Chapter 14
Jillian took a quick shower so Vaughn could also get one and they could sleep. She was exhausted. She imagined he was too. As soon as she entered the bedroom, she saw he was lying on his back, his eyes closed, and he was wearing just a pair of navy boxer briefs.
Even in sleep, he looked like he could tackle the world. One sexy package lying there for her viewing pleasure.
“Bathroom’s free.” She spoke softly, not wanting to wake him in the event he was already sound asleep.
He didn’t stir. She grabbed a blanket from the bedroom closet and spread it over him. Then she climbed into bed, pulled the covers up, and closed her eyes. A while later, she felt the bed move. Vaughn got up and left the room. The shower ran after that. She thought of him soaping down all those hard muscles, remembering the way he’d looked when he’d walked toward his cabin, naked, all sculpted and delicious, and she smiled. Then she thought of him and her showering together, and she felt she needed to take another shower.
She must have fallen asleep after that, because the next thing she knew, he was joining her under the covers. This time, he reached for her and pulled her close. She didn’t know how she’d ended up snuggling next to him last time. Unless she’d gotten cold. He hadn’t seemed to mind. As long as she didn’t hurt his shoulder, she really loved resting against the warm-bodied hunk on the chilly night.
“Are you checking to see if I’m still alive?” She felt dreamy and comfortable. “Oh, oh, do I need to reapply the bandage?”
“No. It’s beginning to heal up fine.” He kissed her neck and held her back against his chest. “I intend to do my duty…to the max. This way, I can listen to your light breathing and your heartbeat better.”
“I can make sure you’re not getting feverish from your wounds. You know truly, I had thought to scare you off. I was aiming at your legs, but you were moving so fast that I really didn’t think I’d hit you. Any sane wolf would have run away after I shot at him the first time.”
“I’m a SEAL. We’re tougher and more determined than that. My mission was still straight in front of me.”
“Well, I didn’t know you were a SEAL at the time, but it sure explains why I had to shoot at you so many times.”
“Did you really try to miss me the last time? You came awfully close to my head.”
“Yeah. If I’d wanted to, I would have taken you out. On the first shot.”
“Good thing you hadn’t wanted to.”
“Yeah, my thoughts too.” She never thought she’d be feeling this way about the wolf now.
She sighed in his arms, loving his wolfish masculine scent mixed with a sweet vanilla one. She was a little surprised he’d used that body wash instead of the more masculine one Howard must have left behind. She pulled Vaughn’s arm tighter around her, settled her back closer against his chest, and wondered if there was any chance a former Army intelligence officer and a Navy SEAL could see eye to eye on future investigations. Especially ones her brother wasn’t involved in.
Maybe even work with the jaguar agents on future missions.
Maybe even more.
* * *
Vaughn was glad Jillian had wanted him to sleep with her—even if she said it was because of the doctor’s concern about her health. Any excuse worked for him, as long as the results were the same. When she turned around and curled up next to him, he was even more pleased. He hadn’t expected her to begin stroking his chest, or run her fingers over his nipple in a seductive caress. Already, from the way their pheromones were kicking in, and the way she was touching him, his cock was stirring to life, eager to take this further. Though he knew he couldn’t. Not yet.
He leaned down and kissed her head, her hand now sweeping down his belly toward the band of his boxer briefs. Hell, woman. He was going to come with barely any enticement, just from listening to her heartbeat, smelling her sexiness, and feeling her light breath whisper across his skin and her soft body pressed against his chest and leg.
Not sure what she had in mind, he swept his hand down her back until he reached the bottom edge of her pajama top, then slid his hand underneath it to caress her silky, warm skin.
“Tell me if I hurt you.” On her knees, she swung her leg over his, then straddled him.
Smiling, he ran his hands up her thighs, wondering where the wolf was going with this. She tugged her pajama top off, exposing her beautiful breasts, her nipples dusky pink and erect, mouthwatering. He really hadn’t expected her to get half naked. He just stared at them. But then she scooted downward and began to slide her mound against his burgeoning erection. Then he was able to cup her breasts, to massage them and stroke her nipples with his thumbs.
He groaned as the sexual tension built between them, the friction arousing him further as she continued to rub her sweet body against him. He pulled her down to suckle a breast while she kept stroking his cock with her body.
“Is your shoulder all right?” she whispered against his mouth.
“Hell yeah.” Even if it was killing him, he wouldn’t have stopped this between them for the world.
She smiled against his mouth, right before she tongued his, demanding entrance.
He slid his hand down her pajama pants, caressing her soft, smooth ass, knowing they couldn’t take it all the way. Not unless they agreed to a mating. But he sure as hell wished they could just enjoy the pure sex between them.
She continued to kiss his mouth, her hand sliding down his belly again. Only this time she moved aside and ran her fingers over his erection in a teasing caress, the boxer briefs still covering his flesh. Then she molded her hand around his cock and began to stroke.
“Jillian,” he groaned out, his hand now pressing her buttocks so she was tighter against his leg as she continued to stroke him. He figured she thought it was safe to stroke him if she was still wearing her pajama pants and he was wearing his boxer briefs—until she pulled his down and his cock sprang free. Before she could make him come, he gently pushed her back against the mattress, untied her pants and pulled them off, then yanked his own off, right before he moved in beside her.
Now they were both perfectly bare to each other. He couldn’t resist her touching him anymore without being able to pleasure her too.
He turned his body so he could kiss her, then he began to rub her clit while she stroked him. She was so hot and desirable, smelling like sex and vanilla soap and she-wolf, her mouth pressing against his, her fingers firmly grasping him.
All he could think about was encouraging her climax, while trying his damnedest to hold on to his own, when she cried out and he muffled her cry with a deepened kiss. Her free hand moved over his buttocks then, and he broke. With a growl, he came…and swore, not having planned to make such a mess of things. She was wet with arousal and the fact he was even thinking about how ready she was for penetration and how much he wanted her body to surround him meant he was considering much more than being her work partner.
“Sorry,” he apologized, looking down into her darkened eyes.
“For what?” She was still running her hands over his side and hip in a gentle caress, as if she didn’t want to stop touching him.
He ran his hand over her belly where he’d spilled his seed.
“I’ll take care of it.”
What he didn’t expect was for her to take his hand as he stood next to the bed and lead him to the bathroom down the hall. He was damn glad Howard and Miles had stayed at the other house, suspecting the jaguar had this in mind when he made the arrangements. And Demetria and Everett had their own wing on the other side of the place. Vaughn and Jillian washed each other in the shower and returned to the bedroom wrapped only in towels.
* * *
Sometime in the night, Jillian had slung a leg between Vaughn’s, an arm over his shoulder, and planted her cheek against his chest. Talk about claiming the wolf for her own. After she had initiated unconsummated sex with him, everything felt right with him.
He must have felt her stir or tense, because he began sliding his hand down her back in a gentle caress. “You must have felt me shivering and decided to warm me up.”
She chuckled. “I just wanted you to know I was okay.”
He laughed. “Hell, you’re a lot more than okay. You’re hot.”
“I hope you still respect me this morning.” She could feel his arousal beginning to take shape beneath her.
“About last night…”
“I was just making sure you didn’t go after my brother again.”
He smiled at her, rubbing her arm. Then he finally said, “I was just making sure you didn’t shoot me again.”
She laughed.
“I was thinking… I know I might be getting way ahead of myself on this, but if you have another job to do and you wouldn’t mind another investigator helping you out—” he said.
She smiled. “Yeah, you’re getting ahead of yourself. I don’t know what I’m going to do after this. I agreed to help the jaguars out because Leidolf asked me. I like what I do. I like working with the jaguars too. Would working for all our shifter kind be for the greater good? Or should I continue to work on my own? Chasing down deadbeat husbands or cheating wives? I’d like to think I was doing something for the shifter kind too.”
He sighed dramatically. “There are a lot of terrific PIs out there. Only three jaguar shifters are signed up to take care of both our kind and theirs.”
“True.”
He caressed her back lightly. “We’re the first of our kind to even be asked to join the team. No one’s officially trained us for this kind of work, so if we had some training, we might even be better at it.”
“I’m not sure the jaguars have even had time to set up training for their own kind for dealing with mixed shifter cases. The three of them have only had one case to solve so far. I imagine every one of the cases will be completely different from one another, not something we—I mean, they—can plan for.”
“Now that’s something I wouldn’t mind. Something really different. I don’t know. Even though I’m used to working my own cases for the most part, I like the idea,” Vaughn said. “I like getting in on the ground floor in an organization like this. Then if it doesn’t pan out, I can always go back to my PI business.”
“While you’re with the USF, you can pair up with Howard when you have to split up to do investigations.”
Vaughn smiled at her and rubbed her arm. “I’d rather pair up with you. He can tag along, make sure we get the jaguar part of the equation right. Just think about it…delving into a whole new world of trouble.”
“Are you going to tell them you want to do that?” She couldn’t believe he was ready to make a commitment to the jaguar shifters.
“Yeah, I will. This morning at breakfast. You know they’ll be wondering if you’ll join us too.”
Us. He really was jumping in with both feet. She liked that about him. “What if they don’t have enough work for us?”
“Then we can do some investigating on the side. Just to keep in shape.”
She ran her hand over his abs. “Keeping in shape is really important.” Then she smelled bacon cooking in the kitchen and hurried to get off Vaughn. “It’s time to eat, but I planned to help Demetria cook before they go to the airport this morning.”
“How’s your head? The rest of you looks fine.”
She tugged on some panties and a bra. “Feels great. Are you coming?”
He stayed put, and she glanced at the erection tenting his boxer briefs.
“Meet you in the kitchen.” She hurried to tug on a sweater and pants, then stuck her feet in a pair of slipper boots and hurried out of the room as she heard him finally getting out of bed.
“You’re not afraid of the big, bad wolf, are you?”
After last night? Ha! She was more worried about herself around him. She laughed from down the hall and continued to the kitchen.
“How are you feeling?” Demetria turned the bacon in a frying pan when Jillian joined her.
“Great.”
Everett was working on the eggs. Jillian thought Everett and Demetria made a really cute couple and that they worked so well together on missions.
“What can I do?” Jillian asked.
Demetria motioned to the bread. “Toast, juice.”
“Got it.”
“Where’s sleeping beauty?” Everett asked. “Is he okay?”
Better than okay, if the way his erection had been swelling was any indication. Well, about his shoulder, Jillian wasn’t certain. Why hadn’t she asked? She had been thinking way too much about the way she’d aroused him, that’s why.
“Shoulder’s good.” Vaughn joined them and winked at Jillian.
She swore her face had to be flaming beet red, as hot as it felt.
Demetria served a platter of bacon.
“I guess it’s just you, Howard, and me then, Jillian.” Vaughn set the table.
Jillian nodded. “Sure hope you learn something today.”
“Us too. What are you going to do?” Demetria asked.
“We’re going to see Douglas first. But I thought you should know. Vaughn has news for everyone,” Jillian said, unable to wait any longer for Vaughn to tell them the good news. “Wait, got to get Howard in on this.” She called him, and he said they were headed over for breakfast so Miles could ride with Demetria and Everett to the airport.
When they arrived and sat down to breakfast, Jillian motioned to Vaughn. “He has something he wants to tell everyone.”
Vaughn smiled at her, then opened his mouth to speak, but she did the talking for him. “We’re both joining the USF. Hopefully, you’ll be glad you asked us.” She couldn’t imagine not taking part in such an interesting venture, but most of all, it could be a way to really help their kind when the two shifter groups were at odds. And she definitely wanted to get to know Vaughn better.
“Hot damn,” Howard said with exuberance.
“Hot damn is right,” Vaughn said, smiling at Jillian as if he’d just won a pot full of gold.
All smiles, Demetria gave her a hug. Everett shook Vaughn’s hand. Before he could give Jillian a hug, Vaughn did, and it wasn’t just a way-to-go, welcome-to-the-team hug either. She almost laughed at the wolf’s actions. She wondered if that was why he hadn’t said he was joining yet. He really wanted to work with her on the team.
He finally released her, and Everett, Howard, and Miles gave her a sweet hug. Vaughn gave Demetria one.
“I can’t say enough about what this means to us,” Everett said. “Thanks. We really needed wolves on the force, but well-qualified wolves, and ones who know how to have some fun on the mission? Even better.”
“I agree,” Demetria said. “When we started this force after our last mission, we weren’t sure how to go about finding the right wolves to join our team. I can see you were the perfect choice.”
“Hey, you can team up with me,” Miles said to Howard.
Everyone laughed.
Howard said, “Welcome to the USF, agents.”
Jillian hadn’t figured anyone would call them agents, but that was pretty cool too.
Demetria was still smiling at them, as if she suspected more was going on between the two wolves than just joining the force. Jillian suspected so too.
After breakfast, Miles, Demetria, and Everett took off for the airport, and Vaughn, Jillian, and Howard went to see Douglas.
Vaughn glanced at her as he drove his Land Rover to the clinic. “You surprised me when you told the cats we were joining the team. I figured you needed to think about it further.”
“Not me. When I decide something, I go for it. I suspect you’re the same way.”
“I am. I would have decided a lot faster if I’d known you were joining.”
She smiled. “Like right after I shot you?”
“I like to live dangerously.”
Howard shook his head.
Jillian laughed. “I probably should have asked you about cases you’ve worked first. Before I decided to team up with you.”
“Too late now.” Vaughn thought about it for a moment, then said, “Well, the most recent case was when I was trying to track down a wolf—”
“Not the case concerning my brother.”
“That sounds like one of those subjects best left alone,” Howard said.
Vaughn agreed. “All right. You’re not the first one who shot at me during a mission, you know. I have to admit, you’re the only one who actually made her mark. Sometimes the would-be shooter didn’t have a chance to get off a round. In one PI case, I was serving a divorce notice to a man on behalf of his distraught wife. Before I could tell the man who answered the door who the paper was for, another man came tearing to the door with a loaded 9mm. I quickly took him down, secured his gun, and served him the papers. Only they belonged to the man who had answered the door.”
Jillian laughed. “Was that guy armed too?”
“Luckily, no. He knew it was coming. The two men were twin brothers living together. The wife of the armed man had been at a conference, and he thought she’d suddenly decided to divorce him because he wouldn’t get them a place of their own. Anyway, it was easily resolved once he cooled down over his ‘almost’ divorce.”
Jillian chuckled. “Okay, so I was serving divorce papers to a man, and he wanted to know if I was available.”
“I hope you shot him.”
She laughed. “I only shoot perps on special cases. You were definitely a special case.”
“So I wonder if we’ll need to move to Texas. Since Dallas is their headquarters.”
“Maybe not. We might just be on call for whenever a case arises. You could still be working your job in Colorado, and I could be in Tacoma, Washington.”
“Sounds to me like it would be better if we were living in a more central location.”
“Like Colorado? With your pack?”
“I’m gone a lot of the time. So I don’t do a lot of things with the pack.” Then he smiled at her. “Of course, that could change if I was sponsoring a new wolf to the pack.”
She shook her head. “You have it all worked out, don’t you? What about me being close to family?”
“It’s completely up to you.”
“Hmm, if I moved to Colorado, some of your pack members might get the idea we’re becoming mated wolves.”
“No doubt. Especially after you shot me.”
She laughed. Vaughn was just too funny. “So that’s the only way a she-wolf could get your attention?”
“Only you.”
Howard laughed.