They kissed and touched and stroked and nibbled and if someone had told her a month ago that she’d forever after think of sheds as erotic way stations, she’d have laughed ’til she choked.
After a lovely long time, they came to a mutual unspoken decision to back off a bit…well, no. She took a breath and said, “Let’s back off a bit,” and he groaned but complied.
“So fifteen and a half more dates,” he said, and she giggled.
“I could cut that down a bit. Make it an even dozen.”
“Or three,” he suggested hopefully. He had one arm around her and was tracing some of her scars with bandaged fingers. “There’s another theory about Kama-Rupa, if you want to hear it.”
“It can’t be any weirder than all that’s happened this week. That’s not a challenge, by the way.”
“Lone wolves need a mate and cubs, so they’re drawn to another loner who needs to make their own family. And they’re stronger together, so they make strong cubs.”
“I don’t want my own family. I don’t like being around people. I don’t even like kids that much. What?” she asked when he snorted.
“Mama Mac was right. You really don’t want anyone finding out what a softy you can be.”
“Mama Mac spends entirely too much time fretting about our love lives.”
“But all kidding aside—”
“Oh, this should be interesting.”
“—I’m so glad to be here with you.”
“Me, too.”
There was a long pause, which she broke. “Are you waiting for me to crack a joke? I won’t. Not about this. I didn’t think we could have this. I worried you might not want me once you saw my…” She wiggled her arms, and he snatched one back so he could go back to feathering kisses on the underside of her arm, just below the elbow. “Not that I thought you’d be shallow.”
“Couldn’t blame you if you did. The car. The suits.”
“That doesn’t mean you’re shallow. You just like what you like. And if you can afford it, who cares? I just assumed you’d feel sorry for me and you’d break out the kid gloves and there’d be a lot of ‘oh, the poor, poor Stable, best leave her alone, poor traumatized thing.’”
“Poor Stable?” he asked, astonished. “You?”
“I should have talked to you,” she replied. “I’m sorry I assumed the worst.”
“You’ve nothing to apologize for. My God, thanks to your choice in suburban neighborhoods, you could have been killed!”
“Multiple times,” she added.
“Christ, don’t remind me. You don’t owe anyone an apology, and that includes the fucknut who tried to shoot you.”
“Have you ever killed anyone?” She’d asked the question so abruptly, she was as surprised as Oz to hear it come out of her mouth. “I haven’t, if you want full disclosure. Harriss and what’s-his-face will live. But I was just wondering. You didn’t seem put off by the violence. You didn’t even look at the guy I shot. Those aren’t criticisms,” she added. “It was just…interesting. You’ve obviously been in fights. So that got me wondering if you’d killed someone.”
“Not for months and months. You know that saying, ‘it’s like riding a bike’? It’s not like riding a bike.”
“You’re gonna tell me all about it, right?”
“Yep. You’re not worried about the gory details?”
“Nope. We’ll save that for date two-and-a-half.” To an outsider, Lila figured they sounded incredibly flip and far too casual about life-and-death matters. But it wasn’t about being flip, it was about information overload. A lot had happened; they all needed to process. And she had questions. But now, just now, she needed a break from recent, potentially lethal events.
“Two-and-a-half? So it’s official. The movie palace counts, and Meritage counts as half a date.”
“Yep.”
“Pretty arbitrary.”
“Yep.”
He turned and snuggled up behind her. “Tell me again about learning CPR and suturing and how to work a defibrillator for spite.”
“A closed chest massage is surprisingly hard work. Tell me about werewolf birth control.”
“Um. Okay.”
“I’ve got the implant,” she explained. “So I can’t get pregnant, but it doesn’t protect against STDs.”
“Then I’ve got good news. Shifters can’t catch Stable STDs and vice versa.”
“That sounds made-up.”
“What?” He propped himself up on an elbow as she rolled on her back to look up at him. “Why?”
“Because it’s just the kind of thing a guy who hates condoms would say to get out of wearing a condom.”
“It’s true!” he protested. “Ask anybody. Well, maybe not anybody. Ask Annette or David. Keep Mama and Nadia out of it if at all possible.”
“I’m choosing to believe you because you know I’m a trigger-happy firebug, so I don’t think you’d risk lying about anything major.”
“Anything major?”
“Well, obviously you’ll still lie about dumb stuff like who used the last of the toilet paper or whose turn is it to go down on the other person.”
“This is the sexiest conversation I’ve ever had about sex without actually having sex.”
“That’s because you’re a lucky, lucky man.”
“I know you’re being sarcastic, but it’s true.”
And he dropped a kiss to her smiling lips.
13. These exist! Amazon has everything.
Chapter 57
Lila knocked on the farmhouse door, which was yanked open halfway through the second knock. “Hi!” she said. “Remember me?”
The farmer in whose field Sue and Sam Smalls crashed nodded and looked over Lila’s shoulder, noting Berne, Garsea, and Oz. “The number one Realtor in Fargo. Did you get business cards? Have you come to show the field again?”
“No and yes. And I’ve come to confess.”
“Yeah?”
“I’m not a real estate agent.”
“No shit.”
“You wound me, madam!” Lila shrugged. “Fine, you got me. I could be a Realtor, if I wasn’t deathly allergic to closings and real estate licensing exams. Also, are you harboring a terribly injured man who bailed from the plane that crashed on your property and you’re opening the door wider and you’re beckoning us inside so the answer is yes. Excellent.”
Wendy smiled, and it transformed her wary expression into something bright and welcoming. She was short and chubby, with long black hair pulled back in a braid, and small, wide-set hazel eyes. Her hands were beautiful, not at
