Page 14 of Shrouded in the Dark
The guys were already done. All of the meat was gone and the salad was surprisingly almost gone. Seth was leaning back in his chair looking out to the yard. He seemed sad with his shoulders slumped forward slightly.
“Can you swim in the pond?” Cody asked, bringing my attention back to him.
“Yeah, it’s fed by a small stream from higher up so it’s not stagnant water.”
“Awesome!” He stood and before I could blink, he took off his shirt.
My mouth opened a little in shock as my eyes took in his chest. He was slimmer than the other guys but wow. His skin gleamed against the sun, his muscles were defined even though he was skinny. He didn’t have the abs that women drooled over but his chest was flat with the Adonis Belt that my eyes naturally followed down to his pant line. His hands were on his pants just then and pushed them down as he took them off, hopping on one foot for a few seconds. He was left in tight black briefs that as my eyes moved over them, I pulled them up quickly to look above his waist. Oh. My. God.
I grabbed my soda and forced myself to look at my now empty plate. There was a groan from Axel as he watched Cody run off the deck’s stairs to the pond. He sighed as he glanced over to Seth before nodding at him. He stood and followed Cody at a walk.
“You okay there, Becca? That was a little more skin than any of us were expecting to see today.” Jasper’s smooth voice rolled over me, calming my blush.
I cleared my throat before giving up and laughing. “It was certainly more eye candy than I thought I’d get in the mountains.”
Jasper stood from where he sat and came to stand over by me. He picked up my empty plate and utensils. “Why don’t I help with dishes? It’s the least I can do since you bought the food.”
I stood with him and grabbed what dishes I could before he grabbed them. “I’ll help. I don’t mind.” I looked at Seth, who was watching us. His copper hair flashed in the sunlight. I had the sudden urge to play with the curls. “Thank you for cooking the meat, Seth. The steak was perfect.”
A smile slowly spread across his face. “I could tell.”
Jasper bumped his hip into the back of Seth’s chair as he walked by and spoke over his shoulder. “Come on, Becca. Let the crazies play outside while you and I clean up.”
I couldn’t help the giggle that came out as I followed him. Seth growled at him but didn’t move from his seat. Jasper already had the sink filling with water when I got to his side. The only downside to having a well for a water source was that Mom and Gary had decided that it would be a waste to have a dishwasher, so dishes had to be hand washed.
“Where are the dish towels?” Jasper put the dirty dishes in the other side of the sink while we waited for the left side to fill with soapy water.
I knelt next to him to open the cabinet. I grabbed several and handed him one. “I’ll rinse?”
I don’t know what it was about this guy, but it was like we’d known each other for years with how comfortable I felt around him. Now that I thought about it, my anxiety had spiked a few times with these new guys, but honestly, it was a lot better than I thought it would be.
“Deal.” He turned off the faucet and started to move the dishes into the left side. “How was the café?”
I moved the faucet head to the right side of the sink and set it to a small flow as he handed me the first plate. “It was good. I got caught up with a new drawing. It turned out weird, though. I usually don’t create dark pieces, but this one feels haunted.”
“Is it a good dark?”
“I don’t know. I could use a few more for a diverse portfolio. So it can’t hurt.”
I glanced up and noticed he somehow had gotten bubbles from the sink on his cheek.
“Jasper,” I laughed as he looked at me, “hold still. Just a second.” I reached up and wiped the bubbles off. He flashed a grin at me but just as I was bringing my hand down, he grabbed my wrist gently. Before I could ask him what was wrong, he brought my hand up to his nose and sniffed several times. “Uh, Jasper?
Chapter 4
Jasper
My fox bristled in anger at the faint smell of an unknown shifter. This side of the mountain was ours, so there shouldn’t be any shifters up here. The closest shifter pack was in Montana and a mountain lion was forty miles outside of New Mexico. Still holding Becca’s wrist in my hand, I looked at her seriously. There was the scent of possibly a wolf with rotten meat.
“What’s this smell on your hand? It smells like rotten meat.” I kept my voice light, so I didn’t spook her.
“Huh? I thought I washed my hands enough. I guess I didn’t.” She scrunched her nose in thought. “There was some trash in the garage from the last time one of the mechanics came to do maintenance on the truck. I cleaned it up when I grabbed the dressing I left in the truck.” She tugged her arm and I released her wrist.
“That’s so gross.” I tossed a grin at her as my mind whirled. Perhaps there was a lone wolf shifter who lived nearby that just didn’t know this was our territory. That wasn’t likely, but it was possible. The other possibility was we had a rogue shifter on our hands and that was dangerous for everyone who lived around the area. I needed to speak with Seth.
Washing the dishes was done quickly since Becca was rinsing and put them onto the dry rack. As I unplugged the sink, I dried my hands. “Ready to go back outside?”
Becca stifled a yawn but nodded. “Yup. There’s still a good two hours or so of good light out. Do you guys mind if I try to draw a bit? Or is that rude?”
