Chapter Three Austin
∞∞∞
I watch her through the windshield, enjoying just being near her. She’s so serious when she’s working. I have a feeling she’s serious most of the time but her focus when she’s working a case is something to see.
Her clear brown eyes are crinkled in the corners while she studies the area and she talks to the other men working alongside her.
I can see their eyes follow her while she stalks the perimeter.
A growl tears out of my chest and I rub it absently.
The pull to her is so damn strong it physically feels like it’s tearing me apart.
Strands of connection that drag at me and tug me to her.
Like gossamer wings on a butterfly but strong like spiderwebs.
She’s glowing in her environment. She’s comfortable around death. Way more than I’ve ever been. I fight it with every fiber of my being, knowing that if I can’t find the other part of me, my death is all but assured.
Her on the other hand she studies the scene like it’s a puzzle that she needs to unravel. A part of her sinks down into her and this other side comes out, the side that is cold and calculating. That knows the work is important and she can’t half-ass it.
It’s intoxicating. But it also pisses me off royally. I can’t think of anything but her. But she’s all business right now. Nothing sways her focus. Not even me.
I huff and sink down into the seat, trying not to pout like a two-year old. I’m a grown man and I should be able to handle a woman who takes her job seriously.
If only I wasn’t involved. Because that man out there? He’s our foreman. And he was killed by a shifter. I can smell it on him. Thank god none of these people are shifters or I would be in a world of hurt. Because the scent I smell on him is me. If I didn’t know better, I’d say I killed him.
But that’s not possible. I would remember that, wouldn’t I? I know I’ve had times where there’s missing parts when my bear has taken over. But I can’t believe that I could kill a man and not remember it. I just don’t believe it.
But I need to know why I smell myself all around him. There’s something very wrong here. And he’s torn to bits, really. If I didn’t recognize the belt buckle that he always wore I wouldn’t have recognized him.
I sigh and scrub my face then run my hands through my hair, tugging at it hard.
He was a good man. Had a wife and kids that he lost years ago that he mourned every day since.
Refused to even look at another woman. Said his Eileen was the only woman he ever wanted.
It took a long time for him to get straightened out, to move on.
But he always said that when he went, he was going to be a happy motherfucker because he’d be back with the love of his life and that he hoped nobody mourned him.
Because he intended to die with a smile on his face knowing she was waiting for him on the other side.
It shook me badly when I saw him. Because out of everything I saw? Everything that was so hard to see as him, so damaged as the body was. I could still see a slight smile on his lips.
“I hope you found your Eileen, my friend. I hope you’re with her,” I whisper softly. I’m not a very religious man. But I like to think that we all have friends and family waiting on the other side to welcome us into the afterlife.
I see her brown eyes slew towards me again as the big, burly sheriff says something to her again. I clench my fists in my lap. I don’t like him being near her. Hell, I don’t like any of them being near her but especially him. He’s big. And bossy. And that’s my job.
I see her push at her ponytail and then stroll to the car. She opens the door and I smile grimly. Now she’s mine. And that other man can fuck off.
She slides into the car and I can smell that scent that is uniquely hers. Sweet and spicy. Addicting, intoxicating. I can feel my claws stretch and a growl rumble up out of my chest.
Her eyes whip to mine and I wipe the lust off my face. Her cinnamon eyes narrow and the little lines alongside them make me smile.
She’s no baby. She’s a full-grown woman and I fucking love it!
She starts the car and her eyes never leave mine. “I know you know something about this. I’m going to get the answers I want and I sure as hell hope you aren’t involved somehow because you seem like a nice-enough guy and I’d hate to have to arrest you.”
We pull away and I lean back into the seat and sigh, crossing my arms on my chest. “You can ask all the questions you want but I’m not sure if you’ll like my answers.”
“Tell me the truth and I won’t have any problems. Just don’t lie to me. I hate that.”
She drives away and I can’t help but watch her hands on the steering wheel.
Her fingers are long, slender and tanned.
She holds the wheel firmly but not strangling it.
It seems like everything she does is controlled and timed for maximum effect.
She turns the wheel carefully when we reach the main road.
She drives towards my ranch and I smile.
“How do you know where I live?” I ask.
“Everybody in town knows where you boys live.” She barely glances at me and I want to yank her over the seat and pull her on my lap. Make her notice me. Make her see me. Grind her soft curves into my rock-hard dick until she gasps and comes all over me.
My bear grunts inside me and I can’t stop the grin on my face. Damn, I want her.
She pulls onto the private road that leads to the ranch.
I nod to the left. “You can take that track to the left.”
She shoots me a startled look. “I thought you lived on the ranch?”
“I do. We each have our own parcel. Mine’s out the furthest. I like my privacy.”
She rolls her eyes and I can’t help but chuckle.
“Yeah, I’ll just bet you do,” she grumbles. “Probably run round naked here too.”
A snort escapes me. “No. That was a one-time thing.” Not true. Shifters are naked a lot but she doesn’t need to know that right now. I have a feeling that she wouldn’t take that very well.
She puts the car in park in front of my small cabin. Her eyes study me. “This is your place? I thought you’d live someplace bigger.”
“It’s just me. I don’t need anything bigger.” I pause. “Well, now I do. But I can build on and my brothers will help me.”
She sighs and shakes her head, her blond hair sticking to her cheek and making me want to push it back, sliding my hand through the soft, silky strands and tugging her to me until I can touch her lips. Until I can taste her.
“I feel like I should ask why you need to build on but…” Her hand lifts and she forestalls me when I try to answer her. “Nope. I don’t need that answer. But what I do need to know is who that man is?”
For just a minute I play like I don’t know exactly who she’s talking about. “That guy with you? He’s the Sheriff. I don’t know him real well but he’s your boss. You know more than me.”
She rolls her warm, dark eyes to the ceiling and I see a quick flash of irritation in the deep brown orbs. “I know you’re not that stupid, Austin. You know exactly who I’m talking about. The body.”
I sigh and run my hands through my hair which dislodges the blanket across my lap. I feel a breeze across my dick and her eyes widen right before her glance darts away and she clears her throat.
My lips quirk. She can pretend she doesn’t care but I see that heat in her eyes.
I see the way her pulse speeds up in her tan throat.
The way she swallows and it’s rough and ragged.
Her breaths match that quick pulse. Pride and satisfaction burn in my heart.
She’s mine. It will be tricky but I’ll win her over.
“He’s our foreman. Was our foreman.”
“Does he have any family that we should contact?” she asks, pulling out a notebook, all business.
I want to wrench it out of her hands and push her up against the door, sealing her squawk of protest when I take her lips. My eyebrow lifts and I feel lust tear through me, my dick pushing against the blanket where I’ve pulled it back across my lap.
I ignore it. Surely I can control myself for five minutes with my mate. I’m not an animal. I chuckle roughly.
Well, actually that’s not quite true. But then again aren’t we all just animals in clothes? Mine’s just a little closer to the surface than a normal man’s.
She shoots me a strange look. “Ummm. No, his wife and children died years ago. I don’t think he has any other family.”
She nods and her eyes drift down, widening when she sees the tent I’m pitching in the blanket.
Red dusts her freckled cheeks and she clears her throat, staring up at the ceiling. “You seem to have a problem.”
“Only around you.”
Those wide eyes surrounded by a thicket of dark lashes flutter and stare at me. “Why?”
“Aren’t you married?”
She shakes her head. “No. Why?”
Confusion swirls in me. I’m not touching her until I know she’s totally free. That kid has me worried.
“A boyfriend? Fiance?”
She shakes her head and her golden-blond hair slips out of her ponytail, trailing down her cheek and shoulder. “No. Why?”
“What about the child?”
“Oh,” she mumbles. “He’s my nephew. I’m his guardian since my sister and her husband died. That’s why I came home.”
Satisfaction flares up like a flame searing my insides. There’s no one. Just me. I want to be the man that holds her, touches her and never lets her go. Fucks her into oblivion every night until she can’t walk for the next three days.
I reach out and touch her shoulder, electricity zinging through my fingers when I run my fingers down her arm and touch her smooth golden skin. I wrap my calloused fingers around her slender fingers and tug her over the console.
She squeaks and then my lips slam down on hers.
Fire flares up like a flashpoint and shivers roll through my body.
Thunder bears down on me and rain lashes at my soul.
She moans and the electric currents widen, expanding into my entire being.
My soul is lashed with her. The fire, the flame, the storm that roars in my mind.
I run my lips along hers and she opens to me like a flower to the sun.
My tongue darts inside and drinks in the soft sounds she makes.
Moans and grunts mingling in our combined breaths until I can’t tell where she ends and I begin.
It’s all a maelstrom of need and lust. Desire so strong that it rises up in me like the unleashed fury of a tornado ripping everything around it to shreds.
She moves to sit on my lap and my dick throbs in time to her breaths. Wanting to be inside her, live inside her warm, wet walls for the rest of my days.
Her full hips writhe against me and I groan, tangling my hands in her hair and tugging it free from the band holding it. The soft, silky strands wrap around me, brushing my skin like cool silk. I hold her head steady and devour the sweet taste of her. Lose myself in her.
My claws grow and dig into her and she groans, tugging at the tether holding me. Keeping me from tearing her sweet little pussy apart. Marking her, claiming her as mine.
I pull back and her lips chase mine. A sly grin tugs at my lips. Yeah, she knows what she wants.
“Baby, we can’t do this in the car. And there’s something I need to tell you before I get inside that tight little pussy.”
She jerks back and her eyes widen, She scrambles off my lap. “I didn’t say I was going to have sex with you!” she hisses, her dark eyes flashing fire. “I just kissed you.”
I snort. “Yep. You sure did. And then you crawled up me like you were trying to crawl inside me.”
Her glare is fiery and fierce. Once again I feel my cock tightening even further. Damn, I like that look on her face. I like the fire, the fury of her. It calls to the barely-leashed animal inside me.
She raises her hand to slap me. I grasp it quickly. She tugs and pulls but I don’t let her free. “How dare you! What kind of woman do you think I am?”
I grab her face and turn it to me. “I think you’re all woman.
” My eyes slide down her trembling body and heat flares in her dark eyes.
“I think you’re mine. But I also think there are things you need to know.
And I’m not fucking you until you know all of it.
I’m not taking away your choices. I would never disrespect you like that.
Even though my dick is hard as a hammer and could drive nails. ”
She pulls in a startled breath and shudders, her eyes closing. Then they open and I’m lost again. Trails of golden flames break up their dark depths. Hypnotized, I can only gaze in them. Like I used to gaze at the stars when I was a kid, wishing for my future. Now I see it in her.
“Tell me what you want to. Then I’ll get out of your hair,” she growls, trying to pull herself free again.
“Come inside. This might take a while.”
“Fine.” She slams the door open and stalks up the stairs. I adjust the blanket over my aching dick and take a deep breath, trying to ignore the pain from my straining rod.
“You can do this. You have to do this,” I breathe. There’s no other option. I need a win.
I step out of the car and stalk up the stairs to my future. My one and only love.