check in from the road. But the thought of having Sara in a warm bed . . . having Sara . . .
“What? I didn’t catch that.”
“I said okay,” she repeated. “I don’t mind sleeping with a roof over my head. Don’t yawn anymore.”
“Huh? Never mind. And a shower. You should shower so you get all the bug spray—”
“Yes, fine , all right. So, we stay at a safe house.”
“Well, the thing is, I’d have to explain you. Because if any other werewolf ever found out who you were, they’d try to kill you.”
“A possibility to be avoided at all costs,” she agreed. “So what do you suggest?”
“Pose as my future mate—my fiancée, I mean.”
“Oh.”
“I have to tell them something,” he explained.
“Well. Okay. I guess. I’m against being killed, you know—I’m not totally irrational. We’ll just have to hide the fact that we don’t know each other very well.”
“Um.” He cleared his throat. “There’s one other small problem.”
“Small, huh?” She sighed as he slowed down and took the exit for Burger King. Like he hadn’t just eaten a pound and a half of bacon! “I’ll bet. Well, bring it on. The week I’m having, I can take it.”
“The thing is, they’ll know—my people will know—if we’re not really, um, intimate.”
Her mind processed this, then decided, the week she’d had, she could not take it. Probably she had misunderstood. “What?”
“Well, like I said, they’ll know if we aren’t, you know, sleeping together. So we have to if we’re going to pull this off. Sleep together, I mean.”
She turned in her seat to glare at him. He kept his eyes steadily on the road, she noticed. Coward. “You’re telling me I have to fuck you in order to stay at the safe houses?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, too damned bad,” she snapped, ignoring the surge of heat to her cheeks.
“You’d rather have your neck broken at the safe house?” he snapped back.
“Yes, upon careful consideration, I think that would be preferable!”
“Oh, stop with the drama queen thing. It’s just sex, that’s all, just sex, sex, that all it is, and frankly, I’m kind of insulted that you’d rather be gutted than see me naked!”
“They’re called standards, pal. And I can’t help it if I’m one of the few who didn’t tumble into bed within five minutes of first meeting you!”
“Standards!”
“Want me to find a dictionary, blondie?”
“I want you to be a realist,” he growled.
“In other words, drop your pants and save your life.”
“Anything sounds bad if you say it like that .”
“Forget it.”
He pounded the steering wheel, which groaned alarmingly. “Damn it, Sara, you are the most hardheaded, stubborn, infuriating, annoying, stuck-up, curliest, annoying—”
“Curliest?”
“Aw, shut up. Fine, it’s your head. We’ll sleep out in the woods again, no touchie. And again. And again. Homo sapiens, man, fucking hot-house flowers, I swear to God.”
“I am not,” she said automatically, inwardly crushed. She’d sort of been looking forward to a shower. And a bed. She’d gone camping quite a bit as a girl, but now that she was in her late twenties, her idea of roughing it was a Super 8 and a hair dryer.
She cleared her throat and then asked timidly, “Can’t—can’t you just tell them that because I’m not a—a werewolf, you’re still working on getting me into bed?”
He hesitated, then shook his head. “Our kind doesn’t make a life-commitment without, uh—”
“Sampling the merchandise?”
“Uh, yeah. I mean, it’s a totally natural thing to us. We don’t have this whole Victorian attitude toward sex that you guys do. And the thing is, I wouldn’t bring a casual date to a safe house.”
“Oh.”
He shrugged. “So, okay. We’ll keep camping. I guess I shouldn’t have sprung it on you like that, but I thought it’d be worse if I didn’t say anything until we were at the house.”
She actually shivered at the thought.
“What? I didn’t catch that.”
“I said okay,” she repeated. “I don’t mind sleeping with a roof over my head. Don’t yawn anymore.”
“Huh? Never mind. And a shower. You should shower so you get all the bug spray—”
“Yes, fine , all right. So, we stay at a safe house.”
“Well, the thing is, I’d have to explain you. Because if any other werewolf ever found out who you were, they’d try to kill you.”
“A possibility to be avoided at all costs,” she agreed. “So what do you suggest?”
“Pose as my future mate—my fiancée, I mean.”
“Oh.”
“I have to tell them something,” he explained.
“Well. Okay. I guess. I’m against being killed, you know—I’m not totally irrational. We’ll just have to hide the fact that we don’t know each other very well.”
“Um.” He cleared his throat. “There’s one other small problem.”
“Small, huh?” She sighed as he slowed down and took the exit for Burger King. Like he hadn’t just eaten a pound and a half of bacon! “I’ll bet. Well, bring it on. The week I’m having, I can take it.”
“The thing is, they’ll know—my people will know—if we’re not really, um, intimate.”
Her mind processed this, then decided, the week she’d had, she could not take it. Probably she had misunderstood. “What?”
“Well, like I said, they’ll know if we aren’t, you know, sleeping together. So we have to if we’re going to pull this off. Sleep together, I mean.”
She turned in her seat to glare at him. He kept his eyes steadily on the road, she noticed. Coward. “You’re telling me I have to fuck you in order to stay at the safe houses?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, too damned bad,” she snapped, ignoring the surge of heat to her cheeks.
“You’d rather have your neck broken at the safe house?” he snapped back.
“Yes, upon careful consideration, I think that would be preferable!”
“Oh, stop with the drama queen thing. It’s just sex, that’s all, just sex, sex, that all it is, and frankly, I’m kind of insulted that you’d rather be gutted than see me naked!”
“They’re called standards, pal. And I can’t help it if I’m one of the few who didn’t tumble into bed within five minutes of first meeting you!”
“Standards!”
“Want me to find a dictionary, blondie?”
“I want you to be a realist,” he growled.
“In other words, drop your pants and save your life.”
“Anything sounds bad if you say it like that .”
“Forget it.”
He pounded the steering wheel, which groaned alarmingly. “Damn it, Sara, you are the most hardheaded, stubborn, infuriating, annoying, stuck-up, curliest, annoying—”
“Curliest?”
“Aw, shut up. Fine, it’s your head. We’ll sleep out in the woods again, no touchie. And again. And again. Homo sapiens, man, fucking hot-house flowers, I swear to God.”
“I am not,” she said automatically, inwardly crushed. She’d sort of been looking forward to a shower. And a bed. She’d gone camping quite a bit as a girl, but now that she was in her late twenties, her idea of roughing it was a Super 8 and a hair dryer.
She cleared her throat and then asked timidly, “Can’t—can’t you just tell them that because I’m not a—a werewolf, you’re still working on getting me into bed?”
He hesitated, then shook his head. “Our kind doesn’t make a life-commitment without, uh—”
“Sampling the merchandise?”
“Uh, yeah. I mean, it’s a totally natural thing to us. We don’t have this whole Victorian attitude toward sex that you guys do. And the thing is, I wouldn’t bring a casual date to a safe house.”
“Oh.”
He shrugged. “So, okay. We’ll keep camping. I guess I shouldn’t have sprung it on you like that, but I thought it’d be worse if I didn’t say anything until we were at the house.”
She actually shivered at the thought.
Similar Books
