Winter's Wonder: Pine Point, Book 2 (6 page)

Chapter Eleven

Becca might actually have tasted the chops, and the rolls, and whatever else was on the table, if Zane hadn’t kept looking at her with those steady eyes. That half-grin.
Maybe I shouldn’t have had that beer
. Her head spun, but if it was the man and not the alcohol as she imagined, she was in a whole lot of trouble.

“So tell me more about Georgia,” she said, searching for conversation. Good Lord, they had to at least get through dinner without her crawling across the table and into his arms.

“It’s hot. And humid.” He chuckled and helped himself to another pork chop and two more beers for them both.

“No, I mean…how did you end up there?” She only meant geographically speaking, but his expression sobered.

“I dropped out of high school after junior year—guess you know that.”

She nodded. She’d heard about a hundred reasons why too, but she wasn’t about to ask.

“I got arrested a bunch of times up here for stupid shit. Shoplifting, trespassing, drinking, speeding…my mom figured the best thing would be to move and get a fresh start.”

Becca didn’t know a whole lot about getting arrested, but she did understand fresh starts. Feral cats came into the shelter battered and ferocious and scratching anything they could reach, but they just needed a quiet room and a wide berth until they realized everyone in the world wasn’t out to hurt them. She wondered what had hurt Zane, why he’d ended up feral and ferocious too.

He met her gaze and then looked away. “I was such a messed-up kid. My dad took off when I was eight and my sister was ten, and—” he stopped, a pained expression on his face. His fingers tightened around his spoon almost imperceptibly. His tongue worked inside his mouth, like he was trying to figure out words. “This is funny, actually, that I’m sitting here with you.”

A pain knifed through her.
Funny?

“Just because you’re so in love with animals. I told myself when he left, on Christmas Eve by the way, that I’d never get attached to one again. ’Cause when he left, he took our dog.” His eyes clouded. “Goldie. Shit. It sounds so stupid now, but I loved that dog. She slept on my bed every night. I fed her every day when I got home from school.”

“And he
took
her from you?”

“Looking back, I think it was to spite my mom, because she’d brought Goldie home when the dog was just a puppy.” He shrugged. “He ended up spiting me more than anything else, not like he ever knew that. I never saw the dog or my dad again.”

Silence washed over them. Becca’s heart hurt. What kind of father did that to his son? Or to his own pet? She could only imagine Goldie whining for Zane, or the kids waking up Christmas morning without their father and their canine best friend.

He resumed eating. “Anyway, I think that was when it started. I closed up, just stopped caring and set my mind to having a good time, no matter the consequences. By the time I was seventeen, my mom figured moving was the only way to get my head straight.”

Becca nodded. “Makes sense.”

“Like I said, I didn’t really clean up my act right away. But after a couple years down there, bouncing around from stupid job to stupid job, I finally woke up. Realized my life was going downhill unless I did something about it.”

“You seem pretty put together now,” she said.

He crooked that smile again, the one that went straight under her skin and made her heart flip. “Ah, doll, I’m trying. Can’t say my halo is entirely straight, but—” he winked, “—my idea of a good time is a lot more legal these days.”

She smiled too. She couldn’t help it. His teasing confidence, his slow, sultry smile—and, okay, the body too—but mostly the way Zane told her his shit straight out made her like him even more.

“What are you thinking right now?” he asked. Empty plates sat on the table between them, and he reached over and took her hand. His fingers stroked her palm.

“That you aren’t like any guy I’ve ever been with,” she blurted.
Oh hell, Bec
. Why couldn’t she ever say something smooth and fun and flirty?
You sound like you’ve spent your adult years living as a nun.

He just smiled. “I’m going to take that as a compliment.”

“You should.”

In the next instant, he’d gotten up and rounded the table, and before she knew it, he’d pulled her into his arms.

Those arms…

One hand lifted her chin, and his lips met hers in another kiss. Hot. Sweet. Dangerous in the way it had the power to knock her off her feet. Somehow, they made it from the kitchen back into the living room. He never stopped kissing her. She never stopped touching him. Every nerve ending, from her lips to her palms to her bare toes, hummed with want. Cinnamon mixed with butter and the smell of wood smoke and Zane’s faint, spiced aftershave sent her senses reeling. When he slipped one hand beneath her sweater, she nearly jumped.

She could feel him smile, his mouth against the hollow of her throat, against the cool silver of her necklace. In another second, they sank onto the couch. He pulled her onto his lap, those enormous hands holding her in place above him. For a moment, he just looked at her, eyes half-closed. “So many things I want to do to you,” he murmured, and that was all it took. She reached down and pulled her sweater over her head, emboldened by the way he watched her, the way he began to rock her against him.

This is going to happen…

And she wanted it, all of it, no matter the consequences. She wanted to lose herself in him, with him, feel the magnificent energy that seemed to hum through him day and night. Without hesitation, she kissed him again, deeper, snaking her tongue to meet his. He groaned and moved his hands from her hips up her sides. Her bare flesh sparked at his touch, and when he finally settled his palms atop her lace bra, she was the one who cried aloud. So hard. So desperately wanting. He ran his thumbs over her nipples, and when she let herself move against him, a sensual rocking, the beginnings of an orgasm seeped through her.

Heat flushed her face, her chest, the pooling desire between her legs. Something hummed from far away. Once. Then twice. Becca opened her eyes.

“Don’t answer it,” Zane said, recognizing the buzzing of her cell phone before she did.

Oh, hell. Double, triple hell.
She reached into her back pocket. Maybe it was Ella. Or a college alumni rep asking for donations. Or—

But, no. Of course not. She sat back, still on Zane’s lap, and trailed one hand down his chest.

“Is it the shelter?” he asked in a rough voice.

She nodded and listened to the voicemail.

“Bec? If you get this, you gotta come here. Please.” Julito’s voice shook. “I was takin’ Buddy out for a walk, havin’ a smoke, and I came by…there’s a carrier with two cats inside. Left on the back porch. They look…not good.”

Her mouth went dry. Her dinner heaved in her stomach. Becca slipped off Zane’s lap and pulled on her sweater.
Zero degrees outside, and someone dumps two housecats locked in a carrier? Like garbage?
What if Julito had walked the other way down the road? What if no one had passed the shelter at all until its regular opening tomorrow morning at eight?

“Becca?”

She glanced up. Her eyes burned with tears. “I’m so sorry. I have to go.” Suddenly, she realized she hadn’t driven herself there. “Crap. Can you—”

He pushed himself to a stand. “I can. Of course. But you want to tell me what’s going on?”

Sniffling, trying to keep composure, she did. Without another word, he put on his shoes and coat and held her arm as she wobbled to his truck in her stupid, impractical high heels. They drove the four miles to Pine Point Paws in silence, Becca’s heart beating out of her chest. Half of her ached for the helpless animals who’d been dumped on a doorstep. The other half ached for the ruin of this whole shitty night. She glanced at Zane a couple times, but he kept his eyes straight ahead as he steered through the dark.

By the time he dropped her off at the shelter’s front door with a brief kiss on the cheek, she was pretty sure he’d never want to see her again.

Chapter Twelve

Zane sat in the Pine Point Paws driveway for a long time after Becca disappeared inside. In the foyer, he watched her kick off her shoes and pull on a pair of muddy boots. Over the silver sweater went one of those damn baggy sweatshirts she always wore. He supposed if he were a better man, more generous-hearted or something, he’d go inside and offer to help. Maybe he should have done that from the start. But all he could think of was how she’d felt in his arms, on his lap, warm and soft and reaching for him with hands and a mouth that made him feel like the biggest stud in the world.

He was jealous of a couple of damn cats, he realized after a moment. Becca had chosen them over him. Maybe that was a harsh thing to think, but he couldn’t help it.
“Just because they can take care of themselves doesn’t mean they should have to
.
”
Her voice echoed in his head.
No, but what about me
? he wanted to ask. He slapped the steering wheel and put the truck into reverse. Stupid for thinking this way, for feeling this way. He was a grown man who didn’t need a woman in his life. He could cook, clean, hold down a job and find himself a good time no matter where he went. He’d learned to live without needing anyone for a good long time now. And if he
wanted
a woman, there were a half-dozen he could call up right now, women who’d come over without a second thought and spend the night without asking any questions. He didn’t need to spend another minute wishing for the one who was comforting a starving stray animal at that very minute.

But the whole drive back to his trailer, different thoughts stayed with him.
Take care of
me
. Stay with
me.

He spent a long time staring at the ceiling after he went to bed.

Becca pushed up her sleeves and wound a rubber band around her hair to keep it out of her eyes. She’d have hell to deal with getting it out of her hair tomorrow morning, but at this point she didn’t care. “Where are they?” she asked Julito. “Still in the carrier?”

A ragged cardboard box with holes in the sides and top sat in the center of her desk. Not a sound came from inside.

He nodded. “I called Janet too. She’s on her way.”

“Good.” But their vet tech lived in Silver Valley, a good twenty-minute drive over the mountains. For just a second, Becca’s eyes cut back to the heavy blackness, and her heart squeezed tight for something she’d almost had. She closed her eyes, took a breath and then opened them again.

“Let’s see how bad they are.” She squared her shoulders and opened the top of the box.

Two pairs of identical green eyes stared up at her. Fear dilated their pupils, and though they had nowhere to go, the cats tried to shrink away from her, into the bottom of the box.

“It’s okay,” she whispered. “Can you get me a heating pad and one of those lamps from the storage closet?” she said quietly over her shoulder. Julito vanished.

She pressed back the flaps of the box as far as she could and took another look inside. Bony. Matted. And they smelled of their own urine and feces. But beneath all that, she could see beautiful calico markings. They weren’t big, though she couldn’t tell if their size came from malnutrition or youth.

“Okay, babies,” she murmured, “we’re going to give this a try.” She waited a moment. They didn’t hiss up at her or lay their ears flat, all signs of feral cats. They didn’t do anything at all. She touched one of them. It flinched, its coat rippling with the effort of trying to move away from her. She touched the other. No movement at all. Slowly, she ran her fingers down its spine. Then again. It blinked at her and opened its mouth without making a sound.

Becca slipped both hands under the cat and lifted it out of the carrier. It didn’t wriggle or fight or do anything at all. She sat on the edge of her desk chair and continued to pet it, ignoring the greasy mats in its coat and the horrible stench it gave off. After a moment, the other cat poked its head out of the carrier to see what had happened to its companion.

“Curious, baby?” she said. “You’re safe now. Nothing’s going to hurt you here.” She kept her voice low. She continued to pet the cat in her lap. A minute passed. Julito returned with the heating pad and lamp. “Can you set up one of the cages in the back room with those inside? There are some clean towels and blankets in the hall closet too.”

He nodded. “What do you think?”

“I don’t know. They’re malnourished, for sure, and probably have worms and mites, but they’re not as bad as I thought they would be.” Janet would be here soon, she hoped, and she could turn over the medical stuff, the serious stuff, to her. “They’re just so cold, both of them.” The one in her lap had started to shake, though whether from nerves or a low body temperature, she couldn’t tell.

Julito left, and Becca reached toward the cat in the carrier. Its head ducked down again, but she reached for the soft spot behind its ears. “I ended a date early for you two,” she said aloud. “An honest-to-goodness date, with a guy that’s hotter than anyone I’ve ever gone out with, and who was about this close—” she stopped petting the cat long enough to make an inch sign with her thumb and forefinger, and the animal looked reproachfully up from the box, “—to taking off my clothes.” She bent close to the cat in her lap. “Am I crazy?”
Yes
, she answered herself.
I am most definitely crazy
. Ella would never let her hear the end of it.

You did what? For a couple of cats?

Then, at exactly the same time, both animals started purring. Rusty, broken, as if they hadn’t made the sound in a long time—maybe ever—the rumble broke from both their throats. Becca started to cry.

Chapter Thirteen

Zane thought about not answering when Becca called him the following day, but that seemed petty and stupid, and besides, he’d been thinking about her for most of the morning.

“Hey.”

“I’m sorry,” she said at once.

He scanned the security cameras in the booth. Nothing out of place. Not even a sign of the damn dog. He hadn’t seen it in days. “You don’t have to apologize.”

“I kind of feel like I do.”

“You were doing your job.” And that was the thing. As frustrated as he’d been at the fact that Becca had up and left him, right at the moment of—well, of coming undone at the sight of her above him—he couldn’t be angry. “How are they?”

“The cats? They’ll be all right.” He could hear the relief in her voice. “They’re very undernourished, and one of them has frostbitten feet that might need special treatment, but otherwise they’ll survive.”

The Yedziniaks drove through, the gate opening over their Mercedes SUV. Carl gave Zane a half-salute. Tina winked. Zane just nodded and looked back at the cameras.

“Are you free tonight?” Becca asked. Her voice got a little quiet and raspy with the next sentence, and before he knew it, he went hard.
Christ. Just like a damn teenager
.

“I wanted to make it up to you,” she said.

He thought about teasing her and asking what that meant, what it might involve. But it didn’t matter, because the answer would be yes no matter what she said.

“Sure,” he answered. He wondered if she could hear his smile over the phone. “What time and where?”

She’d suggested drinks at Jimmy’s Watering Hole, maybe dinner after that, but she wasn’t free until seven, so Zane stopped into the gym for a quick workout to get rid of some of the pent-up frustration still lingering after last night.

“Hey, man, haven’t seen you in a while,” Springer said above the blender. He poured two protein drinks and slid them across the counter. Zane recognized the women who took them—two secretaries from around the corner who came in every day around five to take spin class. They loosened their ponytails and batted their lashes at Springer, but he just turned to the sink and washed out the blender.

“What the hell?” Zane asked when they finally took their drinks and wandered away. “Not even gonna make the effort?”

Springer looked up, startled. “What are you talking about?”

Zane gestured in the direction of the women’s locker room.

Springer toweled out the blender and set it aside. “Shit. I’m not interested in either one of them.”

“No?”

“Nope.” Springer grinned and waggled his eyebrows.

“Ah. You finally ask Sienna out?”

More eyebrow movement.

“Hell, ’bout time.”

Springer leaned his giant forearms on the counter. “We should double sometime. You and me and Sienna and Becca.”

Shit. He and Becca had gone out what, twice? And already his buddy was treating them like a couple. Strange thing was, Zane almost didn’t mind. “I’m meeting her tonight at Jimmy’s,” he said. “You guys should stop by. Seven.”

Springer patted the counter. “Sounds like a plan.”

The first thing Becca saw when she stepped inside the bar was Zane—all six-foot-something of him, broad-shouldered and messy-haired and talking to a dazzling brunette who made all the other women sitting at the bar look like they were washed in sepia. Becca’s heart ricocheted around and settled somewhere inside the back of her throat. Every time she laid eyes on this man, another part of her went unpredictable, sparking off into little explosions.

“Hi,” she said as she approached them. The bar was nearly full, the tables too, and a few Christmas trees stood around the room. One was decorated completely in coasters with different beer slogans. Another looked as though a dump truck of tinsel had backed up and unloaded onto it. The third had nothing at all except a giant light-up star on top.

Zane turned at her voice, and his face brightened. “Hey, you.” He didn’t lean over and kiss her—disappointing—but he did squeeze her arm and draw her close. “This is Sienna,” he said. He looked around. “She’s here with Mike Springer. From the gym?”

Becca nodded. As if on cue, Mike emerged from the crowd. “Hey, Becca. Good to see you.” He pumped her hand up and down. “What’re you drinking?”

“Rum and coke,” she said. She noticed a half-full martini glass on the bar in front of Sienna, which seemed appropriate, because the whole look of Sienna belonged in some kind of Manhattan night club rather than a bar in Pine Point with peanut shells on the floor and a karaoke machine in the corner below an enormous mounted moose head.

Sienna wore tight black leather pants and knee-high black boots. A men’s white shirt hung open far enough to reveal a red lace camisole and breasts pushed sky high. She had caramel skin, black eyes and flawless makeup. Becca pulled off her red striped woolen mittens and reached out a hand, hoping her own plain blue jeans and purple sweater didn’t totally pale in comparison. “Nice to meet you.”

“You too. Love the necklace.”

Becca’s fingers went to the paw print.

“Becca does love her animals,” Zane said before she could answer. For a minute, she thought he was poking fun or being sarcastic, but she didn’t see any of that in his face. “Cats doing better?” he asked.

She nodded.

“Oh, right, you run the animal shelter outside of town, right?” Sienna asked. She picked up her martini with slender fingers and a French manicure at the tips. “Zane told me you were up half the night with them. That’s wonderful. Selfless. I could never do it.”

Springer handed Becca her drink. “What do you do?” she asked, fighting a yawn.

“I’m finishing up my graduate work at University of North Carolina.”

Becca shivered as the door blew open with another group of arrivals. “Brr. What the heck are you doing in upstate New York?”

Sienna laughed. “Freezing my ass off.”

The guys laughed too.

“I’m doing research for my doctorate,” she went on. “Clinical psychology with a focus on how environment affects personality development.”

Becca sipped her drink, good and strong the way Jimmy’s always made them. “Wow. Sounds intense.”

Springer snaked one arm around Sienna’s waist. She laughed and said something into his ear, and the conversation trailed to an awkward end. Becca turned to Zane, who watched her with a curious expression. “What?”

“Nothin’.” Finally, he leaned over and kissed her cheek. Then the side of her mouth. Becca did her best to wiggle closer. “Want to sit?” he asked, but she didn’t. She just made her way inside his legs, until she was standing as close as she could get. He smelled delicious. His smile ate her up, and all she could do was sip her drink through her little red straw and smile back.

“I have a confession,” he said into her ear. Behind them, people began to cluster around the karaoke machine.

“What’s that?” She liked watching his mouth move as he talked. It reminded her of all the ways it had touched her skin, moved along her neck.

“I was kinda jealous of those cats last night.”

She set her glass on the bar and dropped both palms onto Zane’s legs. Solid muscle. Rippling under her touch. God, she wondered what he looked like naked. She wondered how he
moved
naked, what majestic beast he might look like above her. “I’m sorry,” she said again. “I get a little crazy when it comes to them.”

He tipped her mouth up to meet his, apparently not caring that they stood in the middle of a crowded bar. “I know.” He kissed her gently. “It’s part of what I like about you.”

She opened her mouth, tasting him, wanting more. “I want to make it up to you.”

He smiled against her, not quite breaking the kiss, so his next words escaped inside her mouth and turned her knees rubbery. “Yeah? I can’t wait.”

Sienna and Springer left a little while later, not that Becca really took notice of the time.

“Want to grab a booth?” Zane asked when one opened up. “I’m starving.”

“Oh. Sure.” Between running their hands over each other and kissing every few minutes, she’d barely noticed her hunger. Karaoke had started up, and while the early renditions of “All I Want for Christmas is You” and “Santa Baby” sounded pretty good, she knew that as the night wound on, the drunken versions around midnight would be a lot less in tune and a lot more entertaining.

The only problem with sitting at a booth was that she was farther away from Zane.

“Hmm,” he said as the waitress set down paper placemats in front of them and brought another round of drinks. “Harder for me to feel you up this way.” He crooked one brow, and she laughed.

“Then I guess we better eat these burgers in record time,” she answered.

But by the time the food arrived, the music was in full swing, and people kept stopping by the booth to say hello, and all they could do was touch hands every once in a while.
It’s okay,
Becca told herself. Probably better they weren’t alone right now, because she couldn’t guarantee she wouldn’t tear off all her clothes, then his, and run her hands over every single inch of his skin before—

“Becca?” Zane’s voice came from somewhere far away, and suddenly she realized she must have dozed off, because her head jerked off her palm and nearly hit the table.

“Oh my God. Did I fall asleep?”
No. I did not
. Last night, she’d ditched him for work, and tonight, she’d ditched him for dreamland?

But he just smiled. “Maybe a little cat nap—” he paused, “—no pun intended.”

“I’m so sorry.” Criminy. All she seemed to do was apologize to this guy. She scrubbed her face. “What time is it?”

“About midnight.” The lights came on a moment later, blinding Becca. The karaoke machine squawked off after a guy she didn’t recognize finished the last painful notes of “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer”.

Zane swept their empty plates and glasses to one side. “You ready to go?”

Becca nodded, gathering her coat and scarf and gloves into her arms. She could have sworn the booth moved a little as she followed him, because the next thing she knew, he was catching her by the arm. “Whoa. I’m driving you home.”

“No, I’m—” She stopped herself. For one, she probably wasn’t fine, as she’d been about to say, and for two, she wasn’t about to turn down the chance to say goodnight to Zane in the warmth of his truck. “Okay.”

“Where’d you park?”

“Back lot.” She gestured around the back of the building.

“Good. It won’t get towed or ticketed there.” He helped her into her coat, wrapped her scarf around her neck and kissed the tip of her nose. His own gloved hand reached down to take hers, and in her still half-dreamy state, she thought she would have followed him anywhere.

He’s like a lion.
Regal. Wild. She watched his profile as they walked into the cold, the air so frigid it bit her skin. The wind caught his hair and lifted it a little. He looked back and saw her staring. “What?”

“Nothing.” She let him guide her to his truck and then hoist her into the passenger seat like she weighed nothing at all. She pulled off her gloves and stretched out her fingers as the truck roared to life and heat puffed from the vents.
Don’t take me home yet
, she almost said, but as she opened her mouth, a yawn split it in half.

“Whoa.” He let one hand fall onto her thigh as he steered down Main Street. “What time did you get to bed last night, anyway?”

She stifled another yawn. “I don’t know. Two?” And she’d gotten up as usual at six-thirty. “It was worth it. The cats were sleeping when I left. Cozy and warm for the first time in who knows how long.”

He smiled. “Becca Ericksen the animal tamer. Services rendered at all hours of the day and night, hmm?” He eased the truck to a stop, and she realized with dismay they sat outside Dolly’s Diner, with her apartment one lousy floor up.

I would like to tame you
, she thought with a crazy smile. How silly that sounded.

“I wouldn’t mind that,” Zane answered with his lazy half-grin, and Becca realized with horror that she’d said the words aloud. He traced the length of her torso, from her chin to the crease of her hip. He slipped one finger inside the hem of her shirt, teasing her bare skin before he kissed her, long and slow, until her insides turned to liquid. “I think you’ve already started.”

All Becca’s fatigue fled. She stole a glance at the dark windows of her apartment. Ella had said something about spending the night at Derek’s, which meant she had the place to herself. And that meant she could have this man to herself. She slid her hands down Zane’s chest and gave him her best teasing grin.

“Want to come upstairs?”