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Jasmine
I’M TRAPPED in a room with a giant wolf-man and no hope of escape.
Seriously, it’s that bad.
Tom insisted on bringing me to the little cottage he airbnb’ed. My car is parked out front, but I haven’t been allowed to see the damage. It was too dark when we got here last night, and Tom won’t let me out of bed today.
He’s standing in the bedroom doorway now, doing his best to intimidate me into climbing back under the covers.
Unfortunately, I find his form of intimidation lethally attractive.
“The doctor said I’m fine,” I insist. Just some lacerations and bruising. A stiff neck from whiplash. And the broken arm. Which still throbs, even inside the cast.
“I’m gonna call bullshit on that one. Get back in bed before I put you there.”
Despite my aches and pains, my pulse picks up at the threat. I don’t mind the idea of Tom manhandling me a little. He m
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Burning in your Love Tom
I DISCONNECT one of the wires to Jasmine’s alternator, just in case she’s serious about leaving. I don’t think she will, but the woman is pretty stubbornly independent.And it wouldn’t be the first time she’s run off on me.I rub my forehead as the testier part of me grumbles that I should let her leave if she wants to leave. I’m not looking to get tangled up with her again anyway. But there’s no way I can let her fend for herself like this.A few days until she’s out of pain and I can get her bus repaired. Then we can part ways before things get intense again.It’s the only decent thing I can do.I walk over to the diner and pick up three orders of the huevos rancheros (two for me, because I have a wolf’s appetite), and I get a couple giant bear claw pastries too.My wolf gets cheerful on the walk back, like the idea of providing for a fema
Burning in your Love Jasmine
I’M UP, showered, and sitting on the couch reading on my Kindle app when Tom returns. “I found the guy who hit you.”A car pulls into the drive and a scrawny guy with a t-shirt stained with blood tumbles out of the passenger side.“Tom… what did you do to him?”“I busted his nose,” Tom answers like it was the only logical action he could’ve taken. “And I told him he’d better fucking fix your bus. So he’s here to take it. Toss me the keys.”My mouth drops open. I’m not sure what I think. Whether Tom is a hero or someone I really should distance myself from. Violence isn’t something I condone.I do appreciate him arranging to have my VW fixed, though.I pull out my keys and then hesitate. “What if he steals it?” I mean the guy looks totally sketchy. Definitely a tweaker. That’s probably why he left the scene of the acciden
Burning in your Love Tom
FATES. I can’t believe I just tried to mark Jasmine.A human.That doesn’t happen. That shouldn’t happen. Something’s seriously off with my wolf if he’s picking a human to try to mate with. After all these years, after him never choosing to mark Barbara, the mate I chose.It’s insanity.The worst of it is Jasmine somehow knew. I don’t know what she sensed, but she screamed right when I was about to sink my serum-coated teeth into her flesh to forever mark her with my scent.A bite that could be fatal on a human.Fuck.And now she’s scared.And possibly hurt.“You’re not strange,” I lie. My rational mind tells me not to get within ten feet of her, but the scent of confusion and pain fills the room, and there’s no way I can heed my own warning system.She touches the goose egg on her forehead. “You know, I think I&rs
Burning in your Love Jasmine
TAOS IS one of those small towns where you always know someone anywhere you go. The diner is no different.I know Rebecca, our server, from yoga and authentic movement classes. Her eyes widen when she sees me come in with Tom. Well, nearly everyone has to look at him when we come in. He is pretty attention-grabbing. The huge, truck-like frame, the leather jacket. The silver beard and rugged good looks. He’s beautiful, and they know he must be new in town because they would’ve remembered seeing him before.She bustles over to our table. Only then does she peel her eyes off Tom and sees the bump on my head. “What happened to you?”“Hit and run.” I grimace and hold up my casted arm.She gasps. “Oh no! That’s horrible.” Her eyes dart to Tom again with a question in them.“This is Tom, my son-in-law’s father. Thank goddess he was here when it happened. He’s taking good
Burning in your Love Tom
I OUGHT to be glad Jasmine’s through with me. I called her on her shit and she walked, same as last time.But there’s something itchy and unsettled in my center. Like I fucked up and I need to fix it.So my compromise is making sure Jasmine gets safely to her RV instead of wandering around the plaza like a vagabond.The drive to her RV is beautiful and the place she chose to park exquisite. She’s nestled right on the edge of the Rio Grande gorge, but still among pine trees.She has a couple solar panels on the roof, a solar shower set up in a tree and a little flower pot with wilted columbines by the front door.“Oh, you’re thirsty, aren’t you, sweet flowers? Let me give you a drink.” The looney woman is talking to her flowers. She opens the RV and comes back out with a jug of water, which she pours on the wilted flowers. “The pot is too small,” she says to me, as if I was wonderin
Burning in your Love Jasmine
“DARLING, I’m fine. Truly. Tom took good care of me.” I called Foxfire as soon as I got settled. My RV functions perfectly off the grid with solar generated electricity to charge my cell phone. I just have to haul in my own water if I want to shower more than once a week because Taos only gets twelve inches a year of precipitation.This is the first chance I’ve had to actually speak with Foxfire, although we’ve texted all day.“I still don’t understand why Tom was there. Are you two… a couple now or something?” She sounds slightly nauseated by the thought. But children never like to think of their parents as sexual beings. Even with the sex-positive upbringing I gave Foxfire, she’s squeamish about this.“No!” My voice sounds too high-pitched. “He’s here on business. I ran into him at the gorge bridge. And then he came to yoga.”Foxfire makes a
Burning in your Love Tom
I DON’T KNOW what in the fuck I’m doing. If I believed she was capable of it, I would say Jasmine is truly a witch and she cast a spell on me.But that’s obviously not her speed. She’s not looking to tangle anyone into her web.Not intentionally, anyway.Yet, tangled I am. That’s the only explanation I have for why I feel it’s necessary to drive her bus out to her with supplies in the back to make her flower boxes.It’s stupid, really.I should just be dropping the vehicle off and then slink off to shift and sniff around her place to see what I can find. I have a job to do for Alpha Green.Instead I’m set on playing gardener to a woman who doesn’t want my help.Fuck-nuts crazy.And yet when Jasmine bursts out the door in all her jasmine glory when I pull up, I forget all my grudging reluctance. Her hair is pulled up on the top of her head in a messy bun that ma
Burning in your Love Jasmine
TOM THINKS I chose this lifestyle out of frivolity.But the truth is, he’s not the only one who left a relationship with a wound that never closed.And even though I never talk about it, it feels important to tell him.“All I ever wanted was to settle down and have a family.” Tom snorts, but when he sees I’m serious, he stills.“I got married young. Just a year out of high school. To a nice young man. He was an actuary for an insurance firm. He wanted children—at least three. And he wanted to be the big man and support me to stay at home and raise the kids.”Tom stares at me with disbelief, like I might be making a long joke.“I wanted kids for as long as I can remember. Since I was carrying around dolls at age three, probably, so it seemed perfect.”Tom gets tense. “What happened?” There’s a warning growl in his voice, like he’s
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