Swoop on Love (3 page)

He
stood just outside the door and pulled on his clothes, then stopped to look at her. She had her panties and T-shirt on. Nathan held her hand to help her get out of the car. He watched her put on her jeans. It made his heart hurt to see the way her long hair fell over her shoulder. He took her face in his hands and kissed her.

“I think my wallet must be on the front seat. It’s not in the back pocket of my jeans.”

Nathan left her sliding her feet into the slip-on shoes she wore and went to the passenger front side of her car. He picked up her little digital camera from where he’d put it just under the seat, when he first got into her car. He tucked it into the back waistband of his jeans then pulled his T-shirt down, before closing the door, and walking swiftly around to Jeanie as she opened her driver side door.

“Did you find it?” She smiled at him.

“Yeah, it was on the floor.” He kissed her mouth lightly, holding her hands down against her thighs so she wouldn’t put them around him and feel the camera.

“I need to go, thank you so much for tonight.”

He dropped her hands and walked rapidly away, along to The Art Barn, and down the path there into the pitch dark. He waited at the corner of the big house in the blackness. His eyes rapidly adjusted so that he could see as if it was daylight. After a few moments, he heard her car start, and then saw her drive past slowly. She wouldn’t be able to see him, and a wave of regret furrowed his forehead in a frown.

She used the end of the road to turn
, and then left on her way back to Drayton.

Nathan sighed. Too bad he liked he
r. He liked her a lot. More than a lot. His stomach clenched with desire as he thought about his fingers in her wet pussy. He pictured her smile.

He shook himself and went around to the back doors of the house he shared with Reed.

Chapter Five

Nathan had only just closed the door when Reed called out.

“What have you been up to? You know very well we can’t get close to other people, especially someone like her.”

Nathan walked to their huge living room and saw Reed at his desk in the far corner. His best friend turned away from his laptop and looked at Nathan with a curious expression.

“I needed to get this
, didn’t I, and when you see what’s on it you’ll be glad I did.” He held up Jeanie’s camera.

Reed gasped.
“You stole it? That’s not very nice, but necessary. I was sure she’d got photographs of you even when she said she hadn’t.” He grinned at Nathan as he got up and walked over to where Nathan took the SD card out of the little digital camera.

“You know you can just scroll through the photos
and delete them with the camera turned on?”

“Yes
, but if we put it in the laptop, we can get the photographs off it right away. Just cutting out a step, Reed.”

They both walked back to the laptop where Nathan sat quickly down in the desk chair and
inserted the card into the slot. He opened the folder.

“Fucking hell
. Nothing. Maybe she was telling the truth. She’s lovely actually. I want her, to be truthful.” Nathan looked up at Reed as he stood next to the desk.

“More likely she already uploaded them to her computer and erased the card. You’re right
, she’s lovely. Those blue eyes, that bottom lip just begging to be sucked on. I felt a little sad when I sent her away. We can’t have her.”

Nathan saw
the sadness in Reed’s eyes. It was a long time since they’d had a woman in their lives. “I know where she lives.”

Reed’s eyes widened. “Where?” He couldn’t hide his interest
.

Nathan smiled.
“You really do like her. I can see it. I left her wanting more so if she likes me she’ll find a way to see me again.” He took the SD card out of the laptop and put it back in the camera.

Reed waited for a moment and then gave him a playful shove. “She’ll come for her camera. How could she fail to realize you took it?” They both grinned at each other.

“What happened, you’ve been gone all evening?” Reed stared at Nathan, and then he sighed. “You fucked her, didn’t you? You’re different. You’ve lost that wild, desperate look you had. Where did you say she lived?”

Nathan shook his head. “She lives in Drayton, in the old farmhouse. What do you have in mind, Reed
? Because there’s no reason for you to go there. If we get to know her and she wants us both that’s great, but it’s unusual, and you know that. Not to mention the shifting thing, in case you’ve forgotten.”

Reed looked downcast. “Of course not. Did you eat yet? I left you some supper. You could still eat it cold. Baked fish and some mashed potatoes.”

Nathan gave his friend a kindly look. “Thanks, Reed. I will eat. Sit with me. I’ll tell you about her.”

****

Jeanie arrived home, confusion tumbling her thoughts around. The time with Nathan had been so perfect, so delicious she couldn’t regret it, and yet he’d just left her. There’d been no mention of calling each other, no mention of seeing each other again.

I’d like to see him again. Maybe he hangs out at that restaurant. I could drop by.
She shook her head.
It was a one-night stand. Forget him.
Even as she told herself this, she recalled the sexy scrape of his light stubble against her cheek. She licked her top lip and wished his tongue still invaded her mouth. The sight of Nathan, his head thrown back as he came, danced before her mind’s eye. Her panties were wet against her pussy.

She parked at the end of her long driveway and walked back to close the big five bar gate.
The crunch of gravel sounded loud in the still of the warm night, and all her solar lights sparkled in the garden and alongside the paths. It never failed to amaze her how much power the sun could impart to those lamps. They shone all night after a warm day and again the next, even if the weather turned dull and there’d been no sun.

She let herself inside her house and looked around the big kitchen. She loved the house and
was so pleased she’d bought it. Jeanie decided to take a shower, and then eat something. She flipped the lock on her back door and ran up the stairs to the first floor bathroom. As she showered, she thought about Nathan and especially his hands on her. She relived his knuckles against her pussy, and a pulse went through it. She could almost feel the hard head of Nathan’s cock as it teased her entrance before he plunged into her. Her nipples stood out. She turned, letting the water run down her back.

The sex was so good. He smelt of pine needles. He tasted like honey.
Next time I’d like to have his cock in my mouth, if there is a next time.
It made her sad. She’d keep wanting him now. It would take a long time to go away too because he was lovely.
So sexy and so gorgeous.
She wondered how she might go back there to Owlswick, and if she’d have the courage to find the door to that strange building called The Art Barn, knock, and ask for Nathan.

She dried her hair considering how
to use the empty houses for an excuse. Perhaps lie that she’d been told they were still for sale. She was an architect after all.
I’ll say I’m looking for land
. Jeanie grinned at herself in the mirror and leaned in to look at the wrinkles she thought creased her eyes. The worst one was in her cheek where her loathed dimple already made a star shape of lines. She gazed at herself. She looked relaxed and maybe even pretty.
It’s those orgasms. My god they were good.

She put on clean panties and pulled a fresh T-shirt on, and then found her favorite old and soft jeans. She went downstairs barefoot
, feeling physically good, but a little sad that she might only have this one-night stand.

W
hat I want is lasting love
.
I want Nathan. I want his hands grabbing my thighs and his bite on my neck.
Her pussy wet her fresh panties. She sighed and ignored the throb of need between her legs as she pictured Nathan’s dark hair and blue eyes. She could actually hear his sexy voice if she let herself, as he said, “I need you.”

Stop it.
Cheer up,
she told herself as she filled the kettle to make tea and then cut herself a chicken salad sandwich.

She ate
, watching an old movie playing on television and pushed thoughts of Nathan away. At one in the morning when she heard the owl hoot at the bottom of her long garden she thought of him again.

When she went to
bed, she couldn’t sleep for wanting his kiss and fretting that she might never see him again.

Chapter
Six

Up early the next day, Jeanie took her morning coffee to drink it in the garden. The sun warmed her shoulders. The sky was a vivid blue, not a cloud in it. The day promised to be a hot one. As she walked down the path to the bottom of her garden, she thought about the photographs of the birdman again. It reminded her of her camera and she couldn’t remember what happened to it. She knew it was in her car when she went back to Owlswick, and then fell into having sex with the gorgeous Nathan.
But where is it now?

She sat down on the wooden bench under the big apple tree at the bottom of the garden
, and drank her coffee thinking about it.
Maybe it’s on the floor of the car. I hope it didn’t accidentally get pushed out when Nathan was getting in or out. Is there any chance he took it?
She was suddenly suspicious of his motives for wrapping her in that spell of desire with his kisses.
Please don’t let him have used sex to steal my camera. I cleared my card anyway. I’ll be so disappointed if that was it.

She
quickly got her keys from the hall table and slipped on her shoes. She searched the entire car, even the glove box. Tears stung her eyes as she accepted her camera was gone. She went back inside the house.
Maybe it fell out on the path of that empty house where Nathan and I had sex. Maybe it fell out on the road outside his place, or the restaurant car park. The truth is I can buy another it wasn’t too expensive. It’s the thought of Nathan taking it…of him using sex to get it.

She sat down on a chair at the kitchen table and let the disappointment wash over her. When a tear trickled down her face
, she swiped at it with the back of her hand, angry that he mattered to her that much.

She
took a cool shower to pull herself together. The water didn’t soothe her the way it usually did. Already feeling warm, she threw on a short cotton dress. She found her flip-flops and jammed them on. She decided to drive over to Owlswick and confront Nathan. Her long hair, still wet, sprinkled her back with water drops, and she quickly put it up with hair combs. She was halfway down the stairs when the front doorbell rang.

Now w
ho’s this?
Jeanie answered the door.

Reed stood on the doorstep with her camera in his hand. “Hi, sorry to bother you, I think this is yours. It was on the road outside
my house.” He hesitated, and held the camera out to her with a fleeting smile.

She stared at him for a few seconds and then took the camera. His
blue eyes were hopeful, and something about the way he stood there waiting made her want to comfort him.

“Reed, thank you. I just realized it was missing. Come in, do you want to? Come in and have a cup of coffee. It’s kind of you to bring the camera.” She smiled at him and stepped back from the door
for him to enter.

He smiled then. “Thank you
. I’d love a cup of coffee.”

She closed the door and then led the way down to the kitchen. She put the camera down on the table. “Sit down
, Reed. How do you take your coffee?”

“Black
, please,” he said and looked around the room as she poured his coffee. “This is a lovely kitchen, so big and bright.”

Jeanie smiled. “Yes, I like it too. It’s one of the things that convinced me to buy the place.” She brought him coffee and he looked at her happily. She liked him. He
was entirely changed from the way he’d been when he accosted her about photographing the bird. She brought a cup of coffee for herself and sat next to him.

“I have to ask you this. Why would it have been so bad if I did take photos of the bird?” She watched his expression change, and knew he hid something when he answered.

“Only that it’s a protected species. It would be worrying if word got out and hordes of birdwatchers descended on the place.”

She nodded encouragingly, trying to put him at ease
in order to get at the truth.

“Okay, I get that. Owlswick is a strange sort of place. Do you know who bought those houses and left them empty? It seems a waste.”

He shifted in his seat and pushed his coffee cup around. “I did, well Nathan and I did. We were going to expand the business.” He sighed then and looked down into his coffee.

Jeanie wanted to comfort him.
Attractive in a different way from Nathan, he had such gentleness about him when he wasn’t freaking out about the photos.

H
e looked at her again with sadness. “I guess I should go. You probably have plans for the day. I think it’s going to be hot again.”

Jeanie didn’t want him to go
.
It might be better to tell him about the photographs, show them to him and find out what he knows.

“No, I have no plans, and you haven’t finished your coffee. Reed, I want to show you something. I know your concern isn’t about birdwatchers. There’s something mysterious about your friend Nathan
, isn’t there?”

He looked around and ran a hand through his hair.
Panic appeared on his face for a few seconds, and then he took a deep breath and looked her in the eyes.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

She stood up. “Come with me.” She waited as he wavered.

He stood up, and despite the strangeness of the situation, she enjoyed
his closeness. His muscular body was visible under his shirt. Her head didn’t even come up to his shoulder. He smelled good, the same as Nathan, like pine trees, like the Christmas trees growing in the big plantations down the road. She gazed at him for a few seconds and an expression came into his eyes. She knew he liked her then. He found her attractive.

He followed her down the hall to the room she used as her office. She felt like taking his hand. It
was strangely comforting to be with him. Jeanie lifted the lid of her laptop and pulled the spare chair up next to her at the desk.

He
sat silently when she sat down.

She opened the folder of photographs and chose the largest view thumbnails so that the whole row of the birdman displayed. She heard Reed gasp shifting in his chair. Suddenly thinking he might not know and this
was a shock to him, she turned and placed a hand on his arm.

“Sorry, don’t be afraid. It’s some kind of photographic anomaly.” Jeanie wished she hadn’t assumed he knew.

He took a deep breath. “You know, don’t you? You have to know.” He looked stricken.

Instead of
taking her hand from his arm, she moved it down to hold his hand in comfort.

H
e clasped it tightly.

“It has to be Nathan, doesn’t it? What is he?” She gazed earnestly at him trying to let him see she was no threat.

Reed nodded, but was silent for a whole minute just gazing at the photographs on the screen, and gripping Jeanie’s hand. Then he looked at her.

“It is him. He’s a shifter. He was born like it. He’s in a desperate state most of the time now. That’s why you were able to take his photo. He knew he shouldn’t swoop on your car like that, but he was in a crazy mood. What will you do now you know?”

Jeanie gave him a kind look. “Nothing, which I know might sound unbelievable, but the fact is I like him a lot. I don’t know why, but I have no real fear about this. It’s almost as if I was meant to see him and you of course.”

Reed gazed at her. She watched his eyes as he looked at her mouth and then back to her eyes. She leaned forward at the same time as he did and met his
gentle kiss. He let go of her hand to hold her face and prolong the kiss.

A
mist of emotion crept over her. The air felt satin with gentleness, sexy and addictive. She slid her arms around his waist and when they stopped kissing to breathe, she left her face against his for a few seconds, her lips on his cheek. She wanted a taste of him, just a little taste. She let the tip of her tongue touch his skin. He tasted like sex.

He moved his head away.
His lips left a trail of tingles as he kissed down her neck.

Little shocks of pure
sexual need ran down to her nipples as he breathed against her skin when he raised his face to hers again. She wanted to make love with him. She wanted more of those kisses. She kissed his lips, along his cheek and by the side of his mouth, until he moved his hands from her hair where he’d held her softly, and took her by the shoulders.

“I can’t stand this. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have kissed you
.”