Shifters Forever The Boxed Set Books 1 - 6 (27 page)

“
D
o you want to drive
?” She held the keys out to Tanner. Her hands were shaking with anger from that idiot Derek’s attitude and his attempt to make her pay for his screw-up. She was hoping she could relax in the passenger seat and make some of the stress go away.

Plus she didn’t know how to get to Grant’s place. The rehearsal dinner was supposed to be a catered affair at Grant’s, and she hadn’t been there yet. He’d mentioned some work for her but that had yet to transpire since she’d been so busy at the B&B.

“Thanks for that,” she told Tanner after he’d pulled out of the parking lot. She knew Derek wouldn’t have been as willing to let the matter go if Tanner hadn’t been there.

“I bet you’re glad this job’s over. It’s quite a drive, having to go to Bear Canyon Valley all the time.”

“It wasn’t so bad. It got intense near the end there.”

“So how’d you end up learning how to drive a truck that size?”

“I used to drive horse trailers.”

He looked over at her, a surprised expression on his face. “What’d you do?”

She didn’t want to talk about that life. “Trained for shows.”

“And now you do interior design, or decorating, or whatever?”

She laughed at his question—such a guy. “Yeah. Pretty much.”

“Those seem like opposite career choices. What prompts a change like that?”

Here we go, the place I don’t want to be.
“Guess it was time for something new.”
Like a baby. And avoiding running into the baby’s father. Ever.

“Do you like the choice you made?”

God, would they ever get there so he could quit probing? “I like parts of it a lot. Love them.”
Like Dominic.
Okay, time to take the spotlight off herself. “What about you? Do you like what you do? Have you always done it? How did Tanner end up traveling from so far away to do work for Mae? Aren’t there equally qualified contractors in the area?”

He gave her a sideways glace. “Mae needed him. So he came.”

“Just like that?”

He shrugged. “Just like that. She’s Mae.”

She felt a twinge of something. Was it jealousy? Or was it uncertainty? “Are you related to her?”

“Mae?” He chuckled. “Hardly. Though she does like to call us her nephews.”

Hardly.
Did that mean there was something there? Mae was beautiful. Marti fought the instinct to look at her reflection in the mirror.

“And now you’re here,” she told him, hoping to find out why.

“Yup.”

That was it? Really? Just a yup?

“Here we are.” He pulled into a driveway, a long one, and it seemed she waited more than a minute before they pulled up in front of a house.

She looked at the opulent ranch house that looked more like a hotel. Or a mansion.

Wow. Doing some work for Grant could keep her in the black for a year or more.

Suddenly she was thankful that she’d gone the extra mile yesterday and played delivery man with Tanner. Every bone, every muscle in her body ached from the furniture unloading and moving, but it was worth it when she thought of the results that would come from having solidified her reputation with Mae.

Tanner parked the car and came around to her side to open the door.

“A girl could sure get used to this kind of treatment.” The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them.

“This is exactly how you deserve to be treated, and better.” He stepped closer.

His body was a mountainous wall of muscle that blocked an escape she didn’t want to make anyway.

She inhaled the scent of him, all man. She looked up into his eyes. Was that pain she saw there? It was raw emotion, sucking her in. She looked away after a millisecond.

“Marti.” The word was a soft growl that came from his chest.

She knew that was his bear. She knew the bear in him was taking over. His dark eyes glowed amber. She looked directly at his bear, reflected in his eyes. She saw the bear’s desire, and it matched her own feelings.

A look crossed Tanner’s face. “You know,” he said.

She didn’t respond, casting her eyes away from his, looking at his lips, because as crazy as it seemed, right now his lips were safer than his eyes.

T
anner tried
to wrap his head around this. She knew about his bear. Knew about shifters. But she’d never said a word. And Mae hadn’t told him. He leaned forward, driven by his bear, and lowered his head, but didn’t touch her lips with his. He watched the way she licked them, nervously, but all it brought to his mind was the idea of her lips, that tongue on his body, on his cock.

That move did it. He lunged forward, propelled by his bear’s conviction that she was the one, regardless of circumstance. His bear needed answers. His bear needed affirmation. If she didn’t want him or his bear, she would have to be damned clear about it.

He took her mouth hostage, branding it with his tongue. Possessing it with his bear. Owning it with his passion. His body and his bear were overwhelmed by the power of their arousal. Only it was far more than arousal—he and his bear both knew undeniably that she was the one. Now he had to figure out how to make her see it. And he had to figure out what was going on with whoever was waiting at home for her.

Her moan, drenched in passion, devoid of self-control, drove his lust to the next level. “Tanner.”

Her voice sent him there. He pulled her to him roughly, cupping her ass with his hands, enjoying its fullness, bringing her against his erection. It made his cock pulse with greater need.

“I want you, Marti. I want every bit of you. All of you. I want to bury myself in the core of you while you give me that part of you that you keep from everyone else.” He whispered the tortured words into her hair. “You belong to me. You just need to see it.”

“Maybe I do.” Her words were torn from that brambled, thorny wall, ripped from the place where she didn’t trust anyone.

M
arti tried
to catch her breath. She tried to pretend she hadn’t just uttered the words that would give him complete power over her. She had no right to do that. She owed her life to Dominic, to keeping him safe from shifters, to keeping him a secret from shifters. The claws of a pain so sharp it cut into her soul rendered her speechless.

She tore herself from his embrace. “They’re waiting for us, I’m sure.” She covered the words with steel, reinforced with the strength of a mother who had to protect her baby from the world. From everything bad—both known and unknown.

She held his gaze for the longest, most silent moment of her life, fighting both him and the bear with her blue gaze. A jackhammer couldn’t have gotten through the tension between them as Tanner stared at her in disbelief.

She couldn’t blame him. She couldn’t believe this herself, that she would find love, and that she would have to deny it. And even more unbelievably, that it would come from a shifter. A bear shifter, of all things.

T
anner nodded
and walked her into Grant’s house. Everyone was already there. They were the last ones to arrive. He walked around in a daze, not really paying attention to the talk that was going on. He was in a daze. Smiling a fake smile, laughing a fake laugh.

All he could think about was that she knew what he was. She had no problem with shifters. She wanted him; he could see it in her eyes. His bear could see it in her eyes.

But…?

He needed to talk to someone who knew a whole hell of a lot more than he did about life, and women. And shit in general. He’d get drunk if he could, except alcohol didn’t do a damned thing to him or for him. He couldn’t get drunk. He bit back a self-deprecating laugh. The curse of being a shifter—mix that in with the blessings. He would live forever, but he would never be able to drown his sorrows in alcohol. What kind of bullshit arrangement was that?

A hand on his shoulder brought him out of his pity party. Hell, yeah, he knew he was at a pity party. Tanner turned around. Teague. His brother.

“You doing okay?”

Teague had that glow. That ‘I found love’ or some kind of shit glow.
Okay,
Tanner admitted to himself,
I’m jealous. Fuck, yeah, I’m jealous. I should have the same fucking thing with Marti, but…

“I’m cool.” He clenched his jaw and forced a smile to his face that hurt.

“You don’t look like you’re cool,” Teague said.

Tanner growled. His bear growled along with him.

Teague held his hands up in surrender. “I give. For now. But you gotta talk about whatever demons are in you.”

Tanner nodded and turned away. He made for the front door. He and the bear could use a run through the forest, something to clear his head. Anything to keep his mind from that curvy, delicious, full-hipped, full-lipped, full-breasted woman with an attitude and a heart that matched his.

“I’m going out for a few. I’ll be back in time for dinner.”

M
arti made it through dinner
. Somehow.

Now they were assembled in a large room with a hardwood floor. Chairs and tables were scattered around, and the lighting was dim. It was set up like a dance floor.

Chelsea and Grant were dancing to a slow song in the middle of the floor, the special effects pin lights making multi-colored trails all around the room.

Mae turned to Marti. “What’s going on?”

My life sucks. I’m falling for a man who is the last man I should fall for. No, any man would be the last man I should fall for… but a shifter…

Marti let a long breath out, put that fake smile on. “What do you mean?”

“Tanner vanished before dinner, and came back looking like he was still being pursued by demons. You’re working hard to earn an award for best actress. Neither one of you is willing to look at the other one. You both barely touched your dinner. And it was good.” Mae rubbed her stomach as if to emphasize what Marti had missed.

“I’ve got a lot on my mind. I can’t speak for Tanner.” She kept her voice firm, dissuading more conversation on the topic.

The DJ changed the song to another slow one. She clenched her fists. She could do without the love songs.

Joe walked up. “May I?” He held a hand out to Marti.

She grabbed his hand like it was a lifeline. Anything to get away from this conversation. “Sure.” She followed him to the dance floor.

Joe kept her at arm’s length, the distance between them proper. She appreciated his sensitivity.

“Did I save you from Mae?” he asked, his voice low.

“Was it obvious?” She fought to concentrate on her dancing so that her feet didn’t crush his toes by accident. Slow dancing wasn’t something she had much experience in.

“Let’s just say I know Mae. And I know when she gets that look in her eyes, she can be relentless.”

“Yeah.” Marti breathed a sigh of relief. She and Joe had something in common: they were the only ones who were fully human. Marti didn’t know what Mae was, didn’t know if she was part shifter or mated to one, but she knew that Mae wasn’t like her and Joe.

“It’s just you and me,” he said, mirroring her thoughts.

Marti glanced up from the floor where she’d been looking to make sure she didn’t step on his toes. He knew that they were all involved in the shifter world, and more importantly, he knew that Marti wasn’t. And he was telling her about it, but in a subtle way. Was he testing her? Was this a trick question to see if she knew, or was he being more upfront about it?

“What do you mean?” That seemed like the safest response, at least until she knew what he was thinking.

“We’re the only ones who aren’t like them.”

Marti still didn’t want to give anything away, but she had to ask, “Does it bother you, being different?”

Joe gave her a quizzical look. “I’ve never known any other world. I’ve been with Grant’s family for a hell of a long time. Before that, my grandfather knew his.” Then he asked, “So why’d you leave the horse world?”

Marti gasped. “How’d you know?” Her heart bounced around in her chest, it was beating so hard.

“I thought I’d seen you before. You were a hell of a trainer.”

“I needed to change my life.” Suddenly she found herself thinking she’d been better off talking to Mae.

“Don’t worry, Marti. It’s your business, your secret to tell. If you don’t want to be Martina Faulkner Lee here, then you can just be Marti Lee.”

“Thank you.” Something about his eyes said she could trust him to hold true to that. “I’m Marti Lee, now. That’s it.”

“Understood.”

The song was ending, and Marti was ready to go home. How long would she have to stay? Was there an obligation to stay until everyone else had left? Should she think of it this way as a service provider?

“Thanks for the dance, Joe.”

The lights were turned on. A waiter walked around with champagne glasses.

“One more toast,” Grant announced. “Then we’d better call it a night. My bride tells me she needs her beauty rest.”

Chelsea harrumphed and her cheeks turned bright pink.

Grant raised his glass. “To the most beautiful woman in the world.”

Marti took a glass from the waiter and raised it. That was the moment she felt it. She looked at Tanner, feeling his heated gaze on her.

Unreadable. Sexy. Deep.

Marti was sure she blushed as deep a pink as Chelsea as she looked down. The heat from the flush kissed her cheeks, traveling up from her neck and chest.

“Hear, hear,” someone yelled.

A throat clearing made her look up.

Teague lifted his champagne flute. “To dreams coming true.” He indicated Kelsey. “To family. To what we’ve always waited for.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Doc Evans said, clinking glasses with Mae.

Kane was raising his glass. “To Astra.” He tipped the glass in Astra’s direction.

Astra’s crystalline green eyes filled with tears. “To Kane, who gives me everything and then some.” She coughed, then swallowed. “We have news.”

“What?” Mae squealed.

“No. No. Not that,” Astra giggled, her joy bubbling out. “Kane and I are taking a trip. To Europe. He’s going to help me find Anya. That’s an unsettled chapter in my life.”

“Awww,” Chelsea was saying.

“There’s more,” Astra said. “I’m done denying my gift. It’s time I explored it, learned more about it, who I am, what it is. It’s something I have in common with my mom. And I miss my mom.”

“We all miss your mom,” Doc Evans said, his voice choked with emotion. “She was a fine woman and you’re exactly like her.”

“You’re the best father ever.” Astra hugged Doc. “You’ve never been just a stepfather.”

Marti didn’t have a clue who the hell Anya was, or what Astra’s gift was, but she was happy for her friends. Happy for their happiness, even though she didn’t have any.

Marti looked at them. This was… strange. It was more of a reunion than a rehearsal dinner, and she felt out of place. She wanted to run out right now, but that would be selfish and take away from their special moments.

And what gift was Astra talking about? Was that something to do with being a shifter? She didn’t think that Astra was a shifter. Marti shook her head to clear it. She put the glass down on the waiter’s tray. The last thing she needed was to be drinking and then attempting to maneuver the curves and turns through the mountains on the way home.