Page 20 of Flare
Grizzly Creek Ranch
Sunday, May 10
Ward hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Emily since receiving Maggie’s text messages on Friday morning.
He’d finished up his Missoula job this morning in time to race home to his cottage in Bearpaw Ridge. There, he’d showered, trimmed his beard, and changed into his nicest shirt before heading over to the ranch.
Now, his pickup bounced over the last section of dirt road leading from the highway to Grandma Elle’s house.
Sunday dinner was a Swanson clan tradition. Everyone in the family led busy lives, and these weekly gatherings were a chance to catch up and to discuss clan business.
Grandma Elle made an exception for clan members who worked weekends or lived out of state, like Ward’s smokejumper Uncle Thor in Denver or Uncle Evan the wildlife biologist, who spent his summers doing fieldwork in remote corners of the state.
Ward and his bear both perked up when he spotted an unfamiliar blue Subaru wagon parked next to Aunt Annabeth’s RAV4. The Subie looked dusty, and the windshield was coated with dead bugs and highway grime.
He parked his truck next to Uncle Dane’s white ranch pickup and bounded up the porch steps. His heart pounded with the refrain of,Emily. Emily. Emily.
The moment he stepped inside, a wall of warmth and noise hit him. The smell of pot roast and garlic-roasted potatoes filled every corner of the house, and multiple loud conversations drifted from the living room.
Ward stopped in the foyer, toed off his shoes, and shrugged off his denim jacket, hanging it on the antique oak rack that had been there forever.
He crossed the hall, stepped through the large cased opening, and saw that the living room was already crowded with his assorted aunts, uncles, and cousins. Most of them were clutching drinks and talking up a storm while waiting for dinner to be served.
Maggie and her mate Cade, a serious-looking bear shifter with old burn scars taut and shiny over his hands and forearms, were sitting together on Grandma Elle’s old-fashioned horsehair sofa. Both of them looked up when Ward entered, and Maggie waved.
D.A. was perched on Cade’s knees, and the two-year-old was happily telling his dad something about the plastic car clutched in one chubby fist.
Ward waved back, grabbed himself a bottle of beer from the drinks trolley next to the living room entrance, then scanned the packed room for Emily.
He found her standing with her back to him next to the large bay window, talking to Grampa Justin. Justin had his arm around Grandma Elle’s waist.
Even from behind, the curve of Emily’s waist and her deliciously round ass punched the breath from his lungs. She was holding a brown beer bottle, and a delicate tennis bracelet set with diamonds glittered on her wrist.
Grandma Elle caught sight of him over Emily’s shoulder. An unexpected look of consternation flashed over her expression and vanished almost before he registered it.
“Hey, Eddie, you remember Emily, don’t you?” Grandma’s smile looked oddly forced.“She arrived on Thursday.”
Emily turned to face him, and his world instantly narrowed to focus only on her.
Her blonde hair was shorter now, falling in waves just past her shoulders instead of halfway down her back, and there was a new wariness in her large blue eyes that hadn’t been there before.
“Eddie?” She scanned him, wide-eyed, and he was suddenly glad he’d worn his best cowboy shirt, the one with the pearl buttons.“Wow. It’s really you!”
The sound of his name in her voice sent a bolt of electricity straight down his spine.
His heart slammed against his ribs so hard he was certain every shifter in the room could hear it.
He tried to speak, but the words stuck in his throat. He finally managed,“Hey. It’s been a long time, huh? You, ah, look great. Folks around here call me Ward now—too many Eddies in town.”
Ward knew he’d just gone from tongue-tied to babbling. He suddenly felt like the insecure kid he’d been back in high school.
Then her smile lit up her face, just like it used to. And she opened her arms to him, inviting a hug.
His inner bear, already restless, roared to full awareness. Ward’s every sense suddenly heightened.
Eager to take up her invitation, he stepped forward and wrapped her in his arms. God, she felt good! Her generous breasts, pressing against his chest, felt every bit as soft as he’d imagined in a thousand fevered daydreams. His desire roared up like a bonfire.
And then he smelled it.
