by Gina Kincade
“I promise to email you,” he said when he released her, leaving her on shaky legs.
She forced a smile. “I must have really made an impression on you. You’re actually going to use a computer.”
“There are some things I’m willing to make the sacrifice for.”
She grasped the handle of her suitcase and wheeled it toward the glass double doors. She knew he was watching her. She couldn’t bear to look back. To see his face. To be hypnotized by those eyes again. She couldn’t help thinking she was letting the best thing to happen to her in a long time get away.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Nicola sat at a conference table, drawing circles on her writing pad and listening to the presenter drone on during a department meeting. One of the circles took on a life of its own, morphing into a sun, when she sketched six lines from its perimeter. She added a shape that to the ordinary eye appeared to be a jackrabbit on crack. Only she knew it was a kangaroo. He was hopping about on the beach, like the one she’d seen near Whitehaven. The one Leif had showed her. It felt like an eternity since that day he’d carried her on his back, but it was only a month ago.
It was amazing how much could happen in such a short time. She wondered what Leif was doing now. Were Bonnie and Clyde dogging his every step? Was he hanging out with Grandpa and Uncle Joe? Was he thinking about her? She was damned sure thinking about him. In fact, she hadn’t been able to stop since she’d left Australia.
No, it was before that.
He’d wedged himself into her thoughts from the moment she woke up in his clinic. Despite his rough demeanor, she was attracted like a bitch in heat. Her mistake was having sex with him. She would never be the same now. Leif’s lovemaking was like him–rough and rugged but leaving her fully satisfied. He was a man’s man. He not only had the right equipment; he knew how to use it! She’d never imagined giving herself to any man who fit his mold, but she had to admit he had her salivating for more.
Her body reacted even now, just thinking of him. The place between her legs throbbed, swelling with need. She wished he were here to assuage her ache.
She glanced at her watch. What time was it in Queensland? Was it too late to call him? They’d kept in touch via email, but lately, written words weren’t enough for her. She needed more than words. She needed reassurances.
She needed to be touched.
Held.
Fondled.
She needed the care only Dr. Connors could give.
I wonder if it’s too soon to take another vacation? I could be in Queensland in eighteen hours.
“What do you think, Nicola? Nicola?”
She snapped back to the present. Her boss, Randi eyed her curiously.
Nicola nodded. “Yes, I agree.”
Snickers from the other employees at the table let her know she’d answered incorrectly.
“Agree to what?” Randi demanded. “I asked you what were the statistical odds of it snowing in Dallas during the month of October?”
Who gives a shit?
Nicola didn’t care about that. Lately, she didn’t care about any of this anymore. She’d rather be outdoors, soaking up some sunshine, instead of sitting in a boring-ass, all-day meeting. Funny, she’d never found work boring before. Now, it seemed she just couldn’t focus anymore.
Girl, you need to get your mind right, as Cool Hand Luke would say.
“Um, can we take a one-function break?” Nicola asked.
Randi glanced at her watch. “Sure. Let’s all meet back here in fifteen minutes.”
Nicola stood and stretched. Some of the other employees thanked her as they exited the room. Apparently, they were just as bored as she was.
“Hey, Nicola.” One of the interns sidled up to her. “Wait until you see this. It’s one more souvenir from Australia.”
The pimply-faced young man whipped out his over-sized cell phone.
“I don’t want to see any questionable pictures,” Nicola warned. These millennials and their pictures got on her nerves sometimes. And why did their phones keep getting larger every day? She was beginning to think a man with a big phone was compensating for the lack of something else big…
“You’re gonna love this,” he said, as he pressed the ‘play’ icon on the screen. She watched as the viral video of her falling on her ass with the koala in her arms played. “This is so cool,” the intern said. “Why didn’t you tell us this happened?”
“It was no big deal.” She smiled, looking at the footage. She never thought she’d live to see the day when she actually smiled about it. But the video reminded her so much of Australia. She could even see McSeever’s sleeve in the background. She wished it were Leif, so she could get one more glimpse of him.
“Unbelievable!” Ashley, her co-worker, and friend replied. “You should sue whoever posted this video. JersyGrl2407. Who the hell is that?”
“One of the girls on the tour with me. Really, it’s no big deal.”
“That is so humiliating,” Ashley insisted.
“It’s kind of funny when you look at it.” Nicola left the room and wandered down the hall to her office. Ashley followed.
“Hey,” she said, catching up to Nicola. “Some of that Australian sun must have melted your brain.”
Nicola laughed. “What makes you say that?”
“You’ve been so laid back since you returned. The pre-Australia Nicola would’ve freaked out over that footage.”
She shrugged. “Those things aren’t important anymore. It’s just a video.”
Ashley planted her hourglass shape in front of her, effectively blocking Nicola’s path. “Okay, who is he?”
“Who?”
“The man who hooked you up with that good lovin’.”
“What are you talking about?”
Ashley held up her hand as she counted off the reasons on her fingers. “Number one, you came back with a sun-kissed glow no tanner could possibly duplicate. Two, you’re at least five minutes late to every meeting, whereas before you left for vacation, you were always ten minutes early. Three, you’ve gone from Type A to Type Australia with your laid back attitude. And four, last week, you called the creepy mailroom guy a wanker. The old Nicola was not like this. Ergo, I’m assuming you got some good dick while in the Land Down Under.”
Nicola laughed out loud.
“I knew it! You hooked up with somebody. You’ve been holding out on me. Spill it, right now.”
“It was nothing.”
“Liar! Give me all the details. You know I live vicariously.”
Nicola stepped around her. With three kids and a husband who was always out of town on business, Ashley was totally obsessed with sex.
“Okay, fine,” she relented. Right there in the hallway, Nicola lowered her voice and told Ashley all about Leif and how they’d met. She got nostalgic simply relating the tale.
“You should call him. Tell him you miss him and you can’t live without him.”
“Girl, you’ve been watching too many chick flicks. Just because the few nights we shared meant the world to me, doesn’t mean he felt the same.”
“You’ll never know if you don’t put yourself out there. Take a chance. Lord knows you’re not doing us any good, moping around here all lovesick and shit.”
Nicola breezed into her office, intent on checking her email and escaping Ashley’s barrage of advice. When she crossed the threshold, her heart slammed against her chest. Sitting in a chair across from her desk was the man she’d been obsessing about for the past month. Her breath lodged in her throat as she drank in his appearance. Dear God, he looked so good! She’d never seen him in a suit, but the one hanging from his athletic build looked custom-tailored for him. His golden hair was cut shorter on the sides, but her fingers still itched to thread themselves through his thick locks. His possessive gaze raked over her, sending shivers of excitement tiptoeing down her spine.
After a few moments, she finally found her voice. “Leif, what are you doing here?”
Leif’s hea
rt thundered in his chest. During the airplane ride, he'd had a lot of time to think, and his idea seemed perfect then. Right now, he was bloody nervous! He wasn’t sure how Nicola would receive him. He was tired of communicating through email and phone calls and Skype. He wanted to see her in the flesh. Feel her satiny skin under his fingers. Ravish her lips the way he’d done in his countless fantasies.
She looked amazing. More so than he’d remembered. His gaze roamed her lush form from head to toe. Her face was flawless. Her eye shadow and lipstick enhanced her already-expressive features. She wore her curly hair in a loose bun, exposing the creamy skin of her long neck. His eyes followed the delicate area at the hollow of her throat down to her cleavage, where her delectable breasts disappeared beneath the buttons of her red blouse. The knee-length pencil skirt she wore did nothing to hide those long beautiful legs. His body reacted instantly.
God, he'd missed her!
For the past month, he'd nearly gone insane thinking about her. He’d figured his affection for her would wane. In fact, his desire had only increased. Each time they hung up the phone, he had to stop himself from calling her back and groveling like a pathetic idiot. No woman wanted a man who had no pride. He hoped he wasn’t making a fool of himself by coming here.
“It’s good to see you again, Nic.”
“Likewise.”
He strolled over to her and folded her in his embrace. She hugged him back, giving him whiffs of the perfume he’d missed so much. As long as he lived, he would never forget that smell. He’d lain awake countless nights with her scent in his nostrils, wishing he could bury himself inside her one more time.
He pulled away, ashamed of his body’s carnal response. “The family sends their love,” he said.
Shit! Why the fuck did I say that? I’m so nervous!
She bestowed a devastating smile on him. “How is everyone?” she asked.
“Ripping great. Petey and Dell are still fighting like cats and dogs. Grandma is still embarrassing us by saying whatever is on her mind. And Uncle Joe finally found a girlfriend. So you won't have to worry about that Bogan cyber-stalking you anymore.”
“Did you know he found me on LinkedIn?”
“Yeah. I didn’t know whether to be impressed or horrified.”
Her laugh was contagious, and he found himself chuckling along with her.
“What about Olivia?” she asked. “How is she?”
“She's doing well, and so is Sarah. Everyone misses you, Nic.”
“And what about you?” Her gaze locked with his. He saw yearning and hope reflected in her dark irises. “Did you miss me, too, doc?”
“I missed you the most.” He clasped her hands in his. “I'm going to get straight to the point. I've bloody missed you like crazy, woman. My world feels empty without you by my side.”
“I thought you’d lost interest. I wasn’t sure how you felt about me when I left Queensland. And then, when I got home, your emails became less frequent.”
“I've fought my attraction to you since the moment we met. And when we made love and I realized you could be the one for me, I panicked. I didn’t want you to get tired of me, so I tried to give you some space. I screwed that up.”
“You were afraid of getting hurt again. I get it.”
He nodded. “But then I realized you're not like Lisa. In fact, you're like no other woman I've ever known. I’ve fallen in love with you, Nicola.”
“Oh, Leif! I feel the same way about you.” She threw her arms around his neck. “So, what are we going to do about this?”
“I know what I want to do. I want you in my life full-time. In the few days we spent together, I found with you what I never found with anyone else.”
“How are we going to pull this off? We live on separate continents, for God’s sake.”
“When two people want something badly enough, they can make it work. We can do this.” He pulled a black box from his suit coat and then got down on one knee. “I've done some calculations of my own. I figure that the odds of you marrying me are around ninety-nine percent.” He grinned. “You know there's always that other one percent.”
A gasp from the hallway made Nicola turnaround. Ashley was still standing there, along with some other folks, including the intern, Pimples. She should be embarrassed that her co-workers were witnessing her private moment, but she wasn't. She was on cloud nine.
Filled with tears of happiness, she turned back to Leif. He clasped one of her hands in his and held the open box with the other. A stunning diamond winked at her, dazzling prisms of light catching the fluorescent bulbs from above.
Leif’s aqua-blue eyes captured hers. “Nicola Mills. Would you do me the honor of becoming Nicola Connors?”
She choked back waves of emotion. Everything was happening so fast, just the way she dreamed of in all of her fantasies about him. Only now he was real, in the flesh on bended knee asking her to become his wife. It was crazy! It was the stuff that only romance novels were made of. But it felt so right. And she'd never been more certain of anything in her life. Leif made her happy, and she wanted to share a lifetime of happiness with him—and his rambunctious family.
“Yes!” she answered. “I would be honored to be Mrs. Dr. Leif Connors.”
As applause thundered around them, Leif slipped the ring onto her left hand. Then, he stood and dragged her into his arms. He spun her around, making her breathless.
“You've made me the happiest man in Australia,” he told her.
Her jaw dropped. “Hey! You were supposed to say I make you the happiest man in the world.”
“There goes that demanding Yank attitude again,” he teased. “The one that I love and I’ll never tired of.”
“You’d bloody well better not.”
He leaned in and gave her a kiss that made her toes curl. She’d traveled to Australia on a mission. She never thought she would bring back the one souvenir that would change her life forever—a piece of love down under.
THE END
Waking Up Wolf By Erzabet Bishop
A Shifting Hearts Dating Agency Novella
(BBW Romance)
Chapter One
“So there wasn’t a fit then?” The woman from the dating agency’s voice sizzled through the cell phone and Dr. Royce Buchanan sighed. What was her name? Sylvia? Gods, he couldn’t remember. He wove his way down the hospital’s sterile white halls and tried to think of a polite way to respond that didn’t sound surly. He’d been looking forward to the meet and greet, surrounded by shifters in the hope that he could connect with a mate.
No such luck.
The venue had been a good one. Ironic even. A new restaurant had opened up next door to Star Pizza, one of his favorite haunts. Aptly named the Cardiac Café, it was a typical greasy spoon diner scenario, save for one thing. The waitresses all wore nurses uniforms with nosebleed heels and had the curves to match. Packed with gawking humans eager to add some more lard into their systems and shifters vying for a connection, the night raced by in a greasy haze of milkshakes, wine in IV bottles dragged around on wheels, cheeseburgers and the lingering scent of seasoned fries.
The best part about it had been the onion rings.
And the bacon maple milkshake.
Holy hell. Everything that place made came wrapped in bacon and deep fried in lard. He had no doubt he would see many of the patrons pass through his doors in the years to come. But in thinking about all the options, he’d chose onion rings with ranch and that milkshake over everything else.
He was going back there on his vacation next week. Only three more hours to go and he was off for a week at his pack’s estate. Brand, the Alpha of the Cypress Pack, was expecting him and it would be nice to let someone else run things for a change. With all the madness of shifters being attacked over the last few years, his Alpha had asked Royce to let him know if anything unusual came through the ER. There had been enough of that to last him the rest of his life.
Bitings. Strange deaths. Magical wounds
that didn’t make sense. Unless you figured Hexen into the picture; the hate group was growing across the country. Every time he turned on the news, more and more of his people were finding themselves outted and pushed into survival mode.
Humans had only just begun discovering that their safe antiseptic world offered more than just them at the top of the food chain. A vampire bar downtown had been in the news recently, and not a few shifters found themselves thrust into unwanted media attention. It made finding a mate difficult, at best, and that was why he’d gone to Shifting Hearts. Run by a demi goddess and a cat shifter, he’d thought it suited his needs just fine.
The annual pack gathering had just taken place and he’d missed it, like he had every year. Brand never failed to give him shit about it either. An alpha male in his own right, it seemed easier for Royce to stay in the city. Too much family time tended to get his nerves in a tangle and his already snappish temper flaring.
“Why the hell are you using a dating service when we have a pool of eligible wolves right here?” Brand kidded him the last time he visited.
“I just don't believe in it. The shifter chemistry thing doesn't work for me. I want to date a woman, not fall for her in two seconds or less just because of a quirk in chemistry.”
Brand’s laughter grated on his nerves. He watched him glance over at his mate, Glenis, and the spark that passed between them. That was what he’d always wanted. A woman to be his other half, not just a pretty trophy to put on the shelf when he was done fucking her.
Hell no.
He wanted an equal.
“You'll understand when it hits you, my friend. Just keep doing what you're doing. I have to tell you though, it's going to find you when you least expect it.”
That would have been fine. But, so far, no one had caught his wolf’s attention. Just like the others, all they saw when they looked at him was a doctor. Funny how that one little word made females trip all over themselves to put a notch on their bra strap or clamor to put a ring on their finger after just one date. All they wanted him for was his money and the prestige of being a doctor’s wife. He was done with that scene.
