Shifter Town 3 - Big Cats Don't Purr (13 page)

“But is it what’s right for you?”

“It is if it keeps Kinsey safe.”

“You could go with them.” The words sounded strangled as he said them, and it tore at Sawyer’s heart. No. No, she couldn’t. She couldn’t walk away from her family forever. She couldn’t walk away from Lennox and the friends she’d made.

Sawyer glanced back at her father. “Dad, I know what I’m doing.”

She blew him a kiss and walked out the door, but not before she heard his mumbled, “You don’t have a clue.”

Sawyer shook her head and strode for the door. It was warm outside, the wind tickling over the grasses as she headed across the lawn. She knew where she was going. The same spot she always went when she needed time alone to think.

***

Rift let the back door swing shut behind him, the evening air slowly cooling as the sun slipped past the horizon. Kinsey and Grace were laughing as they played on the pair of old tire swings beside the ranch house. The two of them were completely inseparable.

Rift leaned against a tree and watched them.

He knew they couldn’t stay in Boulder much longer, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to move that far away. It didn’t seem fair to let Kinsey make a friend, only to rob her of that joy after only a few short days. Then again, life wasn’t fair, and he still hadn’t figured out what to do about Cane Creek. They might have been willing to drop Sawyer and Kinsey, but if they found out Kins was his, there wouldn’t be anything in the world to keep Dougal away from her.

Rubbing his face, Rift sighed. There was also the possibility that had been gnawing away in his gut all day. That when he and Kinsey packed up to leave, Sawyer wouldn’t come with them. This was her home after all, her family. She didn’t have to leave, and she’d gotten them this far. She sure as hell didn’t owe them anything to begin with; she definitely didn’t need to stick with them to the end.

She’d already disappeared most of the day, though Rift suspected that had more to do with the kisses they’d shared last night than anything else. Sawyer was a puzzle and a half. He knew she cared, knew she loved, but something held her back. Had her convinced that whatever was between them couldn’t work.

And Rift didn’t know how to convince her otherwise. Time and patience might do it, but they didn’t have that right now. He needed her to be willing to give them a shot now, so that when they left, she would come with them.

“You seen Sawyer?” he called out to the girls and they both shook their heads.

Damn. Rift glanced around the yard. She hadn’t even come back to the main house for dinner, though according to her mother she had dropped by to pick up some food.

With a frustrated sigh, Rift turned to head back, then noticed Mason coming up the drive. The other man had been gone fairly often these past few days, busy setting up his own territory with one of his half brothers, according to Grace.

“Welcome back,” Rift said, leaning against the porch rail. Surprisingly, he liked Mace. Then again, Mason Reyes was one of the few here that didn’t snarl every time Rift walked by. Probably had something to do with the fact that he was leaving soon.

“Can’t wait to have the houses furnished so I don’t have to keep coming back here.” Mace grinned. “It’ll be nice to have more privacy. And fewer kids.”

A baby screamed from inside as if to emphasize his point.

Rift had never really wanted a pride life before, but a small pride, nothing at all like Boulder or Cane Creek, actually sounded tempting. And something that Kinsey would probably enjoy.

“Sounds nice,” Rift said, and Mason paused to look at him, head cocked.

“You wear out your welcome here, feel free to search me out. May not have five males to shelter you, but you’d have two at your back if you needed it.”

Rift froze. Mason didn’t strike him as the kind of man to go tossing off offers like that. He meant it. “Hell, man,” he began, but Mace waved him off.

“Don’t worry about it. You’re not bad for a rogue, and I’m not stupid enough to think a third male would be a bad idea.” He gave a nod towards the house. “You heading in?”

“Nah. Trying to find your sister.”

Rulon would have told him to go fuck himself, and every other male in there would have bristled and postured and snarled. Hell, half of them
had
, every time he’d even walked in a room and taken a quick glance around. Mace grinned.

“Hiding from ya?” Mace tilted his head towards the field. “Now, I didn’t tell you this, but Sawyer’s a big girl, and if she doesn’t want to talk, she won’t be found. However, there’s an old two-track trail Dad keeps up for the boys to run the four wheelers on. Sawyer likes to follow it out to the creek at the bottom of the mountain. Good place to shift, good place to think.”

“Thanks man.”

Rift hopped off the steps and set out for the field, the sun-scorched grass now a hazy blue and silver in the evening light. He found the trail easily enough and followed it out. A quick glance at the mountains in the distance told him he was looking at a three or four mile hike.

One he could manage a lot faster as a lion.

Pulling the beast out of him in a flash, Rift went from two legs to four, bounding over the ground in a fast lope. Lions weren’t built for speed, or even endurance as in terms of jogging, but he had enough strength to trot a few miles easily.

Sure enough, Sawyer lay belly-down along a large boulder, one hand tracing silver ripples in the pool. She turned her head to watch his approach, obviously not surprised he’d found her.

Rift padded up to her, a puff of warm air curling out of his mouth in the dark air.

“Who ratted me out?” But she asked it with a warm smile as she reached out to run her hand through his mane and scratch behind his ears.

Rift stood there and let her pet him for a few minutes, reveling in the simple touch. Finally, as she pulled herself up, Rift pulled the lion back in and shifted in front of her. He knelt in front closer, his hands settling on the boulder on either side of her. “Are you hiding from me?”

“You don’t understand, Rift.”

“I could probably take a stab at a good guess.”

“You wouldn’t even be close.”

Rift reached up and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “You could tell me, then. I wouldn’t have to guess that way.” He winked. “And since I’m a pretty shitty guesser according to you, it’d be mighty helpful.”

That got a soft smile. But she didn’t say a word. Just leaned in and touched her lips to his. Soft and then gone again. Her eyes suddenly sad.

“You’re not helping me leave you,” she whispered.

“Good.” Because damn it, he didn’t want her to leave. He wanted her to stay. To come with them. Rift wanted Sawyer to stay with him, curl up on the couch at night and watch movies, make love in their bed, wake up every morning in each other’s arms.

She and Kinsey, they were all he wanted.

“I don’t want you to leave.” He rose up until he was standing over her. His hands framed her face as he tilted her head back to look up at him. “I want you to stay with us.”

Before she could say another word, Rift leaned down and kissed her gently on her forehead, then skipped down to take her lips with his. Softly this time. This wasn’t a dominance game; he wasn’t out to master her.

Sawyer wasn’t the kind of woman who wanted that.

Instead, he set out with his mouth to seduce her. To keep the fire burning in her heart, to remind her that she didn’t want to leave him any more than he wanted to walk away without her. And when she parted her lips to let him in, Rift knew he was lost. He could kiss her like this for the rest of his life and never care that he’d run out of air for his lungs.

And damn it all, he
loved
her.

Every stubborn, feisty, scared inch of her.

“Stay with me, Sawyer,” he murmured against her mouth. His fingers trailed down her face, traced circles along her nape, and then stroked down the length of her back. She trembled and arched into his touch.

“What if I can’t?”

“The only one stopping you tonight is you.” Rift knelt and brushed his lips over her breasts. Her eyes shuddered closed on a gasp. He suckled softly through the fabric, wetting the cotton against his tongue as he rolled the eager bud against his tongue and teeth. Wrapping his hands around her hips, Rift pulled her to the edge of the rock. Her legs opened and he settled himself between her thighs.

“It’s not just about tonight.” The words came out on a stolen breath, just the barest of whispers.

“No sweetheart, but tonight’s a start.” Rift kissed her, harder this time, as if he could feed the words straight down her throat.

Her eyes squeezed closed against those words, and Rift went to work on luring them open again.
Look at me
, he said with every kiss.
Listen to me,
with every touch.

Love me
, with every breath.

Chapter Thirteen

Damn him. She wouldn’t look at him, but that didn’t stop him from managing to shake her down to her core. He trailed kisses and soft fingertips over her skin, warm and gentle. She wanted him.
This.
Had since night one, she reminded herself. It was lust, pure and simple. Nothing that could ensnare her heart.

Except lust shouldn’t feel this wild and out of control. As if, no matter how hard she tried to wrap her hands around it and grab hold, the reins always slipped right out of her fingers. She knew she should stop this, that she should be strong enough to walk away. But if Shifter Town Enforcement showed up tomorrow to take him and Kinsey into witness protection, tonight was all she’d ever have of him.

And she wanted this more than she dared to admit.

He wasn’t just a job. Neither one of them had been.

Not even at the beginning.

If they’d been just a job, she could have walked away. But Kinsey had been so alone that Sawyer hadn’t been able to simply dump her with a father she didn’t know. And Rift, oh Rift...

She buried her hands in his hair as he nipped over her skin. Unlike Jenna, he’d fought for his daughter, right from the word go. Fought for them both. And that the first night he’d wrapped his arms around her, she should have known.

Leaving him was going to rip her apart.

“Look at me, Sawyer,” he whispered, his hand rubbing softly at the seam of her pants, teasing. Gentle. Loving.

A whimper broke from her. Sleeping with him was going to perch her damn heart on the edge of a cliff, and sooner or later she’d have to push it off and watch it shatter. But she was helpless against wanting him. Needed this one night before he vanished from her life altogether.

Sawyer opened her eyes and met Rift’s gaze. She reached for his shirt and stripped it away. With a flick of her wrist she sent it tumbling to the grasses next to them. She pressed her lips to his chest, tasted the salt of his skin. Her tongue traced over his scars.

She wanted to memorize every inch of him tonight. Burn his memory into her soul.

“Shut up,” she whispered.

One hand found his zipper and she slid it open. She was reaching for him when he caught her wrist. “What’s wrong?”

A groan died in her throat. Her heart gave a painful squeeze. She shook her head. She couldn’t answer him that. He couldn’t know about tomorrow until it came.

“Damn you,” Rift muttered. “I know you’re keeping something from me. But Sawyer, whatever secret you’re holding on to, I promise you I can take it.”

Gently, he snared her other hand and pressed her backwards, until she was sprawled out over the boulder, her hands pinned against the rock above her head. It drew her breasts up to points, and he eagerly rained kisses over each one.

“Honey,
Sawyer
, sweetheart, I don’t want to let you go.”

If he kept going she wasn’t sure she could pick all the pieces, much less find them all, when he was done. Stop making this real, she wanted to tell him.

She already loved him. What more did he
want
?

Don’t make me say it
, she prayed silently, holding her lip so tightly between her teeth she was going to make herself bleed.

Then his mouth found hers and she was kissing him, pouring the emotions swirling inside her into him. And when her eyes met his, the tenderness in his gaze did all the heart-breaking for him. Except he used kisses to pick up the pieces, too. He freed her hands, then wrapped his fingers around the hem of her shirt and tugged it off over her head. He tossed it aside, his eyes never leaving hers.

“You don’t have to believe me, Sawyer, but I love you. I don’t know how, I don’t know when...” He broke off in a laugh. “Yes, I do. Since you walked into my life and told me you rescued a daughter I didn’t even know I had. You didn’t have to help her, or me, but that’s just you.”

Rift’s gaze dropped, roving restlessly as he tried to drink in her essence, her unique beauty. She smiled, savoring the heat that burned in his eyes, leaping into a wildfire before he leaned down, cupping one breast in his hand to run his tongue over the nipple.

“Your bra is in the way, love. Should we take it off?” He grinned up at her, and then pressed his tongue to her fabric-covered nipple once more and Sawyer’s head fell back on a groan.