Cozy • An Embry Story

.30

Author's Note: this chapter gets steamy. May up the rating.

Embry's POV

I was still hunched over when Winnie rushed for me. Shifting back, I was still balancing on my knees, just standing up when she runs back into the rain to engulf me.

"You're gonna scare me if you don't be careful." I manage to get out as my hands bolt out to catch Winnie if she falls, meeting her halfway when she vaults up into my arms and holds me so tightly I panic whether or not I scared her. Straightening up so we don't fall over, my hands come to keep her where she is at her knees, Winnie's arms and legs wounded around me with her ankles crossed at my lower back and her hands at my neck to hold me as close as possible.

"Thank you for showing me." Winnie grins against my bare shoulder. She doesn't seem to care about the rain, which is coming down even harder than earlier. She pulls back to look at me, giving me a chance to be soothed by her bright expression, breathing a relieved sigh that she isn't scared of me.

"Of course," I sheepishly smile at her, momentarily dazed by her smile. Then the storm reminds me we're out in the middle of the rain, the clap of thunder striking so viciously above us the ground trembles. Readjusting her, Winnie bounces in my arms while I make a run up the front steps to go back inside where it's safe and completely dry.

"You're a werewolf, you're a werewolf..." Winnie keeps muttering to herself with a hazy nod. When she first saw me phase she was stunned into disbelief, a complete state of shock. Now she's abuzz with the realization. It's like the opposite of the five stages of grief, more like the stages of acceptance. Though, this is still considerably a state of shock as Winnie is rarely this animated.

"You're handling this so much better than I expected." I glance up at her, stooping down to grab my clothes where Winnie dropped them by the door.

"I'm just happy I'm not crazy." Winnie shakes her head. Once inside she goes to jump down but I clutch her tight.

"Ah, hold on a minute." I advise.

"What for?" Winnie asks, pulling as far back as she can go to look at me. Even drenched she's so pretty it catches me off guard, making me slow down to a pause to take her in. Her hair sticks to her, blackened strands caught on the curve of her neck or her jaw or temples. Her wet clothes are the only thing between us, weighed down from the water, making her slippery which only makes my hold on her tighter.

"If you haven't already, you're going to see me completely naked if I let you down the wrong way." I explain slowly, remembering to walk again but my strides are stiff. Her mood dies down, the beam on her face falling into a flustered blush. The rain isn't the only thing she didn't notice.

"Right, the whole clothes thing." The sheepish tone in her voice makes it hard to fight off a smirk.

"Personally I don't really care," I shrug not so innocently. "Then we can call it even, that way we both would have seen each other naked." Winnie just nearly falls out of my arms, but there's not a chance my hands would let go of her. Her face is burning as bright as her eyes, her gaze so heavy against my face it could be a caress cupping my cheek. The shade of red on her face is so inviting I have to focus my all into walking straight to her bathroom. Wet clothes, wet clothes, I keep reminding myself I have to do something about her wet clothes... The faint rhythm of her heart is pounding between us, speeding up against her ribs, against my chest too, making my blood go hot.