Sniffer Update: @newshound – two wolves, one blonde as morning, one black as night, glimpsed running ski slope after hours. Guess who? #hankypanky

Kate didn’t use her telepathic powers as she rode up in the elevator with Duncan, and neither did he. She didn’t need to read his mind to know what he was thinking. He’d immersed himself in the experience, and so had she. And he’d loved it, which created a problem for him. She knew that, too.

But he wasn’t the only one with a problem. She’d achieved her goal of reminding him of his Wereness and the joys that sprang from that. She’d also reminded herself of her own Wereness and how little she’d been celebrating that recently. Maybe that would explain why this experience with Duncan had been so incredible.

That would be nice, because otherwise she might have to face the fact that he was the best thing she’d come across in her entire adult life. If that turned out to be true, they’d created quite a dilemma for themselves. The leader of the Howlers couldn’t very well be sweet on the leader of the Woofers and vice-versa. That would lead to chaos.

Once back in her suite, they stretched out in the same spot behind the sofa where they’d shifted earlier. Their wolf bodies glowed with blue fire as they slowly transformed again. They lay there, not moving, not touching. But their gazes met. And held.

At last Duncan took a breath that came from deep in his chest and shook his entire body. “Thank you, lass.”

“I’m not sure that you should thank me.”

“I should.” His mouth curved in a soft smile. “We’re in a hell of a spot, you and I, but I can’t bring myself to regret a minute of my time with you.”

“Or I with you.”

He reached out and took her hand. “We’re a couple of smart Weres, aren’t we?”

“I used to think I was. But I might have outsmarted myself.”

“Aye. I know the feeling.” He brushed her palm with his thumb. “But I also know our personal complications have to take a back seat to that mission statement. Howard’s counting on us.”

“Yes, he is.”

Duncan raised her hand to his lips and kissed each of her fingers in turn. “So let’s do that job, and then…we’ll talk.” He placed a final kiss against her palm.

She shivered, both in reaction to his kisses and the prospect of what they would say to each other once they’d set aside their public duties. Would they agree to give up this special connection or find a way to continue it? She had no answers and she doubted that he did, either.

“Time to get dressed.” Rising to his feet, he helped her up, too. “I have no chance of concentrating with you looking all rosy and well-loved. Makes me want to do it again.”

“I know. Me, too.” Holding both of his hands, she stood on tiptoe to give him one gentle kiss. “And thank you for loving me so well.” Then she squeezed his hands and let go.

Gathering her clothes, she turned away and quickly put them on. She didn’t glance over at him as they both dressed, much as she would have liked to. She heard the rustling of denim as he put on his jeans and ignored the mental image that brought up. They had a job to do, and time was running out.

“I had a thought about this mission statement,” he said.

She shoved both arms into the sleeves of her sweatshirt and popped it over her head. “What’s that?”

“We’ve both approached with our own agendas.” He pulled on his sweatshirt, too, and looked at her. “What if we each put those aside and think of what we would write if we weren’t trying to insert our personal philosophy into it?”

“You mean lay down our weapons?”

“Aye, something like that.”

“But our constituents are counting on us to defend our respective positions in this mission statement.” Kate thought of Heidi, Jake, and especially Sally with her stealth support.

“I know, but the entire Were world isn’t divided into Woofers and Howlers, much as it seems that way right now. What about those who fall somewhere in between? Don’t we owe them a mission statement they can be happy with, too?”

She thought about that. “You have a point. Let me put on some more coffee to wake us up.” She walked over to the kitchen where the bare soles of her feet met cool tile. Even the smell of the coffee beans as she ground them helped her focus. She dumped the ground coffee in the basket, filled the reservoir with water, and turned on the switch.

“Got anything sweet to go with it?”

She narrowed her eyes at him.

“I wasn’t trying to be cute. I’m looking for cookies, cake, pie…”

“Brownies?”

“That’d be perfect, lass.”

She dug around in the refrigerator and came up with a tin of brownies she kept on hand for long nights at the computer. She was ridiculously pleased by his happy smile as she opened the tin and set it on the counter where he could reach it. She liked seeing that smile.

He reached for a brownie and rebooted his laptop. “Let’s take a look at each of our mission statements again. There have to be core elements that aren’t weighed down by our agendas.” He gazed at the screen. “So here’s how you start out, nice and neutral—To support the werewolf culture worldwide. I’m okay with starting that way.”

“Obviously I am, since I wrote it.”

Walking around the end of the counter, she stood beside his stool and looked at the two statements, his above hers.

“Then let’s take that part and start over.” He copied her opening words down below. “What else is important?”

“Individuals,” she said. “How about, and the interests of each individual?”

He glanced over at her. “That’s bloody brilliant. It leaves room for Weres to choose their own path instead of dictating one. I’m going to move the placement of worldwide. So we have—To support the werewolf culture and the interests of each individual worldwide.”

“Throughout the world. I like that better than worldwide. The coffee’s done. I’ll get us each a cup.” When she returned, he’d typed in the change and was looking at the statement. He held out his hand and she put the cup into it. He sipped his coffee without taking his eyes from the screen.

“What comes next?” She snagged a brownie from the tin and took a bite.

“I’m not sure anything comes next.” He looked over at her. “I think that might be it.”

She read the sentence aloud. “To support the werewolf culture and the interests of each individual throughout the world. It’s very simple. Is it too simple?” She fought the urge to try and insert some of her other wording. But then he’d want to insert his.

“It’s not too simple. That’s the beauty of it. It allows for protection if that’s needed, and for change if that’s needed. Everything this organization decides to do can be held up against this statement. Does it support the werewolf culture and the interests of each individual throughout the world? If it does, great. If it doesn’t, then back to the drawing board.”

She drank her coffee and studied the wording. “After all this, can it be so easy?”

“It can once we each stop trying to push our particular program.”

“I wonder if the Woofers and Howlers will be disappointed in it.”

He shook his head. “They can’t be. As I said, it leaves the door open for more protection and isolation, or for more openness and change. But it addresses the most important consideration, to support the culture and each other. Nobody can argue against that.”

She laughed. “Oh, I’m sure someone will.”

“Maybe not if we sell it right. You and I don’t have to give up campaigning for what we believe. In fact, we can campaign even harder to try to prove that our particular belief system fits the mission statement.”

“Howard doesn’t want the Howlers and Woofers to be divisive forces.”

Duncan took another brownie. “That’s where you and I come in. We tell our followers that we support the mission statement, which we came up with together, and we intend to hold all our actions, Woofers and Howlers alike, up to that yardstick. If the debate gets too negative, then it won’t support the werewolf culture or the individuals in it, right?”

She smiled. “Right. You really are smart, Woofer.”

“Not so smart.” He looked into her eyes. “I still haven’t any idea what we’re going to do about us.”

She glanced at the time showing in the bottom right of his screen. “I don’t have a long-term solution, but I have a short-term one.”

Heat flickered in his gray eyes. “Is that so?”

“We finished before dawn.” She walked back around the counter and turned off the coffee pot. “And between the night we’ve had and the coffee I just drank, I’m too wired to sleep.”

“I like where this is going.”

She chuckled. “I was pretty sure you would. Don’t forget to save that document before you come to bed.” With that she winked at him and began flicking off the lights. They’d worked hard and they’d worked well. They deserved a reward.

Despite the anticipation zinging through his system, Duncan carefully saved their mission statement in a new document. Then he even went to his briefcase, took out a flash drive, and backed it up. All of that was probably unnecessary, and the wording should stay in his head, anyway, but he wanted to be sure nothing got lost in the shuffle.

Light from her bedroom beckoned him, and he pulled off his sweatshirt as he walked toward it. “We don’t have the authority to release the mission statement yet, but I’m going to write a quick blog before I go down to the conference in the morning to say I support it and the work we did tonight.” He expected some response, and got none. “Kate? Would you rather I didn’t? If so, then…” The rest of his sentence went unsaid as he stood in the doorway and stared.

She sat propped up against a bank of pillows, totally naked and totally engrossed in his book. He stood there a moment so he could etch the scene in his memory. He might need to take it out later to lift his spirits on some cold gray day in Glenbarra.

Surely no reader of his book had ever looked as sexy and lovely as this while turning the pages. She caught her lower lip between her teeth, and then she chuckled and turned the page. He’d made her laugh. That was worth more than fifty rave reviews on the internet.

She didn’t even agree with him, and yet she’d laughed at something he’d written. Because she’d just begun the book, she must be reading his description of the first time he had to use a condom because he was having sex with a human female and she quite rightly insisted on it.

Kate’s chuckle turned to outright laughter that made her breasts jiggle. Unfortunately, his view of her sweet breasts was partially blocked by his damned book. Stepping silently back into the shadows, he continued to watch her read while he took off the rest of his clothes.

At one point she laughed so hard she had to stop and wipe the tears from her eyes. Then she went right back to reading. He’d hooked her. He wondered how long he could stand here before she’d notice that he hadn’t joined her in the bedroom.

He couldn’t decide whether to be flattered that she liked the book so much or depressed because the book seemed to be taking his place very nicely. In a way, he was competing with himself for her attention. But watching her lying there in her big, comfy bed soon produced a now-familiar effect on his cock.

He walked into the room. “You seem to be enjoying that.”

She glanced up, as if surprised to find the author himself, an aroused author at that, standing by her bed. Then her gaze lowered to his pride and joy, and she grinned. “I almost wish I had a condom so I could see if you’ve improved your technique.”

“I have.” He climbed into bed with her and closed his hand over the open book. “But you make a good point about not bothering with one.” He started to lift the book out of her hands.

She gripped it tight. “Don’t do that. You’ll lose my place.”

“Then we’ll just turn down the corner of the—”

“Don’t!” She jerked the book away. “You will not dog-ear a page on my personally autographed book.” Her blue eyes flashed. “Are you a dog-ear kind of reader?”

“I suppose I’ve dog-eared a page or two in my day.” He decided not to admit it was his usual habit.

She rolled to the far side of the bed and opened a drawer. “Then remind me never to loan you one of my books.” She took a metal bookmark out of the drawer. “This is how civilized readers mark their place.” She inserted the bookmark and laid the book on the nightstand.

“I’m honored that you’re taking such good care of my book, lass. But there’s more where that came from. I had several boxes of them shipped to the hotel last week.”

“I know.” She scooted around and sat cross-legged, facing him. “I took delivery, which makes me doubly ashamed that I didn’t read it before now. But I don’t want one of those books. I want the one you gave me.”

He was touched by that, more than he wanted to let on. Only an idiot would miss the fact that she was starting to care for him. And he was starting to care for her…a great deal. He probably needed to figure out some potential solutions for them, but he’d had a very long day and thinking wasn’t so easy when confronted with a naked Kate.

He lay on his side, his head propped on a pillow, and just looked at her. In a moment he would do more than look, but for now he wanted to be still and appreciate the pink and gold beauty of her. Her hair curled around her creamy shoulders, tousled and shining in the light from the bedroom lamps.

He noticed the little pulse beating in the hollow of her throat, and a small freckle above her right breast. Her raspberry nipples tightened under his scrutiny and her breasts moved in rhythm with her breathing. His attention moved lower, past the crescent-shaped shadows beneath her breasts to the sweet little indentation of her navel.

Lower still, a golden triangle of curls nearly covered her treasures, but because she sat cross-legged, she revealed a glimpse of pink perfection. His cock twitched. Perhaps the time for looking was over.

But he hesitated, because she seemed to be engaged in the same sort of study. Her gaze roamed up from his toes, lingered gratifyingly on his erection, and then traveled onward until she reached his eyes.

“I can’t decide,” she said.

Now there was a statement to worry any male with his heart set on seduction. “I hope you’re not referring to whether we’ll have sex or not. Personally, I’m quite decided on that, and in the affirmative, I might add.”

She smiled. “Oh, me, too.”

That restored his good humor in a hurry. “Then what can’t you decide on? Maybe I can help.”

“I can’t decide if I like you better this way or as a wolf.”

“State your preference and I’ll be happy to oblige.” He’d do handstands and somersaults, too, if it would get him what he wanted, which was his cock buried up to the hilt between her silky thighs.

“I don’t want you to shift now.” She reached out and grasped the very part of him he was most happy to have her hold onto. “That would take too long.” She caressed him.

At her touch, his eyes nearly rolled back in his head. “That’s verra nice, verra nice indeed.”

“You look happy.”

“Every inch of me is overjoyed, especially that part you’re stroking right now.” He caught her wrist. “But if you’re not careful, I’ll become a little too happy, and that would make us both sad.” He nibbled on her fingers before tugging gently on her wrist. “Lie down for me, lass. I fancy a tumble.”

Laughing, she unfolded her legs and slid down beside him. “You fancy a tumble? That sounds as if you’re about to throw me down on a pile of hay and flip up my petticoats.”

“What a picture.” He rolled on top of her and quickly braced himself on his forearms and knees so he wouldn’t crush her as he’d done the night before. “I wouldn’t mind trying that someday.” He leaned down and kissed her, long and thoroughly, before lifting his head to see the effect of that kiss. Her flushed skin and rapid breathing told him all he needed to know. “We’d have to find a pile of hay, though.”

She ran her hands lightly up and down his back. “And I’d have to wear petticoats.”

“Aye.” He moved between her thighs. “With nothing on underneath.”

She quivered beneath him. “Sounds…rather scandalous.”

“But rather necessary. Otherwise, I canna do this.” Holding her gaze, he thrust deep.

Her breath caught and her pupils grew large and dark. “Note to self.” She gasped again as he drew back and shoved home a second time. “Nothing under petticoats.”

“At least when I’m around.” He began a slow, steady rhythm, and a hum of pleasure rose unbidden from deep in his throat.

She clutched his hips and lifted to meet each stroke. “And when you’re not around?”

“A nicely fitted chastity belt would do fine.” He smiled to show her he was teasing. Sort of. Not really. He didn’t want to think of another male pumping away between her thighs.

“I see.” She smiled back.

He was afraid she did see…that he was besotted and aching to claim her. And he could not, for more reasons than he could count, if he even had the ability to count right now, which he didn’t.

But he could do this…he could love her with all that was in him, and hope that she knew that what he couldn’t say, what he couldn’t promise, was still there, hovering just beyond his reach. Maybe someday he’d find a way to grasp it.

In the meantime, he’d gaze into her blue, blue eyes and watch the climax building there. He’d glory in the heat between them, the urgency of her touch, the satisfaction of plunging into her over and over. Her lips parted and she arched upward, her body asking silently for more.

He shifted slightly and began to pound faster.

“Yes.” She clutched him tight as the ride became wild, wilder than any he’d known. “Oh, Duncan, yes, yes!”

“Ah, my sweet lass. My Kate.” He watched the fire in her eyes as she came, and then he let her witness the fire in his as he spilled his seed within her. He could not say the words, but he thought she knew. Oh, yes, she knew.

What they would do about it was for another time. He kissed her tenderly, eased away from her, and then drew her, spoon-fashion, into his arms.

She sighed and nestled against him. “So that was a tumble.”

“It was.”

“I liked it. Even without the hay and the petticoats.”

“So did I, milady. So did I.”

She slept then, but he could not. He longed to keep the dawn from breaking, because he had a premonition that once it did, their fragile relationship would come under siege. And he was helpless to stop that from happening.