During my waking hours, anyway.
My dreams were a different story. There I saw Jett many, many times and in many different scenarios. All of them ended up the same though. With Jett driving into me as his mouth swallowed my cries of pleasure.
I'd spoken to Dallas a few times in the past week as we'd discussed proper placement of the orphaned pups and he’d let it slip that Jett was still there, though he hadn't offered up any details. And I hadn't allowed myself to ask for any. I'd arrived back at the center the night before at around two in the morning, so everyone had been asleep when I'd trudged up the stairs to the apartment over the garage that I was temporarily calling home. But being back in Pelican Bay had given my brain permission to think even more and more about Jett and wondering how he was doing. Even now as I was caught in that pleasant dreamworld that happened so often right before I woke up, I was imagining what it would've been like to come home in the middle of the night from a rough few days of work and crawl into strong, waiting arms.
Besides work and thoughts of Jett, there'd been another person at the forefront of my mind for the past seven days, and this one definitely wasn't by choice. My phone had been swamped with phone calls and texts from a certain ex who clearly was not happy about being an ex. While it had been a while since Marcus had first called me out of the blue, my lies about just needing time seemed to have placated him for a while because it had only been recently that he’d started blowing up my phone with calls and texts.
As if on cue, my phone began ringing, ripping me from my imaginary cuddle session with a certain gorgeous, angry ex-soldier. My brain was reluctant to give up on the dream, so I ignored the phone and sank back into Jett's welcoming arms. Just as his mouth skimmed my ear and offered up the most tantalizing way for us to start our day, my phone rang again. I sighed and reached out to the nightstand to try and find the offending object. I checked the caller ID long enough to make sure it wasn't Marcus before I answered the phone.
"Cam?" I said since the caller ID had identified Pelican Bay's sheriff.
"Yeah, hey Sawyer, Ford and I are heading your way. We'll be there in a couple of minutes. Can you meet us downstairs? We've already let Dallas know. Got a patient for you."
That was all he needed to say. I threw off the covers and said, "Yep, on my way." I quickly hung up the phone and began tugging on my jeans. I would've loved to shower, but I didn't want to risk making any animal in need wait any longer than it had to for my attention. I stomped my feet into my boots, grabbed my bag and a shirt and hurried out the door. As I made my way down the stairs to the driveway, I worked to get my arms into the long sleeves of the shirt. Having grown up in the South as well as living for the last handful of years in California, I still wasn't used to the concept of wearing such heavy clothing in the middle of summer. Summers in northern Minnesota were a fleeting thing and even if it did manage to warm up during the day, the mornings were almost always chilly.
Once I cleared the last stair, I raised my head to scan the driveway and came to a stop when I saw Jett sitting at the base of the steps of Dallas and Nolan's porch. My stomach flip-flopped as my eyes met his but when they dipped lower so they could take in my bare abdomen as I lowered the hem of the shirt, a flash of heat engulfed me. I expected him to look away or pretend he wasn't checking me out, but to my surprise, he slowly lifted his eyes again and locked them with mine. The open hunger I saw in them, even over the distance separating us, had me swallowing hard. It was the same look I'd been imagining night after night as dream version Jett lowered his body over mine.
Frustrated that the time away from the man had done nothing to calm my raging libido, I tore my gaze from his and then fumbled to straighten my shirt. I looked around to see who was watching Jett but quickly realized he was alone. Since I couldn't really avoid the man, I slowly made my way toward him, willing Cam to choose that moment to arrive with my new charge. But the air remained silent around us. And Jett was still watching me, though the open hunger had been replaced with something else. Something I couldn't identify.