Page 24 of Running with Direwolves
Her phone buzzed again, then again. More messages, all work colleagues.
She turned it facedown on the bed. Then it started to ring. She glanced at the number, not one she recognized, and then ended the call.
“Turn it off,” Grady said. “Can’t they trace you with those things?”
“Fuck, you’re right, I think they might be able to.” Quickly she turned her phone off. The dark screen was better than the flashing and buzzing.
“Want me to get rid of it?” Tarl asked.
“Er, no, not for now.”
“But…”
“It’s got photographs on it, of animals I’ve cared for, studied … I have sentimental attachment to them.”
“But you can’t look at them if you have your phone off.”
“I know, but I also can’t throw them away.”
“Fair enough.” Tarl shrugged and sat on one of the small chairs that had been stowed under the table.
Sienna lay back down and rested her forearm over her eyes. She was a fugitive, a runaway, a criminal, not descriptions she would have ever labeled herself with, but it was the truth. And it was a truth she was happy with … sort of. Ultimately, she’d saved a direwolf from starving to death, saved a life, and that was the bottom line.
Soon the train began to move, slowly at first, the clunk of the tracks a lazy sound beneath her, but as they got out of the city and the golden glow of dawn lit their cabin, it sped up.
She’d slept for some time, feeling watched over and safe, and when she woke there was a scattering of food wrappers on the table. Tarl had obviously been true to his word and gone in search of sustenance.
“Hey, sleepyhead,” he said, crawling onto the bed next to her. “Feeling better?”
“Yes, how long was I out for?”
“About three hours.”
“Or one hundred and sixty miles from New York, depending on which way you look at it.” Grady stood from where he’d been hunched on a small chair and stretched, his fingers touching the ceiling of their cabin. He dropped his arms with a sigh. “Always good to put distance between yourself and the hunters.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” She smiled up at Tarl whose face was hovering over hers. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m all good, I have a full stomach and Grady and you with me, I need little else in this world.”
The truth in his eyes had her heart swelling and she touched his stubbled cheek. “Is it really that simple for you?”
“You better believe it.” He set his mouth over hers and kissed her.
It was a lovely lazy kiss that combined with the rocking of the train was almost hypnotic. She sighed into it and ran her fingers through his thick strands of hair.
As he leaned closer, his body heat radiating onto hers, a shot of lust went into her bloodstream. Tarl was sexy, and he felt and smelled amazing. She wanted him closer, closer still, and she arched up so their chests connected.
“Fuck, you’re sexy,” he murmured then kissed over her cheek to her ear.
“So are you.” She smiled and closed her eyes as he dipped his hand to her waist and then ran it over the curve of her hip, over her pants.
“I think you both are sexy as fuck.”
The bed sank a little as Grady crawled onto it and settled on her opposite side.
“You ever had a threesome?” he whispered against her ear.
“No.” A kernel of excitement popped in her stomach.
