The Night Beat

here.” He looked out the window and whistled. “And what a view!” He went to the outer wall side and looked. “You know, I can see the Prosaic City view from here, too. This place, well, these places are great.” He sounded ready to move in.
    I was just this side of suggesting it, but my vision started to blur. Jack was enthusiastically in my home and adapting to my life with rapid ease, but all I wanted was to get undressed and go to bed. I wasn’t even sure if I had the energy to be amorous, which almost worried me, considering I’d fantasized about being in this situation with him for over a year. I wondered if I was getting a fever or something.
    Jack stopped examining my dwelling and looked at me. “You look beyond exhausted. I know I am. Will this sound like a total letdown if I suggest that we go to bed but worry about seeing how compatible we are in bed after we wake up?”
    I couldn’t help it. I rubbed up against him. “Not a letdown at all.”
    He grinned and put his arm around me. “Then why are you rubbing up against me with a come-hither look?”
    We headed into the bedroom. I wanted to lie, but I was too tired. “It’s a wolf or canine thing.”
    “A good thing?”
    “Yeah.” I managed to keep from sharing that it indicated he was either my mate, my pack leader, or both. One more manly, thoughtful, or sexy statement or action out of him and I’d end up deciding I wasn’t too tired to go for the gusto right now. After all, we’d be lying down, so resting. In a way.
    Jack nuzzled my hair. “Well, as long as it’s good.”
    I held onto my resolve by a claw. We separated and got undressed. I let my clothes drop. He folded his neatly and put them on the chair in the room. Well, neatness was a good trait. I hoped he wasn’t looking for it in his girlfriend, of course.
    I managed not to drool when he took his underwear off but only by focusing on being tired. He had a great body and was clearly going to be the alpha male in any pack. I reminded myself that he was tired, too, and what we needed more than anything was to sleep so we could get back on the case, refreshed and energized.
    We slid into bed and, in an effort not to seem either like I was about to hump his leg or like I was frigid, I snuggled my back up against him. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed my ear. “Just out of curiosity,” he whispered, “what do you want me to make you for breakfast, since we’re skipping dinner?”
    That last claw holding onto restraint slipped off the side of lust mountain. I rolled onto my back. Thankfully, before I went into the full-on whining, rolling and undulating thing I couldn’t stop when I was this tired and around this appealing a male, Jack rolled on top of me and kissed me.
    Really, tired or not, it was a lot better than sleeping.

Chapter 20
     
    I woke up alone in bed, brain fuzzy and nose going crazy. Someone was cooking and the smell made my stomach growl and my mouth water. It was still daylight, but I could tell it was late afternoon.
    I crawled out of bed, tossed a long t-shirt on, and trotted to the kitchen. Jack was there in his underwear, cooking up a storm. He grinned as I came in. “I woke up starving. You were out, but I figured the sooner we ate, the better.”
    I sat at the little table I had in the kitchen. The Prosaic City side of my home had a dining room area, but I only used it if I had to. I ate the majority of my meals here. I noted he’d already set the table.
    “So, you’re like the perfect man?”
    He laughed. “Don’t know about that. But I’m a bachelor and I don’t like to eat out every meal. Glad you have a well-stocked fridge. Impressive deep freeze, too.”
    “Werewolves have to have food available for whenever the hunger hits.” At least those of us who didn’t want to go create more werewolves via unwilling participants or perpetrate the bad stereotypes had well-stocked freezers and pantries. It was just good sense.
    “I guess so. You said sausages were good, right?”
    I had to wipe the drool. “Yeah. Are they ready yet?”
    Jack chuckled. “Almost.”
    There was coffee percolated and he already had the orange juice on the table. I wondered if it would mark me as ridiculously eager if I proposed marriage right now. Probably.
    He dished up and presented my plate with a flourish. “The kitchen hopes this is to the lady’s liking.” There were three kinds of sausages, breakfast potatoes, scrambled eggs, toast with butter and