Gifted - The 5 Book Paranormal Romance Box Set Read online

  Looking a little sheepish, she confessed that she really wanted to help in the defense of the village and the state, but that she'd kind of panicked the day before, probably just from being so out of practice. "Not that I'll be very helpful with my zapping power once I'm back in practice. The last time I took part in a fight against the red-eyes, maybe about a month ago, I swear one of them actually laughed at me when I zapped him...my stream was that weak. Probably didn't even hurt him."

  "Well...being a Gifted is a weird, unpredictable thing. Maybe after a month of not using your power at all, it's going to come back even stronger."

  I really hoped so. But even if it didn't, I still felt like Dana could help contribute to the defense effort. Even if her zapping streams were really as weak as she claimed, they still might be good to distract the red-eyes so that more powerful Gifteds could take them by surprise and fire away on them, if nothing else.

  When I arrived at the coffee shop a few minutes before two that afternoon with Sunny in tow, I was astonished to see that the place was packed; which maybe wasn't saying much, considering that the coffee shop was a single room about thirty by thirty feet, with an ordering counter in the back and four little circular tables and chairs up front by the storefront windows, but still, I was beyond impressed by the turnout. Also, it wasn't even two yet.

  Beaming, Dana welcomed me and began introducing me to a few people, and the owner of the shop, a Gifted named Alicia, began pulling folding chairs out of a storage closet, announcing that she'd soon be serving Italian biscotti cookies and iced cappuccinos to everyone, on the house.

  At first, for at least an hour, the meeting was just pure socialization and fun. At some point, it was determined that all fifty-one Gifteds in Haverwood were present in the small space, and with Dana leading me around and making introductions, I got to at least say hello and have a brief chat with every single one. Sunny was also making the rounds, kissing indiscriminately, offering his belly for rubs, and even hopping around in time to some music Alicia had put on, making it appear like he was dancing, which made everyone laugh.

  He wasn't the only dog present, however. A young woman named Sarah, one of a half-dozen or so Gifteds who were markedly shy, had brought her tiny teacup chihuahua, Max. He was something called an emotional support animal, and most of the time, he remained in Sarah's arms. However, the third or fourth time Sunny offered his belly for a rub, Max leaped down and did the same, clearly wanting some attention, too. It wasn't long before he and Sunny were fast friends, investigating beneath the tables together and sniffing around for fallen cookie crumbs.

  It was Sarah, not me, who eventually transitioned the meeting from social to more serious. After she'd whispered something to Alicia, Alicia turned the music down and called for everyone's attention.

  "Sarah would like to say something, please."

  All conversation hushed, and even the dogs, who'd been happily yipping a bit, quieted down.

  From her seat at one of the tables, Sara immediately began speaking in a quiet, yet audible, voice with her gaze on the off-white linoleum flooring. "I know that this meeting is supposed to be to try to get all us Gifteds to start doing our jobs again, or at least try to do them again, and before I lose my nerve, I just wanted to say that I'm all for that. I'm all for the trying."

  With her gaze still on the floor, she paused for a deep breath.

  "As some of you know, I didn't really have a great time as a Gifted in Wisconsin. I was never able to fight in any battles because I just couldn't do it. I came here because I needed a fresh start to try again. So, if any Gifted practices are scheduled or anything, I'm going to go, and I hope some of you do, too. I think if we all come together and make an effort, we won't have to be the only group of 'Gifted rejects' in the country. I think we could be just as good as all the other groups, maybe better. We could be proud of ourselves. And...." Sarah paused for a deep breath again, gaze still on the floor. "I guess that's all I wanted to say."

  There was a quick second of silence, then Sunny barked three short barks that somehow sounded almost celebratory or appreciative, like if he were human, his barks would have been clapping. Sarah smiled at him and quietly said well, thank you, making everyone laugh, and she joined in. Once the laughter had died down, I thanked her for volunteering to attend some practice sessions, then asked who else wanted to join her, Dana, and me.

  "No one has to come to practice, of course, but it would be kind of cool to see what we can all do together."

  A couple Gifteds at once said to count them in, and then a very quiet brunette sitting next to Sarah said she'd be there. Playing with a clear plastic cup that had fallen under the table, Sunny and Max both yipped at once, and Dana said we could all probably take that to mean that they were in, too. After some laughter, a few more Gifteds said they'd come to practice, and by the time the meeting broke up a short while later, at least thirty or so of the assembled Gifteds had said they were on board, which was more than I'd even dreamed would. Happy for the progress we'd made, I figured that maybe the others would come around before the first practice, or maybe soon after, if all went well. It would be the next Saturday afternoon, three days away.

  When I got back to the house with Sunny, I was in a pretty buoyant mood. However, after I'd taken a shower, my light mood started to flag a bit. I stood in front of my closet in a towel, trying to decide what to wear for my "dinner date and possibly more" with Cameron and Elliot. I was suddenly also a bit nervous, wondering if they both really wanted to sleep with me, and if so, if the three of us could manage to share a bed without a lot of awkwardness.

  To make matters worse, I was also wondering if I could manage to keep my heart completely guarded if the three of us did indeed make it into bed. As it was, I'd kind of already developed affectionate feelings for them both, even Cameron, despite the whole him not letting Sunny inside thing. I knew that when and if I actually shared a night of passion with them both, it would be all too easy for those affectionate feelings to turn into feelings far stronger. My task to get close to both of them really would have been much easier had they both been complete jerks, and completely unattractive.

  Eventually, I settled on a light, knee-length sundress in a shade of fuchsia so deep it bordered on purplish. It seemed just a bit dressy, and a bit was all I was going for, considering that I was going to be having dinner in my own house. Also, I had no clue what Cameron and Elliot were going to be wearing, and I didn't want to be extremely overdressed if they came home and didn't even change out of their jeans or something.

  After drying my long brown hair and using a curling iron to give it some volume and body in the form of big, loose curls, I applied a little makeup, then put on some large gold hoop earrings and a pair of wedge-heeled sandals. Examining my completed look in a full-length mirror, I decided I'd done things just about right, and looked like I'd made an effort, though without going over-the-top. I didn't really want to look like I was trying too hard, or let on that our dinner date was going to be the first date I'd had in over a year, and I was kind of getting antsy with anticipation.

  After letting Sunny outside, I brought him back down the long hallway where half the bedrooms in the house were, and I took him into a room two down from mine, where I'd placed a plush dog bed I'd bought for him in Hastings.

  Dropping to a crouch, a patted the bed, looking at Sunny with a smile. "Wow, feel this, Sunny. It's so nice and soft. It'll be a really nice place for you to sleep tonight."

  He just looked at the bed, then looked at me and cocked his head to one side, as if confused.

  Still smiling, I patted the bed again. "Hop in. Try it. It'll be a really nice place for you to sleep tonight while I'm a little busy."

  Just a little busy, hopefully having a menage a trois in the bed that Sunny had already grown very accustomed to sleeping in.

  I patted the bed a third time, and a bit reluctantly, Sunny finally stepped in, sniffing around.

  "See? Comfy, isn't it?" />
  I kind of had a bit of anxiety that if Cameron, Elliot, and I made it into my bedroom, Sunny might disrupt things by whining outside the door, begging to be let in. While he continued sniffing the bed, I got up, grabbed a few surprises I'd been hiding in a dresser drawer, and returned to Sunny and the dog bed. "Look, Sunny. Look. I got you a new rawhide bone and a cute little froggy with a squeaker, just for being such a good boy and giving your new bed a try."

  I set the stuffed animal frog and the bone in the bed, and Sunny immediately turned his focus from the bed to the two items, whining with happiness and wagging his tail.

  "There. Good boy. Now, just go ahead and lie down and enjoy your new bone and your new bed."

  As if he could actually understand English, he immediately did. I breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that maybe I wouldn't have to worry about him interrupting the evening's activities after all. When I left the bedroom a short while later, he was snuggled up in the new cushy dog bed, still happily gnawing on his bone. Not only did he not try to follow me out of the room, he barely even glanced up when I left.

  Turning my thoughts to what I was going to be making for dinner, I made my way out to the kitchen, put on an apron, and began getting out all the ingredients. Although I'd promised to teach Cameron how to make dinner rolls or biscuits, I was actually going to skip those on this particular night, because I'd decided to make Asian orange chicken with vegetables and saffron-almond rice, one of my specialties that I always received compliments on. I'd save biscuits and rolls for a possible future dinner date with Cameron, if all went well.

  While I started chopping vegetables for the rice, and also for the spring rolls I was planning to make, I started to develop a case of real nerves. Or maybe it was more like just plain anticipation rather than nervousness. At any rate, whatever it was, it was making butterflies riot in my stomach. I just kept thinking of Cameron and Elliot, and their handsome faces, and their long, hard bodies, somewhat in disbelief that I might actually be sharing a bed with them both at the same time. Despite the fact that I'd had several days to get used to the idea, I was still having a hard time believing that it could actually become reality.

  Soon, though, reality came rushing at me, when Cameron and Elliot arrived home around five-thirty. I heard their voices in the foyer, then footsteps heading toward the kitchen, and then Elliot poked his head in.

  "I'm hungry as a wolf. Anyone cooking anything good in here?"

  With a new wave of butterflies dancing in my stomach, I smiled. "Well, I hope it'll be good. But I guess you and Cameron will have to be the judges of that."

  Elliot curved his mouth in a sexy half-grin. "We're going to hit the showers, and we'll be right out."

  "Okay."

  He popped back out of the kitchen, and I resumed cutting chicken breast into bite-sized pieces, with my hands having suddenly developed a slight tremor.

  By the time Cameron and Elliot arrived in the kitchen about a half-hour later, both of them dressed in dark pants and crisp Oxford dress shirts, I'd nearly finished with the food, and good thing. With as incredible as they both looked, with their light-colored shirts setting off their lightly tanned skin, I seriously doubted I would have been able to focus enough to stay on task with any real cooking. As it was, just looking at their faces, I was barely able to focus on taking my apron off, with my fingers just kind of toying with undoing the tie in back instead of making any real motions to undo it.

  Grinning, Elliot immediately came over to me. "Here. Let me help you take that off."

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  While Elliot went around to my back and undid the apron tie, I looked at Cameron, and he looked back at me, expression unreadable. Though Elliot was only removing my apron, something about holding eye contact with Cameron while he did so felt strangely and intensely erotic, making something stir low in my belly. I even held eye contact with Cameron while Elliot lifted my apron up and over my head, and Cameron didn't even blink, seeming like there was maybe something he was enjoying about the scene as well. With a sudden rush of heat rising to my cheeks, I wondered if he might enjoy watching Elliot further undress me. I was starting to get the feeling that I might really enjoy that. A lot.

  After tossing my apron on the counter, Elliot asked what they could do to help. "It smells amazing in here, by the way. I can already tell you're an outstanding cook, Jayme."

  Finally pulling my thoughts from Cameron, I managed a smile at Elliot and thanked him. "And as far as helping, I'm actually nearly done, but I guess you could maybe bring Sunny his dinner and let him out afterward if you wanted to. He's in one of the spare bedrooms right now."

  Elliot was already getting under the sink to get Sunny's food and water dishes. "I'm on it."

  "Thanks. And then once you get him back inside, maybe you could take him back down to that bedroom, get him settled back into his new dog bed, and shut the door. I might want him to stay in there all evening."

  If Elliot inferred exactly why I might want Sunny to stay in that bedroom all evening, which I was sure he did, he didn't let on. Without skipping a beat, he just said no problem, then proceeded to fill Sunny's food dish with kibble.

  Once he'd filled Sunny's water dish as well, Elliot left the kitchen, leaving Cameron and me alone. Right away, he asked if he could set the table for me, and I said sure and thank you even before he'd finished speaking, with my voice sounding unusually high and squeaky to my own ears. While he started on his task, I took the chicken off the stove and the spring rolls from the oven, feeling like I was breathing a little fast for a person just fixing dinner, and not participating in an aerobics class.

  My nerves continued while I added vegetables and almonds to the saffron-flavored rice, and once Cameron had finished setting the table and rejoined me in the kitchen, they really went into overdrive. He asked me what else he could do to help me, and I stupidly blurted out "wine cork," while trying not to stare at a sliver of his bare chest visible beneath the undone top button of his shirt.

  "I mean...I'm sorry. Guess I'm just a little flustered because it's getting a little warm in here with all the food. I meant to ask if you could please get a corkscrew and open one of the bottles of chardonnay in the fridge."

  Cameron said of course, then did what I'd asked, and I began arranging lettuce leaves on a platter I was going to serve the spring rolls on. To my extreme annoyance, the tremor in my hands had intensified, and I couldn't understand why. I wanted to have dinner with Cameron and Elliot, and I wanted to share my bed with both of them afterward. I wanted to do what the government had asked me to, and get a little long-overdue physical satisfaction in the process.

  I was reasonably sure I could keep my heart guarded if I really tried. So I wasn't quite sure why I was beginning to feel more anxious than I'd felt even when using my powers on an Angel wolf for the very first time. I supposed it was just because I was moving outside of my comfort zone, being that I'd never been involved in a menage a trois before, let alone with two wolf shifters who were both almost impossibly handsome. But still, this knowing of why I probably felt so anxious didn't really help my anxiety go away.

  When I felt Cameron lightly touch my elbow, I whirled around, actually biting back a gasp.

  With the track lighting in the kitchen revealing light gray flecks within his dark gray eyes, he just frowned at me for a moment, but then changed his expression to one more neutral and asked if there was anything else he could do. "Such as...do you need me to butter any bread or anything? We both know I'm great at it. Spreading chunks of cold butter over slices of plain sandwich bread...we both know that's my specialty, and we both know how incredibly delicious you think it is. Admit it...it's making your mouth water even just to think about it right now."

  In spite of my nerves, I laughed, the action immediately dissipating a bit of my anxiety.

  "No offense, Cameron, but the only thing I'll admit is that sandwich bread mangled with chunks of cold butter actually isn't the most delicious food I can t
hink of...and I really am going to teach you how to make homemade rolls or biscuits sometime."

  Eyes twinkling, he curved his mouth in an unbelievably sexy half-grin. "Good. I'd really like that."

  "Good."

  Both of us still grinning, we just looked into each other's eyes for a long moment until he spoke again with his expression turning a bit more serious.

  "You don't have to do this, you know, Jayme. Even if you want to...even if the idea of Elliot and I sharing you is one you really, really like...there's no need to rush into it. I can't deny that I really, really like the idea myself, but there's no need to rush into it. I want you to be completely comfortable. I want you to really enjoy yourself when and if things progress between the three of us. If you want, we can just all get to know each other a little better over dinner tonight, and we can have another dinner date soon. We can just kind of ease into things until you're completely ready for things to go further."

  While he'd been speaking, my remaining anxiety had somehow dissolved, and I'd found my focus torn between his words, his eyes, and his full, delectable lips. And now, the words that came out of my own mouth stunned me.

  "Kiss me. I want to feel your lips on mine. Please."

  For just a moment, his face registered surprise. But then his expression changed to one of eager anticipation, with clear hunger glinting in his eyes. He leaned in, cupping my face, and brought his mouth to mine. His lips were soft in texture but firm in touch, the combination immediately making me curl my toes with pleasure.

  Moving his hands to the small of my back, he kissed me slowly and gently at first, but soon I wanted more. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I pressed my body into the front of his, encouraging him to intensify his kisses, and soon he did, parting my lips and plundering my mouth with his tongue. In response, I moaned softly, beginning to feel a distinct ache developing low in my belly. It was an ache that already cried out for release, already made me feel desperate to be touched, teased, and stroked.