Run With Me

Chapter Nine

"I know you're not asleep!" Terri was beating Michael with a pillow. Her hair was wet from the snow of her run earlier, a run she had cut short out of frustration. Michael snorted awake and looked at her in confusion. "I know you're telling him when I go for a run!" Every day for the last week Kirk had shown up at the park when she had and run with her. Today, she had left at three in the morning in the hopes that he wouldn't pester her. It had started snowing heavy wet flakes the night before, enough that when she left for her run, that there were already a few inches on the ground.

And Kirk had been waiting at the trail head for her. Terri had merely gritted her teeth and ran past him, ignoring the ear to ear grin on his face. She had barely gone a handful of strides when the wet snow had struck her directly between her shoulder blades. When she had turned around, she received another handful of snow to her face. What ensued was her first snowball fight since her parents had died. Her wolf had romped and huffed in pleasure at the activity, reveling in Terri's laughter as she launched a counter attack at Kirk in the early hours of the morning.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Michael groaned as he reached for his cell phone, "hell Terri! It's four thirty in the morning!" Terri stepped back and gave Michael a chance to sit up.

"He was there, again," She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling. She had been smiling a lot this week, trying to hide it from Michael. Kirk hadn't just shown up for a run, he had talked to her, engaged her about her studies. Teased her for being too serious. He treated her like her brothers used to, before the accident. It warmed something deep within her. And today, she had never had so much fun as she had when they had stumbled about looking for fresh piles of snow to lob at each other.

"Maybe he likes you," Michael flopped back down on the bed, throwing an arm over his eyes, "has it occurred to you that he might have a vested interest?" Terri growled, causing her brother to crack an eye at her, "Why are you all wet? Is it raining out?"

"No," she bit off, "It's snowing." That got his attention.

"Sis, you're soaked. Did you run through a blizzard in the middle of the night to avoid him?" He was looking at her with a smirk. Terri started chewing on her bottom lip.

"We had a snowball fight," she mumbled, breaking eye contact. Michael was sitting up again, humor gone from his face. He was wearing a different expression.

"A snowball fight in the middle of the night? Damn Ter, I think he's more than a little serious about you."

"It won't change anything," Terri sighed, turning to head back to her bedroom. Glancing at her phone, she saw another message from Kirk had come in.

'I want a rematch.' They hadn't determined a winner, but something about that tugged at her. She liked him. He was smart, funny, and played with her. Even her brothers hadn't played like that since her accident. It was as if a broken piece of her was healing.

"It won't change anything." She repeated to herself as she climbed into the shower.

***Kirk stepped out of the shower in the early morning hours grinning. He had been more than a little underhanded in his tracking of Terri, but this morning it had proven to be a winning strategy. When his phone had pinged that she was leaving in the middle of the night, he had leapt from the bed and raced out of the hotel to meet with her. The risk of throwing a ball of cold wet snow at the back of her head had more than paid off. His wolf had preened at the sound of her laughter as she ducked through the park in search of mounds of piling snow. Days of coaxing her out of her shell had resulted in seeing a playful woman.

Glancing down at his phone, he saw that work emails were piling up. His unexpected leave of absence from his company still needed handling and care. Kirk was in the middle of firing up his laptop when his phone pinged from a text.

Good call on the snowball fight. Kayla was still giving him a behind the scenes view into Terri's mind. She was on both their sides, wanting to see her sister in law happy. He was in the middle of typing a response when another message came in.If the snow keeps up, bring a sled. She used to drag her brothers out to sled in the middle of the night. It was a favorite of hers. Kirk stopped typing and looked at what Kayla had sent him. Terri loved the snow. And he had been given gold.

The forecast is calling for almost a foot of snow in the next few days. I'll find a decent hill. Thank you. Within minutes he was firing off an email to his head of product development and his assistant that he was going to be unavailable until after the solstice and that they needed to deal with it. Unless there were legal issues, everyone in the company deserved some pre-holiday downtime and suggested that they all take a well deserved break. His company was fine, they all worked too much anyways. What was life for if not to enjoy living it.

***Terri stood in the parking lot of her condo complex, confused why a big black truck was illegally idling in front of the foot path that led to the park where she ran. After the snowball fight a few days previously, she had given up on trying to sneak passed Kirk, and merely sent him a text that she was going for a run. Today, however, he appeared to have different plans.

"This seems a little much for a run," she said as she opened the passenger door to see him grinning. His scent hit her full force, having filled up the cab of the truck. Her wolf rolled in it, savoring the earthy musk he gave off. Terri internally snapped at her wolf to stop it.

"I thought we would do something a little different today," Kirk grinned at her. Terri blushed, realizing that her poker face had slipped.

"Fine." She snapped at him too, climbing into the truck and buckling in. She looked forward as he put the truck back into gear and drove out of the parking lot.

The silence wasn't uncomfortable for Terri, she always thought before she spoke, not wanting to draw attention to herself. Kirk would ask her questions, but if she chose not to answer, he never pushed her. It was a refreshing change.

"Where are we going?" The curiosity was getting to her. Terri glanced over and just saw the smirk on Kirk's face.

"Well, I figured that a different form of cardio would be a welcome break to running," as the words left his mouth it took Terri a moment before she started to panic.

"No. Nope. Forget it. Pull over." Digging through her pockets for her phone, she was going to call Michael to come get her. She felt the truck slow down and Kirk signal onto the shoulder. They were on the edge of the city, part of the way to a nature preserve.

"What? What's wrong?" Genuine concern laced his words as Terri looked back at him. His wolf shone through in his eyes, she could see the rich amber of his wolf's gaze.

"What color is your wolf?" Terri spoke without thinking, "Oh my god. Forget that I said that." She looked down at her phone, thumbs trembling as she tried to text her brother to come get her. A big hand reached over and covered the screen, holding her thumbs in place.

"Black. But you didn't answer me. What's wrong? Why did you need me to pull over?" Terri looked at the concern on his face.

"I'm not having sex with you just because we had a snow ball fight and I'm no longer avoiding you." She held her breath, not wanting to breath in the scent of him while she waited for him to respond. She had rejected enough amorous young men in the last few years of university that she knew he would either walk away with his tail tucked or would lash out with anger. Being an alpha, she was anticipating the latter. What she wasn't expecting was his head to snap back and for him to howl. With laughter. It was several minutes before he had calmed down enough to talk. Terri wasn't sure if she should be surprised or angry at his response. She had been biting the inside of her cheek to force herself to stop from smiling.

"My goodness Terri, I'm not taking you somewhere to take advantage of you," Kirk reached behind the seats and pulled out a flimsy piece of plastic about five feet long, "I was taking you to a decent hill to go sledding. You seem to enjoy the snow so much that I thought you would enjoy another snow based activity." He was still chortling as he watched the emotions race across her face. It was the tears that stopped his laughter. And it was her struggling out of her seat belt and out of the truck that threw him completely off his game.