A Girl and Her Wolf (Howl, #7) (7 page)

Chapter 11: Colby

When Emma hurried off to their bedroom to take care of Davenport, Colby turned to Bennett. “You really had to interrupt that?”

“Well, I didn’t think you would want the baby to crawl all around the house,” the spirit replied.

“No, it’s just . . . What happened to you babysitting?” Colby questioned. “You couldn’t watch the baby for just a little bit?”

Bennett shrugged. “I was told you didn’t want me to babysit. Had I realized that it was okay, perhaps I would have.” He smirked. “You’re not suggesting that I interrupted your mating session intentionally, are you, Colby?”

“I don’t know,” Colby replied, his thoughts drifting back to the first time Bennett had ever interrupted him and Emma . . .

*

“Colby Jack?” Emma asked from her place on the couch next to him.

“Yeah?” he asked, focusing on the movie they were watching. It was
Forrest Gump
, which was one of his all-time favorites. He always got a little teary-eyed whenever he watched it. He couldn’t help it; it was just
so
sad when Bubba died.

“Well, it’s just that I’ve been thinking a lot lately, and we haven’t even. . .” Emma trailed off.

Now that she had his attention, Colby glanced over at her. He noticed that she was biting down on her lip nervously. “We haven’t even what?” he asked with raised eyebrows. He got the feeling that whatever she was about to say next was way more interesting than the movie they were watching.

“Explored each other,” she whispered.

His eyes widened. “What do you mean, exactly? We always explore each other, every day. I’ve learned so much about you in the past few weeks, just by listening in on your thoughts.”

“I know. And I’ve learned a lot about you, too,” she admitted. “But, well, we haven’t exactly explored each other’s
bodies
yet.”

“You want to explore me?” Colby asked, trying to conceal his grin. The idea was oddly exciting, even though he still wasn’t quite sure what she was getting at. Did she just want to look at his tattoos . . . or did she want to explore him even further than that?

“Well, we have to see each other naked
eventually
,” Emma replied with a sigh. “Now is just as good a time as any, right?”

“You want to see me naked?” he questioned with wide eyes as she stared back at him expectantly, waiting to hear his answer.

“Duh.” She rolled her eyes at him.

When she glanced over at him, her eyes sparkling, he knew that he couldn’t exactly tell her “no”. There was only one problem, though.

Colby smelled.

It sounded really gross, but he’d had gym earlier that day and the only empty shower stall had been out of order. By the time he got home from school, he was itching for a shower, but Emma had been really hungry so he cooked her dinner and then they’d started watching the movie together. So, he’d never actually gotten the chance to shower yet.

“I have an idea,” he spoke up after a few moments—long enough to devise a plan. “Why don’t we play a game?”

“A game?” Emma’s eyes lit up at the idea. “You mean, like Naked Twister? Or, no, wait. Let me guess. Strip poker!”

“Well, no . . . I was thinking that we could just play Hide and Seek,” Colby replied hesitantly.

“Hide and Seek?” Emma gawked at him. “
Really?
”

He knew that she thought the idea was lame, and he was even willing to admit that it was. But it was the only thing that he could think of to let her see him naked without letting her know how much he stunk, too.

He nodded. “Yeah, except . . . when you find me, I’ll be naked. Oh, and you should be naked, too. That’s part of the game.”

Emma seemed to consider the idea for a moment before giving in. “Okay. Naked Hide and Seek sounds like it could maybe be a fun game, actually.”

“Good.” He grinned. “Now, close your eyes and count to forty before you come looking for me.”

“Okay,” Emma agreed. She squeezed her eyes shut and began counting aloud. “One . . . two . . .”

Knowing that his time was limited, he darted down the hallway. He snuck into the bathroom and, keeping the light turned off, peeled off his clothes, hiding them in the hamper so they wouldn’t be a dead giveaway as to where he was. He climbed into the shower and closed the curtain behind him.

He was tempted to run the water, but he knew that would be another giveaway as to where he was hiding, so instead, he settled on slathering some liquid body soap all over his body. He poured some shampoo on his hair, too—couldn’t forget the hair, since it smelled just as sweaty as the rest of him.

Standing in the tub in the dark, he waited for Emma to find him. He noticed that the bathroom felt sort of cold, which was unusual. He was never cold. Of
all
times to be cold, why did it have to be right then and there? He wasn’t sure how far she wanted the two of them to go that night, but he didn’t want his manhood to crawl up like a turtle in its shell just because he was cold.

“Okay, Colby! I’m coming to find you!” Emma called from the living room, and a sense of nervousness swept over him.

He was afraid to know what Emma would think of his manhood (or should he have called it his were-hood, since he technically wasn’t a man?). He knew that she’d seen plenty of other guys naked before (a thought that provoked a low growl from him as he stood there in the bathtub), and he just hoped that he would be able to compare to them. How bad would it be if her mate couldn’t—um—satisfy her?

He tried not to think about it too much as he waited for her to find him. After what felt like forever, the bathroom door was finally pushed open and Emma stepped inside. “Colby Jack. Are you
in here?” she called in a singsong voice, her voice echoing throughout the room.

He remained quiet, careful to try to control his breathing so that she wouldn’t hear him, but she flicked the light switch on. He inched forward, closer to the faucet, as she moved across the large bathroom. “Hmm, you’re not in the hamper, but your clothes are,” Emma announced loudly. “And you’re not behind the toilet, either. But are you in the shower?”

Colby’s heart thumped a little, knowing that was it. She was going to see him naked for the very first time—and there he was, with soap and shampoo all over him. He suddenly felt embarrassed. Why had he thought it was a good idea? Emma was going to think he was a weirdo standing in the shower covered in coconut-scented products.

Without even thinking about what he was doing, Colby pulled a shower cap over his head and twisted the faucet to the right. Hot water sprayed all over him, just as the shower curtain was pushed back.
 

“What are doing?” Emma asked. She blinked as the water hit against her face. She rubbed her eyes and pulled the shower curtain against her, shielding her naked body from him.

“I, uh . . .” Colby stammered. “Taking a shower?”

“I thought we were playing Naked Hide and Seek,” Emma complained, letting go of the shower curtain and putting her hands on her hips.

Colby tried not to stare at her too hard, but he couldn’t help himself. Some of her boobage wasn’t exactly covered by the shower curtain—and it was just as perfect as he’d always pictured it in his dreams.

“We were,” he agreed. “I hid and you seeked me.”

“Well, you need to let me in the shower with you,” Emma replied. “It’s part of the deal. This whole game was supposed to be for us to
explore
each other, remember?”

“Okay. You’re welcome to shower with me.”

As Emma stepped into the shower, Colby took in the rest of her. Her breasts weren’t the only thing that was perfect. Every inch of her body—which was slender, but curvy in
all
of the right places—was heavenly.

Her eyes drifted down his body, too, lingering
down there
, and Colby took a step back nervously. His head hit against the bottles of shampoo that sat on the shower caddy. Before he knew it, both a shampoo and conditioner bottle clunked on to the shower floor.

As he reached down to pick one of them up, a bar of soap fell, too, landing right in between his feet.

Slipping on the soap that he’d already lathered all over himself, he tumbled down onto the shower floor, too—and he wasn’t the only one.

Emma came crashing down on top of him, her slippery wet body falling into place on top of his. His hands instantly found their way around her hips as her fingertips grazed against his bare chest.

“Oops,” Emma whispered. Colby knew that she was thinking the same thing as him, though; they really
were
getting to explore each other’s bodies, which were both now slick from the water that poured over them. Her soaked blonde hair clung to her neck and body in a way that Colby found incredibly sexy.

She kissed him, slipping her tongue into his mouth.

He kissed her back passionately. Maybe this would be the night. Maybe he would
finally
lose his virginity and make love to his mate for the very first time. It caused a mixture of both excitement and nervousness to wash over him.

As their kiss became even more heated, the sound of laughter erupted from somewhere else in the room.

Emma broke their kiss and then glanced up at him, a horrified look on her face. “Colby, is this some sort of joke?” she asked in a shrill tone of voice.

“
What
? No! No way,” he insisted.

“Then, who the hell is laughing?” Emma rose to her feet, turning the faucet off and wrapping the shower curtain around her to conceal her body again. She ducked her head out of the shower to see who was laughing at them. “Oh, god,” she mumbled when she saw who it was.

“Now, now! Don’t be
too
surprised to see me!” a familiar voice said. “I do live here, after all.”

Colby stood up and pushed the shower curtain back far enough to see that Bennett was standing on the other side of them with a big grin plastered on his face. “I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything, but it looks like I was. I’m terribly sorry. I do love a good game of Hide and Seek, though. I was very intrigued to see who would be the winner of this game. Of course, had I known that you were playing while you were
naked
, I would have. . .”

“You would have
what
?” Emma interrupted, her face turning bright red with anger.

“Well, to be blunt, I would have grabbed a camera so that there would be proof of the two of you in such a
compromising
position. No one would ever believe me if I told them. It’s a shame I didn’t know. It would have been nice to have some photographic evidence,” Bennett chuckled before quickly dissolving into thin air to avoid her wrath.

Emma turned back to Colby. “Ugh! He’s such a creep sometimes. I hate how he’s always trying to catch us in ‘compromising positions’, as he likes to call it.”

“I know,” Colby replied. “Oh, well. Let’s just ignore him and go back to exploring each other.” He winked at her.

“Um, definitely not! You can thank Bennett for that. He completely ruined the mood for me,” she replied with a huff before climbing out of the shower, leaving Colby standing there alone.

Once she left the room, he let out a low growl. “Bennett! You’re going to pay for this,” he said grumpily.

*

“So, what do we do?” Emma asked as she stood next to the kitchen island, shaking Colby out of his memory.

He met her gaze. “Easy. We just carry on with what we were going to do and don’t worry about Bennett. We pretend he isn’t even there,” Colby replied, bringing his lips down on Emma’s again, but she pulled away from him.

“Don’t worry,” Bennett’s voice echoed throughout the room. “I’m leaving.
No one
wants to see your furry behinds.”

Colby pulled her back into his arms. “See? He’s gone.”

She seemed hesitant at first, but after a few moments, she gave into his kiss. She pulled her own tank top off again and unzipped his pants as he hoisted her onto the counter.

Chapter 12: Emma

The following evening, Emma stood in front of her mom’s house. Her mom’s car was parked in the driveway, so she was definitely home.

Emma glanced down at her watch for about the tenth time since she’d gotten there. It was already ten minutes after six. A part of her couldn’t help but worry that maybe her stepdad was standing her up. Maybe he’d thought more about what they’d agreed on, and he’d decided that it wasn’t a good idea anymore.

Hell, even
Emma
wasn’t sure if it was the best idea in the world, but she wanted to at least give it a try. Because if there was a chance—no matter how small—that her mom might agree to become a werewolf, she was willing to take it. The truth was, she really missed her mom—and more than anything else, she wanted her mom to be there when the baby that she was probably having was born.

Just as she was about ready to leave, she saw Gary walking towards her. Just like when he was in his wolf form, she could see that he’d lost a lot of weight. His clothes were also raggedy and his hair had grown out to a fairly long length, but it was definitely him.

As he approached her, he said, “Are you ready to do this?”

Emma gulped, suddenly beginning to feel nervous. “I-I don’t think so. . .”

Gary glanced over at her sharply. “Do you mean to tell me that you talked me into doing this, but now
you’re
going to back out on
me
?”

“I . . . No, I just have a lot of other stuff on my mind,” Emma stammered. “I’m fine.”

“Good. Because I want you to be the one to ask her to go through with this.”

“But I don’t wanna ask,” she protested. “Why can’t
you
ask?”

“It was your crazy idea.” Gary shrugged. “Do you want her to become a werewolf or not?”

Emma put her hands on her hips. “Do
you
want her to become a werewolf?” she asked in a hushed voice, hoping that the neighbors wouldn’t overhear their conversation.

“No, I would never choose this life for her,” Gary replied, but as he said the words, a loud humming sounded in Emma’s ears. It was the same sound she always heard when someone was lying.

She felt slightly relieved that she hadn’t convinced him into doing something he didn’t want to do, at least. “Yes, you do,” she insisted. “Just admit it, Gary. You miss my mom so much that you know you’d never be able to live happily without her.”

A look of sadness clouded his eyes. “I can’t deny it, but we need to both remember something before we go into that house.” He paused, licking his lips nervously. “There’s always a chance that your mother will say no.”

“I know,” Emma replied. She just
hoped
that wasn’t what would happen. Before she had time to give it any further thought, though, she reached out and rang the doorbell.

“I’m coming!” her mom called from inside the house.

Emma glanced over at Gary, noting that the nervousness she felt was mirrored in his eyes.

When her mom pulled the door open, her eyes fell on Emma first. “Emma? What are you doing here? I don’t think this is such a good idea,” she started to say, just as she glanced over at Gary. She let out a tiny gasp when she noticed the change in his appearance. “
Gary?
” she squeaked.

“Dana,” Gary said evenly. “May we come inside?”

Emma’s mom shook her head. “No. Why should I let you inside my home? And that’s exactly what it is now—
my
home. You gave up any right to living here when you abandoned me.” She started to close the door in their faces, but Emma held it open.

“Mom, I think you’ll want to hear what he has to say . . . what we
both
have to say,” she protested.

Her mom stared back at her for a few moments and ran a hand through her hair, which was blonder than it used to be. Finally, she sighed. “Fine, you’re both welcome to come inside . . . but only until you explain why you’re here. I have a date in a little over an hour.”

Gary let out a jealous growl—the type of growling sound a werewolf made when he was jealous over his mate seeing another guy.

Emma couldn’t help but wonder if, on the off-chance her mom decided to become a wolf, she and Gary were really meant to be. Would they be mated, or would they live as companions for the rest of their lives (assuming they decided to stay together at all)?

Her mom lead them into the living room where she smoothed out her black dress and then sat down on one of the sofas. “Okay. Why are you both here?”

Gary glanced over at Emma. “You’re supposed to ask her, Emma.”

She turned to her mom. “I—I mean,
we
—have an important question to ask you.”

Her mom glanced from her to Gary and then back to her, waiting expectantly to hear what she had to say. “Well? What is it?”

“Will you become a werewolf for us?” Emma managed to ask, her voice little more than a whisper.

Her mom laughed. “You can’t be serious, Emma. The two of you didn’t come all the way here just to ask me to become a mons—”

Emma glared at her mom, just as she stopped mid-sentence, deciding not to call them “monsters”, after all.

“You didn’t really come here because you want me to become like one of you,” her mom tried again. She met Emma’s eyes and then Gary’s again. When she realized that they weren’t just joking or lying, her face paled. “Oh, dear. You really
are
here to ask me to become a . . . a
werewolf
, aren’t you?”

Gary glanced over at Emma with a look in his eyes that said
I told you so
.

“Think about it, Mom. The three of us could be a family again,” Emma said, a feeling of hope blooming within her. “You and I could go back to the way things were before, and Gary still wants to be with you—”

Her mom glanced over at him sharply. “Is that true? You still want to be with me?”

“Well, damnit, Dana. We were married for thirteen years. It hasn’t been easy for me to go through these changes and be away from you,” Gary replied.

“Then, why
have
you been away from me? Why didn’t you ever come back here and tell me that you still wanted to be with me?” Emma’s mom asked, the tears rising to her eyes. She blinked them back. “All this time—all these months or years or however long it’s been—I thought the reason you left was because you didn’t love me anymore.”

“I’m sorry, Dana. I never meant to hurt you,” Gary replied, glancing down at the ground almost guiltily. “That’s why I’ve stayed away all this time. I wanted to make sure that I
didn’t
hurt you. I knew that I was stronger than you, and I didn’t want there to be a chance that I could hurt you. Not until I got a handle on all of my emotions and the changes I’ve dealt with.”

“You say you’re sorry now, but . . . why didn’t you tell me this before?” Emma’s mom shook her head sadly. “I’m sorry, but I think it’s just too late. The damage is already done.” She ran her fingertips underneath her eyes to dry any tears that had managed to slip out before rising to her feet. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to finish getting ready for my date. The two of you may let yourselves out.”

Without another word, she walked away from them dismissively.

Gary led Emma out the front door. Once they were standing on the front porch, staring at the sun, which was just starting to set in the evening sky, he turned to her. “I told you this was a bad idea.”

She shook her head. “It wasn’t a bad idea. It was worth a try. Besides, I don’t think we should give up on her just yet.”

Her stepdad glanced over at her. “Why not? She’s made it pretty clear that she wants no part of us or our lifestyle.”

“Because I know my mom better than anyone,” Emma replied. “The key to getting her to say yes to something you want is persistence. Do you remember when I wanted that Coach umbrella? My mom thought it was stupid to spend that much on an umbrella just because it came from Coach, but I asked her every day when I got home from school. Eventually, she ended up giving in.”

“So, what are you suggesting I do? Come back here and apologize to her every day?” Gary asked, frowning.

“That’s
exactly
what I’m saying,” she replied with a smile. “It will work. I just know it.”

Except, truthfully, it wasn’t another one of her feelings. This time, the only thing that made her cling to the idea that her mother might agree to become a werewolf was hope.