Mating Dance (5 page)

“You know, that could sound stalker-ish, but
I find it comforting. I feel like I’ve known you a lot longer than
just a day.” Her words slipped quietly into the evening breeze, and
straight into his heart.

“I feel the same way, honey. Sometimes it
happens like that for my kind. Courtships can be a bit…accelerated.
But I give you my word, I will try my best not rush you.”

She eased from his arms and sat on the bench
next to him, then she met his gaze. “Is that what we’re doing?
Beginning a courtship?”

Tom took a deep breath, gathering his
courage before answering. “I’d like to think so. If you’re okay
with that. We call it the mating dance.”

She looked out over the cove, then up at the
stars before answering. “Yeah, I think I’m okay with it. I like
you, Tom. That’s a good first step.”

She stood and walked to the table, gathering
the plates and putting them in a plastic caddy she’d had stowed to
one side. He helped her clean up, prolonging the moments he had
with her, but it didn’t take long to put the roof garden back to
rights.

Together, they went back down into the
apartment after shutting off the little lights on the roof. Tina
was nowhere in evidence, but they both knew she was somewhere in
the apartment. They dropped the dishes off near the sink, and
Ashley motioned for him to follow her down the stairs that led into
the bakery.

He kissed her again—a long, lingering but
all-too-chaste kiss—in the door of the closed bakery, and then, he
left, heading for home. They’d made a start. And for that, Tom sent
a little prayer of thanks heavenward to the Mother of All.

He wasn’t one hundred percent sure yet, but
he had a good feeling that Ashley Baker might just be his mate.

Chapter Six

Tom couldn’t stay away. After a mostly
sleepless night, he found himself at the bakery bright and early,
when only Ashley was there. She welcomed him with a smile, and they
shared a quiet breakfast while her bread baked.

They even went outside to watch the sunrise
and to feed Gus, the seagull. Little things that were becoming
rituals after only two days with her. Tom wanted to spend every
moment with Ashley, but he couldn’t. For one thing, he had promised
John he would work on some permits from the state today. For
another, he had to prepare for their date. He’d promised to cook
for her, and he had to get some supplies and clean his house a
bit.

He left her as the morning customers started
coming in and her sister joined her behind the counter. He didn’t
try to kiss her. Not in public. Not with their relationship so new.
He didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable, but he was
definitely making plans for kissing her—and whatever else she would
allow him to do—at his place tonight.

He couldn’t wait.

By the time dinner rolled around, Asheley
was a nervous wreck. She’d showered and primped, shaving and
putting lotion on every part of her skin she could reasonably
reach. She’d given herself a mani/pedi and spent almost an hour on
her hair.

The entire contents of her wardrobe was
strewn all over her room again, but that seemed to be the norm now
for preparing for a date with Tom. He’d left her at the bakery this
morning, and she’d practically waltzed through the rest of her
shift, her feet barely touching the ground.

It had been a long time since the mere
prospect of a date with a man had made her that happy, and she
intended to savor it. Almost as much as she intended to jump his
bones tonight if the opportunity arose.

Tom drove up to the bakery and parked in
front. He was driving a Jeep with the top down and looked
absolutely scrumptious. Ashley stood in front of the display case,
fighting the urge to step up to the door. It wouldn’t do to let him
see how eager she was, would it?

Tina came up beside her, folding her arms as
she leaned against the case beside Ashley. The bakery was quiet for
the moment, though a few of the locals were sitting outside at one
of the tables they’d been able to set up on the sidewalk in front
of the shop. They all seemed to stop and look when Tom pulled
up.

Ashley noticed the way the men greeted Tom
with nods of respect, but Tom didn’t stop to chat. He had a rather
intense look on his face that matched the way Ashley was
feeling.

“He looks good enough to eat,” Tina
commented as they both watched Tom walk toward the door.

“Hush,” Ashley chastised her sister.

“Well, he does,” Tina protested. “I’m just
sayin’…”

Thankfully, Tina didn’t say anything more as
Tom opened the door and the bell over it jangled. He strode in, and
Ashley’s mouth went dry. He really was the most handsome man she’d
ever seen in person. Certainly the nicest—both in looks and
personality—she’d ever been on a date with.

Tom walked right up to her, a smile
stretching his face. “Hi,” he said, meeting and holding her
gaze.

“Hi,” Ashley replied in a breathy tone.

“Well,” Tina’s loud voice intruded on the
moment. “It’s good to see you again, counselor.”

“Good to see you too, Tina.” Tom seemed to
have trouble tearing his gaze away from Ash to acknowledge Tina’s
greeting.

Tina chuckled and flounced away, clearly
amused at them, but Ashley was just glad to see her go.

“Are you ready to go?” Tom asked.

“Yeah, just let me grab one thing,” Ashley
turned around to find Tina standing behind her, holding up the box
of pastries she’d put together earlier.

She and Tom walked out together, Tina
snickering behind them, but Ashley didn’t care. She felt like
Cinderella being picked up by Prince Charming, in the pumpkin
coach, heading for the ball.

The locals at the table outside gave them
speculative looks as they passed but didn’t say anything. Ashley
wasn’t sure what they thought about another of their kind dating a
human, but so far, the response to Brody and Nell’s relationship
had been mostly positive.

Tom helped her hop into the vehicle then
jogged around to the driver’s side and got in. Within moments, they
had left the small Main Street behind and were out on the back
roads that led around the side of the cove.

Tom’s home was set a short distance from the
shore, on a high point in the terrain that would afford some
protection if the tide rose during a storm or something. It was a
beautiful structure, with numerous tall windows that probably let
in lots of light during the day. As it was, in the early evening
twilight, Ashley got to see the beautiful views Tom had of the cove
as the sun set in the west, turning the waters all sorts of vibrant
colors.

“This place is just lovely,” Ashley
complimented his home as they walked in, and she got a good look at
the floor-to-ceiling windows that showcased the natural beauty of
the cove.

“Thanks. I designed it around the views, and
my studio is all about the light.” He led the way around, showing
her each of the rooms on the main floor. The house had a mostly
open floor plan, so the tour didn’t take very long.

She was impressed by everything she saw, but
when he led the way into his studio, her breath caught.

On an easel in the center of the room was a
massive canvas that looked nearly finished. It was a view of the
cove at sunset with the vibrant colors of the dying sun reflected
off tempestuous waves. The piece spoke of the power of nature and
the majesty of their surroundings. Its subject matter was rugged,
and yet, the painting was refined in its technique. It was a
masterpiece.

“Oh, wow. Tom, this is brilliant.” She moved
into the room, drawn by the beauty of the image.

“John asked me to do something for the new
town hall he’s building. This will hang across from the front
entrance, so you see it when you walk in.”

“It’s magnificent.” She stood, just admiring
the big canvas for a while. “It looks alive. I can almost feel the
motion of the waves.” She looked at Tom. “You’re really
talented.”

He seemed almost uncomfortable with her
praise but gave her a gruff thank you before bringing her attention
to the skylights he’d installed. He also pointed out the array of
windows that he claimed brought in all kinds of light during
different parts of the day. Light, apparently, was very significant
to painters, which Ashley had known in a sort of abstract way but
was becoming much more educated about as he expounded on the
virtues and drawbacks of the light at different times of the
day.

She saw a few more of his canvases, propped
up around the room. Several were drying, he said, in preparation
for being moved to the gallery in town. And a few more were being
held aside for a showing at one of the exclusive little galleries
in Portland.

“We had the gallery owner come through town
on his way back from a fishing trip, and he asked several of us to
exhibit,” Tom told her, downplaying his part in the event.

“I heard about it from Lyn. And Nell sent
the guy off with a box full of pastries. He talked to her the whole
time he was in the bakery about the art in the town. He was really
enthusiastic, she said.” Ashley remembered the incident, which had
happened just after the bakery was finally up and running smoothly,
about a month after they’d moved to town.

They talked about the upcoming show and
their reluctance to draw too much attention to the town. John had
finally agreed to the showing as long as the gallery owner kept
silent about where the artists lived. John was willing to entertain
the occasional tourist in their new community, but they didn’t want
to attract people who might want to take up permanent residence—or
worse, reporters wanting to do a story about where the artists
lived.

Tom and several of the others were going to
drive down to Portland for the opening, and they would make sure
nobody asked too many questions about where they came from. The
gallery owner would rake in his commissions, as long as he kept mum
about where he’d found the art. At least until the town was better
established and they’d gained experience dealing with humans and
hiding in plain sight as a group.

“Are we ready for dinner?” Tom asked as his
short tour came to an end.

He’d led her onto the patio, off to one side
of the house. It was screened by the forest in back, the house on
the right, but most of the left side, and the entire front, faced
the water. Again, the view was breathtaking.

“How far are you from town? Less than a mile
or so, right?” Ashley asked, to make conversation as he busied
himself starting the enormous grill.

“Just under a mile. I wanted this view in
particular, so when we were figuring out who would live where, the
guys let me have it. Most of them wanted to be farther into the
forest, anyway, but a few of us like the water more than others.”
He looked up and pointed to the left, farther up the cove toward
the ocean. “Drew lives next door that way. You can usually see his
boat at the little dock he built, but I guess he’s out late
tonight. Sometimes, he stays out on the water fishing for days when
the weather is nice. On the other side, back toward town, is Sven’s
place. His home is practically right on the beach but well hidden.
He’s a polar bear, so he loves the water, but John wanted him
closer to the center of town because he’s our only doctor. The
beach house was the compromise.”

“You sound like you’ve all known each other
a long time,” Ashley observed.

“Yeah, we have. Most of us congregated
around John when we served in the military. John’s always been more
Alpha than any of us, and he was a great squad leader. The man has
a strategic mind, and he thinks so far outside the box, you can’t
even see the box from where he is. This whole artists’ colony
concept was his idea. You should’ve heard the grumbling when he
first proposed it, but he sold us on it, and here we are. It’s
working. And I really think it will work for years to come. We can
finally settle down, stop fighting our way across the globe, and
start living.”

“I had no idea you had served.” Ashley was
impressed. She had a great respect for any person who gave of
themselves to help protect others.

“We don’t talk about it much. We’re retired.
We’ve put all that behind us now. The squad was sick of combat by
the end. We’d put in too many years fighting human wars in faraway
lands. Plus, we had about reached our limit for fooling folks. See,
shifters don’t age the same way you humans do. We live a lot
longer.”

“How much longer?” she asked quickly. “What
about Nell and Brody? Is he going to stay young while she
ages?”

The stricken look on her face made him
answer quickly. “No, honey. Don’t worry about your sister. She is
Brody’s true mate. The magic that makes us able to shift will also
make it so that they grow old together—and Brody’s rate of aging.
So your sister has a very long, happy life ahead of her.” She still
seemed skeptical. “As for how long that could be, well, Brody’s
about my age now, so maybe another century or two. That’s about all
we’ll get. We’re not immortal, like the fey or the
bloodletters.”

“Fey?” she repeated, looking stunned.
“Bloodletters?”

“Fey are about what you’d expect. Beings
from another realm where magic is a way of life, not just an
exception to the rule, like it is here. And bloodletters are what
vampires like to be called. They usually don’t like the word
undead, so I’d avoid that if you ever run into one.”

“Vampires are real?” Ashley looked shocked.
Adorably so. Then she shook her head. “What am I saying? I’m
talking to a guy who can turn into a bear, for crying out
loud.”

Chapter Seven

Tom thought, all in all, Ashley was taking
everything rather well, but he definitely didn’t want to overwhelm
her with new information about the world she was just coming to
understand. There would be time for her to come to terms with it
all. At least he hoped she would stay with him long enough for her
to get comfortable with the truth about this brave new world she
had stumbled into.