Chapter 69
Yet, something did take a bite out of his butt. With a half-choked screech, he jumped up, grabbed his rear, and stared down in the water. A tiny turtle about the size of a man’s fist glared right back. “That wasn’t nice.”
TJ wandered over. “A snapping turtle? City bear, you really are a mess.”
“It bit me,” Donovan defended.
“After you sat on him.” TJ shooed the turtle on its way. “Let me see that bite. It can get infected, you know.”
Donovan somewhat sheepishly turned around. “How big is it? Like half a cheek?”
“More like the size of a pencil eraser.”
Donovan spun back to face TJ. “You’re kidding me.”
“Nope.” TJ shook his head. “I think you’ll live. We’ll put some antibiotic cream on it when we get back.”
Oh, goody.“No shots?”
“Nope. Not unless it gets redder.” TJ wandered a few feet away and lowered himself into the water.
Donovan watched the Pegasus tattoo bob in and out of the water for a few seconds before transforming back into his polar. Then, he splashed over, bumped into TJ, and sent him flopping over in the water. Donovan blinked at him innocently.
Standing up, TJ wiped the hair out of his eyes.
Not missing the playful sparkle, Donovan waited to see how TJ would react.
“Two can play at that game.” An instant later, a large, brown grizzly bear stood in TJ’s place. It roared, charged, and swiped a paw at Donovan.
Donovan’s bear jumped back, though both knew that TJ wouldn’t dare make the tiniest notch into Donovan’s hide with those deadly claws.
Enjoying the romp, Donovan latched onto the grizzly’s ear, licked it, then shoved hard.
TJ held his ground, pushed back, and sent Donovan slipping back into the water.
Donovan shook the water from his eyes and leaped back into the fray. However long they played, he didn’t know. But, finally letting loose, just the two of them, in the wilderness felt pretty damn good. He didn’t worry about Bagsby or the pressures of daily life. No, he embraced his bear’s philosophy and lived in the moment.
Backing off, TJ switched back to human form and held up a hand. “I give.”
Donovan crowed to himself. He bounded over and rubbed his nose against TJ’s chest, licking as he went. The fresh water tasted good as did the unique flavor of TJ’s supple skin.
TJ rubbed his head and ruffled his fur. “Yep. Definitely a licker. Not that I’m complaining.”
Unable to let that comment go, Donovan hurriedly switched back. “You’re saying I have a talented tongue?” He arched an eyebrow.
“Did I say that?” TJ tried for an innocent expression, but couldn’t quite pull it off.
Donovan nodded. “You did. It’s said and recorded for all of history.”
Amusement flared in TJ’s brown eyes along with something more intimate and deeper. “You’re mine and I take care of mine. Let that be written in stone as well.”
Donovan soaked up the declaration, warmth flooding his heart. “That goes the same for me, big guy. You’re mine. I don’t share, and I intend to take very good care of you.” He let the tone of his voice carry truth as well as more than a subtle hint of sexual teasing.
“Want to linger? Or mosey on back to the house?” TJ asked.
“I’m not ready to give up this afternoon quite yet. Too much to do, people to see and do.”
TJ chuckled. “All right. Just say out of the damn poison, okay?”
“Yes, sir.” Donovan felt like saluting. Instead, he cupped TJ’s cheek and drew him in for a kiss. “You make the world worth living.” With that said, he changed back into his polar and lumbered further downstream.
TJ’s grizzly pulled up the rear. 16
“Well, shit.” Donovan mopped at the reddish stain trailing down his white shirt with a napkin. “I’m such a klutz.”
TJ deposited a forkful of pasta in his mouth and chewed, all the while watching Donovan. “White isn’t your color today.”
Donovan spared him a glance. “Or most days.” He rubbed some more, then fisted the used napkins before dropping them into the plastic sack their meal had come in. “This looks awful and we still have to go to the store.”
“We can put it off.” TJ took a drink of his soda.
“No. We’ll get it done, that way we can just go home and not have to worry about the upcoming storms in the next day or two. Besides, we’re in desperate need of food.” That was the truth. TJ didn’t have a lot to begin with. Between the two of them, they’d cooked and polished off most of his supplies in the past couple of days. If a food run didn’t happen, they’d be living off the land. Donovan shuddered at the thought. While he might be a shifter, a polar one at that, the idea of catching some poor helpless rabbit and eating fresh off the hoof, so to speak, made his nose curl and his stomach turn.