Authors: Vivian Arend
Tags: #Paranormal Romance, #Fiction, #Romance, #Paranormal, #Suspense
Black Gold (15 page)
“Hell. Your research makes a huge difference.”
That was not what she’d expected to hear. “Really?”
Shaun’s mouth twisted into a wry grin. “Okay, earlier I said you were insane—I mean, we thought the scientist who booked the trip was insane. And we do need to talk about the details, but the actual reason you’re here isn’t the study, right? I mean, really,
really
why you’re here.” Gem collapsed back against the couch to stare across at him. Her studies had originated from her interest in science and the environment, that was true. But arranging a project that required a trip that would take her as far away from home possible?
That had nothing to do with scientific discovery, and everything to do with discovering herself.
“I just want to prove I can make it on my own. For a little while.” Shaun snorted. “And then I drop into your life, and you’re still not alone. Not even after traveling all that distance.” He lifted her knuckles and kissed them lightly. “I’m sorry for crowding you, but I’m not sorry I found you.”
Gem couldn’t talk for a moment, her throat was so tight. She nodded. “Me too. I’m just so all over the place right now—both my mind and my emotions. What if all this time they’ve all been humouring me?
My professor, my fellow students? Maybe I
don’t
belong anywhere but protected and under the firm control of—”
“Bullshit.” Shaun leapt to his feet and towered over her. “Where the hell did that come from? Where’s the woman who less than a week ago told me and my wolf to cool our jets?” She stared in shock. “I didn’t say that to you.”
He laughed. “No, you told me it was ‘more appropriate to continue with my usual systematic preparations and consider our attachment to be on a temporary hiatus’.” Gem cradled her head in her hands. “I can’t believe I said that when I really didn’t want to send you away. I also don’t want to make my father unhappy, but him calling me all the time, and emailing—I wish he wouldn’t, and yet I miss him terribly. It’s so confusing.” A pair of dusty shoes moved into her line of vision as he squatted in front of her. “I’m with you on that one, love. I’ve never been so wishy-washy before in my fucking, I mean, my entire life.” 84
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They stared at each other, and a tiny strand of electricity slid from where his hands rested on her knees. The sensation wasn’t sexual, not this time. It was cool and calming. Like a hands-on application of peace, and Gem leaned her head against his shoulder.
They sat like that for a while, breathing slowly. Drawing strength from each other. Finally, he wrapped an arm around her and changed position to sit at her side. They leaned back, her head on his chest, his hands stroking her hair, her cheek. Her neck.
“Surprise, surprise—there are layers to this mate thing.” Shaun spoke quietly.
Gem had never experienced anything like it before. “I don’t feel so worried anymore.”
“It’s the connection between us. Being mates will help us through all kinds of situations. I’ve heard others talk about it, but man—that was cool. Totally new.”
Mates had many deep levels of connection, and in the midst of her other concerns, she’d completely forgotten something. “Shaun, can you hear me talk to you?”
His soft laugh stroked her. “Umm, yeah?”
“No, not this way.” She sat up and turned to face him. “In your head.”
“Hell. I haven’t.” Shaun stopped and stared at her, obviously attempting to say something. She waited.
He waited.
Nothing happened.
Shaun grunted in frustration. “It’s not working. Maybe we won’t have a mate connection like that. It’s one of those things, some do, some don’t. Or we need more practice.” That didn’t make sense. “But when we made love the first time, I heard you.”
“Really?”
“I told you, remember?”
His mouth opened, then closed and his gaze darted away. “Umm, no. Forgot…about that.” Sadness hit again, the tranquility of the previous moments diluted by a sense of loss. “Do you ever think we’ll be able to?”
There was a trace of something—worry? fear?—on his face, right before he smiled and tweaked her nose. “We might need to exercise more or something. Remember, we only met a few days ago. And we haven’t had the chance to do a lot of things, not even go for a run together. Let’s give it time.” She still felt as if there was something he wasn’t telling her, but after the closeness they’d shared, she didn’t want to damage their fragile intimacy.
The rumbling in her stomach provided as good a topic change as anything.
He pulled her to her feet. “Sounds as if we need supper, then we have to pack. I suggest we head out tomorrow.”
Gem moved toward her suitcase. “Really? The herd is that close?”
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Vivian Arend
“No, but remember I mentioned Chicken? We’re going to wait there for a bit. It should be a little quieter than here and more things to look around at. We’ve kind of done Dawson to death.” He made himself busy. Gem watched in confusion as he untied and tied his laces. Twice. What was going on?
“Shaun?”
He snapped his head up. “Yup? Ready to go?”
She hurried to finish changing. “In a minute. By the way, where were you today? I thought we were going to go do something. When you didn’t come back, I was worried.” Pacing. He was definitely pacing. “Sorry about that. Just got caught up talking with people. That’s all.”
Suspicion grew. “What people?”
“People.” He glanced at his watch. “Oh my, look at time. If we want to find a seat we’d better—”
“Shaun, where were you?”
He reached for her hand, and she reluctantly allowed him to take it. “I was talking to some of the locals, and I lost track of the time. Sorry.”
His dark eyes shone with sincerity. Then he switched topics, becoming utterly charming and entertaining for the rest of the evening. As much as she’d loved the closeness they had shared, there was something marring the joy of it.
She still wanted to know where he’d gone.
86
Chapter Ten
The expression of delight on Gem’s face was so endearing Shaun found himself tripping as he walked down the street by her side, attempting to catch every nuance. The town of Chicken was pretty cool. It had changed in the past couple of years, becoming more of a touristy getaway spot for shifters, and less one-hole-away-from-the-entrance-to-nowhere.
There was none of the gold-rush paraphernalia that was featured so prominently in Whitehorse and Dawson. Town council and the planning board weren’t trying to impress visitors with historical tidbits.
With the number of packs, prides and clans that made their home in the area, the goal was to maintain positive relations among the various factions. That resulted in a multitude of coffee shops, boutiques and half a dozen bakeries all piping glorious scents onto Main Street.
Shifters liked their goodies.
When a wolverine in furry form dashed past them, shifted to human and calmly walked naked into the nearest store, Gem’s little gasp made him chuckle.
“What?”
Gem pointed, then dropped her hand and tangled her fingers together. “Right out in public? What if someone had seen her? I mean, someone human?”
Shaun gestured the length of the street. “Look around. Chicken is on the Top of the World Highway, and the shortest distance from outside civilization to here is a four-hour drive in either direction. The few humans who do make the trip slip right on through. They never stay in town long. We talked about it once, a group of friends and me. The nearest thing we could figure is that with how many shifters live here there’s something in the air that makes humans uncomfortable, so they just keep on driving.” She shook her head. “Everywhere we go you manage to find new things to surprise me. It’s—” Caught in mid-pivot, her words froze on her tongue. He rotated to see what she’d discovered to make her expression change that much, that fast. R-rated movie theater? Adult toy store?
A couple stood a few feet from them, kissing. Shaun hesitated. Didn’t seem too risqué to him, but who knows what was the norm for her back home.
“Do you see that?” He could barely hear her, the words whispered so soft and low.
He squeezed her fingers. “I…ah, yeah.”
Vivian Arend
The couple pressed tighter together, the woman getting into it, her hands buried in the guy’s hair. The man grabbed her ass, and even as Shaun watched, lifted one of her legs to wrap the limb around his hip.
Shaun sighed happily. Shifters were so cool about sex.
“I wonder if it would be comfortable?” Gem leaned into his side.
Comfortable? His cock wasn’t comfortable. The damn thing had risen and now pushed urgently against the front of his jeans. “Oh, I think it would be just dandy.” Gem’s eyelashes fluttered, and she stared at him sweetly. “Do you think that would look good on me?”
Draped over his body, lips locked together and one second away from being screwed in the street?
Hell, yeah.
“I think you were made for it.”
He reached for her, biting back a curse as she slipped out of reach. Gem dodged the groping couple and ran toward a nearby shop.
Shaun stood in one spot, frozen in confusion.
“Shaun. You coming?”
No
. It seemed not. At least not the way he wanted to be. What was going on? He shook his head and concentrated harder on her than the ache in his groin. She had the door to the shop open and hovered in the doorway.
Nope, still clueless. He glanced at the couple again in envy. They had taken all of four steps farther down the street to finish pressed against the side of the building, frantically stripping each other. The shop door shut, and Gem’s figure appeared in the feature glass as she pointed between two dresses displayed on mannequins.
Oh shit. She was talking about shopping, not very Public Displays of Affection.
Okay, he could do shopping. If he had to. He followed her slowly and made plans for at least ravishing her in his mind as he watched her try on outfits.
A guy had to have a little fun.
Gem glided through the restaurant door ahead of Shaun, the loose edge of her new dress skimming her thighs. Her skin tingled as if touched with tiny sparks. The delight racing through her wasn’t just from the nearly scandalous length of the cut. It wasn’t the material itself, with the softness of silk and the teeniest touch of lace stroking her like a million tiny butterfly wings.
It was the way Shaun couldn’t stop staring at her that made the dress worthwhile.
He slipped a hand around her waist and led her to their table, the heat of his touch bleeding through the light layer separating them. Everything was perfect, the way they brushed together intimately as he seated her, the way his gaze kept roaming over her body as they ordered, sipped drinks, ate.
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She could barely swallow, her throat tightening as the sexual tension intensified. Whatever lingering annoyances she’d experienced during the tail end of their time in Dawson were washed away by his current attentiveness.
When she stood to take a bathroom break, he leapt to his feet, helping with her chair and stroking his fingers over her shoulders as she left.
Her entire stroll toward the back of the room she swore his gaze never moved off her hips.
An assortment of emotions danced through her as she primped in front of the mirror. Having found her mate was beginning to feel more—right. More like something she could balance in her life, and less like another older male ordering her around. Oh, she was unsure how she was going to convince him to move south, but that wasn’t as important right now as making sure they were okay as a couple. And while sex wasn’t the only thing they should base their relationship on, it wasn’t a bad place to start.
She smoothed her hands down the front of her dress, enjoying the soft caress over her bare legs.
Against the nearly naked skin of her lower body. Shaun had no idea she’d found a pair of very sexy underwear to accompany her dress. She wondered what he would do when he made the discovery?
Something wonderfully wicked and intensely pleasurable, that was for sure. Yeah, the
starting with
sex
part was working out fine.
While the future stretched out unknown, there was no doubt in her mind what the rest of today would look like. She was going to go back into the restaurant and knock his socks off, figuratively. Then, after they’d finished dinner and maybe danced a little, it was back to the hotel where she would literally take care of incidentals like socks, shoes and everything else he wore.
Of course, returning to their table and finding it empty put a crimp in her plans.
His jacket lay draped over the armrest, but there was no sign of him anywhere. She stood, hands resting on the back of her chair, slightly disoriented.
Get a grip, girl.
He must have gone to the washroom. Gem sat, feeling foolish she’d hesitated for even a minute. She sipped her water and examined the décor.
Then she heard his laugh, and it hadn’t come from anywhere in the dining room. Gem rose and slipped through the doorway separating the restaurant from the bar. She leaned against the nearest wall, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the lower lighting.
It only took a second to spot him standing next to an extremely pretty woman. The petite lynx shifter was perched on a barstool, her silver-blonde hair tossed over one shoulder in gorgeous smooth sweeps.
Gem touched her own head, smoothing down the usual errant strands with fingers suddenly gone numb.
The woman reached out and planted a hand against Shaun’s chest, and Gem’s temper flared.
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That was
her
mate. Gem straightened, intending to go and rip the woman’s head off, or some equally undignified thing, when a touch landed on her shoulder. She turned to look into the buttons lining the shirt of the largest man she’d ever seen. Tilted her head up. Up. Way up.