by Ashlee Sinn
But she didn’t. Instead, she gawked at my home through the windshield. “This is your house?”
“Yep,”
“You own all of this?” She instantly slapped a hand over her mouth and shook her head. “Sorry. That came out wrong.”
I laughed and opened my door. “It’s fine.” Rushing to the other side, I offered my hand to help her out, fully aware that her long legs hit the driveway without any trouble at all.
“It smells so good out here.”
“Really?” I asked with a smile.
“Yeah,” she said. “Like you.”
I shot her a look and noticed how quickly she blushed.
“That’s not…,” she stuttered. “That’s not what I meant to say.”
Taking her bag from her shoulder, I closed the door and gestured for her to go toward the house. “That’s okay,” I said, knowing she was embarrassed. “I think it smells good out here too.”
She stopped on the first step of the porch. Turning toward me, she pushed her sunglasses up on top of her head. “It’s just that even though my trailer is near the woods, all I can smell is the cigarette smoke and stale beer from most of my neighbors.” Wrinkling her nose, she shook her head. “It’s just gross.”
I laughed, totally understanding what she was saying. “I couldn’t agree more.”
With a smile, she let me pass and open the front door for her. Taking a deep breath when she stepped inside, I waited for some kind of comment. But none came. And when I set her bag on the couch and walked into the kitchen to grab some water, she was still admiring the open living space with her lips parted. Those full lips that curved into two perfect humps just underneath her nose and sparkled in the light. My bear clawed at my stomach when I handed her the glass.
“Wow,” she breathed. “This place is amazing.” Her eyes took in the fireplace, the log table, and the open staircase to the right that led up to the loft that I used as a den of sorts. “You’ve done good, Derrick.”
I laughed. “Well, thanks.”
“I mean it. Did you bring in a decorator?” She walked over to the fireplace and breathed in the potpourri.
“No,” I said quietly.
“Well, you have excellent taste. You should come decorate my place.”
I could smell her embarrassment again and knew that’s why she quickly ducked her head. “Maybe I will,” I said, wondering why I couldn’t stop the words. A short spurt of uncomfortable silence passed before I regained my composure. “I know it’s a little early for dinner, but are you hungry?”
She turned with a smile, so beautiful my breath hitched again. “I’m always hungry.” She rubbed her belly. “The curse of the bear.” Making her way to the kitchen peninsula, she brushed her hand over one of the stools. “Can I help with anything?”
Thinking about food helped keep my attention focused. Nineteen. No. Twenty. Julia was twenty now. Did that make a difference? “You want to prep some baked potatoes?”
“Sure,” she said with a ton of excitement.
I couldn’t help but feel the same. I never entertained anyone at my house…especially not a woman like Julia. Pulling the steaks out of the fridge, I set them on the counter and then grabbed the supplies she would need for the potatoes. Then I noticed the lettuce and started piling up some vegetables next to the fridge.
“I can make the salad too,” Julia offered.
“Perfect.”
In sync in a way that should have freaked me out, we moved around each other flawlessly in the kitchen. Only once or twice did she need to ask where something was, the rest of the time she’d opened the right door or drawer on the first try. Our conversation flowed easily, mostly focusing on Bo and Kenzie’s limited courtship and Emma’s upcoming delivery. By the time the food was ready, I prepared the patio table for two so that we could enjoy the setting sun and the fresh air out back.
Just as I poured us two glasses of water, I suddenly remembered that it was her birthday and she might want to celebrate. “Do you want something to drink? Wine? Beer? Champagne?”
Placing the large bowl of salad in the middle of the table, Julia shook her head. “No thanks. I’m good with water.”
Feeling like an idiot, I sighed. “Sorry, forgot that you weren’t twenty-one yet.”
She laughed and sat down. “No, it’s not that. I don’t drink. It’s not my thing.”
Wanting to know why there was so much sadness behind her eyes, I had to ask. “Is there a reason?”
Filling her plate with the food, Julia hesitated a few moments before answering. “Yes,” she said and paused again. “My dad was an alcoholic. So were his dad and his mom.” Shrugging, she looked up at me. “I don’t want to be anything like them.”
I pulled a perfectly grilled rare steak onto my plate and waited until Julia started eating before continuing the conversation. “So, you’re in college now, right?”
Nodding, she finished chewing before answering. “Almost done.”
“What?” I asked in surprise. “Already?”
“I’ve been taking classes straight through the summer and winter for two years now. I just have to turn in my final paper and I’ll be finished in a few weeks.”
Flustered by the amount of pride that swirled around inside of me, I couldn’t help but grin at her. “That’s very impressive.”
She blushed again. “Thank you.”
“And it’s business?”
“My degree?” she asked, continuing when I nodded. “Business and Marketing.”
“And what do you want to do with your degree?” A college graduate at twenty. This woman was amazing, and her tenacity just made me more curious about her life.
After swallowing, Julia looked out into the trees behind my house. “Well, at first I thought I might go on for my MBA somewhere in the lower forty-eight. But now with all of the reveal stuff happening, I might see if I can work with the ISC.”
I made a noise in the back of my throat, impressed again with how poised and focused she was. “Sounds like you have it all planned.”
“I wish,” she said with a small laugh. “All I know is that I will make something out of my life.”
I reached across the table and squeezed her hand. I didn’t know why, I just did. “I have no doubt you will.”
She froze under my touch, cheeks reddening again and lips falling open in that way that stirred my bear. “Thank you. And thank you for my birthday dinner.”
Jumping up, I suddenly remembered something. “Hold on a sec,” I said, jogging inside to the kitchen. I dug through the freezer, knowing I had that chocolate cake in there somewhere. I grabbed the ice cream and found a used candle in the back of the silverware drawer. Three minutes later, I had it all on a tray and carried it out to Julia.
She giggled when I set it all down in front of her. “This is for me?”
I hustled over to the grill and grabbed the lighter. “It is your birthday, right?”
“It is,” she whispered.
Lighting the candle, I sat down next to her and sang a quick version of the birthday song, while watching in awe when she closed her eyes to make a wish. Like a child who still believed, she looked positively happy when she blew out the flame on the old candle.
“What did you wish for?” I asked.
She slapped me on the arm. “I can’t tell you that!”
“Well, that’s no fun,” I teased, handing her the knife and scooping out some vanilla ice cream onto our plates.
“Where did you get a cake?” she asked as she cut.
“I’m always prepared.”
“For birthday’s?”
“For any occasion.”
Julia stared at me, I could feel it burning my skin and exciting my bear. “You are a little Martha Stewart, aren’t you?”
With a chuckle, we dug into our dessert. “Not you too,” I groaned.
“What?”
“That’s what Bo calls me.”
“Really?” she asked with a giggle.
“Well, I get it.”
The silence stretched for a while, until we finished two pieces of cake and several piles of ice cream. I couldn’t get over how much I enjoyed having dinner with someone and not simply by myself. Julia was easy to talk to and the more time we spent together, the more comfortable she grew. It was like she fit here. At my house. With me. With my bear.
Shit.
“So, Derrick,” she finally started. “Do you think you’ll ever find your mate?” As soon as the words came out, she covered her mouth again. “That didn’t come out right. I meant you seem to be good at this.”
With a twisted grin, I studied her. “Good at what?”
Waving her hands over the table, she said, “This. You make a good home.”
For you, my bear said and I immediately cleared my throat in disagreement. “I hope to, someday.”
Julia glanced off in the distance again. “Yeah, me too. Seeing all of the brothers pair up these last few months has made me think about that a lot.”
You have no idea, I thought. But this wasn’t a conversation I was ready to have. “What do you say we do some work?”
Looking shocked by my sudden change in topic, Julia recovered quickly and stood to clear the table. “Sounds good.”
I followed her into the kitchen as she started to rinse the plates and load the dishwasher. Again, the feel of having her in here, in my space, felt way too natural for my own comfort. I didn’t like people coming to visit, let alone touch my stuff and claim my area. Yet with Julia, I didn’t want her to leave. How the hell could I change so fast?
As we finished cleaning up, and the conversation turned to the ISC and the reveal, my bear settled and my human side simply enjoyed the time we had together. She would leave in a little bit, and I would have my house back to myself.
So why did I not want this night to end?
“Okay, you ready to work?” Derrick asked once I started the dishwasher and dried my hands. He’d been talking a mile a minute about the website since I’d mentioned the thought of us each finding a mate someday. It was stupid and I shouldn’t have said anything, but my bear was so close to the surface that she wanted answers. She wanted Derrick. She was sure of that now, but I was hesitant. He hadn’t shown any kind of special interest in me since I’d arrived. And although we seemed to click, I felt way out of my element trying to flirt with this man that women swooned over.
After all, I was just me.
Grabbing my bag off the couch, I followed him through the living room and down a short hallway that ended with his office. I heard the hum of the computers before we even stepped inside but was blown away with what I saw when I actually entered the room. He’d kept the door closed and apparently directed all of the air conditioning into this part of the house to keep the processors cool. They lined the room. On shelves and tables and the floor, computer parts and pieces filled the space and reminded me of the IT departments I’ve always seen on shows.
“Are you a website designer or a hacker?” I joked.
“A little of both,” he teased right back. “Here,” he pushed a chair over to me, clearing the keyboards off of it first. “You can sit here.”
He turned on a monitor larger than my television and booted up several other laptops that surrounded the L-shaped desk filling up most of the room. Making himself comfortable, I watched as he claimed his space. This was his element and the smile on his face made my heart swell. It was nice to be around someone who was so professional and focused and…gorgeous. I mean, intelligent.
A few minutes later, he clapped his hands together and settled into his own comfy leather chair. “Okay, what do you have for me?”
I pulled out my notebook where I’d been drafting and outlining the website pages and set it in front of him. Leaning over his shoulder, I breathed in his manly scent and tried not to let the growl escape my throat. Especially when I noticed the aroma of sex wafting off him when I got close. Was I the one bringing this out in him?
“So, I think I have the final version for what I want back here,” I said, skipping through the pages. Derrick lifted his chin so that his lips were very close to my neck. I shivered with the feel of his breath and had to swallow down my nerves several times before I could speak again. “This is the one that everyone approved.”
Derrick lingered with his face super close to mine for what felt like hours before looking at my design. I wanted to press my lips against his so badly that I forced myself to sit back down and put some space between us. I needed to get my hormones under control.
He studied my notes, flipping back and forth between the pages several times. “Okay, I can do this. But are you sure about the name?”
“Shifters Among Us?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he said with a smile. “It kind of makes us sound like aliens.”
Giggling, I nodded in agreement. “It was Major’s idea.”
“Well, we’re the ones designing and coding this site, so let’s change it.” Derrick clicked a bunch of buttons on his keyboard until a dark window with green letters opened on one side of his monitor and a preview of the site came to life on the other half. His face beamed with excitement and I quickly grew to love how much he enjoyed this kind of work.
“What about Shifters in Paradise?” I suggested with a chuckle.
“Or Alaska Shifters.”
“Boring,” I teased. “How about Shift Happens.”
“The Shift Heads.”
“Oh, Shift.” I was laughing so hard, my stomach hurt.
Derrick was too, his deep tenor exciting me all over again. “Okay, seriously. What about Twisted Shifters?”
“Change is Good.”
“Paradigm Shift.”
“Ooh, maybe,” I said through my laughs. When we finally settled down and ran out of funny names, we came back around to the original idea.
“That’s it,” Derrick said, “I think we need to go with the alien one.”
“Yeah,” I agreed and watched him set up the domain name and prepare to code Shifters Among Us.
I thought it would take all night, but just a couple of hours later, Derrick deemed the site ready to go. We worked together so well. I enjoyed having real conversations with someone who matched my brain so perfectly. For every idea I had, he knew just how to tweak it to make it work. He didn’t code one thing without asking me first—a true partnership and meeting of the minds I’d never experienced before.
“When the ISC picks the day, we can hit publish and watch as our lives drastically change.” Derrick stared at the preview site, biting his lips and bouncing in his chair.
“That sounds dramatic,” I teased.
With a shrug, he stretched and I watched the skin exposed beneath his pants. That taut, tan skin that seemed to call out for my touch. He hadn’t changed his clothes since the wedding, but he’d taken off the tie and jacket before we even sat down for dinner. “This reveal will change everything we know.”
“Do you not agree with it?”
“I don’t know.” He rubbed his hand through his dark hair and pursed his lips. “I mean, there are reasons to do it and reasons not to. I just wonder how everyone around here is going to react.”
“There’s no way to predict that,” I said. “I mean there are only a couple of us in the trailer park I live in but they already know us. So it shouldn’t affect how they feel.” Derrick gave me a pointed look. “Okay, yeah, I know that’s wishful thinking. But I’m hopeful that in today’s world, humans can be more accepting.”
“Only time will tell.”
“Yeah.” I thought about his words. What if they hunted us down? What if they made a spectacle out of us? Could I handle that? Was I ready?
Derrick suddenly jumped out of his chair. “Do you want to go for a run? I’ve been sitting too long.”
I perfectly understood the feeling. Our bears liked to be free. Too many hours as a human worker could drive us mad. “Absolutely,” I said with a smile. “But where?”
Derrick flicked his chin toward the patio. “Out there. My property backs up to BLM lands. We can run for miles.”
I scented his excitement and found my bear rushing up to greet that. She didn’t want to waste another minute. So I darted from the room and rushed past the kitchen to get outside. By the time Derrick joined me, he’d already removed his shirt and was working on unbuttoning his pants.
“Think you’re fast, huh?” he said with a crooked grin that stopped my heart.
As I kicked off my shoes and started to untie the back of my dress, I increased the flirtation. “You know I was a track star in high school, right?”
He looked at me in surprise. “I did not.” His pants dropped to the stone patio, and I forced my head away from gawking at his amazingly defined thighs.
“Middle distance,” I said, letting my own clothes fall. I’d never been this bold with a man before. Especially not one I wanted so badly.
Derrick stared at me with his mouth open and eyes that devoured every inch. I hadn’t removed my bra and panties yet, but I didn’t think I needed to. He was enjoying what he saw right now. And the bulge growing in his boxers confirmed everything I had wished for.
Without speaking to each other, I slowly removed my bra. And while I wasn’t particularly well endowed, I was proportional with my long, lean body. The panties were next, and as I slipped them over my knees and off my feet, I heard Derrick gasp. It was like someone else took over my body. So brave and so bold. I felt like a woman who could own the man standing in front of me. And while that wasn’t necessarily my intent, I did need to do one thing.
In just a few steps, I stood directly in front of Derrick. He was still frozen solid, watching me like a hungry predator. I kept my eyes on his lips, the lips I’d been wanting to feel all evening. Lifting up onto my toes, I kissed him. A gentle kiss that lingered just long enough not to be too presumptive. More like a tease. My bear rumbled beneath my skin in appreciation. She loved his taste and the feel of that soft, moist skin. She wanted more. She needed more.
