The Snow Leopard's Home (Glacier Leopards 3)

Finally, Zach kissed her and murmured, “I’m going to have to buy a few new sets of sheets, I think.”

Teri burst into giggles. Her body was pleasure-drunk, thrumming with endorphins, and she was wrapped around the man she loved, laughing in sheer happiness.

Hers. This was all hers.

***

Teri drifted awake wrapped up in warmth. She could feel the slow, steady rise and fall of Zach's chest against her back, and when she moved a little bit, she realized he had his nose tucked into her hair. She smiled to herself. She felt like she could stay here forever.

On the other hand, she really had to pee. Extricating herself without waking him up turned out to be impossible. His eyes blinked open as she eased out of bed, and he smiled at her.

She smiled back. "Sorry," she whispered. "Just going to the bathroom. Go back to sleep."

He shook his head, stretching. "No, I'm awake." He twisted to look at the clock, which read 6:36. "It's morning anyway."

True enough. Teri went to the bathroom, took care of her business, and then grabbed a quick shower. She had to use Zach's soap and shampoo, which meant that when she got out, she smelled like him. It made her shiver in delight.

Zach grabbed a shower after her while she hunted up toast and eggs in the kitchen. This was so domestic, again—it was something she could see them doing every day, as their days went on. She had a smile on her face all through scrambling eggs and toasting toast.

Zach came downstairs with his ranger uniform on. "Hey, I was going to cook you breakfast.”

"You snooze, you lose." Teri pointed at the cabinets. "You can set the table, though."

"My pleasure." Zach dropped a soft kiss on the side of her neck as he passed by.

Could this really be her life now? Could she really have this, morning after morning?

Teri dished up eggs and toast; Zach had pulled butter and jam out of the fridge and poured them both coffee and juice. As Teri sat down, she reflected on how nice it was to be cooperating to do something as simple as put breakfast on the table. No one had to be worried about her; no one insisted that she sit down and rest while someone else did all the work.

Not only that, she wasn't living alone in her old crappy apartment above the local Chinese place, either. She would've had cold cereal alone at her teeny kitchen table, reading the news on her phone and gearing herself up for

another day at her job.

A job. That was the one thing she still needed. Well, now that she wasn't a captive in her own home, she could apply for jobs without any problem. There were probably plenty of places that would take applications online, and Zach would probably let her borrow his car when he wasn't at work to go drop off applications at places that needed them in person.

How she'd get to a job that was driving distance away even if she got it was another important consideration. She'd have to work on that. Maybe she could get a bicycle or something. It was spring, after all, and she could bike a long time if she needed to. Especially now that she was stronger and faster than she'd been before.

Maybe I could shift and just run to work, Teri thought, and grinned to herself.

"What's funny?" Zach asked around his cup of coffee.

"Just...thinking about the future," Teri said.

"It's going to be fantastic." Zach's voice was utterly confident. "I'm already so happy, I can't even imagine what it's going to be like after we've been together for months, or a year, or ten years."

Ten years. "I can't wait." She imagined being ten years into their relationship, easy with each other in the way of married couples. Maybe with a couple of kids. She couldn't wipe the silly grin off her face after that.

After breakfast, Zach glanced at his watch. "I still have a couple hours before I have to be at work. Is it too early to go to your family's place to get your stuff? Do you want to wait for my day off to do it?"

Teri shook her head. "No. I want to do it as soon as possible. And they're all early risers, they probably got up an hour ago. Let's go do it now."

Zach nodded. "Okay. You know I have your back."

Teri blinked back the sting of tears. "I know."

It was strange, getting into Zach's car to head to her family's place, knowing that she wasn't going to stay there. And that she was going there as part of a couple, as half of a whole, instead of just as her, Teri, the baby daughter who couldn't take care of herself.

They pulled up at the house, and Teri just stared at it for a minute, taking deep breaths.