Sapphire (Rare Gems Series) (11 page)

“Tell him we’ll be there in one minute.
We’re deciding now what to do.” She nodded and closed the door behind her as
she left. Blair licked her shoulder again before pulling away. She stood there
trembling with need as he took another, then another, step back.

“I’m not sure…this is not…I’m not sure
what’s going on here. I don’t even know if I like it or not.” He nodded and
looked at the door, then back at her. “This thing between us, it’s getting
stronger, isn’t it?”

“Yes. I can’t think of anything but
tossing you onto the closest hard surface and taking you all the time. Hell, I
don’t even care if it’s hard so long as you’re naked and wet for me.” He rubbed
his hand over his face and looked at her through his spread fingers. “Please
tell me you feel this way, too. Christ, I’d really hate to think this is all
one sided.”

“No. I feel it as well. I don’t think us
living in separate parts of the same house is going to fix it either.” She
looked at the door before continuing. “Do you think that we can fuck it out of
our systems?”

“Do you?” She shook her head. “Good,
because as much as I’d love to give that a shot, I think the only thing we’re
going to do is be extremely exhausted all the time. We’ll need to talk about it
more, but now we have to help him. Do we take Harris into our pack or not?”

“Yes.” She felt the rightness of it as
soon as she said it. “But he’s going to have to pay for his crimes. I’m not
sure how just yet, but I don’t think we should simply let him get by with
what’s happened before. And he must understand that we won’t tolerate that sort
of thing here. Right?”

“I agree.” He put out his hand, and she
thought he was going to pull her to him again, but he dropped it and smiled. “I
want you. Right now I want to take you hard and fast until neither of us can
move. After we talk to your family, do you think we can talk too? Then I’d very
much like to shift with you and run. This has been a day from hell, and I’d
like to run it off. With you beside me.”

He put out his hand again, and this time
she took it. When his fingers curled around her hand, she wanted to hug him to
her but knew that Harris needed them right now. They entered his room to see
that he’d closed his eyes. She walked to the bed and touched his face, and he
opened his eye. The other one was completely closed off and swollen. Blair said
his name.

“Will you serve us?” He nodded and
looked at her before looking back at Blair as he continued. “You come to our
pack freely? You’ll pledge to us and serve us?”

“Yes.” His ruined throat made his voice
sound harsh and full of pain. “I will serve you for all time.”

“Then I, Blair Henson, accept you as my
pack member.” He looked at her. “Tell him yea or nay. You’ll have to accept him
as well before we can help him. Accept him as my true mate.”

Sapphire nodded and looked at Harris,
who was staring intently at her and Blair. “I accept you into our pack. I,
Sapphire Erickson Henson, accept you into our pack.”

Harris’s breath left his body in a rush,
as if he’d been holding it for a long time and only now felt he could let it
go. His entire body went lax, and she was afraid that they were too late. The
monitor near his head started beeping loudly, and she looked at Blair.

“It had nearly stopped. The beeping
sound—when we entered the room I noticed that the beeping had nearly stopped. It’s
picking up speed now. I think he’s going to make it.” She nodded and turned
away, not wanting Blair to see her tears. But he pulled her into his arms and
held her. Fighting the tears or him was no longer an option. She sobbed against
his chest for several minutes before she was able to regain control. When she tried
to pull away from him, he tightened his arms around her, and she looked up at
him.

“He’s going to make it.” She nodded. “I
don’t know if you’ll believe this or not, but I’m falling in love with you. I
don’t expect you to believe me, because I’ve been an ass, but you’re an amazing
woman and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

She wasn’t sure what to say. He seemed
to understand and took her hand again as they left the room. She was getting into
her truck when she realized that they’d been together most of the day and
hadn’t fought once.

“We have to go to my house now. I have
to help with dinner. Grandmother is going all out with this thing. You still
want to be there, don’t you?” A part of her was afraid he was going to say no,
but he nodded. “Good. I think that…I know this will be hard on you. My sisters
will be a little upset with you, but I think you can take it. They’ll calm down
after a bit.”

“How many years do you suppose that will
take?” She smiled at his question and started the truck. “If you wouldn’t mind,
I have to pick up a few things first. Most of it is at the office, but I need
to go to the greenhouse on route Forty. Do you know the one?”

“Yes, Jade works there part-time.” She
smiled when she thought of her sisters. “Did you buy her something to butter
her up? She loves daisies if you did.”

“No, I bought your grandmother an apple
tree. Dad said I should take flowers, but a tree he told me would be a better
choice.”

Sapphire thought his dad a very smart
man. Grandmother loved apples and had made a pie the other day that had made
Allen praise her until she’d told him to shut up. An apple tree was going to be
perfect for her grandmother.

They arrived at her house just as
Emerald and Ruby did. Neither of them spoke to Blair, but hugged her to them.
She let them go ahead of them without saying anything. There was going to be
enough yelling, she supposed, and right now they had to get dinner finished up
so it could begin.

She was worried about him. She had no
idea why. Her family had never really hurt anyone, but she knew that they were
all protective of each other. They’d had to be over the years. Blair asked if
he could help. She smiled at her grandmother when she handed him a peeler and a
bag of potatoes.

“You ever peel a tater before?” He shook
his head no and Sapphire was ready to do it for him when Grandmother continued.
“Diamond, get over here and show this man how to work for his supper. Then when
he’s done I expect you all to tell him one thing about yourself. And if you
don’t, I will. Trust me when I tell you your story will be much nicer.”

He cleared his throat after her sister
gave him the rundown on a peeler and how to use it. “I was ten when my mom
died. My dad wasn’t much of a cook, but there were plenty of women in the
neighborhood and pack that were more than willing to help us out. It’s why I
didn’t begin this relationship with Sapphire on a good foot. I didn’t want to
be like him.”

“Why not? He’s a sweet old man.” Emerald
picked up another peeler and started to help him, waiting for him to answer.
“When he was here last week, he helped me study for my exam. He couldn’t have
been nicer to me.”

“You didn’t see him the way I did. I
guess as a kid I didn’t want to be like him because of the women and not so
much him. They were…simpering I guess you’d call it.” Jade laughed, and he
smiled at her. “I guess that’s an old word, but they would come over and pinch
my cheeks and tell me what a wonderful man he was. I just wanted my mom back.”

Diamond sat down and started to snap
peas and empty out the pods, smiling sadly at him. “I was eight when dad died.
It was hard on me because I was with him when he finally just gave up on living.
I never wanted him to leave us, and when we moved in with Grandmother, I wasn’t
a nice person. I made her life a living hell. For which now I’m very grateful
that she kept me. She should have thrown me out to the streets.”

“There’s still time.” Grandmother kissed
her forehead as she walked by and put her hand on Blair’s shoulder. “You should
peel faster, Blair, or you’ll be on kitchen clean-up duty for the rest of your
life staying here.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Blair winked at her. “What’s
your story, Sapphire? Or are you going to tell me that you’re much too nice to have
a story that will tarnish your good name?”

He was teasing her, and she smiled. This
side of Blair she liked. There were so many stories she could come up with,
because she’d been a hellion as well, but she wanted something light and funny.
When she thought of one, she smiled at him.

“When I was in ninth grade, I decided to
go to the junior prom as a wolf. I don’t have any idea why at the time it
seemed like it would work, but it didn’t even come close. It resembled a scene
from the movie
Carrie
where all the people came rushing out of the building
and blood was everywhere. Not because of me, but because they kept tripping up
on those ridiculous dresses and heels they wore. Grandmother grounded me for
six months of no social activities, and I had to wear a dress and heels the
entire time. That was more painful than the social stuff.”

They all laughed, and Blair winked at
her. She felt good and for the rest of the dinner prep and dinner itself they
told stories, as well as laughed. She was sorry to see it end when it did.

Five hours later, the two of them were
in the kitchen loading the dishwasher when her sisters came in. She looked at
them, and then at Blair. He walked behind her and reached for her hand.
Sapphire had asked them if he could move in, to see if they could make this
work during dinner. It looked like they’d come to a decision. She’d never been
so afraid in all her life. Ruby pulled out a sheet of paper.

“He can stay, but there are going to be
rules. Rules that can’t be broken no matter what.” Blair nodded, and she felt
him squeeze her fingers. “Rule one: you have to put the toilet seat down.
You’re the only male in this house, and you’ll abide by our peeing, not yours.”

“I can do that.” She winked at him, and
when she looked down at her list, he interrupted her. “I’ll do whatever it
takes, I swear to you. I’ll sign in blood to any of those rules so long as
you’ll give me a chance.”

“Will you buy tampons for us if you’re
in town and we’re having an emergency?” He nodded at Emerald. “Then he’s fine
with me. Let’s have some pie. I’m hungry again.”

And just like that, Blair Henson had a
new address.

Chapter 11

He was running late. Again. Blair had
never had to share a bathroom so much in all his life, and this house had a
great many of them, too. He’d also discovered over the past five days that he
didn’t care for oatmeal no matter how you dressed it up with sugar and butter,
and he wasn’t going to survive without coffee. Tea wasn’t cutting it. He looked
over at Emerald, who’d asked for a ride to college with him.

“I need coffee.” She smiled at him and
directed him to a Tim Horton’s. “Thank God. I like the tea we have at dinner,
but I need a caffeine hit this early. How do you study all night and look like
you’ve had nine hours of sleep instead of the nine minutes I think you actually
had?”

He knew she was studying hard for her
finals in two weeks, and everyone in the house had been assigned time with her
to help out. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes.

“I’m worried about you.” He glanced at
her as he got onto the highway. “You do know that there are more than enough
bathrooms for us to use without making you late every morning, don’t you?”

He’d figured that out last night. Every time
he went into one of them, someone would knock. He decided to pay them back
today. He smiled when he thought of his plan. He only hoped it didn’t backfire
on him. They were a vicious group when they wanted to be.

He changed the subject. “I need your
help with something. I have this client coming into the office today who is
looking for a fresh idea for his product. It’s an old idea with a twist. He
wants to market his veggie trays with a dip to hit the younger crowd.”

“Sapphire and I were talking about that
a few weeks ago. She had this great idea that there should be a larger
container with smaller ones that would fit inside of it. Sort of a ‘pick what
you want’ thingy. Then a few dips besides just ranch or dill. I personally like
salsa with my veggies, but I don’t like broccoli.”

He could see it now. He looked at her
when she didn’t say anything else and realized she was asleep. Blair pressed a
button in his steering wheel and said Sapphire’s name to call her. It was the
greatest thing he’d gotten on his new truck.

“I need you for some work today. Can you
spare about two hours and come to my office? I have a client that might like
your vegetable tray idea that Emerald was telling me about.” She didn’t say
anything for a few seconds, and he was worried. “Love?”

“Okay, but what time? I have a client
coming in today, too, and that person I hired to help me with the phones quit
already. She said I was stifling her creative muse. I asked her not to paint
her nails on my time. How is that stifling her?” Blair laughed, and she huffed
at him. “I don’t have time to interview a person again. This process is…it’s
stifling my ability at making any money.”

“You help me out today, and I’ll send
you someone that you can use until you find a replacement. I don’t think she
has much of a creative muse, but she might. What do you think?” She didn’t say
anything. “And I’ll let you take me to lunch.”

“Gee, how incredibly nice of me. How
could I refuse?” He smiled. “I’m on my way to the office now. How soon do you
need me? And I can’t be there until someone comes here. I can’t let the phones
just ring again today.”

“I’ll call as soon as we get off of here
and have Tanya go over. It’s not that far, so she might be there when you get
there. She’s a human. Do you have a problem with that?”

“I don’t care if she’d a bird so long as
she can work for me.” He heard her sigh. “Blair, I want this to work, but I’m
running into more obstacles than I am solutions. And one client isn’t going to
pay the rent.” He knew that she didn’t have to worry about that, but no amount
of telling her that was working.

“I’m nearly to the university so I’m
going to lose you. I have this guy coming in at nine-thirty. Can you be here at
nine? The sooner the better.” He pulled onto the lot just as Emerald was waking
up. “I’ll see you soon.”

“I’ll be there. I have some work done up
on it, but I’ll have to find it. I’m about ten minutes from my office now.” He
left the lot after making sure that her sister had enough money to eat. He’d
never seen anyone put away as much food as she did and still remain as thin as
she was. He laughed when Sapphire told her sister via the connection to stay
out of trouble.

He called the office and asked to have
Tanya Martin sent over to Sapphire’s office. He was nearly to the office when
he heard back from Sapphire. She sounded thrilled.

“I love her. And you may or may not get
her back. She’s already set me up two appointments for this week and has sent
them to my calendar. I love someone who will work with me.”

“She’s been making noises about leaving
the firm. Something about an office romance gone bad. Maybe if you still like
her by the end of the week, you and she can work something out.” Blair pulled
into his parking space as he continued and switched his phone to his ear piece.
“Are we still on for lunch then?”

“Yes if you don’t mind driving. I want
to try that new gyro place down from the mall. Do you have time to go that
far?” He’d go to the end of the world for her if she wanted him to. “We can do
closer if you don’t have the time.”

“That sounds perfect. We should be
finished here around then, so we’ll leave from here. I don’t think I have
another appointment until three or so.” And if he did, then he’d just
reschedule. “I’ll expect you soon then?”

“I’m leaving here in ten minutes. I
found the mock-ups and the little containers that I made up to have a visual. I
hope this firm is seriously opened minded. I’m not much of an artist when it comes
to food.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine.” He ended the
call just as he was going into his office. He pulled up his calendar to see
what he had going after lunch and saw that the whole day had been cleared for Thad
Galloway of Galloway Industries.

Blair leaned back in his chair to wait
for Sapphire. He thought about the past week with her and her sisters and
realized how much more he wanted. Sapphire was everything he never realized
he’d wanted in a female, much less a mate.

He thought about using her bathroom last
night. It had smelled like her, and he’d nearly gone to find her to see if the
shampoo on the little shelf was what her hair smelled like. And her skin was as
soft as the bottle of body soap said it would be. Christ, he missed touching
her. He found himself trying to find reasons to brush against her, touch her
when she handed him something or passed him a bowl at dinner. She was driving
him insane.

He supposed insane was a mild word for
what she was doing to him, and he was depressed to think that he wasn’t having
the same effect on her. She seemed to be oblivious to him and what she was
doing to him simply by being herself. When he looked in the doorway, he saw her
standing there, and he suddenly needed to not just touch her, but to taste her
as well. Standing slowly, he moved toward her.

“You should probably know that they gave
me a badge downstairs that is mine. Your security personnel said that it would
save me time.” He nodded at her, not really having a clue what she was talking
about, nor caring for that matter. “I think they need to take a better picture
of me because this one is a little…a little…what are you doing, Blair?”

“Touching you.” He ran his fingers down
her arm and up again. “Do you know how delicious you smell right now? Like a
field after the rain has come through.”

He touched his mouth to hers, pulled her
out of the doorway, and closed it behind her. She went into his arms willingly,
and he felt his heart rate pick up. When she moaned, he took a step toward the
door and pressed her against it. Christ, she fit him like a warm glove.

He wanted to tell her he wanted her, but
couldn’t tear his mouth from hers. Her tongue moved with his until he couldn’t
tell whose was whose. Lifting her leg up, he wrapped it over his hip and rocked
into her warm flesh and looked down at her.

Her lips were swollen from his mouth,
her breasts were heaving, and he could see her nipples as they poked against
the silk of her blouse. Blair ran his thumb over the hard peak and watched her
face. Sapphire cupped his hand over her and held him there.

“I can’t stand this. All I think about
is you and sex.” He was shocked by her admission, but before he could tell her
he felt the same way, she rocked into him. “Blair, do you have any idea what you’re
doing to me?”

“Yes. Christ, you’re making me feel the
same things.” Picking her other leg up, he took her throat when she wrapped her
ankles around him. “I want to be inside of you in the worst possible way.”

“Please,” she begged him, and he moved
them toward the couch. Laying her back on it, he moved over her just as someone
knocked on his door. Sapphire growled low and he couldn’t have agreed more.

“We’re having a meeting right now.” She
looked at him with eyes that were glazed and needy looking. “Sapphire, I don’t
want to stop this either, but Justine will only continue knocking until we open
the door.”

As if she heard him, she knocked again.
This time was harder, and they both heard her giggle. Blair was going to kill
her if she said one word to him. Lifting his body from Sapphire’s, he kissed
her hard and took a step back. He wanted to help her adjust her clothing, but
he had a feeling he’d be removing it rather than making her look presentable. She
glared at him when he reached for her again. He dropped his hands from just
reaching to run them through her hair again. Christ oh mighty, she looked
deliciously tousled.

“You’re going to have to do something
with your hair. I’m afraid that I mussed you a bit.” He pointed to his personal
bathroom, and when she stepped around him, he did pull her to him and kissed
her again. “Just so you know, lunch is out of the question. I’m going to be
hard pressed to make it through this meeting without taking you on the table.”

She walked around him, giving him a wide
berth. It might have been funny if he didn’t blame her for it. He tried to calm
both his wolf and his cock. Both of them were aching for the woman, and he
tried to take several deep breaths when Justine knocked again. He opened the
door just as Sapphire came out of the bathroom looking as fresh as she’d looked
when he’d first touched her. She smiled at Justine and took the hand of Thad.
He was smiling and Blair wondered what Justine had told him about them. When he
winked at them, he knew. Damn it, he was embarrassed for some reason.

“Hello, beautiful.” Thad kissed Sapphire’s
hand, and Blair had to tell his wolf that the man was human and had no idea that
he was poking the bear, so to speak. “I heard great things about your company.”

“It’s not my company, but Blair’s. I
just do some freelance work with him and a few other companies. We’ve worked
well together on this project for you.” Sapphire led him to the table just as
Justine brought in a large box and another of his staffers brought in some long
tubes that art was generally stored in. Blair watched her do what he was sure
was a gift. She would make this work, and he was sure that the client would
never know it was only a concept until an hour ago.

~~~

She was nervous. Sapphire was looking at
the deal of her life, and it wasn’t the client she was thinking about. When she
and Blair came together, and there was no doubt in her mind that they would, it
would be forever. She glanced at him when Thad picked up her mock-up of the
container. Blair was looking at her as if she were a tasty morsel of steak.

“How much would you think something like
this would go for?” She had to drag her eyes from Blair to look at Thad. “Do
you think this would be something that would be a toss-away? Or were you
proposing something more?”

“More. The larger tray would be something
that they could purchase once and then refill with different products every day
if they wanted. I thought of colors, too, for children’s lunch boxes, as well
as some that you could offer with licensing logo, such as football teams or
even local high school. It would be expensive if you didn’t have your own in-house
artist, but I think in the long run you’ll be a major contender in this. People
are trying to eat smarter. You’re going to be offering them a way to eat what
they want in a container that can also save on the environment.” She picked up
the smaller container and dropped it into the larger one in his hand. “The way
you make the four or six blocks can invite a great many things. Colors for
instance. Veggies in green, fruit in red, and even some of the more popular
dips in a cream or white. Don’t make the smaller ones reusable for the simple
fact that people will, and you’re here to make a profit.”

He sat there for several minutes playing
with the different combinations. She’d brought her containers filled with
carrots and celery so he could see what she meant. When a small touch to her
mind stirred, she felt a shiver over her body like she’d been touched.

I’ve forgotten about our link. I’ve only
ever used it with my dad, and never thought about the fact that you and I have
one.
She felt his touch as if he’d actually done it.
I’m going to give you a fat
bonus if he goes for this deal. What would you like?