Spirits Shared (9 page)

She touched her mouth to his.
No
regrets
.

He grasped her hair, parted her lips with
the thrust of his tongue and fed warmth into her with each stroke
and twine, with the rub and press of his cock to her mound. And
that first kiss turned into a second, a third, finally ended with a
long, thorough kiss and a "Morning, babe."

He got out of bed, leaving the covers in
place. Tekoa turned toward them, his gaze flicking over Clay's
nakedness as if it was an everyday sight.

Heat blasted into her sex. Clay stretched
and rubbed his chest, his morning erection bobbing, brushing across
hard abs so she fought the urge to put her mouth on it and slide
her hand between her legs.

Tekoa's mouth quirked upward and she bit her
bottom lip, not sure whether she was stifling a moan or a laugh. If
he expected mercy when it came to Clay, he was in for a hard
lesson. Her eyes dipped to the front of his jeans, a very hard
lesson.

She clamped her legs more tightly together.
Turned on by having Tekoa look at Clay and want him.

"Coffee's ready," Tekoa said, "I've got
cereal and fresh fruit if you like your breakfast light. Most days
I have eggs and sausage, either with toast or on biscuits. What's
your preference?"

Clay rolled his shoulders. "That one's a no
brainer. Real food. Cereal and fruit don't cut it for me."

"A man after my own heart. I'll start
cooking."

Clay glanced at the floor. She followed that
glance and her pulse triple-timed beneath her jaw. Yesterday's
clothes were nowhere in sight.

Her gaze jumped to the nightstand. The bra
was also gone.

"Sorry," Tekoa said, "living in such a small
place has made me a neat freak. Either that or it comes with being
a law-and-order type. I put some clothes for you and Jessica in the
bathroom. I figured you'd both want to hit the shower first."

Given how many times you made love last
night.
He didn't say it, but he didn't need to. It was there in
his voice, in the way his eyelids lowered and his gaze returned to
Clay's cock.

Her face flamed
again
while Clay's
held masculine satisfaction. "Yeah, you got that right."

He headed for the bathroom, so comfortable
and casual with his lack of clothing that it wasn't a come-on, even
if Tekoa didn't look away until Clay had disappeared into the
bathroom.

She closed her eyes and listened to Tekoa
cooking and the rain and wind outside. She couldn't hide in bed all
day. She didn't want to, though being able to meet Tekoa's gaze
without blushing would be a victory.

In the dark it had been easy to lose herself
in the passion once the decision was made. In the light she wasn't
sorry any of it had happened but she wasn't ready to parade around
the cabin naked.

She'd never been as quick to adapt or grab
for the brass ring as Clay. But that didn't mean she was a coward.
Could she really share him with another man?

Yes.

Did she want to?

Yes.

And then what?

* * * * *

Chapter
5

The shower stopped and Jessica opened her
eyes. A few minutes later Clay stepped out of the bathroom wearing
dark gray sweats and a navy T-shirt with a white logo of a soccer
ball with a sheriff's five-pointed star in its center.

He finished toweling his hair dry as he
walked toward her. Reaching the bed he said, "Here you go," and
stretched the towel between his hands so she could slide from
beneath the sheets and into the protection it afforded.

Her heart swelled and a lump formed in her
throat. She loved him so much.

She got out of bed and took possession of
the towel. He nuzzled her cheek. "After breakfast I'm going to see
if Tekoa will lend me his car. I want to get our stuff."

"I'll go with you. I need my purse."

"No." He captured and sucked her earlobe,
stroked a hand down her spine and held her tightly against his
erection. "Stay here with Tekoa, Jess. I want whatever happens
between the two of you to be your choice. I want you to go as fast
or as slow as you want without me being here to interfere or make
it awkward."

She buried her face in the crook of his neck
and shivered. How could one day make such a difference?

Her heart sped with the image of Clay after
the car crash, with the fear she'd carried as she left him and ran
for help. That's how.

"I'll stay," she whispered, stomach
fluttering at the same time her nipples tightened and her sex grew
more swollen. She pulled away. "I'd better hurry up and take my
shower."

She escaped, huffed out a laugh as the water
striking her skin drove her hands to her breast and pussy. She'd
just take the edge off…

She was fooling herself if she really
believed that. The rub of her fingers over her clit became Clay's
tongue, Tekoa's tongue.

Fire streaked down to her toes and her
buttocks clenched. She pinched her nipple, tugged and her fingers
became their mouths and there was no stopping the fantasy.

She went up quick, quietly, and had to wait
several minutes before the blush subsided though it returned when
she slipped on Tekoa's red flannel shirt and left the bathroom
without panties.

Clay's heated, knowing glace said he knew
that there was nothing underneath the shirt. His smile said that if
brought up for discussion, he'd approve and claim Tekoa was a man
after his own heart.

Anticipation shivered through her. Clay was
a master at bedroom games and she suspected that when it came to
her, Tekoa would be too.

Breakfast was on the table, but it was hard
to appreciate it when every step made her hyperaware of her flushed
pussy and the arousal on her inner thighs.

She claimed the seat she'd taken the night
before. Clay plopped into the one he'd been in and her heart gave a
hard knock at the familiarity of it, as if these were already their
normal places.

The phone rang as Tekoa was about to sit. He
sighed. "Go ahead and start without me."

He went to his desk, leaned against it and
took the call, listened for several minutes then said, "They're
here with me now. Found them last night. I was going to call in and
tell you I'm now on vacation."

His eyes met hers. His smile sent her heart
soaring. But as quickly as he'd smiled, he frowned and straightened
away from the desk. "You've contacted the others? Good. I'll be
here if the situation changes. Call me with updates."

He hung up and joined them at the table.
Clay finished smearing blackberry jam on a biscuit. "Work?"

"One of my deputies. A bus carrying convicts
hit a slick spot and went over a bank. The driver and guard were
taken to the hospital. Two of the convicts stuck around. The other
ten ran."

"Dangerous?"

"Most of them are doing time for nonviolent
crimes. But a couple of them are extremely dangerous and most
likely armed by now."

"Are they close?"

Tekoa shook his head. "Not close enough that
we need to worry about them showing up here."

Clay glanced at her, then at Tekoa. "Okay if
I borrow your car so I can grab our stuff?"

"Can't let you have the cruiser, but I've
got an old truck parked behind the cabin. It's got a police radio
in it if you run into trouble."

Tekoa reached over and tucked Jessica's hair
back behind her ear, sending a spike of heat straight to her sex.
"By trouble I'm talking about getting stuck in the mud, not joining
the search for the convicts."

"Got it. No hunting convicts. No fun with
guns."

Tekoa snorted and dug into his eggs.

They finished breakfast and Tekoa said,
"Truck keys are in the ignition."

A heated look passed between him and Clay,
and her heartbeat became erratic, her palms damp. At the cabin
door, Clay pulled her into a hug, brushed his lips across hers.
"Whatever happens—or doesn't happen—I'm good with it."

His mouth crashed down and took possession
of hers in a kiss that stripped her of breath, that said he desired
Tekoa, but she was his world.

He pulled away and stared into her eyes.
"I'll be back."

Seconds later he was gone, leaving her
feeling as if she was plugged into an erotic current that had
turned her nerve endings into a race track for her heart to zip
around with each pounding beat.

She gripped and released the edge of the
borrowed shirt. Arousal trickled down her inner thigh.

How could she so desperately want to be with
another man? Tekoa stood in the space carved out as an office,
studying something on his desk and leaving the first move up to
her.

She'd counted on him coming to her as soon
as she closed the door behind Clay. She'd imagined him seducing
her. Clay had been relentless right from the start. He'd made her
crave his touch and want to please him sexually. He'd ruined her
for any other man—until now.

Her sex grew plumper, slicker. Her nipples
tightened to the point she wanted to unbutton the flannel shirt and
play with them to relieve the ache, or beg Tekoa to do it.

She tried to calm the too-fast beat of her
heart but memories of the night flooded in. Her own husky cries and
hoarse pleading echoed in her thoughts.

She bit her bottom lip to keep from
whimpering. Heat flickered in her chest like a small spark ready to
flare up and become a wildfire.

A sense of being on the precipice reminded
her of what she'd experienced when she'd swallowed the contents of
the cup Clay had given her on the porch. For a brief, shimmering
moment she'd felt as though she was close to something so vast and
powerful that it couldn't be truly understood. While at the same
time, the warmth sliding through her body had been sensuous and
welcoming.

She inhaled on a shaky breath.
Just do
it. Go to him.

She took the first step, wiped dampened
palms against soft flannel, her eyes lowering, catching on the
engagement ring. Her steps faltered.

Her happiest childhood memories were the
years after her sister was born, when her mother had stopped
forcing her to compete in beauty pageants and campaigned Ashley
instead. While they'd been on the road, she'd been her father's
shadow. He'd read to her, bought her a small leather satchel for
her colored pencils and tablets. He'd taken her to work with him,
bragged about her talent and showed off the art that would one day
lead to her illustrating kid's books and then writing them.

And then he'd caught her mother in an
affair.

And nine months later, seeing him was
reduced to once a year and a flight to Florida where he had a new
wife, a woman who'd come with three boys to coach and take with him
everywhere.

Her heart spasmed with ache. She rubbed her
fingers over the diamond.

This isn't the same thing as my mother
having an affair.

Clay
wants
this. He expects this. But
that didn't mean it couldn't end the same way. Separation.
Loss.

Could she take that risk?

Looking at Tekoa studying something on his
desk, the answer was
yes
. But marriage meant something to
her, and she couldn't dishonor the vows, either before or after
they'd been taken.

She slipped the ring off her finger, closed
her hand around it and closed the distance between her and
Tekoa.

It took all Tekoa's control to remain at the
desk and pretend to be occupied by work. A phantom drum beat and
his heart swelled with each of her steps. And when she finally
reached him, the scent of her arousal nearly dropped him to his
knees.

He wanted to shove the shirt upward and bury
his face in her pussy the way Clay had done the night before. He
wanted to inhale her, consume her, pleasure her. But he was trying
to be good. He was trying to keep from pouncing when his
Thunderbird spirit demanded that he mount her.

She was his mate. With her they'd create
children of The People.

Desire charged through him with the force
and power of a lightning bolt. The Thunderbird's spirit urged him
to take her to her hands and knees and breed.

He was both the Thunderbird and the man, and
one was far more ancient than the other, far more primal. It simply
was, something to be delved into by those with a philosophical
bent.

He fought the demand to swoop and mate and
paid a price for it. His cock burned. His balls were heavy and
tight. His heart thundered. It took everything he had to remain
standing next to her and act unaffected.

She lifted a framed picture off his desk,
him standing between Erik and Hunter when they were fifteen, his
arms across their shoulders.

"Who are they?"

"Boys I mentored a few years ago."

She set the picture frame down, stroked a
finger along the back of a carved grizzly cub. "You've got animal
figures everywhere. Did you make them?"

"My brother Ukiah did."

"Younger or older?"

"Younger."

"Just the two of you?"

He laughed. "My parents would say two turned
out to be plenty of trouble. You an only?"

"It felt like it growing up. I was five when
my mother had Ashley."

"So you're not close."

"We're opposites. She competed at the Miss
Universe level."

"Then you can't be opposites. You've got to
know you're beautiful."

There was no keeping the want out of his
voice. She blushed, ducked her head, hiding behind luxurious blonde
hair.

She was a fascinating mix of strength and
shyness, innocence and unconscious seductiveness. Even without
knowing she was meant to be his mate, she would have drawn him with
her vulnerability and inner spirit.

Focusing on the map taped to a cabinet door,
she asked, "Your territory?"

He tapped his finger to a blue line. "This
is where it stops."