Seduced by a Shifter (7 page)

Rome rattled off an address and the sisters frowned in unison. “How’d you know?” Kaylie complained. “Did Dean call you?”

Rome just smirked and held up two fingers. “Two hours.”

“Two and a half,” Kaylie negotiated, eyes narrowing in determination. “You have to allow for travel and introduction time.”

Rome’s lips twitched. “Fine.”

Scott reappeared and bounced down the stairs. “Keep this with you at all times.” He handed Willow a phone, one of those fancy touch-screen ones, and a pair of gloves. “The screen is heat sensitive rather than touch sensitive, so you don’t accidentally start a call or app. The tips of these gloves conduct and amplify the heat in your fingertips which allows you to use the phone while keeping your hands warm.”

Both women were visibly impressed by the gloves while Willow felt overwhelmed by everything going on. “I don’t know how to work one of these phones.”

“I’ve got one very similar,” Kaylie informed her. “Tess can drive and I’ll show you on the way.”

Willow quickly lost track of what name belonged to which face at Tess’s wedding shower. The only three she could remember, beyond the sisters, was their mother, Ruth, a pretty brunette named Dr. Jackie Chavez, and an outgoing middle-aged waitress named Penny. Everyone else was a blur. Warm and welcoming, but a blur nonetheless.

As Tess pred
icted, Ruth had laid out an elaborate feast. There was chicken salad that could be mounded into huge croissants, hot wings, coconut shrimp, some type of warm chicken dip, a seven-layer dip, a vegetable tray, cheesecake, carrot cake, and round fudge balls dipped in a hard white candy coating. Once upon a time Willow would have never allowed herself near the decadent spread, but today she took a plate and, following everyone’s example, piled high.

They played silly shower games such as wrapping each other in toilet paper to make a wedding dress, drank wine—although Willow refrained as the few times she’d imbibed she’d come out the loser—and ate.

And ate some more.

“How’s the food?” Ruth asked as Willow took up a piece of heavenly cheesecake.

“Wonderful.” Both Willow’s smile and comment were sincere. “I’m stuffed but just can’t resist trying everything.”

Ruth grinned, eyes sparkling with pleasure at the praise. “Excellent. I’ll send some home with you.”

“Oh.” Though Willow eyed the remains with a bit of greed, enough still to feed an army, she demurred. “I’m sure the others...”

But Ruth waved that away. “Nonsense. There’s plenty. And it wouldn’t hurt you to gain a pound or two. Such a tiny thing you are.”

At five feet, four inches, Willow wasn’t exactly short, though she knew her small bones and thin frame, more boyish then curvy, tended to make her look frail. Watching her weight had always been a necessity, barely kept in check by the rigorous dance routines. Her sweet tooth knew no bounds and savoring the cheesecake after a slice of carrot cake, was an uncommon indulgence.

Conscientious of all the foods she’d missed out on over the years, Willow cut a hefty chunk of the cake with her fork. “Not if I keep eating like this.”

Ruth laughed, the musical notes so infectious that Willow continued to smile even after she started chewing.

At that moment Kaylie sidled up, leaning her forearms on the counter next to where Ruth and Willow stood. “God, Mom. I’m so full. Why didn’t you stop me?”

Ruth sent her youngest the kind of maternal, loving look Willow had always longed for and for the life of her, could never remember receiving. Dropping her eyes, she focused on taking another bite, hoping to hide the covetous feeling that tightened in her chest.

“Because you’re eating for two,” Ruth responded.

Kaylie let out a low groan. “
Was
eating for two. Now I gotta break that habit or I’ll never lose the baby weight.”

Jackie came into the kitchen, moving to the table for a slice of carrot cake. “You will,” she said, having overheard Kaylie’s comment. “Every new mother thinks she’ll carry the extra weight forever, but nature has its reasons.”

“Besides,” Tess said, angling behind her sister to rub a hand over her back in sibling affection. “It’s not like Dean is disgusted with your appearance, and really that’s all that matters.”

Kaylie’s lips curved in a secretive grin. “No. No, he’s quite interested in how my body has changed.”

“That because, despite what’s on TV and in magazines, men like curves.” Tess eyed Willow in a critical, yet not unkind fashion. “I know after leaving the business I gained enough weight to add a cup size. It’s silly, really, all that dieting only to have our bodies molded into a specific form that could be achieved by healthy eating habits.”

“And you,” Jackie, in doctor mode, pointed out, her fork aimed at Willow, “easily need to gain another five pounds.”

Willow felt her cheeks flush and stared down at her nearly empty plate. “Working on it,” she muttered.

“Lucky,” Kaylie said, her tone making the comment both envious and teasing.

One of the women came to the kitchen door and called Ruth away. Once the woman was out of sight, Tess flicked Kaylie on the ear.

“Hey.”

“I saw that stupid look on your face. I take it sex is back on the menu.” Tess wiggled her perfectly manicured brows. “So tell me. Is it different?”

When Willow began to choke, Jackie calmly handed her a bottle of water, her brown eyes gleaming with laughter. “Forgive Tess. She’s usually more subtle than this.”

Tess rolled her eyes. “I don’t have to be subtle with family.”

Knowing very well she was far from family, Willow glanced at the kitchen door, thinking she should give the women privacy. Yet curiosity struck again, and the fact all three women seemed to take the topic in stride while a near-stranger stood barely a foot away made her feet stick like glue to the spot.

“It’s the same, yet different.” Kaylie said after a moment. Her eyes darted from the empty doorway back to Tess with a wicked grin. “He said my scent has changed. It’s more enticing. Man can’t keep his hands off me.”

Willow frowned, wondering what Kaylie meant, not realizing she asked that aloud until Jackie said, “Pheromones. While the core remains the same, they can have different notes depending on diet and hormonal changes.”

Kaylie nodded. “Everything is attracted or repelled by scents, which is why the perfume industry is so large. Your natural pheromones are the most intense where you’re the warmest. For example, your breath. Dogs,” Kaylie used her vocation to illustrate her point, “are so sensitive that professional trainers will not allow the owners to speak until the trainers have finished putting a dog through it maneuvers.”

“Uh, not to seem skeptical about your business, sis, but wouldn’t that be because of their owner’s voice?” Tess turned to lean her back against the counter and crossed one long leg over the other. “And what about breathing through your nose? Wouldn’t those pheromones be blasting out then?”

Kaylie shook her head. “You can speak soft enough or in a certain tone that the animal might not hear and breathing through your nose doesn’t have the same impact as through your mouth. For one, it’s a bigger orifice.” She looked pointedly at Jackie who just shoved a huge chunk of cake past her lips. Undaunted, the doctor made yummy sounds around a full mouth. “And two, it’s a direct and moist link to the inside of your body.”

Willow set her empty plate on the counter, wondering how they’d gone from Kaylie’s husband to dogs. “But men aren’t dogs.”

Kaylie’s gaze flickered from Jackie and Tess to Willow. “Uh, no. But some men are really sensitive to scent.”

“And act like dogs when it comes to another warm, pheromone-acute area of the body.” Jackie snickered.

At Willow’s blank stare Tess laughed out loud. “Your groin, honey. What do dogs do in greeting? They stick their noses in your groin. If men could get away with it, you better believe they’d do the same to just about every female they came across.”

Willow’s face turned pink in shocked embarrassment and then, when the imagine of Ben nosing her between her thighs popped up into her mind, the flush darkened with carnal interest.

Kaylie and Jackie’s laughter abruptly cut off when Ruth reentered the kitchen. “What are you girls giggling about?”

The eyes of the self-confident outspoken bride-to-be widened with fake innocence, a blush staining her cheeks, and she mumbled something behind the hand she slapped over her own mouth.

Eyes narrowed in suspicion, Ruth turned to her youngest. Kaylie, also red in the face, blurted out, “Dogs.”

When that answer didn’t satisfy Ruth, she raised a brow at Jackie, cocking her head just enough to throw out a regal vibe. Jackie resisted the look for about two seconds, before she too reluctantly mumbled, “Pheromones.”

Before Ruth could hit Willow with the mom-look, she shoved her hands in the front pockets of her jeans and studied the few crumbs left on her plate, shoulders hunched against the nearly overwhelming desire to say something. She could feel Ruth’s eyes on her back, pulling the truth from her body.

“I see,” Ruth said slowly. Willow dared a glance her way, noticing the older woman was struggling to keep a straight face. “Well, it’s time to open your gifts, Tess. After though, if you wish to resume your conversation about oral sex”—Kaylie let out a choked gasp and Willow squeezed her eyes shut—“I’ll be more than happy to give you some pointers.”

Tess remained frozen until Ruth exited, then laughed so hard she doubled over. Kaylie glared at Jackie, who threw her hands up in defeat. “I couldn’t help myself. Your mom has that truth tractor beam look down pat. When you’re caught in it, you can’t lie.”

“God, I love that woman,” Tess wiped her eyes with her fingertips, her mirth easing to occasional chuckles.

“She didn’t mean it,” Willow asked Kaylie in a hushed tone, “about giving us pointers, did she?”

Kaylie smirked. “Oh, yeah. Mom’s totally open when it comes to sex talk. Tess and I knew more about puberty, sex, pregnancy, and childbirth than our sex education teachers in school. Girls in town would come to Mom with questions when they couldn’t talk to their own parents.” She sighed. “I just hope I’m as good as a mom as she is.”

Tess flung an arm around her sister. “You have the best instructor around. How could you not? Now, let’s go open my presents.”

Willow watched the women leave, telling Jackie she was getting a drink first when the doctor gave her a questioning look. As she refilled her iced tea, Willow wondered what it had been like, growing up with a mother like Ruth. Even as she felt a spurt of guilt at the touch of envy, she knew intellectually it wasn’t all a bed of roses. From earlier conversations, Willow learned Ruth and her husband had divorced when the girls were young, their father moving across country with his new wife. And while not necessarily neglectful, he had been absent, and that was something Willow never had to contend with. Her own father had been a very hands-on parent, protective and loving. She remembered her mother, on the subject of sex, only told her to keep her legs closed when it came to boys else they’d destroy her career while her father, endearingly red-faced and fidgety, had sat her down and done his best to mumble through an obviously rehearsed monologue.

She missed her dad so much. She missed his rumbling voice, his miss-buttoned shirts, and the way his beard appeared crooked because he always stroked it when in thinking mode.

Willow’s hand tightened around the glass. She knew Rome didn’t squirrel her away to Woodcliff in secret. She knew full well she was bait to lure Valen to this little town and attempt a kidnapping or, more likely, into killing Willow. And while she didn’t look forward to either option, she did look forward to an end to her isolation. Once Valen and her people were caught and behind bars, Willow could return to her father and her life back in New York.

A life that wouldn’t include dance. Or Ben Anderson.

Willow rubbed a hand on her chest, wondering why that thought not only loomed dark and dreary in her mind, but seemed to cause her heart to ache as well. She barely knew the man. She couldn’t deny she was highly attracted, and the kiss they’d shared earlier in the day had just about fried her brain circuits, but their relationship was a far cry from anything serious. Ben could just be playing with her, knowing full well Willow would leave once the situation resolved.

Maybe he’d remember her as a fond interlude.

A sudden burst of feminine laughter from the living room yanked Willow to the here and now. With a shake of her head, she cleared everything negative from her thoughts. Her time with these women had been more enjoyable than she’d dreamed and she didn’t want anything messing it up. So, tea in hand, she made her way into the living room to see Tess sitting like a queen holding court on a plush cushioned chair, a cheap tiara on her head and a sash across her chest. At her feet lay dozens of wrapped presents and glittering gift bags.

Willow eyed the decorated room, once again thinking Tess’s wedding colors of chocolate brown and emerald green an odd choice, but to each his own. The sheer number of women overflowed the sofa, loveseat, and mass collection of chairs. Kaylie waved from the floor by the stone fireplace, the hearty fire snapping as Jackie added a chunk of wood and replaced the screen. Thankful, Willow crossed the room and settled on the carpet by Kaylie’s side, Jackie lowering to sit on Kaylie’s right.

It bemused her how quickly Kaylie included Willow into her circle. Warmed, welcomed, and stuffed to her ears, Willow watched as Tess opened her multitude of presents. She oohed and aahed with the best of them and was sincerely moved to tears at the expression on Tess’s face when she opened Ruth’s gift; a fine boned china set that originally belonged to Ruth’s grandmother. Then she laughed at Kaylie’s gift. A Nerf rifle, complete with an extra set of soft suction “bullets” for those times when, as Kaylie put it, “you have the overwhelming urge to shoot your husband. Repeatedly.”

As Tess opened her last gift, a phone rang. The women looked at each other, some digging in their purses. Kaylie shoulder bumped into Willow’s. “I think it’s you.”

Willow blinked. “Oh,” she said, and fumbled in the pocket of her hoodie. She’d forgotten all about it. Pulling the device out, she saw Ben’s name on the screen and her heart leaped. She scrambled to her feet. “Sorry. Excuse me.” She slid her thumb across the screen just as Kaylie showed her on the way over, saying a husky hello as she hastened into the kitchen.

“Hey.” Ben’s voice was clear and strong over the line. “Having fun at the shower?”

“I am, actually,” Willow responded.

“You sound surprised.”

“Well.” She crossed one booted foot over the other and leaned back against the counter, her tone low so as not to be overheard. “I’m pretty much a stranger to these people.”

Ben’s soft laugh made her toes curl in pleasure. “There are no strangers to Kaylie, just people who have yet to become friends. DocCha’s a bit more reserved, but once she makes up her mind, you’re in for life.”

“DocCha?”

“Sorry. Jackie’s nickname. Short for Doctor Chavez.”