He sat up and slid his feet to the floor, pulling her onto his lap. She wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his shoulders. He was aware of how close her pussy was to his cock, which strained against his slacks, wanting more, needing more.
He pulled back to see Steph’s expression. It was one-half determination and the other half desire.
Was she doing this to prove something to herself? To him?
“What?” she said. “What’s wrong?”
“Are you sure you’re ready for this?”
“Yes, come on, let’s finish.” She unbuttoned his shirt and ran her hands over his chest and shoulders, pushing off his shirt and pulling him closer. Her mouth was on his again, urgent and eager.
He pulled away again. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You’re hurting me by not giving me what I want.”
She’d said she wanted to ‘get this over with’ and that was what he was seeing on her face. Determination. Not desire.
He didn’t want that. Even if he wanted her.
He wanted more. Much more.
He felt confused. He’d never wanted anyone as much as he wanted her, but would a quickie in his office be enough? No matter what he had said, friends with benefits might not work for him.
A second later, when the knock came on his office door, Rex realized that Liam and Mitchell had arrived early for their appointment.
“What is that?”
“It’s my nine o’clock appointment.” He leaned his forehead onto hers and groaned.
She glanced at the clock on the wall. “But it’s only 7:15!”
They needed more time. He wanted to make sure that being together was as life-changing as it could be, as he felt it would be with her.
“Do you want me to tell them to come back?”
Steph shook her head and gathered her clothes together. She pointed towards a door in the side wall.
“Where does that door go?”
“It’s a patient room that connects with the hallway. Do you want to slip away?”
“Yes.” She started to get off his lap.
“Hey, come here.” He pulled her back to him. “We need to talk later. No waiting twenty-four hours. I am going to see you. Today.”
“Okay,” she said.
“Come back at your break this morning.” He wasn’t asking.
“Okay. I will.”
He hugged her tenderly and they both took a moment to let their pulses come down to earth.
And then she was gone.
Rex straightened the couch and his clothing.
He took another moment to gather himself. Then he opened the door and greeted Mitchell and Liam.
“You’re early!” He tried to look happy about it.
“A little overeager probably,” Liam admitted. “Mitchell is having a good morning, so I thought we should capitalize on it by getting down here as soon as possible.”
“Come in, sit down.”
Mitchell was a pale, thin shifter in his late twenties. Rex could see the canine in him, the pointy teeth and sharp features. He could smell the wolf in him even more, pungent and fresh.
He took Mitchell’s vital signs and they were all sluggish except higher than normal blood pressure. Nothing too unusual.
“Now I’m going to ask you five questions. Are you ready?” Rex said, kindly. “Tell me your full name.”
“Mitchell van Deusen.”
“And your age?”
“I am ageless.” Mitchell jutted out his jaw, as if daring Rex to disagree.
“Have you forgotten how old you are?”
“Have you forgotten how old you are?” Mitchell sneered. He was becoming belligerent. Not a good sign.
“Who is your best friend?”
“Friends are for losers. I don’t have friends.”
“Are you a man or a wolf?”
“This is ridiculous. I’m a man, the same as you.” Mitchell leapt from the chair and grabbed Rex by the collar.
Rex immediately flung him off and Liam restrained him.
“Calm down. We’re all done.” Rex held up his hands. “No more questions.”
“He needs a tranquilizer,” Liam spit through his teeth, his eyes narrowing as he worked to hold Mitchell still.
“He needs a blood test. After I draw blood we can tranquilize him. Just restrain him for a few minutes.”
Mitchell made it as hard as possible, twisting back and forth in Liam’s arms, but eventually Rex got a vial of blood out of him. He gave him a shot of a gentle tranquilizer.
“Get him out of here. Call me tomorrow.”
“Tell me now. Does he have it? Is it the same disease?” Liam demanded. He wasn’t going anywhere until he got an answer.
“It might be. I’ll need to get the blood results back first. Call me tomorrow morning.”
After Liam and Mitchell left his office, Rex ran upstairs to drop off the vials at the lab.
His exam of Mitchell had been very useful. Only a blood test would show for sure, but Mitchell was likely suffering from Illness X. There was a very good chance it had jumped species. This felt like an important piece of the puzzle.
If wolves had the disease too, what was carrying it from one species to the next? Both were infected from travelers from Canada.
Another piece of the puzzle.
Was this the breakthrough Rex had been waiting for?
Rex knew of a doctor in Canada who was also a bear shifter. It was time to take a trip to see him. He would leave in the morning.
When Rex returned to his office, Steph was waiting for him with that same determined look on her face, her muscles clenching along her jaw.
“For friends with benefits, we don’t get to the benefits part very often,” she said.
“But we’re friends, so we don’t mind too much, right?”
“No, wrong. We mind a lot.” She was out of breath and reaching for him as soon as he closed the door. She wanted him and he wanted her just as much.
Fuck it. He would give them both what they wanted. He took her in his arms, enjoying how easily she moved to him.
“Do you have any more appointments?” she asked.
“Not until tomorrow morning.”
“Lock the door.” She licked her lips.
“I already have,” he said, pulling her closer with a determination of his own. He kissed her deeply and she melted into him with all her softness.
This time there was no stopping them.
He pressed her back onto the couch and pushed off her scrub bottoms, pressing his face into her warm center, while cupping her magnificent ass. She was wet and ready, so he slipped a finger into her slit while he licked and nibbled her clit as she dissolved under him.
“Now,” she said, pulling him up to her, yanking off her top. “I want you inside me.”
He dropped his clothes, put on a condom, and slid up her body until he was hovering above her on the sofa.
She grabbed his ass, pulling him, urging him.
“Come on!” she said, kissing his chest, licking his nipples.
He plunged his cock into her and the explosion of pleasure felt so good and right and whole. She matched his rhythm stroke for stroke, both urgent to finish, exploding together at climax and then collapsing into each other.
He pulled his head back to look at her face. She looked satisfied, no longer determined, just at peace. A slow smile spread across her face.
“Hello, friend,” he said, smiling back at her.
“Nice benefits,” she said, starting to laugh.
It was enough for now. But how long could he go until he told her they were fated mates?
9
Text Messages
REX:
<3
STEPH:
You’re not supposed to contact me. We had sex yesterday. It’s still within 24 hours.
REX:
I’m not supposed to call. This is a text.
STEPH:
Still coun
ts.
REX:
Does it, though? The rule clearly stated, no calls. I feel that should have been more clear if texts were included. Maybe we need to have dinner tomorrow night and review the rules more closely. Maybe dinner needs to be a giant pizza delivered to my bed.
STEPH:
I’ll see you tonight at Zach and Amy’s housewarming.
REX:
I’m driving to Canada. I’ll be back this afternoon if you change your mind.
STEPH:
I won’t change my mind.
REX:
It’s fine if you do. Really. ;-)
10
“We’re friends with benefits!” Steph told Amy and Cleo her big news. “Rex is dreamy.”
“Get it, girl!” Cleo said.
“I really like Rex!” Amy added. “From the first time I met him I wondered if the two of you would hit it off.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“I did. He’s gorgeous and single. And he loves medicine and helping people, just like you.”
“A match made in heaven,” Cleo said. “Bear shifters, though? Really? What is with you two?”
“Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it, am I right?” Amy said.
She and Steph high-fived.
“I like your bears, who wouldn’t? But I think I’d prefer a wolf shifter, wild and alpha. Rawr.” She pawed the air with her hands.
Amy and Steph dissolved into giggles.
The roommates and best friends were cleaning their apartment together for the very last time. From here on out, it would be just Cleo and Steph’s apartment. Amy was moving into Zach’s place that night.
“Our place,” Amy said, packing the last of her boxes of books.
“Your place together. Of course it’s yours too.” Steph said. “And we’ll always have a place for you here if you need it. And in our hearts, even if you don’t.”
They had considered bringing in a third roommate to take Amy’s place, but had decided to just let the space work for the two of them.
“It feels like I’m packing a lot of boxes these days. First my store. Now my third of this apartment.”
“More like half. Look at all this stuff,” Cleo said.
“What time will the men arrive to get the boxes?” Steph asked.
“A half hour or so. We still have girl time,” Amy said. “I want details about Rex. How did you move so fast on your friends with benefits plan?”
“He just seemed so ready. And I was ready,” Steph said. “The minute he heard about it, he wanted to do it.”
“Are you surprised?” Cleo asked. “What man doesn’t jump at the chance for no-strings sex with a hot woman?”
“Or any woman.” Amy grinned. “Although you are definitely hot. Way hot.”
Cleo agreed, “Totally hot.” She returned to cleaning the counter tops in their kitchen.
Their apartment was large with high ceilings. They designed the interior after they had all seen the Baz Lurhman movie, Moulin Rouge. It had red painted walls and the windows were hung with purple drapes and ropes of pearls. Twinkling lights were strung around the ceiling. Thanks to Cleo’s skill with design, the apartment still managed to be both cozy and airy.
“The thing is, though, being with Rex makes me want to have a real relationship.” Steph sat back on her heels, taking a break from dusting the bookshelves that had held Amy’s books. “Let’s face it, I’m a romantic.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Amy said. “Also, don’t forget to take care of yourself, okay? You’re perfect just the way you are. Romantic isn’t bad.”
“Isn’t it?”
“Definitely not,” Amy said. “You just have to find the right one to be romantic with.”
Cleo said, “It’s okay to take a break from romance if that’s what you want. You don’t have to always put your heart on the line.”
“I don’t know if I can do it any other way.”
“So you’re giving up on the whole friends with benefits thing?”
“No, I didn’t say that.”
“What then?”
“Maybe he’s just not the right person.”
“But I like him for you,” Amy said. “I can totally see you two together.”
“That’s the problem. The timing is all wrong.”
“How was the sex?” Cleo asked, of course. You could always count on her to go straight to the heart of the matter.
“It was great. More than great. Amazing.”
“So why would you want to stop?”
“I don’t know.” And she didn’t know. Her fear of getting hurt again had never stopped her before. Why should it now? Something about Rex made Steph feel particularly cautious, even though she couldn’t wait to see him again. “Maybe it was too great.”
“Impossible!” Cleo was shocked.
Steph had to laugh. Sometimes she took herself too seriously. She knew this.
The front door burst open.
“The cavalry is here!” Zach had arrived and so the girl talk ended. He'd brought two friends—Thomas and Riley—and two six-packs of golden ales.
“Where should we start?” he asked, kissing Amy tenderly.
“Bedroom?”
“I’ll show you her closet. Might as well start with the big-ticket items.” Cleo took them down the hallway. “Now don’t be shocked...”
“Where is Rex? He can’t help today?” Amy asked Steph when they were alone.
“He had to go to Canada this morning to talk with another doctor. He’ll be at the party tonight.” She suddenly felt disappointed, but tried to hide it. This was Amy’s day. “How do you feel about moving in together?”
“So excited. Loving Zach has been the most wonderful gift. I’ve never felt so safe and sure and happy.” Amy took Steph’s hand. “Don’t throw away what you have with Rex. Bear shifters can be a pain in the ass, but they more than make up for it, in so many ways. Promise me you’ll give him a chance?”
“I promise,” Steph said.
And at that moment, she really meant it.
Once they had everything moved into the 152 Market penthouse, Steph and Cleo took over Amy and Zach’s guest bathroom to shower and get ready for the party.
Steph wore a lavender dress that cut low over her cleavage and wrapped around her waist with a tie. She stepped into high-heeled sandals.
Cleo wore a red flowered cat-suit with sky-high heels and, as usual, made it work.
As Steph slathered rose-scented lotion over her bare legs, she remembered Rex’s hands on her body. Would he want to be alone with her after he got back from Canada? How would she feel to see him?
“I have butterflies,” she told Cleo.
“Great sex will do that, doll.”
They both smiled and hooked arms and went to find Amy in the front of the loft.
The housewarming was in full swing by the time they joined the party. More than a dozen bear shifters and other friends drank ales and devoured food from the scrumptious buffet that Amy and Zach had laid out. Steph saw miniature hamburgers and grinders, and platters heaped with golden, crispy French fries.
Her stomach grumbled. She had worked hard all day and had an appetite to match. She didn’t want to eat, though, if Rex would be there. She didn’t want him to walk in and see her mid-bite. She didn’t even remember where she had learned to deprive herself from eating her fill around men. It was just what she had always been taught.
Just in case she moved to the other side of the room from the buffet.
Steph considered herself a quiet extrovert. She loved meeting new people and loved to talk with them, but sometimes she just liked to sit on the side of a party and watch everyone.
It wasn’t long though before Zach’s friends, Thomas and Riley, arrived to distract her with their jokes and funny stories. Although she enjoyed them, Steph kept one eye on the door and the other on her cell phone, waiting for Rex.
What was keeping him?
11
&n
bsp; Text Messages
REX:
On my way. ETA 11 pm. Wait for me?
STEPH:
I’ll be here.
12
Rex was stunned.
As he drove back to Seattle, he tried to figure out what to do about the bear shifter doctor he had just met in Canada.
Dr. Jonathan Kinney’s clinic was in a lovely coastal village near the Great Bear Rainforest. Kinney looked like someone who would play a doctor in a television show, with a tuft of white hair and messy eyebrows. His hazel eyes twinkled behind wire frame eyeglasses.
Miraculously, Dr. Kinney had dealt with Illness X for decades. It took Rex a few minutes of talking with him to realize how he had done it, but he finally realized that Kinney kept the illness from destroying his clan by culling bear shifters when they got sick.
He killed them.
“You mean to say that you take a gun and kill your own clan? You’re a doctor. Sworn to heal.” It was appalling.
Kinney’s practice seemed very quiet overall. No one else was in the clinic with them, no nurses or other doctors. No wonder, if Kinney was killing off his patients.
“It’s not easy; I don’t like it; but it’s the only thing that works,” Kinney had said from behind his massive desk. “And by the way, I don’t use a gun. I have a painless drug that I’ve developed personally that puts the beasts to sleep. Forever.”
“Beasts? Sleep?” Rex was still shocked. “How could you?”
“Sit down, doctor. Not everything is black and white.”
“I’m listening.” Rex stayed rooted on his feet.
“Clans throughout the northern territories have relied on culling ill animals for many years. We don’t have a problem with the disease like you do. The last breakout of illness was in 1997.”
“Shifters aren’t animals. They’re intelligent and each one is precious.”
Damn right! His bear was up and ready to battle.
“I don’t want to talk politics with you, doctor. You drove all the way up here. You want to hear what I have to say or not? Because there’s the door and there’s the highway.”
Shifters in Seattle: Box Set Books 1 - 5 Page 11
