ROMANCE: BIKER ROMANCE: Werewolf Rider (MC Shifter Pregnancy Romance) (New Adult Paranormal Romance Short Stories) (84 page)

              They got dressed in their snow clothes that he had dried the night before and got comfortable in front of the fire. She still felt weak but her spirits were better. Jeff was the tired looking one. She urged him to take a nap and it was a sign of how truly tired he was that he agreed. She had him put his head in her lap and cover up. Once he was comfortable he was asleep in no time. She felt at peace. It wasn't snowing anymore and hadn't been all day. Rescuers were sure to find them soon. She sipped cold coffee and watched the fire, wondering what life was going to be like for now on. She still held to her thoughts of the previous night and she was going to give this surfer bum a shot. It was going to be complicated and different, but she was up for it and she felt he may actually be ready for it too. They both had changed over the past few days. It was amazing what a dangerous adventure could do for a person. After the third time her stomach rumbled she eased herself out from under Jeff, putting a pillow under his head. Then she went to the kitchen and foraged for food. She found enough to last a while and went back to the fire and began cooking. He awoke several hours later and she was munching some chips.

              “I was barely able to wait for you dude. You sure were tired,” she told him. He sat up and pushed his hair out of his eyes. Smiled at her and then grinned at the food.

              “You take good care of me, thank you. I could eat a horse,” he said reaching for a bowl and the pot of a rice dish she had whipped up.

              “Then I guess it is a good thing we do not have a horse huh?” she answered laughing. He joined her and they happily ate everything she had cooked. They were both stuffed when it was gone. They were relaxing when they heard something miraculous.

              “Hello, Jeff Roberts, Chelsea Cooper! Are in there!” They looked at each other in complete surprise and were on their feet rushing for the door. He jerked it open and the drift was again taller than she was.

              “We are here! Hello, it is good to hear from you. Glad you made it!” They jumped up and down and hugged in their excitement. Saved, they were saved.

              “Stay back and we will dig you out!” came the instructions which they obeyed. It took about a half hour and by then they had all their stuff ready to go. The ski patrol came in and insisted on checking them out first. Jeff told them what Chelsea had been through and she got a trip down the mountain on a sled being pulled by an ATV. She had told them how little sleep Jeff had, so he got a ride too. It was long trip down and the world was completely white and frozen. Chelsea was glad for the layers of blankets they wrapped around her.

              When they arrived back at the lodge both of their parents were waiting for them. Since other than being tired, they were both fine they were not shipped off to the hospital. Instead the lodge comped a night in high end suite for them. Chelsea felt wonderful being able to dress in a clean clothes and use decent hair products again. They had dinner with her mom and his dad. They had a good time retelling their tale with a few details left out of course. Their parents decided to call it a night and Chelsea went back to her new room. Which coincidentally was next door to Jeff's.

              She changed into her silk nightgown and watched the connecting door to his room. She grinned and ran over unlocking her side. When they both opened them they stood looking at each other with a smile. He was wearing flannel pants and nothing else. His wonderfully muscled body called to her.

              “My room has a hot tub,” he said.

              “So does mine, what else ya got?” she asked coyly, unable to suppress a big smile.

              “I have a free courtesy bar, some snacks and a very interested suitor who would like to spend some time with you out of the cold,” he propositioned. She pretended to think about it.

              “I dunno. I have a king sized bed!” she teased. His eyes widened.

              “What! Mine only has a queen sized. Your room it is,” he said coming into her room and getting a big hug.

              “This has been a weird weekend dude. You know that.” Chelsea told him as they raided the mini bar. He nodded.

              “Tell me about it. Weird but important don't you think?” he asked in a brief serious moment. She agreed.

              “Very important to me. I have a feeling life with you is going to be interesting,” she said as they clicked their glasses.

Quarterback: A Stepbrother Romance

Dropping herself heavily in a chair, Tessa Johnson was feeling conflicted about whether or not she wanted her Human Biology II course to begin or to end. Rumors had been floating around campus that her professor was going to be forcibly pairing his pupils together. Just the thought was enough to make her groan in foreboding.

It wasn’t that she didn’t like her fellow members of society, but her Human Biology II course was filled with boys from the football team. Whoever made it a mandatory course needed to be found and put on trial for betraying academic progress.

Rifling through her backpack, Tessa pulled out her large notebook and textbook, as other people filed into the room. Unfortunately, when she glanced up, the first person she saw was Lucas Brown, the infamous arrogant womanizer. An even more unfortunate occurrence was his state of being. Carefully checking him out from the corner of her eye, Tessa could completely understand why girls fawned over him. Lucas was a varsity college football player.

The best quarterback the school had in years.

His dusky blond hair matched his golden boy looks and broad shoulders; his impressive 6’4” height meant he towered over her meager 5’5”.

Shaking her head slightly, Tessa could not afford to let herself get distracted- not when she was trying to get into medical science. It would take her six years of college, and that was if she worked her butt off.

Ten minutes into class and most of the football team were drooling over their desks as Professor Kirkpatrick droned on and on about the fragility of the human bone. True, it could withstand the test of time and wear once skin and flesh were gone, but when being used and abused it was as fragile as glass. That, Tessa thought with a slight smile, was complete crap, but she didn’t dispute the things on the projector as she scribbled them down in her notebook.

As class wore on, slowly and with great stubbornness, Tessa began to relax. If Professor Kirkpatrick didn’t assign a lab yet, he probably wouldn’t at all. That was the thing with older teachers- they were stuck in their ways and it wasn’t hard to determine their next moves.

However, she’d gotten ahead of herself when gnarly, long fingers suddenly shut off the projector and his voice became loud enough to wake up the more reluctant participants of the course.

“Alright! We’re going to be doing presentations on the structural integrity of bones. I’m going to assign partners, so everyone listen up! This isn’t a project that will be done on my time, so be prepared to work outside of this institution!” Damn, Tessa grumbled in her head as she leaned back in her seat, she’d been so close- so damn close. Professor Kirkpatrick just loved to make her annoyed.

Tessa waited for her middle aged professor to announce who was assigned to her. She crossed her fingers for someone good. Someone who would complement her working skills and would yield the best grade as possible but when Mr. Kirkpatrick announced her name and her partner, her jaw literally dropped.

“…Tessa Johnson and Lucas Brown.” Tessa had to actively stop herself from jumping out of her seat to dispute her partner.
Lucas Brown.
The nerve of such an esteemed professor to set Tessa up with such a halfwit astounded her. Never in her life had she been paired with someone so disinterested in a class, course or lecture.

Besides, everyone knew that Lucas and his fellow football team were only in Human Biology II because they needed to know this kind of thing in case they broke a bone.

Sinking back against the amphitheater style benches that rose up from the pale linoleum floor, Tessa bit her lip hard. There was no way she’d let Lucas walk over her and make her do all of the work for this project. She wasn’t going to be a tool, no matter how hot he was, or how popular he was.

Doodling disgruntled little circles at the edge of her notes, Tessa kept her eyes firmly on her paper even though she could sense Lucas coming over to her.

“Hey, Tessa. I guess we’re partners.” Rounding the edge of the stand to sit next to her, Lucas’s introduction made Tessa frown before glancing up from under her eyelashes. He already infuriated her and he’d only said six words.

“Yeah, hi.” Mumbling, Tessa leaned over to grab her Human Biology text book from where it lay on top of her backpack.

“Do you even pay attention in this course or am I going to have to get a horrible mark for lack of a competent partner?” Obviously Lucas wasn’t expecting the snappy comeback, but Tessa was full of them. She read a
lot,
had a sassy vocabulary, and could be subtle as well as bold.

“Yes, I do pay attention, if you must know. What would I do if I broke my leg and had a shitty doctor?” Rolling her eyes, Tessa silently commended the man for his diligence. He really loved football, and it showed. Unfortunately for her, she didn’t know a single thing about the sport. It was boring, and the ball hardly ever moved.

“Good. This will be easy then. I’ll work on the power point and you can come over to my house whenever you get out of practice.”

Glancing at the clock, Tessa couldn’t wait for this disaster of a class to be done with. However, Lucas’s chuckle made her tense a little from the unexpectedness, and she swerved her head to glare at him.

“I don’t have practice today, Tessa.”

Well, peaches. All the more reason to watch the clock, so this course goes by slower.

By the end of her four course day, Tessa was getting worried as she made her way to the parking duplex that housed her beat up Nissan Altima. Maybe inviting Lucas to her house had been a bad idea- not that she could take it back or suggest something different. Then he would know with certainty she was nervous, and that just wasn’t going to fly. At least, she thought with a slight smile, the day was beautiful. The low, light winds and sun shining with a nice, buzzing heat that didn’t make her sweat were ideal for late fall.

“Tessa, hey.” Rubbing her hands on her jeans at the call, Tessa paused her trek and glanced behind her to find Lucas jogging her way. What it must be like to be so strong. The fact that he could jog with a back pack full of textbooks made her a little envious. However, she kept it to herself and plastered a smile on her face- better to make nice than get a bad mark, after all.

“Hey. Do you want to follow me or something?” There were a lot of things a lot of people knew about Lucas, but Tessa didn’t know if he took a bus, or drove a car. These things just didn’t interest her, and although she’d heard rumors she’d never actually seen him drive to campus. Her thoughts were proven correct when he gave a shrug as he stopped beside her, adjusting his pack on his shoulders.

“I take the bus. Saves money. Can I ride with you?” Thankfully Tessa had braced herself for the question, and she nodded quietly before continuing her way to her car with Lucas only a step behind.

“So, I was thinking we could do the presentation from big to small.”

Furrowing her eyebrows as she pulled out of her space, Tessa had no idea what Lucas was getting at.
This is why he should read.
When he didn’t elaborate, she glanced at him to find her looking at her dash board with a frown, his face slightly pinched.

“You know, start with the big aspects and move down to cells and all that.” Blinking slowly, Tessa only hummed in acknowledgment. That’d been what she was thinking too, and it was nice that they were on the same train. Pushing her foot down on the gas pedal, she drove a steady 15mph down the winding road that would lead her out through the back entrance of the campus, which led directly to her house. Other than the initial statement, Lucas was quiet, and she was glad she wasn’t expected to hold a conversation with him.

However, the silence was broken when she pulled into her mother’s driveway and saw a car she didn’t recognize.

“By the way, my pops and I don’t live far from here, so you won’t have to worry about chauffeuring for me.” Scowling a little at the teasing jibe, Tessa cut the engine and pushed open the door to climb out of the driver’s seat. Hauling her back pack over her shoulder, her scowl only deepened when she noticed the car in front of her that she didn’t recognize.

“Hey, that’s my dad’s car.” Lucas exclaimed. Tessa started gnawing on her bottom lip at the exclamation. Her brain worked overtime to connect the dots, but had no luck. Walking up to her front door, with Lucas behind her, she pulled out her keys and frowned when she heard her mother laughing inside. That definitely meant something big was coming.

There was a silent understanding to go in quiet, both Lucas and Tessa were overly curious as to what was going on, but whatever she was expecting, it wasn’t to find her mother and his father making out in the kitchen.

Jaw dropping shock rippled through Tessa, and she accidentally let her back pack fall with a heavy thud, tearing the two older people apart.

“Mom! What are you doing?” Practically yelling, Tessa wasn’t sure how to feel about the situation. Her mother hadn’t been around a guy since her father died almost 6 years ago, and it was freaky to say the least. Staring, wide eyed, the older woman shook herself visibly before a smile broke out on her round, pretty face, framed by large curls that took hours to perfect.