by Bianca D'Arc
She wasn’t sure how long the kiss lasted, but eventually, well after her senses were swimming and her equilibrium was shot, he pulled back with a soft curse. She frowned. Why was he stopping?
“I’m sorry, honey. We’re about to have company.”
He set her back from him, holding her shoulders for a moment until she had regained some of her balance, then let her go. He picked up the bag she’d dropped and stuffed some of the clothing that had spilled out back into it.
“Do you need anything else? Toiletries? Shoes?”
Her mind finally clicked back into the on position, and she reached down for a pair of flip flops she kept near her bed. She used them like slippers and sometimes wore them outside, when she didn’t have to work in the bakery. Flour-dusted sneakers were the order of the day when she was working, but otherwise, she liked lighter footwear.
She found a stray plastic bag and shoved the flip flops into it. She filled a small cosmetic case with the essentials—moisturizer, face wash, hairbrush and toothbrush. Zak took both of the smaller bags from her and put them into the overnight bag.
Just as he was zipping it up, a knock sounded on her bedroom door.
“You two about ready?” It was Brody’s voice, and he sounded perturbed.
Well, that wasn’t Tina’s problem. Brody was her sister’s husband. Let Nell deal with his moods. Tina sailed past Zak, opening the door and heading straight out into the hallway, past a frowning Brody. She didn’t look, but she kind of thought the men growled at each other for a moment before following her out of the apartment.
Tina didn’t have another chance to be alone with Zak. Brody hustled her out of the bakery and into Tom’s truck while he all but ordered Zak to go to the sheriff’s office and get the paperwork started. But she saw the way Zak’s gaze followed her, just as she kept looking at him until Tom rounded the bend in the road and Zak was lost to view.
She turned around in her seat and regarded Tom as he drove steadily toward Brody and Nell’s home in the woods. Tom seemed tense, although it would take someone who knew him as well as she did to realize it. Tina had a talent for noticing things about other people. It was like a sixth sense. She could tell by the set of someone’s jaw or the way they held their shoulders what their mood was.
“So this vampire guy showing up…” she said, placing her opening bid for conversation in the quiet of the pickup truck’s cab. “It’s a really bad thing, right?”
Tom threw her a glance and seemed to relax a fraction. “Not necessarily. We knew he’d probably come check us out sooner or later. John was aware of his yacht out there at the mouth of the cove for the past couple of days. He figured the master would come visit. We just didn’t expect him to show up quite the way he did.”
“What happened to him? Did he say anything else about it?”
She should probably have asked the question long before now, but Zak had distracted her. Oh, boy, had he distracted her. And she desperately wanted to be distracted by him again. Real soon.
“Something in the water attacked his boat. Killed the crew. Smashed the yacht. He just barely escaped.” Tom sighed, and his shoulders tensed again, ever so slightly. “Whatever’s out there, it’s not good.”
They didn’t talk much after that, each lost in their own thoughts. They picked up Nell, and then, Tom drove them all back to his place, where Ashley waited. The sisters reunited with hugs all around while the two older girls made a fuss over Tina, asking for a detailed play-by-play of what had gone down in the bakery that night.
Tom prowled around the house, leaving them alone for a bit, which Tina thought was both considerate, and a little scary. It was pretty clear Tom was keyed up, checking all the windows and doors. He even seemed to be checking the wiring of the elaborate alarm system he’d installed in the house when Ash had moved in with him.
Tina tried not to notice his stealthy movements, but his quiet vigilance was starting to creep her out. She literally jumped when his phone rang, and was glad when he went into his home office to answer questions and rustle papers. No doubt his legal expertise would be needed in dealing with the mess that had been made of the vampire’s yacht.
“I can’t believe an actual vampire walked right in to our bakery,” Ashley said, leaning against the kitchen counter, sipping the coffee she’d made for all three of them. “Was he sexy?”
“Ash, the guy was so beat up, I couldn’t really tell at first. He was scary when he arrived. His eyes were glowing. And red. Blood red.” Tina shivered, cupping the hot mug filled with coffee in both hands. “When I came back down later, he was a lot better. And he’d taken off his shirt. He wasn’t pasty white, like you see in the movies. He wasn’t tan either, mind you, but he was definitely hunky under the healing skin. Muscular. Polite. Handsome. But the freaky part was the way he healed. His torso had these parallel rows of what had to be teeth marks. They were angry and red when I first saw them, then he put a wine-soaked towel over them, drank a few bottles, and when he removed the towel, the marks were gone. Like completely gone. As if they’d never been there.”
“Brody heals fast,” Nell put in from the other side of the kitchen table. “I think all shifters probably do, but nothing like what you’re describing, and the few cuts I’ve seen heal on my guy didn’t involve wine. Brody doesn’t drink much. He says alcohol doesn’t really affect shifters the way it does humans. They have faster metabolisms, so it takes a lot more to get them buzzed.”
“Do you ever feel like Alice, after she fell down the rabbit hole?” Tina asked rhetorically, the conversation having hit a natural lull. All of them laughed at the question.
“I’m glad Zak was there to help you, though I wish it could have been one of the grizzlies. Zak is only a black bear,” Nell said absently, finishing her coffee.
“Don’t go dissing Zak.” Tina was quick to rise to the deputy’s defense. “He might not be as massive as your grizzly guys, but he’s got it where it counts. I couldn’t ask for a better protector. He got me out of harm’s way and took care of the problem. He did a great job.” Tina was angry her sister would even suggest Zak couldn’t handle anything as well as—if not better—than any other bear in town.
“Whoa. Sorry. Peace, little sis.” Nell held up her hand, palm outward. “I wasn’t dissing Zak. I think he’s a great guy. He’s just not as big as Brody or Tom.”
“Well, I’m not as tall as either of you, and I can take you both in a fight—at the same time—and you both know it.” And she had. When they were younger, they hadn’t been above a few cat fights, which Tina had always won, by being quicker, smaller and more devious.
“Methinks the lady doth protest too much,” Ashley put in from the side, having held her tongue until now.
Tina spun on her. “What?”
“I think you’re getting awfully hot under the collar in defense of a guy you supposedly barely know. Or were you lying all this time when we asked you what you thought about having a babysitter in the bakery at night?” Ashley pressed her case, like the lawyer she was.
“We’re just starting to get to know each other,” Tina defended herself. “I wasn’t lying. But tonight sort of accelerated the process. I know, for example, that I can count on him to protect me, no matter what walks in the door. So don’t you dare say anything to the contrary.” She gave Nell the stink eye for good measure.
“You know, Ash?” Nell spoke over Tina’s head. “I think you’re on to something. Sounds like our little sis might just be crushing on Barney Fife.” A grin lit Nell’s face.
“Don’t you call him that!” Tina stood, her chair clattering to the floor behind her with a crashing sound that brought Tom running from the other room.
“What’s going on?” he demanded in voice filled with tension.
“Nothing,” Ashley said, moving closer to her mate, placing one of her hands over his heart as she snugged herself against his side. “We just think Tina’s got the hots for Zak, and she didn’t like Nell calling him names.�
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Tom’s shoulders eased as he placed one arm around Ashley. His gaze sharpened as he looked from Nell to Tina, and then he smiled.
“You don’t say?” His gaze zeroed in on Tina, making her want to squirm. “What did you call him, Nell?”
“He’s the deputy, so he’s Barney Fife, right?” Nell pretended innocence, but Tina still bristled at the insulting words.
Tom tilted his head, considering his words before he replied. “You know,” he said at last, “Zak may seem easygoing about how he’s the smallest bear in our group, but he’s no less deadly than any of us. And in some ways, he’s even more dangerous than say, Big John, or even Brody. Zak’s a sniper. Did he ever tell you that?” All three women shook their heads before he continued speaking. “The man’s an artist with a rifle. Really, with most guns. Doesn’t matter the size. And he’s pretty good with a blade too. Don’t discount him because his bear is a smaller breed than my grizzly. He’s the real deal, and me and every man who served with us knew we could depend on him when the shit hit the fan.”
Tina nodded. “Like I did tonight. Zak took care of me and kept me safe.”
Tom’s gaze gentled. “And you have a bit of hero worship because of that, huh?” He smiled, softening his words. “Wouldn’t be the first time. Zak’s got a way with the ladies. Didn’t matter what hellhole of a third world country they sent us to, Zak always drew the female eye.”
Tina wanted to argue that what she felt was more than hero worship, but she didn’t want to encourage more teasing from her sisters. She kept silent but frowned, just a bit, at Tom. He seemed to understand that she wasn’t amused by his words because he backtracked a bit.
“That’s not to say that he took them all up on the offers they made. Zak’s loyal like a puppy, and when he’s with a girl, he’s with that girl, only. He’s not a player. I didn’t mean to make it sound like he was. Sorry.” Tom’s cheeks reddened a bit, and he extricated himself from Ash’s loose embrace. “If everything’s okay in here, I have to get back to work.”
“Need any help?” Ashley asked. They were setting up their law practice and were going to be partners in work as well as in life.
“Definitely, but it can wait. Catch up with your sisters. Relax a bit. The work will still be there. I’ll just get things started.”
Ash reached up to kiss him quickly before letting him go. “If you’re sure.”
“I’m sure.” He left them, heading back to his office.
CHAPTER FIVE
Tina and Nell camped out at Tom and Ashley’s place that night. The sisters all rode back to the bakery with Tom and Ashley before dawn, which was Ash’s usual time to start the bread for the day. She was still working her shift at the bakery, even though she spent her afternoons working with Tom. She was in the process of moving in with him, taking her stuff up to his place a bit at a time, but she spent all her nights at his house now, making the early-morning commute around the cove to the bakery every day.
She wouldn’t leave them in the lurch, Tina knew. Ash was solid. And even though she’d spent years earning her law degree, she really did have a gift for the artisanal breads she enjoyed baking. Still, at some point, they’d have to alter the schedule. Tina figured, with the amount of sex both Ash and Nell were currently having, one or both of them would be knocked up before the year was out.
Tina chuckled to herself as she went upstairs to her room, flopping down on the bed. She was still tired. They’d stayed up late talking and then had gotten up before dawn to get Her Ashleyness here to start the bread. It was definitely too early for Tina to be up. She worked nights for a reason. She was not a morning person.
Tina woke a few hours later, after the sun had risen and had a chance to settle into the mid-morning sky. Her first thoughts were of Zak and whether or not she’d be seeing him tonight. She whizzed through her morning routine, showering and shaving, primping and polishing, just in case she managed to get close to the hunky deputy again.
That kiss he’d given her had come out of nowhere, surprising her with its intensity and disappointing her with its brevity. If she got close to Zak again, she wanted to be sure she was ready to take things further…a lot further. Like out-of-her-pants-and-into-his further. As soon as humanly possible.
Her mental phrasing made her pause. She had to remind herself that Zak wasn’t exactly one hundred percent human. He also had that mysterious bear half that made her curious and a little tingly. Whether the tingles were from fear or anticipation, she wasn’t entirely sure. Either way, she couldn’t wait to see him in bear form and find out for herself if his fur was soft or wiry, straight or with a slight wave.
She wanted to know everything about him. Including—especially—how he made love. She’d bet his animal made him fierce in the sack, but her sisters certainly hadn’t had any complaints about their half-grizzly lovers. In fact, those sappy, satisfied smiles on her sisters’ faces made her want to join the sorority and learn, once and for all, for herself, what it was like to be with a shifter.
And not just any shifter would do. No, Tina had set her sights on Zak, and he was the one—the only one—she wanted to take a walk on the wild side with. She just had to get him alone for long enough to give it a whirl.
Tina spent the remainder of her morning primping, then went up to the roof garden to pick a fresh salad for lunch and spend a few moments spying on the cove from her high vantage point. The roof garden she and her sisters had built from scratch was one of her favorite places, and she spent a lot of time up there when the weather was nice.
Today was a bit drizzly, but she persevered, enjoying the fine mist of rain that was so light it might almost have been vapor. The skies were dark, and the cove’s waters looked spooky. Or maybe that was just because she knew, after last night’s attack on the vampire, that there was something out there in the ocean that could eat yachts.
Nevertheless, she saw one of the few fishing boats returning after a morning out on the ocean. That had to be a very brave man at the helm, to go out there after what had happened last night. Or maybe he didn’t know? Tina couldn’t imagine Big John letting any of his people go into danger without at least a warning. She decided to ask Zak. It would be something to talk about while they were passing time in the bakery…if he was still on duty tonight.
She didn’t think they’d change his routine, but she wasn’t privy to everything the sheriff and mayor did. They could easily decide Zak’s services were needed somewhere else with this new development.
Happily, Zak arrived at his usual time later that night, just as Nell was going off-shift. Her mate, Brody, picked her up just as Zak walked in, and Tina knew the men timed it that way, to keep the girls covered at all times. It made Tina feel safe after the alarming events of last night, though prior to that, it had seemed kind of silly.
Still, she couldn’t fault them for their vigilance. Not after that injured vampire had shown up on her doorstep. The boys knew a lot more about the world—this new paranormal world the sisters had just discovered—and the girls were smart enough to follow their lead.
Zak sat quietly in the corner, as he had done every night since being assigned bakery duty, as he called it. There were quite a few customers keeping Tina busy most of the night, but finally, just before closing time, things slowed down and they got a few minutes alone.
“Busy night,” Zak commented, coming over to the counter where Tina was cleaning up.
“You can say that again,” she agreed. She hadn’t even had two minutes to talk to Zak with the near-constant demands of the other guests.
“Brody radioed me a few minutes ago. You’re going to have one more visitor before closing,” he said cryptically. She wanted to ask who was coming, but he went right on speaking. “While we have a moment alone, I wanted to know if you’d like to go out with me tomorrow afternoon?”
Tina’s knees wobbled. This was it! Finally, Zak was asking her out.
“Sure.” She tried to sound casual. “I’d lo
ve to.” That was a little less casual, but his eyes sparkled, and she didn’t regret showing her enthusiasm.
“Great.” He smiled that smile that made her tummy clench. Damn, the man should come with a warning label. “I’ll pick you up around noon. How does a picnic sound?”
“Sounds like fun.” She smiled back, unable to resist. He was just so darned handsome. He made her feel good when he looked at her like that. “Can I bring anything?”
“Just yourself. I’ll take care of everything else.” His gaze held hers and that smile just kept on going…until…
The little bell over the door rang, breaking the spell.
Tina looked up to find the vampire walking in the door again. This time, he was dressed in clothes that didn’t have horrendous tears in them, and he wasn’t bleeding. And he was also surrounded by bear shifters. Big John, Brody, Tom and a few others were all trooping in behind him, like an honor guard, or maybe a guard detail.
“Good evening, Miss Baker,” the vampire said, his voice fluid and strong.
“Hello.”
Tina was out of her element. How did one speak to an ancient vampire? Was there some sort of etiquette? If so, it hadn’t been covered in her school.
“I wanted to come by before I left town to thank you for your assistance last night. You were very brave.”
Whew. If Tina hadn’t already decided to jump Zak’s bones at the earliest opportunity, her head might just have been turned by Hiram, the hottie vampire. He had a way about him that was exceedingly charming and very old world. Sexy.
But her werebear was even hotter in a more primeval sort of way. Hiram was urbane. Zak was rough around the edges but absolutely honest in everything he did, and that was something Tina truly appreciated. She’d had bad experiences in the past with guys who wanted her to believe the best about them when they really were the worst.
As far as she was concerned, meeting Zak was kind of like hitting the big winner in the lottery. He was the real deal, and her heart—picky thing that it was—had settled on him. It had taken time, but she’d gotten to know him, and now, it would be very difficult for any other man to turn her head.
