Chapter 4
Cara’s eyes moved over his face then as if searching. Her hand was still tangled in his hair, her thighs gripping his wrist. She breathed out a long breath before saying, “I don’t really understand, but…”
“You will, I promise you this,” he told her. “For now, relax and let me hold you.”
He lay flat down from his hovering position, pulling her to him, her face in his neck.
Slowly her body relaxed, her breathing evening out as she drifted back to sleep.
He gave a yawn, knowing he needed to go, but not wanting to leave her.
His eagle moved restlessly deep within him. Eagle was not ready to leave their woman yet either.
He could not stay though, because to his woman this was all a dream. For now, that was all it could be, at least until the soul-bond became stronger. For him, it had already strengthened, he would know soon how strong it was for her.
So, he reluctantly, untangled himself from her and slipped out the window. Replacing the screen, he allowed his change to come over him. As an Eagle once more, he took to the sky, heading for home.
Monday morning rolled around, finding Cara outside the Dapperwood Medical Clinic. Taking a deep breath, and climbing out of her car, she stared at the building. Then, running her hands over her hips, she soothed her blouse down. She was nervous. Nervous about starting a new job, a job working for a man she was so drawn to that she’d started having erotic dreams about him. She worried she wouldn’t be able to look him in the eye without thinking about him naked in her bed.
Blowing out a breath, she straightened and headed for the door. “Put your big girl panties on Cara and go do your job. He isn’t the first good-looking man you’ve worked for, be professional.” Then, shaking her head, she snorted, “But he’s the first one I’ve dreamed of in the buff!”
A little bell jingled as she walked in.
There was a large waiting area just inside the double doors, chairs on the left and the right. Two coffee tables held magazines and a huge flat screen TV hung on the long wall to the left of her.
Next to the flat screen was a door to go back to the exam rooms. Beside the door was a window, behind which she could see Wamblee showing a blonde-haired woman something on a clip board.
He looked over and gave Cara a slight nod. “Come on back.”
The blonde turned and Cara almost cringed when she saw who it was. It was one of Robyn’s friends, she thought Becky was the woman’s name.
Going through the door, she glanced around at the computers and the desks.
Wamblee started off by saying, “The front will be manned by Ramona, or you if we’re in a bind.”
Cara turned to look at the older woman who was seated next to the window. She was Native American, her dark skin wrinkled with age and her white hair long and in two braids. Cara had to wonder if she was part of Wamblee’s tribe. It would be rude to ask such a thing though, so instead Cara just said, “Nice to meet you Ramona.”
“Nice to meet you too, you need anything just let me know,” Ramona said with a grin.
Cara felt relieved. At least there would be one person she would get along with.
“This is Becky, one of the nurses. Peggy, the other nurse, is scheduled to come in a bit later,” Wamblee told her. Then, he pointed at the desk in the left corner. “That desk will be yours.”
Cara glanced over and saw it had a window in front of it, facing the hallway.
“You will take payments and if an appointment is needed, make those also. As business grows, I’ll hire someone to do that job and make you strictly billing,” he continued, his gaze never leaving her.
Cara nodded her agreement.
“Also, there is parking in the back for employees and I’ll have you a key and security code to come in the back door by the end of the day.” After a slight pause, he added, “There is also a small breakroom with a refrigerator and a microwave if you would like to bring your lunch. Any questions?”
“No sir, not right now,” Cara said softly, finding herself lost in his eyes.
“Good, then let’s get to work, shall we?” he said, and she nodded. Turning he told Becky, “Go and ready exam room number one, I’ll need it first thing. The patients will began coming in in less then ten minutes. I don’t want them to have to wait on a room.”
“Yes sir,” Becky replied and left the room, but not before giving Cara a dirty look.
Wamblee left right behind Becky, but not without one last look Cara’s way.
Cara let out the breath she was holding when he left. Her heart was pounding, her body almost trembling at the need to touch him! Hearing a giggle, she turned to find Ramona watching her.
“You two could surly heat a room with those looks of yours!” Ramona teased.
Cara felt her face heat. “I know not what you speak of.”
Ramona laughed. “Okay, we’ll play it that way. I will say though that Dr. Claw is one good-looking man. I’d chase him myself, if I were thirty years younger and not married!”
Clearing her throat, Cara said, “I’m sure lots of women feel that way about him.”
“Mm…I’m sure they do, but he doesn’t look at them the way he does you. It’s a look I’ve never seen on his face and I’ve known him a long time,” Ramona told her then.
Cara headed for her desk and sat down, glancing at the doorway where Wamblee had walked out. “Well, attracted or not, I need to be a professional because I need this job if I ever want a place of my own.”
“Took getting married for me to have that,” Ramona told Cara. “Best decision of my life though, saying yes to that man. I love him more now than I did then, and we’ve been married almost forty-two years now. He was my soulmate, and we both knew it the moment we met,” Ramona concluded with a dreamy look on her face.
Cara felt rattled. Soulmates? In her dreams of Wamblee, he called her “his other half”. She’d asked him if that meant soulmate and he’d agreed it did.
“Soulmate?” Cara almost whispered.
Ramona heard her though and nodded. “Some people are blessed by the Wakan Tanka (Great Mystery) and find theirs, some do not. You can search the whole world and never find them, but if you ever do?” Ramona gave her a serious look and said, “Child, grab hold of that person and never let them go because they will become the one who makes you the best you can be.”
After saying that, the doorbell jingled, and Ramona turned to the window to wait on the first patient.
The morning went by quickly as Cara learned the office. The computer program used was just like the one at the dentist office, so it was a breeze to work with thankfully!
The only bad thing so far had been Becky.
Cara almost cringed every time Becky entered the room because of the disgusted looks she was giving her. Of course, she was sweet as maple syrup when Wamblee was around, with a big smile on her face for Cara.
This was worse on Cara, because during those times Becky flirted, trying her best to get Wamblee’s attention. The blatant flirting annoyed Cara and made her want to rip the woman’s hair out by the roots. She bit her tongue more then once because she’d almost told the woman to back off because if anyone was going to have the man it would be her!
Those feeling embarrassed Cara, because she had no right to feel that way about him. It didn’t stop her from almost drooling over him though, or the lusty thoughts that ran through her mind every time she caught sight of him!
When Peggy breezed in around ten, with her big smile and happy personality, it drew Cara to her.
Like Ramona, Peggy was a Native American, on her mother’s side. Her dad was a military man in the Army. Peggy had also outright told Cara she was a part of the same tribe as Wamblee. She was, in fact, the daughter of one of his mother’s good friends.
Cara had slipped off to the break room during a lull to get a bottle of water Ramona said they kept there for everyone.
Peggy walked in and they had begun to talk a bit. Peggy had asked how Cara knew Wamblee.
Cara had told her about working at the dentist office and Ms. Dolly.
The conversation had gone from there, somehow, to Peggy’s disgust at how Becky flirted.
“I mean, I know he’s good looking, but this is a place of business! I bet she’s the type to screw a man in the janitor’s closet if she could!”
“She’s a friend of my older sister. I know for a fact she did just that with a few of the guys in school,” Cara told her.
Peggy laughed. Then she mentioned how when her and Wamblee were growing up their mothers had thought they might get married, but they’d never been more than good friends.
“Growing up so close makes him more of a brother then a love interest,” Peggy told her. “The thought of sleeping with Lee…err…Dr. Claw, is just gross to me!” Peggy exclaimed.
“Good thing I feel the same, or I might be tempted to take that personally,” the man himself said as he suddenly appeared in the doorway of the break room.
Peggy turned and stuck her tongue out at him. “Whatever Doctor!”
He gave a bit of a chuckle and asked, “Shouldn’t you be working?”
“I am working…working on making some coffee because someone, and we shall name no names, finished it all,” Peggy teased.
He shrugged and giving Cara a wink, left the room.
Peggy turned toward Cara then and raised an eyebrow. “Something you would like to tell me…hm…?”
Cara just shook her head and quickly left the room with the bottle of water she’d come for.
Peggy’s laughter followed her down the hall.
When lunch time came, Cara was told they closed for an hour for lunch.
So, Cara grabbed the small bag she brought with her before standing and heading for her car. She’d almost headed for the break room, but she’s seen Becky headed there and changed her mind. She could only take so much of the woman and the thought of eating across a table from Becky made her almost physically ill.
It was a lovely day though, so she figured she’d enjoy it by sitting in her car. Climbing inside the car, the first thing she did was pull it around to the back of the building. Then, rolling the windows down, she shut off the engine.
Pulling out her sandwich and opening the small bag of chips, she sat back and slowly began to eat. She was almost finished when a tap on her passenger side window startled her.
Glancing to her right, she saw Wamblee standing there. “Doctor, you startled me.”
Opening the door, he climbed in and looked at her almost empty lunch bag. “Why are you out here?”
“I needed the fresh air,” she mumbled, not wanting to admit the real reason.
“Hm…somehow I’m not sure that’s all of the reason,” he said blandly. “Tell me though, do you always bring a lunch to work?”
She shook her head. “No, but I should. I’m trying to save up for a place to live.”
“Goals, goals are good,” he told her. “I lived with my parents for awhile when I returned because I had no where else to go, but I just bought a nice place and it is wonderful to be on my own again.”
“Where did you live when you were away?” she asked.
“I had an apartment, well, me and a fellow classmate. He is, in fact, one of the ones coming to work with me in a few months,” he told her. “But there is a big difference between a roommate and your parents.”
She laughed. “I would think so. The thing is, I don’t mind living with my parents so much, it’s my sister that tends to be the problem.”
“I have no sisters, only Peggy and my brother who is older then me,” he said. “My brother has been gone for a while now, he’s in the military and moves around quite a lot. We usually only see him on holidays.”
Cara nodded, sipping her water. Then a peaceful silence fell, and closing her eyes, she leaned her head back on the head rest.
“Tired?”
She smiled. “No. Just enjoying the sun and the breeze.”
“And maybe the company,” he whispered, suddenly in her ear.
Startled, she turned her head to find him close enough for their lips to brush softly against each other. She drew a sharp breath and received a nose full of his musky male scent. It drove her hormones crazy and she had to bite back the moan that threatened to escape.
It was the scent from her dreams. It was the scent that made them seem so real, musky yet wild, pure male. A scent that seemed to be in every nook and cranny of her room the morning after her dreams.
It was the scent that had her leaning closer, wanting to feel those lips. Made her want to know if they felt the same as in her dreams. A scent that drew her to him like a bee to pollen!
It was the scent that intoxicated her as no other man’s scent ever had.
Then, as if he felt the same, he leaned closer, capturing her lips with his.
She whimpered at the feel of them. So soft, full, warm…more, she wanted so much more!
The world dropped away in that moment. She forgot where she was. She forgot that anyone could come by and see them. She didn’t care, all she cared about was having more of this man!
She raised her arms, wrapping them around his neck. She whined when she couldn’t tangle her fingers in his hair because it was braided.
Her whine had him pulling back, staring into her eyes. His eyes were dark, his pupils dilated in his passion.
As she watched, his hand came up, holding the bottom of his braid up. She looked at it and then at him, confused.
“Take it out,” he demanded of her.
Bringing her hands from his neck, she did as she was told. She untied the leather tie, then began to slowly unbraid his hair, letting the soft locks flow through her fingers.
As soon as she was finished, his lips once more landed on hers.
This time her fingers threaded through his hair and she mewed her happiness. This caused him to chuckle against her lips, before he deepened his kiss.