Page 62 of Squatch Out!
I jump when she shouts at me, spinning around to find her in the doorway.
“The oven beeped; you can put the pizza in now.”
I look over to see that the pre-heat light is, in fact, off now. I toss the frozen pizza right on the rack, set the timer for twenty minutes and turn back to the dishes.
My back goes stiff when I feel her gentle touch on the back of my shoulder.
“Sean, please talk to me.”
I turn around and start to look for an escape, but there is nowhere for me to go. I’m backed into a literal corner, and it’s like my jaw is glued shut, so I shake my head.
She steps closer. And closer. With each inch, my heart pounds harder against my ribs. I want to grab her and pull her into my arms. But after the way I’ve acted, that doesn’t seem like the right thing to do.
She’s standing right in front of me, close but not touching, and I’m trembling all over. “Please, Sean. All I want is to understand.”
Her request is beyond reasonable, and yet… I try to sidestep her. To get away.
When she reaches for me, I start to shake. The moment her hand brushes the side of my bicep, I lose control and squatch out.
Her eyes widen with surprise, but she doesn’t back up or run away. Instead, her plush pink lips curl up into a smile. “Maybe I can reason withyou.”
Without the hesitation I had before, I lift her off her feet and put her against my chest. Then I bolt out the back door, carrying my woman into the night.
The warmth of summer has given way to brisk early autumn nights, but I know my body will keep her warm as I carry her deeper and deeper into the trees to the large spruce where she let me have her the last time I was like this.
Only sex isn’t on my mind right now. Well, notjustsex.
When I find myself in front of a familiar tree, I’m hit with flashbacks of pressing Olivia up against its rough bark while she let me into her soft body. I lean against the sturdy trunk and, slowly, slide down to sit against it, curling her in my lap so she’s resting against me. She feels perfect in my arms like this, with her head on my shoulder and her small fingers twirling the long hairs covering my chest.
The sense of rightness is overwhelming and my squatch can’t understand why I keep fighting this. Why have I been so determined to push her away when it’s so easy to be with her?
One giant hand cups the back of her head, while I gently stroke my thumb back and forth across her soft hair. The other curls around her small body, holding her tightly against me. A deep purr rumbles through my chest, and she nuzzles even closer.
“Sean, I’m not leaving this time,” she says quietly. “Well, unless you really want me to.”
I growl, and she sighs into my chest. “Yeah, I didn’t think you did. So, I’m going to need you to listen to me for a minute, okay?”
I go back to purring for her.
“I quit my job. I broke my lease on my apartment. Sold all my furniture and packed the rest of my life into that car parked outside your house. I ordered the satellite internet to be installed because my new job lets me work remotely. Meaning, I can work from anywhere I have an internet connection.”
I want to ask her why? Why would she leave everything she’s known? But I can’t when I’m like this, which means I have to listen. I wonder if Olivia did this on purpose. Probably. My girl is too smart for her own good.
“Do you want to know why?” she asks quietly, as if she can read my thoughts. “Because nothing was keeping me in that city, on that side of the country, except a job. I have a few friends, but no one I’m terribly close to. I haven’t had a meaningful connection to anyone in so long… until I met you.”
She reaches up, lightly brushing her fingertips across the side of my face, then turns my head so I’m looking down at her.
“Sean,youare my home. Wherever you are, that’s where I want to be. You are where my happiness is, even though you ripped my heart out and made me want to clobber you with a Cast Iron pan. Being here with you is where I’m happy.”
Just like before, I have no control of my shift. One moment, I’m a giant furry creature, the next I’m naked with my woman’s soft body curled up against me.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
OLIVIA
Iwill never stop being fascinated with watching Sean shift from one form to another. It’s an instant thing, not some painful-looking drawn-out process like in the movies. One moment he’s a squatch. The next he’s not. Just like that.
He’s naked and trembling as he wraps his arms around me, pulling me tightly against his body. I’m not sure if it’s from the cold or just… everything. I suspect it’s probably a bit of both.
