Tempest (5 page)

* * * *

“We need to go into town and pick up some groceries,” Tempest said on Saturday afternoon.
She had the pantry door open and was looking through the food
they had
.
“I want to make homemade chicken pot pies and you g
uys only have canned vegetables and no chicken.”

“Cormina on a Saturday afternoon
. W
hat fun,” Alex drawled
, as he shut the door to the fridge, a bottle of chilled
Snapple in his hand.
“What will the
townspeople
think when we all show up together?”

“
You
know what I think
? F
uck
'
em,” Tempest said mildly. “I’ll do the shopping and you
two
go do what you need to do
. T
ake a run and stretch your legs.”

“No
,
we’ll go with you
.
” Dominic leaned casually against the kitchen
island
. “I’d love to see their face
s
when we come strolling through.”

Alex grinned. “How about we stop for lunch
at
the
Wallow
?”

“Why
,
Mr. Wakefield
,
isn’t that just looking for trouble?” Tempest teased.

“Exactly,” Alex laughed.

“
N
o
,
we won’t
be stopping at the
W
allow
to poke at the bears. We’re going
to the store and then back home
.
I’ll even get
ingredients
to
make you a red velvet cake with cream cheese
frosting
,” Tempest said.

Dominic pulled her into his arms and pressed kisses agai
nst her neck
,
making her laugh. “
She is
trying to
mak
e
us fat and complacent, Alex.”

Dominic
kiss
ed
her hard and the
n
Alex came up behind her and bit her nape
gently before saying huskily
,
“
I know;
everything about her is so delicious.”

“
You can r
un off your dinner later
,
and then maybe they’ll be more than just cake for dessert tonight
. B
ut
,
first
,
errands.” Tempest felt their closeness and how it made
her
throb between her legs.

“Don’t make promises you might not want to keep,” Alex said.

S
he leaned her head back against his shoulder so he could claim a kiss as well. Dominic
’s
hands were caressing her
hips and he moved them up
to
cup her breasts. There would be no
such thing as a refusal later. Her body wanted the pleasure they were offering. Finally
,
Alex
lifted his head away from her and
all three of them
were breathing heavy.

“I think we’d better
go get those groceries before we don’t leave this house at all,” Domini
c
’s voice was husky with desire.

“I’
m
going to have you both,
of that you can be sure.
”
S
he licked her lips. “I’ll enjoy every second of it too.
”

As they moved away,
she
again
missed their warmth
. They
climbed the stairs to the master bedroom
and
she sat on the
edge of the
bed watching them dress
. H
er gaze roamed over every inch of their bod
ies
unti
l Dominic said with a chuckle
,
“
Keep that up and remember what I said before?
The grocery store
and dinner will be forgotten for the day because we’ll be spending it in bed.”

She winked
at them
and le
ft the room and
made her way
downstairs. Soon
,
they followed her down and they all piled into their
L
and
R
over.

“How do you guys go out on dates if you have
only
one car?” Tempest asked.

“
W
e d
on’t date around here
. To
o
complicated. And we both agreed not to bring anyone in that we couldn’t reveal our wolf to,” Alex said from the back seat.

“Could you see
any
of the wome
n in Cormina keeping this secret
?
H
ell
,
even dating us
?
” Dominic said dryly. “
But
I have a bike and
a spo
rts car
in
the garage out
back.”

“Plus
,
I have another truck,” Alex added.

“I grew up here
,
and there are a few nice people
. N
one that stand up to the bullies
, of course,
but whatever
. P
eople live their lives
the
best they
c
an,” Tempest said with a sigh.
“
The sheriff is old and the deputies grew up with the assholes. It sucks.”

“We
can always leave,
travel,” Alex said and leaned forward to squeeze h
er
shoulders
. “When it becomes to
o
much, we’ll pack up and go
live
on a beach or cozy up in a cabin in the mountains.”

“And on the days when they’re in our faces
, we get the satisfaction of putting them in ground
,
face first,” Dominic said. “You’re not alone anymore
. N
one of us are.”

Their
words left a glow in her
heart
th
at had her smiling when they dro
ve into the small town of Cormina. The streets were damp and
large
puddles
where the drains
had
overflowed
were
on every corner of
main street. Of course there were only a few stre
et
s that were actual
ly paved in the
small
bayou town. To T
empest
,
t
hat was part of its charm, civilization that broached the w
ilds of the Louisiana swampl
ands.
Before her visions
had ever
started
,
she was just another kid
—s
ummers
were spent with other kids out
at the swimming
hole
,
swinging out
in
to
the water
on the tire swing
. Winters
there
were never that cold. Around that time
,
her m
om
ma an
d
daddy used to take them to the local football games. They would sit in the stands
,
covered in blankets and drinking hot
tea or cocoa
from a thermos.

When the residents of Cormina felt
that
you belonged it was all sugar cookies and lemonade.
But a
s soon as
the
gossip spread
,
you were branded an outcast,
and
the sweetness stuck in
their
throat
and they only spoke to you when they
had
to; they even tried to st
eer clear of you
. The way they said
,
“
Suga
,”
to your face
made
Tempest
grit
her
teeth
b
ecause as soon as your back was turned the whispers started. Dominic whipped the Land Rover in a parking space
that had a
large puddle
underneath
. She felt the stares when Alex got out
, opened her door,
and lifted her over
the puddle
easily.
Just t
hat
alone
would be
blabbed
around before the afternoon ended
,
and she would be naked on the ho
od of the car after it was told a few times. The automatic doors swished open and whoever was
on their way
out stepped back as they went in. Alex raised an eyebrow in amusement when two women scrambled away
,
almost taking out a soda
pop
display.
Tempest was highly aware
that
all eyes were on them
. U
sually
,
she would move quickly to get what she needed and get out. But Dominic and Alex took their time, talking with her as the
y
picked up food items and soon she was oblivious to the whispers and stares. She had two amazing men
by her side
who had eyes only for her
,
so
the residents of
Cormina could kick rocks.

Fresh chicken breasts, carrots, peas, celery, cream of chicken, on
ions,
and
ingredients to b
ake the pie crust and red velvet cake.
She looked
over
the other items in the cart
, which
also
included
gummy bears,
Oreo
cookies and
gallons
of ice cream. They had
more
junk food
than anything else,
including the sweetest cereal brands
you could find on the shelf.
What they had in the cart
could put a bunch of kids on a sugar high for weeks.

Dominic
noticed her looking
into the cart. “We burn
more
calories
than the average person
. T
his is
our
fuel
. We snack
between
meals.
”

“This is a sugar coma,” Tempest replied. Alex dropped
a package of
double chocolate macadamia nut cookies into the car
t
.

“Why am I making red velvet cake if you have all this?”

Alex laughed. “That cake won’t last the night.”

She rolled her eyes.
“I’m going to be using my
T
ae
B
o tape more often around you two.”

Dominic took the
cart and pushed it up to the register for the young girl to begin checking them out. It all went well until they stepped outside and Bubba
just happened to be in the parking lot,
leaning against his truck. The deer
hunting
camo cap he wore was grungy and
,
as usual
,
the shirt he wore
was
sleeve
less
. There was grease on his jeans because he worked at the garage and the look on his face was vicious. He was looking for trouble.