Boyd_McCullough’s Jamboree_Erotic Jaguar Shapeshifter Romance Page 5

  As soon as they were in the door, he looked up to the banister and saw that it wasn’t fixed, but the blood and wood had been cleaned up since he’d been there before. She walked to the stairs and looked up without going anywhere. Then she turned to him.

  “This sniffing thing you have to do. Is that all there is to it? You just have to sniff me?” He nodded, unsure where she was going but hoping for the best. “You touch me other than absolutely necessary, and I’ll make you regret it, understand?”

  “Yes.” He moved toward her slowly, thinking that if she wasn’t his mate, he’d take her out. She was beautiful and strong. Sexy too. “If you’d remove your scarf and tilt your head, I’ll not have to touch you to find out. But you might feel something too. Reese, Dustin’s wife, said that it could make you slightly dizzy when your body realizes it for what we are to each other.”

  When she removed her scarf, he noticed a scar there. He wanted to ask about it, but it was really none of his business, so he didn’t. What it did, however, was make him want to feel her skin, smell her heat. Touch his fingers to her throat to see if he could feel if it was as soft as it looked. Instead, he just buried his nose as close to her skin as he could and inhaled deeply of the scent that was all hers.

  “Christ.”

  Boyd thought that she had that about right. He held her then when she staggered slightly. Not like he wanted to—Boyd wanted to pull her to his body and take her right then. But he also knew that if he moved too fast or manhandled her in any way, she’d be pissed off, and so would his family at him. Instead, he pulled back and let her go when she seemed steady on her feet.

  “Are you all right?” She nodded, then shook her head. “Yes, I’m right there with you on that. I’m sorry. I had no idea. If you didn’t understand, that was a positive test.”

  “So, we’re mates.” He nodded at her statement and tried to wrap his mind around having a mate. “I don’t know how I feel about that. Overwhelmed for sure. And slightly terrified of what comes next.”

  “Nothing will come next unless you want it to. I mean, I want you, right now, but I know that we barely know each other, and we have time.” She nodded and looked around the floor they were on. “I do need a house for us, if or when you want to make this move. This one has a lot of features that I like, some I don’t care about. Others...well, there is a lot to be said for a house this old and well maintained.”

  “I had a two-bedroom apartment a while back. It wasn’t really as large as that might sound. Saying that it had two was really overstating the actual size of the rooms. I had my bed in one of the rooms, and my dresser and other things in the other one.” She moved through the doorway into what he thought could be a living room. “The fireplace is very nice in here. I can see a massive fire in here on cold nights.”

  “My parents have one as well. But when we started leaving home, they had a gas one put in. Chopping wood for a fire was too much work, my dad told us, and he just liked to have a nice fire when it was just the two of them.” She smiled at him, and Boyd wanted to see her do that more. Just smile at him. “I think the dining room is just past this room.”

  They explored the whole house. It was going to need a great deal of work. And when they were in the front hall again, he asked her what she thought of the house. He really didn’t care for it as a whole.

  “It’s all right. It wouldn’t be my choice if I could have any that I wanted. The kitchen is really small, don’t you think, for a house this large?” He told her that even if you added in the pantry, it was very small. “And the back yard is sort of a disappointment too. I mean, I would imagine that you’d need room to run, but I don’t think you’d get very far without running into that large stone wall there.”

  “I hadn’t even noticed that until you mentioned it upstairs. And I have to be honest with you, I’m not all that thrilled about having to come down three flights of stairs in the morning when I get up.” They both laughed. The elevator was there but it didn’t work, and he’d bet that it would take a great deal of time and effort to get it going again. “I would like to have children someday if possible. If so, then I’d like to be on the same floor as them.”

  “You want children then?” He told her he did, but it would be her body, so she would be the one to decide if and when they had them. “Just like that? You’d let me tell you that we aren’t having children, and you’d be all right with it?”

  “As I said, it’s your body. The one that would have the most pain and suffering with having children. As a doctor, I see firsthand what having a child can do for and to a woman. No, I’d have no say, I wouldn’t make anyone do something like that if they didn’t want to.” She nodded and looked at the front door. “Do you want them?”

  “Yes. A lot of them, as a matter of fact. I’m an only child of two parents that were only children. I like people a great deal. Right now, I’m terrified of them, and with good reason, but I’m usually happiest when I can be around them.” She smiled at him. “I’ve met a couple of your brothers, and I can only assume that they’re all big like you are. That’s a little much to be around, even for a person that loves to be with people.”

  “Yes, we’re all large men. My dad is as well.” She nodded. “My mom is this tiny little stick of dynamite that is so sweet until she feels that she’s been taken advantage of, or someone is hurting her baby boys. She still calls us all that. Her boys.”

  “My dad calls me his little peanut. It’s embarrassing a little, but I love him very much.” He told her it showed. “Do you have any more to look at? Houses, I mean. I have to get something to eat soon, however. Hawk gave my meal at the hospital to a very thankful man tonight.”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t think. I’ve been.... Well, having a mate can really distract a man. And with all this other stuff going on, it’s been a really hard few days even for me.” Boyd helped her out to the truck again, asking her what she wanted to eat. “There are only a few choices to have around here. Or we can go back to my parents’ house and have leftovers. I’ll find out first if there are any.”

  “I’d rather just get to know you, if that’s all right for now.” He said it was and asked her how she liked pizza. “Sounds wonderful. Do you know if they serve iced tea? The unsweet kind? I can’t stand soft drinks, and sweet tea makes me ill.”

  “A woman after my own heart. Yes, they have amazing tea. And the best garlic bread I’ve ever eaten too.” As he drove them over, careful of the snowdrifts on the road, he told her about the other houses. “Lauren has decided that I need to have a larger house. I have a condo now, but I’m actually not there much. Mom has us over once a week, and then I’m usually eating in town when I’m working. It’s just been easier not to have to worry about cutting grass and all the stuff that goes along with having your own home.”

  “My dad loves to cut grass. He could have done it daily if the grass would have done him a favor and grown enough so that he could.” They both laughed as they entered the restaurant. She talked about her dad like he did his, with wonderment and exasperation too. “He does this thing for owners now. It’s sort of like he’s this ringer for them. He goes to open houses for them, finds out what he can from the realtor, then has me do the research on the place. It’s been fun for us both.”

  “My brother just bought a house recently. It was owned by this wealthy older woman who had a sister. And when the homeowner passed away, her sister moved in and had her entire life boxed up and put in the barns there. All of it was nicely packaged and none of it was ruined, but Larson and Virginia are having so much fun going through it all and putting some of the pieces in their home. Dad is finishing up on that one now.” She said that sounded like something she’d like to do too. “You should go over there sometime. He’d love the help, and I know that Virginia would. They’ve just gotten married and adopted her nephew as their own. Poor little fella had a rough start to his little life, but he’s doing much better now.”

  They talked about everything an
d anything. When they were finished, Boyd didn’t think anything of her going with him on the rest of the house searches. They decided that the next one they looked at was too chopped up. The dining room was on the other side of the house away from the kitchen. And there were no fireplaces. It seemed they both wanted that. Talking about their likes and dislikes, it was easier for them to look at what was on the list and cross out the ones that didn’t suit them.

  Then they started looking at the houses that Lauren deemed too far away or in the wrong place. Whatever her reasons were, they drove to one home that he knew was much closer to his family than even Hawkins’ was. They pulled into the drive, and neither of them moved for several minutes.

  “If this place has a fireplace, I want it.” Reilly said they’d not be that lucky. “I tell you what, if we like it, we can have a fireplace put in later. Deal?”

  “Yes, deal. Oh my, I’m almost afraid to go and see it. It’s so perfect from this view. Look at the porch, Boyd. It’s almost like your parents’ but for the long windows on this one.” They got out just as someone was coming out of the house. The woman said they could come on in, she was only getting her mail. They met in the front hall and even from there, the huge fireplace was visible. Just one more thing to tick off their list. It needed to have a huge library.

  “Hello.” Mrs. Winston introduced herself to them and asked if they were looking for a home. “Yes. We’ve just started our search today, as a matter of fact.”

  “Well, this one has been on the market for a little while. I think it’s because we want to sell it as it sits. You see, it belonged to my mother, and when she passed away several months ago, none of us wanted to go to the trouble of selling off her things. I mean, all her personal things are gone, but the furniture and such, that comes with it. After someone purchases it, they can deal with it.” He asked her why they’d do it that way and not call someone to come in and take the furniture off their hands. “There are four of us children left of Mom and Dad’s. There aren’t any fights about what we wanted or not, but the will stipulates that we do it this way. Each of us got to take what we wanted, but honestly, we’ve all been around the block a few times and didn’t need anything. Her clothing was donated to the local clothing bank to use. The food too that she didn’t use. Mom was in her nineties, so she had collected a great many things, and she thought that her tastes should reflect in this home. I’m not sure if her attorney had tried to talk her out of it or not, but this is what we were left with. I loved my mom to pieces, but she could be a pain in the butt. So, you two have yourself a look around. If you have any questions, each of the rooms has a button near the light switch that will relay to the kitchen what you have to say. The intercom system was put in when my parents were very young and having children. It still works wonderfully, too.”

  Boyd wanted it to have a library in the worst kind of way. But they took their time and started their looking about in the kitchen. It was as spacious as any he’d seen in any of his family’s homes, and more up-to-date too. He was going to be hard pressed to not buy this house. He hoped that Reilly liked it as much as he did right now.

  ~~~

  Joseph Dander hated coming to the police station to talk to his son. If it had been left up to him, he’d have washed his hands of him years ago. As it was, he was forever dealing with some kind of scam or even trouble that he got in yearly. But this last several months had been the worst.

  There wasn’t anything that was huge that Ross got into. Mostly stuff like shoplifting from a local store. A fender bender that was considered a hit and run had cost him. And lately there had been an escalation to his trouble that scared Joseph more than just a little.

  As soon as he was seated in the little area where the phones were, he looked around as he waited for Ross to come. The place was spit clean, and there didn’t seem to be anything outdated in the way it was painted. He noticed things like that.

  Paint jobs on government buildings. The way the furniture was either too soft, which wouldn’t last long, or was too uncomfortable. That could set a person off in no time. He also looked for cracks in the pavement and windows, as well as peeled paint on the bars. He’d been a long-time attorney for the government, and they had taught him to be not just observant, but to pay attention to his surroundings. The latter had served him well over the decades.

  When Ross was seated across from him, he looked like someone had taken a few potshots at him. His lip was swollen, as was his eye. His knuckles were bloodied too. He asked him when he finally picked up the phone if he needed anything.

  “Yes, I’d like to get out of here. Barring that, I’d like to have some decent clothes, as well as a meal that’s not served on a paper tray with plastic silverware. What are you going to do about that woman that caused all this?” He asked him what woman. “That girl that worked for you and me. Reilly Pratt. She is the one that ran off without doing her job, and she is the one that pissed me off enough that I had to go and do something stupid.”

  “From what I’ve seen and heard from the police, all she did was want to go to the hospital when her father had been hurt. You, in some kind of stupor that I can only think of as idiotic, not only tried to detain her when she finally said that she was quitting, but you chased her across town in your car to ram her into oncoming traffic, which killed a few people as well as hurt a great many more. What the hell were you thinking, Ross?” He told him that she had abandoned her job. “No, she was working, got a call from the hospital, and left. Or she tried to leave. What sort of place are you running over there that you’d detain a person when they have a family emergency?”

  “I am behind on research for a couple of cases, and she is the best there is. You want it to be right when you go to court, don’t you? Well, she’s the one that makes you win. If she left, there would be a shitty job turned in and you’d fail at something.” Joseph wasn’t sure, but he thought that his son was now blaming this entire episode on him as well as the young girl. “Besides, she was at fault just as much as I was. It was her car, for Christ’s sake. Why isn’t she in here like I am?”

  “Did you know that she wasn’t in the car when you hit her from behind, driving her into the traffic?” He said that he’d not known that. “So, you thought perhaps she was in the car when you maliciously did that to her. Mashed her car from behind so that she’d end up in traffic, going the wrong way and killing people.”

  “See, Dad, even you agree this is partly her fault. I bet if you could swing it, you could get me off by saying that it was all her.” Joseph just shook his head. “They’re saying that I’m responsible for those people having an accident and getting hurt. How the hell is it my fault? No one saw me hitting her car. For all we know, she might have just been having a shitty day too and drove herself into that mess. Why don’t you say that part and get me out of here? I have to do things to keep me sane, and if I’m in here, like I am, then I’m not going to be able to do anything I want.”

  “I just told you that she wasn’t in the vehicle when it hit that traffic. And they have video of you having yourself a little dance when you saw the wreckage that happened when you, with your car, ran hers into it.” Ross just waved him off, as if that wasn’t important enough to even mention. “Did you know that people were killed in that mess? That cars were crushed under semis that couldn’t stop in time? Do you remember looking at the cars piling up on each other in an effort not to slam into the car in front of them, thanks to you?”

  “How is their driving any of my fault? They should have been going the speed limit. Or even paying attention to what was ahead of them. No, they’re not blaming that on me. It’s the truckers that did that part. And the people in the cars that weren’t paying attention. That is not going to be blamed on me. I know the law too.” He looked around as he continued. “Dad, please get me off of this. If you do, then I’ll be the best son anyone has ever had.”

  “And how do you expect me to do that, Ross? You harassed her at work, grabbing h
er when she tried to leave. Hitting her car on the trunk when she was backing, carefully I might add, out of her parking space. They have you on video committing this heinous crime. There is footage of you ramming your car into hers, which continued on the same path until it caused traffic accidents that resulted in ten deaths, maybe more. As well as you dancing gleefully when cars began to pile up on each other at the accident itself. Some of those people were crushed when their cars were fallen upon by semis falling over on top of them.” Ross was shaking his head no when he mentioned the semis again. “I don’t know what to do with you, Ross. I surely don’t. I can’t believe, first of all, that you hurt that poor girl. It’s all right there on her dashcam that she had on her car, recording the entire time you were with her. And you seemed disappointed when I told you that she wasn’t in the car that you pushed.”

  “I am. I don’t know if it was my intentions that she was to die, but you will admit it would have been easier on me had she been in the car when it was hit.” He asked him why. “Then you could blame the entire thing on her and no one would be there to say anything differently. And I don’t think she can record me with that thing in her car without my permission. You should get that thrown out of court. That’ll help you some, don’t you think? Dad, you have to do something. I have things that I really need to do to keep me sane. You have to do this for me.”