Chapter 13 #2
His mind scrambled to replay her words. She was laughing as she rounded the top and heading toward the bathroom.
And he…he was stunned. She’d just made a shifter joke.
A lame one, but still…What normal had ever accepted the shifter world so quickly and so easily?
Especially after her traumatic introduction.
God, she was one impressive woman. Now all he had to do was figure out how exactly he could stay human long enough to get his fill of her. Probably only take a few hundred years…
* * *
Julie took twenty-seven minutes to get ready.
Shower and sundress were easy, but the accessories took some time.
Especially since she hadn’t packed for a date night.
She could only thank heaven that she’d thrown some makeup into her bag out of habit, not intention.
And while she curled her hair away from her eyes, she contemplated her lack of jewelry.
She hadn’t brought any from home, but there were pieces left over from when she was a teenager.
Wild flights of fancy and daring costume jewelry that suited someone a lot bolder than the woman she’d grown into.
But what the hell? Mark made her feel bold.
And so she put on the huge gold hoop earrings and decided to go for broke with the necklace.
The pendant was a simple glass drop in lightest blue shot with gold.
It dangled from a cheap chain, but it plunged all the way down her ample cleavage.
She’d had plenty as a teen, but now as a woman?
She had big mounds that (thankfully) Mark seemed to like.
And the teardrop drew the eye to her massive assets.
She was nervous as she came down the stairs, but the look in his eyes was like the prom night she’d never had.
His eyes widened. She saw his mouth drop a little open, and his hand squeezed the railing.
He looked like he was going to climb up the stairs and carry her to bed where he would ravish her all night long.
And at that moment, she wondered what exactly she wanted.
Because ravishment sounded pretty damn good to her.
Especially since she could see the indecision on his face.
He wanted her and it was taking every bit of his control not to take her.
She’d never felt that from anyone before. Such intensity. Such absolute hunger but held in check by an iron control. Made everything inside her go liquid with want. And then he held out his hand to her, so she descended the last few steps feeling like a queen entering her court.
“I’m am the luckiest man alive,” he said as he nuzzled beneath her ear. “You smell amazing.”
“I am never changing this shampoo ever.”
He licked her. A light quick flick of his tongue before he rumbled his answer. “It’s not the shampoo. It’s you.”
What had she done right in her life to deserve this man? This magical man. Sure, he turned into a grizzly, and, frankly, she wondered where was her sanity. Who wanted to get involved with a bear? One who had a death sentence coming in a very, very short time.
Her. She wanted to. She wanted him. And rational or not, she was along for the ride for as far as it could take her.
“So,” she asked as they headed for the door. “Where are we going?”
“It’s a restaurant a ways from here. That’s the problem with Gladwin. Nothing fancy for miles.”
She hesitated. “Are you sure you want to take the time? Dad might be coming home tomorrow and that’ll make it harder—”
“I’m sure. Stop worrying. Start living.” He flashed her his teeth. “With me.”
She stiffened in mock insult. “Why, Mr. Robertson, are you asking an innocent girl like me to move in with you? What would my father say?”
His eyes crinkled as he smiled. “Probably, can she help with my research?”
She snorted. “That’s probably true. I don’t think Dad cared about the niceties of polite society even when he was in polite society.”
He opened his truck door for her and helped her climb in. It was sweet and courtly, and she couldn’t have been more pleased if she were stepping into a limousine. Then he popped around the other side, and soon they were on the road.
“Was your father really in polite society?” he finally asked.
“Absolutely. Remember that traveling salesman? He made it big with the Crescent Brass and Pin Company. Not Henry Ford kind of money, but he did just fine. According to family legend, his daughter became a society matron.”
“But your dad was probably an academic when he was still in diapers.”
“Much to the despair of the women who kept trying to make him into a dashing young lad.”
“So how did your parents meet?”
“School, of course. University of Michigan. Dad liked her practical side. She kept him on track, grounded him when he was prone to lose himself in his research.”
“And what did she see?”
“A romantic. Flowers, poetry, and badly sung ballads in the moonlight.” Julie sighed. “They divorced when I was a teen. Turns out poetry pales when someone’s forgotten to pay the water bill.”
“Ouch.” He looked at her, his eyes narrowing. “Which side do you favor? Practical or romantic?”
“You can’t guess?” She didn’t mean to test him, but it was an old habit with her. Had he really been paying attention? Or had everything they’d done been an elaborate dance for ulterior reasons?
“Oh, you’re practical through and through,” he said glibly.
“Pay your bills on time, have a boring car and a responsible job.” Then he flashed her a heated look that set her blood on simmer.
“But you give your heart easily and too well. Romantics like that get taken for a ride. So you try to be logical, but then it happens again. A guy shows up with flowers and pretty words, and there you go.”
She swallowed, her throat suddenly dry. Damn, he’d nailed it right on the head.
Except this time it wasn’t pretty words and flowers that had caught her heart.
This time, she’d tumbled headlong into a man of magic.
“Makes me sound like a sap,” she said as she turned to look out the trees whipping past the window.
“It’s a miracle, Julie. Do you know how hard it is for me to connect?
” His voice was calm. As steady and even as the freeway they’d pulled onto.
“Animals love instinctively with very few. Child or mate, that’s it.
Everything else is food or rival. Carl’s my best friend, but the minute we became teens, my bear started to assert itself.
Carl’s the alpha of my generation, but to my bear, he’s the man who’s going to kill me when the time comes.
At best, he’s a rival. At worse, he’s my predator. ”
“That’s awful.”
“That’s animal. Don’t get me wrong. Animals feel love, especially pets. But I’m a wild animal. It’s the man who makes human connections, and even before my teens it was hard.”
She twisted in her seat, needing to see his face as the talked. “Why?”
“Because my parents were shifters. Strong ones who shouldn’t have mated.
But the drive hit and nine months later, I was born.
They tried to make it work for my sake. Mom stuck around long enough to get me out of diapers, but in the end the wanderlust got her.
Or at least that’s what Dad says. I don’t remember her. ”
“None of this is in your bio,” she said.
He shot her a surprised look, and she shrugged.
So yeah, maybe she’d read every inch of his company website.
It was mostly gaming stuff, but his bio was front and center in her mind.
Plus Ellen might have sent her links to every article about him.
Which was a lot. “It talks about a glorious childhood in a welcoming community.”
“That’s all true. The Gladwin grizzly clan raised me. Plus, Dad stuck around, and his girlfriends helped. Carl’s mom was a steady female until she died. All in all, a good childhood.”
“And yet you say you can’t connect easily. If at all.”
He nodded. “I can’t. I try. I talk to people. I look them in the eyes and fight for the empathy.”
“And what happens?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. It’s just not there.” Then he looked at her. “Except with you. Except every moment I look at you, I want you.”
She sighed, knowing the truth now. Hearing it loud and clear. “That’s mating, isn’t it? The instinct to carry on the species.”
“Yes.”
Talk about stabbing her in the heart. It hurt so bad that she had to turn away.
“But I think it’s more. We connected when we were teens. Do you remember eating ice cream together? I do. I remember what you wore, how you laughed, and how I wanted to lick the chocolate sauce off your lips.”
“Horny teen.”
He didn’t even deny it. “But I knew I wasn’t getting laid. I knew you lived in Chicago and whatever happened would be temporary. We had nothing in common and I couldn’t tell you anything about who and what I really was. I didn’t care. I just wanted to be with you. I still do.”
None of this made sense. On the one hand he sounded like he was warning her off.
Reminding her every way possible that a relationship between them was doomed.
He didn’t connect. His only attraction to her was the instinctive need to mate.
And then he said despite all those things, there was something else.
Something that drew him to her, that made him want to be with her outside of animal hunger.
“Why?” she pressed. God, she just wanted to know where she stood with him. “What makes me so special?”
“You just are. In every way, you just are.”
That wasn’t a satisfying answer, though only a fool expected a man to be articulate about his feelings.
Still, his words resonated with her. He sounded sincere, and though she’d been fooled before, he’d done everything he could to dissuade her from an attachment.
Was it his fault—or hers—if she felt special when she was around him?
He made her believe in her own beauty when he was beside her.