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Chapter Twenty-Seven
Edie
Ittookmealong time to realize that the knocking I heard wasn’t just the blood thumping in my head.I knew all about the brain chemicals that flooded the body along with an orgasm, and how they induced calm and lethargy.I figured that the rhythmic pounding was oxytocin and vasopressin partying in my brain.
“Do you hear that?”Jasper mumbled.He was still half-sprawled on top of me in a way that would certainly make one of my arms fall asleep, but left the other one free to skim over his skin.There were so many shades to him.Sepia on his forearms, gold on his torso, sand on his legs, lily white on his ass.I skimmed my hand over it, enjoying the contrast in colors, and he stirred.His heavy hand tracked its way up to my breast, then froze when the knock came again.
“Who could that be?”he asked.We were both rolling to our feet, trying to find out clothes in the mess we’d made of the blankets and pillows.
“I don’t know.”
He checked his watch which, tellingly, he wore right next to his heartstone.“I have seventeen minutes,” he said, the outrage clear in his voice.“I am not late.”
“Nobody even knows you’re here,” I said, trying to untangle my shirt from my jacket.I’d put on my pants and my bra, but I had zero hope that being dressed would disguise what we’d been up to.My hair was all smooshed, and my muscles were still loose and liquid with the power of good sex.
Great sex, some part of me whispered.Mind-blowing, body-shaking sex, the sort of sex that had the power to knock a person’s life out of alignment.What would I give up to have that kind of sex on the regular?
It didn’t matter.Casual, I’d said, and he’d taken it.He’d said he wanted me, and there was no way I could doubt it.The intensity in his eyes, the worship in his hands, those things couldn’t be faked.And maybe it could be enough for me, to be wanted.It wasn’t as good as being loved, but it was still better than anything I’d ever had before.
“If it’s Tonya and she’s here to remind me about the meeting, you will have to help me hide the body because Iwillkill her.”
“You’ve got your buttons all wonky,” I said, and giggled when he swore.“I’ll get it.Chances are it’s someone looking for me, and I can get rid of them.Just hang out in here for a minute, okay?”
Jasper was checking his watch again as I closed the door behind me.There was a third knock, more desperate this time as a gust of wind rocked the house.My pace picked up as I realized that something could have happened to Melinda.
I pulled the door open, expecting Dominic or Ethan.Even Micah.What I did not expect to see was my mother.
“There you are, thank god,” she said, pulling me in for a hug as the wind swirled around us.“How do you stand this horrible wind?They could barely land the plane at the airport!I saw a truck nearly go right off the road when I was driving up, and I don’t blame him.My rental is a sedan, and I could barely keep it in the lane!Just atrocious,” she said, hauling her bag inside and closing the door.
“Mom,” I finally managed.“What are you doing here?”
“I sent you an email,” she said.I vaguely remembered seeing that she’d sent me something, but I figured it was yet another forward with cute animal videos or ancient memes.“Jenny at the office asked to switch shifts, and I found myself with an unexpected week off, so I thought I’d come out here and see this place you can’t stop talking about.”
“Oh,” I said.“I wish you’d called me, Mom.This cabin is pretty small.”
“We can share the bed, just like we used to when we went on vacation,” she said.
“Not since I was a kid,” I replied, but she wasn’t listening.
She’d taken notice of my workspace, which was full of Melinda’s medical information.“What’s all this?”
How could I possibly explain?“Mom, there’s something I haven’t told you.”
When she turned toward me, she seemed braced for the worst.“What is it, honey?”
“I…I took on a private client.The woman who owns this resort, actually.She’s having medical issues, but the nearest hospital is miles away.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I had to sign an NDA,” I said.I know it’s unusual, but I saw a chance to make some money and I took it.”
Her shoulders visibly relaxed.“Oh, honey.I knew you were hiding something from me, but I was imagining all kinds of nightmare scenarios.You’re just trying to make some extra money?”She laughed.“I thought you were…I don’t even know what I thought.”
I knew what she thought.She thought I was going mad, the same way my father had.
What would she say if I said that not only were shifters real, but I’d just had sex with one?
She was peering at the charts.As a nurse, she had the expertise to understand what she was looking at, which meant I needed to distract her before she saw something that might tip her off.“Do you want some tea?The resort stocks a blend that I think you might find interesting.It’s made with local leaves and flowers.”
