line of birches and followed a singed branch’s fall to Terri’s razed lawn. One storm and the whole backyard would be a sodden mass.
A swallow swept a graceful, arcing ampersand around the three clotheslines he kept meaning to take down. Not a breeze blew, not a motion stirred the thick, still morning air. The promise of rain hung in the semivisible droplets painted here and there.
His stomach rumbled.
She wriggled. Her fingers skated to the tip of his nipple. Her elbows pressed into his ribs.
Susie blinked up at him, her big, dark eyes glazed and a tad unfocused as dreams and reality clashed for supremacy, the confusion mirrored in her shrinking pupils.
All at once she did a quick double take and bounded clean off him and the bed with an agility a grasshopper would’ve envied. For a millisecond she stood there, lids flickering, forehead crinkled, her gaze scanning the room. Joe stifled a mushrooming grin and waited for her to realize her state of undress.
When her nakedness registered, her eyes widened to an impossible size and she did the age-old one-hand-over-the-breast, the-other-to-her-sex cover-up. Her whole body blushed, pink fanning from hairline to instep.
These were the times he relished his wolf vision.
A scarlet smudge on her right thigh drew his attention. He frowned, glanced at his cock, and gritted his teeth when he spied two dried red streaks on the thickening crown.
She’d been a virgin?
Battling the deep-seated howl gathering in the back of his throat, he lurched off the bed when she spun around, and reached for her retreating form as she banged open the door and sprinted.
He roared, “Susie. Come back here.”
She ran like quicksilver; not even a hint of her citrus perfume lingered in the hallway. He dashed to the kitchen, hurdled an overturned kitchen chair, raced to the guest bedroom, and banged his fist on the closed door. “Open up. Susie? Did you hear me? Open up.”
He set his ear to the wood panel and heard a muffled curse. “I’m not going away. You’re going to have to face me at some point in time.”
“Give me a moment.” Her voice wavered on the last word.
Seconds elapsed. She held the door about three inches ajar, and he noticed she’d donned one of the extra-large T-shirts they’d purchased from Walmart. Her rosy cheeks and tousled, inky hair had his dick jerk-begging.
Folding her arms, she lifted her chin and said, one word hurrying over the other, “I acted like an idiot just now. For heaven’s sake, it was me who came to you last night. It’s not as if I didn’t know what was going to happen. And for the record, I don’t regret a minute of it.” She stabbed her toe at a knot in the wooden flooring. “I don’t know why I ran like that.”
She had a thing about apologizing. Joe suppressed a wide grin. Though he admitted a mistake the second he realized the error of his ways, those two words, I’m sorry , always garroted his vocal cords. He focused on the other phrase. “I’m glad you don’t regret our lovemaking. I certainly don’t.”
She snuck him one of those adorable beneath-the-lashes peeks. “I don’t suppose there’s any way you’d agree to pretend last night never happened?”
Damn it. He bit back the angry words fueling hot sparks on his tongue and opted for banality. “It’s just past seven thirty. Don’t you have to be at the college by nine?”
She stared at him, jaw sagging, sable brows pinched. “Seven thirty? Oh gosh. I’ll never make the bus.”
“I told you yesterday. I’ll drive you in. If we leave in the next twenty minutes, you’ll make it with five to spare. Get a move on.”
He did an about-face and stalked back to his bedroom. Hands balled into fists, erection bobbing like a lone Halloween apple, he slammed the door and leveled a furious glare at the innocent wood.
For the second day in a row, he turned the hot water to the max and stood under a jetting spray, hoping the pulsing stream would relax his taut
A swallow swept a graceful, arcing ampersand around the three clotheslines he kept meaning to take down. Not a breeze blew, not a motion stirred the thick, still morning air. The promise of rain hung in the semivisible droplets painted here and there.
His stomach rumbled.
She wriggled. Her fingers skated to the tip of his nipple. Her elbows pressed into his ribs.
Susie blinked up at him, her big, dark eyes glazed and a tad unfocused as dreams and reality clashed for supremacy, the confusion mirrored in her shrinking pupils.
All at once she did a quick double take and bounded clean off him and the bed with an agility a grasshopper would’ve envied. For a millisecond she stood there, lids flickering, forehead crinkled, her gaze scanning the room. Joe stifled a mushrooming grin and waited for her to realize her state of undress.
When her nakedness registered, her eyes widened to an impossible size and she did the age-old one-hand-over-the-breast, the-other-to-her-sex cover-up. Her whole body blushed, pink fanning from hairline to instep.
These were the times he relished his wolf vision.
A scarlet smudge on her right thigh drew his attention. He frowned, glanced at his cock, and gritted his teeth when he spied two dried red streaks on the thickening crown.
She’d been a virgin?
Battling the deep-seated howl gathering in the back of his throat, he lurched off the bed when she spun around, and reached for her retreating form as she banged open the door and sprinted.
He roared, “Susie. Come back here.”
She ran like quicksilver; not even a hint of her citrus perfume lingered in the hallway. He dashed to the kitchen, hurdled an overturned kitchen chair, raced to the guest bedroom, and banged his fist on the closed door. “Open up. Susie? Did you hear me? Open up.”
He set his ear to the wood panel and heard a muffled curse. “I’m not going away. You’re going to have to face me at some point in time.”
“Give me a moment.” Her voice wavered on the last word.
Seconds elapsed. She held the door about three inches ajar, and he noticed she’d donned one of the extra-large T-shirts they’d purchased from Walmart. Her rosy cheeks and tousled, inky hair had his dick jerk-begging.
Folding her arms, she lifted her chin and said, one word hurrying over the other, “I acted like an idiot just now. For heaven’s sake, it was me who came to you last night. It’s not as if I didn’t know what was going to happen. And for the record, I don’t regret a minute of it.” She stabbed her toe at a knot in the wooden flooring. “I don’t know why I ran like that.”
She had a thing about apologizing. Joe suppressed a wide grin. Though he admitted a mistake the second he realized the error of his ways, those two words, I’m sorry , always garroted his vocal cords. He focused on the other phrase. “I’m glad you don’t regret our lovemaking. I certainly don’t.”
She snuck him one of those adorable beneath-the-lashes peeks. “I don’t suppose there’s any way you’d agree to pretend last night never happened?”
Damn it. He bit back the angry words fueling hot sparks on his tongue and opted for banality. “It’s just past seven thirty. Don’t you have to be at the college by nine?”
She stared at him, jaw sagging, sable brows pinched. “Seven thirty? Oh gosh. I’ll never make the bus.”
“I told you yesterday. I’ll drive you in. If we leave in the next twenty minutes, you’ll make it with five to spare. Get a move on.”
He did an about-face and stalked back to his bedroom. Hands balled into fists, erection bobbing like a lone Halloween apple, he slammed the door and leveled a furious glare at the innocent wood.
For the second day in a row, he turned the hot water to the max and stood under a jetting spray, hoping the pulsing stream would relax his taut
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