AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Tavish shook his head. He rubbed his hand at the back of his neck, his cold fingers tingling against the warmer skin. “I can’t accept any money for that. I was free at the moment. Just volunteering at the clinic today because my other job got cancelled.”
“Oh. We caught you at a good time, then.”
“At a remarkably good time,” June agreed, smiling broadly. “If you won’t accept money, then stay for dinner. It’s just about time. I have steaks I can throw on the grill out there now that we can actually go outside.” There was the attempt at matchmaking. “And January seriously needs to pee.”
Tavish dropped his eyes down to the floor. He worked at a clinic, and he’d seen and heard the worst of the worst when it came to bodily functions, but he couldn’t look at January. She’d be mortified and he didn’t want to make it worse.
“Oh my god! June!” She sounded embarrassed. Annoyed too.
“She still doesn’t have her boots. I’ll get it!” June rushed out past him, got the lone boot he’d left outside like an oaf, and rushed back into the cabin. She grabbed some disinfectant wipes and gave the inside a good scouring before passing it over to her sister.
January threw them on and stomped out of the cabin. She walked past the windows and that was all Tavish could see until she disappeared around the corner.
“I really should be getting back.”
“Let me cook you a steak. It’s the least we can do. You drove all this way and you have to drive back. You saved us from the killer mouse of mousey destruction. We should definitely feed you as payment.”
“He did have a mousy overlord look about him.”
June paled again. “He was big?”
“Probably one of the biggest I’ve seen. Looking for a warm place to spend the winter, no doubt.”
She shuddered. “I have no idea how it got in the boot or why. It should have picked a more secure hiding place, although we’re only here for a few more days and then I’ll have to go back to Seattle and January will be going back to Phoenix. She wanted to come at Christmas, but everyone was too busy. Her namesake month made more sense. We all hate that, by the way. Jokes about our names. Our brother’s name is August. I don’t know why my parents loved the calendar so much. It’s pretty unoriginal.”
“I’ve heard worse.”
“Oh, for sure, me too. It was just silly when they told me I should name the boys after months as well. Keep the tradition going.”
“But you didn’t?”
“I most certainly did not. My husband thought it would be hilarious, but after more than a few dirty looks he got the memo that I wasn’t into it.”
“January lives in Phoenix, you said?” He was immediately disappointed beyond anything that was rational. He felt like his gut had been filled with stones.
“Yes.” June searched his face, and he knew that she knew his game. Did he have any game? This wasn’t a game, but was he playing at something? Digging for information? “She’s going to come back to Seattle with me after we’re done here and see the boys for a few days, but then she has to drive back. She has her own place. She does work from home, though, and she’s divorced andsingle, so she doesn’t have any real tethers there anymore. She might be convinced to move here for the right reasons.”
He cleared his throat awkwardly.
June went right on smiling like he wasn’t dying on the spot. When he remained silent, she decided to stop beating around the bush and just make her point. “January doesn’t think she’s ready to date again, but it would be nice if she met someone who proved her wrong. She’s the nicest person I know. She has a wonderful heart. None of us really understand why she got divorced, but there must have been something. She wasn’t happy and that’s what counts, I guess. I’d like her to be happy. I’d love it if she was closer, but that’s not why I’m going to tell you to ask her out. I’m going to tell you to take her on a date because she deserves it. She deserves to be happy. And because as obnoxious as you might think I am, I know good chemistry when I see it, and you two had an immediate connection that was sending sparks all over that little exam room. I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve never seen my sister look like that, not in all the years she was dating or married, and certainly not after.”
“It was probably the leg injury.”
“It freaking wasn’t,” June insisted, in no mood to take no for an answer. “It wasn’t shock or pain or anything bad. My sister is insanely good at hiding what she’s thinking. She hasn’t even answered a single one of my questions honestly about how she’s doing, or about what went down with her marriage being over since she got here. She won’t because it’s not on her terms and she’s not ready to talk about it. She’s always been like that. She’s a great older sister. She’s always watching out for everyone else and putting them first and making them happy. That’s why she doubly deserves to be happy. If you’re even the slightest bit into it, and I think you are given that you’re here doing ridiculous things like saving us from a chonky mouse, then you should stay for dinner and ask my sister out afterwards. I know she’s only here for a few days, but who knows? Maybe something could happen.”
His jaw locked up and he couldn’t make himself agree. He couldn’t make himself say no either. He was stuck between one determined sister and the other one, who he couldn’t get out of his head. June was right. January was the reason he was here. Anything she asked, he’d do it, without hesitation. What did that mean for him? He wasn’t quite sure. He didn’t know what was going on. He’d never been hit this hard by anything. It was like getting one of those stomach bugs Sam’s kid had and going down for the count. One minute you’re fine and then next your world is upended.
“I think you know you want to.”
Considering he still couldn’t give rise to his doubts and head out the door, she must be right.
The door opened and closed softly behind him. He whirled and there was January. The cold had flushed her cheeks and gusts of wind had mussed her long hair all over the place. She was beautiful before, but the outdoors had done something to her. And maybe it had done something to his memory too, because he remembered her being beautiful, but somehow she’d taken things up to another level in her jeans, rubber boots, huge parka, and wind-whipped, fresh-faced look.
His heart started to beat faster than it should. He couldn’t feel the bear moving under his skin. It didn’t make itself known to him like that, although some shifters said they could feel it like a thrashing going on in their own bodies, another presence rattling around, trapped in there. He’d never felt his bear as something that he had to fight with to be let out. He was always pretty much at peace with that part of himself. He was a big man and he was a good guard, but he could also be gentle too. The clinic was just one of the many ways. Right now, though? Something surged inside him that was so primal it didn’t at all connect with his human side.
It didn’t feel connected to his bear either.
So what the hell was it? If he’d felt something like that the first time they’d met in the clinic, this was a double dose.
