Accidentally Yours (Coyote Bluff Series Book 1)

by Lea Barrymire

  His movements were fluid. Animal grace made the act almost beautiful to watch. She wondered for a moment why he would be lying at her feet, but a strange sensation started to tickle along her skin, robbing her of all thoughts. Her eyes widened and she attempted to take a step back from the wolf. Her feet were rooted to the spot. All she could do was gasp as another wave of energy pushed over her skin and every hair on her body stood at attention. The animal made a single whimper before his body started to change.

  A soft glow erupted from his skin, filling the small clearing with an eerie light. The body that lay at her feet contorted and changed so quickly that it probably only took three heartbeats, but it felt like an eternity. Fur shortened, pulled back into his skin. Fore and hind legs changed, lengthened, morphed into human appendages. His muzzle slowly pulled back into his face. The transformation left a naked human male laying at her feet, huffing great breaths into his lungs.

  “What the fuck?” She breathed the words, unaware she’d said them out loud until the man’s head whipped around.

  Beautiful grey eyes gleamed from under dark lashes. His mouth was inches from her ankle. She could feel his warm breath skating over her skin. She hastily stepped back from him, trying not to stare. How could she not? She’d just watched her wolf morph into a wonderfully built man. The animal was majestic in his power and predatory grace, but the man was gorgeous in a purely male way.

  Even lying on the ground, huddled in on himself, he was massive. A wide back showed off sculpted muscles that tapered to a very trim waist. Shaggy blond hair hid his face, falling around his neck. The little that she could see of his face was masculine, hard planed, scruffy with a day’s worth of beard. She tried to keep from checking out his ass. He was already such an eyeful that she was afraid to check out the butt. If it was as manly as the rest, she was in serious trouble.

  Her eyes moved over his body against her wishes. Of course, his ass was perfect. She loved men’s butts, and his was one of the best she’d ogled. She checked the corner of her mouth to make sure she hadn’t drooled a little. Wow, you could sink your teeth in that ass.

  A manly snort stopped her mouth-watering perusal. She looked away from his wonderful posterior and caught the laughter in his eyes. His bangs still covered most of his face, but those eyes shined from under the wisps of hair. She felt a blush creep over her cheeks. She must’ve muttered out loud again. Crap.

  His muscles bunched just before he stood. He was immense when standing. Cammie was barely over five feet tall, but he towered over her. She stumbled back a few feet, putting space between her and the giant of a god weaving drunken-like in front of her. When he turned to face her the breath in her chest caught. Holy mother of all that’s holy. He was stunning. His chest went on for miles, covered sparingly with a spattering of blond curls.

  She forced her eyes to remain above his bellybutton but they so wanted to see what else he had. While she’d looked him over their surroundings had melted away, leaving him the only thing she concentrated on. Slowly the silence in the woods pushed into her mind. She glanced around and noticed that nothing had changed. The level of light was the same, the slight breeze carried the same smells and warmth to her. She couldn’t hear another single thing. No birds chirping their last song of the night, no airplanes buzzed overhead, no cars moved anywhere, not even the sound of cows braying at the farm down the road. It hadn’t seemed strange to her before, but now that she was thinking about the lack of environmental sounds fear edged into her mind. Not only was she in a weird part of the woods, but now she was faced with a mountain of a man that had once been her wolf.

  “Cammie, please don’t get scared. I can’t hurt you. It’s just a dream.” The male’s voice was so deep the words were almost a growl. She stumbled back another step. He knew her name. Fear slid through her mind. What she wouldn’t give for a weapon. Even if he was harmless and this was a dream, something to defend herself with would be useful. She felt a tingling in her hand and looked down to find her .22 hanging from her palm. She nearly dropped it in surprise. She glanced up at the male and found him grinning.

  “Huh. Weirdest dream I’ve had in a while.” She rubbed her arm with her empty hand, trying to get the hairs to lie down. She looked around the clearing, refusing to eye the man-candy standing, unabashedly naked, in front of her. She could still feel the warmth of her blush on her cheeks. “So, you’re what I conjure up after having a wolf in my house and after reading all the shifter romance novels?”

  The grin that spread across his face was enough to steal her breath away. She could feel her body temperature rising just from that look. The sinfully wicked glint in his hooded eyes had her legs melting. “You read romance novels? Are they full of naughty things?”

  He moved toward her with such animalistic power she barely kept herself upright. Every feminine cell in her body wanted to swoon and be caught in his masculine embrace. She could see the muscles moving under his skin, rippling as he stalked her. His shoulders moved to counterbalance each step, causing the muscles across his chest and down his stomach to bunch. She still refused to look down farther though. Silly of her, really, seeing this was her dream and all.

  His chuckle brought her eyes back to his face. His whisper moved across the small space separating them. “Do you dream about having sensual experiences often, Cammie?”

  The way he said her name was like a caress. He rolled the M’s around in his mouth before the sounds left his lips. Perhaps it was the slight purr he added to them that made it sound so sensual. She shook her head, afraid she was falling into the mental cotton again.

  A soft stroke along her naked shoulder drew her back from her thoughts. A sizzle of awareness burned along the same path, lighting up her nervous system. She tried to hide the shiver that quaked through her body, but the chuckle that rumbled in his chest told her she didn’t quite do it. She looked up into those eyes and lost herself for a moment. They were like stormy seas or the fog at dawn. They swirled with hidden secrets.

  “Do you, Cammie? Do you read those stories and then wish for them in your dreams? Do you hope for a male to take you, make you moan?”

  She stepped back. What the hell was she thinking? Dream or no dream, no one was going to fluster her. Shit. She was just like one of those women in the books. Dreamy and confused, soft and helpless. She had enough of that during her waking hours. She didn’t need it in her dreams too.

  “That is none of your business. It’s time I turned this dream around. First off, you need clothes. I’m sick of avoiding your cock, which I’m sure would be beautiful and everything, but isn’t something I need to drool over right now.” As she said it, and the thought struck her about clothes, they materialized on his body. She almost laughed at the look that crossed his face. “You thought you were going to get some? Really? It’s my dream, buddy, and right now I’d really like to not think about sex.”

  The clothes she’d thought up didn’t do much to hide his body. A tight, white T-shirt stretched across his chest. She was sure if he flexed his arms the seams would rip. It was tucked into a pair of well used blue jeans that hugged his legs and hips like a second skin. She gave herself permission to ogle his package now that it was covered and boy, she wasn’t disappointed. She hoped the zipper would hold.

  “You created me in your dream, changed me from wolf to man, and you don’t want to have sex? What kind of dream is this?” His disgruntled tone pulled a laugh from her.

  “Sorry, cowboy, but I’m just not in the mood to have all my fantasies given to me and then wake to find that none of it was real. I’ve had a shitty couple of days and don’t need to add disappointment on top of it all.” She turned and looked around the woods. What was she going to do with Mr. Gorgeous if they weren’t going to do the horizontal bop?

  “Ian. My name is Ian.” The softness of the words pulled her focus back to the male. He stood awkwardly, staring at the ground. Interesting that she’d conjure up a sensitive male although after Ron’s issues
maybe it wasn’t so surprising.

  “Well, Ian. Let’s go for a walk. You can tell me about shifting and I can try to figure out which books I’ve borrowed stuff from to create you.” She held out her hand for him, thinking it a gesture of friendship. The moment his palm wrapped around hers, energy moved along her skin. Heat and need flowed from their joined hands to her belly. She swallowed a moan. Didn’t she just decide that they weren’t going to go all sexual?

  His hand was warm and calloused as it held hers. Shaking her head at her own inability to control her dream she turned in a small circle. The forest was fairly dense all the way around the clearing, but there were a couple of trails leading from it. She headed toward one, tugging lightly on his hand. “Come on, we’ll go that way. Who knows how long I get to sleep. Might as well enjoy the night before I’m whipped back to reality, right?

  They wandered in silence for a few minutes. She walked ahead, dragging him along with her. Her body was jolted by little shocks of energy that pulsed along her nerves and collected in her belly. The heat generated was starting to make her uncomfortable, but not in a painful way. She could feel her pussy starting to warm. She tried to pull her hand from his, but he held firm.

  When she turned to confront him she found herself pressed against his chest. It was like colliding with a brick wall. She would have bruised if it hadn’t been a dream. Before she could fall on her ass, he wrapped hard arms around her waist.

  “Easy there, hon. You don’t need to fall down and wake yourself up, now do you?” He stroked a hand down her back, stopping perilously close to her ass. If she moved at all she knew that hand would slide the inch or two it needed to and he’d be palming her cheek. Her traitorous body wanted that so badly. She could imagine his palms resting on her ass, warm and heavy. Pull it together, woman, you’re not having sex in your dreams with hunky Ian. You promised yourself.

  With a huff she backed out of his arms. “Thanks. So, why can I feel some sort of electrical charge when you touch me? I don’t remember that being a part of any of the books I’ve read recently.”

  “That, my dear, is one of the telling marks of a potential mate. You can feel my heart beating as an energy pulse. Cool isn’t it? That surprised me when I touched your hand.” He turned and walked a few steps away. Cammie couldn’t keep her eyes from traveling to the denim covered perfection of his ass. His next words brought her eyes back up to his. “When you touched me in wolf form I figured I would sense it if you were a potential mate, but I didn’t feel anything. It might be because I was injured. Who knows. But, young lady, the fact that we both feel it, dream or not, is a pretty good indication that we could be something awesome together.”

  “Huh, so I’m dreaming of a mate? How pathetic am I? I just had my bell rung by my last boyfriend, and now I’m creating a mate in my dreams. I can’t even go one night without needing a male to save me? It’s just another bad thought in a string of them.” She turned suddenly and stomped a few paced ahead. “Every man I’ve ever trusted or wanted was bad for me. I can’t even get away in my own mind.”

  She needed to get out of this dream. Her body seemed to want this male and, frankly, why wouldn’t she? He was perfect. Quiet, beautiful, other-worldly.

  “Why do you have so much anger toward yourself? Maybe this is your mind’s way of dealing with the violence you’ve received. Or, this is your way of proving to your subconscious that you can make good choices in men?”

  * * * * *

  The conversation wasn’t going the way Ian thought it would. When Cammie had started whimpering in her sleep he thought to invade her dream and help her. When he found he couldn’t fully control their connection he was surprised, but this female seemed to be strong in every respect.

  With the first look of her in the short sun dress he’d lost all semblance of his mission. He wanted to seduce her, and what did he find? She not only didn’t want him or his body, but she would deny he was even a good thing to see in her dream. How was he supposed to handle that? When their heartbeats sent jolts of power between them it was a sure sign of their potential. He knew hundreds, if not thousands, of people could be potential mates.

  He’d found a few other women that sent the same impulses through him, but he’d never had one of them turn down his advances. It almost made him want to push her, force her to see they were meant to be together. The way her eyes had moved over him in the beginning had been torture. She’d caressed him with her gaze, touching him and heating his skin as she moved her glances across his body.

  He found it funny that she created clothing for him. He knew, could smell, the effect his body had on her. He’d watched the blush creep across her cheeks as she’d looked him over. He just didn’t know what to do about it. Did he push her?

  As they walked he’d paid attention to her emotions, letting them flow over him like a heavy rain. He was partially connected to her mind through the dream-sharing and he could sense many of her thoughts. She was confused and definitely aroused. If she was fighting the mutual attraction even in a dream there was very little he could do to sooth her. At least her nightmare had stopped the moment he’d touched her mind. He hadn’t even seen what had caused her to whimper in the first place.

  She stopped suddenly and he nearly plowed into her back. She whipped around, glaring at him. “You said you’re a shifter, right? I saw you change from a wolf to ‘this’.” The look of irritation that followed her hand sweep forced him to swallow a chuckle. She was definitely not what he had expected, but her bluntness was endearing.

  “Yes. I’m a wolf shifter. Why? Do you have questions? Would you like to sit and chat for a while?” He wanted to get her stationary so he could study her, perhaps tempt her into kissing him. “You could conjure a seat or two and we could rest, talk?”

  He caught the slight scent of arousal again as she looked him over. She didn’t want to admit it, but she found him tantalizing. She quickly brought her eyes back to his, but he could see the embarrassment and heat hiding in their depths. He grinned and watched the blush deepen.

  “Okay, let’s sit. You can explain how you shift, and I’ll try to figure out how I pulled you together.” She closed her eyes, furrowed her brow and squeezed her small hands into fists. He watched her and grinned. She was so adorable. His eyes widened slightly when a beautiful wrought-iron bench materialized next to her. “There. Sit.” She motioned to the other end of the bench as she perched on the end closest to her. She crossed her ankles and looked at him expectantly.

  * * * * *

  Cammie barely kept from launching herself at him. She knew he was exactly what her subconscious wanted. Of course he is. She scoffed. I created him. Beautiful in body and mind. Formed like a god, hung like a horse, hard as a rock. Could she come up with any more comparisons? The cold wood and iron through the thin material of her dress had goose bumps pebbling her skin. It helped to cool her lust. She hadn’t felt this kind of pull in so long, but it could be just because it was a dream and she was allowed to feel anything she wanted. Keep telling yourself that, sister. You’ve got it bad for this fictitious Romeo. “So. Tell me about shifting. Is it magic, genetics, what?”

  She needed to get him talking so she had something else to concentrate on. She took a deep breath and almost moaned as the breeze shifted at that moment and carried his clean, male scent to her nose. She had always been a sucker for men and their smells. She loved to bury her nose in the crease of a man’s neck and just pull his scent into her lungs. The smile that played across his perfect lips gave her an idea he knew what she was thinking. Well, it was a dream, why wouldn’t he be able to tell what was running through her mind? They were both living inside her head. He moved slowly, prowling like the animal he was, until he was seated on the bench. His legs spread like any good male and his knee came to rest lightly against hers

  “Shifters are born, and can be made. According to legend we are magical creatures, part of the fae. Genetically we are almost human. We have the same number of c
hromosomes but some of our genes are active, where in a regular human they are dormant. The actual shift from animal form to human... Cammie, what are you watching?”

  She whipped her eyes up to his and blushed. She’d been staring at his lips. Yep, that’s what she’d been doing. They just moved in magical ways. Every word pulled the smooth, moist skin differently. She wanted to kiss him in the worst way. Her lips tingled. Her gaze moved to them again and she sighed when those perfect lips quirked into a sexy smile.

  “Do you want me to kiss you? Is that why you’re staring at me, Cammie?” He shifted slightly on the seat and a zing of lightning shot up her leg when his brushed hers. He breathed his next words across the small distance between them. “I want to kiss you. I want to taste you on my tongue. Will you let me do that?”

  Did she want to kiss him? Yes. Should she? That was a completely different question. She knew this was a dream, accepted it as truth. If she woke with a lingering affection for her dream man she’d be a depressed pile of goo for days. Keeping her distance was probably the right thing to do, but she really, really, didn’t want to do the right thing. She wanted to climb into his lap, and dig her fingers into his hair while sucking on his lower lip. She wet her lips in anticipation and almost groaned as the tingling intensified. Screw it, live in the now.

  A moment after her tiny nod she was wrapped in strong, warm arms. She hadn’t seen him move, hadn’t felt his body shift, but both must have happened for her to be on his lap, straddling his thighs. Her eyes closed and she tilted her head back in acceptance. She’d force her mind to not dwell on the kiss she was going to get. She could do that, it was her dream, right?

  She’d savor the moment and then bury it in the recesses of her mind. Maybe she could revisit it in her dreams on nights when she was lonely. The fluttering of his breath across her lips pulled her from her thoughts. She breathed in deeply, pulling his exhale into her lungs. Anticipation curled hot and heavy in her belly. She could barely feel the heat radiating from his mouth.