Saving the White Cougar by Terry Spear

Chapter 18

"So you're staying the night?" Stella asked, breathlessly, their kisses renewing. She had thought maybe Ted was going to come just for dinner, make love, then he would return home again as early as he had to get up to work at the ranch.

"Yeah. Boss Man and Boss Lady expected it of me. They wouldn't have it any other way. The two new ranch hands are really working out and well, what can I say? I can't get enough of being with you." He ran his hands over her blouse covered breasts. “Of this.”

"Your overnight bag is in the truck?" She still couldn't believe he was planning to stay the night without telling her. Luckily, the place was clean. Though she should have started to pack or something.

Getting in late Sunday night and working all day Monday had kind of quashed the notion of packing. She'd actually planned to get some done every night. Tonight, even.

"Yeah, as long as you're fine with it."

She smiled at him. "Oh, absolutely. You can help me pack.” Though that's not what she really wanted to do with him right this moment. She resumed kissing and he began unbuttoning her blouse.

She hadn't even had time to change out of her business suit for work. At least she'd ditched her pumps and her suit jacket once she’d arrived home.

He removed her blouse and kissed her shoulders. "Hmm, I missed you last night."

She smiled and began working on his belt. "I missed you too." Though she had to admit she'd been worn out by all the activities this past weekend and all their lovemaking and she suspected her wounds and rattlesnake bite had had something to do with that too.

But once she was with him again, it was like he rejuvenated every cell in her body and she was raring to go. "I think you're just perfect for me."

"I know you are for me."

Not that they wouldn't have disagreements with each other. She wondered how building a house would go. But maybe he wouldn't care as long as she was happy with it. And truly, anything would be nicer than her ultra-tiny apartment. Which, for a single woman or man was fine, but she was ready for more—a family, and even more of an extended family. For having parties, dinner engagements at the house, yeah, that would be totally fine.

Then he was pulling off her skirt and she was wearing only her panties and bra—plain white, no frills. She hadn't expected her macho cougar to show up at her house tonight or she might have gone for sexier and more enticing. He didn't seem to notice, his hands on her breasts, his mouth on hers again.

Then she was moving her hands down to his belt again, tackling it, and unfastening it. She unfastened his jeans, but he hurried to lean down and jerk his cowboy boots and socks off. Then she was pulling down his jeans and he was kissing her mouth again, his hands on her breasts, massaging, making her feel sexy and needed.

She ran her hand over his boxer briefs as he kicked aside his jeans.

Then he picked her up and she wrapped her legs around his hips, and he carried her into the—"Bedroom to the right," she said, as he almost took her into the spare bedroom turned into an office.

He set her on her feet on the floor in the bedroom and peeled her bra straps off her shoulders, kissing each shoulder before he reached around to unfasten the bra in back, a normal reaction, only the fastener was in the front. She moved his hand around the front, and he smiled and unsnapped it. Then he pulled her bra off, cupped her breasts, and kissed her mouth.

She cupped his buttocks and pulled him flush against her, kissing his mouth, tonguing him, loving him.

He was soon stripping off her panties, pulling them off all the way as she rested her hands on his shoulders to balance herself. Then she was pulling off his boxer briefs and they were on the bed, kissing, moving against each other, his hands cupping her face while she moved a leg over the back of his thigh and rubbed at him.

He groaned and slipped his hand between them and began to stroke her nub. Just breathing in his cougar scent and him, their pheromones dancing around each other, enticing each other, his touching her and his warm breath against her skin catapulted her into a climax.

She wrapped both her legs around him and he plunged into her, going deep, thrusting, just as into her as she was into him.

"I love you," she said, not afraid to tell him that every time she was with him or missing him.

"I love you too," he said, his voice rough with need as he paused to kiss her mouth, and then he was thrusting again.

She knew he would make love to her again tonight. She could count on it. He had stamina, just like she knew a cowboy would.

He continued to thrust, and finally came, groaning out her name in a loving way. "Oh, man, Stella, you are the only one for me, ever."

"I feel the same way about you."

They kissed again and then he finally pulled out, and he wrapped his arms around her.

She sighed. "This couldn't have been a better pick-me-up."

He chuckled. “I agree.”

They were spent, feeling satiated, lying tangled together, loving each other.

She loved him without reservation, knowing he was the only one for her, that she had finally found a home with a man who loved her unconditionally. A white cougar, an oddity, but to him, she was perfect, and he was the same for her.

"Love you, you big old cat. I hope you realize what we'll be doing again later tonight." She was overjoyed that he'd come to be with her and like usual, had made her life better than it would have been if he hadn't been here for her tonight.

"You can count on it." He smiled at her and kissed her again.

"Hmm, you are not going to be conducive to sleep."

He chuckled. "I know I'll sleep better being with you."

"Not me, being with you. I'll want to wake you up in the middle of the night." She kissed his beautiful bare chest. “I was going to just grab something to eat out of the fridge when I got off work, but do you want to go out and celebrate?"

"I sure do. Where's the best steakhouse around?"

"My favorite—Philly’s Steakhouse. I'll drive." She wanted to enjoy the places she always went to by herself with him now.

"This looks good," he said, when they arrived at the restaurant and went inside. "Smells good too."

"They have the best steaks.” They were ushered to a table. “I still can't believe you're here."

"I couldn't stay away.” He smiled. "All I thought of all day was being with you all night."

"I'm glad you came tonight. If I'd had any doubts you were the right one for me, that dispelled them," she said.

"No way would I have let you think that. I did briefly think that you might need the time to have on your own, but that was such a fleeting thought that before you know it, I was telling Hal I was on my way to Grand Junction. He said he was glad because the place is dangerous."

She smiled. "Really, I've never had any trouble.”

After they had a steak dinner, they returned to her apartment to watch a western.

That night, they went to bed and made love, a beautiful ending to a surprise visit, but poor Ted had to leave really early for work the next morning because of the hour drive too. Even though he said Hal and Kolby said they would cover things as they were training the new ranch hands, Ted wanted to get there at his usual time for starting work.

But Stella didn't have to get up that early. They'd made love after the movie before bed and she was still tired. Still, she got up and fixed them waffles and sausages while wearing a nighty and robe and slippers and he was dressed to do cowboy duties at the ranch.

"I'll see you tonight, and every night until you’ve moved to the ranch," he promised.

"I would love nothing more, but if it gets to be too much, you don't have to."

"It's only for two weeks. It won't be any time at all, and it will go by all the faster if I come at night to see you. I can bring you some boxes too and help you to pack up whatever you need me to haul over in the meantime."

"Thanks, though I was going to pick some up at one of the stores where they dump their clean boxes for the trash—"

"No! Don't do that." Ted sounded so serious, she wondered why that wasn’t a good idea.

"You don't mean to tell me you tried to get discarded boxes and the store staff thought you were stealing merchandise or something, do you?"

"No, Bridget and Travis met over such a situation though."

"They're happily mated." At least that’s what Stella had heard.

"Travis was grabbing some boxes to use to move his household goods, and overhead the men running the store making criminal plans. They knocked him out and tied him up and thankfully for Travis, Bridget found him and freed him, though she wasn't sure he wasn't just a bad guy too to begin with. Being that you live in a dangerous city, I'd rather you didn't go diving for clean boxes behind shops also."

Stella closed her gaping mouth. "Okay, you bring me some boxes."

He smiled. "That's exactly what I'll do." He finished his coffee and then pulled Stella into a hug. "I'll see you tonight."

"I look forward to it."

"And I'll spend the weekend here helping you to get packed."

Which was a good thing because by the time the weekend had arrived, they hadn't packed one box, though Ted was good at his word and had been bringing packing boxes every night, some of which smelled of sweet vanilla cooking dough, heavenly, from Fitzgerald's bakery. They were too busy—making love, getting dinner, watching a movie, and sometimes it was even something other than a western—like catching up on the Mandalorian series, and making love and sleeping—to do anything else all week long.

Saturday, they went through her things and she was hanging onto stuff she could use in the new house—small kitchen appliances, though Ted told her they could ask for new ones at the bridal shower. Since they were going to be living at the bunkhouse for several months while the house was built, she capitulated and was giving away all the items to the local Women's Crisis Center.

"I rented the furnished apartment, so we don't have to do anything with the furniture." She packed away all her knickknacks and anything else she wouldn't need to use for the next week—her summer clothes mainly.

On Monday following the weekend, Ted moved all the packed boxes in his pickup to the ranch to work that day, so she didn't have packing boxes all over the apartment and she was glad for that. At lunchtime, she was dropping the boxes of donated items off at the Women's Crisis Center.

Ted was also meeting with the builder to start work on the house and she couldn't wait to see the building going on once it began, all the way through the finishing touches. She'd never seen anything like that, and it would be just one more fun experience she'd have with Ted.

"I want everything similar to what the bunkhouse has in the line of an open living room and the island counter, the cabinets and countertops, tile backsplash and the bedroom too. I just love it. And horse pictures. The works."

"We'll have it all," Ted promised her.

Then he was off on the last lap of their journey, she felt, and at the beginning of a new one.

That Monday morning, she was back to work, getting through the days, and had a party on Friday to say farewell. Ted was invited, and all the ladies wanted to see the cowboy who had swept Stella off her feet. And Ted, being the good-natured guy that he was, would be there early, Hal and Tracey telling him if he didn't take off from work—owing to his own work ethic—they would drive him themselves. Though they had considered doing so anyway, to help move the last of Stella's things to the ranch.

Stella had wrestled with herself over when she would actually move to the ranch. Should they stay another couple of nights at the apartment and have the weekend to themselves because if Ted and she were at the ranch, he would be doing some work? Or just get it over with and move the rest of her household goods, leaving her more human life behind and getting into the swing of things with her cougar friends?

But she still hadn't decided and figured Ted would help her to decide.

On Friday, they had a fun send off at the office party. It was a short day for her, and everyone cheered her for her help and the ladies asked Ted if there were any more eligible bachelor cowboys staying at the ranch. She swore she had never seen the tips of Ted's ears turn so red. He seemed to be embarrassed by all the attention he was getting. But after they said their goodbyes and Ted shook the lawyers' hands and the women gave him and Stella hugs, they finally headed to the apartment.

"Okay, so the question is should we stay at the apartment overnight and leave tomorrow or Sunday even, or should we just pack it all up and move tonight?" Stella asked.

"I'd really like to pack it up, horseback ride with you tomorrow, see the sun set out at the ranch, have a barbecue with just you and me at the bunkhouse."

She smiled. That sounded really nice. She didn't know why she was even considering staying another minute at the apartment. "Okay, that sounds so good."

"And don't worry about me working over the weekend. I have no weekend duty—Hal and Tracey's orders."

She sighed. "Good. I was afraid of that. I guess since it's earlier than I normally leave work or that you get here, we can just pack up the vehicles and go to the ranch and have dinner there."

"That's just what I was thinking."

When they arrived at the apartment, she was excited about turning in her key. She still had another two weeks that she could stay at the apartment, but she was glad to be leaving. She unlocked the door, and they went inside. Usually, they would stop to kiss, but she was on a mission. He caught up with her and kissed her anyway. He smiled down at her. "I'm so lucky to have you."

"Oh, me too, to have you." Then she kissed him back and hugged him tight.

"Once we're all settled in, I want to take you to the Buchanan’s Carver Falls too. They're beautiful falls, but a little far to travel even on cougar foot from the ranch. So I was thinking, we could rent a cabin on a Friday night and stay the weekend—and explore as cougars at night around the area. I would love to do the same with you during summer, sometime, and we can go swimming and boating on the lake. But for now?"

"We can do it and have a place of our 'own' and give Kolby and the other ranch hands the bunkhouse for their own for a weekend. I'd love it."

Afterwards, they were in a hurry to carry out the rest of the boxes of stuff to their vehicles. She was carrying another box to her Jeep while Ted was getting one from her bedroom when the three hunters who had shot her moved out of the shadows and surrounded her.

"At the trial, you need to tell the jury," Sims said, "you never seen who shot you. Just remember it's your word against ours." He had her backed up against her Jeep, the box of clothes in her arms keeping him at bay, but she didn't know if he was armed or not.

"Sure," she said, because it wasn't a good idea to antagonize a man who could be wearing a concealed weapon. But the thing is, she hadn’t seen who was shooting because she was in the barn!

Braxton moved in close to her, as if she didn't get the message loud and clear. "Yeah, listen to Sims. If you don't want to see us again, and I'll tell you right now, none of the charges are going to hold up, you'll tell them that we didn't do anything."

They were crazy! If they wanted to intimidate anyone, they would have to do it with the others who were there—Ted, Larry, Kolby, and Tracey—who had actually witnessed the hunters shooting at the barn!

She wanted to tell them she was moving to a heavily fortified ranch and they were welcome to come harass her there, but she knew to keep her mouth shut. She hoped Ted was coming out soon so they knew she wasn't here all by herself.

Clayton had to add his two cents. "We're hunters and we love the sport of killing. If you get my meaning."

Could they make their threat any clearer?

The other two men chuckled. Then Sims said, "You know, we don't want to lose our hunting licenses, that's what Clayton's referring to."

But she knew that wasn't what they were saying at all. Not that they would actually kill her, but that they were definitely threatening her with that. She should have just ignored them, but she was getting riled up that they wouldn't let her move her box into her Jeep, that they were in her space, and they were threatening her.

"Why don't you repeat what you said to me here at the trial. See how the jury takes your 'comments' then."