Filed to story: The Healer and The Wolf PDF Free
“Ready,” I confirmed.
We took off.
It certainly wasn’t an all-out sprint, with both of us occasionally skidding across mud and wet earth. We were thoroughly soaked within seconds, and when I ended up falling right onto my ass in a small puddle, I burst out laughing.
“Are you all right?” Leo asked before thunder cracked behind him, making both of us flinch.
“I’m fine.” I let him pull me up by our joined hands. “Nothing a little soap can’t scrub out.”
“That’s the spirit.”
But with me fairly covered in muck, all sense of caution was thrown to the wind-or rather, the storm. We jumped into occasional puddles, splashing ourselves and each other. It wasn’t long before Leo was laughing right with me, both of us thoroughly caught up in the silliness.
It was so fun.
Exhilarating. Even with the occasional bolt of lightning striking down in the distance, I didn’t feel an ounce of fear. There was only room for joy and levity. It was a very welcome change from how my life had been before Leo.
“We made it!” I cried once my garden came into view.
My plants were going to love all the rain. Although I watered them every day, irrigation drips didn’t have all the extra nitrogen and other nutritious chemicals plants liked to gobble up.
Leo grinned from ear to ear. “We did.”
We rushed the rest of the way. When we reached my back door, we were both breathless, our chests heaving.
“We made a right mess of ourselves, didn’t we?” I asked as we stood in the doorway, staring out at the storm raging across the landscape.
“We did.”
I looked up at Leo, raindrops still on my lashes, and studied that handsome face of his. The slope of his jaw had a slight bump-he must have broken it at some point in his life. He had such sharp cheekbones. But mostly, I locked eyes with him and saw that ever-present intensity.
God, he was so fucking handsome, and the way he was looking at me made it even harder to breathe. It was hard not to feel the world narrow down to just him and me.
“Leo…” I murmured, acutely aware of how his thrifted clothes clung to the sculpted planes of his body. He really was an Adonis, all masculine strength and power.
“Yes?” His voice was low, barely more than a rumble, and it made me shiver for reasons other than the cold water drenching me.
I didn’t know where I got the nerve, but I swallowed and kept speaking. “Would you like to take a shower?”
LEO
“Would you like to take a shower?”
The way Ven was looking up at me through her lashes sent desire rushing through my body. Those honey-brown eyes were my own personal kryptonite.
Strange, the things I remembered when I looked at her-like a comic superhero and his weakness.
The silence stretched on for a few beats too long. Shit, I needed to answer her.
“You can go first,” I managed to ground out, my brain moving like molasses. I desperately tried not to think about her naked body beneath the hot water, soap cascading over the ample planes of her body.
I didn’t understand why Ven’s face fell slightly until she cleared her throat and spoke again. “What I meant was, would you like to take a shower with me?”
Oh.
Oh.
Yes, I would like that very much. Enough to make me wonder if I had actually slipped somewhere out on the trail and hit my head.
But, no, Ven was right in from me, asking me something I never dreamed she would.
“Are you sure?” I asked, desire seeping into every word.
“Yes, I am very, very sure.”
Who was I to argue with that?
“Then, yes, I would like to take a shower with you.” The words felt clunky in my mouth, but Ven didn’t seem to mind. Instead, she took my hand, and we started up the stairs.
It seemed so very much like a dream.
It wouldn’t have been the first time I’d dreamt about her, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if I woke up with my cock already straining with need. But no, her touch was too real as she led me up the stairs and into the bathroom.
The last time we’d shared the space together had been the big turning point for me, when I’d gone from an animal masquerading as a man, to a shifter who had control over himself. The thought that I would be sharing the bathroom with Ven again was dizzying. Overwhelming, even.
But I wanted it. I wanted it more than anything.
“I’ll start the water,” Ven said, and although I heard the hitch of nerves in her voice, it was comforting to know she was just as affected as I was, that the gravity of the situation wasn’t lost on her.
