"Sorry we took so long," Dani gasped, rushing up to the small table in the food court where Sam sat patiently waiting. She dropped the half a dozen bags holding her purchases with relief. "Decker insisted I needed more than just the T-shirt, shorts, and underwear and made me try on oodles of clothes."
"That's all right, I just got here myself," Sam said as Dani finally settled in the seat opposite her. "I only intended to get more sheets since the ones on the beds now are all that are at the house. Then I realized the half a dozen towels I grabbed from my place last night weren't going to last long, and then I thought of linens for the kitchen, and..." She shrugged wryly. "A salesperson had to help me carry it all to the car. I just bought a coffee and sat down not two minutes ago myself."
Dani nodded and asked, "I don't suppose anyone called from the house to say my phone was back?"
"No," Sam said solemnly. "I would have hunted you down and told you."
Dani nodded. After rushing from the barn to the house and learning her phone hadn't yet returned, she'd reluctantly agreed to the shopping trip. It wasn't that she hadn't wanted to come, but she'd feared the phone would arrive the minute she left. However, after Mortimer had promised to call Sam the moment it arrived, Dani had allowed Decker to chivvy her into the shower and then hustle her into Sam's car to come to the mall.
They'd split up on reaching the mall, Sam heading off in search of linens for the house and she and Decker popping in to pick up a couple of spare outfits. At least that had been Dani's plan, until Decker saw the one small bag of items she'd purchased. He'd immediately insisted she'd need more clothes than that. He'd then insisted she try on each item and model it for him before buying it.
The whole business had left her annoyed and flustered until Decker had slid into the dressing room to "help" her get out of the last outfit. The mall's air conditioner was obviously on overdrive because Dani's nipples were still erect from the cool air that had assaulted her as he'd stripped the clothes away.
She shivered and pretended to fuss with one of the bags as she recalled what he'd done to her in that little room. He'd had to cover her mouth with his hand to muffle her excited cries by the time he'd finally pulled her onto his lap on the chair in the corner and thrust himself into her. It had been terribly exciting. As had waking tangled with him on the floor, stirred from unconsciousness by the salesgirl rapping on the door and asking loudly if she was all right, though exciting wasn't perhaps the right word for that part. Panic-inducing probably fit better.
Dani didn't think her heart was going to survive this... whatever this was she was having with Decker. The man was insatiable... and so was she with him. If they continued like this she was likely to have a heart attack.
"Where's Decker?" Sam asked, bringing her from her thoughts.
Dani gestured vaguely toward the restaurants surrounding them, searching, but unable to spot him right away. "He went to grab us a couple of drinks while I brought the bags over and let you know we were here."
Sam nodded and then asked, "How are you doing?"
"Okay," Dani answered quietly. "Concerned about Stephanie, but Decker keeps trying to reassure me they'll get her back, and does his best to distract me." Dani flushed as she said that, feeling guilty because once they'd hit the barn her mind had been somewhat distracted with Decker's revelations and then by the man himself. She'd thought of her sister several times in the barn and since, but all it took was Decker's touching or kissing her to push the worry out of her mind.
There was something wrong with that, she thought unhappily. This life mate shared-pleasure business was like a drug and it was addictive as hell. She was already jonesing for him to hurry up and get to the table so she could see and touch him.
"It's pretty bad, isn't it?" Sam said suddenly, watching her closely.
Dani forced a smile. "Having Stephanie kidnapped is bad enough on its own, but by this animal it's just..." She shook her head helplessly, trying not to think what her sister might be going through.
"I didn't mean that, though that's bad as well," Sam said when Dani turned to her. "I meant this life mate business. Mortimer and I can't keep our hands off each other either." She shook her head. "I've never experienced anything like this. It's like a temporary madness."
"So it's not just me and Decker it affects like this?" she asked with relief.
"Oh, good Lord, no," Sam said firmly. "Apparently all life mates are... well-"
"Walking horn dogs and doggettes," she suggested dryly.
Sam burst out laughing, but nodded. "I was going to say wildly absorbed in each other, but your description is more fitting."
Dani smiled faintly.
"I'm ashamed to admit it, but it's really a good thing that Lucian assigned us to check the Penetanguishene area rather than where Decker found you or you'd still be in the clutches of those rogues too. Mortimer and I were pretty useless during the search. I couldn't think straight for wanting to touch him, and he was no better. I'm amazed we're even alive, or at least that I am since a car accident probably wouldn't have killed him." Her eyes were turned inward, and Sam murmured, "I still don't know how he avoided that little Toyota."
"The Toyota?" Dani couldn't resist asking.
Sam blinked and flushed at the question, and then sighed and admitted, "We got a little carried away at one point..." Her lips twisted with guilt as she admitted, "Well, we got carried away a lot and spent a good deal of time parked on the side of the road, rocking the pickup rather than doing what we were supposed to be doing, but the incident with the Toyota was different." She closed her eyes, looking dismayed by what had occurred, and then blurted, "We were driving down the highway and I just reached over to run my hand over his leg-you know, affectionately." She grimaced. "The next thing you know his pants are undone and I'm in his lap."
Dani's eyebrows flew up her forehead.
Her tone was dry when she suggested, "I recommend neither of you driving while the other's in the vehicle until the worst of this passes." Sam made a pained face and reached to rub her lower back, adding, "I probably still have the imprint of the steering wheel in my back. I know I'm going to be bruised for a long while."
Dani flopped back in her seat with amazement. That definitely beat her and Decker rolling around in the back of the SUV while Justin drove. Good Lord, if Sam and Mortimer couldn't even find the sense to pull over before she crawled in his lap, what chance had she had?
"That's way too much information, isn't it?" Sam dropped her face into her hands as if hiding from her.
"No." Dani reached out to touch her arm reassuringly. "I'm glad you told me. I've been feeling horribly guilty for enjoying Decker when Stephanie is out there somewhere suffering Lord knows what. I feel like I should be doing something to find her and instead am-"
"You shouldn't feel guilty. There's nothing you can do," Sam assured her firmly, raising her head. "From what I understand, Mortimer and Lucian think your phone is the best bet they have at the moment."
"They do?" she asked with surprise.
Sam nodded. "Trying to find them when he doesn't want to be found, especially in a city the size of Toronto, is like looking for a needle in a haystack. And they're not even sure they still are in Toronto. Mortimer said your phone and Nicholas are really the only chance we have of finding Stephanie and the man who took her."
Dani frowned. "Decker keeps trying to tell me not to count on Nicholas."
Sam considered that and said slowly, "He's probably afraid of getting your hopes up and then you taking a big fall if Nicholas lets you down."
"Maybe " Dani murmured, and then met her gaze and said, "I guess they used to be pretty close. It sounded to me like Decker was closer to Nicholas than his own siblings. They were partners too."
"Were they?" Sam asked with surprise. "Mortimer didn't mention that to me."
Dani was silent, her thoughts on the possibility that Decker might also be keeping her hopes down to keep his own down as well. She was pretty sure he'd been devastated by the man going rogue, and didn't think it was just because he blamed himself for letting him escape. She knew she'd be terribly upset if someone in her family had killed someone.
"I guess I'm not surprised," Sam commented.
Dani lifted a blank gaze. She'd been so distracted by her thoughts that she'd lost the thread of the conversation.
"That they were closer than siblings," Sam explained. "Not that they were partners."
"Oh." Dani tilted her head curiously. "Why is that?"
"Well, from what Mortimer said, every sibling would be at least one hundred years apart. That's quite an age difference," she pointed out. "I mean, I know people with brothers or sisters only ten years apart that you can hardly tell are related. I can't imagine having one a hundred years older."
Dani just shrugged. She was the oldest child in her family, more than fifteen years older than Stephanie, who was the youngest, but they were close. She had been her main babysitter when Stephanie was a child, and now that she was older, often had her over for sleepovers, or took her shopping. Knowing her thoughts were sliding perilously close to the worry and fear she felt for her sister, and that a mall food court was no place to let them loose, she pushed those thoughts aside and glanced to Sam. "Decker said you are mortal?"
"Yes. I'm not ready to turn," she admitted quietly. "I suppose I'll have to someday, but for now I'm happy to straddle both worlds."
Dani raised her eyebrows. "We can be turned? You mean into an immortal?"
"Sure. I gather it's just a transference of their nano-carrying blood to an individual." Sam frowned. "Didn't Decker tell you that?"
"No," she said, and Sam patted her arm.
"He will," she said with certainty. "He's probably trying not to overwhelm you with too much information at once."
Dani nodded, but thought it was possible he just hadn't thought of it yet. The explanations had come in fragmented bits since they'd met; a little here, a little there. He might not even be aware of what he'd left out. It didn't matter though. She wasn't really keen on the idea of being turned herself. In theory it sounded all right. Who wouldn't want to be young and healthy for... well... possibly forever? It sounded good until you factored in giving up everyone else you loved, plus the career you put your heart and soul into in ten years. No, she wasn't keen on turning, Dani thought. But perhaps she too could straddle the line between both worlds and hold off on the change like Sam was. The possibility made her glance to Sam and ask, "Is it hard?"
"What?"
"Being a mortal with an immortal mate," she explained.
"Not so far," Sam said wryly, and then pointed out, "But we haven't been together long."
Before Dani could ask how long, Decker arrived at the table.
"Here we are," he said, sliding into the seat next to her and setting a tray piled high with food on the table.
"This is for you." He set the coffee she'd requested on the table before Dani. "And this... and this... and this... and..."
"Good Lord, Decker, I can't eat all that," Dani said with dismay as she stared at the cheeseburger, fries, and donut he'd already set before her and then glanced to the chocolate sundae he was adding to the growing mound. There was another of each still on the tray for him, plus two pitas, two slices of pizza, and two plates with chicken on them. It looked like the man had hit nearly every restaurant in the joint.
"I wasn't sure what was good so I got a selection. Just eat what you want," he said easily, picking up a slice of pizza and biting into it. Concentration on his face, Decker chewed the bite of food and then nodded as he swallowed. "This is good, much better than those burger things. You should try this."
Pushing her cheeseburger aside to make room, he set the other plate holding a slice of pizza before her, then picked it up and held it before her mouth, urging, "Try it."
"I-" Dani had been about to say she knew what pizza tasted like, but found her mouth full of the tip of it as Decker apparently set himself the task of feeding her.
"Bite," he ordered.
Dani rolled her eyes and bit as Sam burst out laughing. Seeing the ridiculousness of the situation, she let a small smile curve her own lips as she chewed the food.
"See, I told you you'd like it," Decker said, noting her smile. He set the pizza on her plate for her to continue feeding herself and turned his attention to his own food.
Swallowing the bite in her mouth, Dani noticed Sam glancing at her food and said, "Be my guest. I can't eat all this."
Decker nodded. "Go ahead, Sam, I got plenty enough for everyone."
The woman took one of the plates of chicken, saying, "I shouldn't be hungry. I ate dinner at my desk while going over affidavits for my boss, but I have been using up a lot of energy lately."
Dani smiled faintly at her chagrined tone, suspecting she knew exactly how she'd been using up that energy, and then asked curiously, "You work at a law firm here in Toronto?"
"Yes. Though not for much longer. I've served my notice. Two weeks and I'm free," she said, smiling, and then added. "Actually two weeks less a day now."
Dani grinned at her pleased smile. "Decker told me you'll be running the enforcer house with Mortimer. How long have you two been together?"
"We met a little more than two weeks ago," Sam admitted, and then sighed and added, "I was hoping he'd come with us tonight, but he has so much to do to get things organized at the house, he couldn't."
Dani nodded sympathetically, but her mind was on the fact that Sam didn't really have much more experience of this life mate business than she did. She found that a bit disappointing. She'd hoped Sam could tell her how long she could expect this driving need for Decker to last. Surely they couldn't maintain this level of hunger for each other forever? Passion was nice, but this all-consuming need that drove everything out of her head was somewhat overwhelming. It was also hampering her thinking processes, pushing worry for her sister out of her head, and that just left her feeling guilty afterward. Surely it had to calm down at some point soon, didn't it? Dani didn't know, and doubted Sam could answer the question either. She supposed she'd have to ask Decker when they got back to the house.
They chatted a bit as they ate, but finished up quickly, eager to complete their shopping expedition. Dani wanted to get back to the house and Sam seemed equally eager to get back. Dani suspected it was because Sam wanted to see Mortimer, something she could understand completely, Dani thought as they got up to leave the table and Decker took her hand in his. Just that simple touch sent a shiver skimming up her arm, and she thought that he would be a difficult man to give up. Not that she was sure she would have to, but Dani hadn't really had a chance to consider the matter much.
How did this relationship work in with her life? She was a doctor, had worked hard to become one. Dani had a flourishing practice, a busy and what she'd thought until now fulfilled life, and was mostly happy with things. However, from what she'd learned, she'd have to give that all up to have Decker. At least she would in ten years or so.
Decker tugged Dani suddenly to the side, drawing her attention to the fact that she'd nearly collided with another shopper not watching where she was going. Realizing this was neither the time nor the place to worry about all this, she murmured, "Thank you" to Decker for preventing the collision, and then began to pay attention to where she was going.
"Oooh, I love these."
Decker raised his head from the package containing something called a shrimp ring that he'd been examining with interest, and glanced to where Dani bent over a section of the frozen food area ahead. She turned to Sam, saying, "These are so good."
"I know," Sam agreed. "I love those. Mix up a salad to go with it and you have a meal. They're great. We better grab a lot of them."
Dani nodded and placed the box she held in the cart, then turned to collect several more. "The best part is they're healthy for you too and only take ten minutes in the toaster oven to make."
Decker was about to turn back to the box he held, but paused when Dani suddenly straightened and turned to Sam with a frown. "Is there a toaster oven at the house? I saw a microwave, but..."
"No," Sam muttered. "Not only is there not a toaster oven, there aren't any pots or pans or dishes or silverware."
Decker didn't need to see the dismay on Dani's face to realize what that meant. It seemed they had another store to hit after this one. Or at least he thought that's what it meant until Dani turned and replaced the boxes she'd just picked up.
The moment she'd finished, Sam turned the cart around and headed his way. Since the girls had already covered this section, he assumed they were coming back for him to place his latest selection in the cart and proceeded to do so, his eyebrows flying up with surprise when Dani immediately took it out and set it back where he'd gotten it as Sam continued past him.
"Hey!" Decker protested. "I wanted that."
"We'll pick some up later," Dani assured him and hurried after Sam. He stared after her, watching as the women removed several items from the cart and returned them to where they'd found them, and then shook his head with bewilderment and moved to join them.
"Ladies," he said as he reached them. "You seem to have the concept of shopping a little confused. I believe you are supposed to put items in the cart, not take them out."
"We need pots and pans and things to cook with," Dani explained, setting a box of frozen chicken in the freezer.
"So?" Decker asked, not seeing the problem. "We'll stop at a store and buy some after this."
"We can't," Sam informed him. "It's hot out and we don't have a cooler. The food will go bad sitting in a closed-up car while we buy the other stuff."
"Oh," he murmured, realizing that was a problem. They'd come to the mall in Sam's car rather than one of the SUVs, which would have had a cooler in it. He grimaced and then did so again as his gaze slid over the almost full cart. It would take forever to put everything back. "Can't we just leave the cart here and-"
"No." The two women gasped the word with horror as they turned on him.
"Decker," Dani said as if talking to a not very bright child. "The food will go bad just sitting here in a cart too. The frozen food especially, the ice cream will melt and-"
"Okay, okay, I get the point." He glanced around. Spotting a fellow in the store uniform and apron near the meat counter ahead, Decker slid into his mind and made him come over.
"What are you doing?" Dani asked suspiciously, eyes narrowing on his face.
"Getting us a little help to save time," he answered. When the store worker stepped up to the cart, Sam moved out of the way, watching wide-eyed as he silently began to take over returning the food from the cart.
"There." Decker caught each of them by the arm and ushered them away. He noticed Dani glancing guiltily back toward the store clerk, but didn't slow his step for a minute.
"Where can we buy what you need?" he asked in businesslike tones as he hustled them out of the store.
"The department store will have everything," Sam answered promptly. "It's up and to the right at the far end of the mall."
"Of course it is," Decker said dryly, and hurried them along. So much for thinking they were nearly done, he thought wryly, positive the women would take forever in the department store.
Decker soon learned he was wrong about that. Dani and Sam seemed as eager to get the task done and get out as he was, and he found himself pushing the cart along at a quick step as they piled things in. He watched dishes and silverware and pots and pans fly into the cart at an almost dizzying speed. There was very little fuss or discussion. They would walk along the aisle, eyes scanning the options, and then one would say, "Those look nice, good, or well-made" depending on the product, and the other usually agreed. It seemed obvious the women had very similar taste. Decker wasn't surprised. They were both around the same age and both professionals. He suspected they'd become good friends in time.
"This looks like the best of the lot," Dani said as she read the side of a box holding a coffeepot. "It's got a timer, automatic shutoff, and the works." She frowned and then glanced to Sam to add uncertainly, "It's bit pricey though."
Sam stepped to her side to examine the writing on the box and nodded. "We'll take it."
Dani asked, "Are you sure?"
"Bastien gave me a company credit card to buy things for the house," Sam announced.
"Ah." Dani and Sam exchanged a smile that Decker fancied was a touch evil, and then the coffeepot went into the cart and the two women continued to the teakettle section.
"Women," Decker muttered, his eyes dropping to Dani's derriere as he followed.
"What about women?" Dani asked, apparently hearing him. When she and Sam both turned back in question, Decker found his gaze lifting to Dani's breasts, to the curve of her shoulder sticking out of her top, and then, finally, to her face.
"Incredible creatures," he answered finally. "Beautiful, sexy, smart, know what they want and how to get it."
"And how to spend money?" Dani suggested, apparently not taken in by his words.
Decker hesitated, and then nodded as he added, "But worth every penny they spend and more."
"Good answer," Dani said with a grin before turning away to continue up the aisle with Sam. He saw them glance at each other and then heard Dani comment in an amused whisper, "Didn't take him long to come up with that, did it?"
"Nope," Sam agreed, her voice just as hushed. "Mortimer has his smooth moments too. I think it's because they're so old."
"Geriatrics," Dani agreed with a solemn nod.
"I'm amazed they have so much vim and vigor at their age."
"It's probably only temporary," Dani assured her. "The vim will no doubt fall off from overuse within a couple weeks and the vigor will die off without it."
"No doubt," Sam agreed on a sigh and added, "Such a shame. It's really what they're best at."
Decker was just stiffening up at the insult-there were a hell of a lot of things he was good at besides vim and vigoring-when it occurred to him the women might realize he could hear them and be teasing him.
He was absolutely positive that was the case when Dani commented, "That and eating. You did eat most of that food you bought, Decker."
She hadn't turned her head or raised her voice, but she had addressed him directly.
Sam was chuckling now as she said, "Mortimer has a healthy appetite too."
"And like Decker, not just for food, I gather. How's your back?" Dani asked, and the two women burst into peals of laughter.
He had no idea what they found so damned amusing, but merely shook his head and moved up between them with the cart. "All right you two. Enough, let's get this done and get back to the house."
Sam and Dani began to move a little faster again, but they were still chuckling as they selected a teakettle and set it into the cart.
Decker shook his head and asked, "How much more is there to get? This cart is pretty full."
Sam paused to consider the cart and then frowned and said, "We'll need another cart." .
"I'll get it," Dani offered, but Decker caught her arm to stop her and tugged her in front of the cart they already had.
"You stay with Sam. I'll get it," he said, and then slipped away.
The first cart was stacked ridiculously high with appliances by the time he got back, and so was the second one by the time they headed to the checkout. The clerk rang everything up, stacking box after box on her counter as she went until both carts were empty. She then read out the total. Decker winced and almost groaned at the amount, but Dani and Sam didn't even blink.
As the clerk began to help stack the boxes back in the two carts, Decker commented, "This stuff needs to go to the car. Why don't you two head over to the grocery store while I take care of that?"
"Thanks," Sam said, handing over her keys.
Decker nodded as he took them and then bent to press a quick kiss to Dani's lips. At least it was supposed to be a quick kiss, but Dani sighed against his mouth and he found himself urging her lips open so that his tongue could slip in. He felt her hands creep up to his shoulders, and then Sam said with amusement, "Maybe you should help him take this lot out, Dani."
"Yes," Dani breathed as Decker broke the kiss to hear her answer.
"All right. I'll be in the grocery store," Sam said with a chuckle as she turned away.
Decker was just imagining what they could do after they got everything stowed away in the car when Sam called out, "Just watch out for the steering wheel."
He didn't know what the hell that meant, but Dani had suddenly gone stiff in his arms.
Dani blinked her eyes open at Sam's parting warning, her gaze taking in the silver fire in Decker's eyes. There was absolutely no doubt in her mind what would happen if she went out to the car with him. They might get the appliances and dishes in the car, but she was positive they would end up in it as well, probably in the front seat since all these boxes weren't going to fit in the trunk and at least a couple would have to go in the backseat. Dani suddenly had a vision of Sam coming out to find them unconscious in the driver's seat, she having fallen back, draped over the steering wheel, and Decker with his head slumped on her chest, both of them oblivious of the car horn blaring beneath her back and the crowd of curious onlookers it had drawn who were spread around the vehicle looking in.
Groaning, Dani shook her head and pulled away from him.
Decker frowned and raised an eyebrow in question.
"It might be better if I went with Sam after all," she said, flushing.
Decker looked disappointed, but nodded and said easily, "Okay. I'll catch up in a couple minutes."
Smiling with relief that he wasn't angry, she started to lean up to give him a quick kiss and then caught herself and shook her head. "Better not."
Decker chuckled and then bent to press a kiss to her forehead before turning her by one shoulder and giving her a gentle push in the direction Sam had taken. "Go on... Before I decide to try to change your mind."
Dani headed out of the store, glancing over her shoulder as she went. Her eyes traveled down his body as he turned to speak to the store clerk. Decker really was a fine figure of a man. Not as strapping as his uncle, who looked like he wielded broadswords for a living. Decker was leaner, but muscular for all that, she thought, recalling running her hands over his rippling stomach and wide chest. And he was super strong. Good Lord, she wouldn't have believed some of the positions they'd explored that afternoon were even physically possible... and they wouldn't have been for anyone but Superman. And Decker, she thought on a smile, finally turning her head away once he was out of view... just in time to see the wide chest she was crashing into.
"Sorry," she apologized, and tried to step around the man, but he'd caught her by the arms and held her in place. Dani lifted her head then, her smile dying as she stared into the face looking down at her and breathed in horror, "You."
