Cougar's Mate (26 page)

She stopped stroking him and arched backward, her hands planted on the bed, a sheen of light perspiration on her silky skin, her breathing ragged. He continued to stroke her, his free hand sliding down her calf, watching her lose herself in the way he was bringing her pleasure. He felt the tension, saw the way her body responded, smelled the excitement, both his own and hers. And smiled as she cried out. He would have covered her mouth with his and muffled her cry of pleasure, but he wasn’t able to the way she had been leaning away from him, caught up in the moment.

He leaned her back then, moving his legs out from under her, until her head was to the foot of the bed. He pushed into her, driving his cock between her folds slowly at first, placing kisses on her breasts, licking her nipples, nibbling her earlobe with his teeth and connecting with her in the most intimate way.

Her knees were bent on either side of him as he drove into her, wanting her to be his forever. He licked her nipple and sucked, then pumped hard into her, hot and eager. Her hands slid down his skin, her touch making his blood sizzle. She was exquisite, his, just as much as he was hers and he loved making love to her.

When she’d told him she loved him over the phone, her parting words spoken when she thought she was going to die at Hennessey’s hands, or teeth, Chase hadn’t had the chance to tell her how much he loved her in return. It had nearly killed him to think he might lose her and he had never even had the opportunity to tell her that he loved her. He vowed to do so every day of their lives with a word or action to let her know just how precious she was to him.

Her eyes were half-lidded, her fingers sweeping over his buttocks, her sweet body pushing against his.

He felt the end coming and claimed her mouth, thrusting his tongue between her lips, and spilled his seed deep inside her.

“Shannon,” he managed to get out as he sank down on top of her. “I can never lose you.” The fear was still there that Hennessey would come for her.

She wrapped her arms around Chase’s body, her legs around his hips as if to say she was claiming him for her own.

“I was so scared…,” he said, never having admitted such a thing to anyone.

“I was, too. But I knew you were coming for me. I was just afraid…”

“You called out in a cougar’s way, offering yourself as bait. Why?” He kissed her cheek and combed his fingers through her hair.

“I realized once you fought one of them, the others would go to his aid. You couldn’t fight all three at once. Then they’d come after me. I had to taunt one of them to come after me. Had you been fighting Hennessey? What happened?” She slid her hands down his sides, her touch warm and soft.

“I assumed he was the uncle with a few gray hairs. Hunters shot at us. At me. He ran off.”

“So Roger came after me and you were fighting their uncle. Where was Hennessey all that time?”

“Maybe backtracking to move the vehicle and pick the others up, along with you, at a different location. I was so injured, I wasn’t thinking much about anything else when I returned to the cabin after being shot, but to protect myself and get help. I vaguely remembered noticing only my vehicle was there and the Humvee was gone.”

“He probably figured they were soon going to be outnumbered and outmaneuvered. Then when their uncle took off, he probably headed back with Hennessey. I wonder if they knew Roger was dead.”

“Probably assumed it because of the hunters and the shifters who were coming to your rescue. They might have had a rendezvous point and if he didn’t meet them by a specified time, they would assume the worst,” Chase said.

“They were wearing hunter’s spray,” she said.

“Which was to be expected. They didn’t want you to smell them prematurely.”

She took a deep breath and exhaled it. “We’re upside down on the bed.”

He smiled at her and kissed her cheek, then he moved off her so they could climb under the covers with their heads on the pillows again. Or at least his was. She snuggled up against him, her cheek resting against his chest, her warm breath fanning his skin. “They won’t wait for Christmas, will they?”

“If there’s a lot of money involved, they believe you know where it is, they’re afraid someone else might get hold of it, and they are worried they’re going to get caught, no.”

Which was why he feared Hennessey would come after Shannon again—and soon.

Chapter 15

Early the next morning, Stryker had left to oversee a three-car pileup because of the snow and icy conditions on the road. Dan was at the hospital interrogating a case of a kid breaking another kid’s nose. Hal was still sacked out, but he was there to watch Shannon and Chase’s backs if they needed him to.

“I haven’t shared Thanksgiving in a while with anybody,” Shannon said to Chase as she baked the chocolate cake while he was making up a bowl of fruit salad. “My twin brother got into trouble a lot. He was… he was in jail at Thanksgiving, and then he was murdered before he made it to Christmas.”

Chase stopped what he was doing and crossed the floor to take her in his arms. Once they had learned who she was, Dan had discovered everything about her, including all about her brother and the two guys she’d dated before she got involved with the cop, who had also died. But he’d learned that she had never had as much as a traffic violation. And changing boyfriends, from those who broke the law, to one who was supposed to uphold the law, hadn’t made any difference.

Someday, Chase figured she’d talk to him about it, but none of that mattered. He’d also been thinking a lot about that birth control implant she was wearing and how much he’d love to see her carrying their children and how much he’d love to adore them as much as he adored her.

“When did you want to get married?” he asked, kissing her forehead, holding her tight, his hand stroking down her back. She was wearing that hot pink sweater again, and he was glad she loved it so much because he sure did.

“Shouldn’t we wait a respectable period, like a year?”

“Hell, no.”

She chuckled.

“We’ve known each other long enough. And if you didn’t know, I hadn’t ever planned to let you go.”

She looked up at him and smiled. “You said I could leave anytime I wanted.”

“I lied.”

She laughed. “I was planning to, you know. I kept telling myself I’d wait just a couple of more days and then I needed to leave before Hennessey caught up to me.”

“I know.”

She raised a brow.

“I caught you looking at the calendar a couple of times. Didn’t you notice that I’d stick closer to you, not leave you alone as much right after that?”

She smiled and curled her arms about his neck. “I thought you were just lonely.”

“I was. But I also alternated between thinking you were having a hard time leaving because you’d miss me too much, and worrying you’d stayed too long because Hennessey was sure to find you.”

“I was.”

“So, when are we getting married?”

“Three months from now?”

“How about next week?”

She laughed. “I thought you were asking
me
when I want to get married.”

He smiled. “If your choice of date was close to when I want to get married, I would have just said I’d go along with it.”

“You want to marry before Christmas? How can we get the paperwork done that early?”

“Dan will take care of it. So that’s a yes?” He looked so happy she was about to say yes, when she remembered her cake.

“Oh!” she said, and pulled away from him to check the oven. “It doesn’t pay to distract me while I’m baking.” She pulled it out of the oven.

“If it’s ruined, I’ll eat it,” he said, taking deep breaths and enjoying the chocolate aroma.

“Then I’d have to make another and it wouldn’t be done in time. No, it’s just perfect.”

Hal poked his head into the kitchen. “Tell me we’re having that for a late breakfast.”

She laughed. “It’s for Thanksgiving dinner. When are we headed over there?”

“Early,” Chase said. “Weather reports show another winter storm headed our way. We might as well get over there and just enjoy ourselves, visit and play games, until we eat.”

“Where’s everyone else?” Hal asked.

“Dan’s at the clinic questioning a couple of boys about a fight that left one of them with a broken nose. And Stryker’s working a traffic accident. We’ll have to take it slow to reach Rick’s place out in the country,” Chase said.

“What about Dottie and the kids?” Shannon asked.

“Dan will head over there and pick them up right after he finishes with the kids at the hospital. Is your cake done?”

“Sure. It’ll cool down on the way over there and I can add the frosting then. We might as well go now. Are we all going in one car or two?”

“My truck,” Hal said. “It’s got four-wheel drive, snow tires, heavier than Chase’s hatchback.”

“I’ll just grab my coat, hat, and gloves,” she said.

Hal said, “Me, too. Wait, what can I bring?”

“Dan said to bring a couple of bottles of wine. He’s got them in the cabinet there. Dottie’s bringing something she baked. A vegetable casserole, I think. Stryker said he picked up a pecan pie yesterday and he’ll drop by his place to get it,” Chase said.

Before long, they were out the door with the cake, bowl of fruit, and two bottles of wine.

The roads were messy, though Shannon felt safe in Hal’s truck. Several cars had slid off the road into piles of snow, but thankfully the occupants of the vehicles must have been rescued because the cars were empty.

When Hal had driven out into the country, they came upon another stuck car. A man and woman were trying to clear the snow out of their path. Hal stopped and two ten year-old girls got into the truck with Shannon to stay warm while the mother drove the car back and forth as Chase, Hal, and the husband tried to push the car back onto the road. They managed to get onto the road and the kids rejoined their parents and were on their way. Only a mile down the road in the blinding snow, the car was in the ditch again.

“Where were they going?” Hal asked.

“To their grandmother’s house,” Shannon said.

“Which is where?” Hal asked.

“I have no idea.”

Hal sighed and pulled next to their car again. Only this time they all crammed into the double cab of Hal’s truck along with a damp German shepherd, too. Shannon had never known cat shifters who owned a dog before.

Everyone but Hal—well, and maybe Chase, but he was only smiling and not saying a word—wanted the dog inside the cab with them.

Hal complained nearly the whole time about how dogs and cold weather were meant for each other. That the dog would love to see the sights and not be jam-packed into the back seat with the family. He’d feel squished. That he was way too big to be a lapdog. That he would feel way too confined.

The two girls giggled. “He’s sleeping on all of our laps,” the one girl said.

Shannon smiled.

The trip was way out of their way and took them up a country road that made Shannon worry that even they wouldn’t make it. The family’s low-slung car would never have made it. When they reached the house, the lights were on inside and a cheery fire was blazing in the fireplace. A gray-haired grandma came out to greet them in a sweater and dress and snow boots. She looked a little surprised to see Hal and Chase and Shannon.

“Oh my goodness, you’re that wild she-cat the sheriff and his men were trying to catch,” she said, then smiled. “Come in. Come in. Have Thanksgiving dinner with us.”

Chase and Hal smiled at Shannon as she felt her cheeks heat.

Two more German shepherds rushed out to greet the family and the family’s dog, and then checked Shannon and the others over.

“We’ve got to be at Rick and Yvonne Mueller’s place, Ma’am,” Chase said. “We were glad to be of some assistance.”

“Will you need a ride home tonight?” Hal asked.

“No, they’re staying a few days to help me put up my decorations for Christmas.”

They all made their well-wishes and Shannon, Chase, and Hal drove back the way they came. Chase texted Rick to let him know they would be late because they’d gotten held up on the drive over.

Rick responded by saying Dan had texted him that he couldn’t make it to Dottie’s place to get her and the kids in time. Could Hal?

“Okay, another run. At least Dottie doesn’t have any dogs,” Hal said.

“I saw you pet that dog,” Shannon said.

He smiled. “I would have loved him, if he’d been riding in the back.”

“It’s not safe for them,” she said.

“My whole truck smells like wet dog now!”

“And chocolate,” Chase said, wrapping his arm around Shannon.

It took nearly an hour to reach Dottie’s place. A light was on in the living room, and they saw Dottie wave out the window at them, then leave to get the kids.

Hal parked and everyone got out. “It’s like moving day taking Dottie and the kids anywhere. Remember that when you have kids. You don’t just go. You have to get car seats and toys, and special food to keep them happy, and diapers and…”

Shannon started laughing. “No dogs and no kids, eh, Hal?”

He smiled back at her. “Now if…”

Chase punched him.

Hal and Shannon laughed.

Hal opened the front door and walked inside but a shot rang out and Hal hit the floor. Chase had been to the right of him, Shannon behind. She let out a startled shriek, and ran the other way.

Praying Hal and Chase would be all right, she dashed outside into the snow. It had to be Hennessey and he’d taken Dottie and her toddlers hostage. Shannon knew the only thing she could do was run and hope that Hennessey would come after her. She began stripping, which wasn’t easy as many clothes as she had on. She ran into the blinding snowstorm and into the woods. She hoped Chase was safe, but she knew he’d go after the shooter and have to rescue Dottie and her little ones. He’s already lost his wife and baby. He couldn’t see it happen again. She worried that Hal had been hit, though she’d also assumed he might have hit the floor as a soldier would do when under fire.

Naked, she shifted, willing the warmth of her cougar coat to cover her skin, and ran blindly away from the house, the snow stinging her eyes.