The Werewolf Dates The Deputy - Kristen Painter Page 0,30
of him to say. She wasn’t entirely sure that was true, but she nodded all the same.
He shrugged. “Wouldn’t have been right of me not to jump in.”
She exhaled, still wordless in shock. She clenched her hands to stop them from shaking. Why here? Why now?
He looked at her, and she finally made eye contact with him as he spoke. “Have you ever seen anything like that before?”
She had, but not in a very long time, and she didn’t want to talk about it here. Not when it could come back. “Can we go home? Now?”
He nodded. “Are you okay to run, or do you want to head into town and find a ride?”
“No, we can run.” She just didn’t plan to stop until she was back inside Titus’s house.
The run back wasn’t as much fun, but Titus had gotten the energy burn that he’d needed on the way to the river. Even if he hadn’t, he’d still be fine with going straight home, because Jenna seemed so shaken up.
That alone was enough to cause him concern. She hadn’t seemed this out of sorts even after the magic bomb had gone off.
Obviously that meant whatever the creature was they’d seen in the forest, the same one he’d seen in the attic, that was the reason for her alarm. Did that also mean she knew what it was? That she’d seen it before?
He’d asked her if she’d seen anything in the attic, and she’d said no. But maybe she had seen something and had chalked it up as a hallucination like he had.
As they approached his property line, he came to a stop and shifted back to his human form.
Jenna slowed but kept going toward the house.
“Hey,” he called out, glad to have a voice again. “Are you okay?”
She didn’t look at him, didn’t stop moving, just shook her head. “Not sure.” She put her hand on the railing that led up to his deck, finally turning. “I’m going to bed.”
He jogged to join her. “Jenna, we need to talk about what just happened.”
She stood there, staring blankly. Gaze distant. Like she was lost in thoughts she wasn’t ready to share.
He tried a different approach. “How about we have a couple of Warhammers and unwind from that run with a soak in the hot tub? The relaxation might do you good.”
She blinked. “You have a hot tub?”
He nodded. “Other side of the deck where it wraps around. Right outside my bedroom.”
At the word bedroom, her eyes narrowed slightly.
He held his hands up. “No funny business. Just a soak. Really. I take one almost every night.” She really looked like she could use a little relaxation.
After a moment, she nodded. “Sounds good, actually, but I didn’t bring a bathing suit.”
“You have gym shorts and a sports bra?” He wasn’t going to guess what she had on under her T-shirt.
She hesitated. “Yeah, I have those.”
“Good enough. I’ll get the beers and meet you out there.”
“Okay.” She went up the stairs. “But just a soak.”
“Just a soak.” He followed but gave her some space by falling back until she was down the hall and opening the door to the guest room. Then he went into his bedroom, through the French doors out to the deck, and pulled the cover off the hot tub. He turned the jets on. The temperature was already good. He kept it cranked up so that he could use it at a moment’s notice. With his schedule, that worked best.
He went back in to change into trunks, grabbed two big towels from the linen closet, then hit the garage fridge for two of her special beers.
By the time he got back to the hot tub, she was coming out of the house through the main sliders. Her hair was still knotted on top of her head, but she was in running shorts and a sports bra. The exposed section of her taut belly was impossible not to look at. He’d known she was in good shape, but man. Good wasn’t the right word.
Her gaze raked over him, but she averted her eyes quickly. Trying not to look? The fact that she’d checked him out stirred feelings he was powerless to squelch.
Maybe sharing a hot tub with her while under a love spell wasn’t such a hot idea. No pun intended.
But here they were.
He dropped the towels on one of the deck chairs, then held a beer out to her.
She took it, clinked the bottom of the bottle against his, then