She looked at the clock. It was almost noon. “Okay,” she said, pretending that panic wasn’t clawing at her throat. “No problem.”
“So get your hot, slutty self out of bed, kiss that man hard, then go clean up the evidence before Dad gets there. Don’t want him having another heart attack, right?”
Julie straightened up, accidentally dislodging Mark. “I was not…” Except she had been. “I am not…” Well, she was and she’d liked it. “Oh, shut up!”
She hung up on her sister’s peal of laughter. So Dad was coming home. He was better enough to be nursed night and day by her. This was good news, right? She’d wanted her father strong and healthy.
“Your father’s been discharged,” Mark said as he rubbed sleep out of his eyes. He looked rumpled and sexy and…Hmmmm. He was very hard. And she was very wet.
“You’ve turned me into a sex addict.”
His eyes darkened, and his lips curved. She didn’t see him move, but she felt his hand caress her. It had been on her thigh, but now curved between her legs. The movement was slow but absolutely undeniable.
“How long do we have?” he asked.
“Until four. But I need to clean up the place. Get groceries and stuff.”
“Hmmm. That’ll take about an hour.”
“Plus a shower and…and…” He pushed her onto her back, spreading her knees as he kissed a trail down her stomach. “And I think there’s plenty of time.”
She felt him smile against her belly. “That’s what I think, too.”
And that was the last thinking she did for a good long, fabulous time.
But even great sex has to end sometime. They showered at his place, then headed to the grocery store. She said nothing about all the elaborate tricks he had in his house to make sure the man was in charge and not the grizzly. Why further ruin the moment? Especially when she didn’t need a big yellow sign to tell her that their time was running out. So they shopped in quiet accord and headed back to her father’s home. Mark was carrying the bags and she was unlocking the cabin door when it happened. Simple and quick.
She heard some pops. Almost simultaneous, but not quite. A sharp pain hit her back. Mark might have grunted. Maybe. It was hard to tell what with her legs going out and the porch coming up to slap her in the face.
CHAPTER 15
Mark woke with a stench in his nose and a roar of fury burrowing out of his throat. He didn’t even know why he was pissed yet, but he was angry and filled with adrenaline. Except that the sound he created was more of a moan and when he leapt to his feet to scan the environment, all he really did was contract his belly and lift what felt like ten tons on his chest.
Holy shit.
He dragged his eyes open by a supreme act of will and when he couldn’t focus, the terror inside him grew exponentially.
“Calm down, Mark. You’re safe. The environment is safe.” Carl’s voice, and it soothed his immediate panic.
“Now wake the shit up. We need your help.” That was Tonya, her voice tight with anxiety.
He drew his focus together, forced himself to think. Oddly, his bear was dead asleep, making him the most human he’d ever felt. Which ought to reassure him, but instead made him feel disconnected from himself. The grizzly was so dominant in his mind all the time that this absence unsettled him.
“Give him a minute,” another voice said. A stranger. Female. He blinked, focusing on a pert nose covered in freckles. A young redhead with a surprisingly warm smile. She was dressed in a paramedic’s uniform.
“Julie?” he asked, his voice coming out as a croak.
The paramedic leaned forward. “Let’s start with the basics. What’s your name?—”
“What the fuck happened?” interrupted Tonya.
Then he saw Carl lean into his field of vision, a bottle of water extended. That’s what he needed. He reached for it, his arms leaden. He tried to sit up but failed. What the hell was wrong with him?
“Take it slow,” the woman said, though she thankfully helped him sit up. “Does anything hurt?”
“No,” he said, more scared than he wanted to admit. “I’m so weak.”
Carl squatted down beside him, handing over the water and steadying Mark’s hand. “You got hit by tranq darts. A lot of them.”
