Shifters In My Sheets 2

by Amanda Jones

  She was waiting for him the next evening and started walking down the steps as soon as the car pulled up. Her hair was pulled up in front leaving the curls to cascade freely down her yellow dress.

  “Your power color again. You are stunning.” He pointed at the yellow square peeking out of his pocket. “I had a feeling.”

  “A limo this time? Very fancy.”

  He had champagne chilled and ready. “What should we toast to?”

  “Surprises,” she said with a smile.

  “To surprises … and taking chances.”

  They brought their glasses together and sipped the bubbly as the car zipped along the West Side Highway to the surprise location. Mia leaned over and kissed him, grabbing his hand and giving it a playful squeeze. “So, I’m curious about this shifting business. Can you do it for me now?”

  “Now? I got all cleaned up and fancy for you?”

  “You have all this room in the limo. Please! I miss my Max. Just one more time.” She leaned over and grazed his crotch with her hand. “Pretty please,” she whispered. “I’ll make it worth your while.”

  Her touch sent chills through his body. “Only once and only for a few minutes,” he said as he undressed. “You have to close your eyes. I like my privacy when I shift.”

  “As you wish.” She put down her champagne flute and sat quietly with her hands resting in her lap. She only opened her eyes once his nose nuzzled her lap. “Aww look at you.” She wrapped her arms around him and ran her hands along his coat. “I’m so glad you have this fur to keep you warm.” With that, she quickly gathered up his clothes and tossed them out the window, watching them float across the highway. She turned with her arms crossed and faced him. “Imagine having a diary and having someone read all your deep secrets. That’s pretty much what you did to me. I’m not angry, not anymore anyway, but you definitely deserve a little payback.”

  When the limo exited the highway, she hopped out at the first stoplight and hailed the nearest cab facing the opposite direction. Charles rolled the divider down and found Peter now sitting naked and alone.

  “That went well,” he said with a smirk.

  “Save the jokes. Please run into a store and buy me some clothes.”

  Mia made it back to her apartment twenty minutes before them. She wasn’t feeling as good about her payback as she thought she would, realizing she missed him already and may have made a grave mistake. She was about to call him when she heard honking outside. She leaned out the window to find Peter in a Knicks T-shirt and shorts that were slightly too small.

  “Nice outfit.”

  “It’s all we could find at the souvenir shop. Do you feel better?”

  She squished her fingers together. “Maybe this much.”

  “I ate a pound of dog treats for you and this is what I get?”

  She covered her mouth and tried not to laugh. “I forgot about that.”

  “Trust me. I’ll remember for both of us. Will you please come down? I really have a surprise for you.”

  “If those shorts keep creeping up, everyone on the block will get a surprise.”

  He laughed and motioned for her to come down. When they were back inside the limo, she sat next to him and grabbed both his hands.

  “I’m sorry. Thanks for coming back for me.”

  “No, I’m sorry,” he said. “For everything. I just didn’t know what else to do to make you like me.”

  “For what it’s worth, I really do like you.” She turned and straddled his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her lips against his.

  “Ouch,” he moaned. “These shorts are too small for a boner.”

  They burst out laughing as she slid back onto her own seat. “Later. I believe I owe you one.”

  The limo drove for about fifteen minutes before slowing to a halt. Charles rolled the divider down again and announced their arrival. “How about I just open the roof window, given your current wardrobe malfunction?”

  “That’ll do,” Peter said as he helped Mia to her feet.

  They emerged to find themselves in Times Square. It was crowded with noise and energy as people milled about. “Times Square? We aren’t going to be part of some crazy flash mob video, are we?”

  He shook his head. “Look behind you.”

  She turned and saw tourists snapping photos and buying hot dogs from a cart. “We’re having hot dogs?”

  “Look up.”

  She screamed when she saw her face staring back at her. There she was, all four stories of her, on an enormous billboard for Curves and Lace. She was wearing the “M” dress and holding her hands out. The Empire State and Chrysler buildings had been photoshopped into her palms along with a caption that read “Curves Rule This City.”

  “That’s me!”

  “I know!”

  “You took that photo!”

  “I know! Do you like it?”

  “I love it! I really love it!” She jumped up and down before wrapping her arms around him and peppering his face with kisses.

  “I look good!”

  “Silly, I’ve told you … you are beautiful.” He pulled her back into the limo. “I had planned for us to eat out, but I think some takeout kabobs would be better.”

  “I just want to kiss you.” She tackled him and held him down on the seat. “Tell me what happens next. Do I become a shifter?”

  “There’s no guarantee that you will be able to shift once I’ve marked you.”

  “Marked me?”

  “It does involve a bite.” She recoiled a little. “It doesn’t hurt terribly. Again, only when you’re ready.”

  “I’m ready.” She tilted her head back and moved her hair to the side exposing her neck.

  Peter couldn’t contain his laughter. “I’m not a vampire! It’s more of a love bite. I’ll put it somewhere inconspicuous like your soft inner thigh.” He growled and playfully reached for her leg. “Seriously, though, you can’t take this lightly. I really want you to think about it.”

  She nodded and bent down to kiss him again. He sat up on his elbows and looked at her nervously.

  “What’s the matter?” she asked.

  He cleared his throat. “So, I was thinking in the meantime … I could make you my mate in the traditional way.”

  “We’ve already mated,” she said with a laugh.

  “No, I mean mated as in Da-Dum-Dum-Dum.” Peter made his best attempt to hum the “Wedding March.”

  She brought her hands up to her face. “Are you asking me to marry you?”

  “I am, Mia. I am. I know it’s soon. We can have a long engagement if you like. I just want you to know how serious I am.” He then cracked a smile and said, “I had a ring for you, but somebody sent it flying down the West Side Highway in my jacket pocket.”

  “Oh my God!”

  “It was beautiful. You should have seen it,” he teased.

  “I’m so sorry. I’m an idiot.”

  “Rings can be replaced, but I haven’t heard your answer yet.”

  “Yes! Yes! Yesssssss!”

  She collapsed onto him in a flurry of kisses. Those shorts did not survive the limo ride back to his office.

  Their small wedding took place a few months later in Central Park. Jonesy, all her students, and the Sandwich Samaritans were invited guests. The mark was made in a cozy mountain cabin on their wedding night, sealing their bond even more. Mia did not inherit the ability to shift, but she did experience increased strength and agility. Much to the shock of her students, she never lost a game of H-O-R-S-E again.

  From the Author

  Thank you for reading “Billionaire Alpha Seeks Curves.” If you enjoyed the story and have time, I would appreciate if you left a review. It would help other people find and enjoy my stories. Thank you so much for your help.-----Cynthia

  Cynthia Fox's Amazon Author Page

  About Cynthia

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  Cynthia Fox lives in Cow Town, USA. Her sultry stories sustain her as much as air, water … and chocolate. Just don’t tell her conservative townsfolk, although many of them will probably end up in one of her books anyway.

  Naughty Ms. Fox enjoys writing about smoldering, hot love in both the contemporary romance and paranormal genres. Curvy heroines rule!

  If you would like to drop Ms. Fox a line, feel free to email her at: authorcynthiafox@hotmail.com or message her on Facebook.

  My Soul To Bear

  By Terra Wolf

  Book Blurb

  When Lily seeks treatment with therapy expert and bear shifter Dr. Stevens, will it be him who has the breakthrough?

  A tormented past has left Lily's love life in shambles ever since. Constant flashbacks leave her unable to emotionally connect with any man. Her mind is filled with trees, terror, and one more vivid memory, the one that has never faded. The bear that saved her.

  Best selling author, presenter, and therapy expert Dr. Robert Stevens has managed to help out hundreds of others find a fulfilling, passionate love life. Unfortunately, he has never been able to properly apply his knowledge to his own life, leaving him without a mate.

  But when he starts to work with a new patient, he is stunned to find that he actually knows her, from an event far in his past, something he had hoped would stay buried forever. With love however, things are never quite so simple. As Lily moves closer and closer to a breakthrough, Robert finds himself falling more and more for his client.

  Will the explosive truth about their past ruin him and his livelihood, or will the two of them overcome the difficulties of their past together to forge a new, stronger future?

  Chapter One

  "It was meant to be a simple night jog through the forest. A way to clear my head and to help me sleep. As my feet pounded out a rhythm on the moss-laden trails, a piercing pain went through my foot. I stopped and leaned next to a tree to catch my breath and to check on my foot. Nothing out of the ordinary found, I chalked it up to a muscle cramp. I heard twigs snapping all around me and assumed it was forest creatures or the wind rustling through the limbs. Back then I was not a fearful person. It was that moment I felt hands come from behind me and grab on to my body. My mouth was covered by a hand housed in a leather glove that tasted faintly of lemon oil. The other hand ripped the front of my shirt, exposing me to the night air. I stayed frozen in place; still as I could be except for the tremble in my legs.

  I could smell his stench. The faint scent of cigarettes and cheap whiskey clung to him. I could hear his belt buckle undo and clatter to his knees as he went to free himself from the confines of his pants. For a few moments he rubbed himself along the taunt fabric of my yoga pants. While his hand never waivered from my mouth, the other was a flurry of movements yanking my pants low enough to slide himself along the curves of my ass before thrusting it up to knead my ample breasts.

  His tongue licked my ear and he whispered vile things I won't repeat here no matter how much you say it is a 'safe zone'. Therapy or not, there are some things that aren't going to be uttered within these walls, Doctor.

  I had just felt his hardness find my opening and start to penetrate when I heard a low, guttural sound from behind. I couldn't see what was going on at first. I felt him let go and when I turned to see what was happening, that's when I saw it. My attacker laid there bleeding from deep claw-like incisions. I tried to scream but couldn't. It was then I saw it running away, something that should not be in a city park."

  "And what did you see, Lily?"

  "A bear. A large grizzly bear was running from the scene with bloody claws. It was then that I passed out."

  Dr. Robert Stevens took a few moments before ending his new client's session. The young woman had looked different that evening, but now that she had recounted the event that had cemented her inability to connect with men, he could see it was one and the same. Could he continue to counsel her knowing that he was the bear that saved her that night?

  He looked over his case notes. Lily Jacobs, 26, virgin due to violent sexual attempt, unable to sustain touch from another male.

  "Well now Lily, this seems a great time to stop. We will go over how this has affected you and ways that we can use it to move through the trauma at our next session." He tried to sound as professional as he had before, but this was one event he'd wish had stayed buried forever. Not only had he shifted in public, he had used brute force to maim another person permanently. For weeks after the event the papers had made the injured man all but a hero, not the perpetrator of a sexual assault. Just thinking about it made the Doctor queasy.

  "Thank you, Doctor. I'm looking forward to feeling normal again. To be able to date. To lose the nightmares. To be able to touch another man again without the panic attacks. I appreciate you opening up your calendar for my weekly Friday appointment; I know how busy you are." And not to mention famous for fixing even the most broken people, she thought.

  He watched her pay his receptionist, throw a little wave his way, and step out into the bright sunlight. She was his last appointment of the day and had only a simple webcam chat session with a Fortune 500 CEO who needed weekly pep talks to stay faithful to his wife. The only time Dr. Stevens failed to provide a cam session to him, which coincided to the two weeks he took off after the park incident, his client had went through six prostitutes.

  It was not the life that Robert thought he'd have, but one that was difficult to walk away from. He'd started his psychiatry career in hopes of genuinely helping people with their difficulties and now he was a dog and pony show for his Brand. Webinars, books, late night infomercials and endorsement deals all paved his way to becoming a multi-billionaire. Still, it was shallow work most days, as his prostitute-loving CEO client showed.

  It was those rare cases like Lily that made it all worthwhile. He toyed with the thought of giving up his image and go back to a simple office seeing patients. It was a pipe-dream really, as everyone had seen his face and heard his motivational speeches. He'd come too far to be able to slide back into obscurity.

  He sat and looked over his notes on Lily's case. Ms. Jacobs certainly has matured in the interim between the assault and her coming to see me. Her hair had grown and her face was softer than it had been that night in the park but she was ever bit as lovely as she was. He couldn't help but notice her earlier as she jogged past him. She was stunning and he had almost got up the courage to go find her to introduce himself. He'd walked a bit and let his bear track her. When he saw her held by that man, when he realized what the man was attempting to do to her, his bear had shifted out before Robert could stop it. Afterwards, he knew he'd lost his chance at meeting her properly.

  While he professionally applauded her strength and character that drove her to survive the attack as it replayed in her mind, he couldn't help but wonder what would have happened had he not been there. Did he worsen her memory or improve it? Did she harbor more pain and terror from the man who attacked her or the bear that nearly killed her attacker?

  Questions for another session, he thought, as he continued to jot down his thoughts and feelings about her.

  Chapter Two

  The following Thursday, Robert ducked into a local coffee shop that was mostly frequently by the younger crowd. College kids roamed about leeching off the free Wi-Fi and survived off the endless caffeine. It was one of the few places where the majority of people didn't recognize him, or did and didn't care. He ordered a bagel and a soy latte and found a quiet table out of the way. He wanted to get some research in before his next appointment with Lily, who was due in the next day.

  Deep in the middle of case files and notebooks, he wasn't paying much attention to people coming and going until he caught a familiar scent. Vanilla with hints of lemongrass, the same scent that Lily wore to her session. His head immediately snapped up to scan the room. There in line, the second person back was Lily.

  She'
d worn a blue halter-top dress and leather sandals; her hair done up in a bun. Her glasses were sliding down one side of her face, leaving an uneven appearance. Robert smiled at it.

  She took her drink, some fruity frozen concoction, and turned to find an open spot to sit when she noticed him and waved. He scurried to get her files together and out of the way before she noticed them.

  "Hey there Dr. Stevens." She said, standing beside the open chair.

  "Hey there Lily, please sit down if you'd like." He waved his hand toward the seat.