by Jane Jamison
He took a deep breath. “If that’s how you want to take it, then I’m sorry.”
She had to take her own deep breath when his mesmerizing eyes swept over her, then fixed on her face.
“I just don’t want to see you hurt.”
Funny how she could suck in a big breath and yet feel like she didn’t have any air in her lungs. He meant what he said. That was hard to ignore.
“You don’t?” She was milking it, hoping he’d show even more concern for her well-being.
“Of course I don’t. Now that I’ve found you, losing you would tear my soul out.”
Not his heart. His soul. Wow.
“I don’t remember you being so dramatic.” He’d told her sweet words while he’d made love to her back then, but nothing that extreme. If any other man had said the same thing, she would’ve laughed. Yet laughing was the farthest thing from her mind.
“Yeah, I guess. And my brothers would rag me up, down, and every which way, if they’d heard it. I just wished I’d said as much last time. Maybe then you wouldn’t have run off.”
She wondered if her face was turning red to match her hair. “Or I might’ve run even faster.” She shot him an I’m kidding look.
“Then I’m glad I kept my trap shut.” He frowned. “Does that mean you’re going to run off this time?”
Hell, no.
“Maybe.” She loved that his frown deepened. “Or not.”
“Make it not. I’ll tone it down, if you want me to.”
She didn’t want that, but she also didn’t want to admit that she liked his over-the-top declarations. Instead, she’d let him stew about it. No need to let him get too comfortable already.
“I searched for you.” Talk about screwing up her plan of making him uncomfortable. She hadn’t meant to let the thought slip out, but there it was. Her words were scattered in the air like Mitsy’s glitter with no way to pull them back in.
“You did?”
She couldn’t deny it. Not after outing herself. “Yeah, I did. But since I didn’t know your last name, the search dead-ended almost before it began.”
“I know. It’s harder than you might think to find someone. Even knowing their full name. I know because I tried to find you, too. My brothers helped, but we still came up empty.”
Oh. Wow. Double wow. We’ve gone from zero to sixty so fast.
“Yeah. Well, try finding a man named Tony. Unless you’re well-known like Oprah or Cher, it sucks.”
He laughed, then tossed his napkin on the table. “How about I walk you back to Dorrie’s when you’re finished? If I can’t talk you out of going into the woods alone, then at least let me do that.”
“How’d you know that’s where I’m staying?”
“Because there’s nowhere else you can stay. Unless, of course, you’re planning on sleeping in a tent in the woods.”
As much as she preferred a soft bed with hot food coming from a kitchen, she’d planned to do the camping bit. After all, she hoped to find the white wolf howling at the big full moon. That would make one hell of a photo.
“Shit. You are, aren’t you?”
He could still read her like he’d done back then. “Not every night. And not tonight. But yeah. I figured I might have a better chance if I did.”
His groan told her what he thought of that idea. “I guess I’m going to have to kidnap you and tie you up in my cabin to keep you safe.”
The vision of Tony wrapping bindings around her wrists and tying them to the head posts of a large bed whipped through her. She uncrossed, then crossed her legs, and squeezed again.
If she didn’t get her mind away from the delicious thought, she’d throw her body over the table and jump him right then and there. Mitsy could sprinkle glitter over them as she rode him.
“Wait. You have brothers?” Could there be more than one Parker man? If they were anything like Tony, then she wanted to see. And touch.
“Yeah. Didn’t I mention them in Vegas?”
“Nope. At least I don’t think so.”
“Well, I do. Both older than me. Nick’s a year older than me and more like me. You know, more fun-loving. The oldest one, Eric, takes being the big brother thing too far sometimes.”
“Eric? Eric Parker. Oh, my God, I should’ve made the connection before now. I met him at Warton’s Mercantile.”
“You did?”
“Yeah. He was there when I told Sugar Foot why I came to Lost Hills.”
His boisterous laugh echoed around the room, turning heads. “I’m surprised he didn’t try and run you off.”
“No, but it was obvious that he didn’t like what I have planned.”
“Let me guess. You didn’t let a Parker man talk you out of it.”
“Nope. I didn’t. So stop trying, okay?”
He downed the rest of his beer. “I’m not promising anything.”
“So have you and your brothers lived in Lost Hills for a long time?”
“All our lives.”
“And you never wanted to live anywhere else?” Her family had moved many times when she was growing up. To have roots, a history living in one place, was something she’d always wished she’d had. But she couldn’t change the past, so why dwell on it?
“Hell, no. Why would I? Lost Hills is the best place on the face of the earth. Our family has lived here for generations.”
“Doing what?” She winced. “I’m sorry. I can be kind of blunt at times. It’s just that, there’s not much to do here as far as I can tell. How do you make a living?”
“You’d be surprised at what folks do. Besides, we don’t need much money. People help their neighbors out. Plus, we’re a thriving little community and fairly self-sufficient. As for me and my brothers? Like every Parker before us has done, we run the Lonesome Trail Ranch.”
“Do you have cows and chickens and all that Old McDonald kind of thing going on?”
His laugh was as infectious as his smile. “We run some cattle and have horses. And yeah, we even have a few chickens.”
“You’re an honest-to-God cowboy, huh?”
He crossed his heart. “Honest to God. You’ll have to visit the ranch.”
“I just might do that. If that was an invitation.”
“Oh, that was definitely an invitation.”
She liked toying with him. It was like the banter she’d had with his brother, but lighter. “Okay, but only if I don’t have to shovel any horse poop.”
“’Course not. What do you think we are? Barbarians? We wouldn’t dream of making our guest muck out the stalls.”
“That’s a relief.”
“Of course, you’re going to have to get up at the break of dawn, fetch some eggs from under the hens, then cook up a mess of bacon along with a big pot of black coffee. You know. The easy stuff.”
“Oh, sure. I do that every morning anyway.”
She liked that their laughter mixed well together. She felt comfortable with him as though five years hadn’t separated them from their first meeting. Yet feeling comfortable wasn’t the only thing she felt. She wanted him, more than she’d wanted him in Vegas.
Just because she was there on business didn’t mean she couldn’t have a little fun, too.
“Are you ready to head on back?”
She didn’t care that she still had food left on her plate. Walking with Tony would feed more than her body. “I’m ready.”
* * * *
The walk back to The Sleepy Time Bed and Breakfast was too short for Livi’s liking. She could’ve walked and talked for hours with Tony.
“Here we are.”
He glanced at the old Victorian-style house that had seen better days. The white paint was peeling and one shutter hung cockeyed. She hadn’t noticed its disrepair earlier since she’d been happy to find any place other than her car or the tent for the night.
“I could kick my butt.”
“I don’t know why you’d do that, but I’d like to see you try.”
“I just
now remembered promising Dorrie that I’d help her fix the place up. Things got in the way, but that’s no excuse. A promise is a promise.”
“Then I guess you’d better start keeping it.”
She liked that he thought that way. And if he started working on the house, then maybe she’d have to stay more nights at the B&B instead of in the tent. A man using his hands was one of the sexiest things in the world. Even if his hands were on a house instead of her.
He walked with her up the stone path and to the front door. She paused and waited, feeling like a young girl coming home from her first date. If he wanted to kiss her, she wouldn’t mind one bit.
“Um, I’d invite you up for a nightcap, but I don’t have any alcohol in my room.”
“That’s okay. Dorrie doesn’t allow booze in the house.”
“Seriously? Urgh. I guess I’ll have to drink in my tent.”
“Yeah, you do that. Because the only thing less safe than a woman sleeping alone in the woods is a woman getting drunk in the woods.”
She laughed, opened the door, and led the way. They didn’t get three feet inside before a voice filled with anger stopped them short.
“You must be that reporter.”
A slightly chubby blonde stood at the foot of the stairs leading up to the bedrooms. Her arms were crossed and her feet planted apart as though she was ready for a fight. She scowled at Livi, but the scowl was soon replaced by the sweetest of smiles as her sight shifted to Tony.
“Oh, Tony. I didn’t know it was you.” The smiled died. “What are you doing with her?”
With her? A deaf man couldn’t have missed the disgust dripping from her tone. “I’m sorry?”
Tony took her arm and moved her toward the steps and past the surly young woman. “Hey, Dina. How’s it going?”
“It was going fine until today.” She arched an eyebrow at Livi then threw on her big smile again for Tony. “Mamma told me we had a visitor. Then when I heard about her, I figured I’d better come check it out for myself.”
Livi didn’t like confrontations, but it seemed Dina was out to get one. “Did I do something wrong?” She opted to do her best to make the girl less hostile. “Hi, I’m Liv, uh, Livi Brackin.”
“I know who you are. And what’s more, we don’t have a room for you any longer.”
“What?” She was getting kicked out. But why?
“You can get your bags and keep on moving to the next town. If you want, I’ll call ahead and reserve you a room at the River’s Run Inn.”
“Damn, Dina, what’s wrong with you?”
“She’s doesn’t know what she’s talking about. That’s what’s wrong.” Dorrie swept into the room, an apron wrapped around her generous waist as she wiped her hands with a dish towel. “Livi, I’m so sorry. I think my daughter must’ve lost her mind.”
“No, I didn’t. I don’t want her staying here.”
Dorrie sighed, then took her daughter by the shoulders and shoved her to the side. “I apologize again. Sometimes Dina gets a wild hair up her butt and thinks she’s running the place.” She shot a sideways glance at her daughter. “That, however, isn’t happening until you find me dead in my bed.”
“Did I do something to upset her?”
At least Dorrie’s smile was sincere. “Not really. Here. Let me take you on up to your room and make sure you have everything you need.”
Dorrie snaked her arm around Livi’s waist and led her onto the stairs. “Dina, there’s a sink full of dishes you can tend to.”
If looks could kill, the one Dina gave Livi would’ve put her six feet under. She shifted her attention to Tony who stood at the bottom of the stairs.
“I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Liv.”
“Okay.”
Livi and Dorrie reached the top of the stairs. She managed one last look at Tony before Dina snagged his arm and dragged him into the adjoining living room.
* * * *
“Tony, what do you think you’re doing?” Dina threw herself at him and wrapped her hands around his neck.
He took her by the wrists then tugged her off. “I think that’s my line. What the fuck, Dina? You had no reason to talk to Liv like that. That was bullshit.”
Every ounce of sweetness was gone in a flash. “I had no right? I have every right.”
He put more distance between them. “Look, my brothers and I have tried to explain this for years now. We aren’t interested. We don’t want to hurt your feelings, but you’ve got to back off. Hell, it’s bad enough that you come on to us all the time, but to treat someone else like shit? That’s fucked up.”
“I couldn’t stand to see her all over you.”
“All over me? We weren’t even holding hands. Come on, Dina, you’ve got to snap out of this obsession with us.”
He knew how she’d react. They were playing out an old story. Since they were teenagers, Dina had let everyone know that she and the three Parker brothers were soul mates. From almost the first day they’d met, she’d started planning the claiming ceremony that would bind them together as shifter mates.
The Parker men had tried everything they could to get her to realize that, not only was she not their “soul mate,” but that they didn’t find her attractive. Yet no matter what they, her mother, or anyone else had to say, Dina was dead set on making them hers.
“She looked at you like she wanted to eat you up.”
“I can’t help how someone looks at me.”
“But you don’t have to encourage it.”
“Again, it’s none of your business.” Dina hadn’t imagined it. He’d seen the interest spark in Liv’s eyes the second she’d realized who he was.
“You need to stay away from her. Eric didn’t follow her ass to the bar.”
“I don’t care what Eric did or didn’t do.” Yet why hadn’t Eric followed her? If his oldest brother didn’t find Liv attractive, then he was just plain crazy or blind.
Devil Dina, as he and his brothers secretly called her, came back full force. “I’m not going to let you fuck her. She’s beneath you. Damn it, Tony, she’s human.”
Human and shapeshifter matings weren’t that uncommon. Some skinwalkers like Dina, however, had begun to think that they should keep their line pure and free of human blood. It didn’t make sense to him. As far as he and his brothers were concerned, when a man found the woman he loved, it didn’t matter what she was.
“I don’t have a problem with humans. And neither should you.”
“We belong together. Shifter with shifter.”
“Sorry. I don’t agree and that’s not your call to make for me and my brothers.”
“Your brothers?” She snorted. “You think they’re going to find that redheaded whore sexy? They have better taste than that. Just like I thought you did.”
She was starting to lose control. The flash of the tips of her fangs and the hard glint in her eyes was warning enough. If she shifted any further, who knew what she might do?
Yet the more she talked badly about Liv, the more he was beginning to lose it, too. If they both lost control, there’d be hell to pay. The last time two shifters had come to blows, one of them had ended up with broken bones and a one-way ticket out of town.
“I’m not going to argue with you, D.” He’d made a mistake in calling her D like they’d done when they were in high school. She loved it when he called her that. “Dina, I met Liv a few years ago. She’s a good friend, so back off.”
Her eyes grew bigger. “Oh, shit. She’s that woman? The one you searched for?”
Trying to keep anything private in Lost Hills was a waste of time. Soon after he’d ended the search, the entire town was buzzing with the news. “Yeah. She’s the one.”
He’d meant to say it that way. To call Liv “the one.” Dina had to accept the fact that the one woman he’d longed for, the one woman he suspected he and his brothers could love and cherish for the rest of their lives, had finally come back into his life. That would be the nail in the coffin of
Dina’s dream once and for all.
“I won’t let you have her.”
The threat brought out his own inner beast. Fangs ripped out of his gums to replace teeth. Fingernails became claws. Although he was a skinwalker and could take the form of any animal he wanted, his go-to animal was a white wolf.
“Dina, don’t threaten her. If you try and hurt her, I’ll do anything to keep her safe. Anything.”
If he’d said straight out that he loved Liv, it wouldn’t have hit Dina any harder. She shifted back, the sting of his declaration hurting her more than any strike of his deadly claws ever could.
“Get the hell out.” She pointed toward the front door.
Damn it. He should’ve kept his cool. Instead, he’d made things worse. “Dina, you have to try to understand.”
“I’ll never understand how you can want a human. Get the fuck out. Now!” Her voice had lowered, taking on the gruff intense tone of her animal.
Knowing that he might force her into shifting all the way into her wolf, he did as she’d ordered. He didn’t glance up the stairs, but was out the door and into the night’s fresh air.
“Shit.” He had to get home and tell his brothers what was going on.
Chapter Three
“What’s going on down there?” Livi hated it when she talked to herself, but it was a habit she hadn’t managed to break. Whenever she had to think things out, she did it out loud.
Another shout that had to have come from Dina filtered through the air vent. Livi dropped to her knees and leaned against the wall. She felt terrible for eavesdropping, but it wasn’t her fault that the air vents in the old home echoed sounds from one floor to the other. It wasn’t as though she was hanging out on the stairs or pressing a cup against the wall to hear. That was her story and she’d stick to it if questioned.
Tony’s words weren’t clear, but his tone was. He was angry yet trying to keep his cool.
Dina had a crush on him, big time. Every time she’d looked at him, her eyes had filled with adoration and her evil exterior had transformed into a sweet, loving woman who would do anything for her man. Including running Livi out of town.
