Page 35 of Squatch Out!

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

OLIVIA

I will never stop being fascinated with watching Sean shift from one form to another. It’s an instant thing, not some painful-looking drawn-out process like in the movies. One moment he’s a squatch. The next he’s not. Just like that.

He’s naked and trembling as he wraps his arms around me, pulling me tightly against his body. I’m not sure if it’s from the cold or just… everything. I suspect it’s probably a bit of both.

When I look up at him, he slams his mouth down over mine, and I’m lost to his kiss. It’s familiar, just like the feel of his arms around me. Comforting. Consuming. He ignites a fire low in my belly and suddenly I need him like I need air.

Opening for him, I greedily slide my tongue against his, savoring his minty taste as I shift in his lap. Straddling his thighs, I press my aching core against his throbbing hardness.

His hands are everywhere. Down my back and then under my shirt where he slides them lightly across my skin to cup my breasts through my bra. I moan against his mouth, rolling my hips, spreading my thighs wider so he presses harder where I need it.

His hand slides up the back of my neck and into my hair, gripping my head to angle me the way he wants. And, oh yeah, I want more of that!

His tongue flicks across the roof of my mouth, and he suddenly freezes.

“What’s wrong?” I nip at his bottom lip.

“Do you smell… Is something burning?” His brows drop low, and then both of us scramble to our feet.

“The pizza!” I gasp, grabbing his arm to pull him up.

“Shit!” But he’s laughing as we run back through the trees toward his house. And I can’t help laughing too.

When we burst into the kitchen, it’s filled with thick smoke, and the smoke alarm is blaring loudly. I grab a dish towel and start waving it over the detector, trying to get it to stop. Sean opens the oven and jumps back when more smoke, followed by flames, rolls out at him.

“Where is your fire extinguisher?” I shout over the blaring alarm.

Sean looks around and then dives for the cabinet under the sink.

I switch from fanning the smoke detector with a towel to the pizza box while he puts out the oven fire.

When the alarm finally turns off, we’re left in a heavy silence.

Sean is naked. The kitchen is in shambles. And our dinner is decidedly ruined.

And neither of us can stop laughing.

Sean shakes his head as he closes the oven. “Are you still hungry? If we leave now, we might make it back to town before everything closes.”

I shake my head. I ate my weight in snacks on the drive up here.

Besides, what I really want isn’t going to be on any menu.

Because, my god, he is gorgeous. Tall and thick, he’s cut with heavy muscles.

A smattering of light hair covers his chest and legs.

My tongue darts out to wet my lips as I eat up the sight of him.

“I’m only hungry for you,” I say in what I hope is a sultry voice.

“Is that so?” Sean takes the pizza box from me, tossing it aside. “Then I better make sure my girl is satisfied.”

My knees go wobbly, and heat floods my panties when he tosses me over his shoulder and takes me into his room—only to suddenly freeze in the doorway.

“Um, let me just change the sheets real fast.”

“It can’t be that bad. I don’t mind,” I say when he sets me back on my feet.

“No. It’s… You saw the kitchen?”

I look past him at the mussed-up bed, and that’s when I notice the stale scent of sex. Oh, dear. “Let me help.”

Sean tries to argue with me, but he’s learning I can be just as stubborn as him. Maybe even more.

Together, we strip the bed, and he takes the bedding straight to the laundry while I get to work on the new set.

He finds a clean, if slightly musty-smelling comforter in a closet, and by the time we fall into bed, all thoughts of sex have been replaced with thoughts of sleep.

I’ve been driving for the last four days straight, staying in cheap hotels with even cheaper mattresses along the way.

So, when I sink into the pillowy softness of Sean’s bed, I’m well on my way to dreamland when he climbs in beside me.

“I guess I’ll take a raincheck on the reunion sex.” He chuckles as he curls around my body, big spoon style.

“I just need to close my eyes for a minute,” I mumble, but we both know I’m done for the night.

“Close your eyes for as long as you like. I’ll be right here when you wake up.”

I want to roll over so I can kiss him. Maybe push him to his back and have my wicked way with him, but instead I melt into the warmth surrounding me. For the first time in a long time, maybe since I lost my parents, I’m home again.

I wake with the sun, and also because my circadian clock is still three hours fast, thanks to years of living on the East Coast. Sean is still curled around me, snoring softly and lost to a deep sleep.

Being trapped in the comfort of his heavy arms would normally be enough to drag me back to sleep, but then my bladder wakes up.

The longer I try to ignore it, the more urgent it becomes, until I finally give up and accept that I’m not going to get any more sleep today.

I do my best not to wake Sean as I carefully slide out of his arms and over the side of his bed.

The room is chilly this early, and I’m only wearing a cami and my panties.

On my way to the attached bathroom, I pick one of his discarded flannels off the floor and pull it around my shoulders.

Pulling the collar of his shirt to my nose, I breathe in the strong scent that is uniquely Sean, a mixture of his rain-scented shower gel and musky sweat.

The well-worn fabric is soft against my skin and warms me quickly. As I make my way to his attached bathroom, I imagine some of the heat from his body is still infused within the fibers.

When I tiptoe from the bathroom, Sean hasn’t moved. His breathing is deep and even as I head for the hallway.

The kitchen looks even worse in the early morning light.

The air still smells strongly of burnt pizza, and the oven is coated in a fine white powder from the fire extinguisher.

Scanning the small space, I try to decide where to start first. My eyes pause on the coffee maker, and I decide that nothing is going to get done before I get some caffeine in me.

There is no milk in the fridge, so I add a couple heaping spoonfuls of sugar and then make my way out to the porch to enjoy the quiet morning.

The sky is streaked with vivid pink and orange as bright sunlight filters through the trees.

The brisk air smells clean and fresh, and I lean against the railing as I sip my coffee.

God, did I miss this.

The birds sing loudly all around me as squirrels and chipmunks dart up and down the trees and through the grass.

Something else catches my eye through the trees, and I squint after it.

I’m expecting to find a deer making its way past the house, but whatever it is disappears amongst the trees, almost as if it’s hiding.

Which is weird. A deer wouldn’t do that. At least I don’t think–

A flash of color out of the corner of my eye has me turning just as a man darts out of the trees and straight toward me.

It takes a moment for my sleep-fogged brain to catch up with what’s happening, and by then, he’s already hurtled the steps. I stumble back, but he’s faster and grabs my arm, yanking me away from the railing.

Coffee sloshes over the side of the cup, but I barely register the burn as it hits my skin because he’s clamping his hand over my mouth. Muffling my screams as he pulls me backward off the porch.

“Don’t make a fucking sound!” The man’s hot, fetid breath hits the side of my face, and I do the only other thing I can think of. I throw my mug at the side of the house.

I aim for the glass door, hoping the crash might be loud enough to wake Sean, but the man’s arms are banded around me so tightly, it falls woefully short. Instead, the mug bounces uselessly across the porch. The damn thing doesn’t even have the decency to break.

“I told you to shut the fuck up!” he grunts as I continue to scream against his sweaty palm. Kicking my legs and digging my fingernails into his arm, I scratch and twist. Doing whatever I can think of to break free of him.

We’re almost to the trees, and my heart is close to pounding out of my chest as I dig my bare feet into the soft ground, trying to slow him.

Who the hell is this guy and where did he come from?

My screams turn to frantic sobs when he drags me into the woods and then keeps going until I lose sight of Sean’s house.

With a jarring shift, he pushes my chest against the rough bark of a red cedar, nearly knocking the wind out of me.

He’s hot and sweaty against my back as he leans into me.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Olivia. I just want your boyfriend. ”

I go stiff, and my head snaps over my shoulder to get a look at the man behind me. He’s mostly out of my view, but there is something about his voice that makes me say, “Darren?”

He steps to the side, and I get my first good look at him.

Goddamn, I wouldn’t have recognized him if he hadn’t called me by name. His blond hair is shaggy and matted around his head. His face is covered in a thick, unkept beard, and going by the dirt and his stink, he hasn’t had a shower or changed his clothes since I last saw him.

“I’m going to take my hand away from your mouth,” he tells me quietly, like he’s talking to a small child. “If you scream, I’ll knock you unconscious. Do you understand?”

The way he says it so nonchalantly, I don’t doubt him. So much for not wanting to hurt me, I think sourly as I remember how easily he held a knife to my throat. I force myself to nod.

Slowly, he peels his hand back, and it takes everything I have not to lick my lips. God knows where he’s been or what he’s touched. When he’s certain I’m going to do as I’m told, he pulls a length of rope from the pocket of his filthy jacket.

“Darren, this is crazy. What are you doing?” I ask him as he pulls my arms around the trunk and ties my wrists together, securing me to the tree. “Have you been out here this whole time?”

“I need proof,” he mutters as he tests the ropes to make sure I can’t escape. And fuck if he didn’t actually do a good job. “I need to clear my name. To prove it wasn’t me who killed Johnny. I need to bring them a sasquatch.”

I blink at him. My stomach twists, and bile burns the back of my throat. “It doesn’t work like that. They are shifters, even if you kill one, they just return to their human form.”

“Like I’m going to believe anything you say,” he snaps at me and pulls the ropes even tighter, making me yelp in pain.

“It’s true!” I croak. “Why do you think no one has ever found definitive proof? It’s because there literally isn’t any.”

Darren watches me for a moment and then shakes his head. “Even if you’re right, it doesn’t change anything.”

I bang my head against the tree in frustration. “You’re making a huge mistake. Do you really want another death on your conscience?”

“I never said I was going to kill him. I only need proof that will clear my name.”

I don’t believe him. Whatever proof he wants, or how he plans to get it, can’t be good for Sean.

Darren steps back. “You can scream all you want now. I’ll be waiting.”

I watch as he turns around and disappears into the trees, and I press my forehead against the cedar again. What am I going to do now?