Reviving Bloom (18 page)

By the time I finish with my calls Bloom has finished lunch, so I go
in the kitchen to join her.

Finishing off my third hambur
ger I tell her
, “Thanks, darlin’, that really hit the spot.”

Trailing her finger around the rim of her
glass
of sweet tea she looks up at me and smiles
, “You’re welcome, Tennessee.”

“Speaking of Tennessee
….”

“I know you need to get back.
” Her finger pauses on the glass as she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath then lets it out before saying, “
I’ll go with you.”

I release the breath I
was
holding
in
.
“Thanks, for not fighting me on this. They need me there. I promise you
’ll
love it.” I’m so pleased that she isn’
t saying no.

“But I want Bonnie
to come with me.” She announces her ultimatum
. I know those two are as thick as thieves but Bonnie has a life here how
can
she possibly pack up her life and follow us.

“I can hear your though
ts now, Tennessee
,
”
s
he reminds
me with a smug grin.

“
Sorry. Do you think Bonnie will
be able to pack up and mov
e away from her family?” I ask
.

“I don’t know, but
I hope so because I’d like to have a familiar face there to help me through this. It’s going to be a big change, Pike. I’ve never lived anywhere but here. My
Dad
built this house
,
”
s
he says
looking around the room clearly taki
ng in all the memories that cling
there.

“We’ll come back a
nd visit. You can keep your house
and we’ll use it as a
vacation home. I bet Billy will keep a good eye on it for ya
.”

“
That might work, but I’d still like to ask Bonnie to come along, if you don’t mind.”

“Darlin’, if it makes you happy it
makes me happy
,
” I say grabbing her hand that’s
been fiddling with her glass of tea.

“Thank you,” she whispers as she watches our joined hands.

I help
h
er clear the table then follow
her into t
he living room where we snuggle
up on the
couch. We plan
on watching a movie but
in the decision process we ge
t caught up in learning each other’s favorite things.

“What
’s your favorite movie?” I ask
tracing my fingers up her neck
to her hairline then back down her shoulder.

“
Anythin
g with John Wayne,” she answers as a shiver races down her body from my touch
.

“Oh a western fan. I like that.”
I smile at the back of her head.

“What about you, Tennessee?”

“Promise you won’t laugh?”

“Spit it out
,
”
s
he pushes.

“The Notebook,” I mumble
.

Turning around and looking me in the face she asks trying to hold in a laugh, “Did you just say The Notebook?
”

“Yes,” I grumble.

“As in the best chick flick ever,
two
hour long epic love story, kissing in the rain, Nicholas Sparks The Notebook?”

“Yes, that very movie, and I’
m secure enough in my man hood to say I cr
y every time I watch it
,
” I say
puffing out my chest.

“Good choice.” She giggles
.

“Darlin’?” I ask
pulling her giggling self back into my arms.

“Hmm?” She manages after she finally calms
down.

“Promise me you’ll never tell the guys in the pack I just admitted that. As far as they
know their Alpha loves movies
with fast cars and explosions.”

“It’s our dirty little secret, Tennessee.”

Chapter 22 – Bloom

~
Lusty Threats
~

It feels
so right to be wrapped up in
his arms, I guess if I believe everything he’s telling me then I’m made to be
here. And if I’m being truthful with myself I believe he’s right about us being mates.
Even though I’ve ju
st met him
,
I feel as if I can
trust him with my life.
If you can’t trust the shifter
put on this earth for you, who can you trust?

Curled up together w
e
learn
we
have
some things in common, like our love of country music and classic muscle cars. As well as some things we’ll probably never see eye to eye on, he loves pineapple on
his pizza while I stick with the classic pepperoni
. When he asks
me m
y favorite color his eyes pop
into my
mind and I automatically blurt
out ocean blue, which cause
s
my cheeks to tur
n ten shades of red. He rewards
my honesty with a kiss o
n the top of my head and I can
see in his mind that his favorite
color now comes
from my hazel eyes, which put
s
a smile on my face the rest of the afternoon.
I
’m
surprised
by
how easily I c
an now pick up on his thoughts. Our conversation has
an easy give and take, but on the rare occasion one of us
i
s embarrassed or nervous about our answer the other easily pick
s
the answer out of the others thoughts.
Pike explain
s to me that after the mating is complete and with enough practice we’ll
be able to access all of each other’s memories. I
’m
nervous about him seeing the dark place I was in this past yea
r, but when that thought crosses my mind he pulls me closer and reassures me that he’s
here for me now. As nervous as I
am I also realize
I
’m
excited to be able to see his life growing up in a pack. 

When
the sun set
s we figure
it
’s
time to get up and make dinner. He t
a
k
es my hand and pulls me to my feet and keeps a hold of it while we walk
the short distance into the kitc
hen only releasing it so I can
search the cabinets for something to make us.

“Ho
w does spaghetti sound?” I ask
looking at him around the edge of the cabinet door.

“It sounds perfec
t like you, darlin’
,
”
h
e replies
from
the
perch
he’s
taken
on the counter.

“Pike,
I’m far from perfect,” I sigh
hiding my face back behind the door under the pretense of gatheri
ng the cooking supplies. I hear
him hop down seconds before I fe
el
his arms wrap around my waist.

His lips pr
essed to my ear
and
he whispers
, “
In my opinion you’re perfect and anyone that disagrees will have to answer to me.” Moving his mouth farther down to
the crook in my neck he breathes
, “Though you should know this little freckle right here might be the reason you are so perfect.”
Then he t
a
k
es
my breath away by planting those delic
iously kissable lips right on that freckle. I grab
the co
unter in front of me and slam my eyes close
d,
praying for him to only move those lips
if he
’
s going to take them
from my neck to put
them on m
y mouth
, and for the first time si
nce this madness began I thank the lord he can
read my thoughts because he spins
me around and g
i
ve
s
me exactly what I
was
been praying for.

He starts
gently
but when I thr
o
w my arms around his neck digging my fingers into his
raven hair his lips bec
ome demanding and I part
m
y lips so he can
join his tongue with mine. We
can’t
get close enough,
can’t
get enough, and in that moment I f
eel fairly certain I’ll
never be able to get enough
of this man in my arms
. His kisses
taste sweeter than hot chocolate, chocolate chip cookies, and hot fudge sundaes combined.

I knew he’d taste delicious
.
My wolf sure is a know it all. Geez!

When he pulls
back to catch his breath
I want
to drag hi
m back to soothe the ache I feel
from the loss of hi
s body against mine. He chuckles
at my thoughts
as he runs
his han
d through his hair then leans
in
to place
one more chaste kiss on my lips before saying, “You’ve already had a rough 24 hours and you need more time to process everything that’s happened before we go further.”

“We
’re just kissing.” I cross
my arms ov
er my chest and look
down
,
my chin on my chest, my lips pouted.

Putting
his hand under my chin he tilts my head back so he can
look in
to my eyes, “Darlin’, if we keep kissing like that I won’t
be able to stop myself from draggin’ you into your bedroom
and
…”

“Alright, point taken,” I
cut him off by pulling my chin
out of his grasp so he can’t
see the blush that I kn
o
w ha
s
inevitably covered my checks.

“Bloom, are you a
…
” he start
s
to ask.

“We are not having this conversation, Pike
,
” I cut him off again.

His scans
my face for a few seconds and I
’m convinced he’ll
push
the topic, but finally he backs up and says
, “I’ll drop it for now, darlin’, but only because I’m starving.”

Letting out a sigh I turn back to the cabinet to finish gathering the ingredients for dinner. I hear him pul
l out a chair at the table and kn
o
w he
’s
sat
down, so I beg
i
n going through my mental list of everything needed for the spaghetti. When I reach
up
high to grab the box of pasta he ma
k
e
s
me jump by stating, “Oh Bloom, just so you know I
will
be getting the answer to my question one way or another.”