Longing for Wolves (Shifter Country Wolves Book 5) (11 page)

“Oh,
fuck
,” said Annika when she saw the trickle of water. She unlocked the back door, threw it open, and looked inside.

The floor was covered with a sheet of water, all gushing from a crack in one wall.

“Is that drywall?” Calder asked.

“I don’t know!” she said, still staring at her bakery kitchen.

“Do you know when this was built?”

“No!” Annika said, sounding on the verge of tears.

Sam stepped in, ignoring the rush of water over the toe of his shoe. He shone the flashlight around, quietly trying to assess the damage. Next to him, Annika took a deep breath, then started talking.

“There’s another flashlight in the broom closet,” she said. “I think we just need to get as much off the floor and onto the counters as we can, and take everything in the fridge and freezer back to my place.”

Calder nodded once.

“Got it,” he said, heading for the broom closet.

It was a long,
wet
couple of hours. Annika spent half the time on the phone either with the water company or trying to get the owner of the boutique next door on the phone as Sam and Calder took everything that was near the floor and put it on the counter. By the time Annika got the water shut off, they were both soaked, half from the water and half from sweat.

“Okay,” she said at last.
 
“I got the cake loaded into the truck, along with all the icing and the ganache, and those roses that Scarlet made for it.”

She paused, then went over to the wall of ovens, shining her flashlight into them.

“I think the bottom one is fucked,” she said, sounding defeated. “Along with the freezers, for sure.”

“We got all the mixers onto the counter,” offered Sam. “And whatever that thing is that looks kind of like a letterpress.”

“It’s for rolling out dough,” Annika said, her voice sounding automatic. Now the floor was just wet, and she kicked at it with the toe of her shoe. “Thanks, guys. I’d be screwed if you weren’t here.”

Calder leaned forward and kissed her on top of her head without thinking.

“Of course,” he said.

“You’re wet,” she said.

“Well, a pipe burst in your bakery,” he said, trying to lighten the situation.

“Don’t remind me,” she said.

“Come on,” said Sam. “Let’s get the cake back to your place, and
then
worry about what’s next.”

Annika nodded, and the three of them walked back to the truck, where layers of wedding cake filled every available space that wasn’t the driver’s seat.

“So we’re walking?” Sam asked her, teasing.

Annika looked at the truck, and then burst out laughing.

“Oh, God,” she said, between peals. “I wasn’t even thinking. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” he said. “You can drive the truck. We’ll meet you there?”

“You don’t
really
have to walk,” she said. “I can call someone for a ride, it’s fine.”

“It’s a good night for a run,” Sam said. “If you don’t mind taking our clothes back with you.”

Finally, the lightbulb went on over Annika’s head.

“Sure,” she said, but Sam was already taking his shirt off.

“They’re kinda damp,” he said. “Sorry.”

Annika clicked her flashlight off, and then Sam was taking his clothes off in the dim light of the moon. Calder shrugged and took his shirt off as well, tossing it to the bewildered girl.

He had the overwhelming urge to grab Sam and kiss him, see if
that
didn’t work for her, but he controlled himself. Just as he went to take off his boxers she turned around, shading her eyes.

“See you guys soon?” she asked.

Calder shifted, then licked her elbow. Annika squealed, then laughed.

Chapter Eleven

Annika

Annika’s brain felt like a jumble as she drove home carefully, trying not to jostle the cake in the passenger seat too much.

Her main thought was just
fuck, fuck, fuck
, over and over again. It was occasionally interspersed with the image of Calder and Sam, in the dark, shirts sticking wetly to them.

Or, better, the two of them stripping down in the alley. Every so often she glanced at the pile of damp clothes on the floor of the passenger side. Somehow, it seemed rude to think about them naked when they’d just basically saved her ass.

She pulled into the driveway of her house, parked carefully, and propped her front door open so she could take the cake in, intensely thankful that she’d put her old chest freezer in her kitchen when she’d bought a new one for the bakery.

After three trips into the kitchen, she came back out her front door and almost screamed.

There were two
giant
wolves, just sitting in her driveway.

Then she laughed, the adrenaline still in her veins.

“Jeez, you scared me,” she said. Then she stopped. “You’re Calder and Sam, right?”

One of them rolled over onto its back, showing his belly. The other looked at the first a little disdainfully.

“Your clothes are in the car,” she said. “I’ve got a couple more trips with icing roses.”

She took another layer in, put it in the chest freezer, and walked back out to see them pulling on their shirts.

Annika was slightly disappointed that she hadn’t been a little faster.

“What else?” Sam asked, and Annika pointed to the three remaining boxes in the cab of the truck. They carried them in, and then Annika leaned against the counter in her kitchen. She felt totally wrung out, her hands still a little shaky.

“Thanks for helping,” she said. “If you guys hadn’t been there, I probably would have just set everything on fire and walked away.”

“It’s good we were there, because that’s a terrible plan,” Calder said solemnly.

“It never would have caught with the burst pipe,” added Sam.

“True,” she said, and sighed. Then she shook herself, just a little, and remembered her manners.

“I’ve got some experimental cupcakes,” she said. “You guys want one?”

“Of course we want cupcakes,” Calder said.

Annika went to the table and opened a box, pulling out three cupcakes.

“What makes them experimental?” Sam asked. “They just look like chocolate.”

“They’re a little weird inside,” said Annika, already undoing the wrapper of one. “You’re not allergic to peanuts, right?”

“Nope,” said Calder, taking a huge bite and getting chocolate frosting on his face. “Hey, peanut butter,” he said, his mouth full.

“I told you,” Annika said, nibbling at the edge of hers. She was so wound up that she wasn’t even hungry, despite usually being her own biggest fan.

For a few moments, they just ate cupcakes. Calder scarfed his, while Sam and Annika ate slower.

“You’re covered in frosting,” Sam pointed out to Calder. He was only halfway through his own cupcake.

“Sorry, I got excited,” he said.

Annika tossed him the paper towels, and he tore one off, wiping his face off.

“You finishing that?” he asked Sam.

“Yes,” said Sam. “Stop looking at it.”

Calder reached out and swiped a fingerful of frosting from Sam’s cupcake, but before he could get it into his mouth, Sam grabbed his wrist. Calder just laughed.

“I tried,” he said.

Sam stuck Calder’s finger in his mouth and sucked the frosting off, and something changed in Calder’s face. It was something small, something that Annika couldn’t exactly identify, but it was
there
.

Annika swallowed.

I wouldn’t mind watching that again
, she thought.

“Is
that
what happens when I steal frosting?” Calder said. His voice lowered, his deep blue eyes glinting.

Sam shoved the last quarter of the cupcake into his mouth, and Calder laughed again. Annika kept nibbling,
way
more interested in what was happening in front of her than in chocolate frosting.

“There’s a lady present,” Sam said, and winked at Annika.

“Don’t mind me,” she said quickly. “There’s about a gallon of frosting in the fridge if you’re interested.”

And you can lick it off each other all night
, she thought.

“Is that what you’re into?” Calder teased, turning toward her. He leaned against the counter on the opposite side of her kitchen, only a couple of feet away. “Was your
real
hangup that you’re a frost-o-philiac, and you need to watch people lick icing off of things to get off?”

“I wish,” said Annika. “I own a bakery, so my days would be a nonstop
orgy
.”

“I don’t think it was the frosting,” Sam said. He slid an arm around Calder’s waist.

Nope
, thought Annika, her pulse speeding up.

“You think she’s finally getting the triad thing?” Calder asked.

“I get triads,” she said, feeling a little defensive.

“Are you sure?” Sam asked. “I know a way to find out.”

“And
you
said we had to take it slow with her,” Calder teased his mate.

“She got nervous telling me you’d hit on her,” Sam said.

“Weird,” Calder said, and winked at her. “But adorable.”

“Oh, come on,” Annika said. “I’m not
that
bad.”

She swallowed hard. She felt like she couldn’t quite breathe right, like there was
something
about to happen that she could barely wait for.

“Hey,” Sam said, his voice getting low and gravelly. “Kiss me.”

Calder turned his head so their faces were an inch apart.

“But
she’s
watching,” he said. His hand found the bottom of Sam’s shirt and he wound his fingers around it, revealing an inch of Sam’s hipbone.

Annika had completely forgotten about the bakery.

“She says she’s not that bad,” Sam said. “So kiss me and see if she runs away, screaming.”

Calder closed the last inch, and Annika held her breath as their lips met, moving slow and hard, and he turned slightly toward Sam. His hand let go of the other man’s shirt and slid along Sam’s lower belly from hipbone to hipbone.

There was a definite bulge in Sam’s jeans, and Annika finally breathed.

Calder pulled away from Sam, and two pairs of eyes looked at Annika, both dark with lust.

“Well?” Sam asked her.

“She’s not running,” Calder said to him, his tone conspiratorial.

“Give me
some
credit,” Annika finally said.

“Look how red she is,” Sam said. “She was into it.”

Annika opened her mouth, somehow feeling that she was supposed to protest, but then she shut it again, and both of them laughed. She cracked a smile herself.

“Okay,” she admitted. “I was into it.”

Sam held out one hand, like he’d done the other day, and Annika took it then let herself be pulled toward the two men. Before she knew it, she was pressed up against Sam.

He didn’t say anything, just bent down and kissed her. Annika rose up on her tiptoes, trying to press back against him, one hand resting on his hipbone. Then his hand was on her cheek, holding her head against his and Annika opened her mouth against his, wanting more.

Instead, he pulled away.

Oh come on
, she thought.

A hand slid along her back: Calder’s. She turned to look at him and then his mouth was on hers, still half-leaning on Sam, one hand on each man. Calder swiped his tongue along her lower lip and she opened her mouth, winding her tongue around his as he pressed his body into hers, his fingers tightening on her back.

When they broke apart, Annika was breathing hard.

She felt like something inside her had been unleashed, something wild and almost feral.

“You get triads now?” Calder asked, grinning. Sam’s hands curved themselves around her hips from behind, holding her gently.

“No,” she said, grabbing the front of his shirt with one hand and tugging gently. “I think I need some more demonstration.”

She slid one hand under Calder’s shirt, his hard muscles rippling underneath her fingers as a noise came from deep in his chest.

“Did you just
growl
at me?” she whispered. Her fingers kept moving.

“Grrr,” he said out loud, and then kissed her again, harder this time, his tongue in her mouth in a blink, Sam’s hands on her hips tightening.
 

As Calder pulled away something tickled her neck, and then Sam was there, sucking and biting at the sensitive skin.

“No hickies,” she gasped.

Sam just laughed and bit her a little harder.

“Come on,” she pleaded, even as her eyes closed with pleasure.

“Mine was intentional,” Calder reassured her. “Very, very intentional.”

“You deserved it,” Sam said. Now his hands were under Annika’s shirt and she leaned back against him. The bulge in his jeans had only gotten bigger, and now it was shamelessly pressed against her lower back.

“I bet he did,” Annika said. She tugged upward on Calder’s shirt, and he finally helped her out, whipping it over his head.

“Are we talking about this again?” he asked, grinning. “Sam wanted me to remember where I’d been, like I could forget
that
.”

Annika leaned forward and pressed her lips to his collarbone, the highest thing that she could reach, his hard muscles beneath her hands. Behind her, Calder tugged at Sam’s shirt and it came off as well, landing on Annika’s kitchen floor.

“Boys,” Annika said. “Don’t fight.”

“What
should
we do, then?” Calder asked.

Before anyone could answer, suddenly Annika was being lifted into the air and she found herself borne aloft in a pair of tattooed arms, a grinning face above them.

“I’ve got an idea,” Sam said.

“Bedroom’s to the left,” Annika volunteered, winding her arms around his neck.

Thirty seconds later, she’d been tossed onto her bed, knees over the edge, Sam standing between them and pulling her shirt over her head, lips drawing a trail down her neck.

Then Calder was behind him and Sam straightened and groaned, pressing himself against Annika. Calder’s hand had plunged into Sam’s pants and Annika could just see his face over Sam’s shoulder, his forearms tensing and bunching as he stroked Sam slowly.

Annika watched, liquid heat flowing through her body like a waterfall. She had no idea
what
she was even feeling, but she liked it, a whole lot.