“Things could have been handled differently,” added Jim, earning him a sideways glance from Maria.
Jeffrey said nothing in his defense.
Turns out, he didn’t have to. I did it for him. “If you want to blame someone, blame the buttmunch who goes by the name Dragos. Not Jeffrey. He didn’t cause this. If anyone did, it’s me. Dragos wanted to hurt me to teach Bram a lesson. Something about him interfering in a feud that wasn’t his own,” I said, refusing to let Jeffrey take the fall for something that wasn’t his fault. He was only guilty of rushing in to keep me safe. Nothing more.
The council huddled again.
“Blue forty-two,” I said, partially under my breath.
Jeffrey chortled. “Maria would be the quarterback. For sure.”
I snorted. “They all seem to look to her for guidance.”
“She’s the head of the council,” he supplied.
Travis appeared antsy but remained in place, patiently waiting for the council members to finish talking to one another.
Marcy was bent near the base of a tree, touching something on the ground. I didn’t want to know more. Whatever she was making friends with was keeping her occupied, and I was fine with that.
The council members broke the circle and formed a line. Maria stared at me. “Why would harming you teach Bram a lesson?”
I glanced at Jeffrey, and he nodded.
“Bram is allegedly my father,” I said, still having a hard time believing it myself.
Maria stared at me…and her eyes grew moist. “Dana?”
I stiffened, wondering how it was she knew my name. No one had told her yet, and I’d not formally introduced myself. “Uh, yes?”
“Look at you, all grown up now,” she said, the edges of her lips curving upward. “The last I saw you, you were just hours old. I helped to wrap you up tight in a blanket and get you and your mother far from Grimm Cove. New York City was where you were both headed, if I’m right.”
She’d been there when I was born? She’d known my mother?
Jeffrey squeezed my hand. “You all right, Legs?”
I nodded faintly.
Maria eyed our joined hands, and her smile widened. “Good. I thought it might be you.”
“Thought what might be me?” I asked.
“The tornado force I had a vision of for Jeffrey’s future,” she said, as if that sort of thing was run-of-the-mill. “I got that same feeling when you were born. The air pressure in the room changed and it felt like controlled chaos. Best way I can describe it is the feeling in the air as a tornado is blowing in.”
I stood there, holding Jeffrey’s hand, unsure what to say. Though I had to admit that controlled chaos was probably the best description anyone had ever used for me. It was oddly fitting.
Jim nodded his head toward us. “Is it me or is my son looking awfully protective of her? And he’s holding her hand. Not sure his mother would believe it unless she saw it for herself.”
Maria smiled more. “It’s not you. He’s doing what feels natural, Jim.”
Jim’s brows shot up. “Are you saying she’s his…?”
I huffed. “People, I’m not his anything. He’s annoying, gets on my last nerve, hates anyone with my last name, and is entirely too arrogant for my liking.”
Jeffrey lifted our joined hands and kissed my knuckles. “Aww, you say the sweetest things, Legs.”
I couldn’t help but laugh.
He drew me to him, dipped his head and pressed his lips to mine.
I didn’t push him away. Instead, I returned the kiss—right up until I remembered having an audience. Then I stilled, my lips still against his.
He grinned. “I don’t know if I should tell you this, but I think you have dried ghoul drool on your cheek.”
I made a gagging sound.
Maria laughed. “Oh Dana, it’s good to have you home as well. Soon enough, we’ll have everyone back to where they belong—here in Grimm Cove. Poppy and Marcy, will you do us the honor of joining the council and me for some breakfast?”
Poppy looked to me. “I don’t know. Dana, are you going to be okay? You just learned that Bram is your—”
I held up a hand, stopping her. “I’ll be fine. Go ahead. I’ll go back to the house and get cleaned up and check in on the twins.”
“Travis, you and the other pack members can go lend Brett and Stratton a hand with ghoul cleanup,” said Jeffrey, my hand still in his.
Maria grinned more, looking a bit sneaky in the process. “Jeffrey, aren’t we closer to your cabin than the Proctor House, out this far?”
“Yes,” he said.
“You should take her there to get a shower. The longer she has ghoul bits on her, the more likely she is to not be able to get the smell out,” said Maria with a lick of her lips.
I yelped and tugged on Jeffrey’s hand. “Take me home with you this instant!”
Jim laughed. “Poppy, how about we stop and get the twins to join us all for breakfast? We’ll pick up Faye as well.”
“Okay, but you have to pry the kids out of their beds,” she said with a shrug. “I’m not even sure getting to hear about ghouls will do the trick.”
Seventeen
Dana
I’m not sure what I was expecting Jeffrey’s home to be like, but the stunning cabin, nestled partly in the woods, with one side open to the waterfront, wasn’t it. The place was picture perfect, complete with a dock that had a boat tethered to the end and a small garden off to the side of the cabin. There was a shed that matched the cabin not far from the garden. Alongside the shed was a wooden table with a sink.
Jeffrey’s hand found the small of my back. “That’s where I clean any fish that I catch.”
“You like to fish?” I asked, desperate to discuss anything other than my father and ghouls.
“I do,” he said, caressing my back. “It’s relaxing. When I’m out on the water I can forget about everything for a bit. If you want, I could take you with me next time I go.”
I gave him a strained look. “I’ve never been on a fishing boat. I’ve been on a ferry before. Not the same thing. And I’ve never been fishing.”
“Never?” he asked, seeming dismayed at the idea I’d missed out on the pastime.
“Never,” I returned.
He shook his head. “Woman, we’re going to have to change that as soon as we can.”
I couldn’t help but smile.
He took my hand in his as we walked down a cobblestone path that led to a wraparound porch on the front of the cabin. Two large wooden chairs were on the porch with a table between them. A red throw blanket was draped over the back of one of the chairs and a book sat on the table.
“You’re reading The Lord of the Rings?” I asked.
He nodded. “It’s a go-to comfort read for me. Too geeky for you?”
I laughed softly. “Are you kidding? I love it. I’m kind of a fantasy and sci-fi junkie. I think I might drive the girls crazy with it all. I make them have a yearly marathon with me where I force them to sit through The Lord of the Rings movies. Poppy normally falls asleep. Tucker likes them, so he’s always excited when I pull them out. Pepper doesn’t even try to pretend to be into them. One year I ordered us elf ears to wear while watching. Another year I bought us robes, staffs, and wizard hats. Marcy loved hers and wore it shopping twice.”
“I can see her doing that.” He chuckled as he led me up the stairs to the front door.
“I knitted her a Dr. Who scarf once,” I admitted.
Surprise showed on his face. “You knit?”
“Poppy thought it would be a good idea to find hobbies we could do online over video conferencing with each other since we were spread out over the United States,” I confessed. “She tried painting to start with but that was an epic failure for me. Marcy did great. Then it was cooking but Marcy went through a vegan stage around the same time, so we ended that quickly.”
“And at some point, Poppy got around to knitting?” he asked, his lips curving upw
ard.
I nodded. “Tucker and Pepper were little still so it was something she could do from the house. It took a bit for me to catch on but when I did, I excelled. At first, I was a very aggressive knitter. Everything was wound too tight.”
He tipped his head back and swiped his hand over his mouth, clearly fighting a smile. “You? Aggressive? No.”
“True story,” I said, holding my head high. “I even made Tucker a Dr. Who scarf. He wore it nonstop for months. Didn’t matter how warm it was in California.”
“Bet Poppy loved that,” he said with a waggle of his brows.
“Totally.”
“So, you’re close with Poppy’s twins then?”
“Tucker and Pepper see me as an aunt and I see them as family too,” I responded. “When they were little, I was at a loss with how to deal with them. Poppy’s an expert with all that. Crotch goblins and I have a long-standing history of not gelling well. Pepper and Tucker seem to have been the exception.”
He held the door open for me. “You never wanted any kids of your own then?”
I shrugged. “I honestly never gave it a ton of thought. My career was the most important thing to me, and I don’t regret that. I’m incredibly proud of what I accomplished. That being said, I knew back in New York that I was ready for a change of pace. Never considered kids being part of that change though. My grandmother is always cramming the idea of starting a family down my throat. It’s like she hasn’t caught on to the fact that nothing should be left in my care. I can’t even keep a houseplant alive.”
“People have a way of surprising you,” he said.
He slipped his boots off and I followed his lead, removing my running shoes just inside the doorway. I set them next to his boots and took a look around the huge great room.
“Jeffrey, your house is amazing,” I said. “I think my entire apartment back in New York could fit in the living room area here alone.”
“Come on, you can shower in the master bathroom,” he said.
I lifted my arm and sniffed myself. “I smell like a locker room and a ghoul had a love child.”
Jeffrey laughed and motioned for me to follow him.
I did.
“You smell like mint and citrus to me,” he supplied.
“I smell like a mojito?”
He glanced back at me as he walked down a wide hallway. “Kind of, yes.”
A frown touched my lips. “Don’t tell Nonna. She’ll demand a re-sniff because they’re not Italian.”
Snickering, he stopped outside of an open door. “I’d love to meet her. She seems like a pistol.”
“Oh, she’s something all right,” I said. “You should go with me when I head up to visit her.”
He stilled.
I tensed. Had I just invited the man to go back to New York with me?
“I know, um, you’re busy I’m sure with running the bar and the pack and stuff,” I said quickly.
He stepped closer to me, invading my space, making my body heat. He dipped his head. “Legs, I’d love to go to New York with you to see your grandmother. I understand how important she is to you. If you want, I can toss her in the truck and bring her back with me. Might need to take backup. I’ve heard she’s got connections.”
I cackled to the point I teared up and then I began to cry. Except the tears weren’t from being amused; they’d switched over to being ones that represented how overwhelmed I felt.
Jeffrey put a hand behind my neck and brought his forehead to mine. “I swear that it won’t always be this way. Please don’t give up on Grimm Cove.”
I continued to cry, my hands bunching his T-shirt in the process.
“Don’t give up on me…on us,” he whispered.
In that moment, I didn’t care how weak I looked, or how vulnerable I was. I sank against him and let him hold me as I closed my eyes.
He wrapped his arms around me, giving me the comfort I needed.
“My father is alive,” I said softly.
“Kind of,” he returned.
It was such an absurd statement, yet totally true and fitting, that I couldn’t help but laugh through my tears. I ended up hiccupping and laughing harder over it all.
“Want something else to blow your mind?” he asked, rocking our bodies gently back and forth as he continued to hold me.
I nodded against his steely chest.
“In wolf form I could so lick my own butt,” he said, a teasing note in his voice. “I haven’t, but physically, it would be possible.”
I roared with laughter to the point I barked.
Jeffrey laughed as well.
I drew back slightly from him and took a deep breath, gathering something close to control of myself. “Thanks for making me laugh. I needed that.”
“Anytime, Legs,” he returned. “How about I make you something to eat while you shower?”
I nodded, suddenly feeling very tired. The last forty-eight hours were catching up with me fast. “Sounds good. And thank you again, Jeffrey, for everything.”
He winked and then led me into his room.
His bed was massive, and a pang of jealousy flared through me when I thought of all the women he’d probably entertained in it over the years. It wasn’t as if I was a virgin and didn’t have a sexual past. Yet it still bothered me.
Great. I’m now a jealous nitwit.
“Legs?” he asked, and I realized I’d come to a stop and was fixated on his bed. “You all right?”
“I have a mental image of you doing the dirty with a bunch of women in here. Suddenly, I’m jealous. I don’t get jealous,” I stated clearly. I was too old to bother making up an excuse for the way I felt.
He took a deep breath. “If it makes you feel better, I don’t bring women back here. Mostly I go to their places.”
“Oddly, that didn’t help any, Jeffrey,” I said calmly.
He took a deep breath. “Yeah, as the words were coming out of my mouth, I had a flash of the robot from Lost in Space. Danger, Will Robinson. Danger.”
“Weirdly, you being able to yank that sci-fi quote out of the air makes it better,” I said.
“Want me to talk endlessly about Star Wars? I can.” He grinned widely.
I snorted. “Maybe another day.”
“Like when I take you on our first date?” he asked, sounding hopeful.
I eyed him. “Or we could just skip the dating and do it.”
He blinked in surprise. “You mean it, it?”
“How old are you? You can’t say sex?”
“I can say it,” he returned. “And do it. Oh man, can I do it.”
“Good, because I think it sounds like the perfect way to forget about my morning,” I said. “First, I need to shower. Then I will do with you as I may.”
Jeffrey sighed. “I cannot believe I’m going to say this, but no. Not if you’re going into it thinking you can put an emotional wall up between us. I don’t want that, Dana. I mean, I do want to have sex with you—loads of sex—but I don’t want it at the price of the connection I know we’re forming.”
I studied him for what felt like forever. “Have you been talking to Poppy and Marcy about how I am with men?”
He took an odd interest in the ceiling fan in his room as it spun around. When he began to whistle, I rolled my eyes.
“Let me guess, they gave you an earful about how I don’t form emotional connections with men. I just sleep with them,” I stated.
“Well, it wasn’t put quite that way,” he said, pushing his thumbs through his belt loops in the front of his jeans. He shrugged. “I’m out of my element here, Legs. I’m the same way normally. I sleep with women, but don’t bother with anything more. I never wanted more from them. I want more from you. A hell of a lot more.”
“Why? I’m cranky basically all the time. I only like a few people and the rest annoy me. I speak my mind. Twice a day I visualize throat punching someone, and I’m apparently the daughter of a vampire demon-slayer.”
“Legs, if
you think I missed the fact you can be…um, particular, you’re wrong. Noticed that the minute I met you and you punched me in the face.”
I groaned. “I didn’t mean to do that.”
He flashed a sexy smile. “I know. And I didn’t mean to fall for you at the moment of impact, but I did.”
He’d fallen for me?
Was he touched in the head?
Did he not hear all my faults?
With a chuckle, he moved to me quickly and stole a chaste kiss. “Legs, go shower. You’re overthinking it all. Just let it be.”
“Does this mean we’re not having sex when I’m done getting cleaned up?” I asked.
He stiffened and reached down, adjusting the front of his jeans. “Y-yes. That’s what it means.”
I licked my lower lip and he moaned. “If you say so. I’m going to go get naked now, rub soap all over myself, all while I’m wet.”
“Evil, evil woman,” he said, pointing to the master bathroom. “Off with you before I give in.”
I laughed as I walked into it.
Eighteen
Jeffrey
“I want to let her rest right now,” said Jeffrey as he held his phone to his ear and paced out in front of his cabin.
“You’re sure she’s okay?” asked Poppy on the other end of the call. “And how did you manage to get her to take a nap? She’s like a stubborn two-year-old when it comes to them.”
He glanced at the door, knowing Dana was inside, on his bed, wrapped in a towel and nothing else. The temptation had left him out front, wearing the grass thin as he paced. He’d been doing as much for the past three hours.
Jeffrey had done his best to keep busy, making numerous phone calls for updates on Dragos. He’d even done laundry, seeing to it Dana’s workout clothes were clean for when she woke.
“I refused to have sex with her,” he said.
“I’m sorry, but what?” asked Poppy. “Did the legendary charmer of women just confess to me that he turned down sex with a hot woman? A woman I know for a fact he more than wants?”
“You heard it right,” he said with a grunt.
She was quiet a second. “You fell for her fully already, didn’t you?”
Hexing with a Chance of Tornadoes: A Paranormal Women's Fiction Romance Novel (Grimm Cove Book 2) Page 16
