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“Wow. So, what brings you up to Alaska?”
“I started a new pen name. I want to write contemporary romance and I want to set a whole series up here in Alaska with bush pilots as the main characters. A family of brothers.”
“No paranormal?” he teased.
“Hell, no. Too close to home. I think I wanted to come up here because I’d heard about this place and Otter Cove. I wondered what it would be like to live among other shifters and be able to be open about who you are.”
Hutch nodded. “I completely understand. There’s a freedom and peace that comes with being transparent about who you are. If someone sees you in your shifted form, it’s not a big deal. You want to go for a run as a wolf, nobody cares. I came originally planning just to spend a week or two. Then I bought the bakery, so now I’m tied here.”
“That’s the nice thing about writing,” she said. “As long as I have internet, I can do it from practically anywhere.”
They finished their food and drink and left The Workshop. Hutch escorted her to the Jeep, and then joined her inside. The trip back to The Refuge was far too short in Hutch’s opinion. Back at Trudy’s, Hutch made it around to open her door before she could get out.
He walked her to the door. “Why is it I feel like a high schooler bringing the prettiest girl at school home from the dance? I almost expect your father to come out with a shotgun and drive me off.”
“Never happen. My parents died when I was young, and the man who raised me had some strange ideas about my social life as a kid. But I can’t complain. I grew up in a beautiful mansion and was given a first-class education.”
“Good, then there won’t be anybody to object to this.”
He brought his head down, pressing his lips to hers and tracing the seam of her mouth with his tongue. The kiss was long, slow, and luxurious. His cock was straining against his fly. It wasn’t that the warning bells had quieted; they hadn’t, he just didn’t care. And his dick could damn well wait. Naomi was special, and he was going to treat her that way.
Their tongues tangled and danced as heat and arousal surged through his system. He dragged his mouth from hers and nuzzled her neck, whispering kisses along her jawline before nibbling her throat. Naomi sighed, and he felt the tension flow out of her body as it melted into his.
CHAPTER6
NORA
Nora felt oddly detached as his hands came up to frame her face and he lowered his head to kiss her. She’d been kissed before, although she didn’t much care for it. It often felt awkward and pointless but not this one. From the moment his lips met hers, her entire body lit up with arousal—not like fireworks, but more like an ember catching in a pyre of logs and gaining in intensity and passion. It wasn’t some out-of-control wildfire but the kind of fire that warms your soul.
She never should have agreed to have dinner with him. Never. She should have followed her plan, remained aloof and in her room, carefully stalked him and then when no one could attribute his death to her, performed her job and killed him. But from the moment she entered his bakery, all her plans had gone awry.
As he kissed her, her hands drifted up to his shoulders to steady herself. For some reason, the man made her go weak in the knees. Literally. She told herself the only reason she wasn’t trying to maneuver her body so that she could get to her stiletto and do her job was that they were standing on the porch of The Refuge—too exposed, too many witnesses, no way to get away cleanly. But as it was, she knew none of that was the reason she didn’t end his life.
The simple truth was she didn’t want to. He made her inner clouded leopard purr in a way it never had before. Instead of wanting to be free and run in the wilderness, she wanted to find a warm, cozy fire and just curl up and rest. Never before had she allowed herself the luxury of evenwantingto rest, much less to actually do so.
Hutch pulled them back into the shadows, deepening the kiss and making her yearn for more. Not more in just terms of the kiss, but more in terms of so much else. It was as if the kiss opened up a portal that allowed her a glimpse into what could be—into a life she’d never dreamed she could have.
They were hidden now. She could easily slip the stiletto from its holder up her sleeve and dispatch him. Follow orders, or the Master would be displeased.
Displeased? Internally, she snorted. Displeased wouldn’t begin to cover it. Nora knew she needed to end this here; now. The target was going to die. If she didn’t do it, the Master would send someone else to kill them both. Was she willing to die in order to protect Hutch? More importantly, was she willing to kill the Master to do so? Nora was certain the only way to put an end to the threat on Hutch’s life was to kill the man who had ordered his death—the man who had given her everything.
It would be easy now to complete her mission. It would be an easy, clean death for him. He would know little to no pain and might not even realize he was dying, or more importantly, that she had killed him. That would be a good way to go, wouldn’t it?
Hutch lifted his head, sliding his hands down from her face, along the tops of her shoulders, sweeping down to her upper arms, where his fingers wrapped around them.
“Where did you go?” he asked softly, his eyes searching her face. “You were right there with me, and then I felt you pull away.”
“I don’t…” Instead of finishing, she shook her head, turned, and walked away.
There was no way for him to know the emotional toll that simple kiss had taken on her. No way for him to know the churning mass of heretofore unknown emotions now roiling in her gut. She was not supposed to feel this way. She was the Ghost—she was given a target, she executed them, and then she faded away until her skills were needed again.
Nora had needed to get away from Hutch. She couldn’t risk being alone with him, although she wasn’t sure what she was risking. She wanted to stroll along Main Street, looking at the quaint storefronts and imagining the lives of those who owned them and worked there—but that couldn’t be, could it? What she wanted was to rush back to Hutch’s arms and tell him everything, but that would most likely end up with him rejecting her, and she wasn’t sure she could survive that.
Remembering what the sheriff had said about a park with a gazebo with a place to store your clothes, Nora made her way to the park that ran alongside the river. The town was small and easy to navigate. What wasn’t inside the town proper had signs pointing to things someone might want to explore. One of those signs pointed her to ‘Riverside Park.’ Turning on one of the large space heaters that had a timer that would turn off automatically, she undressed, folded her clothing and put it in one of the storage containers.
Calling forth her clouded leopard, she embraced the swirling maelstrom of color, thunder, and lightning. As the chaotic mists settled, her clouded leopard was revealed. She stretched her front paws out in front of her in a kind of ‘downward dog’ position before pulling up to stretch her back and hind legs. Giving herself a good shake, Nora bounded out of the pavilion onto the frosted landscape. It wasn’t that there was heavy snow on the ground; it looked as if someone had sprinkled a heavy dose of powdered sugar everywhere.
Nora galloped along the riverside, enjoying the freedom she felt when she was in her shifted form. There were times she thought of shifting, disappearing into the wilderness, and never coming out again. What prevented her from doing that was the certain knowledge that the Master would hunt her down and kill her.
