CHAPTER FOUR
SHOHN PULLED INTO the lot of Animal House as quietly as he could. He knew well how dogs reacted to noises in the night, and since the sun had already set, the dogs were surely tucked away for the night. If one barked, they’d all be kicking up a fuss and then Nadine would have more work to do.
Relieved not to see Amber’s truck in the lot, he made the safe assumption that he and Nadine would be alone. Taking care to close his door quietly, he left the Jeep. Hat in hand, his imagination already in overdrive, he walked toward her house.
Would she be wearing that same silly shirt with the suggestive comment on it? He’d thought of a dozen ways to tease her about it, and a dozen other ways to get her out of it.
She’d left the porch light on for him, so Shohn took a minute to remove his boots and socks. His feet weren’t wet this time, but he’d spent so much time hunting for the lost camper that he had half the damn mountain stuck to the treads.
Boots in hand, he stood and lightly tapped on the screen door.
Nadine showed up immediately. Her long brown hair hung loose, trailing down her back and over her shoulders, curling in and around those large, luscious breasts. Her eyes were darker than usual as she pushed open the screen and said with a “come and get me” smile, “Hi.”
Damn. He knew acquiescence when he saw it. Nadine wanted him. Tonight. Maybe even right now.
Knowing that had an instantaneous effect on his body. His guts clenched, heat rushed to his skin, his breathing grew shallower.
He got semihard.
Knowing he had to keep it together, he dipped his rapt gaze over her, stalling first on her soft, damp lips, then on that heart-stopping cleavage displayed under a V neck T-shirt. This one read Life is Short—Pet Hard.
Without a single word, he crowded in and dropped his boots just inside the threshold. The screen door closed behind them. He reached for her.
And Louie came up his leg in a dash, already purring, head-butting his chin and rubbing all over him in ecstasy.
“Shit.” Shohn caught the cat to help support him so he wouldn’t get shredded. So far, Louie had been great about not putting the claws to him, but his shirt could only take so much of Louie’s enthusiasm.
Nadine sighed. “Ah. He missed you.”
Her gentle expression fired his blood even more. Shohn wanted to see her looking at him like that, maybe after a really hot orgasm. “He could miss me a few minutes more, damn it.” What lousy timing the cat had! But Shohn pet him, anyway, giving him the greeting he wanted.
The rumbling purrs started to sound like a broken truck engine. Eyes closed, Louie continued to rub against him.
“Take it easy, buddy.” Shohn managed to get the cat away from his face and settled more on his chest. “Ah, that’s better.”
Nadine smiled.
“Now I can kiss you.” Her smile froze, but Shohn took her mouth too quickly for her to object.
Only she didn’t. She kissed him back. Awkwardly because, yeah, they had a big old rumbling tomcat between them, but still, it was pretty hot the way she turned her head, how she willingly parted her lips.
How she accepted his tongue.
She tasted even better than he remembered, hotter and sweeter. She made a small sound that he took for encouragement. He answered with a low groan, his thoughts already on getting her naked and under him.
Suddenly Louie butted his head up between theirs, and Shohn pulled away with a “Bleh.”
Breathing fast, Nadine asked, “What?”
“I had cat ear in my mouth.” He used a shoulder to wipe his face.
She snickered then took his arm. “I’m sorry. Why don’t we sit down for a bit? Are you hungry?”
Was that nervousness that had her talking so fast? “Not this time, thanks.” Shohn dropped onto her couch and again tried to rearrange the big cat. Louie was so muscular and rangy at the same time that doing anything he didn’t fully approve was damn difficult. “I grabbed some fast food to eat on the way here.”
“I wouldn’t have minded fixing you something.”
“Thanks, but it wasn’t food I had in mind.”
“Oh…well, a drink, then? I’m out of Coke, but maybe some iced tea?”
Shohn grinned over the way she avoided his innuendo. “With you looking like that, yeah, iced tea with plenty of ice would be great.”
She smoothed her hands over the shirt then tucked her hair behind one ear. “I took a really quick shower just before you got here.”
Damn, he was sorry he’d missed that. “If you’d waited, I could have showered with you.” To keep her from reacting to that too much, he went on in a casual tone. “It was one hell of a day and I’m grimier than usual. Not that Louie seems to mind, do you buddy?” He tickled under the cat’s chin.
Eyes widening, Nadine opened her mouth twice before she finally said anything. “You, ah, found the missing camper?”
“Yeah. The drunken dumbass had completely left the trails. I found him snagged up in a briar bush, sniveling and ready to wet himself. Apparently he fell in there and then kept getting scratched worse every time he tried to free himself.”
“Serves him right for getting drunk.” Nadine headed into the kitchen to get the drinks. “Will he be fined?”
“Who knows? I turned him over to the local authorities. He’s their problem now.” Shohn liked watching Nadine move in the kitchen, seeing the way she turned this way and that in the shorty-shorts and clinging T-shirt. She had supershapely legs and her bare feet made it all more intimate somehow. “Love the new outfit.”
She ducked her face, letting her hair hide her profile. “It’s just an old shirt and shorts.”
No, it was a sexier shirt and shorter shorts that she’d put on for him. “I like your hair loose like that, too.”
She dropped an ice cube on the floor. “Thanks.” She accidentally kicked it when she went to pick it up, then had to chase it before it went under the fridge.
“Nadine?”
“Hmm?” Face flushed, she tossed the ice in the sink and, with trembling hands, poured the tea.
Shohn understood, because he felt a little shaky himself. Lust had never hit him so hard. “You have a kickin’ body with killer curves, honey. I hope you know that.”
She twisted her mouth then squared her shoulders as she faced him with the glasses of tea. “I’m satisfied with it.”
Leering a little, Shohn said, “I’d be more satisfied with it if you were naked. But this display is great for starters.”
She stumbled over nothing.
Shohn bolted forward in his seat, ready to grab for her. “Easy.”
Face flaming, Nadine managed to catch herself without spilling the tea. “Sorry.”
“I should be the one apologizing.”
“You do tease a lot,” she agreed.
He wasn’t teasing, but no reason to tell her that. She was already looking very unsure of herself. Because he’d jostled the cat, he said, “You okay, Louie?”
Head tipped back over Shohn’s arm, Louie watched Nadine, still purring.
She set the tea on the end table. “I think Louie’s content as long as you’re holding him close and stroking him.”
If only Nadine had the same preferences. Another thought to keep to himself, at least for now. Shohn patted the seat beside him. “So tell me how he did today.”
“He owned the place.” Nadine sat by him, close, but not quite touching. “He could be a sheepherder, only for the dogs.” She ran one finger over Louie’s big block head. “Everywhere he went, the dogs followed.”
“So it wasn’t a problem having him here?”
“Not at all.”
Perfect. Then she could continue to watch the cat, which would give him a reason to keep coming back. “I’ll hold him a little longer, okay?”
She stared at Louie instead of meeting his gaze. “Before you leave, you mean?”
“Before I kiss you again.”
An expectant stillness fell over her. She licked her lips, slowly turned to put her tea on the end table and finally looked up at him. Their gazes met, held, as his heart beat a little faster.
“I was hoping you would.”
Damn. Her honesty put him on a low simmer. “To hell with waiting.” Keeping Louie relaxed in his arms, Shohn leaned down to take her mouth.
Meeting him halfway, Nadine put one small hand to his neck, the other flat to his chest. He meant to keep things easy—after all, he had Louie sprawled in his arms—but he couldn’t hold back, not from Nadine.
Her tongue touched his, and he groaned low. He leaned closer, kissed her deeper—and Louie put his claws to his thigh.
Shohn jumped so fast that he and Nadine bumped heads.
“Ow, damn it, cat. That hurt!”
He rubbed his inner thigh where Louie had gotten him.
Nadine rubbed her forehead where they’d bumped and rushed to the cat’s defense. “Maybe you squeezed him.”
“Or maybe he’s just too damned possessive!”
She laughed, tried to muffle it, and ended up making a ridiculous sound.
“You find it funny that he scratched me?”
She said, “No,” but she was still snickering.
Shohn had to smile, too. He stroked his fingers through her hair, turned on despite Louie’s look of disgust. “You should wear your hair loose more often. It’s really pretty.”
The compliment killed her hilarity. “It’s a mousy-brown.”
“Says who?”
She shrugged.
“It’s long and thick and so damn soft.” He brought her hair forward over her shoulder, then deliberately stroked to the end so that the backs of his fingers moved over her breast. Voice going gruff, he whispered, “Very pretty.”
With a loud, “Meowrrr,” Louie high-stepped between them, turning so his tail hit Nadine in the face while he purred and pawed at Shohn’s abdomen.
“Ah, no, Louie, I don’t trust you.” Shohn moved the cat away from his abs and instead sat him on the sofa at his side.
Louie came right back.
Feeling a little helpless, Shohn looked at Nadine.
She winced. “I think he needs more reassurance.”
Yeah, he knew that. Poor Louie had come from a shelter, and now he wanted to know he was loved. Mind made up, Shohn asked, “Are you in a rush to go to bed?”
“No,” she assured him hastily.
On track so far. “Mind if I stay for a while?”
She shook her head. “I’d like that.”
“And once Louie is feeling more secure?” He traced a fingertip over her collarbone, slowly down to the top of each plump breast. His voice went gravelly with need. “Then I’d like to show you how sexy you are, okay?”
“I was sort of counting on it.”
Shohn stood, which wasn’t easy since Louie kept trying to climb him like a tree. “How about I go wash up before appeasing this demanding beast?”
She twisted to look up at him. “Wash up?”
“Yeah. I always carry a spare set of clothes, so you don’t have to worry about me hanging around naked.”
Eyes wide, she said in a faint whisper, “I wasn’t worried.”
Then again, Shohn thought, hearing how husky her voice got and the way her eyes darkened, maybe stripping down was the way to go.
Louie disabused him of that notion real quick by attempting to climb him again.
Yeah, being naked around the cat was not an option.
“Be right back.” He went out the door before Louie could follow. In his Jeep he grabbed his duffel bag with clean shorts, a fresh uniform and his survival kit. With his job, he never knew when he might get soaked with mud, creek water or poison ivy. It made sense to be prepared.
The survival kit was a small pack of necessities that he carried whenever he had to be in the woods for long. On top of basic medical supplies and a few granola bars, it held a toothbrush, razor and soap.
The condoms he kept in his wallet.
With any luck, he’d get to spend the night with Nadine. It always paid to be prepared.
* * *
NADINE MADE A quick trip over to Animal House while Shohn showered in her small bathroom. She was such an animal lover that she felt positively evil for scrounging up the repellent spray and an old canister of catnip. Hopefully if one didn’t work, the other would.
She managed to sneak in and out without disturbing too many dogs, which wasn’t easy with so much anticipation making her clumsy.
At this very moment, Shohn was naked, wet and soapy in her bathroom.
It was enough to rattle any red-blooded woman.
Did he make himself at home with every woman he planned to sleep with? He carried all the necessities, even a change of clothes, so she had to assume…yes.
Having her status as “just one of many” reaffirmed so blatantly didn’t exactly thrill her. But neither did it put her off enough to want to send him packing. Yet.
Not until she got the payoff.
Rushing, Nadine got back in her cabin just as the water shut off. That’s when she heard the racket. Louie carried on something awful, and there was a terrible scratching sound.
Clutching her stash of cat necessities, Nadine peered down the short hall and saw Louie stretched out on his belly, trying to peek under the door, one paw wedged under. At first she thought he’d gotten his paw caught and it nearly stopped her heart. But when he pulled away from the door, peered under it from a different angle and again tried to reach in, she realized he only wanted to get in to Shohn.
She could sympathize with that idea, but really, so much caterwauling was overkill. “For heaven’s sake,” she told Louie. “You won’t fit under the door, so you may as well give it up.”
Instead, the cat doubled his efforts.
She heard Shohn laugh.
From inside the bathroom, he said, “He’s feeling around, trying to get hold of me.”
Not a bad idea. If she could get Louie to rest, she wanted to feel around and try to get hold of him, too. She cleared her throat. “Are you dressed?”
There was a pause before he cracked the door open. “Not yet.”
Oh, whoa. No, he wasn’t dressed, and the snowy-white towel he had around his hips did little to cover him. She had no words. She could barely swallow. She did manage to stare just fine, though.
Louie used the opportunity to squeeze into the bathroom. Shohn looked alarmed until Louie jumped up to the sink.
Cautiously Shohn took his gaze off the cat. “You want to join us? I’m only going to shave.”
Squeeze into the small bathroom next to Shohn while he wore no more than his irresistible scent, a wicked smile and a small towel? Of course she did. “I…ah…”
“C’mon.” He reached out for her, took her arm and pulled her in. “What do you have there?”
Guilt flushed her face. Or maybe it was his mostly naked body, still damp and hot and heart-stoppingly bare. “Catnip and repellent.”
“Kinky.”
“What? No. It’s to hopefully entice Louie into chilling a little. I mean, you can’t…we can’t…” She wasn’t about to spell it out like that. “It’s for Louie,” she said again.
“Ah, I think I get it.” He crossed his arms and leaned on the sink.
The towel parted over one muscular thigh. She stared, stared some more, but everything vital stayed covered. Walking along the edge of the sink, Louie brushed against his arm and left behind clumpy white hair sticking to Shohn’s still-damp skin.
Lip curled, he brushed at the hair. “I need to get him a brush.”
“Yeah, maybe.” Mesmerized, paying little attention to what she said, Nadine watched the flex of muscle in Shohn’s chest and arms, how his abs pulled tighter.
Louie made the attempt to climb up Shohn’s back, but he told the cat, “No.” Big yellow eyes defiant, the cat put a paw on his arm. Shohn lifted him away. Louie tried again and again. One paw here, testing, a paw there testing… Shohn laughed and stepped away. “You are determined, aren’t you? But sorry, my man, it isn’t happening. I value my hide too much.”
It was a really nice hide, Nadine thought.
Temporarily thwarted, Louie leaped into the bathtub, licked up a few drops of water here and there, then got out and pawed through Shohn’s discarded clothes on the floor.
“Nadine?”
Seeing those clothes drove home yet again that he’d come prepared. “Hmm?”
“The catnip is to give him something else to think about. Cats love that stuff, right?”
“Right. I thought I’d put some by the bed I made for him.” She nodded toward his dirty uniform. “We could maybe put your shirt by his bed, too. It’ll get cat hair on it, but I don’t think he’d tear it up or anything. And that way your scent might soothe him.” Even though it had the opposite reaction on her. Breathing in his scent made her nearly frantic with need.
Shohn picked up a razor. “And the repellent? You’re not planning to spray me with it, are you?”
Nadine shook her head. Would Shohn lose interest once he appeased his curiosity? No way to know unless she did some appeasing.
As he put the razor to his jaw, she drew in a breath, tried not to blush and said, “I was going to spray it outside my door.”
He went still, then slowly lowered the razor. “Your door?”
With him looking at her, it was even more difficult to say it. More difficult to breathe, too. And it was almost impossible not to look at his body. “My bedroom door.”
He put the razor back in the sink. In a low growl, he asked, “Mind if I don’t shave?”
She took a step toward him. “Not at all.”
“Then let’s go try out the catnip so I can get you alone.”
* * *
SHOHN WATCHED AS Louie rolled to his back, purring like a kitten, then back to his belly, flattened out like a rug so he could rub his body in the catnip. At first Louie hadn’t been that interested, but once Nadine put the catnip on his uniform shirt, the combo worked.
“You’re a genius. Hopefully he doesn’t become an addict.”
A little breathlessly, Nadine whispered, “I had selfish incentive.”
Shohn glanced at her. The whole half hour that he’d been watching the cat, he’d felt Nadine watching him. Thank God he’d pulled on his clean shorts and slacks otherwise his boner would be all the more obvious. Not that Nadine hadn’t already noticed.
That’s where she stared.
Her intent focus wasn’t helping him to keep it together. Her big dark eyes were so expressive that she made him feel her thoughts. Hot, hungry thoughts.
Added to the stiffened nipples outlined by the soft cotton of her T-shirt and he was a goner.
Please, Louie, Shohn thought, give me at least an hour. He took a cautious step back, but Louie paid him no mind.
Another step and Louie noticed, but didn’t care enough to give up wallowing in kitty bliss.
Touching his fingertips to Nadine’s chin, Shohn lifted her face. “Should we try escaping to your room now?”
She hugged herself, nodded and turned in a fast walk to precede him down the hall and into the bedroom. Nice that she was in such a hurry.
Not exactly the romantic segue he’d planned, but it’d do.
Nadine had already secured the front door, so Shohn glanced over to make sure Louie had food and water in his dish, then he snatched up the repellent spray, just in case, and went after Nadine.
He found her pacing on the opposite side of the bed, her dark eyes huge and her beautiful breasts rising with her fast breaths.
Shohn quietly closed her bedroom door. Her bed was only full-size, made up with a fluffy comforter and half a dozen pillows. She’d drawn blinds over the only window. A lamp on the nightstand illuminated the room, leaving soft shadows.
He set the repellent on the nightstand. It was by far the weirdest accoutrement he’d ever brought to the bedroom.
With some anomalous emotion leaving her dark eyes mysterious, Nadine tracked his every move.
She’d been anxious for him, yet now the span of the mattress separated them. “Are you nervous, honey?”
“A little, yes, sure.” Suddenly she flung out her arms and blurted like an accusation, “You spent years not wanting me and now all of a sudden you do and I do, too, of course, but it’s a surprise and it might take me a little time to get used to it.”
Wow. Well, he wasn’t sure how much time they’d get. Louie could be at the door any minute and Nadine would no more ignore the needy cat than he would.
She dropped her arms, bit her lip and waited.
“I was an idiot,” Shohn said. “For not making a move, I mean. But Nadine, I’ve fantasized about you ever since I saw you in that wet T-shirt back when we were just kids. I know I talked a good game back then, but I hadn’t done any more than kissing.”
“You were only fourteen!”
“With a one-track mind. I’m told my uncle Gabe was the same.”
“The rumors abound, I know.” She snatched up a pillow off the bed and hugged it to her breasts.
“You’re denying me a great view there, babe.”
She gave him the same defiant look he’d gotten from Louie then tossed the pillow aside.
Nice. “Thank you.” Since it appeared they’d have this conversation before the fun got started, Shohn began tossing away the rest of the pillows. “What I’m saying is that until you came out of that lake, I had no clue just how much I loved breasts.”
She shifted her stance. “All men like boobs.”
“Yeah, maybe. But some of us more than others.” He pulled the comforter to the foot of the bed. “The thing is, with you, it’s more than just your awesome rack. It’s your great ass, too. And your shapely legs.”
She snorted. “Such a smooth talker.”
“I’m on the ragged edge here, honey. How smooth did you expect me to be?” He started around the bed toward her. “How about I get this shirt off you and I can just show you how much I appreciate every inch of your body?”
Her lips parted, her eyes went heavy and, right before he reached her, she grabbed the hem of the shirt and pulled it up and over her head.
Shohn thought his knees would give out. “Damn, girl, way to stop my heart.” If he’d ever seen a more enticing sight, he sure as hell didn’t remember.
Unsure where to put her hands, Nadine shifted. She settled on lacing her fingers together.
The shorts fit low on her hips and without the T-shirt, hid very little. Hell, his towel had done a more adequate job of preserving his modesty.
Now, with her standing there like that, it really was impossible for him to talk. His hands reached her before his feet caught up and he was already cuddling her big breasts as he stepped close and put his forehead to hers.
She inhaled deeply, saying with uncertainty, “Shohn?”
“You are so fucking gorgeous.”
She smiled. “Never mind.”
Shohn couldn’t concentrate on what she said; he was too busy touching her. Over her shoulders, down her back to her full hips, over her firm backside. Her waist nipped in, her belly a soft curve and those amazing breasts.
He brushed his thumbs over her pink nipples, now drawn tight, and couldn’t resist bending down for a taste.
When she said his name this time, it was an exclamation, not a question.
Shohn drew on her, curling his tongue around her nipple, pulling in a soft suction. Heat pulsed under his skin, made his muscles feel too tight. So many times he’d imagined this with Nadine. Years upon years of fantasies.
Now, finally, she’d be his.
Knowing that ramped up his need even more and Shohn lowered her to the bed, moving over her, releasing her breasts so he could savage her mouth instead. The kiss was hungry and out of control, consuming and so damned hot.
Nadine’s fingers tunneled into his hair and she held on while arching up against him.
Nice.
Going up to his elbows, Shohn looked at her hair spread out around her face, at her dark and heavy eyes, her lips puffy and damp from his kisses. So many emotions bombarded him that he didn’t know where to start. Wanting to fuck her but also wanting to…cherish her, he kissed her again, gently this time.
Nadine touched a hand to his chest. “Everything okay?”
No, not really. For the first time that he could ever remember, life felt amazingly…right. And, damn it, he hadn’t even known anything was wrong until it all got aligned so perfectly with Nadine.
“What are you doing to me?” he asked.
Her eyes flared. “Did you want me to do something?”
Shohn laughed. Yeah, he wanted her to do all kinds of stuff, but most of all, he wanted her to accept him.
She pushed at his chest. “What’s funny?”
“Nothing. I just feel good, that’s all.”
She stared at his mouth and sighed. “Me, too.”
Taking the hint, Shohn kissed her again, her mouth, her jaw, the fragrant skin of her throat. Near her ear he murmured, “I’ll feel even better if you lose the shorts, too. What do you say?”
“I say we should both get naked.”
Sounded like a perfect plan. He rolled to the side of her, but instead of taking off her shorts, Nadine sat up beside him and went after the snap of his jeans. It was a unique pleasure to see Nadine working over his fly. Her long hair hung down to tease his abdomen, her breasts swaying with her movements, her expression concentrated.
He held his breath as she eased his zipper down.
“Lift up.”
He did, and Nadine skimmed his jeans and boxers down to his knees. Sitting back on her heels, her small hands on her thighs, she stared at him.
What a beautiful picture she made, part innocence and a larger part seductress. She licked her lips, and he throbbed, he was so hard. “Nadine?”
“Hmm?”
Reaching out, he caught a long hank of her hair and gave a gentle tug. “Come here.”
She looked up at his face. “No, not yet.” Standing, she finished stripping off his jeans, then, without an ounce of fanfare, pushed her shorts down and off.
She seemed so focused on his nudity that she discounted her own.
Shohn couldn’t do the same.
When she reached for him, or more specifically, his erection, he tumbled her onto the bed and moved over her. “I need to get inside you, babe. Afterward, you can play touchy-feely if you want. Okay?”
Her body squirming against his, she said in a whisper, “Okay,” while lifting up to take his mouth.
He’d never last. Shohn knew it, but he couldn’t rush things, not with Nadine. She didn’t make it easy on him, not with the way she kissed him, how she looked and her scent and the excited little sounds she gave as he touched her.
He trailed a hand down to her hipbone, her voluptuous thigh, then inward, where he found her hot and wet and so damn ready.
She groaned, her whole body trembling, as he teased his fingertips over her sensitive lips, spreading her moisture, opening her. Lifting up to see her face, Shohn watched her while slowly pressing two fingers into her.
Squeezing her eyes shut, she clenched around him.
“You have the prettiest eyes, honey. Open up and let me see them.”
Instead, she turned her face in against his chest.
“Nadine, come on, baby. Look at me.” He moved his fingers deeper, pressing until he heard her gasp, then slowly pulling out only to sink in again. Amazingly he felt her getting wetter, hotter, tighter. So close. In a barely there whisper, he urged again, “Let me see you.”
After a second she obliged him, and it leveled him, seeing her like this. For him. He kissed her bottom lip, her chin, the top of her breasts. Using his tongue, he trailed a damp path to one nipple then suckled while still fingering her.
Her hands gripped his shoulders, her nails biting into his muscles as she groaned. “Shohn.”
Carefully closing his teeth around her nipple, he tugged. Given the catch of her breath and the new moisture that bathed his fingers, she liked that.
Using his thumb and her own slick excitement, he teased her clitoris in a slow rhythm that soon had her moving with him. He forgot his own need while enjoying hers. She tightened more, her body stiffening…
“Shohn.”
He rose up again to watch her, loving her dazed and smoky expression.
She gave a raw cry, arching up to him, her head back as she rode out a powerful climax that went on and on.
Shohn stayed with her, waiting until the pleasure faded and her body sank back, boneless, to the mattress.
Sitting up in a rush, he found his wallet, donned a condom and was back over her, settling between her thighs, before Nadine had even gotten her eyes open.
She came about as he used his fingertips to open her.
As soon as he started pressing into her, she was with him again.