Cunningham, Pat - Coyote Moon (BookStrand Publishing Romance) Page 3

  She ducked into the closet-sized restroom and locked the door. A coyote. A wild animal.

  She had called it to her. Called it out of the woods.

  The water took its time warming up, so she splashed cold handfuls on her face before loading her palms with soap. One thing she was certain of: that hadn’t been an attack. The coyote hadn’t been looking for food, and it didn’t have rabies, and it hadn’t tried to bite her. No, the damned thing jumped in her lap and started kissing her. Definitely not the actions of a rabid or dangerous beast. More like—she couldn’t stop a giggle—a lovestruck puppy.

  “Hear that, Texas boy?” she said to the reflection in the flyspecked mirror. “You’ve got competition.”

  Calmer now, Willy rinsed her face. Nothing to worry about from either of them. Except for that couple of seconds when Andy had come at her. Cody had got between them, and there’d been nothing harmless or easygoing in his eyes when he’d told Andy to hit the road. For those few seconds he’d shown off his dangerous side. And the feral female inside her sat up and took notice.

  Ridiculous. I’m a human being, not a bitch in heat. “Alpha male” is just a prettified synonym for “inconsiderate jerk.”

  She reached for the dispenser on the wall. And discovered they were out of paper towels.

  She marched back to the bay with her back to the woods and her face dripping wet and a growl far down in her larynx. If she saw that damned coyote again, she’d wipe up the floor with it. Right after she wiped her face.

  * * * *

  After the big stupid ape with the wrench wrecked his impromptu seduction, Cody headed back to where he’d left his duffel. There he shifted shape and dressed. He hadn’t given up on a direct assault. Just with that wrench-toting monkey playing chaperone, his efforts would have to take—he wriggled his fingers and chuckled—a different form.

  Willy found a rag that wasn’t too greasy and was patting her face dry when she heard a cheerful whistling outside. Of course he’d show up here, right now. Right when she probably had lube oil all over her cheeks. Maybe it would hide the redness she knew that burst of heat must be causing.

  He paused in the doorway to look at her, and his resemblance to the coyote struck her anew. If he ran out his tongue, they’d be twins. The thought made her smile in spite of herself. “Mr. Gray. Good morning.”

  “Closer to afternoon by now. And every time you say ‘Mr. Gray’ I look around for my daddy. It’s Cody. Or I’ll go back to calling you ma’am.”

  “Mr. Gray.” She strolled over to him, but not too close. She didn’t want to catch his scent again. With the emotional tsunamis she’d been surfing since yesterday, that could only lead to trouble. “You found a place to stay?”

  “I’m settled in temporarily. Whether I stick around will depend on a lot of things. You know you got grease on your chin?”

  She was certain she’d stopped beyond his reach. He just seemed to glide forward. Suddenly she had him practically in her lap, just like the coyote. His hand caught her chin, and his thumb tenderly rubbed out the smudge. Too late, it occurred to her to slap his hand away. But he’d already let her go and stepped back, wiping his hand on his jeans.

  “One of those things,” he went on, “is if you’ll go to lunch with me. A town this nice must have a classy restaurant in it somewhere.”

  “I’m not—” she started, and then his odor hit her. The prairie-grass fragrance had acquired an overlay of warm earth, pine and sweat. And, good God, could that be blood? It made her stomach growl, and her throat want to echo it. She backed away. “You’re not taking me anywhere, smelling like that. What did you do last night, sleep in the woods?”

  “Well, as a matter of fact—”

  Dear Lord. She thinned her eyes at him. “You don’t have any money, do you?”

  “Uh…” Chaos take it, he’d forgotten about money. After weeks of running free, sleeping outdoors and killing his own meals, money had lost its importance. But the apes set store by it, and this wolf-gal thought like an ape. “I’ve got a credit card, and enough cash to get by. I can catch a shower at a truck stop.”

  Willy sighed. A deadbeat drifter. Boy, could she pick ‘em or what? “Tell you what. I still owe you for last night. You can shower at my place and I’ll make us lunch.”

  Cody brightened. “And after?”

  Her teeth showed. “After, Mr. Gray, I’ll help you get a motel room. Then we’re quits. Gratitude only goes so far. Are we clear?”

  That’s what her voice said. His nose picked up her real message loud and strong. He was careful not to smile, but it wasn’t easy. “As crystal, darlin’.”

  “Good. And don’t call me darlin’.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Willy swallowed a growl. I regret this already. Especially when she brushed past him, and caught that hint of blood again. It stirred her own in a way that scared her. Two more days, she reminded herself, and hurried to the office door. “Tony? I’m going to lunch. I’ll be back in about an hour.” She heard Cody’s snort and chose to ignore it. “Mr. Richards’ car needs a new timing belt, and Mrs. Dean’s needs an oil change. That’s about it.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Koslinski’s distracted agreement came from the depths of the office. Cody followed Willy to her car. “I surely do appreciate this.”

  “Just don’t get used to it. We’re not a charity. One shower, one meal, one motel room—for just you—and that’s it. Got it?”

  Cody nodded absently. That was one fine view of her backside. What would her other tail look like? “Got it?” Willy snapped.

  “Oh, sure. Whatever you say, ma’am.”

  He chuckled at her snarl and climbed into the Mustang’s passenger seat while Willy slid in behind the wheel. “I can’t believe you really slept in the woods,” she said. “Do you know there are wolves out there?”

  She didn’t understand why he found that so amusing. “So I’ve heard.”

  * * * *

  Willy had a girly house, lace and pinks and pastel blues and plants all over the place. Neat as a pin, which Cody found a pleasant relief. Seemed funny to walk through a front door and not trip over something, or find clothing draped on the furniture, or smell whatever mess Ewan and Donald had left in the kitchen in the wake of one of their cookoffs. Since Thad and his new wife Holly moved out, the Gray household had lacked a woman’s touch.

  He was happiest to note a lack of evidence regarding male occupancy. No shed hairs or clothes or scent-tags. A tinge of male ape wafted up from the couch, tangled up with the sister’s. Recent vintage, too, like about five minutes ago. That jived with the sharp clap of a door falling shut out back. Willy sniffed in the couch’s direction, and her face got dark as a thunderhead.

  Beth came in from the back of the house. Her color was high, along with her voice. “Willy? I thought I heard the car. What are you doing home?” Her gaze hopped to Cody, and her lips grew a smirk. “Oh. I see.”

  “No, you don’t. I invited Mr. Gray to lunch to thank him for his help last night.”

  “Since when do you come home for lunch?”

  “Since when do you? Shouldn’t you be at work?”

  “Day off.” Her smirk expanded. “What kind of ‘lunch’ are we talking about?”

  “The kind you help your big sister prepare.” She swept up to Beth before the blonde could retreat. “And later,” she added under her breath, “we’ll discuss who you had in here, and why he won’t be coming back.” She gave Beth a shove toward the kitchen. “Don’t you even think of ducking out.” To Cody: “Bathroom’s up the stairs, end of the hall. I know we’ve got guest towels around here somewhere.”

  “No need to put yourself out.”

  “It’s no bother, believe me. No offense, but you really need a bath. Are you hungry?”

  “Well, I did miss breakfast.”

  Stupid question. Of course he was hungry. Good God, he’d slept in the forest. And he was a guy, after all.

  She led him upstairs to the bat
hroom, with a brief stop at the linen closet. Praise be, one big bath towel left. She and Beth needed to have a serious chat over who did laundry and how often.

  A tinkle of glass and a curse from downstairs. “Beth, setting the table,” Willy informed him. “There’s soap in there. Here’s a washcloth. Your clothes…” She could only shake her head. “We’ll find a motel with a laundry service. Barring further disaster, lunch should be ready in about twenty minutes.”

  “Thanks.” He winked. “You could duck in here with me, y’know.”

  “Don’t push your luck.” Damn the man. He snickered at the most annoying things. She slammed the bathroom door on him and hurried down the stairs, just a bit more quickly than she needed to.

  * * * *

  Ah! Hot running water. Another luxury that’d slipped his mind while he’d been on the road. Sing the praises of pure mountain streams all you wanted, they were damned chilly to jump in first thing in the morning. It wasn’t a well-known fact of were lore, but the coyote breed had been the first to adopt indoor plumbing.

  Too bad he hadn’t brought along his own soap. All he found in the bathroom was girly scented stuff. He was going to smell like a nancy boy until he could slip away for a good roll. But look on the bright side, he had a lovely lady fixing a meal for him while he indulged in a shower. Did life get any better?

  Sure it did. Naturally he snuck a peek in Willy’s bedroom the second she left him alone. Just a glimpse and a sniff from the doorway for reassurance, and he liked what he smelled and saw. The rumpled sheets with only her scent on them. The window that faced the woods. No boots under her bed. The sister might want to line her den, but Willy was a lone wolf, and wolves are never happy as loners. They needed a mate and a pack. Well, a little effort on his part and cooperation on hers ought to solve both their problems just fine.

  First order of business after the wedding: ditch this femmy shower curtain. Violets and birdies? Chaos save him.

  He’d shut off the water and was about to step out when he heard the bathroom door creak stealthily open. Not Willy. Barely twenty-four hours and already he knew the sound and scent of her. That wasn’t her footfall trying so hard not to be heard on the throw rug. Must be the ape one, Beth, and sounding up to no good.

  He grabbed a fold of the uber-girly shower curtain and held it before his nether half. “Where I come from, it’s considered polite to knock before entering.”

  “We’re not where you come from,” Beth said. She had a smile sweet as honey dripping off a grizzly’s muzzle, and the grizzly’s eyes to boot. “It’s my house. I can do what I want here.”

  “Even bust in on a guest?”

  “You’re not my guest. Though you could be if you want.” She oozed a step closer. If her stare got any more intense, the birdies might catch fire. “So, you’re from Texas. Where’s your hat, cowboy?”

  “Lost it in Nevada. You want to hand me that towel?”

  She purred like a panther. “Maybe. What’s in it for me?”

  A good swift cuff, if she’d been his pup. Damned apes, in heat 24/7. She didn’t even smell appealing. He peered beyond her head at the open doorway. “Hey, Willy. I didn’t hear you come up.”

  Beth whirled, with a well-practiced gasp. She faced an empty hall. The moment she turned, Cody, coyote-quick, leaned out and snatched the towel off the rack. He secured it around his middle and stepped out of the shower. He beamed at her, all innocence. “Oops. Guess I was wrong.”

  If looks could kill—well, he would’ve been dead already a dozen times over long before this snip of an ape-gal leveled her double-barreled glare at him. It didn’t last long before a smirk wiped it clean. “Let’s see what she says about this,” she said, and scooped up the clothes he’d left in a heap on the toilet seat. She darted into the hall with it.

  And ran smack into Willy, who’d padded in silence up the stairs. Big sis took it all in at a glance and hit the nail full on the head. “Oh, you’ve offered to wash Mr. Gray’s laundry. Aren’t you the helpful one?” She gathered the clothes out of Beth’s unresisting arms with a big cheery smile. At least, it might’ve looked cheery and somewhat like a smile to a human. Cody knew better. And, he suspected, so did Beth. “I’ll take care of it. You get downstairs and—”

  Beth didn’t wait for the rest of the order. She snarled at Willy before she shoved past her and pelted down the stairs. The front door slammed open, then shut.

  Willy’s sigh carried a touch of a growl in it. “One of these days, I swear… Mr. Gray, I am so sorry—”

  Maybe she shouldn’t have looked full at him after she started the sentence. No way she could finish it now. Not with all that prime, dripping man-flesh on display before her.

  There was definitely much to be said in favor of long and lean. As she’d fantasized, he was all wiry muscle with no visible fat, everything right where it should be and just enough of it to smoke. She hadn’t imagined the thin brush of sandy hair in the middle of his chest, just begging to be stroked, but she found it fascinating. Almost as fascinating as the position of his towel. Below it legs long and muscled like a Thoroughbred’s enticed her to test their strength.

  And the smell of him! He’d got the grime of the road off and left just him behind. Unadulterated Cody wormed its way up her nose, bypassed her brain and flew straight to her libido. Somehow that slender, delectable body had transformed the floral scent of her soap into something supremely masculine, something uniquely him. Prairie flowers, she realized, the open range in spring. His scent triggered weird visions of running naked in moonlight, and lots and lots of panting.

  Her mouth filled up with saliva. Good God, she realized, she was actually drooling.

  “Sorry about what?” Cody said.

  Sorry? Had she been sorry about something? Staring at him, she couldn’t imagine what. Oh, wait. Beth. “Beth. My sister. She’s…she was…”

  Acting on the same impulses you’re experiencing right now. Notice how you’re staring at that towel. We can get that out of the way in a hurry. One quick tug—oh crap. Willy forced her eyes away. Knowing she couldn’t stop the blush only made her face heat all the redder.

  Cody saw Willy’s nostrils working and watched her skin take on a nice dark shade of brick. Clear enough what she had going through her head and her nose, as well as the rest of her. More wolf than gal, this one, but totally ignorant of the animal inside her.

  It wasn’t in him to torment the innocent, especially a lady. He hitched his towel a little higher, and spoke the words he’d never thought he’d say to a willing woman. “Can I have my clothes back now?”

  “What? Oh. Yes, of course.” She thrust the bundle into his arms. Happily, that obscured her view of his wet, near-naked body. If only she could stop his scent.

  Scents. Charred odors. “Oh Lord. The stove.” She whirled and bolted down the stairs.

  Good strategic retreat, Cody decided. So how’d an ape end up with wolf blood, and why had her pack let her run lone for so long? Wolves had faults a’plenty, but they didn’t abandon their pups, not even the mongrels. That led to unbalance and suffering, like Willy was suffering now.

  He growled low down in his throat. Slow and easy went against coyote nature, but he’d need to take baby steps with Willy to undo the damage her pack’s negligence had caused. “You’re better off with a coyote,” he told the cloud of her scent that still lingered in the air. “You don’t know how lucky you are. But you’re about to find out.” He stepped back into the bathroom to get dressed, and work out a new plan of attack.

  * * * *

  The enticing odors of spices and hamburger led him straight to the kitchen. She’d fixed Sloppy Joes, heavy on the sloppy. The table’d been set, the sandwiches dished up. Willy was pouring cola for them when he entered. “Dig in,” she invited. “I think I overdid it.”

  After days of chasing small game that too often ran faster than he did, the thought of a woman-cooked meal hit several spots at once. Cody had to fight to keep from licki
ng his chops right in front of her. “Smells mighty good.”

  “Thanks. I thought about making barbecue—”

  “Only nothing beats Texas barbecue.” He held out a chair and seated her before pulling out a seat for himself. Though eternally hungry, he didn’t touch his meal until after Willy’d begun hers. He noted her surprise. Probably never had a man treat her proper. With a wolf, courtesy goes a far piece.

  Of course, after his initial bite, the sandwich didn’t last long. Willy watched him all but inhale it, so quickly it practically disappeared between blinks. When had he eaten last? No wonder he was skinny. “You want another? There’s plenty left.”

  “Love it. No, you stay put.” He got up and went to the stove. “How about you?”

  “I’m fine.” She forced herself to take her time with her own Sloppy Joe. She had a sudden, insatiable craving for hot, red meat, the spicier the better. She wanted to cram the whole thing into her mouth and swallow it at a gulp. But not, Mom’s rigorous early training cautioned her, in front of company. So she took demure, socially acceptable bites, silently cursed out her mother, and let the mouthfuls of burger and bread drive regret back down her throat.

  Cody returned to the table with a pile of meat and sauce on his plate. No bun, she noted. Saving more room for the good stuff. She gazed at the meat longingly. Cody spotted her look and promptly forked half his bounty onto her plate. “Here. No lady goes hungry while a Gray’s in the room. I didn’t know fixing cars took so much out of a person.”

  “I skipped breakfast, too.” The hot meat cried out to her senses. To hell with demure. She grabbed her own fork and dug in. Cody cheerfully followed suit. Conversation ended for a time.

  With only a few bites remaining, a whole new problem arose. Willy stared down at her plate, smeared with Sloppy Joe sauce and crumbs of cooked burger, and desperately wanted to lick it. Not even pick it up her hands. Just lean over and run her tongue in long, thorough laps over the china until she’d captured every speck. She did that all the time, when Beth wasn’t looking. But with Cody here…