“I love Hamburger Helper.”
She grinned. “Me, too. Any time we know Uncle Van is out of town, we invite Aunt Irene and her kids over and I make a big batch of Hamburger Helper for everybody.”
“Why when he’s out of town?”
She was quiet for a moment before saying, “Everything is pretty much a joke to my uncle Van except three things. His daughter, Ulva, who I decked once during a family soccer game because she made Cherise cry; the cleanliness of his kitchen; and his food. Uncle Van takes his food very, very seriously. So, yeah, we keep our Hamburger Helper nights completely top secret. And you better never tell, either.”
“Your secret is safe with me. The Reeds are known for the ability to keep our mouths shut. In fact, I have a couple of cousins in Midwest prisons just for that reason.”
“You know that is something I’d suggest not telling people.”
“Funny, my momma says the same thing.”
“You should listen to her.”
Toni’s phone rang, and she pulled it out of the backpack she had resting against the couch.
“Fancy phone,” he said while she stared at it.
“It’s the one I got at the job . . . and yet Kyle already has the number.”
Ricky chuckled and Toni answered her phone. “Yes, Kyle? No, Kyle. No, you may not tell her she’s fat. Because she’s not and because it’s wrong. No, you cannot push her into an eating disorder. No, you cannot convince Troy that Dad isn’t really his father and he’s really the slow boy Mom adopted. Can’t you all just work together?” Sighing loudly, Toni closed her eyes and Ricky saw all the tension that had eased out of her over the last couple of hours come right back up. “No, you are not superior. You are one of us and you will work together. Goddammit, Kyle, I am not playing around.” She looked at her watch. “Fine. I’ll be home in—”
That’s when Ricky snatched the phone out of her hand and while she watched, he crushed the little technological marvel in his fist. “Uh-oh . . . look at what I just did. My big, clumsy wolf hands crushed your itty-bitty fancy phone. You know what that means?”
“That you’re insane?”
“No. That ol’ Ric Van Holtz is gonna be real upset with me because he’ll have to get you a new one. So upset he’ll have to send Dee-Ann Smith to pummel me because he can’t risk bruising those lily-white hands of his.”
“Don’t pick on Ric. He’s one of my favorite not-really-cousins.”
“ ‘Not really cousins’?”
“With a hyphen between each word. In other words, he’s like family but not by blood.”
“So you just make up ridiculous terms for no reason?”
“Pretty much.”
Ricky shrugged. “Okay. So you wanna make out?”
“No, I do not.”
He stared at her, waited about a minute, then asked, “What about now?”
“No!” But she was laughing and no longer tense.
“If I wait another five minutes . . . ?”
“The answer will remain the same.”
“But I’m crashing here tonight—”
“When did I invite—”
“—and you can’t expect me to just lie out here all alone with a beautiful woman in the very next room . . . can you?”
“Yes, I can.”
“Heartless.”
“So Kyle has told me.” Toni relaxed back against the couch and smiled at him. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Ricky also relaxed back, his shoulder pressed against hers. “Since I can’t get you to make out with me . . . what about massaging my head?”
“What?”
“Please?”
“You mean like a . . . scalp message?”
“It’s my favorite thing. And you got them strong hands. Plus”—he pulled off his Tennessee Titans baseball cap—“I’ve got a great head of hair. All shiny, smooth, and silky. When I’m around Mitch Shaw, I make sure to shake my hair out to make him jealous of its beauty.”
She frowned a bit. “Is Mitch Shaw a lion?”
“You know him?”
“No. But a wolf mocking a man’s hair can only mean he’s either talking to a super model . . . or a male lion obsessed with that goddamn mane they all have.”
Laughing, Ricky laid his head in Toni’s lap and put his feet up on the armrest. “I have to say, darlin’, I am liking you more and more.”
“I’m learning to tolerate you, too.”
Then, to Ricky’s delight, Toni dug her fingers into his hair and gave him one of the best scalp massages he’d ever had.
“I’m just doing this,” Toni muttered, “because I feel I owe you one for today. You know . . . calming me down and everything.” Then, her voice stronger, she snapped, “But don’t get used to it or anything. This is a one-time deal. Understood?”
“Sure.”
Of course, understanding didn’t mean he’d agreed to a damn thing . . .
Ronnie Lee Reed knew the girls were bored. Of course she hadn’t told them not to drink. That had been Sissy. Sissy who was clearly enjoying the torment-potential of Ronnie’s pregnancy.
“Isn’t it great?” Sissy was saying to their fellow She-wolves. “Hanging at this great club and not drinking?”
They all muttered, “Yeah. Great.” But they were bitter, bitter words.
“It’s like we can really talk without worrying about liquor clouding our minds. Isn’t that right, y’all?”
More muttering followed that, and Ronnie had to quickly tip her head down and focus on something else. Anything else, or she’d bust out laughing. Sissy knew it, too. This was how the pair of them had entertained themselves for years. It was wrong, Ronnie knew. But it was fun.
“Hey, y’all.”
Ronnie raised her eyes and looked up at Laura Jane Smith. Funny. She hadn’t liked Laura Jane when they were growing up in Tennessee together, and she disliked her even more now.
It had been such a relief when Laura Jane had headed off to stay with the Mississippi Smiths. A large Pack, full of Reed males for her to fuck with. Cousins Ronnie didn’t think that much of one way or another. She had kin she was much closer to. Like, you know, her own brothers.
It had been the one thing Ronnie and her mother had ever agreed on. How much they disliked the relationship between Ricky Lee and Laura Jane. It wasn’t that Laura Jane was, as Sissy liked to call her, “a ho.”
Hell. Sissy and Ronnie were hos before they’d settled down with their mates. But they’d known their boundaries. Family wasn’t off limits, but if you were just looking for a good time without any commitments, then you stayed away. That’s not what Laura Jane did. She’d played Ricky Lee and several other males she’d been with around the same time. Not okay, in Ronnie Lee’s book. So having the bitch coming to town to “visit with my favorite kin!” was doing nothing but irritating Ronnie’s already sensitive nerves.
Rory Lee kept telling Ronnie to stay out of it. She didn’t want to. Females like Laura Jane didn’t understand subtlety. But she could tell that Ricky was avoiding her, and Ronnie didn’t like that, either. If anyone should feel awkward, it should be Laura Jane.
But that one didn’t feel much of anything. She was too busy running around, trying to look “sultry.” It was the word all the boys had used about her when they were growing up.
Took a lot of effort, if you asked Ronnie Lee. Always posing and making sure your mouth is at its most pouty.
Laura Jane pulled out a chair and dropped into it. “So what are we all doing tonight?”
“Hanging out. Just experiencing life,” Sissy Mae offered, her smile large. “Liquor-free.”
Laura Jane managed to hold on to her perfectly sultry smile. “Really? How novel.”
“So have you been enjoying your visit to our fair city?” Sissy asked her cousin.
“I have. I have. Although it’s not really your city, is it, Sissy Mae?”
“I live here, don’t I?”
“True. But you’ll always
be a country girl.” Laura Jane’s eyes narrowed the slightest bit. “Just like the rest of us.”
The words were said kindly, but Ronnie wasn’t fooled. Neither was Sissy Mae, which was why she was Ronnie’s best friend.
Laura Jane looked over at Ronnie. “How ya doin’, hon?”
“Fine.”
“Got the morning sickness yet?”
“Came and went. Just like my momma.”
“Good. Good. My poor sister, Sally? Lord, she went through hell during her pregnancies. Running to the bathroom to throw up nearly every damn day for nine months. Poor thing.”
“Uh-huh.”
Laura Jane leaned over the table a bit and said to Ronnie, “I went to see your brother today, darlin’.”
Ronnie had learned long ago how not to react to just anything. It was a hard-won skill but necessary when one’s best friend was Sissy Mae Smith. A She-wolf who was still banned from several countries in Asia and Europe. Of course, so was Ronnie Lee, but that was only because of Sissy Mae. It was always only because of Sissy Mae!
“Is that right? How is he doing anyway? Haven’t seen him in a day or two. Always so busy, that Ricky Lee.”
“He seems fine. Looks good.” Laura Jane winked at her, and Ronnie wanted to tear the bitch’s eyes out with her fangs. “Surprised about him and that She-jackal, though. It’s not like him to use somebody just to get out of an uncomfortable situation. Odd-looking little girl, too. I mean, unless she paid to have that hair.”
Unable to help themselves, Ronnie and Sissy glanced at each other and back at Laura Jane.
Then Ronnie Lee asked, “She-jackal?”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Toni hadn’t needed an alarm clock to get her up in the morning for years, because getting up late meant she’d had to deal with full-blown arguments rather than preventing them. So when the sun streaming through the big windows hit her right in the face, she instantly knew she had to get up. Although her mother made breakfast for all the kids—she loved to talk to her pups in the morning, feed them, and then send them out into the day with her favorite phrase: “You’re all equally amazing. Don’t let anyone tell you any different.”—Toni still had to make sure that the older kids had all their supplies, knew their schedules, and most importantly, took care of basic hygiene. Oriana wasn’t a problem, but Kyle and Troy often simply forgot. They became so absorbed in their work or whatever they were studying that things like brushing their teeth, bathing, or changing their socks were considered secondary.
Toni didn’t consider them secondary, so she knew she had to get up. But, for some reason, Toni didn’t want to get up. She was entirely too comfortable here, face down on this very warm couch that smelled really good. So good, in fact, that Toni ended up rubbing her face against that couch.
That’s when the couch growled.
Toni’s eyes snapped open at the same time she sat up, realizing to her horror that she’d been asleep atop Ricky Lee Reed’s chest. Possibly for the entire night!
Amber eyes surrounded by surprisingly long eyelashes opened, and a slow, lazy smile spread across his lips when his gaze locked on her. “Mornin’, darlin’.”
“Why am I on your chest? Why was I sleeping on your chest?”
“ ’Cause I’m cuddly?”
It wasn’t his stupid question but his voice that made her punch him right in the chest she’d been asleep on. No man, wolf or otherwise, should have a voice that low and sexy this early in the goddamn morning!
“Ow!” he howled, his arms covering his chest. “What was that for?”
It didn’t help that he was still grinning at her while he protected himself.
“You know exactly what that was for!” she snarled, then tried to scramble off him. But the wolf caught her by the hips and pulled her right into his lap, her legs straddling his waist.
Toni gasped and glowered down at the big bastard. “Are you hard?” she demanded, feeling something like a lead pipe pressing against her thigh.
That damn smile grew even wider. “Every mornin’ like clockwork.”
Deciding she had had enough, Toni gripped his hands and pulled them off her waist. She scooted off his lap and stood up, adjusting her clothes as she did. “You are such a—”
“Now, now. No call to get nasty just ’cause you cuddled up to me like I was a big ol’ teddy bear.”
“Shut up.” She started to walk out, only to realize she didn’t recognize where she was. “What is this place?”
“Your apartment,” the wolf said, his arms slipping behind his head.
“My . . . ?” It all came back to her, and Toni shook her head. “The job. I have to quit that job.”
“You’re not quitting that job.”
“Why not?”
“Because you keep that job and you keep this awesome apartment and that awesome TV. ”
“What does my TV have to do with you?”
“I can’t come over and watch it?”
“No!”
“No loyalty among you jackals. Guess the Bible got it right about y’all.”
“The Bible is biased. Jackals are a wonderful—oh! Why am I arguing with you?” she demanded before marching off toward a doorway.
“Not a morning person?”
“Shut up!”
Silently laughing and enjoying himself thoroughly, Ricky got off the couch and followed after the angry little jackal.
She actually hadn’t fallen asleep on him. Or even cuddled up to him. She’d just fallen asleep on the opposite end of the couch, her hands and feet twitching away as she ran in her dreams. And sure, Ricky could have left her over there and slept on his side of the couch, or on the other two couches in the sizable room, but it had been mighty cold in that room . . . once he’d turned the air conditioner up. So he’d pulled her into his arms and she’d happily rested on his chest like she belonged there.
Perhaps not the most honorable way to handle things, but he was a wolf, not some full-human with a lot of rules and regulations about how to run his life.
Besides, she’d felt really good in his arms and had smelled even better.
Like now. All annoyed and everything, she still smelled really good.
He tracked her down into one of the bedrooms, where she stood in front of the chest of drawers.
“What’s wrong?” he asked her.
She glanced back at him. “Do you think he bought me clothes?”
“I have to say if he did . . . that would be weird.”
“Yeah.”
“Especially if they fit perfectly.”
“Stop.” She opened one of the drawers and blew out a sigh. “Empty. Good. But now I need to go home.”
“What about the bag your aunt gave you yesterday?”
“I’m wearing what she gave me.”
“She gave you a giant duffel bag with just one set of clothes?”
“Irene’s brilliance focuses on other things.”
“Other things besides logic?”
“Pretty much.” She faced him. “I have to go home so I can get dressed, go back to the Sports Center, and quit my job.”
“What about my TV needs?”
Her eyes crossed before she stepped around him and walked out of the bedroom.
“I’ll go back with you,” he suggested/insisted.
“No. I can make it back on my own.”
She grabbed the duffel bag she’d left lying in the hallway and was at the front door when Ricky came up behind her.
“See ya,” she said as she opened the door.
“When?”
She stopped, faced him. “What?”
“When will you see me? Tonight? Tomorrow? This weekend?”
“I’m not dating you.”
“Who said anything about dating? We’re shifters. Shifters don’t date. That’s for full-humans.”
“Then what are you suggesting?”
“Sex. Preferably lots of it.”
“Just sex? That’s all you want?” she pushed.
“What? Do you like to talk or something?”
“No.”
Ricky grinned. “So you just wanna hit it?”
“No! I mean—oh! Why am I having this conversation with you?”
“Because you’re intrigued and kind of turned on. It’s okay. I know you’re used to full-humans and their complicated ways, but it’s time for you to learn the ways of your people.”
“Or I could never see you again.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because . . . it’s just . . . why am I still having this conversation with you?” she finished on a yell.
“Well—”
“Shut up!” she spun away from him and stormed out of the apartment.
“You’re dang cute when you’re angry,” he called after her. “Well, damn, darlin’! That gesture was just unnecessary!”
Ricky stepped back into the apartment and went looking for the boots he’d had on last night. While he searched, he laughed the entire time because, yeah . . . this was gonna be fun.
Kyle was waiting for his sister to come home. He knew she’d be back to check on them, and when she did, he, Oriana, and Troy had it all worked out. They were going to give her the silent treatment. Show her that they didn’t need her. Not like she seemed to think they did. And then, once she understood the depth of her idiocy, they’d again allow her to manage their lives. Because working with his aunt Irene, whom they all adored, was like hell on earth.
That woman was impossible! Blunt to the point of just rude, she would cut Kyle off midsentence in order to inform him that he was wrong and remind him that he was only eleven. He knew he was eleven. He was quite aware of being eleven. He didn’t need a reminder of that. Nor did he need his aunt to cut him off while he was speaking. That was intolerable!
Did Michelangelo have to go through this sort of thing? Did Rodin? Kyle doubted it. Brilliance shouldn’t be forced to deal with such ridiculous things as schedules and worrying about making people cry.
And of course his dear, sweet, but clueless aunt Irene didn’t understand that. She was a scientist. Yes, a brilliant scientist, but just a scientist. She was not an artist, so she didn’t understand anything. She definitely didn’t understand things the way Toni did, and Toni was much less terrifying than Aunt Irene, which was very important.