Chapter 12

Red Riding Hood

VANESSA

“O h my, what a day,” I mumble as Keenan pulls his Jeep up to our new home for the next eight weeks. It’s a bungalow in a gated community where several other cast members are temporarily residing with their families.

We climb out of the Jeep and I shade my eyes from the dying sun as I look over the white, red-shuttered one-story ranch style home. It’s bigger than anything I’ve lived in before. I grab Keenan’s hand and pull him to the front door. “C’mon, let’s check it out!”

Inside, I’m met with a modern, clean home with cedar wood floors. It’s bright and airy with plenty of windows facing the mountains, which the setting sun is lighting up in a spectacular array of yellows, oranges, and ambers.

Peeking through a curtained window opposite the front door, I see a pool, which takes up half the yard, the water sparkling invitingly. Two lounge chairs with an umbrella are settled next to the pool and a barbecue pit to one side causes a rumble in my stomach.

“Be right back!” I race around the house, counting bedrooms. “This place has three bedrooms, Keenan!” I grin at him as I re-enter the living room. “Can you believe it?” I catch his amused smile and remember who I’m talking to. “Right, you probably grew up in a castle with dozens of rooms.”

He chuckles. “Not exactly. I grew up in a stone and straw home with two bedrooms. One for my parents and one for me and my four brothers. The castle came later, after the war, when we were gifted the responsibility of Wolf-Haven for our services.”

My curiosity shifts from the house to Keenan. “Which did you prefer? Life in the stone house or life in the castle?”

His smile falls away. “I would trade a thousand castles to have my parents back.”

The ache in his voice draws me closer and I run my hand up his arm. “I’m sorry you lost your parents. I know how hard that is.”

“Of course you do.” He wraps his arms around me and holds me against him, the faint beat of his heart comforting. “I’m sorry about your mom, too. Izzy was an extraordinary woman.”

I look up at his face. “You knew her?”

“Only through her reputation and from my time spent watching you. She was both a skilled thief and an excellent mother.”

Gasping, I pull away from him. “You know about that?” Alarm rises to the surface, but I push the knee jerk reaction away. If Keenan cared about the stolen art, he would’ve told the police about it when he had the chance. “No one knows, not even Pinky. When my mom got sick, she made me promise never to tell anyone.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.” He puts his hands on my shoulders, a move I recognize as one he uses when he wants me to calm down.

“It’s okay. I was surprised. I’ve never talked about this with anyone before. It’s not easy to discuss my mom’s secret.” In fact, it’s not easy to talk about my mom at all. Her death was slow and painful. I was alone, watching her slip away from me.

Keenan pulls me against him, his arms banding me, his hand pressing my head to his heart. “You were never alone.”

I nod because I know that now.

“We’ll talk about Izzy when you’re ready, okay?”

I nod again, grateful he’s not going to press me for details.

“Want to go for a swim before bed?”

I smile. “You read my mind.”

“Yes, I did.”

I laugh and pull away. “I don’t have a bathing suit with me.”

He frowns. “I don’t think I’ve ever owned a bathing suit. Seems like a lot of fuss just to cover what the natural order gave us.”

I look at him skeptically, then out the window at the pool. We were at the film lot for nearly ten hours, bouncing from department to department, getting fitted for costumes, picking out my makeup palettes, and running lines with scene partners. The blue lights dancing at the bottom of pool in the darkening evening promise relief from the strain of the day.

“You know you want to swim,” Keenan says.

I give in. “Alright, but if you peek while I’m taking my clothes off, you’re sleeping in the back yard and not in one of the lovely three bedrooms this house has to offer.”

“I promise not to peek.” I’m definitely peeking , he thinks.

“I heard that!” Laughing, I open the sliding door and step outside, breathing in the scent of freshly cut grass.

Despite telling Keenan not to peek, I feel comfortable around him. He’s had countless opportunities to take advantage of me as well as a built-in excuse in the form of our mating call. Yet, not once has he pushed me into doing something I didn’t want to do.

He follows me out as I reach for the hem of my shirt, dragging it over my head. It’s a warm evening with very little wind. Perfect for a swim.

I kick off my shoes and, extremely conscious of the man behind me, I unbutton my jeans and pull them down my legs along with my panties and step out of them. I hear him draw in a sharp breath and grin to myself, taking a small peek into his thoughts.

I blush as pornographic images bombard my brain of us twined together, kissing and frantically touching each other.

“That’s the first time you’ve purposely reached into my mind,” he says, pleasure in his tone. “Did you like what you saw?”

I leap into the pool, sinking below the surface to cool my fiercely heated face. I turn to tell him off for reading my mind while I was reading his, but the sight of him standing in all his naked glory on the pool deck renders me speechless.

I mean, I’ve seen it , but I haven’t spent time looking at it and it is impressive. The man is definitely a show-er, not a grow-er. Nope, I’m wrong. Under my intent gaze it grows even bigger.

“Sex is off the table,” I mutter to myself, riveted.

“What? Why?” He sounds devastated.

I splash water at him, making him skip back a few steps. “You’ll never fit.”

He grins at me and rushes toward the pool, leaping and tucking himself into a ball before he hits the water. A wave rocks me and I’m flung backwards.

As I struggle to stand, Keenan surfaces, water streaming over him, beading in his beard and chest hair. My heart picks up speed as he gives me a wolfish grin and stalks closer.

“I’ll fit, sweetheart.” I try to evade him, but he grabs me by the waist and drags me to him, his wet lips descending to mine. “I promise.”

His lips are soft, whispering, asking for permission to enter. I open to him and he presses for more, his tongue sweeping my mouth.

I grip his arms, reveling in the steely strength beneath my fingertips, the velvet soft skin, the warmth flowing through him, heating me. His hand drops down my back, landing on my waist, urging me closer into the cradle of his thighs.

His penis presses against my stomach as his hands sweep my body, his lips leading mine in a skillful dance that has our bodies heating the water around us. When he lifts his head, his gaze is filled with such a powerful longing, I nearly beg him to take me inside to bed.

Nearly.

“Sex muddies the waters,” I whisper against his lips.

“And you want to make sure this is real before we muddy the waters,” he finishes my thought.

I nod, my forehead brushing his chin. “Something like that.”

“Part of me agrees with you,” he says, his eyes blazing with golden fire. “The rest of me is impatient to get you underneath me so I can do my worst. Or best, depending on what you’re looking for.”

I laugh and press my face into his neck, inhaling his wild, masculine scent. “I feel the same, Keenan. It’s like we’re magnets being constantly pulled together. But for now, I think it’s best we resist the urge and give ourselves more time.”

Time is the one thing we don’t have .

I catch his tortured thought and wrap my arms around his neck, dragging his head down to mine. “Forget the curse and concentrate on us. Let’s pretend like we have all the time in the world to explore our relationship.”

“What if we don’t have time? What if I lose you too soon and we miss out on what could have been?” His tone is anguished and his fingers bite into my waist.

I stroke his arm. “I’m going to die anyway, Keenan. Whether its tomorrow, next year, or in sixty years. I want to savour each moment we have with each other like it could be our last, but without rushing anything. I don’t want to ruin this.”

I should probably be more upset about my possible imminent death, but I’m not. Life is meant for living and I’ll do as much living as I possibly can before the curse gets me. Besides, according to Keenan and the internet, I’ll reincarnate shortly after my death. I may not have my memories, but part of me will survive in another woman. I can live with that.

“Do all humans see death the way you do?” he asks, kissing my forehead.

I shrug. “We all deal with death in our own way. Some are scared of it, some ignore it, while others invite it in.”

“And you take it in your stride, living life like tomorrow might be your last day.”

I smile at him. “Now you get it.” I push myself up in the water and peck his lips then use his solid-as-a-tree body to push away from him, floating backwards.

“Where are you going?” he demands as I reach for the edge of the pool, dragging myself up.

“It’s getting cold. I’m going inside.” I pick up a towel folded neatly on a lounge chair and shake it out, wrapping it around myself.

Keenan’s eyes follow every move with hunger.

“Coming?”

“I think I’ll do a few laps, swim off some steam.” He floats backwards, his eyes on me, his penis pointed proudly at the sky.

“Enjoy the pool,” I say quickly, tearing my eyes from him.

His chuckle follows me back to the house. “Run away, Little Red Riding Hood, before the Big Bad Wolf eats you all up.”