Emerald City Shifters (Bundle)

by Kit Tunstall

  “Please,” she whimpered. With a small laugh, he darted out his tongue and flicked it under the hood of her clit, which sent her flying completely over the edge.

  As she was coming down from her orgasm, she was vaguely aware of him moving off the bed again to retrieve something from his pants. As she heard the foil packet tear, she realized he had gone for a condom. Thankfully he had the foresight to use one, because she was so caught up in the bliss of the moment that she would have happily taken him inside her and not even thought about the consequences until much later.

  It should have been a wake-up call, but she was too far immersed in how she was feeling and how much she wanted Cody to worry about how deeply in she was already. Instead, she held out her arms and welcomed him back to her, taking the condom from him and sliding it on his shaft herself. Her eyes widened slightly as she realized just how large he was, and she gulped quietly. It was a good thing she wasn’t a virgin, or this never would have worked.

  “Are you ready for me, baby?” He seemed to ask the question through gritted teeth, as though he were in pain. Perhaps he was, finding it as difficult to hold back as she was.

  She nodded. “More than ready. Are you?”

  He looked to be in pain, as though her question had caused him physical suffering. “I was ready from the moment I smelled you across the bar.”

  She frowned at that. “Do I stink?”

  He chuckled. “No, not at all. You smell amazing.”

  It was a strange compliment, but she was more than happy to take it, just like his cock. Still holding it in her hands, she guided him to her opening before letting go. She moved her hands to his back and wrapped her thighs around his waist as he sank into her. They began to thrust against each other, slowly at first, but soon caught up in the passion of the moment.

  The pace of his thrusts increased, and she moved her hands to his buttocks, digging in her nails lightly to encourage him to take all of her. She had been concerned about his size, but once he was inside her, it was as though they were made to fit each other. She wanted more of him, so she increased the pace of her hips, and he responded. Soon, they were clinging to each other as they orgasmed simultaneously. She’d never done that with a lover before, and to achieve it with what was essentially a one-night stand with someone she barely knew was a strange turn of events.

  Somehow, she was unsurprised though. It just felt right with Cody. Everything felt right with him, which was slightly alarming, since this was only one night. Just sex, she reminded herself as they indulged in more. It was a long night, and she was going to be exhausted on her plane ride tomorrow, but she couldn’t find it in herself to care or worry about the practicalities at the moment. She was too absorbed in Cody.

  ***

  Sometime near dawn, they fell asleep, and he was still inside her. That felt right too, but it proved awkward when she woke an hour later, the alarm on her watch alerting her that it was time to get up and get ready for her flight. She still had to go home and grab her bag, and she didn’t have time to shower or to have a long, drawn-out goodbye with her one-night stand. She couldn’t imagine it was Cody’s style anyway, and he would probably appreciate her slipping quietly away into the night without the fuss of a morning-after postmortem of the night before.

  Gingerly, she pulled away from him, squirming across the bed until she could swing free and get up. She waited to see if he had awakened, but he was snoring softly. She had worn him out, but as a wave of exhaustion swept over her, she knew it was a mutual effect they’d had on each other. She was definitely going to sleep most of the day on the plane.

  She dressed quickly, finding as many of her clothes as possible. The location of her bra was a mystery, so she left it behind. She felt like she was sneaking out, and she supposed she was, but she was saving them both any awkwardness. That was how these things worked, right? She hadn’t had a one-night stand since college, but she remembered the awkwardness of the morning after, when the guy had offered her breakfast he clearly didn’t want to fix, and she hadn’t been able to get dressed fast enough.

  She’d regretted that night, but she was certain she wouldn’t regret anything about the one she’d spent with Cody, except perhaps the duration. One night didn’t seem like nearly enough, but there were no other alternatives. She still didn’t know his last name, and she was going to be out of town for four months. By the time she returned, he would have forgotten all about her, and she was certain she would forget about him by then too. After all, it was just sex.

  Chapter Two

  Jade was so tired that the words on the form blurred for a moment, forcing her to blink to clear her vision. She had been back in Seattle for eighteen hours now, and during that time, she’d inventoried all the finds from the dig, began the process of sorting out who would receive what, and called her doctor for a long-overdue appointment. She’d also managed to squeeze in a few hours of sleep, but it hadn’t been enough. It never felt like enough these days.

  She jumped in surprise when the nurse called her name, having only completed about half of the form. It was simply an update for information, so she was able to quickly sort through it and scrawl her name as she got awkwardly to her feet. She recognized Marla, who had been Dr. Grayson’s nurse last time she’d been in for her annual gynecological exam. She smiled at the older woman. “How are you, Marla?”

  “I’m doing well. How about you, Dr. Barnes?”

  Jade shrugged, looking down ruefully. “As well as can be expected, I guess.”

  Marla led her through the check-in process, and Jade winced when she saw how many pounds had been added to the scale since her last weigh-in at her annual physical. She hadn’t even looked at a scale while in Africa, since they weren’t easy to come by—especially on a closed archaeological dig carefully guarded by private security and the government.

  After taking her blood pressure in a separate room, Marla led her into an exam room and helped her climb onto the table. Jade felt awkward needing the assistance, but she was still getting used to the changes in her body.

  “First thing’s first, Dr. Barnes. How far along are you?”

  “Four months,” said Jade, resting a hand on her burgeoning belly. It had been a shock when she’d started feeling ill at the dig site, and the illness hadn’t gone away. At first, she’d thought it was food poisoning, or an inadvertent exposure to a local contaminant in the local water supply, but soon enough, she’d realized the nausea came mostly in the mornings. She felt better after vomiting, and when her breasts became tender, a light bulb went off in the back of her brain.

  Since she’d been on a tiny island off the coast of Africa, there hadn’t been an opportunity to test, let alone see a doctor, but less than a month after her night with Cody, she had known she was pregnant. The speed at which she’d developed symptoms had been surprising, so she wasn’t offended when Marla gave her a skeptical look. She did have a larger tummy than even she would have expected, but she’d never been pregnant before, so it might be perfectly normal for the women in her family to pop early. Her mother would never have discussed such things with her, so she had no clue about familial history.

  “Are you certain it’s only four months?”

  Jade frowned, but nodded. “I’m positive. It can only be four months. It was only one time, and it was the first time in a long time.”

  The nurse made a note on the chart before opening the cabinet door above her head. She removed a gown and a cup, which she placed on the edge of the counter. “We’ll need a sample, and Dr. Grayson will be in soon.”

  She thanked Marla as she climbed down from the table to visit the bathroom connected to the room. She stripped as quickly as possible and provided the sample before returning to the exam room. Jade had just lumbered back onto the bed when the door opened, and Dr. Grayson entered. She was a petite black woman close to Jade’s age, and usually had a friendly smile on her face. It was absent today, replaced by a look of concern. She shook Jade’s hand be
fore going to the sink to wash hers and donning gloves. “Have you seen a doctor at all, Jade?”

  Jade shook her head. “I was on a dig site when I realized I was pregnant, and civilization was hours away. I haven’t seen a doctor yet. I haven’t even had prenatal vitamins.” She’d had regular vitamins, so she had doubled up on those, at least until she ran out. When she told the doctor that, the other woman nodded.

  “That was a smart thing to do, and it would have been good timing. Prenatal vitamins are important for the entire pregnancy, but folic acid is particularly crucial during the first few weeks, when the neural tubes are developing. It sounds like you did the best you could under the circumstances.”

  Jade nodded, having set out to do everything to protect the baby that she could after discovering its existence. She hadn’t even questioned the idea of keeping her child and raising it. “It was quite a surprise, but it just wasn’t practical to leave the dig site.”

  She couldn’t have torn herself away unless it was a true emergency. Having been one of the few government-sanctioned teams onsite, she and her group of students and colleagues had dug enthusiastically into the recently discovered Sumerian outpost, finding a plethora of interesting artifacts, many of which still needed identification and would likely stir debate among scholarly circles on their intended purpose.

  She had another reason for not leaving the site, and that came in the form of Julian Sig. Ostensibly, he was an archaeologist, and while he possessed the credentials, he didn’t have the same academic bent as most of the people she knew. She suspected he had been raiding sites and selling artifacts for years, so she and her team had been determined not to allow his people to get their hands on anything if they could help it. They had worked diligently all day, and often into the night, to ensure they found whatever they could in the timeframe they had and kept Sig’s people away from their part of the site.

  “Let’s get a picture of the baby first, and then I’ll do a physical exam. Your blood pressure looks good, and there’s no protein in your urine, so you appear to be very healthy, which is a good sign.”

  When Jade laid back on the bed, she saw the way Dr. Grayson’s eyes widened when she saw her tummy as she walked over to the corner to retrieve the portable ultrasound machine, bringing it close to the exam table. “I think Marla must have written it down wrong. She recorded you at four months along.”

  “No, that has to be right.”

  The doctor opened the snaps on the front of the gown, leaving it pooled modestly to cover her breasts while exposing her bare tummy. “This will be a little cold.” A second later, she squirted gel on her skin, making Jade wince at the coolness.

  The wand pressed against her stomach a moment later, and the sound of a rapidly beating heart filled the room. Jade frowned when she realized there was a strange echo. She had no medical training, but it didn’t sound quite right. “Is something wrong with the baby?”

  Dr. Grayson was frowning, but she looked up and met Jade’s gaze. “Actually, there’s two of them.”

  She let out a harsh and shaky sigh, not prepared to hear that news. The idea of raising one baby by herself was daunting, but two was suddenly impossible. She knew she could do it, but it was a frightening prospect. She didn’t even know if she’d be raising them alone, but since she had no idea how to find Cody again, she had to brace herself for the possibility that she was going to be the single mother of twins. It required an adjustment in her thinking.

  Abruptly, she realized Dr. Jade’s expression of concern hadn’t faded. “Is there something wrong with the babies?”

  After a moment, the doctor shook her head. “No, there’s nothing wrong, but you’re farther along than you thought.”

  Jade opened her mouth to argue, but instead asked, “How far along am I?”

  “You’re about six months into the pregnancy.”

  Flabbergasted, Jade just stared at her for a moment. “That’s impossible. I didn’t have sex with anyone six months ago.”

  The doctor turned the screen in her direction, as though it would make a difference to Jade’s comprehension. “I can tell by the length of the femur and the general development of the twins that you’re at least six months along, dear.”

  Jade’s head spun, but she stopped arguing as she stared at the sight of her babies, enchanted if confused. She absolutely could not be six months pregnant. She hadn’t had a partner in over a year before Cody, and that was the only time she’d had sex since then. It was impossible, and she couldn’t explain what she was looking at, but she decided not to argue with the doctor.

  Perhaps she should get a second opinion, and she would definitely research any issues that might cause infants to grow faster than they should, but she was too tired and shocked to muster another response at the moment. “I must have miscalculated,” she muttered, even though she knew it wasn’t true.

  Less than an hour later, with two pictures in her purse of the babies in her womb, Jade made her way back into the university. She really wanted to go home and collapse in her own bed and sleep for twenty-four hours straight, but there were details to sort through before she could allow herself that luxury. Besides, in her current state, she wasn’t certain she could sleep anyway.

  It kept running through her mind that she was six months pregnant, which made no sense. She just couldn’t accept the number the doctor had given her. It defied all logic and reason. She was certain it hadn’t been an immaculate conception, but she had no other explanation for how she could be farther along than she thought. She was certain she hadn’t been two months pregnant when she was with Cody, so what was going on?

  She drew to a halt as she entered her office, a small cry escaping her. Where she had left order, now chaos reigned. The bookshelves had been tipped over, papers were scattered on the floor, and someone had upended the drawers of her desk. She shook her head, struggling to grasp the latest development. Who would break into her office, and why?

  She stepped into the office, intent on calling Security, but froze when a voice from the doorway sent a shiver down her spine.

  “I love what you’ve done with the place.” The words were neutral, but the voice was clearly angry. It also sent chills of want down her spine, and she turned around to face Cody, uncertain how he’d found her, and not sure if she was happy to see him. Her libido said yes, but her mind was conflicted.

  She was even more conflicted when she got a good view of him. Gone were the jeans and leather, replaced by khakis and a sports coat. His long hair had been trimmed, and he was clean-shaven. Recalling how delicious that scruff felt rubbing against her body, she experienced a pang of remorse that he had shaved it off. She cleared her throat. “What are you doing here?”

  He stepped into the office without invitation, moving closer to her as he closed the door behind him. “I’ve been waiting for you to get back.”

  She licked her lips, wondering when he would look down and see her stomach. When she took off her light cardigan, he wouldn’t be able to miss the way the dress stretched tautly over her belly. “Why were you waiting for me?”

  “Because you sneaked out of my bed after a fabulous night together without a word of parting. You never bothered to tell me you were going to be gone for months, and then you just disappeared. I figured we had things to talk about, so I’ve been checking your office periodically to see when you came back.”

  Her brain was awhirl, and she focused on an inconsequential detail to compensate. “Hasn’t that made anyone suspicious, I mean, you hanging around my office?

  He chuckled. “No, since mine is on the floor above yours, and I have to go by this way every day to exit the building anyway.”

  That was a surprise. “You work here?”

  Cody seemed to take pleasure in her surprise. “I do. I’m Cody Lassiter, professor of zoology, and I hope to get tenure this year.”

  Her eyes widened surprise, and she was vaguely embarrassed to realize she had written him off as nothing more
than a biker guy in a bar. It was the sort of response her parents would have had, and she was ashamed by that. “I see. You never said anything that night.”

  “We didn’t do a lot of talking. That’s why I’m willing to move past the fact that you just disappeared for four months without warning me that you’d be gone.”

  Her eyes widened. “I’m not in the habit of divulging personal details like that to someone I barely know.”

  He arched a brow. “But you sleep with them?”

  She glared at him. “Now isn’t a good time. Someone has ransacked my office, and I really don’t have the energy to deal with a pointless dissection of our night together. I’d appreciate it if you would leave for now. We can set up an appointment later in the week.”

  His eyes flashed, and he scowled at her. “Someone ransacked your office?”

  She waved a hand around. “Surely you don’t think I leave it like this all the time?”

  He shrugged, sounding bitter when he said, “I don’t know. I haven’t had a chance to get to know you well enough to say for sure.”

  “Well, I don’t,” she snapped, at the end of her patience. “When I left to go to the doctor, everything was perfect, and now it’s a huge mess. I need to call Security.”

  He paled, looking lightheaded for a moment as he swayed before striding across the room toward her. She let out a yelp of surprise when he took her wrist in his hand. “What are you doing?”

  “The doctor? Are you ill?”

  As though the babies sensed her turbulence, they picked that moment to kick her. At least one did. She winced, more from guilt at the reminder of the discussion they really needed to have than any pain from the kick. “I’m okay, but I do need to talk to you about something.”

  He surprised her by sweeping her into his arms, hugging her as he let out an unsteady breath, as though overwhelmed by relief. A moment later, he stiffened and jerked back. His eyes were wide, and his expression was grim when he looked down at her stomach. “You’re pregnant.”