by Ann Gimpel
“We’ve been planning to sell it for years,” Karl chimed in, “but we so rarely go anywhere, it was hard to justify the expense for a newer vehicle.” He closed on her other side and laid his cheek next to hers.
“Of course I’ll be okay. It will give me a chance to clear up the mess from breakfast and get the dishes done and back in the cupboards. We will want to eat later, so we’ll need them.”
Les reached around her and elbowed Karl. “Next thing she’ll be telling us we need more dishes.”
Noreen wriggled from under both men’s arms and placed her hands on her hips. “You need some serving bowls and more silverware too. And an icebox, or maybe a springhouse or something to keep perishable food cold.”
“Bro.” Karl jabbed Les back. “Looks as if our carefree days of batching it are over. No more, hey, I’m hungry, let’s go kill something.”
“Ewww.” Noreen wrinkled her nose.
“If you were a wolf, you’d understand.” Les laughed. “I love you, Noreen. You’re worth making sacrifices for.”
She shook her head. “I’ll be damned if eating inside on dishes is a sacrifice. Maybe Alice and I can socialize you two on the way to California.”
“Looking forward to it, sweetheart.” Karl blew her a kiss and hooked an arm through Les’. “Come on, let’s get this show on the road. I don’t like getting greasy any more than you do.”
Noreen trotted up the steps and into the house. She stood in the doorway and surveyed the small cabin. It would be hard to make it year-round livable absent electricity and a more reliable source of heat. And it would take a lot of work. Chinks showed between the logs, and daylight shone through. She started gathering dirty dishes and then realized she’d need hot water, so she stoked the fire that, mercifully, hadn’t quite died yet.
As she worked, Noreen found herself laughing, grinning like a besotted fool, and singing. Happiness, true happiness, was such a foreign emotion, she was nearly drunk on the sensation. She was just drying and stacking the last of the dishes when Les ducked inside. His hands were grease streaked. He reached for her dishtowel, but she snatched it away. “No way. Wash your hands with some of that Fels-Naptha over by the sink and hot water. It had caked pretty badly, but I chipped some off to use for the dishes.”
Les just stared at her. And then he threw back his head and howled with laughter. “Christ! For a minute you sounded so much like my mother or my aunts, I thought I was back in Germany.” He walked dutifully to the sink and scrubbed his arms to the elbows, rinsing them in her used dishwater. “Clean enough?” He held out his forearms; they dripped water on the floor, but Les seemed oblivious to the mess he was making.
Noreen made a sound between a grunt and a snort. It was so unladylike, it shocked her. “Rinse some more in cold from the pump. I see soap scum. Then I’ll dry your arms. How’s the truck coming along?” She strode to his side and toweled his arms dry. The detergent had cut through all the grease, but Les’ skin was reddened from it.
“Not so good. Karl’s a better mechanic than I am, and there’s really only room for one of us in the shed with the truck, so I left him to it. We both decided you’d been by yourself long enough.” He glanced around. “Cabin looks great. Thanks for clearing up from breakfast.”
She cocked her head to one side. “What would you have done if I weren’t here?”
Les shrugged. “Oh, we’d have gotten around to washing dishes eventually.”
“What, days, weeks?”
He grinned, making him look like a mischievous imp. “Somewhere between those two options.”
“I suspected as much. You need me.”
“No one’s contesting that, darling.” He closed his arms around her. His warmth and bulk felt solid and reassuring. Les tipped her chin up and settled his mouth over hers. Desire knifed through her. Noreen’s nipples pebbled into peaks. She wound her arms around him and opened her mouth to his kiss. In moments, they were panting and grinding their bodies together. The jut of his erection pressed into her belly.
She broke their kiss. “Don’t we need to get Karl?”
“He’s working on the car.”
“Yes, I know that, but I don’t want him to feel cheated.”
Les smiled at her. “You are such a gem. He and I talked about this. He’s sharing our lovemaking through the mental link we have. Later on, when he’s either finished or it’s too dark to work, you and he can have some one-on-one time.”
“What happens if he can’t fix the car?”
“I’ll get hold of Jed and he’ll have to give us a lift into Red Deer so we can buy another one.” His green eyes darkened as he gazed at her. “Let’s not talk about cars.”
She ran her tongue over her upper lip and was rewarded when his cock jumped against her belly. “Let’s not talk about anything.” She turned her face up for another kiss. He didn’t disappoint her. Les licked at the seam between her lips and she opened her mouth to his questing tongue. Noreen loved the way he tasted, sweet like well-aged port.
He ran his hands slowly down her back and cupped her buttocks, pulling her against his erection. Noreen couldn’t wait to feel him against her body skin-to-skin. She pushed his shirt up and out of the way and then her sweater, never breaking their kiss. His skin was silken against hers; he radiated heat and need. She moved a hand from his back, squeezed it between them, and tweaked his nipples. He growled low in the back of his throat. Encouraged, she moved her mouth lower, down his neck and chest until she could suckle him.
“Not fair,” he panted. “I’m supposed to be doing that to you.”
She gave his nipple one more lascivious lick and straightened. “These clothes have to go.” With a yank, she pulled her sweater over her head and unfastened her skirt. There wasn’t any underwear in the way today because she’d been in such a rush getting dressed.
Les took a step back, fingers working the buttons of his shirt. His gaze swept her from head to toe. “You are so lovely. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a fine pair of breasts. They’re perfect, so full and lush. And those incredible long legs and your hips. Darling, you were made for childbearing.” His shirt fell onto the floor; he unzipped his pants and pushed them partway down his legs. His cock jutted from his body, heavy with a promise of delight.
Her pussy ached for him. “See you in bed.” She winked and turned for the bedroom.
“Not so fast, sweetheart.” Les toed out a chair, awkward because of the pants he hadn’t fully removed, and sat. “Come sit on me, but face away. That way I can reach around your body and caress you while we make love.” He pumped a hand slowly up his shaft. “Hurry. I can’t wait to feel you around me.”
Noreen gazed at him. He was so beautiful with his tawny hair spilling around him and splotches of color from arousal on his face and chest. The muscles in his chest tensed as he worked his penis. Watching him touch himself thrilled her. She squared her shoulders and dipped a hand between her legs, never taking her gaze from him.
He groaned. “Yes, darling. Touch yourself, but don’t come. Just let me watch you.”
“Like I’m watching you?” Her breath came fast, throat so thick with desire it was hard to breathe. Her clit stiffened under her fingers; she was close.
“I know. I don’t need to read your mind to see how puckered your nipples are or the rosy color on your chest and face. I’m close too. Come straddle me.”
She walked to him and turned around. He placed his hands on her hips and guided her onto his erection. Then he reached around and settled one hand on a nipple and the other between her legs. She reached for the table’s edge to stabilize herself and rose slowly until just the tip of him tickled her opening. She tightened her muscles around his cockhead again and again until he gripped her hips and pulled her all the way down onto his shaft again.
Noreen wanted to come, needed to. She was so close. Her hips moved of their own volition. Les rubbed her clit. The sensations began in her belly and spiraled outward as a long, lazy orgasm s
hook her to her core. Somewhere in the midst of her climax, she felt Les judder inside her and Karl inside her mind urging both of them on. “My God, the two of you are so hot. I’m jacking myself. My cock is huge. Hot. Hard. Yessss… Almost there. Almost. Coming. Coming. Aieeeeeee.”
Karl’s heat translated through their mind link. She dropped a hand to the one Les still had on her clit and urged him to rub her quick and hard. A second orgasm followed on the heels of her first. Her pussy clenched around the cock inside her, milking it, glorying in the amazing sensations shooting through her.
She sank back against Les, panting. “Wow! I didn’t think I could get any higher, but hearing Karl really did it for me.”
Les flexed his cock inside her. “Yeah, got me going again, too, but I really need to get out there and try to help him. We’ll lose the light in a few hours.”
She lifted herself off him, turned, and bent so she could brush her lips over his. “That’s fine. I’m going to heat more water, wash out some clothes, and do the best I can to bathe and wash my hair.”
He got to his feet and started pulling on his discarded clothes. “There’s always the shower out back. It’s pretty comfortable out there today.”
“But the water’s cold.”
He ruffled her hair. “Yup. I can warm pots and tubs of water, but I never figured out how to warm water that’s flowing.”
Fondness welled in her. “Never mind. I’ll manage.”
“Maybe when you’re done,” he sounded hopeful, “you might think about something for supper.”
“Of course. Good thing we have something to eat it off of.”
He rolled his eyes and chugged out the door. She thought about getting dressed but decided it made more sense to clean herself first. Once that was done, she could wrap herself in a robe she’d seen hanging on the back of the bedroom door and work on laundry.
* * * *
Les strode into the shed. “How’s it going?”
Karl winked. “Pretty hot, if you ask me. Now if you’d just taken her to bed, I might have been able to concentrate, but no, you had to encourage her to fondle herself and have her facing where I could see everything.” He patted his crotch through the front of a pair of grease-stained coveralls he’d pulled over his clothes.
Les eyed his hands. “So, did you get grease on your dick?”
Karl punched him in the arm. “Probably. It’ll wash off.”
“Seriously, how’s the truck?”
“At least I figured out what’s wrong. No spark. I’d just fixed that part when things inside the house got too intense to ignore.”
“Do you want me to try to turn it over?”
“Yeah. Don’t choke it. I’ve got enough gas in the carburetor to explode.”
“Erk. That’s comforting.” Les clambered behind the wheel, made a few adjustments, and turned the key. The engine sputtered to life. “What now?” he called over the rumble of the engine.
“Back it outside and let it run for a while.”
Les put it in gear and then remembered he hadn’t looked behind the truck. “Anything behind me?”
“Let me look. Nope, all clear.” Karl tugged the rickety shed doors open wider.
Les coaxed the 1925 International Harvester truck out into the sunshine and took a good look around its cab. He groaned. It was filthy. Something like a mouse nest filled the passenger foot well. Dust and cobwebs covered every surface. He set the brake and jumped down. “Good thing we have time.”
“Hey, I’m just glad we got it going.”
“Me, too, but that was only the first part. I’m going after a bucket and a few rags. We can’t have Noreen in here the way it is right now.”
Karl stepped onto the running board and peered through a very dirty window. “Hmph. Guess you’re right. I was going to wash the windows, but the rest of it needs some love too. What’s our mate up to?”
“Bath and laundry.”
Karl quirked a brow. “Do you suppose she’d mind washing out a few things for me? I don’t have anything clean for this trip.”
Les snorted. “I was planning to just buy new clothes, but you can ask her. I don’t want her to feel like we’re taking advantage of her good nature, though.” He turned to Karl. “I still can’t believe how lucky we were to find her.”
“Know what you mean.” Karl got a fierce look in his dark eyes. “I want to gather her close and love her and protect her—forever.”
“Yeah, part of me wishes we were still in the old country a few hundred years ago, and we could shower her with servants and everything she’d ever want.”
Karl looked thoughtful. “There’s plenty of money. We could move to a town somewhere and hire household help.”
“You’re not thinking. We’re fugitives, remember? All we’d need would be a nosy housekeeper to turn us into the Hunters.”
“Mmph.” Karl disappeared into the shed and returned with a rag; he wiped his hands but didn’t make a dent in the greasy streaks peppering them. “Of course, you’re right. It’s not that I forgot, not exactly, but I’ve just been so happy, it was easy to push reality aside.”
“Hi, guys!” Noreen strode toward them wearing Les’ blue, terrycloth robe belted about her slender waist. “I’ve got soap in the wash kettle. Do either of you have clothes you’d like washed?”
“You don’t have to.” Les opened his arms, and she walked into them.
“I know I don’t, but I want to.”
Karl nodded and gave up trying to lever the grease off his hands. “If you’re sure it’s not an imposition, I have a few things.” He reached for her.
Noreen quirked a brow and shook her head. “I’d love to have you hold me—after your hands are clean. Truck sounds promising.” She hooked her thumb at the idling vehicle. “How about if you come inside, do some work on those hands, and then you can sort what you want me to wash.”
“Sure.” Karl turned to Les. “Set the idle down and make sure you can start it again.”
“Will do. I’ll be inside presently to get what I need to clean this beast up at bit.” Les smiled as he watched his pack brother and their mate walk into the cabin. He put the old truck through its paces, satisfied when he turned the engine off that it would get them to Red Deer. He got out of the truck and wrinkled his nose, sniffing. Smoke. He’d nearly forgotten about the forest fire, but it was definitely getting closer.
It doesn’t matter. We’ll be out of here tomorrow. The specter of his cabin burning to the ground didn’t bother him as much as it had before Noreen had come into their life. It was looking unlikely they’d be living here, anyway, and they could always replace the few things in the cabin if a fire swept through and leveled it.
Chapter 10
Dawn was barely breaking when the old farm truck rolled out the driveway and merged onto the roadway heading for Red Deer. Seated between her mates, Noreen laid a hand on each man’s leg. They’d decided the night before to get as early a start as possible, and she’d packed them a picnic breakfast to eat en route. A thermos of honey-sweetened tea sat on the floor.
“I don’t understand why I’m not more tired,” she said. “I suppose we got a little sleep, but between talking and making love, we couldn’t have gotten much.”
“You can lean on one of us and take a nap.” Les glanced at her and smiled from his perch behind the wheel.
“That’s just it. I’m not tired. I feel more alive and energized than I have—ever.”
“It’s the shifter magic,” Karl said. “We don’t need much sleep, and it’s looking like that will be one of the things you’ve absorbed through the mate bond.”
Noreen reached into a crinkly paper sack and pulled out a bacon and egg sandwich wrapped in waxed paper. She folded back the paper and handed it to Les before fishing Karl’s sandwich out of the bag and offering it to him.
“This is great, Noreen!” Karl spoke around a mouthful of food, words blurry.
“I’m glad.” The warm glow she’d felt in h
er midsection ever since meeting her mates cascaded all the way to her toes. She retrieved her own sandwich and took a bite. It was good. The bread, courtesy of Jed, was still fresh and fragrant. The bacon and eggs, also from Jed’s largesse, were perfect. Eggs just a bit runny and bacon crisp.
Karl reached for the thermos of tea, unscrewed the cup, and poured steaming liquid into it. He blew on it before drinking. A smile split his face. “Already sweetened. You think of everything, sweetheart.”
She shrugged self-consciously. “Maybe not everything, but I do a fair job in the kitchen. All of us in the orphanage had jobs. Mine was always in the kitchen since I had a flair for taking cheap food and making it edible.”
“They didn’t feed you well?” Les’ voice had a hard edge, as if he wanted to detour past the Calgary orphanage and kill someone.
“There were a lot of us and only so much money to work with. I wasn’t usually hungry, but there wasn’t much in the way of fresh fruits or vegetables. And the meat was mostly tinned. We ate a lot of bread and rice and potatoes.”
“I’m so sorry.” Karl patted her hand and then draped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her against him.
“Don’t be. Other kids had it worse. There were lots of homeless ones. At least I had a roof over my head.” She sucked in a breath, anxious to change the subject. Noreen didn’t want her mates to pity her. “What are we going to do first once we get to Red Deer?”
“Since passports are the big unknown,” Les crumpled the waxed paper from his sandwich and handed it to her, “we’ll begin at the courthouse.”
“Good idea,” Karl seconded. “That way if they have to do some sort of processing, we can come back at the end of the day to pick them up. Shopping shouldn’t take all that long.”
“Speak for yourself,” Noreen countered. Karl poured more tea and passed it to her. She drank and offered it to Les. “I need nearly everything, so it will take a couple of hours, even if I hurry.”
