Steal the Day (Thieves #2)(49)

Hillary’s lips curled up, and when she smiled she was quite lovely. “Pleased to meet you, Zoey.”

I looked at the little pigs whose tails were shaking with excitement. “Are they yours?”

She looked back, her face glowing with pride. “Two of them. My sons, Bobby and Chris.”

“They’re adorable,” I said, smiling down at the piglets.

Jasper held his arms out. “Your Highness, we can talk about alliances tomorrow. Tonight the moon is full and we run. Your wolf might not be welcome, but your queen is.”

I looked back at Daniel, who watched me with a quiet satisfaction. Jasper and Hillary took their forms once more and we ran. I frolicked with the babies, loving the way they licked my face and rolled in the grass. I played in the moonlight with the pack until the sun was almost up. Daniel was content to watch.

When the pack began to move on, Daniel picked me up, and with a nod to the alpha, took off. I leaned my heavy head against his chest, perfectly content with my evening.

I stepped back through the window and felt the air rush away as Daniel left to find his daytime resting place. I tried to move quietly, but Dev was sitting up in bed looking at me. I was surprised he didn’t look angry. There was just a weary sadness to his face. It was not an expression I had ever seen on Dev before.

“Can you come to bed now?” he asked softly.

I thought we should talk. I thought I should explain. He looked at me like he’d lost something, and there was nothing I could say to that. How did I explain that I loved two men? How did it ease him to know I didn’t want to give up either one?

My expression must have given away my inner turmoil because Dev pulled back the covers. “No talking, Zoey. No explanations are needed. Just come to bed, unless you no longer want to even share a bed to sleep with me.”

I tossed the sweater on the dresser and stripped down to the tank and underwear. Dev gave off an enormous amount of heat, and I knew no matter how cold the room was, I would be warm under the covers. I slid into bed even as dawn was breaking. Dev started to turn away from me but I wedged myself close to him. Though he was upset, his strong arms wound their way around me and hugged me to his chest. Despite his earlier protestations of sleeping better alone, Dev always ended up draped around me whenever we slept together. He preferred to sleep in a tangle of arms and legs.

“Was he good to you tonight?” Dev asked quietly.

“Yes.”

“All right, then,” he said and then his breathing took on the steady slow beat of sleep.

I let his warmth surround me and sank into sleep myself.





Chapter Thirteen





I wasn’t used to quiet, contemplative Dev. I watched him across the luncheon table. I wanted to say anything, do anything to bring back the outrageous, reckless man I’d fallen in love with. His high-wattage grin was muted, his charm strictly business.

We’d slept in, skipping breakfast. When he woke me up at eleven, we politely discussed what we needed to accomplish today. He’d been showered and dressed when he got me up, and I knew the minute I saw his jeans and sweater that I was in trouble. I expected teasing and seduction. I expected him to try to tempt me into sex because that was just what Dev did. Before I had fallen asleep, I’d just known that Dev would wake me with his morning friend and try to put last night behind us.

Now I realized this was a real fight, and I wasn’t sure I could win.

“We sure missed you at breakfast this morning, Mr. O’Malley.” Mary Jo placed a steaming bowl of vegetable beef stew in front of Dev. She held court at these meals like a queen on a very fussy throne. “It was French toast and bacon.”

This is when Dev would usually make some comment about how much he would have loved the French toast, but his wife greatly preferred a nice big sausage. He would have grinned at me to let me know he would be happy to provide it for me whenever I wanted. Today he smiled blandly and made an excuse about sleeping in. He talked pleasantly with everyone present, including Mr. Renfro, who had made a surprise appearance for lunch. Renfro was a hard-looking man in overalls and a John Deere cap. He hadn’t taken his eyes off Dev the whole time we were eating.

I moved my chair a little closer to Dev in an attempt to ward off Mr. Renfro’s obvious jealousy. I suspected his wife had spent too much time going on about her handsome new guest. It was only to be expected because even in a big city, Dev stood out. I was sure they hadn’t seen anything like him here in…well, possibly ever. Apparently Mr. Renfro had come to make sure his woman wasn’t doing anything she shouldn’t with the city slicker.

I laced our fingers together, and Dev looked down at them. I hoped he didn’t brush me off, but Dev really was good at this. He pulled our joined hands to his lips, brushing them over my knuckles. It sent a little spark of heat through my body, but he just gave me a tight-lipped smile and started to eat his lunch.

As Daniel and the vamp crew had been sidelined with politics the night before, I still didn’t have any intelligence on the farm. They were going to try again tonight. Daniel also planned to talk to Jasper. I hoped the alpha might be able to give us some sort of information on the Renfros since the pack more than likely lived in the rural communities that dotted the area. The B&B was fairly isolated, but there was a small town ten miles to the north, and someone had to know something.