Three Shifters for Sarah (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (21 page)

* * * *

Each day that week Sarah received a couple e-mails from TJ. They were just filled with little nothings about what he and the guys were up to back at the ranch. One of their mares had given birth to a foal. TJ had been there to assist with the birth and gave her all the gory, wonderful details. Another email described how Lance had found the lost child of one of their hands after the little boy had wondered too far into the forest. These were just little inconsequential anecdotes of what the cowboys were doing, but Sarah found herself smiling over every word. When she got off work in the evening, she would rush home looking forward to receiving the next one.

Lance started sending her eCards. It started the first day the cowboys returned to the ranch and continued every day thereafter. One was a teddy bear holding a sign saying “Thinking of you.” Another was a hippopotamus singing “Can’t get you out of my mind.” These cards made Sarah laugh and removed the monotony from her sometimes tedious days, but more importantly made her feel like she wasn’t alone. Someone out there cared for her. There were three someones out there who cared for her even if they were two thousand miles away and living in a different world.

When the weekend rolled around, Sarah was happy to have some downtime. Payday had been that Friday, and Saturday morning she decided to stroll the streets near her apartment and do some window shopping. She didn’t really need to buy anything, and after she paid her bills knew she wouldn’t have the cash to afford much, but the need to get out of her apartment on a pleasant summer day propelled her.

The country western store caught her eye, and she couldn’t resist the urge to go inside. They were having a sale and the jeans, denim shirts and jackets, along with the leather belts and boots took her mind back to the romance of the west.

She didn’t need any more country western attire, had bought her closet’s fill before she left on her vacation to Montana, but it was like she couldn’t stop herself. If one lived on a ranch out west, what would be practical to wear? she asked herself. Not just the fun clothes people wore on a holiday, she already had too many of them, but the day-to-day essentials that would make life easier.

First she bought a couple pairs of jeans, not the designer brands people in the city favored, her pick was of a tough, economical material that could survive the rough-and-tumble life among cowboys. Second she bought a heavy denim jacket. It could get awfully cold out on the Great Plains. Lastly she picked up a pair of ladies’ full-grain leather all-weather boots.

Something had compelled her, an unknown impulse to take action in her life. It was like her mind had taken a vacation and allowed her heart to do all the work. Still unformed, a plan had taken root in her, and she resolved to follow it to wherever it took her. She resolved to be true to herself.

That night she stayed up late. She was an accountant after all and knew she should be able to work something creative out with her personal financial situation. She got online with her bank account, checked her small savings account, and added those numbers together over and over until her eyes became blurry.

A big decision confronted her, and she wanted to be sure she would have enough money to make the move. When she got out there, she would have to find a job within a couple of months or risk being flat broke, but she’d deal with that problem if it arose. Right now she was going to follow her heart, and it was leading her to Montana.

“That’s my resignation letter,” Sarah told her boss first thing Monday morning when she walked into the office.

Kathy, Sarah’s boss who had been a mentor to Sarah over the five years she’d spent with the firm, was disappointed. “Are we losing you to another firm?” she asked.

“I’ve fallen in love,” Sarah told her proudly. “I understand that resigning now isn’t the sensible career move to make. But I’m following my heart and moving to Montana.”

Kathy gave her a hug. “Congratulations, Sarah,” she told her warmly. “We’re so sorry to be losing you. You have been our best bookkeeper in this department for years now.”

“Thanks, Kathy.”

“I know love is more important than our careers,” Kathy went on, and Sarah thought she was about to cry. “You are a talented and smart woman. You can restart your career anytime. But sometimes love only comes around once.”

Sarah hugged her boss back. “I agree with you, Kathy. This is my time to be in love, and as they say out west I’m going to seize the bull by both horns.”

Kathy had her close her door and kept Sarah on for over an hour discussing work and reminiscing about old times at the office. In light of Sarah’s years of exemplary work at the firm, Kathy called up payroll and arranged for a bonus to be deposited along with Sarah’s last paycheck. When it was all over Sarah wanted to cry, too. This office had been like a home away from home and the people in it an extended family, and she would miss them all. In many ways she felt like she was about to start her life over, and the feeling was exciting and scary all at the same time.

When she left Kathy’s office, Sarah had never felt better about her decision to take this chance on her love for her three shape-shifters. The men had taken a chance on her when they dropped everything on their ranch and flew up to New York. They had pursued her hot and heavy and left her with no doubt but that they loved her deeply and wanted a future with only her in their lives.

Now it was Sarah’s turn to show them that she loved them with every bit as much passion. She would be turning her life upside down, but for them it was worth it. Her future was no longer in New York. It was out west with her men. The good life she had dreamed of with the nice home, the family, and lots of her own children running around was still in the cards for her. She would embrace her future with every ounce of energy she had.

Back in the row of cubes where Sarah’s peers toiled through another workday Sarah made her announcement to all her friends. There were a lot of tears and a lot of hugs. The male employees shook her hand and told her congratulations. Ruth hugged her and told her she was making the right decision. For her part Sarah told them all she loved them.

Sarah had given the firm two weeks’ notice, and Ruth began making preparations for a party on her last day. In the meantime Sarah knew she was going to be swamped with work trying to finish up all her final reports and last-minute ledgers for the big bosses upstairs, and she fully expected the next two weeks to fly by.

* * * *

Sarah worked late that night, not leaving the office until after seven. Finally getting free of her workstation, she took the elevator down to the city and stepped outside. She looked at the skyscrapers and the mad rush of people differently now. They had become so much a part of her everyday life that she had gotten used to them.

In two weeks this landscape would all be gone for good, left behind for the majestic beauty and soul-satisfying peace of the Great Plains. Life up here in The Big Apple had a lot of pitfalls, but she knew them all. What her life would turn into out in Montana was still an unknown.

She had not told the men yet. Her correspondence with them had been very little. Mostly it consisted of her answering their many emails and telling them she was well. If something happened and she wasn’t able to make the move, if an alter-ego personality took control of her and gave her a change of heart, it would be too painful for the guys. She didn’t want to disappoint them like that. So she had decided to keep the move to herself. Besides, it would be a nice surprise to see the looks on their faces when she walked into the corral at the Circle T.

Riding home on the subway that night the second thoughts she’d worried about were starting to blast away at her resolve. Out there in the wilds she would be alone and the only person around who didn’t have special abilities. How would the other members of the wolf pack take to her since she was not and could never be one of them?

Her men were great, and she loved all three of them dearly. Yet about many things they thought differently than she did. Their boundaries for what was and was not acceptable were set in a different place than hers.

What if she got out there and other males of the wolf pack became interested in her? TJ told her that few female shifters were living out there with them. That meant the pack probably had a lot of horny males.

The men were into sharing her. Lance even told her he would have gladly shared his wife with other men. Jealousy seemed to be an unknown feeling with them. How would she handle it if they wanted to share her with other males in the pack? To her it would be a betrayal of the worst kind, but to the men it might seem like a part of the natural way of things. If she fully embraced this life would she end up feeling like a piece of property to be used at will? How many men could she handle before the relationships became impersonal and devoid of love and meaning?

Stepping off the train at her station that night, Sarah’s demons had come out full force. She pulled her bag over her shoulder and tried telling herself to be strong and keep her chin up. Her men were special. They wouldn’t let anything bad happen to her.

Still there was a quiver in her stomach. She walked the few blocks south from the station and arrived at her building. Tonight the elevator was working and she took it up to her floor.

The shadow of a man inside her apartment startled her as she entered her door.

“Didn’t mean to scare you, honey,” her father said, coming to greet her and give her a big hug.

“Hey, Dad, what are you doing here?” she asked, hugging him back.

Sometimes her father came into the city and looked after her apartment for her. She had given him a spare key when she first moved in, and it was always a good surprise to see him.

“Finally got all those long fire drills out of the way back home. This is the first night I’ve had free in weeks so I thought I’d drive into the city and see my girl.” He walked out to the kitchen area. “And I bought some groceries down at the market and am making us pasta for dinner.”

Sarah set her bag aside and flopped down in her comfortable chair. “You’re the best, Dad.” She hadn’t told him yet, and this would be the perfect time. “Actually I was going to call you tonight and have a talk.”

“Well I’m glad I came by. I had something I wanted to talk with you about, too.” He was stirring the pasta and adding garlic to the pot. “You go first. What news do you have for your old man?”

“Mine is pretty major. You might want to go first.”

“Actually, sweetheart, mine is kind of major, too.”

Sarah cast a suspicious glance over the back of her chair at her father, but decided to just go for it and hope her dad would understand. “I’m moving to Montana, Dad.”

Her father set aside the stirring spoon and came around from the kitchen. “That is big news. I take it this sudden decision has to do with Ryan?”

“Ryan and the other people I know out there.”

“Have you really thought this through?”

Sarah sighed and got up from her chair, suddenly not feeling like relaxing any longer. “I know I’m taking a big chance,” she admitted. “But my life here wasn’t going anywhere, and I’ve never felt like this before.”

“Do you love him?”

“Very much.”

“Does he love you?”

“I know he does.” Sarah smiled. “I love him totally, but somehow I think he loves me even more.”

Her father leaned against the kitchen counter, tapping his chin with a finger. He was nervous and apprehensive for her, and Sarah couldn’t blame him.

“Everything seems perfect. But I sense a ‘but’ in there somewhere?” he probed her.

“Ryan and two of his friends came out here from New York to convince me to go back to Montana and live. That’s what Ryan was doing here the day you met him. Even though I thought they were great and felt myself falling in love, I still wasn’t buying it at first.”

“Why not, honey?”

“You see there are a lot of differences between Ryan and me and well frankly everyone who lives in Ryan’s hometown.”

“Is that all?” Her father seemed to think it was nothing. “Remember I used to live out west when I was a boy? They’ve got good people out there. This whole big-city-versus-small-town thing is way overblown. People are people wherever you go. Some of them you’ll like and others you won’t. It’s the same all over.”

Sarah brushed her hair back behind an ear and wrinkled her nose in frustration. She wished it was as simple as her father made it out to be. “I appreciate you saying that.” She gave him a smile. Never in a million years could she tell him the truth. This was just something she would have to deal with on her own. “Hey, dinner is starting to smell really good.”

“You’re not entirely convinced things will work out, are you?” Her dad wasn’t going to be sidetracked by her attempt at discussing his cooking. He saw right through her.

“No, I’m not,” she told him truthfully. “But I’m going to be strong and make things work out. Now enough of my silly problems. What did you have to tell me?”

He had the second-biggest surprise of her life in store for her.

The biggest being when she saw the three men turn into wolves out in Montana, but right there in her own apartment her father gave her the second-biggest surprise.