Hunter Moon (Lupine Moon Series) (5 page)

“Alright, listen bucko—” I started.

“You were right— there was a wolf, or at least a very large member of the canine family.” I stopped what I was saying and tilted my head to the side, trying not to smirk or say I told you so. It was a close thing.

“It circled the area where I assume your cows were several times, and then took off, only to do a loop around your trailer.” Unnerved, I sat down with a thump beside him and scratched Reggie’s ears.

“Geez, I figured I scared the thing off when I shot it. I never thought it would come here. God! What if it had gone after the horses?” I breathed shallowly and tried to snuff down the rising panic. I couldn’t imagine what I would do if I didn’t have Roanie. He was part of my family and a living reminder of my grandpa. Plus, there was only so much I could do off of a quad.

I didn’t notice right away that Cash had put his arm around my shoulders, but when I did,
Whoo boy…a girl could get used to those arms!
Coughing to cover the little moan of delight I had let out, I stood up and out from under his embrace.

“Well, did you get everything you needed, Warden?” I said. He needed to go before I did something stupid like hop into his lap. His eyes held amusement and a small flicker of what, disappointment?

“Not everything.” He stood up and stretched. His wide chest should’ve creaked with the tension of all those muscles. “But I guess it’ll have to do.”

He flashed me a dazzling grin that verged on scandalous paired with his insinuation. I’m glad it was just a flash; otherwise I’d be sitting on the ground with my head between my knees and needing a paper bag. As it was, my breath caught in my lungs.

 I cleared my throat. “Uh, good. Let me know if you find out anything else.” He nodded and walked back to his truck. I forced my gaze away from him, turned and walked into my trailer.
It had to be done
.

My trailer may have been older than I was, and though exterior showed it, I prided myself that I had made the inside look a lot better despite its age. After my grandpa died, I couldn’t stand looking at all of his furniture, so I made a big IKEA run and bought new everything. The living room looked straight out of the pages of the catalogue.

The only pieces that broke up the Swedish named things were the hide-on chairs and pillows that my grandpa had made. The room had an interesting modern stainless steel and cowboy motif that I loved. It was kind of like me; hard, durable and country.
And it might not be mine much longer.

When I walked in to the kitchen to start dinner, I noticed my answering machine was flashing. I pushed play as I grabbed a package of frozen tortellini’s from the freezer. I dumped them into the pot of boiling water I had on the stove and listened to my friend’s voice.

“Hey Shells, its Jesse. I was just wondering how your little secret rendezvous with Mr. Big-Hunk went. If you don’t call me in the next twenty minutes I’m coming over myself!”

I smiled. Knowing Jesse, she had probably left the message on her way over. I went into my bedroom and threw on a pair of boxers, a white men’s undershirt and my bunny slippers and went back into the kitchen just in time to hear a knock at the door.

I was expecting Jesse, so I had a giant grin on my face when I opened the door. There was Mr. Big-Hunk himself in the flesh, and still jaw-droppingly gorgeous.
Was it just me or did he just get hotter?
Because of cold woosh of outside air when I opened the door,
and the hot guy,
I was cutting glass. I felt the tell-tale burn in my cheeks as I crossed my arms, hopping to hide the evidence poking through the thin barrier of my worn, white tee.

Cash’s stunned face would’ve been funny if I had been in a position to appreciate it. As it was, a horrible, hot blush ran from my face down to my chest. His eyes took in my blush, boxers, bunny slippers and lack of a bra in one sweep. His eyebrows nearly disappeared into his hair as a wide Cheshire-cat grin crept over his face. Those baby blues glowed with mischief.

“Wow, what a welcome. I just came back to give you my card, in case another big bad wolf came around, but—” he said leaving the invitation open.

 He rocked back on his heels and rubbed his chin. The grin split wider as he observed me caught speechless in fury and mortification. Cash handed me his card, which I quickly ripped out of his hand and slammed the door in his face. His chuckle faded along with his footsteps on the gravel.

“That man is impossible!”

“Oh, you’re just saying that because he’s the first one that’s not falling over his feet to go out with you.” Jesse sat at my kitchen table and watched me slam cabinet doors and bang around angrily while making dinner. “That and the fact he saw you in your bunny slippers.” She grinned hugely. My relationship with my bunnies was a closely guarded secret.

“Ha! That’s where you’re wrong. He gave me his number.” I held up his card. “See?”

“Well, he is the game Warden. It’s sort of in his job description to find out about any unusual doings in the wildlife around here. Did he actually ask you out?” She raised an eyebrow.

“No,” I mumbled. “Not really. He just said if I saw another wolf to call him. He still didn’t seem like he believed me.” I angrily scooped out some pesto into the pasta and mixed in some peas and grated parmesan.
I need the carbs...
Jesse looked up expectantly at the food, so I made her a plate along with my own.

“Shouldn’t you be making dinner for your husband?”

“You know,” she said ignoring me as she pointed a fork full of tortellini, “he
isn’t
a cowboy. I don’t believe your moratorium includes law enforcement. Maybe you
should
call him!” I frowned at her while she shoveled in a huge bite.

“Grandpa always said any woman who called up a man was just making a booty call, and after watching my mother do it all these years, I’m inclined to agree. Besides, the last thing I need in my life right now is some irritating man.” I could see Jesse had some vitally important comeback, but couldn’t respond due to the inordinate amount of pasta in her mouth. Smiling at my luck, I forged on.

“Personally, I think he’s gay. Here I was in all of my unfettered glory,” I motioned to my nonexistent boobs. “Smuggling raisins, and he didn’t so much as take a second glance. In my whole life I’ve never known a man to lose that sort of an opportunity.” Jesse choked on the pasta trying not to laugh.

“Who could resist all of this?” I turned and modeled for her. I always had been built like a boy. My small breasts had haunted me until I realized it meant I could ride a horse without hitting myself in the face. My hips had rounded out a little in high school, but as it was, I was skinny and flat. Whoopee.

She finished chewing and let out a huge guffaw. “Hey, that’s not nice.” I laughed. “You’re going to give me a complex!”

That night I lay in bed, thinking about the sight of Cash shirtless throwing around bales of hay. Jesse had particularly liked that part of today’s events, and I couldn’t really disagree. All of that wavy, brown hair made me want to run my fingers through it and his lips had a little quirk like he was laughing at everyone on the inside. Really he was probably laughing at me, but this was my fantasy.

Just when I was moaning while he laid me down on top of the hay, I heard a noise outside my window. I jumped, pulled up the shades and looked out. About thirty yards away, just sitting there in the moonlight was the wolf. I couldn’t be certain it was the same one, but I had an uneasy feeling it was, and it knew who I was too.

“Holy crap,” I hissed as I reached for my Glock, but when I looked back out the window, he was gone. I ran out of my room and outside barefoot, walking around my trailer gun drawn searching for any sign of the beast. Disappointed, I walked back into the kitchen and stared at my phone.

You have to call him,
I told myself.
Calling him at 1:22am in the morning about the wolf is
not
the same as a booty call.
I waivered back and forth for another five minutes, then finally decided to call.

“Hi, you’ve reached the home of Cash Newcomb. I’m not here, so leave a message...beep.”
Shit, shit, shit.
I hated leaving messages. Anything I said, while sounding fine in my head, came out like I was on drugs.

“Um, Hi Cash. You’re probably asleep. This is Shelby Flint; you came to my house today about the wolf?”
Yeah, like he’d forget what happened four hours ago, idiot!
“I’m just calling to let you know I just saw the wolf outside of my place. I searched around for a while but caught no sign of him. Please tell me you’re going to do something. I can’t afford to lose another calf this year. Thanks.”

Hoping to cut my losses, I hung up and thought about what I’d just said.
Oh
Hi Cash, this is Shelby, you know, the girl who wanted to jump you today?
I mocked myself as I walked back to bed. I looked out the window once more before going back to sleep, but didn’t see the pair of blue eyes staring back at me through the trees.

The phone woke me up at five. I had hoped to sleep in a couple hours. I didn’t have anything to do that day besides finding my herd and checking a stretch of fencing, so a couple hours wouldn’t make a difference one way or another. I was beginning to think someone up high didn’t like me.

“
What?”
I grouched into the receiver. Everyone who knew me knew well didn’t call me before ten if they valued their skin.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Flint. Did I wake you?” A smooth, deep voice purred on the other end of the line. Wide awake now, I sat straight up and got a better grip on the phone.

“Oh no, I’m up,” I lied, not wanting to give him the satisfaction. “I take it you got my message?”

“I wasn’t asleep.”
Oookay…whatever
that
means.

“So what do you think?” I asked, skipping over the vaguely suggestive comment. “About the wolf, I mean.”

“Well, I’ve asked around, and no one seems to have seen this elusive wolf of yours. I can come back out, but I probably won’t be able to make it until the afternoon.”

I sighed and covered the receiver with my palm. “Does he always have to be so damn patronizing?” I muttered at Reggie.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite get that.”

I put my mouth back to the phone. “It was nothing. Umm, that’s okay. As long as I don’t get arrested if I shoot the thing, you don’t have to bother yourself by coming back out here.”

“I’d be surprised if you could hit it. Wolves are very fast. I guess I’ll just have to see you around town then. Goodbye Shelby Flint.” Ignoring the little zing I felt when he said my name, I rolled my eyes.

“Yeah, not if I can help it. Bye
warden.”
Happy to get in the last word, I hung up. Petty as it was, the satisfaction helped me get up and I was halfway through a pot of coffee before I realized I was whistling tunelessly to myself like grandpa used to do when he was happy.