Night of the Cougar Page 5

  He joined her a moment later, carrying plates heaped with eggs and bacon. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

  Although she was a city girl at heart, she couldn’t deny that the view was breathtaking. “Gorgeous and very relaxing. I can see why you chose to come up here to heal.”

  He placed the dishes on the bar and then returned with the toast, butter and jelly. “Coffee, mugs and fixings are on the counter.”

  “You like yours light and sweet, right?” she asked, and walked over to prep the coffees.

  Galen tried not to be pleased that she remembered something as mundane as how he liked his coffee. Of course, they had shared at least three breakfasts when they had first met and been so powerfully attracted to each other.

  He sat on the stool at the breakfast bar, admiring the way her jeans molded to the shape of her ass. He wanted to touch again, but he drove away that want since he knew that as soon as breakfast was over, he had to convince her to return to town. Although he only shifted a few days a month, he feared what could happen to her if she stayed and he got free. But he worried just as much about how they could both be hurt emotionally by becoming even more involved.

  But his thoughts scattered when she turned and the lush curves of her breasts stretched the sweatshirt, which seemed to have shrunk a bit thanks to his laundering skills.

  They sat kitty-corner to each other with Jamie facing the windows while he looked toward her and the kitchen. Their knees brushed occasionally as they ate, silent once again as hunger demanded fulfillment.

  She made short work of her portion of the eggs and bacon, dragging a smile from him as she enthusiastically said, “That was delicious.”

  “Nothing better than fresh from the farm.” He had a number of local farmers and dairymen leave fresh supplies at his gate every few days. A weekly delivery from the local general store filled in anything else he might need.

  “Definitely,” she replied with a mischievous grin, snagging a piece of bacon from his plate.

  “You’ll pay for that,” he warned gruffly, but it didn’t keep her from snatching a piece of his toast also.

  He was about to tease her with the details of just how he intended to punish her when her cell phone rang.

  She made a moue of annoyance when she read the number and left the breakfast bar. Running a hand through the shoulder-length strands of her hair, she began to pace and said, “Good morning, Frank.”

  Frank, her editor. A hard-ass from what Galen recollected of their discussion about him so long ago.

  “Is it a good morning?” Frank challenged, and Galen was thankful that the cougar powers that lingered also included very acute hearing.

  “Not really. There was a major storm up here that’s kept me snowbound. It may take me some more time to reach Hawke.”

  Galen tried not to let her impersonal use of his last name bother him, not to mention the fact that she had apparently come up here primarily to interview him.

  “You have a day, Jamie. If you don’t have it by then…”

  “I know the punishment, Frank. I’m a big girl. I can handle it if that’s what you decide to do.”

  He had a guess as to what “it” involved, and once again anger rose up in him at the reason for her visit. He told himself that it didn’t matter. There could never be a lasting relationship between them now anyway, but her ulterior motives still stung. Despite his misgivings, in his heart he had hoped she had come up here to see him.

  Jamie ended the call with a determined button push and walked back to where Galen sat. He shoved around the last of his eggs and a lonely bacon strip, his gaze locked on the plate.

  She leaned against the breakfast bar and bent her head so that it would be nearly impossible for him to avoid her.

  “It’s not what you think.”

  His head shot up then and the earlier warmth in his eyes iced over, leaving them the dead green of fallen pine needles. “I think you came up here for another scoop and that if you don’t get it, your bastard editor is going to fire your ass.”

  “You overheard, I guess.”

  He shrugged. “Supersensitive hearing. The cougar again.”

  With a resigned sigh, she hopped back up onto the stool and laid her hands on her thighs. She rubbed them, nervous energy growing inside her. “I was told to come up here and get an interview, and yes, Frank will likely fire me if I don’t, but then again, I kind of expected that he would anyway.”

  “And why is that?” Galen asked, and finally picked up the last bit of bacon and ate it.

  “Because I knew that even if I got to see you, the questions I asked would have nothing to do with the interview and everything to do with me. With us,” she said, motioning to the two of them before plowing ahead.

  “That dedication was for me, but so was the apology. Why, Galen? Why bother if you didn’t want me to come back?”

  He rested his big hands on the edge of the breakfast bar, gripping it tightly as he seemed to consider her words. Shaking his head, he said, “Did you read the book?”

  She shook her head. “No. I couldn’t get past that damned dedication page.”

  “Maybe you should.”

  Anger rose up quickly at his demand. “You want me to read the book to find out what’s in here?” she asked and reached out, laid her hand over his heart.

  One side of his mouth quirked up in the beginning of a grin. “That’s one thing I loved about you right off the bat—your directness.”

  “Damn it, Galen. Don’t use a word like ‘love’ unless you really mean it.” She hopped down from the stool and paced a step or two before facing him, hands held out in pleading.

  “Do you know what it was like to find out you’d been in a near fatal accident? To reach out to you and have you turn me away, again and again?”

  A guilty flush of color swept over his features. “I can imagine. I was out of it for days and when they finally let me go, I had planned on calling you.”

  “Then why didn’t you?” she challenged.

  “You can still ask that after what happened last night? After seeing what I am now?” He tossed the words right back at her.

  “Damn it, Galen. Do you think that matters to me?” she said, walking over to him and wrapping her arms around him. His body was rigid beneath her hands, the tension obvious.

  “It matters to me, Jamie. I can’t give you any kind of life anymore.” He reached down and gently drew her arms away from him. Shooting a half glance out the windows, he said, “We need to get you back down the mountain before it gets much later. There’s another storm coming soon.”

  Hurt by yet another rejection, she snapped back. “Is that another cougar trait? Sensing the storm?”

  He surprised her with a chuckle and the hint of a smile. “Try the Weather Channel. I checked while you were getting changed.”

  Even that tiny upturn of his lips was enough to tug at her heart. It would be hard to leave him, but she had never been one to give up. She’d be back whether he liked it or not.

  “Let me get my things,” she said, and he seemed shocked by her ready acquiescence. Good. Maybe it would give him something to think about as they trudged down the mountain.

  She nearly ran up the stairs while he followed. They separated on the main level to go their different ways. Near the couch, she tugged on her calf-high hiking boots, hoping they would be enough protection against the cold and foot-high snow. Wrapping her thick scarf around her throat, she looked for her hat, but it was nowhere to be found. She had likely lost it on her flight to safety.

  With her knapsack secured over her shoulders, she glanced down the hall to find Galen coming her way, his long, determined strides eating up the space between them.

  “I thought you might need these.” He handed her gloves, but then opted to slip the knit cap over her head, the simple gesture surprisingly intimate. He stroked a hand along the fringes of hair that stuck out from beneath the cap and hesitated, his gaze wistful for a fleeting moment.

/>   Then he was all action, hurrying to the door, making her nearly run to keep up with those long-legged strides.

  The cold hit them as soon as he opened the door. High drifts of snow against the house greeted them along with uneven mounds of wind-driven snow on the path leading down to the logging road. On a good day it was nearly a fifteen-minute walk on foot. They’d be lucky to trudge down in an hour. She wondered how long it would take to dig out her Jeep once they reached it.

  Galen took the lead, plowing through the snow with his powerful legs and making it a bit easier for her to follow in his wake. With each stride, however, her legs grew more and more tired. Snow leaked in through every seam in her boots, creating a wet chill that was seeping into her bones.

  More than once, Galen had to stop for her to catch up to him. On one such rest, a sudden movement in the brush just ahead of them had him sweeping his arm around to keep her behind him and protected.

  She peered around his body and watched as first one head and then another popped up out of a mix of snow and underbrush.

  “Wild dogs,” he warned as one of them shook off the snow and leaves and trotted out to block their path. It was soon joined by another four dogs of varying sizes. Most were mixed breeds and one of them was limping badly, clearly injured.

  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.