There's Something About Werewolves: Seven Brides for Seven Shifters, Book 1 (11 page)

“Because?”

“I still plan to dance at your wedding one day.”

“You’ve been saying that since the day we met. I used to think you planned on being the groom. Now I know it’s your way of pushing me away. You keep me close but not too close.”

She waited but he made it clear he had no intention of answering.

“What are your reasons for accepting this?” she asked. “It’d be easier to stay away from me.”

He shifted. He hadn’t expected Lennox to have questions. If he didn’t get inside her soon, he’d have blue balls. Exactly like the teenager he seemed to revert to in her presence. He measured his answer to hide his conflicting emotions. He didn’t want to give her hope but he didn’t want to hurt her, either. “Everything in my life is difficult. I’m not looking for anything easy now.”

She gave him a stony gaze, waiting for the real answer.

He smoothed the fine sheen of hair that had already started to grow along the line of his jaw and exhaled. “I want this because I suddenly have my own fantasies about you. When did you turn into this irresistibly sexy woman?”

“You weren’t paying attention.”

“Maybe not, but you’re my one distraction now.”

She grinned and he melted. “You want me?” she asked. “I mean, specifically me. Not just anyone with boobs and a pulse?”

He glanced skyward and confessed. “It’s bad, Elle. It’s real bad.” Reclaiming her hand, he pressed it to length of him.

“Then deal,” she said, standing on tiptoe to kiss cleft in his chin. “I mean we have a deal.”

Oh good god, thank you. Unlike the lies teenaged boys told their girlfriends Garrett really did think his junk was going to fall off. He took her face in both hands and leaned in.

A knock rattled the door. “Garrett, Lennox,” Cash said. “The sheriff’s here to see you. He says his business won’t keep.”

Fuck the world. Did it hate him?

Chapter Ten

It took several creative maneuvers and the help of his boxer brief waistband to get Garrett tucked inside his pants. Lennox giggled at his look of discomfort.

“I’m funny, huh?”

She nodded.

“Well, you’ve got nipples hard enough to cut glass and a pair of damp spots on your shirt.”

The smile melted off her face and she sucked in one corner of her lower lip. That would teach her to laugh at him.

Lennox crossed her arms and tucked her hands under her armpits to cover her chest as they moved to the door. He gave her a once-over. “Yeah, ’cause twisting yourself into a pretzel isn’t conspicuous at all.”

“Well, what do you want me to do? It’s not like I have a jacket or anything.” She huffed, blowing a stray curl off her forehead. “How’s my hair?”

Funnily enough she reminded him of an alley cat who’d lost a catfight with a tiger. Since he was the tiger in question, he rather liked the effect of her hair smashed to one side where he’d caught the curls between his fingers and brought her in for a kiss.

His body twitched beneath the elastic of his waistband. Shit, who knew her kisses would blow his brains out and set his skull on fire. Somebody should have warned him tangling with Lennox would fry his mind. He might’ve kept the promise he’d made himself if he’d known how much damage she could do.

She cleared her throat. “Hi. Yeah, so, my hair?”

“You look crazy as hell. Hold on a sec.” He ran his fingers through her hair, combing it into some semblance of order. Taking her face in both hands, he turned her head side to side, examining his handiwork.

“Better?” she asked with a faint smile.

He shrugged. “It’ll have to do.”

The minute they walked into the living room Garrett knew fixing their clothes and hair had been a waste of time. Cash wouldn’t look at him. He covered his mouth with the back of his hand. Above his shaking fingers his eyes danced with silent laughter.

Jules kept glancing at Cash as though trying to figure out what had the idiot so amused.

The robust man holding a pale cowboy hat gave Lennox the disapproving glare of a father. This had to be the sheriff.

Nox covered his ears with both hands.

Every shifter in the room had heard his and Lennox’s negotiations. Well, damn. That was embarrassing.

Nox shook his head in disbelief. “It can’t be unheard. My whole life needs parental controls.”

“Boy,” Garrett said, giving his son the same glare the sheriff gave Lennox.

“I don’t know what went down in that office…” Jules stepped forward to pat Lennox on the arm, “…but I want a play-by-play recap when I see you later tonight, Leni.”

The smaller woman grabbed her bag off one of the horseshoe chairs and headed for the door. “I’ve got to get out of here and go manage the diner. Later, peeps.”

Cash watched her disappear through the front door. When he looked at Garrett his mirth hadn’t lessened a bit.

The man with the cowboy hat took center stage and extended his hand. “I’m Stan Hewett, the sheriff of LuPines.” The sheriff had clearly been all muscle in his prim but he now carried a considerable layer of fat over his stout body.

They shook. The sheriff put more strength in the hold than necessary. Garrett didn’t miss the message of dominance in the handshake. It seemed the whole town wanted to protect Lennox from the biggest baddest wolf they’d ever seen.

They could all kiss his ass.

“How can you be the sheriff and the exterminator?” Nox asked. “And why does the whole house smell of bacon all of a sudden?”

Cash went into a coughing fit in order to hide a fresh round of guffaws. Garrett shot his second-in-command a look that didn’t do much more than make Cash’s shoulders shake behind a wall of silent amusement. The Sheriff coughed too but more to dispel the embarrassment dotting his weathered cheeks.

“Well, son,” he said to Nox. “It’s a small town and my daddy was an exterminator. I didn’t want to give up the family business.”

Nox nodded in response. After a couple of sniffs he quickly reiterated to his second puzzlement. “Did you have sausage for breakfast, Sheriff Stan the Exterminator?”

The Sheriff blanched.

“Stan doesn’t eat pork,” Lennox said. “I’ve been trying to feed him breakfast at the Peach Pit for years. He won’t even stop by. You’d think he had something against my cooking. I guess he just doesn’t dig on swine.”

Stan’s lips firmed into a thin line. Cash choked. He made excuses to leave the room before he peed himself with laughter. Garrett glowered after his friend. That fool had travelled the world and dined with royalty yet he still didn’t know how to behave like a gentleman. Anybody could tell the sheriff’s boar shifter nature had confused Nox. His son had never met a wild boar shifter before, and boars were close cousins to pigs. The nose didn’t lie. No need for Cash to act idiotic about it and embarrass both the boy and the lawman.

“Are you Muslim or maybe Orthodox?” Nox picked up where Lennox left off. “Or is it because you think pigs are filthy animals?”
Dammit,
he and his godmother were too much alike for comfort. Neither of them could get past their curiosity long enough to take a cue to shut up.

“Nox,” Garrett said.

His son looked at him but kept rambling. “Cash says they’re about the filthiest animal on a farm.” He faced the sheriff again. “Oh, a man in Oregon got eaten by a pig. Is that why you don’t like them?”

“Oh my gosh, Stan,” Lennox said, her eyes flaring wide. “Is that why? Do you not want to eat pork in case a pig comes looking for revenge one day?”

The sheriff sputtered. Who could blame him?

“Gran,” Garrett bellowed. The boar shifter needed rescuing before the two Lennoxes gave him a stroke. Gran appeared as quickly as a lady her age could. “What are you bellowing for?”

“Take your grandson somewhere as far away from this room as the two of you can get,” Garrett said. “Please.”

The elder Averdeen waved Nox over. “What did I say?” he asked as he jogged to join her. She put her arms around his shoulders and led him down the hall.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I’ve only known you for three days and I’m guessing it was something loud and insulting all at once.”

Leaning in she whispered so low even Garrett had to strain to hear. “That’s awesome,” Nox shouted in response. “Do you think he’ll show me?”

Garrett shook his head. Lennox gave him a look. “What did he say?”

Stan cut her off and changed the subject. “Mr. Westlake, as I understand it you and Ian Somers have a certain understanding.” He fixed Garrett with a raised eyebrow stare. “That right?”

“I believe you know it is, Sheriff.” Garrett said. He allowed his body to appear relaxed but he tensed inside. Anything to do with Mr. Chuckles seemed to bring him trouble.

“You weren’t coerced in any way?” The sheriff rested his hands on the paunch of his belly.

“No, I wasn’t.” Garrett pointed to the chairs surrounding the coffee table carved from the trunk of a redwood. Stan nodded and took a seat on the couch running parallel to it. Lennox sat beside the sheriff. Curiosity clearly lit her face. Garrett took a place at the head, in one of the leather horseshoe chairs.

“All right then.” Stan had a habit of looking you straight in the eye when he spoke. As a man, Garrett appreciated his directness, but as a wolf his hackles rose to meet the implied challenge. The sheriff should know better. Then again, a battle between an alpha wolf and a prime boar could go either way. Stan knew it as well as he did.

“Lennox will tell you I don’t beat around bushes. No how.”

The woman in question nodded. “Very true,” she said.

Garrett waited silently, choosing to keep his gaze on the sheriff.

“I’m pretty sure your son set that fire in Leni’s kitchen. You going to tell me that ain’t so?”

“Of course it’s not,” Lennox said. “I was cooking and started a grease fire. That’s all. Nox had nothing to do with it.” The accelerated beat of her heart gave her away. Garrett winced, knowing the sheriff’s acute shifter hearing wouldn’t miss it. Lennox wasn’t used to lying. Hell, she never lied. Just like she never cried.

“Lennox Anjali Averdeen,” Stan gruffed. “That’s the first I’ve ever heard you tell a lie. I’m real disappointed in you.”

Lennox puffed up with feigned indignation. “Stanley Hewett, you don’t call me a liar to my face. What happened to your Southern manners?” The sheriff chewed the inside of his jaw. Lennox went on. “I told you I was cooking when that fire started. My word should end your worries.”

His Elle put up a good front but her reaction pointed to her shame at disappointing the sheriff more than any real upset at being called out. Garrett patted her leg. “Let it go, Elle. Okay? I’ve got this.”

She nodded and leaned back into the plush couch.

Stan looked back and forth between the two of them before he went on. “Mr. Westlake, you know that doesn’t make sense. Now does it? According to Dr. Reardon, Leni had a concussion and a neck sprain. I don’t care how fast she heals. She wasn’t in that kitchen. Nox started that fire and I mean to get to the truth of it.”

Sensing the man hadn’t finished, Garrett waited.

“If y’all are bent on lying to me, then I’ll have to start an arson investigation and get to the bottom of things that way.” Stan fixed them with another stern glare.

Lennox swallowed in an audible gulp. Garrett didn’t like the sound of an official investigation either. He leaned forward. “I’m guessing you’re ready to put a less litigious option on the table.”

“I might be,” the sheriff said.

“Why don’t you let this one go, Stan?” Lennox asked, her voice both convincing and warm. “Averdeen Manor was my house and Gran and I are okay.”

“I’m concerned about you, Leni.” He took a turn to pat her knee. “Not only did your house burn down but you fell and hurt yourself the night before.”

“So what? I had a clumsy moment. It happens.”

“Leni, I’ve never seen you so much as lose your balance, let alone fall down and hurt yourself. On top of that you called me out at the crack of the sun’s butt to take care of a dog. And well…” He glanced at Garrett. “Something ain’t right. And knowing what I know—”

Lennox huffed in frustration. “What do you know, Detective Converse?”

“That’s Detective Inspector Reebok,” Stan shot back at her. “I know you need extra looking after. That boy doesn’t know his own strength. He’s going to Camp Big Bad or I’m starting an arson investigation and that’s the end of it.”

“Camp Big Bad? With all the other kids from Ian’s crew?”

Garrett didn’t wait for an answer to Lennox’s question. “Are you threatening me, Sheriff?” he asked with deceptive calm. Lennox shot him a look out of the corner of her eye and shook her head. She knew from the tone of his voice his temper had escalated to dangerous levels. Some connections, like the bond between them, never faded.

The sheriff didn’t back down. His words came out slow and deliberate. “No, sir. I’m not threatening you. But you confirmed you and Ian came to an agreement. Well, consider this a part of it. He’ll be with kids like him at Camp Big Bad. I don’t have to tell you why that’s important. And don’t you forget Lennox is one of my people.” Stan rose and looked down at him. “I take care of my people.”

Garrett unfurled out of the chair. His six-foot-five-inch frame dwarfed the shorter man. “This town is going to have to learn, I’ll take care of both Lennox and my son.” A white wall of anger rose, steaming over his vision.

“Well, I have to tell you, sir,” the sheriff intoned. “I still ain’t sure whether or not Lennox would be safer without you and your son.”

Garrett let loose a derisive laugh. Lennox touched his arm. Their eyes met and the white-hot steam encasing his mind dissipated—mostly because her own anger had begun to simmer beneath the fringe of her lashes. Her cheeks flushed with it.

Stan spoke up. “Scoff if you want, Mr. Westlake. But that’s the way it is in LuPines. We look after one another.”

“Garrett, Sheriff, I’m getting tired of being the subject of conversations I don’t understand. And if Ian were here, I’d tell him the same. You three act like I’m a bone in a den of hungry wolves.” She gestured to the couch and chair with both hands. “Sit. Both of you.” They didn’t argue. When they both sat she continued. “Why are you fighting over protecting me? I’m fine and Nox is no danger to me whatsoever.”

Neither of them volunteered an answer. “Somebody better explain what the hell is going on or I’m going to start handing out beat downs.”

Stan folded his arms and sniffed. “You wouldn’t assault an officer of the law.”

“Well, Stan, that depends. Are your shins an officer of the law?”

He jumped to his feet. “What?”

It didn’t take a time machine to predict what came next. Garrett concealed a grin behind his knuckles as Lennox drew back and kicked the sheriff in the shins with everything in her.

The sheriff yelped, bouncing on one leg and sputtered. It had to hurt, even for a shifter. Lennox had always been freakishly strong.

Not nearly done, she shoved her wrists into the sheriff’s face. “C’mon, Stan. Cuff me.”

And he did.