Cry Wolf (20 page)

Andi looked up at him and stared into his eyes, as if she were trying to read him. “I can’t believe I pegged you all wrong. You really are a good guy, Hunter.”

“Then we’re perfect for each other.”

“I don’t think so.” She tore her eyes away. “I’ve got too much emotional baggage. You deserve better.”

Was that why she was so wary? Because she didn’t think she was good enough for him?
Ridiculous.

“Look at me, Sunshine.” He touched her face. That beautiful, expressive face. “Look at me and see how much I want to be with you. Then tell me I deserve better.”

She shook her head, refusing to meet his eyes. Andi was no coward. She’d just been hurt too many times to trust these feelings. He had to give her a reason.

He took a deep, ragged breath. “I know I promised we’d go slow, but it’s killing me. You’re all I think about. I close my eyes and you’re there.”

“Please don’t—”

“I won’t break my promise by touching you, but I’m not gonna hide what I feel. You’re such a beautiful person, inside
and
out. It’s taking everything I have not to peel your clothes away and prove it to you.” He leaned back, giving her space. “Whenever you’re ready to take that step, you just let me know. I’ll be right here waiting.”

Andi reached out and grabbed a fistful of his jacket before he could get too far, but hesitated in pulling him closer. She closed her eyes, as if at war with herself over the decision to pull him close or push him away. Finally, she tugged him forward.

“Damn you, Hunter.” She lifted her eyes to his. Gone was the hesitation and uncertainty. Now her gaze was dancing with merriment and mischief. “I can’t resist you when you’re being so wonderful.”

“But—”

He felt the room spin. Her lips pressed their mind-numbing magic against his, slowly, as if she were trying to memorize the taste of him.

“Andi—” Her mouth brushed against his again.

His senses snapped to razor-sharp attention. Sean groaned and reached for her. He savored the contact, letting his hands roamed tenderly over her face, into her hair and down her back. Any reservations he had were well and truly forgotten. All he could think about was the beautiful woman in his arms, making his body ache for release. He clung to sanity while he could. “Andi,” he said, breaking their kiss, “if you don’t want this to go too far, you’d better let me back off right now.”

She hesitated. He felt her hot breath brush against his chin. He heard her sigh, and she began trailing her mouth down the column of his throat.

“I know I said we shouldn’t mix business with pleasure.” She lifted her face, and he saw the insecurity in her eyes again. “But I’d really love to make love with you again. I swore I wouldn’t, not yet, but I just can’t seem to help myself.”

He opened his mouth to speak, and she smiled, robbing him of words. She pushed his jacket over his shoulders with agonizing slowness until it dropped to the floor. He reached for her wrists and bit back a groan. “Here’s one promise I intend to keep. I promised you slow. This time it will be.”

Andi sighed and leaned into him, burying her face in his shoulder. She guided her hand between his skin and the waistband of his sweatpants, erasing any control he might have had. Oh, yeah, she’d gone from nervous lady to seductive vixen in record time.

Groaning, he crushed her mouth beneath his again and lifted her into his arms. She made a sound of surprise and giggled like a schoolgirl while he carried her down the hallway to his bedroom.

He lowered her to her feet next to his bed. His heart thumped like a wild thing in his chest. He felt nervous. They’d made love once before, but it had been fast, wild and reckless. He had no intention of rushing things again.

“Let me do this.” He reached for the hem of the sweatshirt she wore. His hands were far from steady as he lifted the garment over her head, revealing nothing but bare, smooth skin beneath.

He felt the faint tremble that passed through her body. Their first time, he’d been too selfish to notice her responses. Now, watching her, he continued his careful seduction by feathering his touch along her arms. Sean bit back a groan when, her eyes locked with his, she slipped her fingertips down to the waistband of his sweats again and slowly teased them past his hips.

He stopped her from going too far. Grabbing the hem of the sweatshirt, he lifted it over her head and tossed it aside. His fingers found the elastic of the shorts she wore and slid them down her legs before lifting and pressing her backward until she was spread out gloriously naked on his bed.

Their kiss was long and deep. Sean crawled between her legs until they were hip to hip and they settled together as naturally as if they’d been doing this together for years. He wanted her to feel worshipped. She deserved nothing less. His mouth began to explore, teasing the curve of her breast, nipping at the tip. The slide of skin against skin shot sparks in every direction inside his body.

His head was drugged with the scent of her, the taste of her, the
feel
of her. He wanted everything she had to give and then some. She arched beneath him when his lips found her center, and she called out his name when he brought her to the edge of sanity and back again.

Sean looked deeply into her eyes—dilated and drunk with passion—and moved slowly inside her. With a soft growl of pleasure, he held himself there, prolonging the moment and praying she felt the same thrill he did. This was where he belonged.

Too soon, her hips shifted beneath him and drew him into that slow dance of give and take. With a breathless little gasp, her fingers gripped his arms and held on while he did as he pleased, loving her with his body and mouth.

Not that Andi was a submissive partner. Far from it. She rose and rolled with him. She became just as greedy, just as desperate to complete their joining. Several minutes later, when the surge of their convulsions faded away, it was Andi who lowered her mouth to his, allowing her body to melt against him.

He tucked her against his side, and she nestled there with a contented sigh.

Drifting awake, Andrea shifted. She breathed a sigh of contentment and stretched out an arm as she snuggled deeper into the covers. A soft mewling sound came from somewhere beneath the sheets, and she felt a tiny pinprick against her leg. Reluctantly she opened her eyes. Soft sunshine filled the room—Sean’s bedroom, she realized. Pushing her tumbled hair out of her face, she sat up and felt a warm mound of fur press against her leg as it worked its way upward and out from the covers.

“Meow,” the kitten said noisily as its cute little head poked out from the bedding. It rubbed affectionately against Andi’s face, purring loudly.

“Don’t pull that on me—I’m not keeping you, kitty.”

When she emerged from the restroom a few minutes later, her hair brushed and teeth clean, Andrea scooped Kitty up and headed for the kitchen. A glance out the window confirmed that the rain had passed. Good. She was eager to get out and explore.

Sean was at the stove, cooking something that smelled good.

He wasn’t the man she’d first thought he was. Maybe she’d even overreacted and judged him too harshly back in college. Not maybe, probably. She owed him an apology for that.

“Good morning, sleepyhead.”

She had to smile seeing him with his sleeves rolled up, apron on and a spatula in his right hand. That everlasting grin was on his handsome face, even as his eyes raked her over. She realized too late that she should’ve made the effort to change into her clothes rather than frump around in the outfit he’d lent her. But when his eyes met hers, she could tell by the twinkle there that he liked what he saw, baggy sweatshirt and all.

She almost blushed. Sean came around the breakfast bar to kiss her in greeting, and Andrea had the urge to drag him back to his bed again. Instead, she set Kitty on the floor and watched him scamper into the kitchen, searching out the bowl he’d drunk from last night. It was full of fresh milk and waiting for his arrival.

Sean smiled and nodded at the animal. “Name him yet?”

She shrugged. “I’ll reserve that right for his owner.”

“Can’t think of anything, huh?” He smiled at her. “I hope you like omelets. I make the best around. You’re in for a treat.”

“Sounds great, thanks.” She poured herself a cup of coffee and told him about the work she’d done the past week. More specifically, she detailed her visit with Jared Novotny, the cryptozoologist she’d found, and shared his opinions with Sean. The man had looked at the evidence she’d presented but he was of the opinion the Woodbine Werewolf was at worst a hoax, and at best, a Bigfoot.

“Yeah, well, I personally don’t think we have a Bigfoot,” Sean said. “I’ve never known of any to be reported around here.”

Andrea laughed in self-derision. She’d never imagined having conversations about Bigfoot over breakfast as if it were…well, even remotely possible. Yet, here she was, actually considering the idea.

“So.” Andrea tapped her fingers against the countertop. “Are we dealing with something supernatural or something natural here? Something paranormal or cryptozoological?” Sean offered no answer, so she volunteered her own. “Call me crazy, but I vote for cryptozoological.”

He chuckled. “Something told me you would, Sunshine.”

She stared at Sean’s chiseled face, no less attractive sporting a five o’clock shadow, and fixated on the way his eyes seemed to sparkle with mischief and the glint of something else—something more dangerous—as he stared right back at her. If she wasn’t careful, she would find herself forgetting all about this story again.

The way Sean had made love to her had made her forget all about her assignment. If he hadn’t reminded her at a quarter to midnight about her blog posting, she would have missed her first deadline. She couldn’t get him out of her mind. She’d experienced something with him she’d never experienced with anyone. He’d made her feel…loved. The very idea made her feel edgy and restless and scared to death all at the same time.

Always before, relationships had been on her terms. She’d been picky about the men she’d dated and even more so about the one man she’d gone to bed with—Brandon. She’d only ever slept with Brandon, and she’d enjoyed it enough to consider moving in with him. Then she’d caught him in bed with that actress.

Andrea wondered how she’d feel if she caught Sean in bed with someone else and didn’t like the thought. She would be devastated in a way she hadn’t been with Brandon.

She refilled her coffee.
Focus on work.

“I did some research while I was away,” she said. “I found some interesting cases similar to the one here.”

“Like what?”

She took a seat at his breakfast bar and watched him cook. “A bunch of legends originating from Europe, France in particular. There are still some interesting legends down in Louisiana. Ever heard of the loup-garou?”

“Can’t say I have.”

“The loup-garou are so-called werewolves running around the Louisiana bayou. There’s also a reporter up in Wisconsin I’m going to contact about werewolf sightings there. Quite frankly, I’m amazed at how many legends like the one here exist throughout the country. That alone would make a fascinating piece.”

“So why not do it?”

“It would involve too much research, too much money tracking down sources and pulling it all together.” She sighed. “What it needs to be is a book. This would make a great book.”

Her mind raced with ideas. There would be plenty of experts to consult. Biologists, eyewitnesses. She’d have to travel to all of the locations, of course. It would be an expensive project without having a buyer up-front. Too bad. She’d love to do a book on this topic.

“Oh,” she said. “I forgot to tell you—I also tracked down Robert Martin.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Really?”

“Well, I tracked down his widow.” She took a seat at the table and sipped her coffee. “He settled in California a few months after he disappeared from here.” His widow had explained all she knew of Martin’s life in Woodbine, and none of it involved the strange creature he’d written about in his journal. “If I had to guess, I imagine he got so spooked by the creature he was seeing, he just left and never came back. At least now we know he wasn’t eaten or anything.”

“Always good to know.” Sean looked at her thoughtfully. He looked like he was about to say something else, but the sound of his phone ringing distracted him. She agreed to take over cooking so he could answer it, and she was flipping the omelets onto a plate when he returned.

“That was our animal control officer, Charlie Browder, on the phone.” Sean moved the dirty pan to the sink. “A man went to feed his horses this morning and found one of them with a footlong, bleeding gash on its neck. There were some suspicious footprints found nearby, thanks to the fresh mud outside today.”

“You’re kidding. Let’s go.”

Sean grabbed her wrist. “It can wait until we’ve eaten.”

Was he serious? How could she be expected to eat with that news in her brain?

He smiled. “Charlie asked us to give him an hour before we showed up. I promised him we would.”

They were both unusually quiet as they sat down and ate.

“What are you going to do with the cat?” Sean asked as he put the last of their dirty dishes in the dishwasher.

She glanced at the adorable little critter romping around at her feet and tried to ignore the feeling of
awwwww
that swept over her. “Find him a home.” She shrugged. “I guess I should take him to the vet to make sure he’s okay before I pawn him off on someone else.”

The kitten latched on to Andrea’s foot, fell on its side, and chewed on her sock. That was just so…sweet. She sighed and gently shook her foot free from its razorlike claws. She picked up the kitten and cuddled it.

“See how adorable he is?” she asked. “Don’t you want a pet?”

“No, thank you.”

“You sure?” She fingered the kitten’s soft fur. “Here, hold him and see how cuddly he is.”

Sean pushed it back. “You look good together. I thought chicks liked cats. Keep him.”

“Not all ‘chicks’ do.” Andrea arched an eyebrow. “Here. Just hold him.”