Chapter 15
HARI
“So that happened, and I enjoyed it more than expected.”
“Huh?” Remy stirred beside me.
“That’s just me talking out loud.”
He swung a leg over my hip. “Right, that was the interesting thing you told me about yourself when we were on the phone.”
This was the moment I had to tell him I knew. I imagined the conversation would have gone differently if he’d been the one to tell me.
“And you mentioned gum leaves that time. Why was that?” I was giving him an out so he could explain this new world he was part of.
“Oh, you know, it’s a family thing.”
It looked like I had to jump in with both feet. Jackson had warned me Remy might be angry with him for showing me, but he was tired of the guy hiding a huge secret from me. There was no right or wrong, just two people from different worlds, falling for one another.
“Remy, last night my friend Jackson showed me something.”
“As long as he had his clothes on, that has nothing to do with me.” He chuckled and slapped my butt.
“He didn’t.”
He shot me a look, but I could almost see his mind whirring. Why was Jackson getting naked with me?
“This wasn’t about comparing the size of our dicks and nothing to do with sex.” I was giving him as much information as I could and hoping he’d catch on.
“Nude painting? I’ve heard that’s a thing.” He lifted my arms and studied my belly button. “No paint remnants.”
I sighed. I was going to have to do this. “No, it’s because he showed me who he is.”
I stared at Remy and caught the moment when his expression changed to “oh shit, what have I done.”
He gulped and reached for my hand, but damn it, I shouldn’t have had to do this.
“You’re saying that your friend isn’t who you thought he was.”
“Correct.” I folded my arms because this was taking ages and I was annoyed. “And now do you want to fill me in on why you’ve run hot and cold since we met?” I got out of bed because I needed distance between us.
“Oh, Hari, I’m sorry. I tried.”
“Nah, you didn’t. Or you didn’t try hard enough.”
Remy hung his head. “Put yourself in my position. It’s like telling someone the world is really flat.”
“Wait. It’s not?”
“I’m glad you still have your sense of humor.” Not everyone did.
“Maybe. Keep going.”
“Before I do, how did your friend discover my secret?” He asked.
I explained he’d left his scent all over the showroom and Jackson picked up on it.
“Ahhh. Right. Can’t keep a secret like that from another shifter.”
He said that word. Shifter. And it seemed more real than when Jackson had transformed into a wolf.
“I’d planned to whisk you away for the weekend and tell you while we were in a hot tub sipping champagne.”
“There’s a hot tub in my future?” I yanked the bedclothes off him. “Get your butt into gear and show me where.”
Remy pulled up a site with an image of a lakeside cottage, with the other buildings at least a hundred yards away.
“You don’t want to meet my koala before we go?”
“Nah.” I peered at the screen. “Will he climb those trees even though they’re not eucalyptus?”
“Mmmm. He’ll complain and say I’m not feeding him enough, but he doesn’t need to eat much. When we get back, I’ll sneak into the zoo at night.”
My eyes were as wide as my gaping mouth. What if Remy got into the lion enclosure by mistake?
Remy tossed clothes in a bag, and we drove to my place. I packed in five minutes and asked if we had to buy the champagne.
“Nope. I ordered it already at the cabin.”
I drove, and during the journey, Remy filled me in on his family history. Some asshat had smuggled his relatives into this country years ago on a ship. They’d escaped from the cage where he left them in the back yard but had no means to return home.
“And voila. Here I am.”
I reached for his hand, because while his family had built a life here, that was trafficking. Whether we labeled it animal, people, or shifter, that was taking man or beast by force and making them work or perform.
“The guy was put in jail for other crimes, but that didn’t take away my family’s pain.”
“I’m so sorry you endured that.” And there were thousands of others whose story didn’t have a happy ending.
I pulled up as we caught sight of the lake. The blue of the water reflected the color of the sky. There were people sailing and paragliding, but our cabin was around the other side of the lake, with a large deck and loungers which were the perfect place to catch the sun and read.
Vacations were a rarity when you owned a business, and I was often in the workshop on Sundays.
I used to tell myself I was catching up on what I hadn’t had time to finish during the week.
But that was where I was most at ease, surrounded by different types of wood and the familiar scents of each one.
When cherry wood changed color overnight after the sun hit it during the day, I was in my happy place.
But being with Remy, I was eager to forget about my obligations and enjoy this shifter’s company.
I not only needed time off from work, but I was also looking at the world differently.
Every person we passed on the drive and since arriving at the lake, I evaluated whether they were human or shifter.
Not that I had the skills to determine one from the other.
But when I examined my intentions, I came up with one word. Why? Right, why did I care which they were? They were the same as they’d been before Jackson’s revelation.
“I can’t imagine looking at life through your eyes now.” Remy plonked himself beside me on a lounger.
“I’m trying not to be critical or judgmental but to see the beauty in learning something so new that it has me questioning everything I know.
Instead, I want to be excited, that same feeling I got as a kid when I mastered a new skill.
” It was also what I experienced when I finished a piece of furniture.
He leaned over and kissed my cheek. “You’re amazing.”
“I am, aren’t I?”
We both chuckled, and Remy held my hand as he read while I studied kids jumping off a pontoon and shrieking with laughter.
“When do I meet him?” I wasn’t great with heights, but I could get on a step ladder.
“Tonight if you want.”
I had to clarify where exactly he would shift because if I woke up and discovered I was sharing a bed with a koala, I might not be cool about it. Not that a koala was a killer who might attack me. They weren’t predators like lions or tigers.
“We can do it outside but farther into the woods so no humans come across us.” He said that while his beast was small, he couldn’t blend into the environment like a squirrel. “People would notice a koala in their midst.”
Remy suggested we do normal human activities that any couple on their first trip together would do while we waited for nightfall. “This is about us, not that I’m a shifter.”
We strolled around the lake and bought provisions at the small store. Wandering hand in hand from shop to shop that sold fishing gear, beachwear, and souvenirs, we chose a wind chime from the latter that was made with local driftwood.
Oh shoot. There was only one wind chime, but we each had a house with a porch. The store owner said he’d just sold a second one to someone else.
“Let’s find them and offer double the price for it.”
Remy put a hand on my shoulder. “We can have joint custody. I’ll have it one week and you the next.”
“Okay. And there’s no alimony involved, great.”
Remy shook his head. “I love how your mind works, but if it breaks, we’ll have an excuse to come back here and stay until this man makes another one.”
The store owner rolled his eyes. I bet he’d had a lot of odd encounters with customers, but we might be the weirdest.
“Do me a favor, guys. Don’t break it, because I don’t want to be held hostage until I make another.”
We assured him we wouldn’t and strolled back to the cabin carrying our precious cargo, food, and eating ice cream.
“Do koalas like ice cream?”
“Nope, though after a bush fire had decimated their habitat, I bet they’d have a lick if they were offered.”
Dinner was a muted affair because I kept looking at the sky and asking if it was dark enough to go into the woods.
“Not yet. You remind me of my nephews and nieces on a long car ride asking, ‘Are we there yet?’”
“Fine. But you’ve kept your koala hidden for so long, is it wrong that I want to meet him?”
I pulled Remy into my arms, and he murmured against my throat. “Nope.”