Tuesday Teaser 5/13/14 Wolf’s Lady Part 19

This is a bit longer than usual, but I don’t expect you’ll mind too much.  As always, please excuse the typos and errors. And I’m including a pic of what Sand looks like that morning.  I can see why Amanda would notice him and want to play with his hair! Wouldn’t you?

Sand woke with the warmth of his mate’s back pressed against his front. His nose was buried in the wealth of her hair, and the scent of it was a comfort, a joy, and a call to arousal all at the same time. Waking with her like this for the rest of their lives was the most wonderful future he could imagine. His hand rested on her soft belly, just below the temptation of her breasts and it was all he could do to not caress her. His imagination supplied a vision of him cupping her soft breast in his hand while she woke and turned on her back with an inviting smile. He would push her tauntingly thin nightdress up past her waist and slide inside her. He always wanted her, but right now, his desire was like fire in dry grass.

The pinch of his jeans over hardening flesh reminded him that last night she’d required him to wear something to bed. She wouldn’t welcome his advances this morning. He shifted to ease the pressure of his jeans and relaxed against her. At least he had this. If the investigation didn’t go well, at least he’d have the sweet memory of lying beside his mate, her body lax and trusting in sleep against his.

The next ten minutes passed with him savoring the scent of her hair and the warmth of her body against his. She woke as he’d imagined, with a sleepy smile as she rolled onto her back beside him. He had to clench a fist and press it into the mattress to keep from caressing her.

“I’ve never done this before,” she murmured in a voice husky with sleep. The edge of her teeth showed in a small smile as she reached he palm to cup his cheek.

“Done what?”

“Wake up with a man.”

That startled him almost enough to not notice the way she smoothed her hand over his cheek. “Never?”

“No, never.”

Pride swelled his chest, mixed with awe. She had been with many men before, but he was the only one she’d slept beside. “Do you like it?”

Her smile was small and tender. “Yeah, I like it.”  Her eyes looked closely at his face, obviously thinking of something else now. “You don’t need to shave, do you?”

It wasn’t really a question. “No. I pluck a few hairs sometimes, but I don’t use a razor.”

He hated to let her go, but when she squirmed to get out of bed he made himself lean back out of her way. In the thin cotton nightdress that hid nothing of her beautiful body, she scrambled past him out of bed and went to the door.

“I’m going to brush my teeth and wash my face. I’ll be back in a minute.”

After she left, he lay for another minute on the bed that smelled of her. Last night when she explained that she had more than one mattress he had been surprised and confused, but also vastly relieved and pleased that no man had ever been on this mattress before. Depending on what happened today at the mayor’s office, this might be the only time he lay in this bed.

Amanda was preparing herself for the day; he should do the same. He jumped out of bed and hurried down the stairs and outside to the bunkhouse where he stored his few toiletries. He used the facilities, washed his hands and face, and brushed his teeth, but didn’t waste time doing anything with his hair. It was still in the same braid he had put it in yesterday, rumpled and frayed from sleep. Leaving it a mess, hurried back to Amanda’s room. He tapped lightly, but she didn’t answer so he slipped back inside. The room was empty. She must still be freshening herself. How long did it take her to get ready? The women at the den didn’t take very long.

He was straightening the sheet and blanket on the bed when he heard her walking down the hall to her room. She came in, her hair damp, dressed already in a floaty skirt like the one he had first seen her in and a pale green blouse with puffy sleeves. Her nightdress was over one shoulder, and she carried a suit on a hanger in her hand.

“Look. Here’s the suit Sky sent for you to wear this morning. I think this dark charcoal gray will look good on you.” She lifted a couple of ties. “I think the red will look best for you, but do you like the blue one better?”

A tie too? Sand swallowed his inner growl. “Red is fine. If you like that one best, I’ll wear that one.”

She flipped a smile over her shoulder when she turned to hang the suit up on a hook over her door. “And now I finally get to play with your hair! Sit down.”

The chair she indicted was the frilly fragile-looking one at her vanity. He hesitated, then settled himself on the little seat. “No one has combed my hair for me before, not since I was a baby.”

Her hands were fumbling at the end of his braid, unfastening the twist of rawhide he used to tie it off. “So, this morning we both get to enjoy something new. Don’t worry. I’ll be gentle.”

Sand’s eyes closed in bliss while his mate carefully unraveled his plait. He had a few mats from sleeping on it, but Amanda was true to her word, and her hands were gentle when she untangled the clumps with her fingers before gliding her comb through the length
of his hair. With him sitting in this low chair, she had to kneel to comb the ends. She fastened it with one of her hair ornaments at the nape of his neck. Then, apparently deciding she preferred it loose, she unfastened it and pulled it over his shoulders.

“I love your hair,” she murmured, smoothing her hand over it in the wake of the comb. “It’s so smooth and shiny.”

He met her gaze in the mirror and a contented smile curved his lips. “Did you know that in the old days, Lakota wives took pride in their husband’s hair? It was their privilege to take care of it.”

“Oh, I see.” There was an oddly blank note in her voice. He wasn’t sure what it meant. “It’s 7:40. You better get dressed so you have time for breakfast before you have to leave. Here/ put on the undershirt.”

He did, then reluctantly accepted the pressed trousers she handed him. She turned her back so he could
slip his jeans off and pull Sky’s borrowed pants on. They were the right length, he supposed, but maybe a little loose in the waist.

“Turn around,” Amanda commanded, and he obediently turned. “Damn,” she sighed. “There is nothing like a male ass in a pair of well tailored trousers.”

Blushing, he rushed to put the coat on. His mate licked her lips when she looked at him. “Mr. Wolfe, you are yummy! But you need to put the shirt and tie on before the jacket.”

He blushed harder and took the coat off. Amanda touched his hand. “I’m sorry if I embarrassed you.”

He wasn’t sure if it was embarrassment. He felt ridiculous in the scoop necked undershirt that barely covered his nipples, and her blatant admiration of his butt had caused heat to rise in his cheeks. But it raised another kind of heat inside him. The trousers didn’t hide his erection.

“Oh, dear,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

“You don’t sound sorry.”

“Ouch!” She pretended to shake sting from her fingers, as if to imply his words had hurt her. “I am sorry, to have to send you off like that, without giving you relief. If we had more time…”

He groan a short phrase in Lakota.

Amanda seemed to have decided that going on to the next thing was best. “Here’s the shirt. Shall I help you with the tie?”

Her fingers looping the narrow silk around his throat did nothing to cool his blood. It took every ounce of self-control he possessed to stand still while her breasts brushed over his chest while she tortured the tie into a fancy knot at his throat. She held the coat for him and then stood back to look at him.

“You really are very handsome,” she told him, smoothing a bit of lint from his sleeve.

He scented Sky outside the door even before the knock came. “Thank you,” he told Amanda quietly, before he opened the door.

“Ready to go?” Sky asked.

“He hasn’t eaten yet,” Amanda said quickly.

“I’ll be fine,” Sand shrugged. “Wolves are used to going hungry.”

“You’ll need to be sharp at the mayor’s office,” she argued.

“I’ll be fine,” he said again, but the knowledge that she cared made him smile.

One of her hands squeezed the other hard enough for the knuckles to go white. “You don’t know that. This could be the last time I see you. I mean…”

He brushed a quick kiss over her cheek. “It will be okay, Amanda,” he whispered. “I’ll be back soon.”

He saw the uncertain glance she gave Sky, and the grave smile Sky gave her.

His cousin nodded. “Tom won’t want to disrupt the flow of our taxes,” he said, his tone encouraging.  “Kiss your mate good bye, Sand. We can’t be late.”

Her kiss tasted of suppressed tears. “It will be fine, Amanda.”

She nodded briskly. “Of course it will. I’ll see to that myself, if I have to.”

His gaze lingered on her as he went out. Already he was anxious to get back to her. She cared for him. He was certain of it. All he needed to know was how much did she care?