-eating-pigdog-cheater, Pembry sank in her belly like a stone.
She’d heard he was looking for her, but since she worked in the same place every day, she wasn’t hard to find and frankly, she wasn’t really looking forward to seeing his face when he finally found his balls and decided to man up and face her.
It would happen, one way or another so she wasn’t that surprised to look up to see him just a few feet away, looking like the egg sucking dog he was. Even so, she groaned as she slowed her pace.
“I thought I smelled dog poop. I thought you’d stepped in some.” Aimee first looked to Katie Faith and then over to Darrell where he stood blocking the sidewalk in front of Salt and Pepper. There was a crowd inside who’d all, of course, turned to watch the much anticipated confrontation.
“Turns out it’s just the dog crap you nearly married.” Aimee sneered up at Darrell and his handsome boy face darkened. “You so dodged a bullet, Katie Faith. Hell, he’d probably have loved it if you changed your name to Kit.”
“Are you ever going to let that go?” Katie Faith asked Aimee with a snicker. “I swear you hold on to stuff for years. Like a hoarder.”
Aimee flailed her hand, gesturing toward Darrell. “I kept my mouth shut about this lumbering moron and look what happened. I can’t in good conscience allow you to continue believing you’re suited to be called Kit. I need to crush all your pretensions in that direction or you’ll try it again later. Like a goldfish.”
That made Katie Faith guffaw. “You’re a real friend. Please do feel free to tell me if I’m about to marry a hairball on legs, though, okay?” Katie Faith, now that she and Aimee got warmed up, really would have been just fine if they’d kept on walking and left this scene behind.
She linked arms with Aimee and continued on their way.
Naturally, Darrell needed to ruin that by blocking their path. “You’re not needed here, Benton.” The thin veneer of his charm slipped away as he spoke to Aimee, who curled her lip, crossing her arms and standing her ground next to Katie Faith.
Katie Faith wanted to punch him in the tin cans right then for being such a jerk all the time. Other big men didn’t find it necessary to push folks around with their size. But he was barking up the wrong tree if he thought he could scare Aimee.
Laughter came from her then. Barking up the wrong tree. Aimee turned to her, smiling and waiting for Katie Faith to share the joke.
“I was just thinking how he was b-barking up the wrong tree if he thought he could scare you.”
Aimee looked at her blankly for a moment and then got the joke, laughing along with her.
“Did he do that? Bark while you were, you know...” Aimee made the universal makeout sign, wrapping her arms around herself and making smoochy faces.
It was so terribly inappropriate Katie Faith got the church giggles and couldn’t stop.
Finally, Darrell, grumpy he wasn’t the center of attention, cleared his throat. “Grow up, Katie Faith.”
Which was sort of like gasoline on a campfire. Her amusement melted away into anger. She needed to grow up? Her head snapped as she narrowed her eyes at him
“Why are you blocking our way like a big, empty-headed sack of rocks?” Katie Faith demanded.
“I heard you’d moved back home.”
She looked at him, waiting for more until she sighed. “Yes. As you and everyone in town knows, I’ve moved back.”
He crowded her just a little more, getting in her space. Katie Faith didn’t allow herself to move back. Darrell was playing some sort of dominance game and if she didn’t stand up to him, he’d never let her be.
He growled a little but eased back.
“We don’t need to have anything to do with each other. I live here but that’s really the only thing we have in common these days. And I’m cool with that.” Katie Faith added a hand at her hip because what she wanted to do was punch him.
“I’d been hoping you could finally let go of your grudge. Come on, let’s not fight. We were close once.” He sent his patented guaranteed get to second base on the first date smile her way. “There’s no need to go turn your nose up at any other Pembry wolves because of old history. You don’t need to go lowering yourself to Dooley level.”
Katie Faith curled her lip. That was what this was about? “You get an A-plus at insulting and patronizing.” Gah, she couldn’t believe she’d actually let him get to second base once upon a time. Probably more than once. And way more than second base. But whatever.
“Yes, I’m back. No, I don’t wanna be best friends and hold your hair back when you’re sick. Yes, I’m sorry to see you’re still a pimple on legs. Yes, I hope your wife can handle the skid marks you leave on your underpants. Lastly, have a nice day, Darrell Wayne.” She fake-smiled at him and started to move around his body when he shifted, pressing her against a nearby wall.
His face was a mask of anger, his wolf very close to the skin. It scared her almost as much as it made her spitting mad. Darrell’s nose nearly touched hers as he spoke. “Got anything to say now? Huh? All talk and then nothing? You used to use your mouth for something a lot better.” Sneering, he used his chest to press her back harder, the bricks digging through her shirt.
Aimee ordered him to stop from where she stood to his right. He ignored her, keeping his attention on Katie Faith. Using his wolf to attempt to control her. Using his size to scare her into compliance.
