“True. Fated mates. I never was a believer in all that mumbo-jumbo until I met Michael. And now we have a perfect family, with Livy in it, and another child on the way. I am not willing to let Donny take that from me, and neither should you two. It’s a setback, not the end of the road.”
“It feels like it. I’ve never had my heart broken before,” Josie said sadly.
“And one day, someone will come along and want to put it back together for you. But you have to be open to it.” Petra smiled sadly at Josie. “Love. That is what you are. It’s what your parents taught you. Love life for what it is. If you lose the business, then you start again. You don’t sit there and cry about it.” She grinned. “That’s what the rest of us do, but not the Halliwells, they are the people who come along and pick you up.”
“We need to come up with a back-up plan,” Michael said.
“Yes, something you can use if this all goes belly up, but one you can use to create more jobs if it doesn’t.”
“Let’s get thinking,” Michael said.
“There is one thing I need to tell you first,” Josie said. “It’s about Ryan.”
“You can tell us anything,” Michael said, concern creasing his forehead once more.
“He is a shifter, or so he said…”
“Oh, honey, he told you, you were his mate, didn’t he?” Petra asked.
“Yes.”
“But he left…” Michael began, and then closed his mouth again.
“Which means he was lying too. Just like Donny, doesn’t it?” Josie asked, unsure if she would rather have her fears confirmed or denied.
“Perhaps.” Petra studied Josie’s face. “You like him.”
“I’m a fool.”
“No, you are not.”
“I should have learned after Donny. But I didn’t.” Her feeling of hope was sliding away once more.
“What if he was telling the truth?” Michael asked. “The chances of you getting bitten twice by the same bug are pretty slim.”
“Michael’s right,” Petra said.
“Then why did he leave?” Josie asked.
“Well, when he comes back…”
“If,” Josie corrected.
“If he comes back, you will know he’s the one.”
“Petra’s right,” Michael said. “He said he would be back in a couple of days. Give him time.”
“OK. But during that time, we come up with a plan.” Josie needed to do something to stop herself going over and over the conversation she had with Ryan on their last meeting. She should have handled it better. But she had gotten used to the idea of him being in a relationship.
When he declared his feelings, and that she was his mate, she’d panicked. Josie never panicked, unable to trust herself with her feelings, which were a jumbled mess. She was caught between her betrayal at Donny’s hands, and her yearning for a love she could trust.
Which is why she’d gotten so scared. Because she truly did care for him. A man who she barely knew. And she had been down that road before. She could explain it away with her feeling sympathetic to him, when he had spoken about wanting to start a new life and being trapped in his old one. She had believed him, and wanted to make him happy—more than happy.
The question she kept asking herself, was if his words were true. Did he want a new life with her? Or was this just a case of déjà vu?
12
Ryan
Ryan parked his car in the parking lot of Silver Springs Recycling. He’d been gone for four days, four days too many, away from his mate. He only hoped that when he delivered his news, she would see why he left, and see he was telling the truth about her being his mate.
Had the days since he left made her heart grow fonder, or turn to stone?
He sat in his car, looking at the building. Only one way to find out, and it was not by being a coward.
Ryan opened his car door, put his foot to the ground, and smiled. If anything was going to make Josie see he was a changed man, this was it. No expensive serious shoes. They did not fit in with this new man.
Striding across the parking lot, he saw a couple of men coming out of the building, and raised his hand. “Hi there, Pete.”
“Mr. Sinclair. Good to see you again.” He heard the hope in Pete’s voice, and his smile widened.
“Good to be back in town.” He meant it. But his staying here was dependent on one woman, and she was inside this building, he could feel it.
“Morning, Mr. Sinclair,” Mrs. Boulter said. “Coffee?”
“Yes, please.”
“I’ll bring it right on in, they are in the boardroom, waiting for you.” She stood up and added, approvingly, “I like the new look.”
“Thank you,” Ryan answered. He hadn’t smiled this much for years.
His smile faltered when he reached the boardroom and pushed the door open, to find Josie looking pale and reserved. She did not meet his eyes.
“Hello, Mr. Sinclair,” Michael said, offering him his warm handshake.
“Ryan, please.”
“Ryan,” Michael said, hope in his eyes.
“Here’s your coffee,” Mrs. Boulter said. She placed the cup on the table and then backed out. “I hope you are the bearer of good news.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Boulter,” Michael said. “Sorry about that,” he added to Ryan once Mrs. Boulter had left.
“I understand you are all concerned,” Ryan said. “So shall we get straight down to business?”
“Yes.” Michael looked nervous, but there was something different about him. He no longer looked as if his world was hanging in the balance. He did, however, look tired, as if he had experienced many sleepless nights. “We are looking forward to hearing your news. It will clarify our future, and tell us where our energies should be directed.”
“I have met with my brother, and we have discussed the way forward at length.” Ryan said. “We think we have come up with a solution, which at first may not sound as good as you had hoped.”
Ryan took out a sheaf of paper, and passed copies to Michael and Josie, who accepted hers with a curt “thank you.”
“This is the new repayment schedule.”
“You are giving us two extra months,” Josie said. “You know that is not enough time.”
“Under the current circumstances, no.”
“Under the current circumstances? Does that mean you have another proposal?” Josie asked. “Because we have decided not to accept any offer that takes Michael away from the helm of the company. You know none of this was his fault, we explained it to you. I explained it to you.”
“Most candidly,” Ryan said gently, struggling to keep calm when faced with Josie’s hostility.
“Josie, let Ryan speak. He owes us an explanation,” Michael said, this last sentence aimed at Ryan.
“I do.” Ryan sat back in his seat. “Before I left, I had a visit from Anna and Lynsey.”
Josie groaned. “You are basing the outcome of this deal on a visit from them?”
“I am, yes, in a way.” Ryan sipped his coffee. “You know how I feel about you, Josie: what I said to you the day I left was the truth. We are mates.”
“But?” Josie asked.
“You made it clear that you didn’t want a deal based on our relationship. And I was not sure I could give you one, based on the business plan Michael had put in place. My heart could, but my head could not.”
“I understand, it’s hard for someone looking in, to see what we have built here,” Michael said.
“I went back to my room at the tavern, and that is when Anna and Lynsey came to see me. They pointed out one very clear path. And that was to find the man responsible for this mess.”
“That’s why you left?” Michael asked.
“Yes. They were right, if I could find him, then this whole thing would unravel. You would not lose the business, your workers would have secure futures, and Josie would no longer have to live with the guilt.”
“And did you find him?�
� Josie asked.
“It took some doing, but our IT department at Sinclair Holdings are especially trained in fraud detection. I gave them the details of the bank accounts, and some other information Donna Trevant had been gathering. They liaised with her on more than one occasion. She is not the nosy curtain-twitcher I mistook her for.”
“Small town does not mean small minds,” Josie said. “She was in army intelligence.”
“So I have been informed. She is now an operative for Sinclair Holdings.” Ryan smiled at Josie. “She told me she owed you one for helping her fit in when she moved here.”
“I don’t expect that is exactly how she phrased it,” Josie said.
“No, it was more like, Josie is such an interfering go-getter, she would not let me become the recluse I always dreamed of. She made me like people. Those were her words.” Ryan had gotten a good kick out of hearing his mate described in such a way. “But I digress.”
“Small-town life does that to you,” Michael said.
Ryan took out another piece of paper, and put it on the desk. “Donny was apprehended. We are now awaiting extradition. When he is returned here, he will be formally charged. His bank accounts are frozen, and all but a few thousand he used for hotels and living expenses is there. The money should be returned to you within the next two months.”
“Which is when the repayments are due to begin,” Michael said. “Well, that ends all of this drama, doesn’t it?”
“I hope so,” Ryan said. “Since I am moving here, and have no wish to be seen as the man who ruined Silver Springs.”
“Moving here? Is that why you are not dressed in an expensive suit?” Josie asked.
“This is my new work gear. Do you like it?” He stood up, and did a twirl; he wore jeans and a plaid shirt. “I purposefully bought cheap shoes.”
Josie smiled at him. “I guess I could find you a few ditches to dig. We are expanding the farm, after all.”
“You are?” Ryan asked.
“Yes, while you were away, we have been coming up with contingency plans.”
“I’m impressed.”
“Did you expect us to sit around waiting for life to happen?” Josie asked.
“No, but I did hope you might sit around waiting for me.”
“OK, and I am out of here,” Michael said. “I’m going to take Mrs. Boulter out to lunch to celebrate. The office is yours.”
“The office is ours?” Josie asked.
“Yes,” Michael said, turning to look at his sister. “Remember what you said, if Ryan came back? You would believe him. Believe in him?”
Michael slipped out of the boardroom, leaving Ryan and Josie alone.
“I’ve never been lost for words before,” Ryan said, getting out of his chair and going to stand next to his mate, leaning back against the desk so he could look at her. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you what I was doing. But I didn’t want to get your hopes up. Then I was selfish, I admit, because I wanted to be here to tell you in person.”
“When you called to set up this meeting, I didn’t know what to think,” Josie admitted. “Michael’s right, I promised myself that if you came back, I would give you a chance. Because if you came back, it would mean something.”
“It does mean something.” He reached out, and touched her cheek, stroking her soft skin. “This is the first day of the rest of my life. And I want to spend it with you.”
“Then let’s get out of here,” Josie suggested. “Let’s go and sit on the mountain and look down on the place we call home.”
“I’d like that.”
She stood up, and he couldn’t resist pulling her into his arms, and holding her close. Josie lifted her face to his and he kissed her, their lips joined together, just as they would be joined together for the rest of their lives.
13
Josie
Josie took Ryan to her favorite spot on the mountain, overlooking the town of Silver Springs. There was a small grove of woods there, growing around the source of the spring from which the town earned its name.
“This is where it all begins,” Josie said. “This is where the first trickle of water erupts from the ground, before it makes its way down the mountain, gathering more water from small rivulets as it goes. My mom and dad used to bring me and Michael up here for picnics, when we were kids.”
“This is what inspires you?” Ryan asked.
“I guess it does. It shows that if we all work and join together, we can become something bigger, a raging, unstoppable river.”
“Raging and unstoppable,” he repeated. “That sounds like my bear, now he’s found his mate.”
“Will you show me?” Josie asked.
“Sure.” He took a couple of steps away from her and let his bear come forth. He was big and impressive, but beside his mate, he was gentle and soft, sniffing her fingers, letting her stroke him. Her face filled with wonder and awe as the realization that this was real swept over her.
“You are amazing.” She sank down on her haunches and kissed his snout. “And you are mine.”
His bear nodded his head and snuffled in her ear, before licking her cheek, returning her kiss in a bearlike way. Then he shifted back and pulled her into his arms. “You are mine, you always have been and you always will be. If I could get my hands on Donny, I would break his neck for hurting you.”
“No,” she said quietly. “It’s time to let go of Donny. It was a life lesson. A big life lesson. But it also brought you into my life. Fate?”
“Fate.” He kissed her then, a fierce, intimate kiss that made her insides turn to liquid fire.
Shifting his weight, he eased her down to lie on her back beneath the trees, where she had spent so many happy hours. It seemed right that this would be the place they consummated their relationship. The place he claimed his mate for the first time.
The passion emanating from him was tremendous, compared to what Donny had shown her. The lie was all the more obvious now, while the truth in Ryan’s kiss, and his touch, was strong and undeniable.
“Are you going to make love to me in those boots?” she asked, as she broke their kiss.
“No, ma’am,” Ryan said, heat in his eyes as he stood up and stripped his clothes from his body in one fast, fluid movement.
Josie began to unbutton her shirt, her fingers trembling, the enormity of what she was committing to, thundering in her ears. This was not just sex, this truly was the beginning of the rest of their lives. Lives filled with love, and hardship, friends, and problems, which together they would overcome.
“Here, let me help you.” Ryan knelt by the side of her, his hands deft at opening her shirt, and then stripping it from her body, to cast it aside. “Much better.”
He stroked the curve of her breast, before unclasping her bra. “Even better.”
Ryan lowered his head and kissed her soft skin, cupping her right breast in his hand, and lowering his mouth to suck in her nipple. She closed her eyes, the sensations flooding her body, making her feel as though she were floating above the earth on a cloud. Damn, he had a talented mouth, one he planned to use on other parts of her body.
He pushed his hand between her thighs, and caressed her clit through her clothes, making her wet with need. Heat built inside her, and she gasped for air as he moved his mouth, to lick and suck her left nipple, until the tortured flesh throbbed and ached. Josie caressed his skin, stroking his chest, kissing his toned flesh, before her hand curled around his hard cock.
Stroking him, her hand sliding up and down his hardened length, she pushed his arousal higher, and higher, his breath harsh gasps of need. Then he stopped her. “I want to taste you.”
He moved away from her, his words clear when he undid her jeans and dragged them down, over her curvy hips. He drank in the sight before him and pushed her knees apart, to expose her to him completely. One finger slid along the length of her sex, rubbing her juices over her clit, before pushing inside her. She arched her back, the sensations too much, but there w
as more. So much more pleasure he intended to drag from her body.
He placed her knees over his shoulders, leaving her powerless to stop him, when he ran his tongue over her clit. Not that she would want him to stop. Not when he was taking her body to new heights. Two thick fingers pushed inside her, in and out, scraping her inner walls, while he lapped at her clit with his tongue. Each time she thought she was about to come, he would back off, only to graze her clit with his teeth and begin the exquisite torture once again.
“Please. I need to come,” she begged at last.
“I can’t get enough of the taste of you,” he said, lifting his head and kissing her thighs. “I want to listen to you whimper for me, I want to hear you gasp for breath and know I am the one responsible.”
Her sex ached, throbbing around his fingers. “I want to come, and I want you feel you inside me.”
He groaned. And moved, his cock impossibly hard. “I can’t deny my mate.”
Ryan covered her body with his and guided himself into her. She groaned, a long, low moan, as he filled her completely in one slow lunge. His fingers and mouth had made her ready for him, and he slid right in, up to the hilt, leaving her muscles stretched. He was so big, and her inner walls complained at the intrusion. But what an intrusion. Nothing could ever feel better than this.
Then he began to move, and she knew it could.
In and out, he eased his hips back, drawing out of her, before thrusting forward again, hard, long strokes with his wide cock. His rhythm was slow, his lovemaking thorough. Ryan kissed, stroked and licked every inch of her skin, leaving her nerve endings tingling. If she had ever doubted his sincerity, she never would again. This act of lovemaking made her feel worshipped, cherished by her man.
Never would she doubt him.
Ryan’s rhythm quickened, and she felt his body tense. Then he came inside her, his cock erupting, spurting his seed deep inside her and setting off a chain reaction, and her wonderfully tortured body had its release at last.
She cried out his name, telling the mountain, the trees, and the silver spring that this was the man for her. Now and forever.
When they were completely spent, they lay beneath the trees, the breeze on their skin and clouds moving above their heads. “We should go soon. I have to get back to the farm. And you have a job interview.”
Summer Shifter Nights Page 7
