Chapter 10

"Fine. But I want to pay. After all, you're doing a lot of the work."

"My treat," Mike insisted. "Call it being neighborly."

"Then for sure I should pay. You're the neighborhood newcomer."

He moved until he was right in front of her, those dangerous eyes boring into hers. A shiver skated over her body and her pulse beat bumped up. Jamie had never acted this way with a stranger before but something about Mike Volka swept all her inhibitions and reservations aside. When he touched his mouth to hers again she opened for him at once, eagerly accepting his rough tongue and the flame ignited inside her. Her hands brushed his cheeks, already with a scruff even this early in the day, before tunneling into his thick mane of hair.

All her senses went on high alert, his strong male essence invading her nostrils, the sound of passion rumbling from his throat arousingly rough to her ears. He wrapped his strong arms around her, pressing his body to hers, his thick cock like a steel rod pressing into her mound even through the layers of their clothes. The feeling was at once both strange and familiar, as if they had intimate knowledge of each other's bodies.

How was this happening to her? First the dream that - scarily - might not be a dream. Then the hot kiss in her kitchen earlier and now this one. She was powerless in the grip of his masculinity, an aura almost savage in its feel, its power and its scent.

His tongue scoured the inside of her mouth, teasing the corners and dancing over the inside of her lips. The contact, the press of their bodies together was even more erotic than the earlier one. She only pushed against him when the kiss stole her breath and she needed to draw air into her lungs.

God, he must think her a sex-starved idiot, but she just couldn't help herself.

He stared into her eyes, his curtain of black hair framing his face.

"I think I'd better get those sandwiches or I might end up eating something else. And we have work to do today."

"Oh, um, yes. Of course."" She was supposed to think after that brain-rattling kiss? She smoothed her ponytail, pulling the strands together as she tried to focus. "Sandwiches. Right."

"And no carving until I get back."

He took her order then loped out the front door to his car. As she watched him she was struck again by the animal grace of his lean body, the sleek pelt of hair on his head, the easy way he moved.

Wolf! Man!

I am certifiably insane. Everyone knows there are no such things as werewolves. Shifters. They're just legends and myths.

But after last night and this morning, and with Halloween casting its paranormal air over everything, it was hard to dismiss her thoughts out of hand.

Jamie had never enjoyed Halloween prep as much as she did the rest of the day. Part of it, she was sure, came from watching the supple play of muscle in Mike's body as he hung artificial spider webs outside her door and placed bats and spiders in the webbing. She couldn't tear her eyes away as she unrolled orange and black crepe paper and he wrapped the poles on her porch. The afternoon was warm so he took off his sweatshirt, leaving him in a plain white tee shirt that exposed his sculpted arms and the fine black hair that covered them.

Wolf!

Damn, Jamie. You really are losing it.

Her neighbors were out doing their own decorating, too. Some people put out fake bodies, others had witches flying in their trees. Still others had ghosts suspended from porch eaves or the limbs of their trees. Jamie had her own special effects - a ghost and a witch - that Mike set out for her.

Finally she went back inside to get the wolf. She started to pick it up but Mike was right there, brushing her hands away. He stared at the animal, ran his hands over the dark pelt that to Jamie always felt close to the real thing. Not that she'd ever petted a wolf.

Or had she?

She looked down and stared into its eyes, stunned to realize they were an exact replica of Mike's. A frisson of fearful anticipation shimmered through her. Jamie wasn't a fanciful person, despite losing herself in the books she read. But something was definitely happening here. Did she believe what the book said, that shifters still existed today? Was it possible Mike was a wolf shifter like those in the book? How appropriate that it should occur on Halloween.

"Where did you say you got this?" he asked.

"It was up in the attic with everything else. I found it last Halloween, shortly after I moved into the house."

"Interesting. Well, where do you want it? He should have a place of honor. You know Halloween is an unofficial holiday for wolves."

Jamie gave him a skeptical look. "I don't think I've ever heard that before. Wait. You're just making it up right?"

He shook his head. "Not at all. I, uh, read it somewhere before."

She had the sense he was lying to her, but she didn't know whether it was about the significance of Halloween or how he'd come to the knowledge. Again the word shifter slammed into her brain and a cocktail of fear and excitement bubbled through her. She had never been an adventurous person, despite her penchant for creating paranormal stories. Now she wondered if that had been the first part of a journey leading her to something she'd never expected. The biggest adventure of her life. If last night hadn't been a dream, was she about to step into a universe different from anything she'd never known? Was she strong enough to embrace it?

Am I crazy even thinking this?

"Jamie?"

The sound of Mike's voice interrupted the voice in her head.

"Last year I put him out on the porch with me." She smiled. "I don't wait inside for the doorbell to ring. I like to watch everything that's going on, so I sit on the porch with my huge bowl of candy. The wolf stands beside me, kind of like my guardian."

"I'm sure he is." Mike's voice was dead serious. "You know, that's a good idea. I think I'll sit outside, too. Kind of get a feel for the neighborhood."

"I'm going to change into something a little warmer." She looked at her watch. "Meet you back outside at five-thirty?"

He cocked an eyebrow. "That early?"

"Oh, yeah. That's when the real little ones come around."

"Okay. Five thirty it is."

Jamie watched him jog back to his place, noting not for the first time what a really fine ass he had. And wondering what it was about this man that unleashed her sensuous nature, one she hadn't even thought she'd had.

Shifter.

The word echoed again. Was that what it was? How soon would she find out?