Shifter’s Surrender (8 page)

You have now entered into a new low
, she chided herself.
How are you going to explain this one? Better yet, didn’t Dean lock the damn door?

“Are you …” Dean’s voice came to a halt in mid-sentence. “Rita?”

“Oh hi, Dean. Uhm. I just wanted to drop the weekly report off before I left for lunch.”

“Ah,” at his pause Kaylie could imagine him looking frantically around the room, wondering what happened to the woman who, just seconds ago, was splayed out on his desk, limp as the proverbial wet noodle. She hoped his jeans were buttoned. Now all he had to do was explain the butt print on his shiny desk. She smothered a nervous giggle.

“Thank you, Rita.” There was a long pause as Kaylie put on her shoes. Then, “Was there something else?”

Go away now
, Kaylie willed the woman to leave. She adjusted her hips and slouched against the back of the knee well so she wouldn’t have to stay hunched over. When she did, something round and hard dug into her shoulder. Wincing, she reached over to feel what pressed into her skin.

“Oh. Uhm. Well. Is everything okay? I mean, you don’t have a shirt on and ah …” Rita’s voice trailed off on a long sigh, and Kaylie halted her blind fumbling as a surge of jealousy took hold. She knew exactly what Rita was doing. She was staring at Dean’s naked chest and probably salivating. Bitch. That lean, muscular chest belonged to Kaylie!

“I spilled something and was just cleaning up.” Kaylie heard a whisper of fabric and narrowed her eyes. That better be Dean putting his shirt on.

“Is that why all your papers are on the floor?”

“Ah, yeah. Exactly. Didn’t want to spill anything on them.”

Rita made some small sound of sympathy and when she next spoke, her voice took on a decidedly husky timbre. Kaylie ground her teeth to keep from snarling out loud. “Let me take care of those for you.”

“No! I mean, that’s quite all right. I’ll take care of them.”

Kaylie grimaced at his sharp tone, realizing too late that her purse was under those papers.

“You’re so self sufficient, Dean. Don’t you ever want someone to take care of you?”

Okay, Kaylie was going to get up and hurt someone. Namely, a little miss slut trying to worm in on her man. Erm, shifter. Whatever.

As if knowing the direction of Kaylie’s thoughts, and finally locating her, Dean stepped around the desk and stood in front of the knee well, blocking her exit. She stuck out her tongue but remained still. Until he drew his chair up and sat in it. Kaylie frowned in irritation for a few seconds until it dawned on her that she was staring at Dean’s groin. Nice. A wicked smile curled her lips.

He stretched in his chair as he leaned forward. “No, I don’t need taking care of. Thanks for this.” More silence as Kaylie contemplated the button front of Dean’s jeans, and the slowly increasing bulge underneath the fabric. Dean had to know Kaylie was hiding under here. There was no other place in the office she could have used for cover. Was that why he was getting turned on, or was it because of Rita? Kaylie drew her brows together as she tried to picture the older sister of Gina Williams, the latter once a waitress at Dolen’s Cafe and onetime dupe of Matt West, a man who’d been instrumental in a human death not five months ago. A death that had resulted in the execution of Frank Kolter, former Alpha of Woodcliff, by shifter law and the disappearance of the actual killer, Kyle Kolter, who also happened to be said former Alpha’s eldest son. What a mess that had been.

If memory served right, Rita Williams was a pretty brunette, single and somewhat wild. For a while she’d hung around the Kolter boys, there were three, before straightening herself out and getting an Associate’s in Finance. Now it sounded like she’d set her sights on Dean.

Over my dead body,
Kyle vowed.

Dean sighed. “What Rita?”

“Oh, I almost forgot.”

Kaylie heard the woman sit in one of the visitor’s chairs, and Kaylie rolled her eyes in disbelief. She alternately wanted to laugh and scream at the predicament she found herself in. Once again she adjusted and contorted her body until her face was practically planted on Dean’s lap.

What the hell
, she grinned to herself.
When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.

“Forgot what?” Dean asked as just as Kaylie brushed her hand over his erection. “Stop.”

“Stop what?” Rita asked.

“Ah, nothing. Thinking to myself. Uhm. What where you saying?” Dean was speaking to Rita over the desk as Kaylie unbuttoned his pants under the desk. He was stuck now as he couldn’t fend Kaylie off lest he bring Rita’s attention to where he probably didn’t want it. And now that his cock had dropped into Kaylie’s waiting fingers, he couldn’t scoot back from the desk. He was in Kaylie’s hands now, figuratively as well as literally.

“Just that I’m helping out setting up the pie judges, and Victor has come down with a sore throat.”

Dean made some kind of pained response as Kaylie took him in her mouth.

“Dean?”

“Ah, yes. Victor. Pie judging contest. Your point?” Kaylie smiled around his cock, stiffening her tongue to stroke over the hard, hot length of him. He was so big and the angle so awkward she couldn’t get all of him. Slipping a hand between his taut thighs, she gripped his shaft and stroked, hand, tongue and mouth, in tandem. Her other hand was on his shin, kneading the rock-hard flesh as he tried to remain still.

“Oh, well, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble …”

“Spit it out.”

Kaylie nearly chuckled at that. Talk about a double entendre! So she spit him out and used her tongue to tickle the sensitive flesh just under the engorged head of his cock. He sucked in a harsh breath.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Just a bit of a headache,” Dean rasped as if in pain. Kaylie nearly snorted. More like a cockache. Poor baby. She wrapped her lips around the aching member and sucked, her cheeks hollowing, her lips gliding over the salty flesh, wet from her mouth. She wanted to touch him everywhere. The wickedness of the situation was really turning her on.

“You should take some aspirin.”

“Already did. Thanks. Back to … ah … your question?”

Kaylie knew Dean was probably going to kill her, but she was having way too much fun to stop. She couldn’t fondle his balls in this position but she was able to shove a couple of fingers under him and stroke the tight sack through the thick fabric. If the squeezing of his leg muscles was any indication, he liked that. So she kept going. His body started to shake slightly, and he tried to move his knees together to push her out of the way. Kaylie wasn’t having it. She wedged herself closer, adjusted his cock lower and managed to gain another inch.

“Well, I was hoping you would take Victor’s place. Judging the pies that is …”

Dean abruptly sat up, his hips bucking hard once before he stilled again. Then he was coming and she tasted the salty flavor of his come. “Yes!”

“You will? Fantastic. Be at the main tent on Sunday at two o’clock. And you might want to get some rest. You look a bit flushed.”

Kaylie heard retreating footsteps, a door shut, and then Dean shoved his chair back and glared at her with eyes gleaming with pleasure, lust, and irritation. “I don’t know if I should beat you or thank you.” His voice was low and heavy, his chest heaving as he drew in air. She shivered in awareness, more than anxious for round two. Unfortunately, she had to get back to work. She didn’t think Dr. Thomas would understand and approve that her late return was due to multiple orgasms.

Grinning at that thought, Kaylie scuttled out from the knee well and stood up. “As you’re pretty much my slave for next week a thank you would be appropriate and reciprocation a definite.”

“Then come here,” he growled out as he made to grab her.

She danced out of his reach. “As much as I would like that, I have to return to work.”

“Tonight then.”

While her body trembled with excitement, her mind was busy with other plans. “Unfortunately, I have to help mom finish up her pies tonight.” She tucked in her shirt. “And her pies are the best in the world.”

Dean licked his lips. “I beg to differ. Your pie is the best.”

Kaylie felt her face heat at his words, and at the undeniable lust in his eyes. “But,” she breathed out, “you can take me on a date tomorrow night.”

He stared at her for a blank moment. “Date?”

“Yeah. A date. Remember our bet? You can pick me up at seven. Dinner and a movie. We’ll keep it simple.”

Dean muttered something so low and guttural Kaylie couldn’t decipher his words.

“Oh, do you have any caving gear?” she asked innocently.

Another blank moment as he seemed to process her change in subject. “Any what?”

Kaylie looked up from gathering her purse from under the pile of papers on the floor and sighed with pleasure. His dick was still out of his pants and even at half-mast she craved him. Later, she promised herself. “Caving gear. We’ll be going to Kitchell Caves on Saturday morning. I’ll tell you more on our date tomorrow night.”

“Caving? Wait!” She heard him call out behind her as she hurried to the door. When she didn’t stop or answer, a loud thunk reached her ears. Glancing over her shoulder she saw Dean had dropped back in his chair, and his head rested on top of the desk, right on her butt print.

With a self-satisfied grin, she sailed through Tess’s outer office. It felt good to dominate the dominant.

Late Friday morning Kaylie received a phone call from her sister. “Did anything strange happen while you were here yesterday?’

“Uh.” Strange, no. Fantastic, hell yeah. “No. Why?”

“Dean’s office was ransacked.”

“What?” Kaylie glanced around her little office, more of a closet really, and lowered her voice to match her sister’s hissed whisper. “What do you mean ‘ransacked’?”

“As in books and binders tossed on the floor, papers shredded, pens thrown everywhere—”

Kaylie interrupted. “I get it. Was anything stolen?”

“Doesn’t look like it, and anything sensitive is either in the computers or in my file cabinets, and those weren’t touched. Dean has a laptop that he takes with him at night, and our IT guy says the server wasn’t accessed after Dean left around eight last night.”

Kaylie frowned. “So someone was looking for something physical in Dean’s office?”

“Seems so. Wait a sec.”

Kaylie heard murmuring on the line and thought about Rita Williams’ visit. Kaylie knew Dean had locked his office door, so either the woman had access to come and go, or she’d been the one to toss his office.

“Caleb just told me that the lock on one of the steel sliding doors to the lumber cutting room was torn off.”

“Torn off? Not cut off?”

“No, torn, like ripped off.”

Kaylie paused. “That would suggest someone with a lot of strength.”

Tess sighed. “Yeah. A shifter. Only there’s no scent. Caleb and Dean are pissed.”

Kaylie thought about how she’d feel in the same situation, and being pissed was putting it mildly. “Listen. This may not have anything to do with anything, but yesterday, when I was talking with Dean, uhm.” Unwilling to explain exactly what happened, Kaylie blurred the truth. “Well, his door was locked but Rita Williams came in anyway. She must have used her key to enter.”

Now it was Tess’s turn to pause. “There is no key. These doorknobs are the kind where you push a button in on the inside to lock the door and have a small round opening on the exterior where you can unlock them with a stickpin. It’s pretty useless to lock them so we never did. Which is why anything sensitive was stored in the server or file cabinets.”

“So, no key.”

“And no reason for her to enter his office. What did she say when she saw you?”

“Uh,” Kaylie shifted uncomfortably in her chair. “She didn’t. See me that is. I was, well, hiding you could say.” No need to explain where Kaylie had hid. It might have been titillating yesterday, but now it seemed juvenile.

“Oh.” Silence on the other end as Tess digested that bit of information, and knowing her sister, Tess was probably coming up with all sorts of scenarios. “Well.”

Kaylie cleared her throat. “Well indeed.”

Just then Dr. Thomas popped his head around the corner of her door. He saw she was on her cell so he pointed at his watch, placed his palms on either side of his head, fingers sticking straight out and silently barked. Kaylie nearly snickered at his antics, knowing he was informing her that their next appointment was here.

Giving her acknowledgment, Kaylie told her sister she had to go. “But call me if anything new happens or they find out who did it.”

While Fridays were notoriously slow, this particular afternoon seemed to crawl. Possibly because most of the town folk were finalizing their goodies for the various food and craft booths for the Woodcliff Fair this weekend, like her mom with her famous pies, or because Kaylie was anticipating her date with Dean.

If it was still on that was. Kaylie didn’t know if Dean would show up tonight in light of the trouble at his work, and she couldn’t call him to verify. Embarrassingly enough, Kaylie didn’t have the man’s phone number. Sure, she could call the lumber yard, but that seemed tacky, and asking her sister for Dean’s cell number seemed too high-schoolish. Nope. She would play the optimist and ready herself for a date. If this day would ever end.

About quarter to five Kaylie heard footsteps come up behind her as she made some final notations on one of her patients.

“I swear,” Rodney breathed out in a dramatic rush. “If my wife calls me one more time and asks when I’m getting home I’m strangling her.”

Kaylie laughed. She knew how much the doctor loved his wife, and knew too that he’d been spending his evenings for the last week threading beads instead of reading his books. “You’re just tired of making jewelry.”

“That’s the truth. I should be used to it. Myrna’s been doing this every year for the last fifteen years. She could fill the house with her creations and still think she doesn’t have enough to sell at the fair.” He looked heavenward. “Crazy woman. I really do adore her. And because she makes me nuts I’m going to call the workday over. For both of us.”

Kaylie raised a brow over eyes sparkling with humor. “Us?”

He shrugged. “If my wife is antsy about this weekend, I’m sure Ruth is as well. Her pies always sell out. I heard she was making two hundred this year.”

Kaylie groaned. “Two hundred and fifteen. I never thought I’d be sick of pies, but I’m riding the edge.”

Rodney let out a chuckle. “At least I won’t be alone in my misery. Pack up. I’m leaving in five minutes.”

“Will do.” Although she, maybe, had a date, Kaylie knew her mom would have “last second” pies to finish, her special ones. Each year her mom made extra pies and took them to the hospital in Togan for the staff. And then the staff not-so-secretly shared the pies with the patients. Ruth and Dolen were taking fifteen pies up there tonight after the last pie was out of the oven, which Kaylie knew was usually around eight or nine. Normally Kaylie or Jackie went with her mom, but this year Dolen was chauffeuring.

Kaylie smiled at the idea of her mom and Dolen O’Keefe. Talk about an odd couple, but they both had a love for food, and if Kaylie wasn’t mistaken, a love for each other. Maybe she should check around for a small apartment somewhere so the two lovebirds could have some privacy.

At that Kaylie made a gagging noise. She was not going there. Thinking about her mom and needing privacy with a man. Ugh.

Shutting off her computer and snatching up her purse, Kaylie determinedly pushed that thought out of her head and followed Rodney out the back door.

Once home she found her mom swaying her hips to the beat of a seventies song that blared out of the living room stereo. Grinning at the sight, Kaylie started cheering her mom on. Far from embarrassed, Ruth did a deliberate bump and grind move that had them both laughing.

“I think I might actually be on time,” Ruth stated, her face flushed from the heat in the kitchen and the impromptu dance. “Are you sure you don’t want to go with us to deliver the pies to the hospital?”

Kaylie dropped her purse on one kitchen chair—as the table and counters were full of pies, bowls, utensils and various ingredients—and slid into another. “I’ll pass thanks. I sort of have plans.”

Her mom paused in covering one of the pies with plastic wrap and glanced at Kaylie. “That sounds like you either don’t want to have these plans, or you really do. Which is it?”

Kaylie rubbed her ear in an unconscious fidget. “I really do.”

“And the plans would be?”

“I’m going out on a date with Dean.”

Ruth straightened and turned to face her daughter slowly. “As in the hot, young mayor and Alpha extraordinaire?”

Kaylie felt her cheeks redden and she sifted her eyes away. “That would be the one.”

“Well.” Ruth paused. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

With her hands clasped tightly together on her lap Kaylie answered. “It was a recent development. Yesterday actually.”

“So my youngest has an actual date. You have no idea how thrilled I am to hear that. But, Dean, really? Not that I disapprove at all, it’s just, you’ve had a thing for him for a long time and I would hate to see your heart broken.”

“Geez Mom, it’s only a date.”

Ruth turned back as the oven timer went off and replaced cooked pies with another four that needed to be baked. “And what will you be wearing on this date?”

Kaylie looked down at her jeans, and while fine for a friend date, she suddenly wanted to look attractive to Dean, and a bit more feminine. “Damn. I mean darn. Didn’t even think about that.”

“You have that nice green dress you wore at Christmas.”

Kaylie rolled her eyes. “Yes, and it has little reindeer in the velvet print. I don’t think so.”

“I forgot about that. What about that skirt outfit you have, the black one?”

Kaylie wedged her elbows on the table between plastic covered, metal pie tins and rested her chin on her hands. “Too business-like. I do have a jean skirt.”

Ruth sent a small frown Kaylie’s way. “Which would be fine for a daytime date.”

Mildly frustrated, Kaylie said, “Mom, we’re not getting married.” And where did that little twinge of regret come from? “It’s just a date.”

“
Au contraire
, my darling girl. It’s just the beginning. I know, I’ll call Tess. If she doesn’t have anything that fits you she can at least come by and put something together from your closet.”

Kaylie groaned and snapped her eyes shut. “Then she’ll want to put a bunch of make-up on me.”

“You said it, Kaylie, it’s a date. A night date. Make-up is a must.”

“I knew I should have kept my mouth shut,” Kaylie muttered.

“When did you say he’ll be by?’

“Seven.”

“Goodness. That doesn’t leave much time.”

“Its nearly two hours away!”

“Hmm. Except I still need your help filling these last pies. I need to call Tess and tell her what’s going on. She needs time to look through her closet and get over here …”

Luckily the phone rang, interrupting her mom’s verbal planning. Ruth plucked it from the handset. “Hello?”

While her mom chatted, Kaylie began to transfer the cooled pies from the table into the laundry room where a huge refrigerator sat, bursting with finished pies. She purposely avoided thinking about her date and what to wear, and most importantly, whether she would get Dean completely naked this time?

A sigh escaped and Kaylie leaned against a warm dryer, still ticking from its recent load. Even though it happened only yesterday, the erotic interlude in Dean’s office seemed more like a dream, one she wanted to repeat again and again. And then hold an encore performance. As she replayed all the scenes in her head, she wanted to die of embarrassment. She’d never done anything like that before, thinking public sex beyond naughty. But the things she wanted to do to Dean, and him to her, where new and hot and thoroughly arousing. The mating heat was no doubt a big part of the reason for her behavior, but Kaylie was more than willing to ride it out and take as much enjoyment with Dean anywhere she could for as long as she could.

She didn’t know how long she’d stood there mooning over the man when her mom called her name. Kaylie glanced down and noticed the freshly folded clothes. When had she done that?

Shaking her head at herself, Kaylie walked back out into the kitchen. “Yeah?”

“That was Jackie. And then Dolen. Then Kelli Powers and then Tess …”

“Got it.” How long was she in the laundry room? Kaylie looked at the clock and her eyes widened. It was after six! She really needed to work on her focusing skills. “What’s going on?”

Ruth began clearing the counters. “A group of kids were up at the lake today, swinging from some rope and one fell into a bunch of poison ivy. Unfortunately none of the kids, nor the four adults who were nearby, realized it was poison ivy until they all rushed over to check on the fallen kid. All in all, six kids and three adults contracted the rash. One of them was Martin Reynolds, Jackie’s husband, who knew better but was more concerned about the kid. Anyhow, Dolen called Tess to ask if she could cover for Martin as cook tonight at the cafe so she’s on her way there.”

Kaylie blinked at the rush of information. “Okay.” She said, drawing the word out in a and-why-does this-concern-me tone.

“Honey, Kelli Powers’ daughter works as a waitress at Dean’s bar and she told me that it was Fred Dyson’s son who fell from the rope. Not only does the poor child have poison ivy, but his left arm is broke.”

“Again, okay. And your point is?”

Ruth turned puzzled eyes to her daughter. “Kaylie, Fred is Dean’s cook.”

“Oh.” Kaylie frowned as it finally hit her and said it again with more force. “Oh! So Dean needs a cook. But wait. Wouldn’t he have a backup?”

“Yes, except Audrey and her husband where the other two adults up at the lake who contracted poison ivy. I don’t know who or if anyone is manning the kitchen at the bar, or if it’s a chaotic mess.”

Kaylie jerked her shoulders back. “Bad day to be a cook.”

“Seems like. But it sounds like your date with Dean isn’t going to happen. I don’t know if he can cook, but you’d better contact him and find out if he needs help. If I remember right, the bar has simple fare. Hamburgers, wings, and fish. You’ve helped out at Dolen’s before so it’s nothing new to you.”

“Right.” Kaylie dug her phone out of her purse and simply stared at it. “Crap.”

“What is it?”

The result of telling your mom that you don’t have a phone number for the man you planned on playing tonsil hockey with later on tonight? Not good.

A beep sounded from her phone indicating an incoming text and Kaylie immediately clicked on it. Shockingly enough—not—it was from Dean:

Need to cancel tonight. Short staffed. Poison ivy incident.

Kaylie smirked. Old news now. She typed back:
Need a cook?

There was silence as she waited for his answer. Either he was surprised she already knew what happened or he didn’t want to bother her.

After an agonizingly long twenty seconds his response came:
Yes!!!

She typed back:
Be there in 30.

Talking to her mom, Kaylie grabbed her purse and laptop bag. “Dean needs a cook. Can you finish the pies on your own? I need to hop in the shower, change and get over to the bar, ASAP.”

Ruth sighed. “So much for being on time for a change.”

Kaylie froze. “I can tell Dean I’ll be a bit later.”

But Ruth was already making shooing gestures with her hands. “No, go ahead. One thing the Gentry’s know how to be is flexible.”