The Wilde Crew: Rhett: A paranormal shifter romance (The Shifters of Wilde Ranch Book 1)

by Kim Fox

  “Crap!” Nathan said as they both rushed up the stairs to get dressed. “I don’t want to miss the previews this time.”

  Just as Rhett grabbed his keys off the hook, Joan walked up from the basement. She was wearing some new clothes that she must have found in the leftover boxes under the stairs. Tight faded jeans with a low-cut purple shirt. She looked incredible.

  Her brown hair was pulled back, showing off her gorgeous face and the long sexy curves of her neck. Any stress of being late and rushing out the door just vanished in her presence. She was all-consuming. He would have been another hour late just to watch her eat cereal.

  “Good morning,” he said, putting his keys back on the hook. “Can I make you breakfast?”

  She smiled, sending his pulse racing. “I didn’t put out and I still get breakfast?”

  He laughed. “You get cereal,” he teased. “When you put out, I’ll make you a whole buffet.”

  She bit her bottom lip as she gave him a heated look. “I can’t wait for that.”

  Rhett gulped. “Neither can I.”

  They had an amazing first date last night that seemed to get better the longer it went on. She had rocked his world with one kiss and Rhett knew that he would never be the same. Not with knowing that a girl like Joan was in the world.

  They had talked for two hours as they walked around the town, gazing up at the stars. This was a girl that he wanted to keep around. He wanted to take it slow, so they agreed to no sex on the first date. In his younger years, Rhett would have tried pushing it but a quick romp in the sack had never led to any meaningful relationship.

  And that’s what he wanted with Joan. A meaningful relationship.

  “Don’t worry about me if you’re leaving,” she said, standing awkwardly in the living room. She raised an eyebrow as she looked up at the ceiling. The heavy stomps of Nathan and Emry rushing around upstairs were booming over her head. “Are you going to work?”

  Rhett glanced back at the closed door. He really should have been in the car already. “Yeah.”

  Joan slid her hands into the back pockets of her jeans as she raised her shoulders. “I can come with you if you want.”

  “Really?” Rhett asked, perking up. He would love that.

  “It beats staying here all day with Beavis and Butthead,” she said, glancing back up at the thumping ceiling.

  They went out to the smashed car with Rhett’s excitement level through the roof. He was going to get to spend the whole day with Joan and nothing, not even getting chewed out by his new boss, was going to stop him from being excited about it.

  They chatted a bit but mostly sat in a comfortable silence as Rhett raced to work with his frustrated ravens disappearing behind them.

  Rhett gulped as he parked the torn up police car next to the three other pristine cars. Let’s get this over with. He was so excited to bring Joan along with him that he didn’t realize that he was bringing her at the worst possible time. Kylee was going to tear him a new one and Joan would be there to watch.

  “Hi, Nathan!” Loretta said, waving at Rhett from the reception desk in the front. She had big square framed glasses and a huge bush of curly blonde hair on her head.

  “It’s, Rhett,” he answered as Joan chuckled beside him.

  Loretta took the chewed up pencil stuck behind her ear and grabbed a notepad. “Okay, let me write that down. Rhett. One T or two?”

  “Two,” Rhett said, smiling as he looked down at Joan giggling. Fuck, that’s a beautiful sight. And one that he hoped to see every day for the rest of his life.

  “Got it,” she said, putting the pencil back behind her ear.

  “Is Kylee in?” Rhett whispered as he leaned over the desk.

  “Kylee!” Loretta screamed. “There is a-” she picked up the notepad and squinted at the name that she just wrote. “Rhett to see you.”

  Rhett gulped as an extremely pregnant Kylee stepped out of her office.

  “Is everyone pregnant in this town?” Joan muttered under her breath. “Is it something in the water?”

  It wasn’t the water supply that was knocking everybody up. It was the testosterone-fused bear shifters running around.

  “Just the man that I wanted to see,” Kylee said, waving him over.

  Joan took a seat in the front as Rhett walked over with a tight chest.

  “I like your hair,” he heard Joan say to Loretta as he walked.

  “Thank you,” Loretta answered. “I perm it using my microwave.”

  “Rhett,” Kylee said as he got to the office. “Come on in. Good job yesterday. I heard that you calmed a grizzly at the steakhouse and got the Wilde Crew to stop fighting. We normally get at least three calls a day complaining about them but we’ve had nothing since you went over.”

  “Great,” he said, sliding into the chair in front of her desk. She doesn’t know about the car.

  “I think this is going to be a good fit,” she said, nodding. “How do you think it went?”

  “Good,” he said, nodding nervously. He just had to come out and say it. “I trashed the car.”

  Her face dropped. “You what?”

  Rhett wasn’t about to blame it on Joan. He would take the heat for it, whatever that meant.

  “The car that you lent me,” he said. “It looks like a crushed soda can.”

  “You’re going to make me get up?” she said, glaring at him with an unamused look on her face. “I’m nine and a half months pregnant and you’re going to make me get up? Damn you,” she cursed as she held onto both creaking arm rests and pushed herself up with a grunt. She waddled out from behind her desk, opened the door and walked to the window that looked out into the parking lot.

  “What the hell?” she screamed. “That’s not a little fender bender. That car is totaled!”

  Rhett swallowed hard as he looked past her to the car. His ravens were landing all over it, finally catching up to him.

  “We don’t have the money in the budget to replace that,” she said, rubbing her forehead. “We spent the last few pennies that we do have on hiring you guys.”

  “Maybe we can hold a bake sale to raise money to fix the car,” Loretta said. “I can bring crackers.”

  “Crackers?” Kylee said, turning to her with an exasperated look on her face. “You’re going to sell forty-six thousand dollars worth of crackers?”

  Loretta stared right at her and then nodded. “Yes.”

  Kylee sighed. “I’m too pregnant for this-” She buckled over, clutching her stomach as her face twisted in pain.

  “Ow,” she said, grabbing onto a chair for support as Rhett rushed over.

  “Are you going into labor?” Joan asked, jumping up and hurrying over.

  “No,” Kylee said. “My water broke. I am in labor.”

  “Okay,” Rhett said, grabbing her and helping her to the floor. “Sit down. Relax.”

  He turned to Joan with his stomach churning. “Have you ever done this before?” he whispered in a panic.

  “Given birth or delivered a baby?” she asked him in a flat voice. “No and no.”

  “Damn it,” he said, dropping to a knee.

  “Is she having a baby?” Loretta asked, hurrying out from behind the desk. “We should call the cops.”

  Rhett just shook his head as he took off his sweater, rolled it up, and placed it under her head.

  “It’s going to be okay,” he said, more for himself than for her.

  Kylee had her eyes squeezed closed. She was breathing quick and shallow breaths as she clutched her stomach in pain.

  “We have to get you to a hospital,” Joan said.

  “No,” Kylee said between breaths. “It’s coming now. I can feel it.”

  Was it too late to go join Nathan and Emry at the movie theater? Rhett wasn’t built for delivering babies.

  “Call the father,” Joan said to Loretta.

  “Good idea,” Loretta said. But she just continued standing there watching.

  “Now,” Joan s
houted. Loretta snapped out of it and ran back to her desk to call the baby’s father, Stetson.

  “What do I do?” Rhett said, looking around in a panic.

  “Move,” Joan said, pushing him out of the way. “It’s going to come out of her vagina so we should start by taking her clothes off.”

  Rhett looked away as Joan slid down her tights and underwear.

  “I’ll stay up here,” Rhett said, sitting down by her head and taking her hand. If Stetson found out that he was looking at his wife’s hoo ha, he’d be polar bear lunch.

  Joan was great, guiding Kylee along with encouraging words and a soothing voice. “Push,” she said, as the baby started crowning after only a few frantic minutes. “Come on, Mommy, push.”

  Rhett leaned forward wanting to see the magical sight of the baby being born. He didn’t care what Stetson was going to do to him. There was a miracle happening before his eyes and he didn’t want to miss it.

  He looked down and paled, thankful that he hadn’t had any breakfast to puke up. “I shouldn’t have looked,” he muttered as he sat back up by her head. Is there supposed to be so much blood?

  The sound of tires squealing on the pavement ripped through the police station as the babies’ head popped out.

  “Where is she?” Stetson hollered, exploding into the room like a bull. His face dropped when he saw Kylee laying on the ground with Joan between her legs.

  The big polar bear shifter hurried over, his face still and silent as he watched his new baby being born. Tears streamed down his hard cheeks as Kylee gave one last push and the baby slid out.

  “Here you go, Daddy,” Joan whispered as she handed him his new little girl. “Congratulations.”

  Stetson’s eyes were transfixed on the little body, staring down at her like a dream come true.

  “You made it,” Kylee said, curling up beside him. He kissed the baby’s little forehead and then handed her to her mother, never taking his eyes off of the little miracle.

  Joan hurried into the bathroom to wash the blood off of her hands. “Come,” she whispered when she returned, taking Rhett’s hand and pulling him away. “Let’s give them a few minutes.”

  Rhett was speechless as they walked into an empty office, leaving the new family to bond.

  Joan was amazing. She had delivered that baby like a champ.

  He turned to her with his chest fluttering. “That was-”

  She grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him down into a crushing kiss that was both loving and passionate. It was for sure now; he was falling for her.

  When she released his mouth, she pulled on his bottom lip with her teeth, letting out a satisfied groan.

  “Where did you come from?” he asked, staring down at her in wonder.

  But he already knew. She had come out of his dreams and into his reality.

  nine

  “Are you okay?” Rhett asked, shooting Joan a quick nervous glance.

  Don’t ruin the morning. Please.

  It had been incredible. She had delivered a baby and was having an amazing time with Rhett and now her bitch of a bear was starting to pace, agitated as all hell. Ruining everything like she always did.

  “Is it your bear again?” Rhett asked, slowing the car down. They had left the trashed one at the police station and took a fresh one.

  Joan just closed her eyes, focusing on her breathing, trying to keep the bitch at bay. It was best not to talk when her bear started acting up like this, snarling and growling, demanding to come out. Any slip of concentration from Joan and her bear would lunge forward, breaking through to fuck up her day.

  She kept her skin tight as her bear paced inside her, getting angrier with every second that passed. Every second that she was caged up was a second closer to an enraged bear bursting out of her skin.

  Not today. Her bear had taken so much from her. This pleasant morning driving around with Rhett was not much but it was all that Joan had. And she wasn’t about to surrender it over to the bitch without a fight.

  Stop it! she screamed at her inner bear as the animal lunged forward, trying to break free. Enough!

  She couldn’t keep living like this. Rhett had made her realize that. She wanted more than just a frantic life on the run, sleeping in bus stations, and getting chased out of town after town. She wanted a nice family like Kylee and Stetson had, a little baby to hold and love. And she wanted it with Rhett.

  It had only been a couple of days but her instincts had always been sharp and she could tell that he was the one. He’d make an excellent father, a wonderful husband, and he was the only one who could help her control her bear.

  He was definitely mate material.

  Shit! Her bear surged forward and Joan just barely managed to pull her back in.

  “Whoa!” Rhett said when a tuft of hair sprouted out of her arm and then disappeared back down. “Do you want me to pull over?”

  “Yes,” she gasped, swallowing hard. She was done fighting with her bear. It was time to change tactics. Maybe a little distraction would work better.

  Rhett pulled the car over on the quiet, secluded street. The gorgeous snow-capped Absaroka mountains were visible in the background, thrusting into the sky. There was nothing but forest and tall trees around them, with not a soul in sight.

  Joan took off her seatbelt and took several deep breaths, her heart pounding like a jackhammer in her chest.

  “Do you want me to help you?” he asked, looking at her with concern in his eyes. “Do you want me to slide into your bear’s skin?”

  With a groan Joan pounced on him, straddling his big muscular body, the steering wheel digging into her lower back. “I want you to slide into my skin,” she whispered on his sexy lips, letting her hair tickle his cheeks.

  His lips parted as he looked up at her.

  He was so sexy. Good men always were.

  She crushed her lips to his, tangling their tongues and letting their bodies melt into each other. He was a fucking good kisser and if her pussy wasn’t throbbing so incessantly she would have been content to spend the rest of the day making out with him.

  He let out a heavy groan as she ground her hips, pressing her spread pussy onto his rock hard erection. There were too many layers between them. She wanted to feel his smooth skin on hers, she wanted him to take her in the most intimate way.

  They separated for the split second that it took her to lean back and yank off her shirt, then their lips were back on each other, their tongues moving in a lustful rhythm, just like her hips.

  “Fuck, Joan,” he whispered into the nook of her neck as he unclasped her bra. “I’ve wanted you so bad. Ever since I saw you on the roof, I can’t stop thinking of your body.”

  She smiled to herself as he pulled her bra down her arms, leaving a trail of goosebumps on her hot skin. His hungry eyes widened as she tossed her bra on the passenger’s seat, letting her breasts hang free.

  They were small but perky and Rhett didn’t seem like he had any complaints. He was on them at once, sucking and licking her tender nipples, making her heart speed up.

  She reached down for the lever of the seat and yanked it up, sending them reclining backward. Rhett didn’t seem to notice, he was so focused on her breasts, alternating between them, his tongue swirling and sucking, drawing out moans from deep in her throat.

  His body was so big, the car so small. She shifted backward, trying to get access to his zipper but her back bumped up against the steering wheel, no room to do anything.

  “Out of the car,” he said, his voice a deep sexy growl.

  She leaned back up, covering her breasts with an arm as she looked up and down the empty road. “What?”

  He stared at her with a heated look. He wasn’t fucking around. “Get out and put your hands on the hood of the car. Spread your legs nice and far apart.”

  “Okay, officer,” she said in a sweet innocent little voice. “Am I going to jail?”

  “We’ll see,” he said, giving her a sexy smirk. “
It depends on how good you are at following orders.”

  She swallowed hard, arousal coursing through her and settling between her legs. The firmness in his voice, the sexy role playing, his hard body under her fingertips, the intense way his eyes were staring at her breasts, making her nipples impossibly hard; it was all such a turn on and her pussy was throbbing its approval.

  The door swung open and she hurried out. Her bear was calm inside of her, the agitation and temper tantrum done for the moment.

  “Hands on the hood,” he said, stepping out of the car with his chest thrust out, his hard cock making a tent out of his pants.

  Joan placed her palms on the hot smooth hood, her heart pounding in anticipation for what was about to come. She lowered her head and grinned as he closed the door and strutted over with his hands on his hips.

  Her hair was standing up on her arms as he walked behind her, stopping close enough that she could hear his heavy breathing and smell his sexy scent.

  “Any weapons on you?” he asked in a growl, his hands finally touching her tingling body. He started at her knees and then slowly ran his palms up the insides of her thighs, over the curve of her ass, up her waist, then around to her front, sliding up to her breasts, cupping them in both hands, and squeezing them firmly.

  “Fuck,” Joan moaned, her pussy aching and her body trembling as he released her.

  “We got a call for breaking and entering,” he said in his hard cop voice as he paced behind her.

  She swallowed hard as her mouth became moist, her body tingling in anticipation.

  “How would you like it if I did that to you?”

  She licked her lips, trying to control her heavy breathing as she answered. “You’re going to break me?”

  “Maybe,” he said, gripping her hair in his fist and giving it a quick tug. She gasped as her head flew back, the soft skin of her neck exposed for him. “But I’m definitely going to enter you.”

  She was so wet and ready for him. She couldn’t wait for what was coming next.

  “Guilty,” she gasped, pushing her hips back and rubbing her ass against him, feeling his hard cock digging into her cheeks. “I’m guilty. I’ll take my punishment now, officer.”