“We don’t have anything too rigorous.” Though if they did, he was handling it.

  Nicole laughed. “For now, I can manage. When I’ve had nights of very little sleep after the babies are born, that will be another story. I may not make a whole lot of sense or be a whole lot of help.”

  Chapter 7

  When Kayla and Roxie arrived at the guest’s room at the lodge to check the safe, they opened it and found a set of keys with a metal skull hanging from the ring. “Well, the person will be missing his car keys, so whoever had the room couldn’t have gotten far if his car is in the parking lot,” Kayla said, looking them over.

  Roxie had checked on the guest and gave her a rundown. “He didn’t officially check out this morning. The housekeeping service cleaned the room for the next guest, and the guest’s bags were all gone, so we assume he just let the charges on his card stand. Looks like he has a house key on the ring,” Roxie said, eyeing them. “Those with the numbers on them look like safe deposit box keys.”

  “Well, he will want them back or he’ll have to pay the bank to have the lock replaced on the safe deposit box, which gets expensive. Also it looks like a mailbox key, don’t you think? Do you want me to check for the car in the parking lot while you look up the room reservation to see if you can find a way to notify him?” Kayla asked.

  “Yeah, let’s do this. See? Sometimes management issues can be intriguing.”

  “But not for the poor person who left his keys behind.”

  “True,” Roxie said. “I’ll tell the guest staying in that room his safe is ready to use.”

  “Okay.” Kayla headed outside and began using the key fob all over the parking lot, targeting one row after another, but it appeared the owner’s vehicle wasn’t parked there. Maybe he got a ride to the airport then? She returned to the lodge and met up with Roxie at the front desk. “No vehicle in our lot. What if a couple of people were staying in the room and they both had a set of car keys? So they left, but the one forgot about his keys in the safe?”

  “Sounds possible. If he didn’t have a car here, it seems strange that the person would lock up his keys in the safe. If it was because of the safe deposit keys, who would know where he banked, and how would they get access to the safe deposit boxes anyway? I checked for the person who registered for the room and called the phone number he had given us, but it went to voicemail.” Then her phone rang, and she looked at the ID and smiled.

  “Hi, this is Roxie Wolff, manager at the Timberline Ski Lodge, and we found your keys in the safe this morning.” She smiled at Kayla but then frowned. “They’re not yours? You didn’t use the safe at all. Ohh-kay. It must have been the previous guest then. Sorry for troubling you.” She smiled. “I’m so glad you had an enjoyable stay and hope to see you again soon.” Then they ended the call. “Not his keys.” She looked through the registrations online. “Okay, the guy who reserved the room before him used one of those third-party registrations. It can take forever to track the guest down then. He didn’t register a vehicle in the lot either. Not that we have in the system.”

  “Tonight at dinner, I can ask if Nate could look into it,” Kayla said. “If not him, then Nicole.”

  “That’s what I was thinking too. Maybe, in the meantime, the guest will realize he left his set of keys behind and contact us to see if we have them.”

  “That would work too.” Kayla saw Blake was working on management issues, checking out security tapes. She took a breath of relief. “If you’re here for the time being, Blake, do I have time to work on promo stuff?”

  Blake smiled at her. “Yes, to your heart’s content. Landon is here too.”

  Now that’s what Kayla loved to hear.

  The rest of the morning and afternoon, Kayla was busy working on what she loved doing most, though she loved a good mystery and had tried her hand at locating the owner of the keys, just like each of her siblings had done—without success.

  “Have a great dinner,” Roxie said to her as Kayla was getting ready to go. “Enjoy a wolf run with Nate. You know, anytime he wants to run with you at our house, you two can do it.”

  “Thanks. I love our wolf runs, and I don’t expect him to want to drive out to see us just for that. Who are you having dinner with?” Kayla asked.

  “Both brothers and their mates. I have to check in on how our sisters-in-law are doing.”

  “Oh, good. I need to do that too with Gabrielle. I just saw Nicole.”

  “Just have a good time tonight. You had time to do all the preparations for the Fourth of July activities you’d scheduled at the lodge, so no worrying about anything while you and Nate are having dinner,” Roxie said and gave her a hug.

  Kayla smiled. “Thanks. I know we’ll have a lovely time.” And really, after getting her other work done, she was feeling free for the moment.

  She walked back to the house and got into her car. She’d already packed an overnight bag just in case she stayed with him and had put it in the trunk last night while Roxie was taking a shower. Then she drove into Silver Town where Nate lived.

  As soon as she arrived and knocked at his door, he opened it and pulled her in for a kiss and hug. “You know, I only leave you alone because I know how stressed you are at work, but hot damn, when I get to see you, it’s like a wolf’s homecoming.”

  “I feel the same way about that with you.” And she truly did. Feeling warmed to her toes, she kissed him back, tonguing him for good measure. “Yeah, no regrets. This is just where I needed to be tonight.”

  He closed the door behind her, took her into the kitchen, and made them both strawberry daiquiris, her favorite. With drinks in hand, they headed out to the back patio and the grill. It was a hot summer night, though storms were coming through the area later and would cool things off a bit. He had already cooked the fries and put the hamburgers on the grill. “I should have made steaks.”

  “Oh, I love burgers. They smell delightful. Do you want to run as wolves later?” She sipped from her glass and purred. “So good.” She hadn’t run with Nate as a wolf in ages, and she really wanted to do it.

  “Absolutely. I was hoping you’d say that.”

  They were soon sitting down to eat their burgers, corn on the cob, and fries, drinking their daiquiris. She smiled. “I love to cook, but I love it when you cook too. And I never have a daiquiri unless I’m dining out. This is so much fun.”

  “I’m sure you could use a break, and I wanted it to be fun for you. How are things going at work?”

  “Oh, great. Landon and Blake ended up back at the lodge for the day, so I had time to work on marketing stuff. I don’t know how you are about your work process, but I have kind of a schedule built in, and when I have to stop to do a ton of other things instead, it really throws me off. Before I forget, Roxie and I found some keys in a room safe that were left behind. The guest registered through a third party, and we wondered if you might be able to locate him.”

  “I’ll sure do it.”

  “We’ll pay you.”

  “Dinner will be enough.”

  She chuckled. “You can have dinners with me at any time. This is great, by the way.”

  “Thanks,” he said.

  Nate had cleaned his place up completely in expectation of Kayla’s coming over, hoping to reassure her he was the kind of wolf she’d want to be with in the future. And he’d had every intention of fixing her favorite cocktail for when she arrived. He liked them too, though he was also fine with a beer. But since her being here with him was special, he would enjoy having one with her.

  When she’d arrived and he had welcomed her into his place with a hug and a kiss, he’d thought she looked tired. “I’m kind of like you and plan my day out as to what I need to take care of first. But with the work I do, it doesn’t always fall into place like I hope it will. I can’t find out anything on one lead, so I try some other things, get stumped, and begin working on another case when I’d rather just nail the first one, call it done, and go on to the next.”

  “Oh, me too.”

  He knew she’d feel better if she had her normal routine. With him, he could change plans with a snap of his fingers and deal with it without any real big issue. He had to be like that in the military.

  He was glad she wanted to run with him as a wolf before the storms came, though if she changed her mind, maybe they could enjoy watching a movie after dinner. Just anything that meant she’d stay longer, and he was game.

  “It’s supposed to storm later tonight. Do you want to stay with me?” He wanted to extend their visit, to enjoy more time with her now that she was at his place. They tended to see each other more during family visits where he would try to carve out some time alone with Kayla. This was a refreshing change.

  “The storms are not supposed to happen until much later this evening. Though…” She hesitated to say something.

  “What?” He hoped she wasn’t planning on running off right after dinner.

  “I packed an overnight bag just in case I stayed.”

  He released the breath he was holding, so glad she was staying with him. He’d wondered if she was just shy about staying there. “You’re not worried about what other wolves will think, are you?” He realized right away he shouldn’t have mentioned it because if she had been, she might be convinced to go home instead of staying with him.

  She gave him a heartwarming smile. “No. I’m not worried about what the other wolves will think.”

  He gave an exaggerated sigh of relief.

  She chuckled and forked up a fried potato. “I might be needed early at work in the morning though.”

  “If you are, you can leave early. But I’d really love it if you stayed the night.”

  She nodded, he pumped his fist in the air, and she laughed. He loved hearing her laughter. It cheered him. Not only because of that, but it was the first time she’d agreed to stay overnight with him, and he felt he might be making real progress. He was always unsure what to say or do to make it right with her.

  He wondered if he should bring up the next topic or just let sleeping wolves lie, but he wanted her to know he understood how she felt about her birthday and the ex, and he had to tell her what he wanted to do about it. “About your birthday party.”

  She finished another bite of her hamburger and cleared her throat. “I keep telling my sister and brothers it should be just one party for all of us. That way everyone can come to one celebration.”

  “I agree. If that’s what you want, then that’s the way it should be.” Nate figured she needed someone in her court on the issue. He knew her siblings wanted to keep the status quo, but it really was Kayla’s choice.

  “Thank you. I didn’t think anyone would ever agree with me. I just feel with the babies coming we need to… I don’t know. Consolidate the birthdays because they’re just one day after the other. And we’re quadruplets, together, like it should be.”

  “Everyone enjoys going to both parties, I’m sure, but it really is up to you. You don’t need to offer any reason for feeling that way either. Now, if it were me, I’d opt to have my own birthday party.”

  She smiled. “Because you and Nicole always have yours on the same day.”

  “Right. It’s always been a two-for-one birthday party. I have a proposal to make. If you want, we can celebrate your birthday with your siblings and then the next day—or week, actually—I want to take you someplace special. Listen, I’m making kind of a muddle of this. I’ve just been worried about asking you and then you, um, saying no. I keep worrying you’re not ready to stay with me yet. Maybe not ever.”

  She smiled. “Nate, you are the sweetest, most caring, and considerate man I know. It’s not you. It’s just me.”

  “Okay, well, if we keep an open dialogue, I believe we can talk through any issues we might have. We can talk about it more after we run as wolves if you’d like, okay?”

  “Wait! Where were you planning on taking me for my birthday?”

  He smiled. She sounded like a little kid ready for Christmas Day and unwrapping presents. That’s one of the things he loved about her. “I thought we’d go to one of the pack cabins in the woods. I made reservations in case you wanted to do this—no pressure. It’s the one with the view of the waterfalls, a river, and a lake. We can watch the sunset from the deck or climb up to the top of the cliffs and see the sunset up there. Hikes in the woods, run as wolves, barbecues, swim in the lake. We can just get away from it all.”

  “But can you afford to take off that much time what with work commitments?” she asked, frowning.

  She hadn’t jumped for joy at the prospect of being with him for a week at the cabin, he noticed. Maybe she didn’t even like camping. He knew she was all for hiking. He’d been with her and several of the family members taking long hikes in the woods even when they weren’t in their wolf coats.

  “Yes. A couple of the PIs from the Green Valley wolf pack who have family here in Silver Town are willing to step in if Nicole needs some help while I’m gone. And the same with our pack leaders as far as ensuring everything at the ski lodge gets done while you’re away if your siblings need extra help.”

  “Ohmigod, yes!”

  Surprised Kayla had agreed to it and seemed thrilled about the prospect, he was overjoyed. He was afraid she’d have to think about it for a couple of days and check with her family first just to make sure they were all right with it. Nicole was right—again. He had worried Kayla was going to reject his proposal, and that’s why it had taken him so long to ask.

  Kayla smiled. “That means we have to have my birthday party the day before with the others.”

  He laughed. “Is that the only reason you’re going camping with me?”

  “No, of course not. I need a break, and I am ecstatic about it. I’ve really gotten a bunch of work done, and we should be good. I know that the cabins don’t have Wi-Fi, but that’s okay. If I’m gone for a while, everyone will know how important I am.”

  He smiled. “They know. Okay, good. I told you it is totally up to you. If you want to have your birthday party the day before, that’ll work. Or if you want to have it the day we leave, we can do that. It’s your birthday celebration, after all.”

  She finished her drink, and he finished his. Then she rose from the table, and he did too, thinking they were going to clear the dishes, but she threw her arms around his shoulders and hugged him. “I believe you’re my knight in shining wolf coat.”

  He pulled her close and kissed her mouth with eagerness and tenderness. “That’s all I want to be for you.” And he sure as hell wished he’d asked her sooner!

  Chapter 8

  Once they were finished with dinner, Kayla kissed Nate and hugged him tight. She wanted to take this so much further, but she was worried about the incoming storm. Before the weather became too nasty, she wanted in the worst way to run as a wolf with Nate. “More of this later, okay?” She kicked off her sandals, ready to be a wolf with Nate. “Ready for a run?” She wasn’t letting the fun end there.

  “You bet.” He smiled at her and yanked off his shirt.

  She pulled hers off and then unzipped her jean shorts. That was the thing she really liked about Nate. He liked being casual, and so did she, so no sense in dressing up for dinner at his place or hers. Of course, if he took her out for dinner to the Silver Town Tavern, they both dressed up. They didn’t have to. They could be as casual as they wanted to be at the wolf-run restaurant that catered only to wolves, but they still liked to dress up when they went there together—to show they were a couple, in case anyone was in doubt. Even though they always seemed to be meeting up with family when they ate there.

  They eyed each other with intrigue. He was so hot—a well-toned body, tanned, and just sexy wolf material. They both smiled at each other, and then naked, they hugged before shifting, turned into their wolves, and raced out the wolf door, Nate letting her go first. It certainly wasn’t like when she and Roxie were trying to get through the door at the same time. Of course with Nate, since he was a bigger male wolf, they probably would have gotten stuck.

  Since the apartment building was wolf-run in a wolf-run town, they had woods behind the apartment complex they could run in, and all the apartments had wolf doors to make it easy to come and go.

  They ran full out, enjoying the run, though they heard thunder off in the distance.

  The wind began to whip up the leaves on the forest floor, the tree branches swaying with the force as Nate and Kayla ran toward a creek. They ran for about five miles, and she smelled rain in the air and felt the temperature dropping rapidly. It appeared the storm had decided to drop in sooner than the meteorologist had predicted. Clouds in the dark sky turned ominously green, and lightning flashed in sheets all across the dark sky, illuminating the trees and them. Rain, when it came, couldn’t hurt them, but lightning and hail—if it was big enough—could.

  They were too far from Nate’s apartment when the rains let loose, and then chunks of ice began to fall from the sky. Kayla hadn’t expected that! She and he raced for the creek’s bank with the same notion in mind. She hoped the creek wouldn’t overflow, but an outcropping of rocks and an overhang would give them some protection from the storm until it passed.

  This wasn’t how she had planned for their outing to go. They finally reached the overhang, lightning striking a tree nearby with a thunderous crack, making both her and Nate jump a little. Then she smelled smoke. The tree was on fire! She and Nate peered out to watch it, but the pouring rain soon put out the fire, and they both sighed with tentative relief.

  They snuggled together as wolves under the rock ledge providing them shelter. Their double coat of fur kept them warm, and cuddling together added to that. Only their guard hairs were wet, their undercoat of soft, downy fur keeping them warm and dry.

  Nate licked her nose, and she licked his back. Despite the storm raging all around them—lightning forking into the ground, thunder booming or cracking overhead and shaking the ground, ice falling and piling up all around the outside of their shelter, some as big as golf balls—she thought about her poor car. At least Nate’s car was parked under a roof. Guests didn’t have that luxury.