Senora sat on a boulder near the fire, just a few feet from Ty and surrounded by dozens of men and woman smiling, laughing and sharing a meal. The jumping flames were mesmerizing, and Senora found herself lost in thought, the sounds and scents around her fading away and leaving nothing but the crackling fire that chased away the mosquitos and warmed her sore muscles.
Ty leaned over in the darkness and put his hand on her leg. The borrowed dress had crept up, leaving her thigh exposed to his warm hand. He squeezed affectionately and smiled at her.
“Are you alright?” he whispered in her ear.
“I’m fine,” she said. “I’m just exhausted, and I’m still trying to wrap my head around everything that’s happened today.”
“We can go to bed if you’d like,” he said, his smile enticing.
“We are not doing anything, but yes, I would like to go to bed.”
He laughed, giving her leg one more squeeze before he reached out for her empty plate and held his free hand out to her. She took it and stood on wobbly legs that protested and threatened to buckle. She took a step forward and stumbled into him, muscles trembling wildly.
“Are you alright?” he asked, his arm wrapped tightly around her.
“I’ll be fine. I just need a hot bath and a good night’s sleep.”
“I can help you with both of those. Let’s go to my cabin and call it a night.”
“Won’t that be weird, just leaving right after dinner?”
He shook his head.
“The rules of your kind don’t apply here. We come and go as we please, and everyone is welcome inside the circle at any time.”
He put his arm around her, and they started walking away from the fire and toward the cabins in the distance. Senora still wore her backpack on her back, afraid to let it out of her sight even for a moment. The bag was heavy on her shoulders, but she ignored the weight and focused on the comfort it brought. Even though she’d been forced to walk away from her overnight bag and her rental car, she had the most important things with her. That included the files they’d taken from Robin’s office, which she hadn’t had a chance to look at yet.
She smiled, remembering the warm greeting they had received when they’d walked into the village as the sun was beginning to set. Almost immediately, they’d seen that Senora and Ty were in need of clean clothes and warm food. Ty had changed in his own cabin, but Senora had nothing to wear. Before she could think to mention it, a woman came forward with the simple sundress, offering it to Senora with a shy smile and waving her off when she tried to explain that she would give it back once her clothes were clean.
“You keep it,” the woman had said. “I have more than I can use, and blue is definitely your color.”
Senora had blushed and thanked the woman for her kindness before changing quickly in Ty’s cabin. She’d exchanged her dirty shoes for handmade, leather sandals that were brand new and felt like soft butter against her skin. As odd as it was for her to wear dresses, she felt at home and completely comfortable amongst these people.
It was the first time she’d felt that way in her entire life.
That was weird, she thought, wondering where that feeling had come from. She’d had a nearly idyllic childhood and had never felt out of place or like an outcast a day in her life. Sure, at the FBI office in D.C., she was kind of an anomaly. She worked alone unless she pulled in help, and the woman supervising the branch she worked in wasn’t her boss. But that didn’t mean she was out of place.
The entire satellite office was filled with agents that didn’t work on the run-of-the-mill FBI task forces, which was why they’d moved to a private office that was out of the way outside D.C. proper. A lot of their cases dealt with extremely sensitive information, so being around the lower level agents just hadn’t been an option. Sure, it wasn’t the bureau experience she’d longed for during her days at the academy, but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t happy where she was.
Besides, she loved what she did, and she couldn’t see herself doing anything else. She spoke for those who couldn’t speak for themselves, and she looked for the lost souls that no one else was looking for. She made an impact on this world, and that was more than most people could hope to do in their lifetime.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Ty said, letting her into his cabin and turning on the lights.
She looked around, a little surprised that they had already made it to his home. She’d been so lost in thought that she hadn’t been paying attention at all as they’d walked in the warm glow of the large fire in the center of the village.
She blinked in disbelief when the lights came on, then laughed.
“What?” he asked, smiling.
“I don’t know why, but I wasn’t expecting there to be electricity. Everything seems so rustic, I thought we’d be building a fire and doing everything by the fire’s light until we went to bed.”
Ty laughed.
“I suppose that you don’t want to watch a little television on my flat screen until we are ready to sleep then?”
She rolled her eyes.
“I’m ready to sleep now,” she said.
She looked around the room, noting the single upright chair in the living room, and down the hall, which only had two doors.
“There’s only one room,” he said.
“I guess I can sleep on the chair.”
“It doesn’t recline. There’s no way for you to sleep there, and we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”
Senora sighed.
“I guess there’s no point in arguing the inevitable,” she said. “I hope one of your friends has a spare bed for you.”
He stared at her for a full beat, then burst out laughing.
“You are something else,” he said. “I know you’re no damsel in distress, but it’s amazing that you’ve managed to keep your humor intact through all this.”
“I’ve lived through worse,” she said, then frowned. “Well, not really, I don’t guess.”
Ty arched an eyebrow.
“Well, have you, or haven’t you?”
“I feel like I have, but I can’t think of anything offhand as bad as being hunted by the Sheriff of a town and being lost in the woods with a werewolf. I feel like that tops all, to be honest.”
“I would hope so.” He motioned with his head
“I’m just tired, and a lot of weird thoughts keep popping up in my head. I just need sleep.”
“I can help you with that.”
I doubt that, she thought. She didn’t think that Ty was the kind of guy that let a woman sleep through the night, but she wasn’t going to find out if she was right. She wasn’t here for pleasure; she was here for work. Not that the thought hadn’t crossed her mind as he’d strutted around the forest, naked in front of her. But she wasn’t in a position to act on those thoughts, and she would just have to enjoy the memory of his naked perfection.
I should have taken a picture.
She chortled, surprised by the laughter that bubbled up unexpectedly and clamping her hand over her mouth.
“You’re punch drunk,” Ty said. “Let’s get you into bed.”
Senora nodded, thankful that he had no idea about the thoughts that were going through her head. It was better if he didn’t know he was gorgeous. Ty seemed like the kind of guy who didn’t need his ego stroked at all.
He opened up the door at the end of the hallway and stepped back, letting Senora take in the scene before her.
She gasped, amazed at the size of the room and the massive bed in the center against the wall.
“Your room is the size of my first apartment,” she said with a laugh.
“Everything is bigger in Texas,” he teased with a wink.
“I’ve noticed,” she said, then blushed. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”
“Of course, you did.”
She scowled at him, but he was already walking over to the large closet, rummaging through his shirts before he tossed one her way.
“I’d offer you a pair of pants, but I don’t think I have any that will even come close to fitting you.”
“I’ll wear what I have on,” she insisted.
He shook his head.
“It needs to get tossed in the wash with the rest of your clothes if you want to have something to wear while you’re here.”
“How long are we planning on staying?”
“You want to solve the case, don’t you?”
He had her there. She absolutely did want to see this case through, and that meant more time spent with Ty.
“I do,” she said, hesitant as she wondered where he was going with this.
“Well, you have no extra clothes, and we can’t exactly go into town and just buy you some. Since you’re going to be staying here, it would make sense to wash your clothes while you sleep, right?”
“We’re staying here?”
“Were you planning on staying in town?” he laughed. “Staying here is the only option. You’re not safe anywhere else, and with Dale on the rampage, you might not be completely safe here. But here, I can keep an eye on you and protect you if he is stupid enough to send his henchmen. I don’t think he’s that stupid, but the Sheriff has surprised me before.”
“I don’t need protecting,” she said.
“I’ll remember that the next time you’re in a hotel room and about to be captured. I don’t believe you ever thanked me for that.”
“Thank you,” she said.
“That sounded sincere,” he laughed. He pulled the blankets back and pointed toward a door in the corner of the room. “The bathroom is there. You can take a shower if you want or just change and toss what you’re wearing into the hamper. I’ll make sure it gets washed and it’s ready to go in the morning. You can pick your side.”
She started to protest then changed her mind. Arguing with Ty wasn’t going to change a thing, and it was just frustrating her. He was going to do things his way, and there was no way around it.
“Fine,” she said, shaking her head. “But you better not try anything funny.”
His smile was wicked.
“Trust me,” he said with a low growl. “If I try anything, you won’t be laughing.”
She felt her body tighten at the suggestion in his words. Before she could make matters worse, she turned and all but fled into the bathroom. There was no lock on the door, but even if there had been, it wouldn’t have mattered. It was Ty’s house. He could probably open the door with the power of his mind or something ridiculous like that.
She laughed at the thought, then stripped out of her borrowed clothes and stepped into the shower.
The water was warm and the spray almost too rough as it pelted her sore, bruised muscles. She washed quickly, just a little worried that he might barge in at any time.
She laughed to herself at the ridiculousness of it all. He’d been nothing but a gentleman the entire day, and she had no reason to believe that would change just because she was naked just a few feet from where he was. He had more than earned her trust throughout the day, and she felt a twinge of guilt for balking at the idea of sharing his large bed for the night. There was plenty of room for both of them, and she was confident that Ty would manage to sleep beside her and keep his hands to himself.
Whether Senora could keep her hands off his smooth, bronze skin remained to be seen.
Stop it, she thought, scrubbing vigorously and trying to get her mind out of the gutter. You can’t keep entertaining those thoughts when he’s right in the other room.
She chuckled softly to herself. She could let her thoughts run wild because she doubted that he felt the same. He teased her good-naturedly, but Ty was all gentleman, and there was no way he would be so bold with her on their first day working together.
Now that she had some time to think and they were no longer running for their lives, Senora thought back on the day and how very crazy it had been. She’d started out in the wolf enclosure and ended up in the wolf pack, safe from the corrupt Sheriff and his cohorts. It was enough to make even her head spin. Sprinkle in the wild ride on the back of a werewolf and walking in the woods with a sexy, naked man and Senora knew that no one would believe her even if she had someone to tell. The day had been stranger than fiction, and she’d loved every minute of it.
If that made her just as crazy, she didn’t care.
Senora shrugged with a smile, going to work on her hair and closing her eyes when the scent of mint with a touch of something she couldn’t quite place rose up from the bubbling lather and swirled around her. She needed to take some of this shampoo home so she could remember this moment and this cabin deep in the woods.
Stepping out of the shower, she grabbed a plush towel and dried off quickly. The shirt was soft and loose, going almost to her knees. She would’ve preferred more fabric between herself and Ty, but this would have to do until she got some more clothes or she was able to get her clothes from the hotel.
Not going to happen. She sighed at the thought and wished she’d had the foresight to at least pack a few pairs of underwear and socks in her backpack even if putting more in the already full bag would have made the bag hard to zip closed. At least she would have something to wear.
She hung the towel on the rack by the door and quickly ran her fingers through her already drying hair. Mustering her courage and trying not to think about the sexy shifter in the other room, she opened the door to the bedroom and stepped through it.
The room was empty, the bed turned down and waiting for her. She glanced out the bedroom door and down the hall, but she didn’t see Ty anywhere. She called out to him, but there was no answer.
She sighed.
Might as well get some sleep, she thought. She had no idea where he could have possibly gone, and a myriad of options raced through her head. For all she knew, he could be running in a wolf pack in the light of the full moon.
Or he could be out walking with a lover. The truth was, she knew nothing about him besides what he’d already revealed and that wasn’t much. He had an entire life that she knew nothing about, and she wasn’t about to leave the house in the darkness to try and find him. He would come home when he was ready, and hopefully, she would be sound asleep by then.
Sliding between the sheets, she curled onto her side and faced the doorway to the hall. It was the only entrance and exit, and she didn’t ever sleep with her back to a door. She hoped that Ty would be comfortable on the other side, but she was so tired that she didn’t really care.
She pulled the covers up to her chin and inhaled the fresh scent. Everything smelled so fresh with none of the artificial perfumes that filled her own home. The windows were open, the screens keeping nature out and the fans that spun lazily throughout the house keeping it cool enough despite the Texas heat. She closed her eyes, listening to the sounds of nature that drifted in through the open windows.
Her body was heavy, and she was tired to the very depths of her soul. As the night critters sang their song into the air, she found that she couldn’t fight sleep any longer. Her last thought before she fell to sleep was that, on her next vacation, she would have to go camping somewhere like this place. She wouldn’t miss the crazy Sheriff, but she wouldn’t mind having a sexy shifter come with her. Camping alone was fun, but she was sure that camping with Ty was immeasurably better.
She fell to sleep with a smile on her lips, feeling at peace for the first time since she’d first stepped foot in Texas.