Seduced by a Shifter (13 page)

“All right.”

Ben speared Rome with a steely glare. “No comment?”

Rome took a step back, hands up, palms out, in front of his chest. “I know you’d die to protect her. That’s good enough for me.”

After giving Rome a clipped nod, Ben bent his head to whisper in Willow’s ear. Only he couldn’t resist and nipped at her lobe, making her gasp. He sucked briefly on the delicate tissue, knowing his breath would make the damp flesh tingle. “Dream of me. I know I’ll dream of you just as you were. All splayed out like a water nymph being worshiped by her lover.”

The little sound she made got him right in the gut. He took her lips one final time in a hard kiss. He needed a week with her, alone. No. Make that a month. Then maybe the sexual tension driving him to distraction would ease. “I’ll see you Wednesday.”

Willow licked, then rubbed her lips together, and, silently cursing their audience, he held back from the temptation to kiss her again. “Wednesday it is.”

But as she moved in front of him he did give in to one temptation, and swatted her playfully on her pert ass.

“Oh. What was that for?” Willow asked, one hand on her butt.

Ben grinned. “It’s too cute to ignore.”

She rolled her eyes and headed out with Rome. Joe trailed behind, his lips rolled in to keep his laughter from escaping, but Scott shot Ben a kissy face as he walked out the door. Ben retaliated by flipping him the bird.

Once they were gone he moved into the boys’ locker room to change clothes and to make a few phone calls.

If it weren’t for
Ruth Gentry, Willow swore she would have died of sheer boredom on Tuesday. Sure, Scott had provided her with a laptop so she could surf the Internet, but within a few hours she didn’t even know what else to search for. The cabin had a TV but no reception. There were some movies along with several books on the bookshelf in the living room, but nothing held her interest.

Then Ruth had called, and whether the older woman was feeling sorry for Willow or truly needed the assistance, Willow jumped at the chance for companionship. A distraction. Anything to get her head out of the gutter and ignore the way her body was vibrating like a tuning fork. She didn’t know what was wrong with her. Okay, that was a partial lie. She knew she was highly aroused, to the point her belly felt like it was stuffed with a giant coil wound waaaay too tight.

By three in the afternoon Willow was stuffed full of salad, lasagna, and garlic bread. After popping in one of several movies Ruth brought, they tackled the wedding favors of candy kisses and Jordan almonds, sorting them into green netting that then needed to be tied with brown ribbon, for a hundred and sixty-eight guests. Also on Ruth’s to-do list were name tags that needed folding, placing guests names into cute miniature frames depicting their assigned table, sorting table decorations and elaborate place settings into separate containers, and on and on the list went until Willow’s head spun.

She made the decision right then she’d elope.

Scott and Joe made themselves useful as well, only until Ruth noticed they were eating more of the party favors then sorting them. With a stern lecture, Ruth threw them out of the cabin. Willow kept her head down so her grin at her bodyguards’ rueful expressions wouldn’t be seen.

At six Tess and Kaylie, along with sweet little Lukas, showed up and the evening continued in the same manner, though not as industrious as they all spent more time cooing and playing with the baby than anything else.

Too bad another nightmare wracked her sleep. The dream had started pleasantly enough: Ben holding her tight in his arms, nuzzling her neck as they slow danced at Tess’s wedding. Then it shot to erotic within seconds, as dreams do. She’d been clad in a mesh, green teddy, reclining in a sexy pose on a large, round, satin-covered bed while Ben strolled toward her with nothing on but a tiny white towel and a wicked smile, one finger twirling a pair of fuzzy handcuffs in the air.

Then came the gunfire and pain.

Willow woke with a jerk, chest heaving as she drew in air. She wiped impatiently at the tears streaming down her face. Instead of Officer Lee Jones taking several rounds to the back, it had been Ben.

She never fell fully back asleep after that, too restless and scared to allow slumber to take her. Then she’d missed Ben’s phone call while she’d been in the shower. Hearing his voice, knowing he was well and alive, eased her troubled heart. After reminding her of their date, he’d gone on to tell her in a thick, husky voice that he’d dreamt of her, of kissing every inch of her body, starting with her eyes, her ears, the soft curve of her cheek. He’d just made his way to her breast when a male voice interrupted him, causing him to groan as if in agony. One she replicated. Now she was restless for an entirely different reason.

Wednesday was a near repeat of Tuesday, except Ruth showed up at ten in the morning with homemade cinnamon rolls, orange-glazed rolls, and a cheese-and-egg casserole. The woman must have sensed something was off because she laid a soft, comforting hand on Willow’s cheek. “With the rising sun, fear dies and hope thrives. No matter how bleak things look, it
will
change for the better.”

For some reason it made Willow think of that old man Henry, and his play on her name. So she tucked into Ruth’s cooking, not surprised when her bodyguards showed up only moments later, begging for a bite. Soon, the horrible loss that had shredded her heart into a thousand pieces was nothing but a memory.

Amazingly enough, everything on Ruth’s list was completed before she took her leave just before six, with a wink and a good-luck wish for Willow’s date with Ben. Ignoring Willow’s stammered denial, Ruth headed home with a pleased grin on her face.

Now the only thing left for Willow to do was get ready for her date, which was really another non-date, with Ben. Granted, Willow was looking forward to stretching and working her muscles, especially after two days straight of sitting, and the idea of a Jacuzzi sounded like heaven to her aching knee.

By five after seven, Willow decided, after peeking out the front door a zillion times, Ben had forgotten. Or maybe changed his mind.

Or, oh God, had been in an accident!

The sound of a vehicle pulling up had her racing to the door once again. Then she counted to ten, trying unsuccessfully to quell her nerves. It took Ben’s tired countenance to do that.

Concern immediately replaced jitters. “Are you okay?”

He gave her a half-smile, one that didn’t reach his eyes. “Just a bit sore. Helped a friend move.”

Willow’s mouth dropped open. “Today? After work?”

“Not a big deal.” His shoulders lifted in a shrug as if he did that sort of thing all the time. Which he just might have.

“But you look exhausted. Maybe we should cancel the gym thing so you can go home and get some sleep.”

The incredulous look on his face was a balm to her self-esteem. “Are you kidding me? Of course we’re not canceling. I want to go to the gym. Hell. It’ll help loosen some of the knots moving put into my muscles and if that doesn’t do it, the Jacuzzi will. Best part”—the smile this time reached his eyes, turning them into bottomless pools of glowing bronze embers—“I get to be with you.”

He cupped her cheek much like Ruth had done that morning, only Willow wasn’t comforted. She was aroused and trembling, all from the touch of his hand. Then he bent his head and his mouth was on hers, and the arousal and trembling surged into gut-wrenching need.

Hanging on as the world began to spin, Willow slid her hand up the soft cotton of his blue sweatshirt and wrapped her arms around his neck, his hair a damp tickle on her fingers. Then there was only heat and Ben and how she felt pressed up against his masculine strength. She parted her lips on a sigh of pleasure and he deepened the kiss, their tongues dancing and mating, his taste heady, seductive, familiar.

His hands were everywhere, tracing her spine, squeezing the curve of her butt over the gray sweatpants, sliding up her hips and under the hem of the matching gray sweatshirt. Shivers of anticipation washed through her as his hands moved up her sides towards her breasts.

“Whoa. Sorry.”

The male voice broke through Willow’s fog of lust and she jerked her head from Ben. She would have pulled completely out of Ben’s embrace except he held her close, his arousal a hard press against her belly. “What do you want, Scott?”

Her face aflame, Willow forced herself from burying it in Ben’s neck, reminder herself they weren’t doing anything wrong. It was just a kiss. A kiss that made her think she might need a change of undies, as she was as slick with arousal as Ben was hard.

When Willow did finally peer over at Scott, the man seemed unperturbed, as if catching people making out in the open doorway of a cabin was a common occurrence.

“I was just wondering if you had any more of those enchiladas Kaylie brought over last night.”

Willow flicked her thumb over her shoulder. “Help yourself. There’s plenty for both you and Joe.”

While Scott whistled to his partner, Ben reached down and grabbed the plastic bag containing her swimsuit, towel and change of clothes, telling Willow to get her coat.

Once they were in his truck, Willow asked if Ben was really okay.

He rolled his shoulders experimentally. “A little sore, but honestly, I’m good.”

They talked about this and that, comfortable small talk while Ben drove through and out of town. When he turned down an unmarked road, she felt her first frisson of fear in his company. “Where exactly is this gym?”

His grin was playful and he reached for her hand, kissing the back of it. “I’m not abducting you, Will. Relax. I might have libidinous tendencies where you’re concerned, but I’d never hurt you. It’s a semi-private place.”

She glanced down at where her hand lay trapped between his and his hard thigh. “Semi-private?”

His lips pursed and he tilted his head from side to side, as if figuring out how to explain. “It’s a place that not everyone in town knows of. Like a community center but only for certain people.”

“Oh, God.” She yanked her hand free, her heart thudding in her chest, and not in a fun way. “You’re all part of some weird cult.”

“What? No!”

“No? You’re taking me out in the middle of nowhere to some quote, community center, unquote, where only certain people are allowed to go?”

The look he shot her was priceless. “It’s deep in the woods because it’s for hunters. You know, deer hunting? And that’s mainly who goes there. Hunters. Men like to hunt, pretend we’re big bad predators, yet still want the comforts of home.”

Willow eyed him. “A hunting lodge?”

“Exactly,” Ben seemed pleased with the label. “A hunting lodge. But it’s not open to the public. When you buy a hunting license you can upgrade to also purchase a membership to the lodge. That way you can still use the facilities outside of hunting season.”

She’d hold her opinion in reserve, especially when Ben pulled into the spacious, but empty, parking lot next to a large one-story building. Saying nothing, she allowed herself to be drawn to a side door and watched as Ben used his key and tapped out the code. Inside, after he flipped on some switches, she gaped. “Wow.”

Mirrors lined two sides of the open room while a third contained a second door and several blind-covered windows ending halfway down the wall. Beneath the windows sat several heavy plastic benches. Along the fourth wall, from where they’d entered, was another bench, huge cubbies for clothes, keys, or whatever, and a counter with a computer monitor and what looked to be audio equipment. Cabinets filled the space below the counter, and three wall-mounted flat-screen TVs filled the space above. Finally, situated over the industrial-grade linoleum were enough weights and gym equipment to make the center she worked at in Arizona green with envy.

Ben locked up behind them. “Dean’s office is on the other side of those windows and there’s even a bedroom and bath beyond that.”

Willow moved around the room, trailing her fingers over the hands of an elliptical machine. “Dean’s office?”

“Yeah.” Ben set their bags on a bench by the door next to several cubbies, her white plastic one next to his black duffel. “The Haven was his idea. He’s co-owner and manager but I’m pretty sure he’s looking for someone to replace him.”

“Oh?” Willow might not know anything about hunting, but she did know more than a little about community centers. Okay, maybe not enough to manage one, but she was a smart cookie. She could learn.

What the hell am I thinking?
Willow gave herself a mental smack.
I’m not looking to stick around. Once this is all over, I’m going home to New York.

She moved on to admire a leg press, studiously ignoring the whisper in her head telling her nothing was left in New York for her except her father, and he could visit anytime. “What else is here?”

Ben’s nose scrunched in thought, the action so adorable she felt her heart flip-flop. A little cross at the betraying organ, she glowered at a pectoral fly machine. She hated those machines.

“A kitchen, dining hall, two conference rooms, a rec room, a game room, three actual bedrooms other than Dean’s, and a common room, which is just a nice way of saying a large room with a bunch of bunk beds.”

Willow raised a brow. “Bathrooms?”

“Oh.” He grinned sheepishly. “As it really is just men that use the place, it’s a common bathroom, like in a high school.”

Her brows creased. “Lovely.”

“You can use Dean’s bathroom for anything while you’re here. It’s sort of the designated girls’ room.”

“I’m sure he’s thrilled,” she muttered under her breath.

“So what do you want to start with?”

She made her way back to the elliptical and climbed on. “Here. It’s easier on my hip and knee.”

“All right.” He showed her the unfamiliar display. “Music or TV?”

“Music,” she replied promptly.

He walked over to a counter. “Any particular genre?”

When she didn’t answer right away, he looked over his shoulder. “Will?”

She bit her lip. “Don’t suppose you have any trance?”

After a surprised blink he chuckled. “A woman after my own heart. I was afraid you’d want opera or something.”

She shook her head. “Not to work out with. You need a fast beat.”

As the room filled with the sound of keyboards and the thrilling rush of a synthesizer, Willow began her warm-up.