Candice spent the rest of the day hanging out around Wyatt’s house and painting on the back porch. The idea that there were people after her frightened her. But she felt safer at Wyatt’s home than she would at a strange hotel.
The way that he had acted this morning made her feel like they didn’t have a chance. Candice’s insecurity about her own life made her believe that he had never been interested in her in the first place. All she was to him was a cheap thrill. It was her fault that she had put herself out there like that. What did he think of her now?
There wasn’t anything that she could do about it. She had to just let it go. Obviously she and Wyatt weren’t meant to be. Every time she told herself that, the bottom dropped out of her stomach, and she felt mildly sick.
When she heard his truck pulling into the driveway outside, her heart leapt into her throat, and she could barely contain her excitement. He had promised to take her up to the lake to go fishing this evening, and she’d been looking forward to it all day.
She told herself that she would stop flirting. It was all way too humiliating. If he wanted to be with her, then he was going to have to prove himself. Wyatt might be drop dead gorgeous, but Candice wasn’t that easy.
He opened the front door, and Candice took a sharp breath into her lungs and held it. He looked like a dream as he walked into the living room where she was sitting with her sketchbook. She’d been absentmindedly drawing pictures of Wyatt without a shirt on from the memory of the night before. Her face flushed, and she quickly slammed her sketchbook closed.
“How was your day?” she asked, genuinely curious about his work.
“I went down into the valley. It’s the start of antelope season, and the opening of any hunting season always brings out the biggest idiots.”
“You arrest anyone today?” she asked with a coy smile. The image of Wyatt bending her over his truck and putting handcuffs around her wrists flitted through her mind, and she made a little moan that she hoped he couldn’t hear.
“No, but I gave out a lot of tickets. More than a typical day on the job. How was your day? Is that a new painting?” he asked, moving towards her sketchpad that had the damning pictures inside of it. She pulled the sketchpad away from his grasp and scurried out of the chair to keep him from seeing it.
“No, these are just some really bad drawings,” she said nervously. “You don’t want to see that.”
“I’d like to, but that’s okay. So, are you ready to go down to the lake? If we catch anything, we can cook it over a campfire up there. If you’d like.”
“I’d love that,” she said. Candice had already packed a bag with her painting gear, and her swimsuit was already on underneath her clothes.
She might not be willing to flirt with Wyatt anymore, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to take the chance to go swimming in the lake. She’d heard it was absolutely beautiful up there, with warm, crystal blue water and a white, sandy beach. She wanted nothing more than a sunset swim while the fish were roasting.
“Well, let’s get going,” Wyatt said.
When they pulled off onto the Forest Service Road that led to the private entrance of the lake, Candice couldn’t help remembering her encounter with the men who’d chased her the other night. A shiver of dread went up her spine.
Those men had already killed someone. The fact that it had been a shifter had made her feel less vulnerable, but the truth was they were after her now, too. When Wyatt stopped the car to open the gate, Candice caught his arm and pulled him back into the truck.
“Maybe we shouldn’t do this,” she said.
“Why not?” he asked her.
“Because the last time I was up here, I was attacked. I just don’t know if I should be up here again.”
“If they’re foolish enough to try anything, I’ll be right here to protect you. I’ve got a gun,” he said with a smile, tapping the gun at his waist.
“It isn’t your responsibility to protect me,” she said, her fear mixing with her humiliation at his rejection that morning.
“It is and more,” he said, getting out of the car.
“What?” she said under her breath. The way he seemed to want to take care of her one minute and then the next minute he was so flippant about it all confused her.
When they passed the wilderness campsite where she had been attacked, a shiver went down her spine, and she held her breath. Wyatt looked over to her and patted her hand.
“Everything’s going to be all right,” he said in a soothing voice. Something about Wyatt made her feel safe, even if she was kind of mad at him. As they made their way over the mountain, Candice took in the breathtaking landscape.
The view in to the valley was a sweeping expanse of evergreens broken only by a few jagged cliffs here and there. She rolled down the window and inhaled deeply, taking in the exhilarating scent of pine in the heat of the summer afternoon. As the lake came into sight, the glittering silver waters took her breath away. “It’s so beautiful,” she gasped.
“Yes, it is,” he said with a grin.
They drove down into the valley and parked near the white, sandy beach. Candice jumped out and trotted toward the water while Wyatt pulled the fishing gear from the back of the truck. He met her on the shore, where he set down two folding chairs and a cooler.
Candice took a deep breath of the fresh mountain air and sighed. She sat down in one of the folding camping chairs, and Wyatt handed her a piece of paper and a pen.
“What is this for?” she asked, looking at the paper.
“It’s an application for a fishing license,” he said with complete seriousness. Candice stifled a chuckle, but then hastily filled out the form. She handed it to him with a smile, then asked, “What would you have done if I went fishing without a license?”
“I would’ve had to put you in these cuffs over the back of my truck,” he said with a growl. Candice gasped, but Wyatt frowned. “It’s a $50 fine for fishing without a license,” he said. His face took on a ruddy, red hue as if he were embarrassed about what he’d just said.
Embarrassment wasn’t exactly what Candice was feeling at that moment. She’d told herself she wasn’t going to flirt, but she’d gotten them both into this silly mess again. Hearing her own fantasy coming out of Wyatt’s mouth sent a shiver of desire down her spine and into her core.
“You’re bad, Wyatt McCloud,” she teased.
Wyatt turned away, not acknowledging if he was or was not, in fact, bad. He set up the fishing poles and handed her one before sitting back in his folding chair and casting out his line.
Feeling a little more hopeful, Candice joined him there and cast her own line into the water. She wanted to catch a big, juicy lake trout and eat it with Wyatt under the stars. The afternoon light was fading into evening, and Wyatt popped open the cooler he brought and handed her a bottle of beer. He’d already popped the cap for her, so she took a deep swig and sighed. This was the kind of day she wished would never end.
As she set her bottle in the sand, she felt the tug at the end of her line. With a shriek, she yanked back on the pole and began reeling the line as hard as she could. “It’s a big one!” she said through gritted teeth. Standing, she tried to put extra strength into reeling, but it didn’t seem to be enough. Wyatt put his arms around her and reinforced her arms while placing his hands over hers.
He lent her his strength and helped her reel the fish to the shore. “Keep going. You’ve got it,” he whispered in her ear. His hot breath sent a tingle down her neck. She could feel his hard chest against her back, and desire wetted her core. She could see the shiny, silver scales of the fish’s back as it struggled at the edge of the water.
“Hold it steady, and I’ll scoop it out,” Wyatt said. She didn’t know if she could hold onto the thrashing fish. Wyatt grabbed the net and hurried to the shore, scooping the wriggling trout into the green basket.
“It’s a big one,” he marveled, holding it up. “This thing must be thirty-five pounds.”<
br />
“Is that big?” she asked.
“Biggest trout I’ve seen come out of this lake in a long time,” he said. “And I would know. I’m the warden.”
Candice giggled, coming closer. She watched Wyatt pull the hook out of the fish’s mouth, but looked away when he pulled out a pocket knife.
“I’m gonna gut it. You might not want to watch.”
“Well,” she said breathlessly. “I’m going to go for little swim.”
She turned away from the brutal sight of Wyatt gutting the fish and pulled her top off. Underneath, she wore the pink, polka dot bikini she’d bought the day before. She heard a low growl behind her and glanced back to see Wyatt staring.
He quickly turned away when he noticed her looking. She smiled and pulled down her shorts. Candice was all curves, and she loved to show them off to Wyatt, feeling a little less mad at him now. From Wyatt’s reaction, she knew he liked it, too. No matter. All she wanted was to take a sunset swim in the warm lake waters.
She kicked off her shoes and tiptoed out to the shore, dipping her foot in the lake. It felt divine, like a warm summer’s day. Without any further hesitation, she dove into the water, letting her hair and makeup get washed away in the mountain lake.
She came up with a sigh, throwing her hair back over her shoulders in a spray of water. “This is marvelous!” she called to Wyatt as he prepared a fire on the beach.
“It looks that way from here,” he said, throwing a dried branch on the fire. She could smell the scent of pine wood burning as it mixed with the scent of the lake. She giggled and dipped back in, swimming in chest deep water farther out into the silver gleam of sunset.
Candice swam happily in the lake, exploring around the shore, until Wyatt called her back to eat. She waded up to the beach and grabbed her towel, wrapping it around herself.
“Have a nice swim?” he asked, his eyes heavily lidded as he cut the trout with a pocket knife.
“Fantastic,” she said, beaming. The lake was completely secluded, like their own little paradise.
Wyatt served her trout on a paper plate, and she dug in with her bare hands, the charred skin burning her fingers. She took a bite of the fresh fish and moaned. “Oh, my God. This is perfect.”
“I brought some spices with me. Here, have another beer.” She took the beer and swigged, the flavor of the lager going perfectly with the lake trout.
“I haven’t been up here to go fishing in a while,” Wyatt said, relaxing back in his chair. “I haven’t been swimming in even longer.”
“You should go swimming after dinner,” Candice offered.
“Maybe, if you’ll keep me company.”
“I’ll think about it,” she teased.
After they finished dinner, Wyatt stood to clean their things. “So what about that swim?” Candice asked, dropping the damp towel on her chair.
“I’ll have to go in my underwear.” He frowned.
“There’s no one here,” she said, waving her hand around the secluded lake.
He growled and set the cooler in the truck bed. “Okay, you convinced me.” He went back to his chair and pulled off his cowboy boots.
Chapter 14
Candice giggled as she turned back to Wyatt, splashing him with the glistening water. The sun was setting, streaming colors across the sky, and Wyatt’s heart felt heavy in his chest. The bear inside him grumbled and growled at his reluctance to take the woman they both knew was his true mate.
What did it matter what the department thought? He and Candice had their whole lives ahead of them, and waiting for the investigation to be over seemed like too much to ask the animal within.
His sheriff shouldn’t even have him on this case anymore. Wardens sometimes investigated hunting homicides, but this case had a suspect with a motive. It was not his area of expertise. He told himself he would tell the sheriff in the morning that he would no longer work on the case. That would clear the way for him and Candice.
She sank into the lake and turned to him, treading water with her arms. He moved toward her slowly, wading farther in until he came to stand in front of her. She looked up at him, the sunset glowing on her skin.
He slid his hand up her arm, pulling her toward him until her curves pressed against his chest. Her hazel eyes became wide circles as she gazed up at him.
“Candice, about this morning,” he said, growing hard as her soft body pressed against him.
“It’s fine,” she said, her voice throaty.
“No. I was wrong. I shouldn’t be on this case in the first place. I’m going to tell the sheriff in the morning that I’m resigning from the investigation.”
“Oh.” Her eyelids fluttered.
“You are quite a woman, Candice. The kind of woman who comes along once in a lifetime. I want more than just a vacation fling. A lot more.”
He ran his hands up her shoulders. She shivered in the warm water as he slid his thumb over her jawline. “I feel the same,” she said, her breasts heaving against him.
Even if he could get off the case, there was still the question of whether or not Candice would accept him for what he truly was. So many humans had come out as shifter haters; she could be one as well. Would she want him if she knew?
He ran his thumb over her full bottom lip, and her pink, wet tongue flicked out to lick its tip. A shiver of desire went down his spine, and he went rock hard. Candice wrapped her lips around his thumb and sucked it into her mouth. A deep rumble erupted from his throat, and he pumped his thumb in and out of her mouth. The sight of her lips wrapped round him made the animal in him burst through.
He reached down and grasped her ass, pulling her up around his waist, resting her on his hardness. Candice gasped and giggled, but he stopped her laugh with his mouth, kissing her deeply.
Wyatt flicked the ties at the sides of her bikini bottoms and the little piece of fabric fell away. His cock pressed against his boxers, straining to get inside her wet warmth. Candice moaned, grinding against him.
She drove him wild. His bear roared in his mind, barely restrained inside him. He flicked the tie at the back of her neck, and the bikini top slid down her chest.
He gazed down at her wet breasts. Growling, he took her nipple between his lips. As he nibbled on her tight flesh, she shuddered and threaded her fingers through his hair. Her legs clenched around his waist as he held her.
Running his tongue around her nipple, he could feel it pucker at his touch. God, he loved turning her on. It made his cock vibrate with need. He claimed her mouth again, thrusting his tongue in and out until she was breathless.
Wyatt tore the remnants of her bikini away from her body and found her warm slit. She breathed his name as he pressed the tip of his cock against her need. She gasped, pushing into him.
“I don’t have a condom,” he groaned with disappointment.
“I don’t care if you don’t. I’m protected,” she said, pushing down on him.
He gripped her ass and held her still, wanting to control her body with his hands. With a hard thrust, he pumped inside her. Candice wailed, digging her nails into his shoulders. She threw back her head, accepting his body as he drove into her.
Wyatt filled her to the brink, and Candice exploded. She’d wanted him, wanted nothing more than to have him inside her again. But she hadn’t expected him to come to her like this, to make love to her in the water like an animal in the wild.
Her orgasm rolled in waves of pleasure, bursting in her sight like the streaks of orange and pink light across the sky. Wyatt didn’t let up or slow down. His intense thrusting only increased, pumping hard into her. Water sloshed around them.
She felt the swell of orgasm coming toward her again as he gripped her hard, and she shuddered, gasping. His seed shot deep into her womb. Hot and sticky, it filled her with the essence of him.
He groaned deeply as the last of his cum spilled from him. Wyatt held her still in his strong arms as he slid from her. She found her feet at the bottom of the lake, and h
e held her tight.
“Wyatt,” she whispered, nuzzling into his wet chest. He ran his hand up and down her back, kissing her neck as he heaved a heavy breath. “That was much too good to ignore.”
“I know, and I don’t intend to ignore it any longer.”
Chapter 15
Wyatt woke the next morning in bed next to Candice, her beautiful, light brown hair splayed across the white pillow case. He wished to God he could tell her everything, tell her about his bear. No humans knew about his bear. Only shifters knew who he was–other wardens who worked in different parts of the state, his family, and the local clan.
He left for work before Candice woke, leaving her a pot of coffee and a plate of waffles he hoped would still be warm when she got out of bed. Today he planned to tell the sheriff that he was involved with Candice, consequences be damned. A mate came around once in a lifetime, and Candice was worth even the possibility of losing his job.
Worse come to worst, more than likely the sheriff would take him off the case, which was exactly what he wanted in the first place. This case wasn’t just a hunting accident, it was a murder. With Reginald Lawson, they had a suspect with a motive. He didn’t feel qualified to deal with a murder investigation.
When Wyatt arrived at the station, he was met by Deputy Sheriff Morris, a man who had been on the force longer than any of them. “Have you learned anything new?” Wyatt asked.
“We’re following the lead on the connection between the victim and Reginald Lawson. Lawson created his anti-shifter organization the moment that shifters came out to the public. It seems pretty unlikely that it’s a coincidence that Colin Chase was running Lawson’s one and only competition in town. We also have a match on the footprints at the crime scene with Hank’s store brand shoes. Lawson wears exactly the same size shoes as at the scene.”
“Have you found the murder weapon yet?” Wyatt said, crossing his arms and leaning back on the desk.
“We searched Lawson’s place, but didn’t find the kind of shotgun that killed Chase. It’s a dead end now.”
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