Then she saw Ethan with Brad’s sister-in-law, Dorinda, waltzing on the dance floor.
“Ethan’s here,” Sierra said, cutting into her New York strip steak.
“Yeah. He’s gone out a couple of times with Dorinda. I don’t know if it means anything, or they’re just single and enjoying each other’s company.” Adam took a bite of his T-bone steak.
“Not like us.”
Adam took a deep breath and let it out. “I’m glad for that. I didn’t realize how stressful it was dating other women until I began dating you, and it’s been like night and day for me. We enjoy most of the same things, we work well together—”
“Oh, I love how you are always telling me I can do something, like drawing sketches of deceased people. You’re always so positive with me when I don’t have a lot of confidence in something.”
“You are for me too.”
She raised a brow. “I’ve seen you work your cases. You always have everything completely under control.”
“When I stepped out and did something not in my comfort zone—like taking your art class—you encouraged me the whole time.”
She laughed. “That’s my job as an art teacher. There’s nothing worse than someone telling you that you can’t do something and you should just give it up. Try something else. That’s what’s so fun about art. If one kind isn’t your thing, some other kind could be. And like anything, practice makes it better. One of these days, you can even enter something you’ve created in a contest. Some art really stands out.”
“Oh, mine stands out all right.”
She chuckled. “You are one of my cutest students. Why do you think I started dating you?”
“Damn, I knew signing up for your art classes was the thing to do.”
“And when we’re not busy doing other stuff on the weekends, I can give you some private lessons.”
“Oh, hell, yeah. Now I’m all for that.”
After dinner, they danced until late, then drove over to the pack leaders’ ranch to run as wolves. They’d almost skipped it and gone home, they were so ready to just make love and call it a night. But they were so close by the ranch and running as wolves was a great way to finish a beautiful evening before they made love.
As soon as they dropped their clothes at Brad’s house, Brad and Janice, Ethan and Dorinda all came to run with Sierra and Adam. Even though running as a couple was fun, so was playing with packmates. Then they went home to make love and Sierra was wishing they had the whole weekend off just to do this before the workweek started again and she began teaching art to the kids again too.
* * *
On Saturday, Adam and Sierra showed up a little later than they had planned to at Tori’s place. Josh and Brooke were already there. Tori was making mimosas for everyone. The coroner was there and so was their DEA agent, Ethan, and Josh’s brother, Maverick, all bachelor males hoping to court Tori.
Adam had to laugh. He hadn’t expected a party.
Maverick was busy flattening boxes when they walked inside. In that moment, it seemed like all time stood still. And then Adam realized why. Everyone had stopped talking and laughing and turned to see his and Sierra’s arrival. There wasn’t any denying how he felt about being with her and vice versa.
They’d made a dent in unpacking boxes, but many were still stacked everywhere several high and several deep. By the time lunch rolled around, at least there was room to sit on the couch and the chairs and eat at the coffee table or dining table if anyone wanted to. Boxes were stacked next to the kitchen island too, and there were pots and pans and cutlery sitting all over the counter.
The lunch boxes arrived and Adam realized Tori had gotten him his favorite—corned beef on rye. Once he and Sierra finished their sandwiches at the kitchen table, they began working on one of the boxes together.
Tori opened boxes with them so she could hear what all had happened during the interrogation, since she’d been off work for the last two days. Even Josh had to hear the story. He might have retired from the police bureau, but he was still a detective at heart.
Adam took a couple of swigs of his margarita—that was good—and cut open another box. “So what do I do with all this stuff?” He didn’t figure Tori would want him to take everything out of the box and pile it all up on the floor.
Sierra was right beside him, pulling out towels and bathroom items. “In the linen closet.” She handed him the stack of towels and led him to the linen closet. The she carried the toilet paper and cleaning supplies into the bathroom. Once they were done, she said, “Okay, next box?”
They worked on the boxes until they were all gone and most everything had been put away. Ethan and Maverick helped Tori hang pictures while everyone else was telling them which way to move the one, first over an inch, up two inches, over another inch.
Everyone was laughing and having a good time. Then Adam realized how late it was getting—nearly dinnertime, and he had wanted to do something special for a date with Sierra. They hadn’t even discussed what they wanted to do yet.
“Dinner’s on me,” Tori said. “Thanks for all the help you gave me. My house is livable now, and I can’t thank all of you enough. It would have taken me months to get all this done, what with my work commitments.”
“We totally understand,” Brooke said, “and we were glad to help. And it was fun while we were doing it too.”
Everyone agreed with her.
Adam wrapped his arm around Sierra and looked down at her, silently asking her what she wanted to do about dinner. “Dessert is on you,” she said softly for Adam’s ears only.
He raised a brow and smiled.
She punched him lightly on the arm. “I meant at an ice cream parlor I love to go to. They have the best hot fudge sundaes.”
He chuckled.
“Yeah, I know what you were thinking.”
“You can’t blame me for that.”
She laughed. “I don’t. I want the same thing, but after my dessert—the ice cream sundae kind.”
Chapter 22
After having barbecued ribs delivered to Tori’s house and enjoying the camaraderie of the wolves that were there, they finished dinner and Adam and Sierra gave Tori a hug and thanked her for the meals.
“I got a lot of work out of both of you, so I’m the one who needs to be thanking you,” Tori said.
“No problem at all,” Adam said.
Sierra smiled at Tori, glad to be her friend. “It was lots of fun. And we made fast work of it with everyone being here.”