Night of the Cougar (7 page)

Once together, a low chorus of growls began and the animals bared their teeth in warning.

“Damn. I should have brought the shotgun,” Galen muttered. “Back up a bit. Maybe all we need to do is give them a little space.”

She did as he asked, taking a few steps back toward the lodge, but instead of retreating, the pack advanced as if sensing weakness.

Fear slammed into her gut. They could never outrun the dogs, but it seemed that running was the last thing Galen had in mind.

Inside of Galen came a burst of heat, which sizzled along his muscles and nerve endings, releasing adrenaline through his body. Bending down a bit, Galen raised his hands in front of him like a wrestler ready to grapple. From deep inside his gut, a growl grew into the wild warning roar of the cougar. The sound was so loud, it echoed through the forest.

The dogs were clearly taken aback. They grew silent, and as Galen released another body-rumbling growl, the dogs glanced at each other and then tucked their tails in and ran for safety.

Standing upright, his heart pounding in his chest from the violence racing through him, he faced Jamie. “I don’t think we can risk running into them again without the shotgun.”

Jamie narrowed her gaze and reached up, running her index finger along his cheek. Unlike the dogs, she was clearly unafraid. “Your eyes. They’re glowing.”

He shook off the sensation that had gripped him at the first hint of danger, prompting another comment from her. “And now they’re not. Can you transform at will?”

“I don’t know,” he confessed, not really sure what had happened just now, but grateful he had been able to keep her from harm. Not wanting to press their luck in case the wild dogs reconsidered the threat he presented, he jerked a gloved hand in the direction of the lodge. “We need to go back.”

“Right. The shotgun,” she said, and without waiting for his reply, pivoted on one foot and retraced their steps. But by the time they got back to the lodge, the snow was falling again. Big, fat, thick snowflakes that were quickly accumulating on the ground.

“Looks like you’re stuck with me for tonight. Will it involve bondage again?” she asked, her tone surprisingly playful.

He sucked in a breath as he recalled the taste of her and became instantly erect. “Only if I get my licks in again.”

A visible shudder rattled her body and the pink flush on her cheeks from the cold deepened with another kind of blush. The crystal blue of her eyes deepened to the color of a mountain lake at dusk. “Will you become the cougar tonight?”

He shook his head. “It only happens three nights a month.””So tonight you’re totally human?”

Inclining his head in the direction of the path they had just traveled, he said, “You saw what happened. Can you call that totally human?” Becoming a cougar wasn’t the only danger. He feared that the longer she stayed, the harder it would be to finally let her go.

She hesitated for a moment, then reached up and fingered the longish strands of his hair, brushing them away from his face. “I call that being a hero.”

Without waiting for his reply, she opened the door to the lodge and hurried in, leaving him to stare at her retreating back and wonder what he would do about her and their forced confinement.

Chapter Eight

Jamie yanked off her jacket, scarf and hat and hung them on a coatrack by the front door. There was a nip in the air within the lodge, and she shivered, but soon those shivers had her body shaking and she realized it was probably a delayed response to what had happened with the dogs.

Concerned, Galen walked over to her and laid a gentle hand on her arm. “I’ll get the fire going in the living room. Why don’t you go take a hot shower?”

She wasn’t going to argue. The chill from outside and the fear had transferred itself deep into her core. A hot shower would go a long way toward warming her.

Hurrying to his room, she was pulling off her sweatshirt and bra even before reaching his door, driven by the thought of all that heat sliding over her body, wishing it was Galen’s warmth instead.

She shimmied out of her wet boots and socks and tossed them by the gas-powered fireplace in his bedroom. With the push of a button, the flames flicked to life, bringing immediate heat, which she hoped would dry them. Then she quickly ripped off her damp jeans, panties and sweatshirt, dropped them by the fireplace, and hurried to the shower.

She had forgotten just how spacious it was, with showerheads on various sides and levels to make sure not an inch of your body was missed. She turned on the water and made it as hot as she could stand then stepped inside. Her shuddering slowly abated as the warmth of the water seeped into her body. With the chill gone, she increased the heat and just stood beneath the assorted jets, letting their caress ease away the last of her discomfort.

Soon, however, the persistent beat on parts that were still sensitive from Galen’s touch brought other sensations.

She moaned as the water pulsed against her breasts and the heat sluiced down between her legs, warming her clitoris and cleft. Battling the desire, she spilled shampoo into her hand and washed her hair, then squeezed out some shower gel.

It smelled like him, woodsy and masculine. Her body shook, but not from the cold this time. As she soaped up, running her hands all along her body, she imagined it was Galen touching her and then there was no avoiding the need for satisfaction.

She rinsed off the soap and leaned back against the tiled wall, legs braced slightly apart. With one hand at her breast, she pulled and teased the hard tip while with the other hand she parted the curls at her center to find her clitoris. Circling her fingers there, the answering response came in her vagina, which throbbed in anticipation.

She shifted her fingers down and slowly pushed in one and then two. Dragged the slick juices back up to circle around her clit before returning to stroke and build her passion, all the while thinking of Galen. Wishing he was with her.

* * *

Galen had changed into comfortable fleece sweatpants and a T-shirt. Waiting for Jamie to emerge from the shower, he went to the living room and got a cheery fire going. Not that he was feeling cheerful, he thought as he hunkered down before the flames, expecting her return. What was he going to do about her not only tonight, but for the future? Indecision twisted his gut into a painful knot.

As the logs settled with a noisy clamor and kicked up a shower of sparks, it occurred to him that she had been gone for far too long. Worried, he hurried to the bathroom door and listened.

His sensitive hearing picked up on her ragged breaths and a sharp moan, as if she was in pain.

Bursting into the room, he realized she was still in the shower, but the steam on the glass doors kept him from seeing much. After another soft whimper, he jerked open the shower door.

Her nearly sapphire eyes fixed him to the floor with the guilty desire he saw in them.

She was leaning against the wall, a pink flush along her body and an even brighter red color riding high along her cheeks and the tight nubs of her breasts. She had been working the tip of one breast with her hand and masturbating with the other.

I should walk away,
he told himself, but he couldn’t. His cock was so stiff, not even the comfortable fabric of the sweats could bring relief and his balls were hard as rocks.

Trying to lighten the heavily charged moment, he said, “I guess I may get my licks in after all.”

A hesitant laugh escaped her, but before she could respond, he said, “But right now, I’d like to watch.”

“Oh, God. Galen, I’m not sure—”

She stopped short as he eased his sweatpants down to free his erection. He grabbed it and gave it a quick stroke, letting out a little growl of pleasure.

“You can watch, too, Jamie,” he said, a bit of rumble in his voice.

She did as he asked, her gaze on him as he stroked his cock and then reached down to caress his balls. As he played with himself, she did the same until they were both breathing hard and obviously on the edge.

Galen could feel his release waiting to erupt, but first he wanted that taste he had mentioned earlier. He stepped toward her and relief swept through him as she opened her legs even more and dropped her hand away. Kneeling before her, he wrapped his arms around her thighs and held her to him as he explored her with his mouth and tongue, sucking and licking at her clit and the entrance to her pussy. He grazed his teeth along her sweet lips, earning a sharp cry of pleasure from her. She threaded her fingers through the wet strands of his hair, holding him close until he could no longer wait.

Surging upward, he took her in one powerful thrust, lifting her off her feet. In response, she wrapped her legs around his waist and grabbed his shoulders for purchase.

He braced one hand on the tiles and turned them so that the jets were sluicing warm water across her breasts and down to where their bodies where joined. As hot as the water was, she was so much warmer as she held him inside her.

He shifted his hips, drawing out before another intense thrust freed her release.

She arched her back and cried out his name, dug her fingers into his shoulders. He waited for that first wave to pass before he began the rhythm that would take her to yet more pleasure.

Jamie held on, nearly boneless from the passion he was rousing. Heart hammering in her chest and insides vibrating as swell after swell washed over her, she felt pleasure like none she had ever experienced with a man before. Her response dragged Galen to his own rough climax.

Pulling him toward her, she nibbled her way up his jaw to the shell of his ear.

“I love you, Galen. Nothing can ever change that.”

He stilled, buried deep inside her, and groaned like a man in pain. “I wish things could be different. I really do.”

She cradled his face in her hands and met his troubled gaze. “Love will find a way, Galen. Believe that.”

He wanted to believe. So much. But he had always been a practical man and with what he had seen of life as a cop, maybe he understood more than most that some things weren’t meant to be.

All desire and hope shriveled up inside of him. As he slipped out of her loving depths, he gently urged her to her feet. In strained silence, they dried off, and he snagged his T-shirt and sweats from the floor and dragged them on. They returned to his bedroom, and he grabbed her clothes, holding them up as he said, “I’ll dry these , and then I’ve got some work to do. You can grab my robe or any of the clothes in my closet.”

He didn’t wait for her to finish dressing before almost running from the room. He needed to be away from her in the hopes that he could make sense of all that had happened with them in the past two days.

Jamie watched him run, thinking that at that moment he looked a lot like that pack of wild dogs, scared and defeated.

In some ways, he was like the Galen she had first met a year ago, hiding up here in his lodge and behind the pages of his books to get over the loss of his partner and his own near-death.

Now he was hiding in his work again and his words came back at her then.
Did you read the book?

She recalled the look in his eyes, full of both hope and apology, as he’d said it.

She tossed aside the towel and snatched up his robe. The soft terry cloth smelled of him and as it rubbed against the sensitive tips of her breasts, they puckered. She wondered if maybe
she
was the animal, what with her seemingly being in heat when she was around him.

Shoving back that awakening need, she went to the living room and her knapsack. She pulled out her copy of Galen’s book and contemplated hunkering down on the couch before the fire, but wanted to be somewhere more private. Someplace where she could feel closer to Galen.

Returning to his bedroom, she ignored the leather ties and straps around each of the four posts and climbed into his bed. The gas fireplace had heated the room to toastiness, but she still pulled up the comforter for added warmth. Fluffing the pillows behind her head, she turned up the light on the nightstand beside the bed and started reading.

Chapter Nine

He had been down in his office on the lower level for hours, but had gotten little writing done. Instead, he had spent the better part of the afternoon staring out the window at the snow accumulating outside, which was showing no signs of letting up.

There was no way Jamie would be able to leave tomorrow or even the next day, if the storm kept up.

Switching on the large-screen television on one wall of his office, he flipped to a local cable weather and traffic station. The angry red crawler along the bottom of the screen warned of blizzard conditions in the area. The reporter’s comments and animated weather predictions weren’t comforting.

Heavy snow throughout today and tomorrow. Accumulations of as much as three feet with four possible at the higher elevations, like Cat’s Claw Mountain.

Four feet.

She wouldn’t be able to leave for days, he thought.

Inside of him came a lightening of his soul, and the pressure and pain around his heart eased at the thought of being with her for several more days.

He was a damn fool, he knew. Once the snow let up she had to go, he told himself. But for now she was his.

A deep rumble of pleasure erupted within him and this time he didn’t fight it.

Facing his keyboard once again, he finally got to work.

* * *

Jack Fitzgerald, Galen’s fictional detective, had finally fallen in love.

With her.

Okay, maybe not with her, but with someone just like her, right down to the little birthmark she had on her left hip.

As Jamie tore through the pages, eating up the action-packed scenes peppered with some poignant and sexy exchanges between Jack and Caitlin, the heroine, she understood why Frank had said the work was Galen’s best. It wasn’t to say that his other books had been bad. His bestseller status attested to the fact that readers loved his work.

But this book was inspired because of the many layers of emotion in every scene. Complex and intense, the emotions would resonate with readers who not only wanted Jack to solve the case, but wanted to discover whether or not the relationship with Caitlin would end with a happily-ever-after.