Ginny nodded. He was right. She did need some sexual release. Too much stress, too many teens and no one to cuddle with. “Okay, they did some matchmaking and I won’t kill them. However, you never answered my question. Is this just a good scratch of an itch for us or is it more?” she asked afraid of what his answer might be.
“I came out here expecting a one night stand. It isn’t what I found. We are both a little rough around the edges, but I’d like to see how things work out,” he said. “What do you want?”
Ginny didn’t realize how hard she’d been clenching her jaw until she relaxed it upon hearing his words. “I… I want to give this a try. Beyond the sex, George likes you and the kids responded well to you,” she started.
“Oh?” he asked.
“Yes. If they didn’t like you, they wouldn’t have made you breakfast. George wouldn’t have made it comfortable for you to stay the night either,” she said wondering how she was going to explain that. Or how their acceptance of him was more important than she would like to admit.
“What do you mean? George is your brother isn’t he?” Patrick asked.
“No, he’s Luc’s brother and sort of the family enforcer until Luc is healed. If he had decided you didn’t fit in the pack dynamic, he’d have made some excuse to get you out of here,” she said.
“Ah, I understand. He’s the pack guardian. Big son of a bitch too,” he said with a smile playing across his face.
“Oh yeah. I’ll explain more of what went on not too long ago, but you have the right idea. He’s also sort of distantly related kin, which is why he’s helping me with Duke’s kids,” she said.
Patrick nodded. “Something else you need to know,” he said as his hand played across her neck to the bite mark on her shoulder.
“Yes,” Ginny said. “Careful, that’s tender.”
“I bet. I sorta chewed a bit more than I meant to,” he said apologetically. “That leads me to where I was going though. My wolf claimed you last night when we shifted. We don’t communicate very clearly most times, but that bit came through loud and clear,” he finished.
Ginny’s hand moved up to the bite and touched it. She remembered more of what went on last night and deep down inside of her where her wolf slept, she felt contentment. She looked up at Patrick with eyes gone yellow with a slight shift. “Sounds like they decided before we even got a chance,” she said. “Guess we’ll just have to see how this works out.”
Patrick nodded and pulled her into his arms.
*
Luc walked into the bedroom with a very smug look on his face. He leaned against the door and waited for Meg to look at him. She was still getting dressed for work.
“Well, who was on the phone?” she asked as she hunted under the bed for her shoe.
“George,”
“And what did he want?” she asked. She stood up and put on her shoe. As she did so, she made eye contact with Luc for the first time since he’d entered the room. “Oh shit,” she said as it dawned on her exactly why George had called.
“Yup, they did it. I think you owe me $5 and a blow job,” Luc said with a grin.
“Dammit! You’d think I’d learn by now,” Meg said with a sigh. “How about I buy lunch today?”
“Sure, but I’m still holding you to the blow job,” Luc said with a smile. “Let’s get to work. We mice have to play while the cat’s away.”
Meg laughed and grabbed her coat and bag. It had snowed in the night and Luc was dusting the car off while Meg locked the door.
When they got to work, everyone was smiling. George must have been very busy on the phone. The news of Ginny and Patrick’s date had spread like wildfire. There were doughnuts and a bouquet of beef jerky on Ginny’s desk.
“Luc, there must be thirty or forty sticks of different kinds of jerky in this vase,” Meg said.
“Yeah, pretty impressive. I only had about twenty in mine,” he said as they headed to the coffee machine.
“What? You… When did you get a vase full of jerky?” she asked.
“After my second date with you,” he said as he poured them each a cup of coffee.
Meg just looked at Luc and shook her head. Even after all this time, Luc and shifter issues still caught her by surprise at times. She took the cup of coffee, grabbed one of the doughnuts and headed for her office. At least today would be quiet. No growling or co-workers hiding in her office. Meg turned on her computer and got to work. She had just finished her email when her phone rang.
“Hello, Oh hi Angie! What you up to?” asked Meg. She noticed Luc standing at her door and held up a hand for him to be quiet. “Sure, come by the office. Do you have the address? Oh yeah of course you would. See you around noon,” said Meg and hung up the phone.
“What was that about?” asked Luc.
“Angie. Remember her from my old office?” asked Meg.
Luc nodded.
“Well, seems like they pissed her off one too many times and she quit. She was calling to ask me if I knew of any job openings,” finished Meg.
“Hmm,” said Luc sitting down on the edge of Meg’s desk. “Do we want another receptionist or secretary? Especially if Ginny is going to be busy for a little bit?” he asked.
“Huh? Do you think that Ginny will be out more than a day or two?” asked Meg.
“Never know. She might. Or, she might be back tomorrow. We just have to play it by ear and see what happens. I know Cal said that Patrick was looking for work, but I don’t know what he does. There are just too many variables,” said Luc.
Meg thought about it for a moment and nodded. “So, it might not be a bad thing then if we had at least a temporary receptionist? When Ginny comes back, she could concentrate on other things and leave Angie to answer phones and such?” asked Meg.
“Sounds good to me. You do realize that when you talk to Angie that you are going to have to explain about shifters?” said Luc.