Chasing His Puma (Big Bad Bunnies Book 3) Page 9

  When she was done and about to take her plate over to the dish line, Brock practically snatched it out from her hands.

  Standing, he took both of their plates over to the dish line… and then left the cafeteria, leaving Doc sitting at the table highly confused. No one else at the table seemed to know quite what to make of it either. She’d gotten up to chase after him, but he’d already disappeared from the hallway.

  That had been yesterday.

  This morning there had been another note on her desk, just as cryptic as the first.

  I support you.

  -Brock

  Even though she was in her office all morning, he didn’t stop by to bring her lunch unfortunately, which made her puma sulky. She found out he was back on duty—and therefore patrolling—by casually questioning Dr. Phil if Brock was still going through PT.

  After she finished everything for the day she went in search of someone who could maybe give her some insight.

  Fortunately, Jesse was usually pretty easy to find—when she was done assisting Bethany with her duties, she always headed to the kids’ playroom. Sure enough, as soon as Doc walked into the room, she spotted Jesse’s auburn hair. She was doing her best to walk with a little kid clinging to each leg, both of them giggling madly. On the other side of the room, Brady was playing pony to a pair of kids who were directing him around the room.

  The playroom was always a bit of a madhouse. It was made to be like an outdoor playground, spacious and with plenty of places for active little kids to climb, play, or hide depending on their preferences. The sheer noise volume actually made it an ideal place to talk without being overheard—even for shifters it was impossible to pick out individual conversations without being right next to someone.

  Catching Jesse's eye, Doc waved. Fortunately Jesse immediately realized Doc must want to talk to her and she bent down to say something to the kids using her as a means of transportation. A few quick words and the two kids unlatched themselves and ran off, joining in the rest of the chaos, so Jesse could make her way over to where Doc had situated herself along the wall—out of the action.

  "Hey Doc, what's up?" Jesse asked as she approached. She took a spot on the wall next to Doc so she could keep an eye on things as they chatted.

  "Not much... I um..." Now she felt kind of silly having to ask, but she'd already come here and searched Jesse out so she might as well. "Do you know if anything weird is going on with Brock?"

  A little furrow of confusion appeared on Jesse's forehead as she considered Doc's words. "Weird? How so?"

  Keeping her voice low—despite the unlikelihood of being overheard—Doc told Jesse about the notes, and the lunch, and last night's dinner, as well as Brock's abrupt departures. About halfway through, Jesse pressed her fingers to her lips to hold back a laugh, her silvery eyes dancing with sheer amusement. Doc couldn't help but smile too, but her smile was tinged with the giddiness of a girl with a crush.

  Because part of her did kind of think that was what was going on. Even if she didn't understand his thought process behind some of the gestures.

  "So what do you think?" she asked, feeling a little breathless even as she tried not to get her hopes up.

  "Oh gosh... I know I shouldn't laugh because of why they all struggle a little bit with relationships, but that's just... so fucking adorable," Jesse said, trying to stifle her giggles. Doc completely knew what she meant.

  Everyone in Steele's pack made allowances for some of the social awkwardness of all the Bunson siblings. After all, they'd been kidnapped by The Company and missed out on a lot of formative teenage stuff, even Brady and Bethany, who had been nineteen and eighteen respectively, when they'd been taken. Which meant they missed a lot of more current pop culture references, didn't always know how to communicate certain things very well, and the younger three were especially deficient on the regular life skills most people learned as teenagers.

  It was entirely possible Brock had never even had a girlfriend before being taken by The Company.

  “So you think he’s…” Doc groped for a word. Flirting wasn’t quite right. Neither was wooing or courting either though.

  “I think he’s following his big brother’s advice,” Jesse said, eyes sparkling. “Brady admitted to me, after we got together, that he found tips on how to romance me on a website. It had all sorts of suggestions on how to romance a woman—surprise her, support her, show her you’re thinking of her when she’s not around… sound familiar?”

  “Oh…” Now it was Doc’s turn to place her fingers over her mouth. Jesse was right. That was too freaking cute. A flush of pleasure ran through her.

  “I’d bet anything that’s what he’s doing,” Jesse said, looking both smug and gleeful. She leaned in towards a suddenly blushing Doc. “Did something happen while you two were out and on the run?”

  “No,” Doc said quickly. Too quickly.

  To her utter relief, maybe as if sensing something interesting was happening, Brady chose that moment to come over and say hello. Being a good friend, Jesse didn’t bring up Brock’s possible interest in Doc. She was definitely glad she hadn’t chosen to go to Bethany or Bailey—the two of them loved being able to tease their brothers and she doubted they would have been able to resist keeping quiet. Jesse, on the other hand, wouldn’t tell anyone unless Doc told her it was okay to.

  As quickly as she could do so politely, Doc excused herself and retreated from the playroom. She had a lot to think about.

  The first thing being, she wasn’t one hundred percent sure Jesse was right.

  What if Brock just wanted more of what they’d done under the willow tree? That wasn’t what Doc wanted. Yeah, she’d wanted to clear out the cobwebs, but she also knew herself well enough to realize she could definitely fall for Brock. He wasn’t the kind of guy she could sleep with and not get attached to.

  Casual wouldn’t cut it for her. Not with him.

  So, if he was trying to romance her how could she make sure he was actually down for more than just sex?

  Well. Time to bring out the test again. It had been a while since she’d gotten to do it, but it had never steered her wrong before either.

  ******

  Coming off of his patrol shift, Brock checked his text messages.

  Immediately his heart started pounding in his chest and he snapped his head up, looking wildly around for his older brother. Practically running through the corridors of the Peak, he finally spotted Brady headed in the direction of his and Jesse’s rooms.

  “Brady!” he shouted, not caring about the odd looks he was getting from the rest of the pack over his unusual behavior. Most of them looked more startled than anything. His bugaboo was bouncing around in his head like a happy little jackrabbit, making him feel even more unlike himself.

  His brother turned around, frowning in concern when he saw Brock rushing towards him, phone held out in front of him like a kind of offering.

  “What’s going on?” Brady asked as Brock neared.

  Panting, Brock held out the phone for Brady to see the text Doc had sent him. Bending forward, Brady read it quickly and then grinned widely. Reaching out, he clapped Brock on the shoulder.

  “Dinner and a movie. It worked, good job.”

  “Are you sure?” Brock asked. He could still hardly believe it. “I thought it would take longer.”

  Keeping his hand on Brock’s shoulder, Brady started moving again, steering Brock in the same direction. Which was good because it was unlikely anyone would be able to overhear them while they were moving through the corridor.

  “You must have done a good job,” Brady said cheerfully. “How far down the list did you get?”

  “I made sure she knows I think of her and I support her, and I brought her lunch, and I cleaned up after she ate last night… I just thought I would have to do more,” Brock said, shrugging a little sheepishly.

  This felt too easy.

  “You are going to have to do more,” Brady said, which actually reas
sured him. “This is just step one. Now, when you go over for dinner, you need to bring her something. It’s even better if you bring her something you made. And I know this looks like a Netflix and Chill situation, but you can’t have sex with her.”

  Brock’s brow furrowed. “Why not?”

  “Because if you have sex before the third date, she won’t think you’re serious.”

  “But we already had sex,” Brock said, his panic starting to rise again, which alarmed his bugaboo.

  “That’s okay, you weren’t romancing her yet,” Brady said, giving his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “But now you can’t have sex with her again or she’ll think that’s all you two are doing. You have to make her wait for it. Since it’s the first date you can give her a kiss.”

  “This seems backwards,” Brock grumped.

  “Thou shalt count to three,” his brother intoned, making his voice high and more nasal than it normally was. “No more, no less.”

  They said the next part of the Monty Python quote together. “Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shalt be three.”

  Brock chuckled. He trusted his brother even as his bugaboo whined plaintively in his head. He sighed. “All right. You haven’t steered me wrong so far. Plus, if Monty Python says so…”

  Plus it did make a kind of sense. None of the other women he’d been with had wanted more than sex, and they’d had it immediately. That’s definitely not how he wanted things to go down with Doc.

  Besides, he had bigger things to worry about.

  “What should I bring her?” he asked.

  “Lots of guys go the flowers or chocolates route,” Brady said, sounding very much like he was teaching a class. Maybe he should teach classes. Brock could suggest that to him later. If everything with Doc worked out. “But Jesse’s favorite thing I’ve ever given her is the picture I painted of her. It’s terrible, like, it looks like a dog with mange and a massive tail, but she fuckin loves it because I made it for her.”

  “Wait, the painting hanging in the hallway?” Brock had thought one of the kids had painted it for her. One of the younger ones. It really was awful. Comparing it to a dog with mange might even be too kind.

  “Yeah, it sucks right? But she loves it,” Brady said proudly. “Even cried a little when I gave it to her.”

  “Are you sure she wasn’t crying because it sucked?” Brock teased.

  His older brother laughed, smacking Brock’s shoulder again before letting it go. They were getting close to Brady’s home. “No, I told her she didn’t have to put it up but she went and got it framed and did anyway. And she yelled at Daniel when he said it sucked. She loves it because I took the time to make it.”

  “Huh.”

  Dropping Brady off at his front door, Brock turned that over in his head.

  While he wasn’t too confident in his ability to make something good, he could definitely make something that sucked. He just had to put a little thought into it.

  We’ll be a good mate, his bugaboo thought smugly.

  He wished he shared the creature’s confidence.

  Chapter 8

  When Brock knocked on Doc's door, she was actually feeling pretty nervous but she was also trying to keep things casual. She'd put on her nice jeans and her Snow White shirt which just had the outline of the princess holding an apple. It was very casual but the material was super soft to touch and hugged her curves nicely. She'd also let her hair fall in waves around her shoulders rather than pulling it back and put on some makeup.

  In short, she'd done everything she could to make herself look good without making it obvious she was trying to look good.

  She’d done the same thing with dinner.

  They were having pizza, but she’d made the dough (but not the sauce) and chopped up all the toppings, putting them on herself. Basically fancy pizza. She also had veggies and dip. Things they could eat while watching movies.

  There weren’t too many men willing to sit through a Disney marathon without trying to sex her up and she was totally ready to turn him down and see what happened when he did. It might not be fair to test guys… but it worked. The ones who were really interested in her had sat through the whole thing. The ones that just wanted in her pants left and she never regretted watching them go.

  She hadn’t done this for any of the guys she’d gone on dates with the past couple of weeks. Then again, she hadn’t done anything but go on dates with them. None of them had really piqued her interest the way Brock had, so she hadn’t felt the need to.

  Opening the door, she immediately smoothed her hands over her thighs as she looked up to meet his hazel eyes.

  “Hi,” she said, smiling nervously.

  “Hi.” His voice was deep, gruff. Although his expression was pretty blank, Doc thought he seemed just as nervous as her. His hands were behind his back and his chin was tucked down shyly.

  She could be imagining things of course, or projecting.

  Unlike her, he’d dressed up a little and now she was kind of wishing she’d put on something nicer than a t-shirt. He was wearing dark blue jeans that fit him perfectly and a green button-down shirt that brought out the hazel in his eyes. The sleeves had been rolled up above his elbows, but it was still the nicest she’d ever seen him dressed outside of Jesse and Brady’s wedding.

  Stepping back, she opened the door wider. “Come on in… I’m um, glad you could make it.”

  Looking almost sheepish, Brock stepped inside and suddenly thrust something at her. A piece of paper.

  “This is for you,” he said gruffly, letting go of it so fast it almost dropped as he moved past her.

  Doc looked down and saw, with more than a little surprise, that it was a collage. Photos and quotes from Disney movies, all cut out and then put together in a rather chaotic but colorful array.

  “Where did you get this from?” she asked, thrown a little off balance with surprise.

  “Made it.” The two words were gruff and he was eyeing her like he was trying to gauge her reaction.

  She was just trying not to tear up.

  The collage wasn’t professional in any way and it wasn’t really organized, but all of the character’s faces were visible and the quotes he’d chosen were inspired.

  No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true—from Cinderella.

  The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of them all—from Mulan.

  Remember, you’re the one who can fill the world with sunshine—from Snow White.

  And the one she’d quoted to him from the Lion King—The past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it or learn from it.

  They were quotes that touched the deepest part of her heart, the quotes she lived by even though she didn’t always say them out loud, and somehow he’d either known or made some really incredible guesses. Inside her head, her puma was purring, trying to comfort her because it didn’t understand the tears that wanted to well in her eyes. Judging by the expression on Brock’s face, he didn’t either and he was worried he’d done something wrong.

  But he’d done everything right.

  “I love it!” she said, throwing herself at him and wrapping her arms around him. Obviously startled, he hugged her back.

  Man, he smelled good. And now her puma was purring for an entirely different reason.

  ******

  Brady really knew his stuff.

  Although he’d been a little worried when Doc’s eyes had started to get watery. Tears were not something he was equipped to deal with. He knew it wasn’t good, after all, but he hadn’t thought it was bad enough to cry over (it was definitely better than Brady’s attempt at painting). Fortunately, they seemed to be happy tears.

  That he could handle even if it made him a little uncomfortable.

  In fact, he was a little uncomfortable in more ways than one right now, because Doc’s soft curves were pressed up against h
im, and her head snuggled up against his chest, and her free hand wandered down towards his butt…

  Brock jerked, jumping back. His bugaboo whined in protest and his erection wasn’t really happy with him either, but he wasn’t just going to let her jump into the sex… nope, he wanted a relationship. And if she started groping him, he wasn’t sure how good his willpower would be.

  Blinking, Doc stared at him, obviously confused.

  “So, um. You wanted to introduce me to some Disney movies I haven’t seen?” he asked, shifting back and forth on his feet.

  “Um… yeah. Yeah, that’s why I invited you over,” she said, forcing a smile onto her face. The moment, which had seemed so natural, now felt awkward and forced. But she glanced down at the collage in her hand again and her expression softened, her smile turning truer. “Let me just put this somewhere safe. Go ahead and make yourself comfortable on the couch and I’ll get the pizza.”

  All of the suites in Cryus Peak had pretty much the same set-up, so Brock made himself comfortable on the left-hand side of Doc’s couch. Well, as comfortable as he could be after shifting his erection so his jeans weren’t strangling his cock. A minute later she came into the room carrying a large platter with pizza on it. Brock jumped up to help her, but ended up just hovering awkwardly because it was obvious she had it.

  “Um, can I help with anything?” he asked, feeling weird about sitting down again if she was going to keep carrying things in.

  “Oh, uh, yeah, sure,” she said. “I’ll get our drinks if you’ll grab the tray of veggies I have for us.”

  Inwardly cursing the awkwardness, Brock was relieved when they finally both settled back onto the couch with beers and the food laid out before them.

  “It smells great,” he said, eagerly leaning forward to pick up a piece of pizza. “Did you make all of this?” It definitely didn’t look like it had ever been in a freezer.

  “Yeah,” she said, smiling at him with obvious pleasure. Although he’d reclaimed his spot on the left side of the couch, Doc had gone right for the middle so they were still sitting pretty close together. Which was going to make things more difficult for him because he really wanted to reach out and touch her... but he wasn’t sure whether or not that would send the right message.