Fear gripped her heart for a split second as she prepared to let the truth slip. Nothing made her sick to the stomach more than letting her sister down, but at the same time relief flooded through her body. Cherry needed a distraction and she had one so she pulled her card.
“Cherry, I dropped out of med school.”
Silence thickened as her sister sat opposite her. “I knew there was something. I just had to give you time to work it through. You were always like that, you know. In the orphanage then later on when we were able to escape that dreadful place.”
“You mean, you’re not mad?”
Slowly she shook her head. “How could I be?” Cherry reached out and tugged a lock of her hair gently like she used to do when she tried to cheer her up as kids. “You’re my kid sis. All I want is for you to be happy.”
Then why did she feel like she still had a ball of lead in her stomach?
“Thanks.” She smiled but she didn’t feel the happiness that should go with it.
“But I do have to ask. Why the sudden change of heart after so long?” Cherry took her hands in hers, and she opened her mouth to answer but the words wouldn’t come out.
“It’s okay. When you’re ready. All that I care about is your happiness. That means more to me than any amount of money and any degree. I’m glad you’re the strong and decisive one. I’ve always envied you that ability, ya know. It takes me ages to make a decision and then I spend days worrying once I have. Not you, though.”
“Me strong? Decisive? HA! You sure you have the right sister?” She puffed her cheeks out and let out a laugh. “I thought I knew what I wanted and here I am at twenty-five without a clue.”
“Maybe a Christmas wish is in order?”
“Oh my God, we haven’t done that in, what? Forever? I think I was ten the last time.”
Their childhood game on the holidays came back and brought with it bittersweet memories. Her sister had invented the little rhyme when she wouldn’t stop crying over a broken doll one year. She’d told her to make a Christmas wish on the next star she saw in the winter sky and that her wish would come true. Sure enough that Christmas a new doll was under the little tree they had in their home the year before everything changed.
Maybe. Just maybe.
“Cherry. Good to see you.”
With a heavy sigh of frustration Sabine eyed the doctor as he sauntered through the same door the nurse left minutes before. They both turned to the door as the middle-aged doctor walked back in with her sister’s files and the printouts of her ultrasound.
“Depending on how you look at it, I have some very good news to share.”
Sabine crossed her legs and let her frustration out by swinging her leg. “Out with it, Doc. Can’t you tell she’s on pins and needles.”
“Yes! The suspense is killing me.” Cherry sat up and reached across the desk to take the ultrasound pictures the doctor handed her.
“As you can see, Ms. Kennedy, you’re going to have twins.”
Cherry rounded in her chair and the wide-eyed stare she had was beyond anything she’d ever seen on her sister. Joy, nervousness, and more joy poured out of her like a fountain with no shut-off valve. Her sister reached out and squeed, something else she’d never seen from her sister. Alaska really did change her.
Cherry looked back at the images and stroked the tiny bubbles that were her little babies. “I’m so happy for you,” she offered, squeezing her hand between both of hers. And she was happy. Happy to know that when she left here Cherry would have a wonderful big family like she’d always dreamed of.
“It’s actually very common in shifter families to have twins, sometimes triplets.”
Her sister went pale at the mention of three babies and the doctor smiled.
“Rest assured, Cherry, there are only two little tikes waiting to be spring babies. In your earlier visits we talked about a home birth. Do you still want to go that route?”
“Yes. Does having twins change that? Should I reconsider?”
“You’ll be fine. Besides, the clinic is only across the street from you and you are in perfect health.”
That’s one thing Sabine noticed right off about Claw Ridge. Everything was close by if not right next door. Probably so they didn’t freeze to death trying to get somewhere!
“I’ll see you next month for your next checkup. In the meantime, stay away from icy sidewalks and tell your mates congratulations for me.”
“Will do! Thank you so much, Doctor.” Cherry pushed up and Sabine grabbed the door for them.
“Come on, let’s get outta here and get you back to your mates so you can share the good news.”
“Yes. That sounds perfect.”
“I’ll drop you off and meet back up with you late this evening. How does that sound? Dinner at my place, well Rone’s. I can cook or we can find a private booth and catch up?”
“That sounds perfect.”
A tiny speck of jealousy wanted to take root, but Sabine refused to let the ugly green ball of gloom stick around. Something spectacular was happening for her sister and she needed to be there for her. It had been only them for so long and now her sister had so many other people.
Fact: She’d never felt more alone than she did now.
CHAPTER SIX
Half an hour later Sabine passed her sister off to her overly ecstatic mates and made her way back to the bar to find Rone kicking back on a bar stool, a large cup of something on the bar in front of him. Low Christmas tunes greeted her from the jukebox along with the soft jingle of the bell over the door.
Everyone had cleared out except Rone who sat at the bar. The barely noticeable shift in his posture as she walked in signaled he knew she was there. Her knowledge base may be limited, but she was a quick study of human nature.
An otherworldly’s senses picked up things humans never had a chance of detecting.
Like her heartbeat from across the room going into overdrive at seeing his broad shoulders and wanting to find out what they felt like beneath the bite of her nails again.
Over the line of bottles situated on the back bar, Rone caught her gaze in the mirror and for half a heartbeat she faltered, shaken by the flash of amber starring at her. It would take more than a couple of days of being around so many shifters to get used to all the fur, fangs, and strange eye colors.
“Everything go okay with your sister?”
Sabine slipped from her coat and hung it on a peg Rone positioned on a stretch of wall beside the office. “Yep. Found out she’s having twins and Lorne and Kohl are not going to let her out of their sight for the next four months. I guarantee it.”
Rone’s brows shot up in surprise. “I bet Everett is going to flip when he hears that and regret offering up a free nursery as bounty in their bet.”
“She had him on speed dial before Lorne and Kohl had her fully settled inside the truck. I foresee he’s going to be up several nights redoing the design for Cherry’s nursery.”
Rone laughed a low relaxed rumble that teased a smile from her. “That’ll teach him a few things about mouthing off.”
With it barely after noon she still had several hours before Cherry was due back for another visit. A little over twenty-four hours in town and she’d quickly found out not even a snowstorm would keep these people home. Which she guessed was good for business.
“I see you found my hot chocolate.”
“Is this what you served to the family earlier? Damn, woman, now they really won’t leave.”
A glint in his eyes revealed a hint of the animal she knew lurked beneath the surface. He tracked her progressed across the room before he took another long sip.
“You’ll have to give me the recipe so I can hide it away and never let them get their greedy paws on it.”
She bumped her glasses up a notch and let her gaze rake over his crossed ankles and the way his thighs looked locked together. He was the embodiment of masculinity. Mussed hair, a slight shadow of stubble along his jaw and a black
t-shirt that clung to well-defined muscles she enjoyed beneath her touch, if only briefly.
A sly grin played with the tips of her mouth.
A voice of reason shuffled aside the bits and pieces of their interaction and focused on what stood out. Rone and her alone. Again. She was in big trouble and not a soul in sight to save her. Not even the dishwasher hummed in the background.
Better yet, there was no one to save him.
She shuddered as a shift in the energy sent a zing of anticipation up her spine. In a bar and not one person on the street beyond the frosted windows when you couldn’t get anyone to go home yesterday. A few cars drove by but for the most part no one was due until later that afternoon. What she couldn’t decide was if that was a good thing or not.
To busy her hands, Sabine shuffled through the folded aprons before deciding on one of the many identical ones. With ease she wound the long strands of leather around her waist and tied off the knots. “Give you my super secret recipe?” She ticked a finger on the side of her lip. “Depends. What’s in it for me? I’m still waiting on that steak dinner.” She huffed on her nails and pretended to polish them on her sweater. The one with the word GANGSTA WRAPPER in bold red and green glitter with tiny boxes, ribbons and bows splattered all over it. Tacky and she loved it even more as Rone eyed the words with a smirk and a shake of his head.
His sensual lips parted around the rim of his mug again, and she watched the way his throat worked down the warm liquid. “Hmm. True. Which I’ll make good on that date.”
Like an actual date? Red flags sprang up and she back peddled as though her life depended on it. “No sweat, big guy.”
In a slow glide Rone pushed up from the stool and unleashed the power of his glare on her. “Be careful, Angel. Continue to insult my honor and you’ll be more than shivering in your boots from the cold. You’ll be running from the big bad bear on your tail.”
Her phone pinged from her back pocket and she dashed away the intrusion. When you were being hunted, rule numero uno was never take your eyes off the predator that was after you.
She swore the energy in the bar shifted to overdrive. Currents of lust were so thick she could reach out and touch them. Touch him. Rone rounded the bar at the exact time her phone pinged from her back pocket for a second time. Damn it. He was already suspicious something was up.
“You going to get that? Someone could need you.”
Her breath hitched. Marcy had the worst time in the history of texting.
“No one important. Umm… besides it is almost lunchtime and I am starving. So…” Was that her shaky voice? Gah. Get it together. Sabine took a deep breath and slowly asked, “What is on the menu for today? Anything special?”
She knew as soon as the words left her mouth she had stepped in it big time.
“You.”
Pulling her guidebook out like in invisible shield against sexy beasts with an appetite for city girls, Sabine started thumbing through the pages, her gaze not really landing on anything. “Did you know that in some parts of Alaska they make pizza delivery by plane?”
He stalked closer.
Her heart rate tripled.
“And did you know that the state flower is the forget-me-not?”
“Oh Angel, there’s not a soul you’ve come in contact with that could forget you.”
Blood rushed in her ears. Her heart was beating so fast she felt light headed. He was so close now she could feel the heat of him brush against her. He prowled another step closer. Wait. Did werebears prowl? If not, he did a good job of it anyway.
Golden eyes brightened with mischief. This close she could almost count the flecks of gold and she noticed the various shades of the yellow coloring in his irises.
Ragged breaths came fast and hard. She fixed her glasses with a shaky hand.
She silently dared him to reach out and put a single finger on her body. The look of surprise and shock on his face when she took him to the floor in a frenzy of lust would be priceless. Something told her he’d enjoy becoming the hunted right before he turned the table on her and she fell prey to his underhanded tactics. He had her so damn hot and the coil so tight, one more push and they’d be finding out how hard the floor was.
Heat struck with precision until her clit throbbed with an unbidden desire. As though instinct and her senses knew what she wanted without checking in with her first. How many times could she be rejected before she got the memo?
Caged.
She gulped, unable to see the words on the page in front of her. “And...” she tried in a whispery voice, his lips a teasing breath from hers. “Alaska is the Christmas cookie cap…”
He didn’t let her finish.
Live wires juiced with enough power to fuel the cosmos crackled between them. Goosebumps flushed her skin and her lips parted, desperate for more air. More of anything to calm the fire that ate at her insides whenever his lips touched hers.
“You feel it, don’t you? The burn? The need to touch me. Deny it. I do. Or did. Every damn time I get close to you, look at you, touch you I tell myself I can’t have you.” He shrugged. “Yet here we are. I’m realizing the lie is going to cost us more than the truth.” A deep growl rumbled up the back of his throat. “Do you agreed, Angel?”
Cornered.
Heavy and laden with everything she held pent up inside, Sabine sighed a ragged-sounding exhalation of air and her shoulders drooped.
Not an entirely bad place to be if she thought about it. “What…” she stuttered, then tried again, this time in a firmer voice. “What are you waiting for? A personalized Christmas card as an invitation?”
He narrowed his eyes at her sass but didn't answer. Instead, he zeroed in on her like she was the sole reason he breathed at that second.
She felt the same way.
With the counter at her back and him at her front, Sabine had no defenses but her sass, and she planned on wielding it like a sword.
“Now I have to,” he drew out huskily.
That was her last argument. If he even slightly breathed on her she feared the inner beast he awoke would break free and have him splayed out on the bar, the floor, or a freaking booth and having every dirty dream she'd had of the man last night come true.
She smiled and he slowed.
“I see those eyes fill with lust and it makes me want to rip your clothes off and taste every delicious inch of your luscious skin. Just give into you already and see if you really are like honey.”
“How do you know it's lust? Maybe I just want something sweet,” she teased just to see his eyes brighten with humor.
“I’ve never been called sweet, Angel.” No warning, no prelude, he simply swept in with an arm around her waist and claimed her lips with his.
Air cut off as if they drew what they needed from one another. He tore away and pressed his forehead to hers. “Yeah, I know lust when I see it and I also know what I see happening between us.” He nibbled at her lower lip and sucked the tender flesh between his. “I saw it during the Rum Run and this morning we both almost joined the cupcakes on the floor.”
“Abs. I was only looking at your abs this morning.”
“Right. Abs. So yes, Miss Kennedy, I do know.”
“So what are you going to do about it, boss?”
He slipped a hand down the small of her back and pressed her into his body until they were flush.
Hard. Every inch of him was magnificently hard.
The hem of his shirt hung freely from his jeans and she took the invitation without a second thought.
He sucked air through gritted teeth and the rumbled growl fed through the palms of her hands.
She caressed higher, pulling his shirt up the higher she teased. She bit at the inside of her lip when her fingers found his nipple. Hard, she couldn’t resist using the tips of her nails over the sensitive nipples. Not too hard, just enough to have his eyes roll shut and his shaft grow harder.
He pressed her hips closer and even through their jeans she
could tell the strain of his erection bulged against the zipper.
She flicked his nipples again and shuddered when he rested his forehead in the crook of her shoulder and growled in her ear.
“You’re coming close, Angel, to having me between your thighs and there won’t be any way to stop the inevitable.”
“And what is that,” she asked huskily, so caught up in her own sensual game she couldn’t tell who was more turned on.
“You know what happens when a shifter finds his mate?”
She did. “Cherry,” she said and he nodded, understanding.
But there was that word again. Mate. She pulled back and tipped her chin up to look at him in the eyes. Penetrating as though he could see into her very soul. He was telling the truth. As if scribbled in black ink over his entire face, she could read it in how his brows pinched together and the creases at the corner of his eyes softened.
“I've never taken an employee before.”
“Just sex. I’m no one’s mate, Rone. But this between us is real. I don’t think I can go home tomorrow without having you. So how about I take you?” She wound her arms around his neck and pressed her chest into his. Delicious pressure from the tight hold he held her in teased her nipples into tighter pebbles, and the slightest scrape of lace from her bra was like a jolt to her senses.
He didn’t protest immediately, so she took that as a positive sign.
“Never done that either, Angel.”
“You don’t like the girls on top, big guy?”
His eyes grew intense and she couldn’t tell if that was a yes or no. Twining the long strands of hair at his nape she whispered close to his ear. “First time for everything.”
Sabine dragged him down for another kiss and he hauled her closer yet with both his palms on her ass, leaving her legs only one place to go. Around his waist. Something so wrong for her shouldn’t feel so damn good. The rough, stiff denim of their jeans barricaded them apart but she could feel his need for her despite the layers of clothing between them. It pulsed, radiated even, and she wanted to find out what his skin would taste like as she kissed his entire body.
Snowbound With Her Christmas Bear: Wylde Den #4 (Alaskan Den Men Book 16) Page 10
